Day: July 28, 2009

Posted on

Blackboard Loses Patent Appeal, Again.

A federal appeals court has found all 38 of Blackboard Inc.’s contested patent claims to be invalid in ongoing litigation between the D.C.-based education software company and its Canadian competitor, Desire2Learn Inc.

This is the second time in the course of the three-year lawsuit that courts have poked major holes in Blackboard’s patent.

“Blackboard is obviously disappointed with the Federal Circuit’s decision and will seek further judicial review,” said Matthew Small, chief business officer for Blackboard (NASDAQ:BBBB). “Meanwhile, claims 39-44 of the 138 patent remain valid and enforceable. These claims were not at issue in the appeal.”

via Court rules against Blackboard in patent case – Washington Business Journal: .

Full text of the decision is here (PDF).

Posted on

Barnes & Noble to Offer Free AT&T WiFi At All Stores

By Motoko Rich
Published: July 28, 2009
A week after announcing that it was starting its own electronic bookstore, Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest chain of bookstores, said it would be offering free Wi-Fi in all 777 of its stores throughout the United States.
This seems like a really good idea for B&N, a way to lure folks into the store. The article notes that the service will be used to push various ads and offers to visitors on an opt-in basis.
Posted on

links for 2009-07-28

  • Fancy Login | drupal.org
    Fancy Login adds javascript based, lightbox-style login functionality to your site. When the user clicks on any link that links to /user/login, they screen dims and a login box is created in the center of the screen.
    (tags: drupal module login)
  • Creating an Atom feed in PHP
    Atom is an XML specification that identifies information contained in a Web site. Using Atom, Web developers produce feeds that enable other Web developers (or consumers who use feed readers) to quickly locate and view information of interest on a remote site. Think of it as a Web site's index, available to anyone who wants it. Using PHP, a popular language of choice for most host providers, a Web developer can easily produce an Atom feed that can then be made available to the various feed readers and other Web developers. The ultimate result is a state-of-the-art information solution that enables the Web content to reach a much wider audience.
    (tags: php ibm tutorials atom)
  • W3C Validator | drupal.org
    This module provides a Drupal interface to use the W3C Markup Validator.

    It also provides a module that validates all the pages on your site and stores the results for later review.

    Currently the module only validate nodes and views (page displays) but it's planed to expand it to validate more page types.

    (tags: drupal module w3c)
  • OpenSecrets bulk data | drupal.org
    This module loads and manages OpenSecrets bulk data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).
    (tags: drupal module bulk_data)