Tag Archives: chicago

John Steele Pleads Guilty, Admits Entire Scheme

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In short, Steele admits that he and Hansmeier used sham entities to obtain the copyright to (or in some cases film) porn, uploaded it to file-sharing websites, and then filed “false and deceptive” copyright suits against downloaders designed to conceal their role in distributing the films and their stake in the outcomes. They lied to courts themselves, sent others to court to lie, lied at depositions, lied in sworn affidavits, created sham entities as plaintiffs, created fraudulent hacking allegations to try to obtain discovery into the identity of downloaders, used “ruse defendants” (strawmen, in effect) to get courts to approve broad discovery into IP addresses.

Source: Prenda Saga Update: John Steele Pleads Guilty, Admits Entire Scheme | Popehat

The wheels grind slowly, my friends, but they do grind.

Zoom in to see the fine details in this Gigapan image

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Chris Walker made the image above with a DSLR camera, using a GigaPan device to record a series of individual images over the course of 15 minutes. In the panoramas you see here, nearly 100 frames were stitched together to create the resulting single photographs. Chris used PTGui Pro software to minimize visual imperfections, such as people appearing twice because they moved during the course of the 15-minute session.

Via Bears kickoff — Chicago Tribune.

You can navigate and see almost every person at Soldier Field for last Sunday’s Bears game against the Buffalo Bills.  Quite fascinating!

The City of Chicago is on Github

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This means that projects like OpenStreetMaps will be able to add over 2GBs of Chicago data to their site. This also means that companies and Chicago startups who would like to leverage this data are able to as part of daily business.

via The City of Chicago is on Github – The Changelog.

I downloaded the crime data dataset that supposedly includes all reported crimes from 2001.  The CSV file was 1G in plain text.  They could have compressed it but it doesn’t matter.  It contained over 4 million records.  Now I have to figure out how to slice and dice this dataset and for what purpose I don’t quite know yet.

Chicago options market goes nuclear, files $525 million patent suit

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However, a few key financial institutions have embraced patents enthusiastically. This week, the Chicago Board Options Exchange has taken finance-patent wars to a new level. CBOE filed a lawsuit against a competing options exchange, International Securities Exchange (ISE), demanding $525 million for the infringement of three patents: US Patent Nos. 7,356,498, 7,980,457 and 8,266,044. The board asked for the first patent in 1999, at the height of the patent-everything craze, and the patents were issued between 2008 and 2011.

via Chicago options market goes nuclear, files $525 million patent suit | Ars Technica.

Argonne’s Superstar Supercomputer

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Q. When do you expect Mira to be up and running?
A. Our hope is that we will receive the machine sometime in the third quarter of 2012 or early in 2013. Then it will take us three or four months to stand it up. It’s made up of 48 racks that weigh 2 tons each, so it takes a while to wheel it in, put it in place and wire it up.

via Science Connections: Argonne’s Superstar Supercomputer — Evanston news, photos and events — TribLocal.com.

Q. What are some cool projects being run on the supercomputer right now?
A. There is a current study on concrete that is pretty exciting. Concrete production is a $100 billion a year industry in the U.S. and generates a lot of carbon dioxide. A researcher from the National Institute of Standards and Technology is using the computer to figure out how to design better concrete that produces less out-gassing.

Motorola Mobility to layoff 4000 nationwide and 700 in the Chicagoland area

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The layoffs does not impact the move from Libertyville to the new downtown Chicago location. The move is expected by the summer of 2013. Motorola Mobility will become the landmark the Merchandise Mart’s largest tenant and will occupy nearly 600,000 square feet on the top four floors and the rooftop.

The layoffs will not have an impact on the Motorola Mobility move to downtown Chicago.

via Motorola Mobility to layoff 4000 nationwide and 700 in the Chicagoland area – Chicago CIty Hall | Examiner.com.