Stuffleufagus

I have a lot of odd ideas.  Most of them I just pass on to others, and see if they run with them.  A few of them I pursue.  Some of them I know are stupid, but they are so stupid I can’t get away from them.

That’s why I bought the domain name of deadcasts.com today.  Podcasts delivered from the grave - after you are dead, to the people you specify.  Or to the world.  Could be video, could be audio, could be a favorite YouTube video.

And yes, I know there are things *like* this out there.

But a cool domain name is a cool domain name. 

Even if I don’t ever build the exact idea - I’m not afraid of buying a domain name here and there.  I wish I had done more of it in the late 90’s!

Here’s the thing about domain names - if you buy 500 of them at $10 each you spend $5,000.  Sell just one of them for 10K (I have) and suddenly it isn’t stupid anymore. 

But I don’t buy domains to make money off domains.  I buy domains hoping someone interesting calls me wanting to build something off those domains.  And I hope I can work with them on it.

I love building stuff.

written by rob

Let’s see - Microsoft applied for their patent on March 20, 2008.  Mine, for virtually the same thing, was filed November 25, 2004.

Microsoft Patent Application.

My Patent Application.

I think I win.

 

The problem lies with device drivers. The device drivers which ship with each operating system release is only what is available at the time, so it cannot support new hardware which has been released after that time. This means when you plug in the device, the system is not going to find a suitable driver or it’s going to end up becoming a generic device. I’m sure you too will be quite pissed when you just installed a $300 gaming keyboard and mouse, and it defaults as a generic USB keyboard and mouse.

Up to and until now, operating systems and hardware vendors have tackled this problem by the use of internet updating mechanisms which seek out new drivers when you plug in a device. This of course relies on vendors actually actively updating the drivers in this drivers pool which so far they’ve failed, but more importantly, it requires an active internet connection. The paradox of installing a new network adapter which requires a network connection to download a new driver is a good example where this fails.

Microsoft has just patented an idea that solves both of these problems with one stone. Patent application 20080071935, Self-Installing Computer Peripherals for those of you playing at home.

Microsoft patent makes Plug-and-Play smarter - istartedsomething

written by rob tags: device drivers, Microsoft, Patents