Eid Mubarak

Time flies. It’s 13 Syawal already and I haven’t started my puasa enam. Life has been a bit demanding these days, so waking up early before Subuh is really a challenge. To be honest, I am missing Ramadan.

Eid celebration was great to us, although I had no official leave actually. However, meeting some close relatives reminds me that how short our lives in this world. I remember in one of Raihan’s songs, about grabbing five things before five things happen: “Muda sebelum tua, lapang sebelum sibuk, kaya sebelum miskin, sihat sebelum sakit, hidup sebelum mati”. May Allah accept our little deeds during Ramadan and bless us with many more Ramadan.

Maybe if I have some free time (God knows!), I will write about our Eid celebration. Anyway, this song has been on my head since yesterday. In the meantime before my next entry, I share you the lyrics.

Di hati kulakarkan sebuah impian
Yang aku namakan harapan
Apabila kutentukan arah serta tujuan
Rela kuhadapi cabaran

Jalan ke puncak itu beronak dan berliku
Menyukarkan pendakianku
Namun tetap kugagahi hati yang rapuh ini
Demi hasrat yang suci

Aku sangkakan harapan selembut impian
Yang menguliti tidur insan
Kiranya kehidupan tidak sedemikian
Goyah hatiku oleh kenyataan

Tak harus kuturuti kelemahan diri
Tak daya bertahan diuji
Lalu aku mengumpulkan semula kekuatan
Berlandaskan keimanan

EFF: Apple v. Samsung

The Electronic Frontier Foundation on the recent Apple vs. Samsung ruling:

AUGUST 27, 2012 | BY JULIE SAMUELS
Apple v. Samsung: What Does a $1 Billion Verdict Really Mean?:

We wrote last week that Apple and Samsung would be better off — and their consumers would be better served — if the tech giants took their epic patent battle out of the courtroom and into the marketplace. On Friday, the jury found that Samsung infringed a host of Apple’s patents and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages. That's more than a billion less than Apple had demanded and a small drop for Samsung in the grand scheme of things. But it's real money nonetheless, and that's before the injunctions.

The way the press reported the verdict, one would think the outcome was unexpected or unusual. But really, this case is just the latest in a long line of high-stakes patent litigation, each an instance of a patent system fundamentally unmoored from its constitutional goal. Sure, this case had some interesting elements: patents allegedly covering 3G technology, Apple’s ability to protect the functional designs of its products, and so on. In that regard, Apple v. Samsung is nothing new.

Since Friday, there has been no shortage of news and commentary surrounding the jury’s verdict. So what’s left to say? We can talk about whether a user interface should be covered by a patent (it should not), whether the law should protect the “look and feel” of a product (again, it should not, whether under patent or copyright law), or Apple’s own storied history of finding inspiration from those who came before (just a different way of saying “copying”). But what it comes down to is simple: it is time for this to stop.

The Constitution is clear on why the government grants monopolies: to “promote the progress of science and the useful arts.” Apple would have released the iPhone without a patent covering the rounded edges of its devices or the “rubber band” effect — the way a screen bounces when you scroll to the bottom. These patents, and the resulting lawsuits, do not promote the progress of science and the useful arts. They do not benefit the consumer. Instead, they are just another tool that businesses use to squelch competition and extract money from each other. The answer to competition is, or should be, more innovation, not courtroom battles that cost millions upon millions of dollars and drain judicial resources.

Apple v. Samsung demonstrates so much of what ails our patent system. But it's not all bad. This case made big news; people are paying attention. Now is the time to talk about the many ways that software patents hinder innovation instead of helping it. It is the time to talk about the public interest and how taking Galaxy products off the market would harm consumers. It is the time to talk about how we can find a system that makes sense for how people use, create, and develop software. We are having these conversations at defendinnovation.org and hope you will join us. The system must be fixed. Let’s make it happen.

Read more about the failed patent system here.

Perspective

Via David Ruccio, here is Fertiliser by cartoonist Dwayne Booth a.k.a. Mr. Fish:

Read: Bringing Up Bébé

Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman was the first book on parenting I have ever read cover to cover.

When American journalist Pamela Druckerman has a baby in Paris, she doesn’t aspire to become a ”French parent.” French parenting isn’t a known thing, like French fashion or French cheese. Even French parents themselves insist they aren’t doing anything special.

Yet, the French children Druckerman knows sleep through the night at two or three months old while those of her American friends take a year or more. French kids eat well-rounded meals that are more likely to include braised leeks than chicken nuggets. And while her American friends spend their visits resolving spats between their kids, her French friends sip coffee while the kids play.

The book gave me a fresh, different perspective to parenting. While the somewhat confused English-speaking world moves from one parenting philosophy-of-the-season to the next, it seems that the French has a singular universal parenting culture inspired by Rousseau and deeply rooted in science.

It also helps that the French state also provides generous support to families and women, from subsidized state-run healthcare, crèches (daycare centers) and maternelles (nursery schools) to ”perineal re-education”.

Since Afi is super busy with her thesis, I read the book first and then narrated her all the interesting points. I enjoyed the book very much, and would really recommend it to any parents of young children.