Wed Tech News

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Still, Acacia and other patent companies say their work helps protect the pioneering spirit that has historically defined the American way. Inventors and patent holders say they must constantly fight an uphill battle against wealthy multinationals that deploy legions of lawyers and invariably want to exploit their ideas for little or no cost. Common tactics include persuading small companies to submit their ideas to standards organizations, which subsequently license them cheaply or for free, and filing counterclaims against small companies in an effort to force them into cross-licensing arrangements.

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So far, the phone companies' pricing strategy has helped them gain some market share against their cable competitors. In 2004, DSL had about a 41 percent share of the broadband consumer market, up two percentage points from the year before, due largely to aggressive pricing. Experts expect the trend to continue, and within three to four years subscribers will be evenly split between cable and DSL.

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The system makes use of an overhead camera and image recognition software on a connected computer to identify the region from the map’s topographical features. An overhead projector then overlays relevant information - like the location of a traffic accident or even the position of a moving helicopter - onto the map.

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Kodak said it also plans to trim its traditional manufacturing assets, including plants, factories and other equipment, to about $1 billion, compared with $2.9 billion in January 2004. The company, which has been closing factories since its restructuring began, did not detail if more plants would be closed.