construction

Report: Free Tesla for Parisian green-home buyers

If you love Paris and the environment, and you have a boatload of money, this could be your dream home.

A real-estate company called Welcome in France is offering a free Tesla Roadster with every purchase of one of its homes in a new ecological luxury-housing development on the outskirts of Paris, according to a report.

The development will use solar panels, geothermal energy, and its own water treatment facility, among other things, French car blog Le Blog Auto reported, but it's still under construction, and buyer interest has been slow due to the economy.

The Tesla is a … Read more

No X-ray vision needed to see through this wall

And today in news about concrete...

You may already have heard about Litracon, a see-through concrete developed by Hungarian architect Aron Losonczi. Filled with optical fibers that run from one end of a poured piece of concrete to the other, these prefabricated blocks and panels effectively transmit light from one side to the other.

The material can be used for artistic purposes, or in commercial or residential construction projects, where experts predict it could reduce heat loss in buildings. Needless to say, this stuff turns the traditional concept of cold, hard, gray concrete on its side.

Well, if you're … Read more

Dent an Aptera 2e, win $100

In Aptera Motor's manufacturing facility, visitors are given a sledgehammer and encouraged to swing away at the company's electric vehicle prototype. Dent it, and you can win $100.

This challenge, of course, will not apply to accidents on the streets when the three-wheeled aerodynamic vehicle hits California's congested highways in October.

The hands-on exercise demonstrates the vehicle's inherent safety, and is an attempt to overcome the perception that a small, lightweight, three-wheeled vehicle isn't as safe as a conventional gas-fueled car. … Read more

Quick appellate review of patent claim constructions: Is the door opening for interlocutory appeals?

The most difficult issue in many patent cases is claim construction, that is, the court's interpretation and articulation of what exactly the claims of the patent mean. Interpreting patent claims is hard work. It usually involves consideration of technical jargon that, especially when significant time has passed since the patent was filed, may be obsolete or just plain awkward. As a result, courts don't always get claim construction right the first time. Indeed, a substantial percentage--depending on whom you ask, the anecdotal figure is around 50 percent--of trial court claim constructions are successfully challenged on appeal.

The high reversal rate for claim construction is especially problematic because most claim construction decisions cannot be immediately appealed. Interpreting the claims is only the first step in the infringement analysis. After they're interpreted, that construction has to be applied to the accused product or process. Most often that's something the jury is supposed to decide, which means you may have to go through a long and costly trial before a judgment is entered. That judgment--either that the patent claims are infringed or they are not--is what the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the "Federal Circuit") ultimately reviews.

However, if the claim construction was wrong in the first place, the jury's verdict on infringement is usually wrong, too. That means a second trial will likely be necessary, which results in more work for the courts, more time lost in litigation, and more money spent on lawyers. The rub, argue critics, is that much of this additional expense and inefficiency could be avoided if claim construction opinions could be appealed prior to a final judgment on infringement.

… Read more

What Ripley would look like as an iPod

This is the ideal iPod dock for those who carry gear such as the Hummer phone to reinforce their fragile masculine egos. Kind of an MP3 version of the Makita MR100, the 10-pound "Construction Radio" is equally comfortable in the workshop or a demolition site for a 40-story high-rise. Indeed, it looks something like a "HyperBike" for the media player, or maybe a scaled-down version of Ripley's power loader from Aliens.

It comes with a built-in spotlight, SD card slot, dual power outlets, and an AM-FM radio in addition to a fortified iPod dock, according … Read more

What is U.S. Patent No. 5,205,473?

The title of U.S. Patent No. 5,205,473 (the '473 patent in patent speak) is "Recyclable corrugated beverage container and holder." If you've ever been to Starbucks, the drawing on the first page of the '473 patent probably looks familiar.

I actually have one of these sitting on my desk right now. It's the corrugated, brown cardboard sleeve wrapped around my venti, no fat, no water chai latte. It insulates my hand from the hot liquid inside and allows me to walk from the barista to my car without a wince or painful grimace.

It's a good idea and whoever came up with it got a patent. I know that because the number, "U.S. Patent No. 5,205,473" is printed in neat, black text right on the sleeve. (There's actually a second patent number as well.) The reason the sleeve on my coffee cup, and most other patented products, have patent numbers printed on them is something patent lawyers call "constructive notice."

Under the law, the public is deemed to have constructive notice that something is patented if that something has a patent number on it. The idea behind the law apparently is that if one sees a patent number, one has the ability to look that patent up, read it, and maybe even understand what it says. For the corrugated sleeve, it was simple enough for me--albeit a little geeky--to take a look at the '473 patent and understand how the sleeve works to make the heat from my latte more bearable.

… Read more

U.K. releases plans for water neutral 'eco-region' near London

The U.K. Housing Ministry released official details on an expansive $18.6 billion redevelopment project that would be water-neutral and feature carbon-zero buildings.

The Thames Gateway 9 billion-pound ($18.6 billion) project would span 40 miles along the Thames River from London's Canary Wharf to Southend in Essex and Sittingbourne in Kent.

If approved by Parliament, the Thames Gateway could be "Europe's largest regeneration project," according to the proposed plan (PDF) from the U.K. Ministry of Housing and Planning.

But the ministry has also repeatedly said it wants the project to be an example … Read more

ROK, scissors, paper

Our daughter has reached the developmental milestone of trying to create for herself working models of objects she observes in her everyday life. Last year she drew pictures of houses; this year she's trying to make actual houses. Of course, modeling clay is a great material for her constructive tendencies. But modeling clay has its limits--anything that's more than an inch thick doesn't bake very well in the oven. It's difficult to really appreciate the house-ness of something about the size of a small carrot, red roof or otherwise.… Read more

Permission to board the simulator

Battle stations! The U.S. Navy has upped the stakes in the battle of the training simulators with the commissioning of its 550-foot USS Trayer Battle Stations 21.

The Trayer, dry-docked at a mock pier in the $82.5 million USS Iowa training complex in Great Lakes, Ill., simulates an Arleigh-Burke-class destroyer and some of the adventure and hard work that goes with sailing the Seven Seas.

BTS 21 is part of a 10-year, $763 million "recapitalization" of training facilities that will set new standards in simulation technology by using video screens, smells, vibrations and sound effects to … Read more