[HN Gopher] Highest Resolution Photos Ever Taken of Snowflakes
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Highest Resolution Photos Ever Taken of Snowflakes
Author : atakan_gurkan
Score : 80 points
Date : 2021-01-28 07:29 UTC (15 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com)
| dr_dshiv wrote:
| I love that he does all these random innovations. I hope he gets
| into dirigibles
| jjoonathan wrote:
| They aren't random. He's a gigantic patent troll and has a
| strong vested interest in maintaining the appearance of being a
| quirky inventor.
|
| I suppose he genuinely is one, to a degree, but the fact that
| he made a killing by squeezing _actual_ innovators en masse
| robs the situation of most of its charm.
| pewpewpew777 wrote:
| A few articles that came up in google:
|
| https://psmag.com/magazine/a-patent-boogieman-with-the-
| poten...
|
| https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2018/06/01/after-10.
| ..
| thesausageking wrote:
| If you're not familiar with him, Nathan Myhrvold is the
| (in)famous patent troll behind Intellectual Ventures:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_Ventures
| umvi wrote:
| > Intellectual Ventures ... has been described as the country's
| largest and most notorious patent trolling company, the
| ultimate patent troll, and the most hated company in tech.
| DoofusOfDeath wrote:
| Apologies if this is too tangential, but does anyone know
| where I can find a good explanation of why patent "trolling"
| is seen as worse than any other kind of IP enforcement?
|
| TL;DR:
|
| My (perhaps wrong) view is that people are misdirecting their
| anger; that the real target should be governments' loose
| standards for what's patentable, and for the breadth of some
| of the patents they issue. But given that people don't show
| equal outrage for copyright / trademark litigation, I suspect
| I'm genuinely missing something.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| umvi wrote:
| > Apologies if this is too tangential, but does anyone know
| where I can find a good explanation of why patent
| "trolling" is seen as worse than any other kind of IP
| enforcement?
|
| - IP enforcement
|
| I invent a new drug. I spent a lot of money to develop it,
| so I want to be able to exclusively sell it to recoup my
| investment. If someone reverse-engineers my drug and tries
| to undercut me before the patent expires, I enforce my IP.
|
| - IP trolling
|
| I invent nothing, I manufacture nothing. Instead, I have
| legal expertise and I plan to make money 100% through the
| legal system. So, I buy tons of IP from companies and
| individuals willing to sell them - the more generic, the
| better. I then troll around looking for companies that make
| products that might fit some of the patents I just bought.
| I legally shake down the companies for violating my patents
| and settle for a fat sum before resuming trolling for more
| victims.
| DoofusOfDeath wrote:
| > So, I buy tons of IP from companies and individuals
| willing to sell them - the more generic, the better. I
| then troll around looking for companies that make
| products that might fit some of the patents I just
| bought.
|
| That fits my understanding of what patent trolls'
| behavior. What I still don't understand is, why is this
| seen as worse than e.g. a streaming service like
| Funimation/Sony buying up exclusive rights to anime that
| other entities have created, and then Funimation/Sony
| sues other website that continue to stream those videos?
|
| My best guess is that because the USPTO has issued
| patents that seem unjustifiably broad/vague, it's harder
| to be certain that you're not violating some patent, than
| to be sure that you're not violating someone's copyright.
| But if that's really the reason, it still seems to me
| like the real villain here is the USPTO / U.S. Congress.
| Because (to my current way of thinking), they created the
| business landscape that rewards this kind of behavior.
| martinesko36 wrote:
| Is this also the guy behind Modernist Cuisine?
| ojilles wrote:
| Yes.
| mianos wrote:
| It seems no one is game to comment on the fact that it is not his
| idea on the comment page for fear of being sued.
| stephen82 wrote:
| They must be kidding us...Alexey did it years ago
|
| https://alexey-kljatov.pixels.com/
| marcod wrote:
| LOL https://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/close-up-
| wi...
|
| I guess they have a few more pixels, so they can claim the
| "title" :p
|
| Also, don't shoot in yellow snow!
| mojuba wrote:
| Amazing photos. This one can easily be a company logo -
| https://alexey-kljatov.pixels.com/featured/real-snowflake-20...
| ipsum2 wrote:
| Using focus stacking and strobes to take high-res photos of
| snowflakes is nothing new. Here's a YouTube video of how to do it
| yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKA8Boa9hBA
|
| Gallery of incredible snowflake photos by the same guy
| https://skycrystals.ca/snowflake-gallery/ (adblock stops the
| gallery from working for some reason)
|
| Myhrvold is just really good at PR.
| dekhn wrote:
| Looking at the first video link, that guy is using a
| telephoto/macro with a canon camera in ambient lighting
| conditions. Nathan has a scientific scope using a high power
| microscope objective, an XY stage, and lighting. The results
| are different. Focus stacking improves depth of field. But if
| you're aligning the flakes perpindicular to the optical axis,
| flat, then it makes more sense to just select the appropriate
| objective and lighting for the DOF you want, and scan the XY
| with a very high resolution objective to get the 2D details of
| flat flakes.
|
| Big difference (I do both, but not on snowflakes).
|
| Agree he's good at PR.
| jjoonathan wrote:
| > Nathan Myhrvold
|
| Another puff piece for the patent troll king!
| john_minsk wrote:
| I don't see any links to high res photos. Are they available?
| ddingus wrote:
| "Art starts at $850"
| shmageggy wrote:
| This was posted last month
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25414579
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(page generated 2021-01-28 23:02 UTC)