Alleged patent troll Innovatio IP Ventures, LLC has decided that one of its (presumably many) patent portfolios is for Wi-Fi in general. As such, it has begun to sue companies left and right as patent trolls are wont to do. So far, the suits have largely been against restaurants, coffee shops, and department stores including Caribou Coffee, Cosí and Panera Bread. In an attempt to freshen up the patent trolling process, it seems that Innovatio is asking for comparatively tiny settlements of between $2000 and $5000 to make the option of going to court seem extra expensive.

At this point you’re probably thinking “wait a minute, but I use Wi-Fi.” Rest assured, Innovatio has no intentions of going after your wallet you…yet. In an interview, Matthew McAndrews, lead litigator for Innovatio lawsuits said “Innovatio has made a strategic and business judgment at this stage that it doesn’t intend to pursue [lawsuits on the basis of] residential use of WiFi.” He also made a point of mentioning that “This is not a seat-of-the-pants, fly-by-night shakedown.” The lawyer doth protest too much, methinks.

Cisco has produced this impressive, and surprising, infographic that they believe will give us a glimpse how we’ll be interacting with computers in the future. Or rather, and this is the interesting part, how we won’t. Cisco points out that as of 2008, there are more things connected to the Internet than people on the planet. As we progress, it’s possible that these devices will spend more time interacting with each other than we interact with them.

Beyond all that prognostication, this handsome infographic also has some staggering numbers about the how much information is being pushed around the Internet. Read on, and be amazed.

Consumer electronics giant Cisco is facing down a lawsuit brought by 11 members of the Chinese religious group Falun Gong which claim that the company was complicit in the Chinese crackdown on the religion. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong grew to massive popularity in China until it was outlawed by the government in 1999. Since then, members of the group have reportedly been the victims of numerous human rights abuses.

The suit claims that Cisco competed forcefully for a contract with the Chinese government, knowing full well that their surveillance technology “Policenet” would be used to monitor and repress Falun Gong online activities. Falun Gong claims that as a result of Cisco’s successful contract bid, over 5,000 members of their religion were arrested, possibly tortured or killed.

Cisco has stated that they are not at fault, and will fight the suit “vigorously” in American courts. A Cisco representative has stated that the company operates no networks in China and followed U.S. export policies for technology and did not customize the Policenet system — which Falun Gong refers to as “Golden Shield” — in any way for use by the Chinese government. The suit was filed in San Jose, California, and there is no word as to when it is expected to go to trial.

(CNET via Slashdot)

We live in a consumerist society, and we’ve come to take it for granted that we are bombarded with logos everyday and everywhere. But how well do you know them, really? Below, the secret messages, symbols, and other cleverness in 12 exemplary logos.

The clock has struck eleven, and Cisco has unveiled its plan to “forever change the Internet,” as we know it: the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System. This upgrade to Cisco’s existing CRS-1 routing system is not a glamorous consumer gadget, to be sure, but its impact could still be significant: Cisco claims that the new core router is twelve times faster than its nearest competitor, that it can deliver up to 322 terabytes/second, and that it will help usher in the “Zettabyte era” that Cisco is fond of talking about:

According to a recently released report from Cisco, mobile traffic is poised to explode over the next five years — which isn’t a terribly surprising conclusion in itself, but the magnitude they’re talking about is.

In 2009, we used a total of 1.09 exabytes of data on mobile broadband networks worldwide, or 0.09 exabytes a month; by 2014, Cisco predicts we will consume a total of 43 exabytes, or 3.6 EB a month. That’s a factor of 39 — and keep in mind that an exabyte is one billion gigabytes.