City living trends and predictions

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Anondson
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City living trends and predictions

Postby Anondson » January 22nd, 2017, 8:34 pm

Amazon patented underground tunnels for delivering packages.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/9505559.pdf

It's like an offspring of the minds of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

talindsay
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby talindsay » January 23rd, 2017, 8:34 am

Of course, a patent doesn't have to be valid to be issued, that's an oddity of US patent processes. Given that the Royal Mail had a mail tunnel delivering packages through central London in the 1940s, I suspect this patent is more a garbage effort at giving them material for litigation. I didn't read the whole thing, but the first few pages don't seem to show a meaningful "invention" that the Royal Mail tunnel and other similar systems didn't have figured out almost a century ago.

Anondson
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby Anondson » January 23rd, 2017, 9:11 am

And to stretch patents like patent attorneys seem expert at, the pneumatic tubes under New York kinda fit the theme of the patent.

bubzki2
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby bubzki2 » January 23rd, 2017, 9:35 am

A patent doesn't have to be adjudicated as valid by a US District Court or the USPTO (Patent Office) PTAB (Admin Trial Board), but the basic requirements of US patent examination do, in fact, require novelty and non-obviousness over known or cited prior art, as well as meeting the difficult to define patent eligibility test under 35 USC 101.

The fact that US patent examiners are typically overworked and/or not fastidious can at times lead to invalid patents (along with subsequent changes in the law, such as the recent SCOTUS Alice decision), but this should not be confused with saying the USPTO just issues patents like utility model registrations, like some other countries do. An issued US patent (like the one above) is presumed valid unless challenged, either in Article III courts or the aforementioned PTAB. Upon a reading of the claims, this is fairly narrow due to the sheer number and type of limitations, but there may indeed for obviousness questions under 35 USC 103.

I'm always amazed how people (non patent practitioners) can merely glance at a patent and presume to pass judgment on its validity when experts, who can bill many hours at hundreds of dollars per hour, would need hours to make such a determination.

Anondson
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby Anondson » January 23rd, 2017, 10:15 am

I'm always amazed how people (non patent practitioners) can merely glance at a patent and presume to pass judgment on its validity when experts, who can bill many hours at hundreds of dollars per hour, would need hours to make such a determination.
Welcome to the Internet! Though you may wish to avoid Twitter and Facebook and comment sections everywhere...

bubzki2
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby bubzki2 » January 23rd, 2017, 10:36 am

you may wish to avoid Twitter and Facebook and comment sections everywhere...
That is good advice under any circumstances!

twincitizen
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby twincitizen » January 23rd, 2017, 11:46 am


amiller92
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby amiller92 » January 23rd, 2017, 1:00 pm

"Over the past decade, many American cities have been transformed by young professionals of the millennial generation, with downtowns turning into bustling neighborhoods full of new apartments and pricey coffee bars."

Hm. Maybe my viewpoint over-weights DC and, to a lesser extent, Minneapolis, but (1) this trend is way older than the last decade, with DC downtown neighborhoods first booming in the 90s, (2) it was LGBTQ people first (and in Minneapolis, retirees) and then Gen X long before these youngin' showed up, (3) nowhere near all of those people left, (4) you don't need need to be young and childless to live in the city, especially as they are currently evolving, (5) earlier generations didn't "eventually head to the suburbs" they never lived in the city in the first place (unless you talking about the '50s), and (6) isn't this really saying that building new housing reduces pressure on rents?

Anondson
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City living trends and predictions

Postby Anondson » January 23rd, 2017, 1:01 pm

"Existing idea: but underground" will be the new "Existing idea: but on the Internet". ;)

min-chi-cbus
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby min-chi-cbus » January 23rd, 2017, 5:01 pm

I can only tell you my experience and preference as a Millennial (born in '81), but although we may not prefer to live in the middle of the city (my wife's preference, not mine), we want that happy compromise of good school district, safe neighborhood, walkable/transit-oriented, single family home, and close to recreation/parks. St. Louis Park, S/NE Mpls, Highland Park, parts of Edina, Hopkins, Robbinsdale, Roseville, parts of Bloomington, etc. might meet be regional examples that come close to meeting that criteria. But if I could think of one place that most closely represents this compromise within the Twin Cities, I'd pick St. Louis Park or SW Mpls (Linden Hills or 50th & France nabes).

FranklinAveFixation
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby FranklinAveFixation » January 23rd, 2017, 6:52 pm

"Over the past decade, many American cities have been transformed by young professionals of the millennial generation, with downtowns turning into bustling neighborhoods full of new apartments and pricey coffee bars."

Hm. Maybe my viewpoint over-weights DC and, to a lesser extent, Minneapolis, but (1) this trend is way older than the last decade, with DC downtown neighborhoods first booming in the 90s, (2) it was LGBTQ people first (and in Minneapolis, retirees) and then Gen X long before these youngin' showed up, (3) nowhere near all of those people left, (4) you don't need need to be young and childless to live in the city, especially as they are currently evolving, (5) earlier generations didn't "eventually head to the suburbs" they never lived in the city in the first place (unless you talking about the '50s), and (6) isn't this really saying that building new housing reduces pressure on rents?
This.

As someone who just barely made the cutoff for GenX(thank god), I always read these type of articles shaking my head wondering why they never acknowledge this:
When city populations started swelling in the early and mid-2000s, it had less to do with the first of the millennials moving in than it did with lots of slightly older people not moving out, according to Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.

QuietBlue
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby QuietBlue » January 24th, 2017, 8:22 am

Didn't you know there are only two generations/cohorts? Boomers and Millennials; no other groups exist. Or at least that's what media tell me.

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Nick
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby Nick » January 24th, 2017, 8:39 am

Didn't you know that "generations" were invented by marketers to sell slightly different, slightly more expensive varieties of deodorant?
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talindsay
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby talindsay » January 24th, 2017, 8:44 am

Actually, the Boomer generation has a lot of specific reasons to be definable as a generation. Marketers got really used to the lazy shorthand and loved how easy it was, so we push the notion of generations on to those after (and to some extent, before) to keep that rolling, but there's really nothing generational about the groups that followed. There is *some* demographic truth to the reaction boom (millenials) but it's too dispersed to really form a cohort the way that the boomers did. Also, the notion that the boomer generation stretches to births from 1946-1964 is nonsense, as the "boom" really only covers about seven or eight years right after the war. But of course actual demography isn't easily marketable.

Mind, this is something that exiled_antipodean knows way more about than me...

QuietBlue
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby QuietBlue » January 24th, 2017, 9:36 am

Didn't you know that "generations" were invented by marketers to sell slightly different, slightly more expensive varieties of deodorant?
That's more or less my point (and why I threw "cohort" in there, since it's a better way of looking at it).

amiller92
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby amiller92 » January 24th, 2017, 9:58 am

I can only tell you my experience and preference as a Millennial (born in '81), but although we may not prefer to live in the middle of the city (my wife's preference, not mine), we want that happy compromise of good school district, safe neighborhood, walkable/transit-oriented, single family home, and close to recreation/parks. St. Louis Park, S/NE Mpls, Highland Park, parts of Edina, Hopkins, Robbinsdale, Roseville, parts of Bloomington, etc. might meet be regional examples that come close to meeting that criteria. But if I could think of one place that most closely represents this compromise within the Twin Cities, I'd pick St. Louis Park or SW Mpls (Linden Hills or 50th & France nabes).
Right, and we moved from a downtown condo to a SFH home in Hale and had a kid, so, yeah, I see the pressures they're talking about, but there are pressures in the opposite direction too. And we didn't move to Eagan.

FranklinAveFixation
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby FranklinAveFixation » January 24th, 2017, 11:28 am

Didn't you know there are only two generations/cohorts? Boomers and Millennials; no other groups exist. Or at least that's what media tell me.
So the 48 yr old guy I work with that barely knows how to turn on his computer is a millennial or a boomer now?
Actually, the Boomer generation has a lot of specific reasons to be definable as a generation. Marketers got really used to the lazy shorthand and loved how easy it was, so we push the notion of generations on to those after (and to some extent, before) to keep that rolling, but there's really nothing generational about the groups that followed. There is *some* demographic truth to the reaction boom (millenials) but it's too dispersed to really form a cohort the way that the boomers did. Also, the notion that the boomer generation stretches to births from 1946-1964 is nonsense, as the "boom" really only covers about seven or eight years right after the war. But of course actual demography isn't easily marketable.

Mind, this is something that exiled_antipodean knows way more about than me...
This is good to know, my sister and I have talked before about how these "generation" "traits" are complete BS. My brother, sister and I, all born in the late 70's, generally line up with about 50% of each generation.

QuietBlue
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby QuietBlue » January 24th, 2017, 1:15 pm

So the 48 yr old guy I work with that barely knows how to turn on his computer is a millennial or a boomer now?
Yes. I literally think everybody is in one of those two groups.

Of course I don't think that. I was making fun of writers' obsessions with Millennials, Boomers, and the concept of generations in general.

Anondson
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby Anondson » February 3rd, 2017, 9:55 pm

I came close to posting this under the Apps thread but because this only exists in the U.K. for now it seems better noted as a trend... A company has created an app where they will pay people to anonymously report illegally parked cars, essentially cutting app users a commission for the towing penalty to the illegally parked car.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 60881.html

Genius. But it could be dangerous.

Anondson
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Re: City living trends and predictions

Postby Anondson » February 17th, 2017, 10:49 am

Came upon a service (three cities so far, SF, Chi, NY) where you can specify a delivery window within an hour so you can be home when it arrives instead of having it sit outside your door all day.

https://www.doorman.co/


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