Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:01:20 PST Tim Cushing http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121227/11132221500/amazon-patent-looks-to-make-receiving-lousy-gifts-thing-past.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121227/11132221500/amazon-patent-looks-to-make-receiving-lousy-gifts-thing-past.shtml An interesting patent has surfaced over at Quartz, detailing a method for exchanging unwanted gifts. Amazon filed this patent application in 2006 and had it granted in 2010, but so far, has yet to make use of it. (This is not to be confused with Amazon's more controversial, broadly written "method of buying gifts online" patent which was granted back in 2009.) The twist in this patent is the exchange method, which would take place prior to receiving the unwanted gift.

A number of "rules" can be set, heading off unwanted gifts before they even hit the order fulfillment queue. In the case of the hypothetical "Aunt Mildred," the user can choose to make the best of her good intentions that disguise themselves as bad gifts and eliminate her almost entirely from the gift selection process while also leaving her completely unaware that she's been cut out in favor of a checkboxed "middleman."

In addition, users can select whether to be notified and carry out the exchange manually or allow the algorithm to do all the heavy lifting. Interestingly, the patented system will also allow purchasers to place limits on exchanges, which should lead to some very interesting post-Christmas conversations, once all the behind-the-scenes gift trading has finished.


Of course, the whole setup process is wasted should gift givers decide to purchase from other services, but adding the ability to painlessly 'hot swap' yet another sweater for something you'd rather have, without having to go through the rarely painless return/exchange process could have many Amazon customers recommending the service to familial holdouts.

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]]> provided-all-gift-giving-runs-through-Amazon,-which-is-THE-PLAN http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20121227/11132221500 Tue, 7 Feb 2012 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100129/1527227981/dailydirt-sneaky-little-spiders.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100129/1527227981/dailydirt-sneaky-little-spiders.shtml

Some crafty male spiders court attractive females by giving them gifts wrapped in silk -- but sometimes the gifts turn out to be inedible seeds or empty insect exoskeletons. Female spiders prefer edible gifts (chocolates, not flowers, guys), but in the end, they lay the same number of fertilized eggs regardless of whether or not the gift is appreciated. [url]

What can a male spider do when the females of its species are known to eat their mates? In at least two spider species, the males snap off their genitals inside their mates. Evolutionary pressures can be painful... ouch. [url]

Male wolf spiders have been observed to "eavesdrop" on their competition in order to outdo the mating dances of their rivals. Researchers came to this conclusion by letting spiders watch video screens of other male spiders dancing... and observing them pick up some cool new moves. [url]

To discover more interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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