Five patents have been approved that sport the signature of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. These aren’t computer-related patents, however, as apparently Bill Gates has used his mammoth wealth to gain god-like powers, a fact sure to push Steve Jobs to the edge of insanity.

From NOLA:

As many as 200 vessels could be placed strategically in the predicted path of a hurricane, and they could be designed to be reused or to sink in place and decompose underwater. The vessels could be moved into place by towing or by dropping from airplanes.

A second patent application describes how part or all of the cost of building and maintaining the hurricane-killer ships could be raised by selling insurance to coastal residents whose risk would be reduced by using the new system.

The hurricane-killing ideas, contained in a half-dozen related patent applications, were made public by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Friday, with Gates listed as one of the inventors on each. The applications were submitted by Searete LLC, a subsidiary of Intellectual Ventures of Bellevue, Wash., and created by former Microsoft executives to both buy up existing patents and develop patent applications for new ideas.

Amazon has filed several patents that reveal possible realities coming soon to Kindle, their popular (and expensive) e-book reader.

The abstract says:

Access to an electronic version of a physical work is provided to a user. The electronic version of the physical work comprises images of the physical work that, when visually displayed, appear the same as the physical work. Access to the electronic version of the physical work is based on user ownership of the physical work. Access to a portion or all of the physical work may be provided in accordance with one or more access rules. A user may own a physical work by virtue of purchasing the physical work or purchasing an item that the physical work normally accompanies. A flag may be set for later reference to indicate user ownership of the physical work.

In simple terms, if you purchase a physical book from Amazon, then you’d also get a free electronic version of the same book for your Kindle, albeit littered with ads to either significantly reduce the cost or make it free altogether.

It’s not a bad idea, though I would rather see e-books offered for free without the need of purchasing an actual, physical copy. Ad-supported books may seem like the beginning of the end for human culture, but if Amazon can work it so more people are reading without going bankrupt, then that is something I can get behind.

More details at CNet.

Never one to let another company’s innovation go unchallenged, Microsoft has received patents for a ‘magic wand’, which one can only assume is a forthcoming Xbox 360 controller and not something that makes rabbits appear from top hats.

So Says The BBC:

The patent application also describes “biometric sensors” that would examine “fingerprint, hand geometry, hand vein pattern, palm pattern, and grip configuration” along with “facial thermogram, a facial feature, a retinal feature, or an iris feature”.