Much in the way the phone system migrated from operators hand-switching every call to users dialing directly, Intentional Software could let a marketing executive create the code needed for a product campaign with just minimal mediation from a programmer.

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But then our busted patent system intervened in the form of a threatening phone call from the CEO of Nuance Communications (NUAN), a big voice recognition firm.

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For a little more he built an Asterisk system of motion detectors and Web cameras that send video to his office laptop and can call any phone when something happens at his house.

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