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MDIA 303: Mass Media Technologies

Technology Production Resources

Patents

I prefer using the Google Patent search, instead of the U.S. Patent Office. Search for:

  • the name of your technology
  • the company that owns your technology

Expect to find multiple patents for one technology. For example, the patents for the iPhone are numerous, as they use some of the technologies in multiple items (e.g. touch screen). 

U Texas has a great overview of patents that includes definitions of the different kind of patents and patent myths, along with links to tutorials on searching for patents on the US Patent Office Website.

How the Technology Works

To find the best information on your technology, go to each page individually and search there, rather than using Google to find it.

There are a number of different kinds of sources. Try a couple and see if you like what you find. Your technology may not be reported on at each site, so it might take you a while find a detailed article that's useful.

General tips:

  • Keep an eye out for sponsored content. Mashable is known to have sponsored content, but the other sites could, too.
  • Check for the byline. If the article is written by "staff," find another one to fact check or triangulate the information. It's best if you can find an article with a person's name listed as the author.

A note about CNET: For a long time, CNET was considered an important news site for technology and included well research product reviews. They were purchased by a digital media company in Oct. 2020 and the quality of the content tanked. Content prior to October 2020 is generally trusted, but may be hard to find. Anything after Oct. 2020 should be fact checked against another source. If you want to know more, read this article.