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Planting Seeds of Injustice February 26, 2013 At the oral argument in Bowman v. Monsanto, Chief Justice Roberts cut off Bowman's attorney seconds into his delivery, questioning his thesis, which undermined the purposes of patent law. "Why in the world would anybody spend any money to try to improve the seed if as soon as they sold the first one anybody could grow more and have as many of those seeds as they want?"

Consumer Signal Booster: An Electronic Gadget Grows Up February 26, 2013 There's a little-known electronic gadget -- one that's generally not available alongside the colorful big-screen TVs and bass-pounding sound systems in seductive, sparkly urban consumer-electronics mega-stores -- that can be a life-changing device, nonetheless. For some people, it's much more important than the latest 4.7-inch smartphone.

FTC Gives HTC a Good Shaking Over Bungled Security February 25, 2013 The Federal Trade Commission last week reached a settlement with HTC America over charges the company failed to take reasonable steps to secure the software in its smartphones and tablet computers. The security flaws could have compromised the privacy of millions of consumers, the agency said. This is the FTC's first case against a mobile device manufacturer.

Week of Weird: Sony Jumps the Gun, Google Luxury-Prices Its Yugo February 25, 2013 This really has been an entire month of the strange. We had Boeing's Dreamliner sidelined for batteries that catch fire. We had Tesla locking horns with the NYT. We had Sony announce its new game system nearly nine months before it would be available -- but not actually show it. Biggest of all, despite Chromebooks failing to sell in the $250 range, we had Google offer a refresh priced at $1,500.

Scientists on Unparticle Hunt Give Earth a Spin February 23, 2013 The CERN team in Switzerland uses the Large Hadron Collider to search for the elusive Higgs-Boson. A small team of researchers led by Larry Hunter, a professor of physics at Amherst College, can top them in one aspect: It is using the entire planet as a particle detector that could open up new areas of physics.

Sony's PS4 Launch: Too Little Too Soon? February 22, 2013 Sony unveiled its PlayStation 4 video game system this week -- sort of. It didn't display the console itself or reveal its physical dimensions and form factor. It also left unanswered a raft of questions about its capabilities. How compatible -- or incompatible -- will the PS4 be with Sony's current-generation PlayStation 3 system, for example, which was launched in November of 2006?

Einhorn to Apple: Time to Pay the Piper February 22, 2013 Hedge fund manager and rogue Apple investor David Einhorn hosted a conference call for shareholders Thursday as he continued his campaign to steer more cash from the company's balance sheet toward investors. Einhorn, a manager at Greenlight Capital, used the call as part of his broader strategy to pressure Apple to issue a stockholder dividend rather than let the company's $137 billion lay idle.

iWatch-y Patent Greases the Gears of Concept Designers February 22, 2013 After revolutionizing the world of portable music with its iPod and creating the need for apps for just about everything with its iPhone, Apple could be looking to make time with an iWatch. While the device won't likely change the way people interact with the Earth's rotation, it could put numerous functions on the wearer's wrist. Or it might just be some old vaporware.

Keeping Up With the Future: Risk Management for Rapid Technology Adoption February 22, 2013 Everyone knows that protecting an organization's technology footprint has always been a delicate balancing act. Nowadays, literally everything about a given organization's technology portfolio is in a near-constant state of change; technologies change, usage changes and the threat landscape changes.

Sony Debuts PS4 With More Whimper Than Bang February 21, 2013 Sony officially introduced its long-anticipated PlayStation 4 video game console at a media event in New York City on Wednesday. However, Sony merely showed off its new controller -- it didn't actually unveil the physical console, likely saving that newsworthy moment for the upcoming E3 in Los Angeles in June.

Canon Gets Uncannily Real With New Mixed Reality Tech February 21, 2013 Canon officially launched its new MREAL System for Mixed Reality on Wednesday. Unlike traditional virtual reality-type systems that essentially block out the real world, this new imaging solution simultaneously merges virtual objects with those of the real world at full scale and in three dimensions.

Robotics: Revitalizing American Manufacturing February 21, 2013 Much has been said over the last few years about the loss of American jobs to other countries. The fact is that China and India, as well as other cheap labor countries, have taken a good number of jobs. Many of these jobs will likely never return. I wrote an article in 2006 titled "Why Money Chases Cheap Labor -- The Outsourcing Phenomenon."

In Search of Linux's Greatest Moment February 21, 2013 There's no denying that Linux has had a lot of great moments since the turn of the millennium, and Linux Girl has done her best to highlight each and every one of them -- at least over the past six or so of those years. Recently, however, the question was the subject of a new poll that prompted vigorous debate.

Coming to Grips With Wire February 21, 2013 If there's one area of complication in any direct-current, hobbyist tech project, it's wire. What gauge of wire should you use? How should you terminate it? How can you join wire on a budget? You'll encounter issues like this in any DC-current application project, whether you're working on audio amplifiers or other after-market automotive accessories, solar equipment or amateur radios.

Google Provides a Clearer View of Glass February 21, 2013 After nearly two years of research, testing and developers-only access, Google announced Wednesday that consumers would finally be next to view the world through Glass, the company's augmented-reality glasses project. Those users can participate, however, only if they are the winners of a social media-based contest.

Google May Set Up Shop Around the Corner February 20, 2013 Google may be planning to launch an ambitious brick-and-mortar retail operation to show off its consumer products. It will open standalone retail stores across the U.S. in time for the holidays, according to the latest rumor, to showcase its Nexus tablets, Chromebooks, Glass and other products.

Oracle Tries Again to Get Satisfaction in Java Case February 20, 2013 Oracle is not letting go of its Java patent infringement beef against Google despite its sound drubbing last spring when U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ruled that programming APIs were not subject to copyright protection. Last week, Oracle took the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Getting to the Root of Patent Exhaustion February 19, 2013 Patent laws remain in the crosshairs, despite the passage and near final implementation of the infamous America Invents Act of 2011. The Supreme Court is again hearing a case that has far-reaching implications for future innovation in self-replicating systems in fields such as nanotechnology, cell and DNA lines, new medical treatments and others.

Linux, Microsoft and the Juicy Office Rumor February 19, 2013 Rumors are not exactly an uncommon phenomenon here in the Linux community, but every once in a while one comes along that is so compelling, such a deliciously tantalizing prospect, that bloggers just can't leave it alone, no matter how far-fetched it may be. Case in point? Oh, it's a juicy one: "Microsoft is having a 'meaningful look' at a full Linux port of Office ... .

Killing Tesla Slowly: Horse vs. Gas vs. Electric and 1 Foolish CEO February 18, 2013 I watched in horror last week as Tesla's CEO Elon Musk attempted to turn a New York Times reporter into the next Ralph Nader and kill his company. It brought back memories of the Chevrolet Corvair that died as a result of GM's decision to fight what turned out to be false allegations instead of just making the car better.