As Washington eyes patent reforms, the imperative to secure intellectual property is driving companies to build up their portfolios.

If you can't catch terrorists, then the next best thing seems to be snatching their laptop computers. And as luck would have it, they're just as sloppy about protecting their sensitive personal information as the rest of us.

Mac fans let out a collective roar Friday night, with thousands of eager shoppers turning out at Apple stores across the globe to scoop up Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the latest version of Apple's operating system, as it went on sale at 6 p.m. PST.

From the dear-gawd-just-shoot-me-now dept:

Microsoft Corp. mogul, Bill Gates, and the leader of Ford Motor Co. outlined a future Friday in which software enables cars to fix themselves and avoid accidents.

New Zealand cinema owners may use mobile phone jamming technology to stop mid-movie calls, text messaging - and cell phone rage among patrons, they said Friday.

MontaVista Software, a Linux provider for the embedded and communications markets, announced Mobilinux, a new product built to address key areas of development for mobile and wireless devices. That's wonderful considering a new virus that spreads from cell phone to cell phone has made its way to 20 different countries around the world.

Aho successfully lobbied to create the Family Movie Act after billionaire director Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, Steven Soderbergh, 13 other famed Hollywood directors and eight large studios sued ClearPlay in U.S. District Court in Denver, claiming its software violated copyright laws. The new law is a direct blow to them.

Microsoft announced Thursday it has settled a class action lawsuit that alleged the software company violated Nebraska's unfair competition and antitrust laws. Members of the class will receive vouchers to be used for software and hardware, with the total settlement amounting to $22.6 million.

Informant.com is listing Spring Into Linux for a mere $29.99 ($20.99 for members). Judging by the sample chapters, it may prove to be worth it's weight in gold to the Linux newcomer.

Two workers sacked for hunting net smut at work have been awarded $40,000 a head for unfair dismissal. Expect Norwegian exports to fall by 60 per cent over the next six months and a sharp increase in "work-related" RSI and acute male blindness syndrome.

A Swedish team has shown that mice fed with moderate amounts of alcohol grew new nerve cells in the brain.

Voice and video files streamed over the net could be made untappable and ultra-secure in the next few years thanks to a breakthrough by Toshiba. I sometimes say it is like the messages in Mission Impossible. If anyone tries to read the messages, they self destruct.

Sun's upcoming "Niagara" systems will be shipping no later than early 2006, and could even start rolling out earlier. The chip will have eight cores, each of which will be able to process four instruction threads simultaneously.

Moving to protect its lucrative printer cartridge business, Seiko Epson has filed patent infringement lawsuits against two companies that manufacture replacement cartridges for its printers. Company says it is not trying to stamp out third-party cartridge manufacturers.

The good news? Everybody in China will soon receive a new computer at no charge. The bad news? Everybody in China will soon receive a new computer at no charge... running Windows.