House passed Patent Reform

[Press release] “I’m delighted that the House of Representatives has come together in a bipartisan manner to address the need for comprehensive reform in our intellectual property system,” noted Rep. Zoe Lofgren. “I believe this bill strikes the right balance between the need for strong patent rights and the encouragement of innovation. My amendment to the bill, which was incorporated into the manager’s amendment, goes a long way towards addressing this balance by focusing on the troubling growth of forum shopping in patent litigation. The amendment restores fairness and clarity to patent litigation by removing the most glaring instances of forum shopping by patent trolls.”

AAPL refunds $100 for early iPhone customers

[Steve Jobs] This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.

Judge voids security letters in Patriot Act

[NYT] The law allowed the F.B.I. not only to force communications companies, including telephone and Internet providers, to turn over the records without court authorization, but also to forbid the companies to tell the customers or anyone else what they had done.

Criminals exploit P2P users

[Seattle PI] Federal agents and prosecutors sounded a warning Thursday to the millions of people who use peer-to-peer software for downloading music or video files: "You are handing criminals the keys to your computer."

iPhone price cut: AAPL got it right

[The Street] Apple's CEO wants to return to you $100 of what you paid when you bought your iPhone too early -- provided, of course, you spend the $100 in one of his stores.Why do I get the feeling this is exactly what Steve Jobs had planned all along? Chances are that the extra $100 you would have saved, had the iPhone been appropriately priced to begin with, would have been spent outside an Apple store.

AAPL wants TV shows prices cut

[Beta News] Apple has begun an effort to convince networks and studios providing it video content to allow it to cut prices in half, meaning most television shows sold through iTunes would retail for 99 cents. Perhaps this explains NBC's defection.

Netscape pulls plug on Digg clone

[News.com] Jason Calacanis' personal project, Netscape's Digg clone, has officially closed up shop. When it was initially introduced, Netscape drew a lot of criticism for the site's similarities to Digg and for trying to bribe its top users to switch over to Netscape.

MSFT boosts Office for Mac

[News.com] Microsoft's next release of Office for Mac, due in January, will include business features that PC users have taken for granted for years. That will include the ability to set up out-of-office messages, according to a preview in Microsoft's Office for Mac team blog.