Open source to power US patent review

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is looking to the open source community to help improve the quality of patents issued in the US. Quality issues have landed the USPTO with something of a reputation as an over-liberal system that one should try to avoid - particularly in relation to efforts in Europe to come up with a harmonised patent legislation for the EU. The successful patenting of what some might consider trivial or obvious inventions, such as 'one-click shopping' has made software patents tricky terrain for the tech industry. ...more

Digital paper set to go mainstream

'Electronic paper' has long been touted as the future of newspapers and books, but products such as e-books have yet to take off. That may soon change, according to executives involved in the technology. While Internet companies are scanning libraries of books and making them available online, E Ink, which emerged out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology a decade ago, is seeing a surge in orders for its portable, foldable displays that mimic conventional paper to carry such books. ...more

Google and Microsoft are threatened species

What do Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! have in common? Apart, that is, from carving up the Internet search business between them. All three are on a US professor's list of companies that could disappear within 20 years. In fact the list is stuffed with US corporate giants: Dell, Amazon, Starbucks and Wal-Mart are there too. ...more

eBay and PayPal prime targets for Phishers

Over 75 per cent of phishing attacks are targeted at eBay and PayPal users, according to a new study by security firm Sophos. Data from Sophos's global network of spam traps during 2006 show that 54.3 per cent were attempting to steal information from users of PayPal. ...more

A NeuStar on the horizon, a new domain on the Net

NeuStar is the Registrar that has won the right to manage the newly available .us chunk of Internet real estate. The Washington-based company has now announced its intent to accept registrations from the general public on 24 April. ...more