Techmeme: Patent Court Torn on Whether Software Deserve Patents (Susan Decker/Bloomberg)

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May 11, 2013, 11:25 AM

Top News

Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:

Big changes coming to AppleCare this fall: warranty subscriptions, in-store iOS device repairs, more [u] — In a town hall session held on Thursday, Apple informed tech staff that major changes to the AppleCare and AppleCare+ service programs will be enacted starting this fall …

More: App Advice, ifoAppleStore, MacNN, CNET, MacRumors and iClarified. Tweets: @ldignan

Reuters:

Exclusive: Elon Musk quits Zuckerberg's immigration advocacy group — (Reuters) - Billionaire environmentalist Elon Musk has quit a Silicon Valley advocacy group formed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg after the group funded ads for senators touting their support for an oil pipeline and oil drilling in Alaska.

More: AllThingsD, Los Angeles Times, HotHardware.com News, TechCrunch, New York Times, GigaOM, CNET, Valleywag, The Register, Business Insider, Quartz and The Next Web

Tweets: @semil, @om and @mattrosoff

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Apple's two-step verification rolling out to additional countries: Canada, Argentina, Netherlands, Russia, Mexico, Poland, Brazil, more — Update: Mexico, Germany Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal, Italy & Poland too. Let us know in the comments if the feature is now available in your country.

More: AppleInsider, CNET, The Verge, TUAW, MacStories, iPhone Hacks, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com, iMore, iClarified and MacNN

David Kravets / Wired:

Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform — The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.

More: The Verge, TechPresident and Salon

Susan Decker / Bloomberg:

Patent Court Torn on Whether Software Deserve Patents — The nation's top patent court issued a deeply divided opinion today on how to determine if software is eligible for legal protection, reflecting the broader debate that has split the computer industry.

More: ITworld.com and Reuters

Marc Santora / New York Times:

Cyberthieves Looted A.T.M.'s of $45 Million in Just Hours — It was a huge bank heist - but a 21st-century version in which the robbers never wore ski masks, threatened a teller or set foot in a vault. — Yet, in two precision operations that involved people in more than two dozen countries acting …

More: Daily Dot, Inquirer, PandoDaily, TechPresident, ReadWrite, Reuters, VR-Zone, Mashable and CNET

Brad Reed / BGR:

Microsoft exec hits back at Windows 8 bashing, says OS is not like ‘a can of soda’ — Microsoft executive Frank Shaw is not happy with everyone who compared Windows 8 to New Coke this week. Shaw, who serves as Microsoft's vice president of corporate communications, has written a blog post swiping …

More: The Economist, The Official Microsoft Blog, The Verge, VR-Zone, Neowin, GeekWire, Business Insider and The Register

Michael B. Farrell / The Boston Globe:

Boston goes Google as its drops Microsoft e-mail services — The mayor who doesn't do e-mail is now on Gmail. — Whether Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who doesn't even have a computer on his desk, actually uses it is another matter. But he's moving to Google, and bringing some 20,000 other city employees with him.

More: The Microsoft Office Blog, Network World, CNET, 9to5Google and Softpedia News

Joseph Menn / Reuters:

Special Report: U.S. cyberwar strategy stokes fear of blowback — (Reuters) - Even as the U.S. government confronts rival powers over widespread Internet espionage, it has become the biggest buyer in a burgeoning gray market where hackers and security firms sell tools for breaking into computers.

More: The Verge

Associated Press:

Washington state courts hacked; potentially up to 160,000 Social Security numbers accessed — OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington state Administrative Office of the Courts was hacked sometime between last fall and February, and up to 160,000 Social Security numbers and 1 million driver's license numbers …

More: Forbes, SecurityWeek, ZDNet and Softpedia News

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Is Getting Serious About Original Programming With “Facebook Live” — “House Of Cards” proved that great, exclusive content can create loyal customers. While Facebook isn't about to produce TV shows, it tells me that it plans to ramp up production of its Facebook Live original programming starting …

More: bizjournals, CNET and The Verge

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Apple forces Line to remove the ability to send virtual items as gifts from its iOS app — Asian mobile messaging service Line is seeing early success with its monetization model — to the tune of $58 million in revenue for Q1 2013 — but there's a little bad news today as the company …

More: LINE official blog, iDownloadBlog.com, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, Macgasm, TechCrunch and App Advice

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