Shakespeare had it right: first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers. For one thing, it would stop frivolous patent lawsuits, but I can also think of one iPhone thief who might give that a thumbs up. In other news, Dell and Motorola are both swatting hardware bugs like there’s no tomorrow. Uncover the secrets in the remainders for Wednesday, July 21, 2010.
The Lanier Law Firm files infringement lawsuit over email spam patent (PR Newswire)
Texas-based InNova Patent Licensing LLC—gee, guess what business they’re in?—has filed suit against 36 different companies, including Apple, for violating a patent on a technology that separates spam messages from valid messages. Exactly what the patent does is a good question, but here’s a better one: what the hell are Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Frito-Lay doing on the list of defendants?
San Francisco’s unluckiest thief (SFGate.com)
You’re a poor thief just trying to make ends meet, so you snatch a lady’s iPhone and furiously pedal away. How were you to know that the phone happened to be testing a realtime GPS tracking app? Can’t an independent businessman catch a break?
Dell warns of malware on server motherboards (NetworkWorld)
I guess we can’t always blame Microsoft: somehow Dell shipped “a small number” of its servers with malware code embedded in the firmware. Dude, you’re getting a refund.
Motorola, Verizon make quick fix on Droid X display problems (Computerworld)
The latest hot Android phone, the Droid X, has a design defect that causes a small number of them to exhibit flickering or banding on the display. Yes, yes, no matter how you hold it—and there’s no way I’m lucky enough for that to be the last time I hear that joke.