Seagate Technology, the largest maker of computer hard drives, Smade a pre-emptive strike against an emerging competitor on Monday when it filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing STEC Inc. of patent infringement. In the suit, Seagate contends that STEC’s solid-state drive products violate four Seagate patents covering how such drives interface with computers.

What if the Post Office demands additional fees for selected and not to others? "It turns out that those patented funky red DVD mailer envelopes are a pain for the postal service. They "sustain damage, jam equipment and cause mis-sorts during automated processing," and the postal service has had enough. The Inspector General is asking to charge an extra $0.17 per DVD mailer if adjustments aren't made to make the envelopes more "machinable." While $0.17 may not sound like a lot, a research analyst at Citibank cranked the numbers and found that it would likely cut Netflix's monthly margin per customer from $1.05 to $0.35 -- basically killing 67% of its margin"

Chinese military hackers have prepared a detailed plan to disable America’s aircraft battle carrier fleet with a devastating cyber attack, according to a Pentagon report obtained by The Times. The blueprint for such an assault, drawn up by two hackers working for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is part of an aggressive push by Beijing to achieve “electronic dominance” over each of its global rivals by 2050,

the vulnerability of modern society

particularly the US, Britain, Russia and South Korea. [...]

President Bush, without referring directly to Beijing, said this week that “a lot of our systems are vulnerable to attack”

Gangster daughter sheds light on Japan underworld - Tendo: YakuzaThe author of "Yakuza Moon," a best-selling memoir just out in English, the 39-year-old Tendo says that police efforts to eradicate the gangsters have merely made them harder to track. [...]

As the world becomes more borderless, they'll need experts who can deal with this too, speaking Chinese and English.

"They're being forced into a corner, their humanity taken away," she said. "All the things they used to do for a living have been made illegal, so life has become very hard." "What we're going to see from here on is the yakuza becoming more structured, like the U.S. Mafia, and dividing itself between business experts and violence experts," said Manabu Miyazaki, a writer whose father was also a yakuza.

$1 of Zune price goes straight to Universal Music, won't pass "go" - Microsoft's Zune media player, due for retail release next week, will have the support of Vivendi Universal in an unusual contract form. For every $249 Zune player sold, Universal will get $1 (subscription required) to make up for the "unauthorized cont [My Latest Bookmarks]

Fight, fight, fight! Google v. AFP - Finally, an update in the Google News lawsuit. AFP claims Google News infringed by using thumbnail photos, headlines, and bylines linking to AFP stories. Google has filed a brief to dismiss the claim; they're fighting back! The fight is on! I was scared that Google would settle this or run away and promise to never do it again, but they have not. Google is now fighting on the edge of fair use. Make no mistake, this Google News case will redefine fair use and the way we link to and use material on the Internet. [Law Meme]

The Chinese Government unveiled a new system Tuesday to prevent individuals from playing online games for more than three consecutive hours, which must be installed for every online game in the country.