It's no secret that Apple would like to own the IP rights to everything ever created, and a recent trademark filing seems to affirm this. Today, website TMwatch spotted a recent trademark application filed by the Cupertino giant in which the company wishes to obtain exclusive rights to the word "startup."

The trademark was filed with the Australian legal firm Baker and McKenzie at the company's California headquarters. If the trademark is granted, it would prevent future new companies from using the term "startup" to describe their business ever again. It would also prevent the phrase being used in retail stores, being used in literature to describe what your computer does when you press the power button, and even educational settings such as classes and workshops.

Fortunately, trademark applications usually take a couple of years to process which leaves plenty of time for individuals and other companies to protest the filing. However, if the trademark application is approved, it could spell major issues for the tech industry as a whole. On a lighter note, could you imagine a world in which Robert Scoble could not use the term "startup" anymore?

Today, Facebook revealed that the US government accounts for the vast majority of the requests for information it receives about its subscribers. The social network said that it was legally required to comply with 79 percent of the 12,000 requests it received from the US government about 21,000 individuals who have profiles on the website.

The US government is not the only guilty party though, as the UK government submitted about 2000 requests on over 2300 Facebook users, which it was obligated to turn over 68 percent of the requests. On the lower-end of the spectrum, Australia requested info on 601 users, of which 64 percent were granted. Facebook chose to release this information in an effort to be transparent after accusations of being close partners with the NSA in the infamous PRISM scandal.

In a blog post, Facebook's general counsel, Colin Stretch, wrote: "As we have made clear in recent weeks, we have stringent processes in place to handle all government data requests... We believe this process protects the data of the people who use our service, and requires governments to meet a very high legal bar with each individual request in order to receive any information about any of our users."

In what can only be described as a win for humanity, the New Zealand government today passed a new Patents Bill that effectively makes patenting software illegal. In what many are calling a major victory for innovation, the bill was passed earlier this week after more than five years of debate and intensive lobbying for multinational software vendors.

New Zealand's Minister of commerce Craig Foss openly welcomed the updated Patents Bill and said that it marked a "significant step towards driving innovation in New Zealand." He went on to say: "By clarifying the definition of what can be patented, we are giving New Zealand businesses more flexibility to adapt and improve existing inventions, while continuing to protect genuine innovations,"

The bill passed by a unanimous vote and was praised by the Institute of IT Professionals. Its chief executive, Paul Matthews, had the following to say: "The patents system doesn't work for software because it is almost impossible for genuine technology companies to create new software without breaching some of the hundreds of thousands of software patents that exist, often for very obvious work... Today's historic legislation will support our innovative technology industry, and sends a clear message to the rest of the world that New Zealand won't tolerate the vexatious practice of 'patent trolls'"

EA has some hot property, there's no denying it, but going into the future they're going to be rotating its three main shooters, according to President of EA Labels, Frank Gibeau, during an interview with CVG.

These three shooters are Battlefield, Titanfall and Battlefront, but EA will be doing things a little differently from now. EA were alternating between its Battlefield and Medal of Honor franchises, but now that Medal of Honor is all but dead, the way EA are doing things will change. Back in January, EA were forced to state that it was "taking Medal of Honor out of rotation" for the forseeable future.

Gibeau told CVG: "The shooter rotation we think about now is Battlefield, Titanfall and Battlefront, and so we like those three brands going forward. We're working out how we're going to line that up because that's what you'll see from us."

Google acquiring Motorola is only being felt in the market now, with the release of the Moto X smartphone. The Moto X is assembled by Motorola at a planet in Texas, which is a nice change to most phones being made in Taiwan or China.

Most companies complain about the increased costs of manufacturing on US soil, but according to IHS, the Moto X isn't that expensive to build. This is thanks to the smartphone featuring a year-old Qualcomm applications processor, and two chips from Texas Instruments, and even with the increased manufacturing costs of building it in the US, the total build costs come in at just $221.

IHS analyst Wayne Lam says: "What Google and Motorola are trying to do is not play the game of 'bigger is better' that everyone else is playing. They are looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the pack and push the user experience in a new direction." IHS estimates that the components used in the Moto X run up at $209, while manufacturing adds $12 per unit.

Prepare yourselves for another dimension of NAND flash storage, with Samsung Electronics, Toshiba and Micron Technology all recently talking about their 3D NAND flash memory developments.

The three vendors' 3D NAND flash chips are expected to reach early stage production during 2014-2015, where we'll see a commercial release in the years to follow, according to market sources. The success of 3D NAND will of course come down to market adoption of new end products featuring the flash memory, which will dictate when it's ready to take center stage for commercial-scale production.

South Korean-based giant Samsung is said to be ahead of the pack in terms of the development of 3D NAND flash memory, with Samsung claiming it has begun mass production of 3D NAND flash for consumer electronics and enterprise applications such as embedded NAND storage and SSDs this month. The South Korean giant has a new 12-inch fab in Xian, northwestern China, which will also take care of the 3D NAND production.

Everyone loves a good tech rumor, right? More so, everyone loves a good tech rumor regarding future releases of Microsoft's Windows operating system. Today, website WinBeta has managed to beat all the odds and gain insider information on what we might expect to see in Windows 9 as well as Windows 10. Of course, with Windows 8.1 not even officially released to the public, it would be best to take everything you're about to read with a very fine grain of salt.

The leaks come from a source simply named "WZOR" that the website claims has been correct on countless Microsoft leaks in the past. The mysterious--and apparently infamous--WZOR states that Windows 9 will be more closely related to Windows 7 than it will to Windows 8, but no explicit details were given. He says that Windows 9 will continue the Aero-based desktop OS that so many of us techies missed gratefully.

"According to WZOR, Windows 9 will be similar to the desktop OS we know today. He claims that Microsoft is planning to bring the old Aero interface back, but not as we all know it. That's all he teases regarding the Aero interface, but he also claims that Windows 9 will make an appearance in a years time, much sooner than expected," reads the WinBeta article.

Today, Logitech announced the release a new wireless gaming mouse that boasts a massive 250 hours of continuous, lag-free use while in gaming mode. The mouse features Logitech's precision Delta Zero sensor technology, which the company says gives players the ability to dominate boss after boss. The mouse also features a non-gaming mode labeled Endurance mode, which offers users up to 1400 hours of use on a single charge.

"When I play, I don't want to think about anything other than my game and what my next move will be. When you look at the wireless gaming mice out there though, their primary flaw is the uncertainty of having to interrupt your game to replace batteries. Not anymore," said Ehtisham Rabbani, general manager of the Logitech gaming business group. "We set an outrageous goal, and we hit it. Doubling, tripling or even quadrupling the battery life of ordinary wireless gaming mice wasn't enough. We wanted to bring gamers an innovation that would change the face of wireless gaming forever. With 250 hours of battery life, the G602 does exactly that. It's time for gamers to get real science behind them so something as fundamental as a battery doesn't get in the way of winning."

Logitech says that the mouse is built around an ultra-durable standard with primary mechanical switches rated to 20 million clicks. The mouse also features 11 programmable controls that users can custom tailor to fit their gaming style using Logitech's gaming software. The Logitech G602 wireless gaming mouse will be available soon at a suggested retail price of $79.99.

We've known that BlackBerry Messenger is making its way to Android for quite some time now, and while we had hoped for an OS-wide launch sometime in July, it appears that the first Android devices to get BBM will be of Samsung origin. Earlier today, website CrackBerry spotted a teaser ad that was posted on both YouTube and Samsung's Ghana Facebook page.

Unfortunately, the YouTube video has since been removed, but the Facebook posting is still up at the time of this writing. It makes sense that the company's Ghana page would be the first to post as BlackBerry Messenger is a major form of communication in many African countries.

So what does this mean? I think we may see the app officially announced by Samsung or BlackBerry at the IDC trade show in Berlin, Germany, next week, and with a working port for Android-based Samsung devices now in existence, it is only a matter of time before BlackBerry Messenger is in the Google Play Store for all Android devices. That is, unless BlackBerry did something stupid like sign an exclusivity deal with Samsung, but then again this is BlackBerry were talking about and weirder things have happened in the past.

Today, Anker announced the release of its new Astro2 external USB battery pack. Featuring a capacity of 9000mAh, the Astro2 is capable of charging two mobile devices simultaneously meaning that you can now charge your smartphone and tablet at the same time while on the go.

Like the other devices in its second generation Astro line of external battery packs, the Astro2 is capable of detecting what device is plugged in and then adjusting the charging rate to deliver the fastest charge speed. It works on both iOS and Android devices including Apple's iPhone and iPad, as well as Samsung's Galaxy devices.

"Even with our Astro line of external batteries established as the top-selling external battery brand on Amazon, we continue to evolve and improve our product line by sticking to the basics of listening closely to our customers,"said Steven Yang, Anker Founder and Chairman. "We know people have different power needs but the same high standards for quality and design, and this Astro2 offers the same innovative design of our newest Astro3 but in a more compact package. For those who desire even greater portability, never fear - we have an even smaller addition coming for you in the near future."

Today, high-end PC case manufacturer Lian Li announced the release of the PC-A79 full-tower PC chassis to the North American market. The PC-A79 is an all aluminum chassis with a brushed exterior that provides ample cooling options while retaining the convenience of a removable motherboard tray. Lian Li says that the case is capable of supporting HPTX, E-ATX, XL-ATX, ATX, and Micro-ATX form-factor motherboards and has enough space to fit even the largest high-end video cards.

The A79 is capable of housing up to 11 hard drives, either in 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch form-factors. Nine of the drives are accommodated in the three removable drive cages in the front of the case, while two more can be placed on the bottom of the chassis using the of the two included mounting brackets. Additionally, a crafty modder could manage to mount another five to six 2.5-inch SSDs on the right side of the drive cage, which appears to be recessed the good half-inch.

Keeping things cool is a quite an easy task in the A79 as well. Each of the three drive cages up front have a dedicated fan that can be positioned at the front or rear of the drive cage. It also features a cool removable panel that allows the quick installation of a 240mm radiator, two 120mm fan locations on the removable left side panel, and a 120mm exhaust fan in the rear designed to suck out all of the hot air.

Grand Theft Auto V is nearly here, but before the 720p (or lower) title reaches current generation consoles (can you hear my disappointment yet?) Rockstar Games has taken to its website to detail the Special and Collector's Editions of GTA V.

Both editions will include more weapons, outfits, custom characters and more. Both the Special and Collector's Edition will include the addition of the .50 Caliber Pistol, the Bullpup Shotgun and melee weapon, the Hammer. Buyers will also receive a 20% discount in GTA V's stores and an additional outfit for the three protagonists in GTA V.

The Collector's Edition is a little more special, including custom characters from Grand Theft Auto Online, as well as GTA IV's Niko Bellic, as well as Claud and Misty from GTA III. Collector's Edition buyers will also receive the CarbonRS sports bike and open frame 1930s style hotrod, the Hotknife.

As an ex-professional photographer, one of the most annoying things about 90 percent of the photos posted online is the fact that they are never straight. No one seems to care about holding their smartphone in a nice in level orientation. Today, it appears that the developers over at Instagram felt the same way and decided to fix this crooked issue.

The latest version of Instagram for iOS features built-in image straightening and the best thing about it is that it can be setup to happen automatically. The developers figured out that they can collect data from the phone's accelerometer and gyrometer sensors to figure out at what orientation and the angle the smartphone was being held at at the time the image was captured and then use that data to automatically straighten the image. Below is an excerpt from a post written by Alex Restrepo on Instagram's Blog.

Yahoo began doling out good news (or bad) today to its users who applied for a recycled username back in July. The company began firing off emails today notifying users if a username they wished to recycle has been reserved for them are not. Today also marks the beginning of the new policy in which Yahoo will begin recycling user accounts if they go dormant for more than 90 days, so remember to keep logging into your account even if you're not using it if you wish to keep your name.

If you did not receive an email today, do not worry as it is expected to take several days for Yahoo to completely notify everyone who signed up. Additionally, if you did not have the chance to sign up for the original wish list of names, Yahoo will now allow you to do so at the cost of just $1.99. Fortunately, I was one of the lucky few who received my very first request, but apparently was denied for my other four. We want to know how many of you received your requested username, so drop us a line in the comments below!

It's hard to imagine that we're already here... talking about the Galaxy S5 and it's August of 2013. It wasn't too long ago that Samsung released the Galaxy S II, the first phone to truly compete with the iPhone. It wasn't until the S III that the tides began the change, and now the S4 truly rules the world.

Now we're hearing about the Galaxy S5, which is said to feature a new 16-megapixel rear-facing camera that is currently under development. This new camera would feature optical image stabilization (OIS) technology, too. The news is coming from South Korea's Electronic Times News. The report notes:

Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced his retirement in an aptly named internal memo titled "Moving Forward." The memo depicts Ballmer leaving the company on his own decision, but many industry analysts are speculating that the sometimes wild CEO was actually being forced out by the company's board.

GigaOm journalist Barb Darrow said in a recent article that "Several former and one current Microsoft execs told me that there was no way Ballmer would step down unless Gates withdrew his long-time support" when this is paired with Ballmer's own statement from the memo "My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our transformation to a devices and services company focused on empowering customers in the activities they value most." It's easy to interpret Ballmer's retirement as a not so voluntary departure.

The article on GigaOm goes on to quote another former vice president who it says is still tightly connected with Microsoft; "Bill must have flipped the bit on Steve," said the VP, adding that the recent reshuffling of most major executive roles--Ballmer's his own--"lined everything up behind Steve."

VMWorld 2013 - Today, Mellanox and LSI announced the results of a collaborative solution they designed to enable greater virtual desktop density per server based on VMware's Horizon View technology. This new low-latency solution is built using a Mellanox 40GbE NICs and the LSI Nytro MegaRAID application acceleration card.

The two devices once paired up create a unique solution that integrates onboard flash capacity with intelligent caching software and hard drive rate management. This gives the customer a new lower cost alternative to traditional storage solutions. Mellanox and LSI say that this solution enables the virtual desktop infrastructure workload to support up to 1500 desktops across 10 vSphere servers with a hardware cost of less than $25,000.

"Providing acceptable response times to virtual desktop users while maximizing the number of desktop sessions per server can be challenging," said Manish Muthal, vice president of product management and strategy, Accelerated Solutions Division, LSI Corporation. "The low-latency LSI Nytro MegaRAID card, combined with Mellanox's 40GbE NICs, delivers an intelligent and cost-effective VDI solution compared to all-flash solutions that can cost upwards of $100K."

Today, Samsung opened up registration for its first major conference, which will be held October 27-29 in San Francisco, California. Samsung DevCon 2013 is aimed at enticing North American developers to focus on creating software for devices made by the Korean electronics powerhouse.

I first covered Samsung's announcement about its Developers Conference 2013 back in July and Samsung has kept pretty quiet about the event until now. Unfortunately, Samsung is still remaining silent on who will speak, what new products it might announce, and what incentives it might offer to developers who attend the event. You can sign up to attend the event at the source listed below, but be prepared to pay $299 for the ticket that will include access to keynotes, sessions, and developer events on the first night of the conference.

Samsung hopes to convince developers that by creating applications for their smart TVs, tablets, smartphones, and other smart devices, they will see a major return on investment. Additionally, Samsung hopes that developers will be convinced to code programs that will run exclusively on its devices over creating apps that will run on all Android devices. I think that's a very hard pill to swallow because even though Samsung has a major portion of the Android market, there are just far too many other Android users out there for developers to overlook.

VMWorld 2013 - Today, Mellanox Technologies teamed up with Micron to announce a collaborative solution that enables higher storage performance and efficiency for virtualized environments running VMware's ESXi 5.1. Consisting of Mellanox's ConnectX-3 40GbE NICs with iSCSI over RDMA (iSER) and Micron's 1.4TB P420m PCIe SSD cards, this new solution takes advantage of the iSER protocol and allows Micron's flash storage to deliver superior performance.

Mellanox and Micron say that this combo, when ran on a single ESXi 5.1 host, can deliver an aggregate bandwidth of 11GB/s or 527,000 IOPS using only two interconnect cards in a 3U box. The companies evaluated the solution on a Supermicro 6037R-TXRF that supports 10 PCIe Gen3 x8 slots with two Mellanox 40GbE RDMA NICs and 8 Micron 1.4TB P420m PCI SSDs.

"Selecting the right interconnect technologies is vital when selecting Flash-based storage in a virtualized infrastructure. The performance benefits of Flash can easily get trapped behind slow interconnects," said Jared Hulbert, SW Research Manager at Micron. "Mellanox's 40GbE with the iSER protocol gives virtualized applications access to higher bandwidth and excellent 4KB random throughput that only Flash can provide."

VMWorld 2013 - Today, Lenovo announced that it has expanded its end-to-end enterprise solutions portfolio with the addition of a new thin client. The Lenovo Think Centre M32 is powered by Intel's Celeron platform and includes rich legacy support that provides enterprise-level functionality while delivering great value to customers who need a desktop virtualization solution.

"The ThinkCentre M32 is a small form factor thin client that adds value to our quality desktop products and helps enterprises meet end-to-end IT solutions for desktop virtualization," said Victor Rios, vice president and general manager of Think desktop, workstation, and visuals. "It has the Energy Star 5.2 green certification, making it great energy saving solution at a great value for virtual desktop environments."

Offered in Linux, LeTOS, or Windows Embedded Standard 7 operating systems, the Lenovo ThinkCentre M32 also features Lenovo's Terminal Manager software that allows IT managers an effective, secure, and easy-to-use management software. Lenovo says that the M32 will be available starting October 2013 and will sell at a price point of approximately $259.