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For those of us who believe that patents stifle innovation, this week brings good news: patent filings are down, as PatentlyO reports. After years of steadily increasing, U.S. patent filings have dropped, perhaps reflecting the bad economy.

Or perhaps an increase in common sense? Nah....

While the PatentlyO blog suggests this is a "crisis," I'm with TechDirt: the only crisis is that it has taken so long for patent filings to decline:

Considering the large number of bad patents that got through over the years, and the resulting flood of applications from others hoping to strike … Read more

Toyota and 24 participating Audubon sites nationwide will host TogetherGreen Volunteer Days in celebration of Earth Day to provide thousands with opportunities to take hands-on, local conservation action.

Activities will take place on April 18, April 25, and May 2. Activities will include habitat and trail restoration, river and lake cleanups, invasive species removal, nest-box building, wildlife, and plant surveys.

To date, 5,850 TogetherGreen volunteers have donated more than 28,000 volunteer hours at 40 Audubon locations. More than 40 partner organizations, including the Sierra Club, AmeriCorps, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Toyota employees and their … Read more

Even though the LG Wine was released back in January, we weren't able to have a hands-on with the device until CTIA 2009. The Wine comes in this nice burgundy color to go along with the wine theme, and is a simple mid-tier flip phone from U.S. Cellular. There's also a white version.

The most unique thing about the Wine is that it has four dedicated hot keys underneath the display. They correspond to the messaging interface, the alarm clock, the images folder, and the U.S. Cellular's easyedge Web portal. It also has a very … Read more

As you might recall, the LG Banter is Alltel's version of the LG Rumor 2. Well, U.S. Cellular will also offer the phone, and we managed to take a slightly closer look at the LG Banter at CTIA 2009.

Indeed, it looks a lot like the LG Rumor 2, but it has a slightly more rectangular design, plus it has interchangeable faceplates. The faceplates are pretty easy to take on and off--just slip your finger nail in around the edge to pry it off. So far, the Banter has silver and green face plates. The Banter's keyboard … Read more

By now, many prospective college students have received responses from all the colleges to which they've applied. But now comes the hard part: deciding where to go.

Luckily, there are some sites that help them in that endeavor and provide them with valid insight before they make their final decisions. Even better, these sites can also help those who haven't applied yet and are starting their initial research.

For the high school junior who is considering applying to different colleges or the high school senior who needs to make a decision, these sites are outstanding resources.

BeRecruited: BeRecruited is designed specifically for the high school athlete. Instead of waiting for a team to find the student, BeRecruited gives them an opportunity to find colleges across the United States that have the kind of athletic program for which they're looking. They can then upload information about themselves and their high school athletic performance to attract the attention of team recruiters.

CampusExplorer: CampusExplorer allows students to search more than 6,000 colleges in the United States to find which campus is right for them. They can search by area, curriculum, or type of school. The site provides information on the size of the school, what it offers to students, and the attendance cost. It even has advice on getting into the school from students who have asked questions about the college on Yahoo Answers.

Cappex: Cappex requires students to sign up and create a personal profile that includes grades, extracurricular activities, and SAT/ACT scores. Once that profile is completed, they can search for colleges, learn about the schools in which they're interested, and use a handy tool called "What are my chances?" to help them determine if they really have a chance at being admitted to a particular school.

CollegeAnswer: Owned by college financial-aid company SallieMae, CollegeAnswer provides students with information about all facets of college admittance. From basic research on schools to information on paying for a college education, the site has it all. It provides in-depth information about colleges, including their demographics and attendance costs. But where it really shines is in its information about college life in general. It's an outstanding resource for prospective and current students.… Read more

My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" is one of those records that keeps getting better as I get older. (The Stones' "Exile on Main Street" is another.) The first time I heard a song from it, it barely registered--just a rather hard-to-hear shoegaze song on a long compilation featuring everybody from Lush to Slowdive to the Boo Radleys (who, despite their unfortunate name, made a great impression). But I kept running into devoted fans, so when I saw the re-released vinyl a couple years ago, I bought it. I didn't like it on the first listen. … Read more

Last September, the Bush administration defended the unusual secrecy over an anti-counterfeiting treaty being negotiated by the U.S. government, which some liberal groups worry could criminalize some peer-to-peer file sharing that infringes copyrights.

Now President Obama's White House has tightened the cloak of government secrecy still further, saying in a letter this week that a discussion draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and related materials are "classified in the interest of national security pursuant to Executive Order 12958."

The 1995 Executive Order 12958 allows material to be classified only if disclosure would do "damage to … Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with an AT&T subsidiary in an antitrust lawsuit that accused the phone company of anticompetitive practices over pricing for its broadband Internet services.

The justices ruled unanimously in favor of AT&T's Pacific Bell Telephone subsidiary, which had been accused of a "price squeeze" aimed at eliminating competition for DSL broadband service, Reuters reported Wednesday.

The plaintiffs in the case were competing Internet service providers, including LinkLine Communications and Notelog, which buy high-speed Internet service from AT&T at wholesale prices and resell the service to … Read more