checkup

Patent activists: Let's light up Intellectual Ventures' IP portfolio

One of Intellectual Ventures' biggest secrets is under attack.

The Bellevue, Wash.-based patent firm and invention lab, co-founded in 2000 by former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myrhvold, owns more than 40,000 patents or pending patents and keeps a tight lid on its collection. So tight, in fact, that you can't see it unless you partner with the company and sign a non-disclosure agreement.

The end result can be that companies with products that might infringe on one of those patents, or that simply want to license one of IV's patents, don't exactly know what they're … Read more

PC health referral

The rap on AOL used to be that it was "the Internet on training wheels," yet many solid Netizens cut their i-teeth on its superfriendly apps. AOL Computer Checkup Lite continues AOL's tradition of making things as easy as possible for inexperienced users, with an ultrasimple interface asking simple questions about your PC experience. Not to worry; it doesn't actually do anything but make recommendations about your system's health. That's when you should start to worry.

AOL's interface consists of four check boxes and a Scan button. The boxes are associated with questions, … Read more

CheckUp is your Mac's first-aid kit

Most of the time our Macs run smoothly due to the well-designed Mac OS X (choose your big cat) operating system. But over time, as you download more applications, visit more Web sites, and begin to use up space on your hard drive, your Mac won't run as quickly and smoothly as it did out of the box. Some users reason that it must be a RAM or hard-drive issue, but more often than not it's a question of maintenance rather than inadequate hardware.

I've talked about programs for uninstalling old or unused apps in an earlier post, … Read more