Apple Raises the Stakes, Hackers Wrists are Slapped, and US Building Scale Internet?

Today Apple raises the stakes in its ongoing patent war against Samsung by amending their original complaint and adding many more infringement cases to it. It is believed that Apple is taking this action due to requests by Samsung to see the hardware for the yet to be released iPhone5 and iPad3. The case could be referenced to the recent Apple vs Nokia battle but at the same time they could be seen as nothing alike thanks to Nokia having a much stronger smart-phone related patent portfolio. Apple should be expected to fight this battle out until the very end as is custom with the company. In other Apple news, it is rumored that the company will be delaying its MacBook Air refresh until the new OS Lion is released this July in order to pre-load it on the device.

Two German hackers aged 18 and 23 were convicted of stealing unpublished songs from some of the top recording stars including Lady Gaga and then selling the tracks for a hefty profit. The hackers gained access to the files by way of phishing attacks and trojans against managers computers. They then sold the songs turning a profit of nearly 15,000 euros. Both hackers are yet to be named however the 18 year old has been sentenced to 18 months at a young offenders institute and the 23 year old an 18 month suspended sentence.

Last in today's tech article is news that the United States government has plans to build a scale model of the internet for use in testing cyber war operations. The project has funding in the multiple millions of dollars and is being called a virtual firing range that will allow the US to effectively simulate cyber attacks and build defenses against them. The system allows the government to test out their offensive might as well without worrying about causing absolute disaster in the real world. The project however is currently only in the conception stage with Lockheed Martin, a key defense contractor, believed to be working on it. $500 million has recently been set aside by the US for development of such cyber defense systems.

The question of the day is should all these companies be getting in constant patent battles? Leave your comments below and if you like what you see try giving that follow button a little click. Be sure to spread the world.