A South Korean court has dismissed a lawsuit claiming Apple violated three Samsung short-messaging patents. It found that two of the patents allegedly violated were not unique leading-edge technology exclusive to Samsung, and that nothing in the third patent applied to technologies used by both companies. Samsung's patents cover the display of text messages and the grouping of messages on a phone.

The Australian state of Victoria has made it illegal to distribute explicit images without consent. The new law specifically outlaws "non-consensual sexting," which generally takes place when lovers split and there is post-breakup payback in the form of intimate photos of the former partners. The law does exempt children in order to ensure that they aren't charged with child pornography.

Facial recognition may be added to fingerprint scanning in Apple's device security repertoire. Apple has been using facial recognition for some time to manage images in its iPhoto app, but a patent awarded to the company on Tuesday combines that tech with facial detection to control a computing device. Apple's facial recognition system could be used to identify the authorized user of a device.

Apple reportedly has acquired Topsy in order to gain more access to real-time consumer information. Topsy provides Twitter data for business clients, helping them to gauge consumer sentiment, find influential social media voices, and measure overall exposure on any topic that's been mentioned in a tweet. Earlier this year, Topsy debuted a search engine designed to parse tweets.

Samsung Electronics must pay Apple $290 million in damages for infringing five of its patents, a federal jury in California decided on Thursday. The sum may not make a huge mark -- or even a moderate one -- on Samsung's balance sheet, but the verdict gives Apple one more victory against its rival as the two battle their way through courtrooms around the globe.

Apple and Samsung are in U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh's court again, this time revisiting how much Samsung should pay Apple for violating five of its patents. Apple is seeking $379.8 million; Samsung wants to pay Apple $52.7 million. The proceedings became necessary after Koh set aside a portion of the original $1 billion-plus award because the jury erred in making its calculations.

Italian authorities are investigating Apple for allegedly hiding 1 billion euros -- about $1.34 billion -- from the taxman. Prosecutors in Milan claim that Apple didn't declare more than $250 million in 2010 and more than $1 billion in 2011. Apple's Italian subsidiary booked some profits with an Irish subsidiary, thereby lowering its taxable income in Italy, according to Italian sources.

Apple has delivered a delightful mix of products and profits this year, all the while facing skepticism from various quarters over its strategies, plans and abilities to take over the world -- especially the part with low-end, cheap markets. Apple also has been caught up in the scrutiny of tech companies that work with various law enforcement agencies to turn over customer data.

Apple on Monday announced its fourth-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2013, including revenue of $37.5 billion and a net profit of $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per diluted share. In the year-ago quarter, the corresponding figures were revenue of $36 billion and net profit of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per diluted share. Apple this week also revealed that it sold 33.8 million iPhones.

British American Tobacco issued an apology after an ad for its e-cigarette brand, Vype, popped up in an iPad app for children. The Vype banner appeared inside the "My Dog My Style HD" game and was spotted by author and educator Graham Brown-Martin, who took to Twitter with a screenshot of the kiddy cig advertisement. British American Tobacco pulled its online advertising for Vype and issued an apology.

Well we've had a few weeks of fun here in the Linux blogosphere dissecting Linux poll results, but last week brought those inwardly focused musings to an abrupt end. The cause? Yet another news flash from the outside world. The conversation was in full swing down at the blogosphere's Punchy Penguin when a turtleneck-clad stranger burst through the saloon's swinging doors.

Carl Icahn turned his sights on Apple Wednesday, recommending the company buy back $150 billion in stock from the market. Apple stock is undervalued at the moment, making it an ideal time for a large repurchase of stock, Icahn reasoned in an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook posted on his new Investors Square Table website. Apple has a massive amount of cash on its balance sheet -- $147 billion.

Apple appears to have been handed a potent weapon it can use as it battles in courtrooms around the world to assert its patent rights. Specifically, in a recent re-examination of a key multitouch patent held by Apple, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last month upheld all 20 claims included in the patent, according to a filing spotted on Thursday.

The federal district court judge who found Apple guilty of violating U.S. antitrust laws has appointed a watchdog to make sure it toes the legal line in its dealings with e-book publishers. Judge Denise Cote has appointed Michael Bromwich -- a high-profile Washington, D.C., attorney who focuses on internal investigations -- to supervise a court-ordered antitrust compliance training program.

I never would have imagined that I would jump on the bandwagon for the CEO of a British luxury fashion company, but here I am preparing to gush over Angela Ahrendts, who will take over Apple's retail store operations in early 2014. Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement Monday, and the first thing that came to mind was that the massively male executive team at Apple was finally choosing a woman.

Samsung has been ordered to produce more evidence in a case that could end with it being penalized for exposing Apple's trade secrets. Samsung must produce communications and witnesses related to the dissemination of confidential Apple licensing agreements. Samsung executive Seungho Ahn used that information "to gain an unfair advantage in their negotiations with Nokia," said Judge Paul S. Grewal.

The ongoing battle between Apple and Samsung may be more commonly fought in the courtroom than on social media, but Apple on Tuesday apparently made an exception following the publication of a report suggesting that Samsung may be artificially boosting the benchmark scores of its new Galaxy Note 3. "Shenanigans" tweeted Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of marketing.

Apple received a rude rebuff from Wall Street Tuesday after rolling out its latest line of mobile phones, but Tim Cook's loss may turn into a gain for Carl Icahn. When Apple's share price tumbled from a little north of $500 before the announcement of the iPhone 5s and 5c to less than $470 after it, former corporate raider Icahn swooped in and began buying stock.

Shares of Apple dropped more than 5 percent on Wednesday morning following the widely anticipated unveiling of the company's two new iPhone models the day before. Representing the steepest drop in the stock since April, the tumble was accompanied by a newly lowered "neutral" rating by Credit Suisse, UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The stock also fell an additional 2 percent on Tuesday.

Onward and upward, or so the executive suite at Apple is clearly hoping. Tuesday's rollout of the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s -- and their related features and design quirks -- came as little surprise to company watchers as Apple's product pipeline has long been prone to leaks and speculation.

Apple's retail operations can be counted among Steve Jobs' "babies"; the stores' slick design and sales techniques are legendary in the industry for their per-square-footage sales. In 2012, Apple retail store sales outpaced Tiffany's by 40 percent. Apple is in no danger of following in the footsteps of, say, J.C. Penney or Sears, but its retail operations have shown some worrisome signs of decay.

Apple must hire an external monitor to ensure it does not engage in fixing the prices of e-books, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote said Tuesday. Cote had found Apple guilty of price-fixing in a trial that concluded last month. Cote's latest decision followed discussions over penalties between Apple and the Department of Justice, which had brought suit over the price-fixing.

Apple's taken plenty of flak for its mapping system, and some of it is well-deserved. After all, the maps have erroneously led drivers into the middle of nowhere and shown buildings that appear as though they're melting. Don't blame Apple if its images of Oslo, Norway, aren't crystal-clear, however. That one's not on Apple. Norway has denied Apple the license required to take aerial photos of Oslo.

What Carl Icahn has been doing with Dell -- and now with Apple -- is kind of like a protection racket. These were popular in the 1920s -- you paid the crime syndicate a fee if you wanted to say in business. I'm wondering if Icahn has found a legal way to extort money from companies in trouble. Icahn not only doesn't provide value for the "help" he gives -- he actually drains the firm's resources.

Apple shareholders rejoiced when noted corporate raider Carl Icahn tweeted that he'd taken a large position in the company and said it was undervalued. Its shares closed at $497.91 on Thursday, down 59 cents from Wednesday's close. However, that was up 96 cents from Thursday's opening price. Trading was volatile on Thursday, with prices climbing above $500 at least once.

Almost a week after the Obama administration overturned a ban issued by the ITC against the import of certain Apple items, the ITC made a similar ruling -- this time, against Samsung. The commission on Friday banned the import of two older versions of the Galaxy smartphone and Galaxy tablet, agreeing with Apple's contention that those products infringed two of its patents.

Five major publishers may be collateral damage in the antitrust spat between Apple and the Justice Department. In a court filing opposing the DoJ's proposal for relief in the case it won against Apple, the publishers contend that killing the agency model for selling e-books would punish them. Of course, that model is what got the publishers in hot water with the DoJ in the first place.

Hot air, maybe. But it's Edward Snowden, so it's news. Pavel Durov, the 28-year-old Russian CEO of social network site VKontakte, has offered Snowden a job as a security software developer. VKontakte is akin to Facebook and has 100 million active users, mostly from Eastern Europe. Last week, Russia granted Snowden, who had been holed up in a Moscow airport, temporary asylum.

The Obama administration has overturned a decision by the International Trade Commission to ban the import of certain older Apple products after it found that they infringed on certain Samsung patents. The administration made the announcement on Saturday, one day before the ban was set to take effect. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman supplied several reasons for vetoing the import ban.

The U.S. Justice Department and 33 states' attorneys general have proposed remedies against Apple for its conviction on e-book price-fixing that could dry up a large portion of the company's revenue stream while benefiting Amazon and, possibly, Google. The proposed final judgment seeks to have Apple terminate contracts with the five codefendant publishers in the case.