The FTC has dropped their investigation into whether LimeWire put user's identities at risk of theft saying that the latest versions of the software have much-improved safeguards.

In a letter, the FTC said research "showed consumers continue to inadvertently share sensitive documents via peer-to-peer software like LimeWire," and that it is necessary for distributors of the software to "act more responsibly and provide safeguards against inadvertent sharing."

Despite LimeWire drastically improving its service, the FTC says the company still needs to improve the client for less tech savvy consumers.

But it said LimeWire still has to improve its service further for less savvy consumers.

"We remain concerned, however, about consumers who are still using insecure legacy versions and are therefore subject to a risk of inadvertent sharing of sensitive, personal information," write the FCC. "We expect LimeWire to continue to advise consumers to upgrade legacy versions of its software because of the potential safety benefits of doing so."

LimeWire responded: "We have incorporated many safeguards and have taken active steps to educate users of current and older software versions to avoid disclosure of sensitive information."

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BGR has posted leaked photos of Verizon's upcoming flagship Android device, the HTC Scorpion which is expected to hit the carrier within 6 months.

The Scorpion looks similar to the EVO 4G but with an aluminum trim similar to the Nexus One.

HTC'S Scorpion has a 4.3-inch screen, a front-facing camera and an 8MP standard camera with dual LED flashes. The device also has a kickstand.

The device will launch with Android 2.2 and will run the HTC Sense UI.

Finally, BGR speculates that the impressive device will use a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor that does not ship until next month, the first smartphone to do so.

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Warner and Disney have sued the advertising company Triton Media alleging that the company provided advertising consulting and referrals to nine "one-stop-shop" piracy sites.

The studios say Triton committed contributory infringement due to their assistance in the advertising.

Studios identified by the lawsuit are: www.free-tv-video-online.info, supernovatube.com, donogo.com, watch-movies.net, watch-movies-online.tv, watch-movies-links.net, havenvideo.com and piratecity.org.

Each of the sites offers access to unauthorized movies, games music and software.

The suit alleges that Triton enables the web sites to operate and has working knowledge that they are participating in illegal activities.

Disney and Warner are seeking an injunction that would ban Triton from working with similar sites, as well as monetary damages.

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Fortune has reported today that Apple iPad orders are finally shipping within 24 hours, the first time the tablet has shipped within a day since its launch in April.

It took 170 days for supply to catch up to demand on the popular tablet.

Apple has been struggling to get production moving since the iPad sold out during launch weekend.

The iPad 3G launch was pushed back a few weeks and the international rollout of the tablet was pushed back a full month.

Orders from Apple.com, at their worst, had shipping delays of 15 business days. By May, that number had dropped to 7-10 and by July it had hit 3 days.

The iPhone 4 still has a three-week delay.

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Google has acquired the Web start-up Angstro this week while also moving co-founder Rohit Khare to the Google team.

The search giant has been in an acquisition frenzy over the past few months, purchasing a plethora of sites and services that will help their upcoming assault on the social networking world and its champion Facebook.

Khare is a respected Internet researcher and entrepreneur.

Earlier in the summer, Google purchased the social gaming siteSlide, while recruiting its founder Max Levchin to become a VP of engineering for social media efforts. Levchin was the co-founder of PayPal.

Google has also invested $150 million in social gaming market leader Zynga.

The social networking service, dubbed "Google Me" internally is still in "stealth mode" and Google will not publicly discuss it.

Google versus Facebook has become a hot-topic in the tech world, with many believing Facebook will soon start its own advertising network to rival Google's AdSense, while Google prepares its full assault on the social networking world.

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Google has said this weekend that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a second request for information in regards to the search giant's bid to purchase ITA Software for $700 million.

ITA software is the company behind flight information software used by Bing, Kayak and Orbitz among others.

The software helps users search for flights, compare flight options and prices, and ultimately purchase tickets.

Google has no such software built-in to its search engine, and in that respect, Microsoft's Bing has the advantage.

Kayak and Orbitz voiced concerns that after the purchase, Google could shut off ITA information to them. Google has said it will not do anything of the sort.

Google responded to the second request: "While we think this acquisition will benefit travelers as well as those seeking their business, we know that closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google's success, and we said that we wouldn't be surprised if there were a regulatory review before the deal closes. This week we received what's called a "second request," which means that the U.S. Department of Justice is asking for more information so that they can continue to review the deal."

Past "second requests" have historically meant that the DOJ is concerned about the impact the deal will have on an industry.

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Verizon Wireless has started rolling out Android 2.2 Froyo to HTC Incredible owners this weekend.

Froyo brings a 450 percent performance boost over 2.1, native support for Flash 10.1, USB and Wi-Fi tethering, Apps2SD and cloud sync.

Since the start of August, the Nexus One, the HTC EVO 4G and the original Motorola Droid have updated to 2.2. Additionally, the Droid 2 has launched with the updated software already installed.

A few other phones, such as the Dell Streak, Motorola Droid X, HTC MyTouch 3G Slide and Samsung Captivate have all had 2.2 promised but with no set timetable.

The rollout should be completed by the end of the week.

To download the update, go to Settings, About Phone, System Updates. The update is about 93.7MB.

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NotebookItalia has leaked the specs for the upcoming Toshiba Folio 100, which many had been calling the "SmartPad."

The tablet should be the first true competitor to the Apple iPad as it packs some powerful features.

Toshiba's Folio 100 will have a 10.1-inch widescreen WSVGA display, run Android 2.2 Froyo, work on a Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and include 16GB of internal memory.

Additionally, the tablet will have 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS, a 1.3MP webcam and an SD card reader with support up to 32GB.

As for ports, the Folio 100 has a USB 2.0 port, and HDMI port and a USB 2.0 mini audio jack.

Separating it even further from the iPad is the fact that the tablet supports the Opera Mobile Browser with Flash 1.10.

Toshiba is also expected to start its own small app store to complement the Android Market.

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Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, has begun a campaign of patent infringement lawsuits against companies ranging from YouTube and Facebook to eBay and Office Depot.

Allen's patents were originally granted to his company, Interval Media, which shut down in 2006. The company w

"We recognize that innovation has a value, and patents are the way to protect that," said a spokesman for Allen. When asked about the notable absence of Microsoft and Amazon from the suit, the spokesman wrote in an email, "This is the most recent step in a long process, but it is not necessarily the end of the process."

But do the patents themselves actually have any value? If so, why wasn't Allen's company able to make money on them to begin with?

The patents include 6,757,682, "Alerting Users To Items of Current Interest," which covers suggesting items from an online store based on the content of the current page. AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, Yahoo & YouTube are all accused of infringing on this patent.

The first question which comes to mind is how this wouldn't be considered obvious for anyone in the online selling industry? Just because something hasn't been worked out in code already doesn't mean other developers haven't thought of it.

More likely, what it means is either it's a solution for an as of yet non-existent (or at least minor) problem or it's simply not something they've decided to implement (or prioritize).

Certainly the concept of suggesting products to someone based on what they appear to be interested in already isn't new. It's been done by brick and mortar merchants as long as they've existed. Even before brick or mortar themselves were invented.

Is the idea that an online merchant would benefit from adopting this standard business practice anything but obvious?

So what about the individual bits of the process? They could be a revolutionary approach. But really it's not. The following steps are listed in the patent.

1. Receiving in real time from a source other than the participant an indication that the item is of current interest
2. Processing the indication
3. Determining an intensity value to be associated with the indication and an intensity weight value, and adjusting the intensity value based on a characteristic for the item provided by the source
4. Informing the participant that the item is of current interest

There's nothing revolutionary, or even inobvious, about these steps. What's revolutionary is actually figuring out the metrics to use for steps two and three.

In fact that step is so inobvious, Netflix gave out $1 million for helping them improve it. They could just as easily have worked out an agreement to license Allen's patent, but that wouldn't have helped them in any way.

Patents are supposed to be given for finding innovative solutions but all this patent does, like the others listed in Allen's lawsuit, is list a few vague steps required to computerize every day human activities.

Patents 6,034,652 & 6,788,314 are over adding audio and video content to other content for the purpose of attracting a viewer's attention. The suit alleges AOL, Apple, Google &Yahoo are infringing.

Patent 6,263,507 covers automated comparison of different audio and video files, which Allen claims AOL, Apple, eBay, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo & YouTube are infringing.

In both these cases the patents are, again, simply explaining the steps required for a computer to duplicate tasks already performed by humans.

TV broadcasters have added information to the content they're broadcasting for decades. That information just happened to be selected by a person rather than a computer.

For much longer, people have provided comparisons of music to share with other people in the form of everything from reviews to personal recommendations.

Essentially all Allen's patents do is take human solutions and explain that they still apply to doing business or providing a service on the internet. Nowhere do they advance the implementation of these solutions, which is where all the value lies.

Simply recognizing the vague shape of a technological implementation of an existing solution isn't inobvious, and neither is it valuable. Building a technological solution and using it to improve your operation is where the challenge is.

And there's no need for the IP protection of patents as an incentive for those solutions to be developed and implemented. If selling more products, attracting more visitors or generating more pageviews doesn't justify coming up with a solution, is it really worth anything anyway?

Punishing the people who come up with the answers to compensate others who merely point out the questions is completely backward.

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Last week, Toshiba announced they are currently developing 3D HDTVs that do not require any special glasses.

Sony has made a similar announcement today, working on 3DTVs it hopes can be released by early 2011

"Seeing 3-D without glasses is more convenient," says Yoshihisa Ishida, Sony SVP. "We must take account of pricing before we can think about when to start offering them."

Panasonic and Sony have already released 3D HDTVs, both the displays require special (and usually expensive) glasses.

Sony says it will take the top spot in 3D TVs and Blu-ray player market share in Japan, thanks to its movie studio.

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Rockchip has introduced their new 3D Android tablet this week, one that will be glasses-free while still giving owners full 3D support.

The tablet will use autostereoscopic technology, the same displays that will be available in the unreleased Nintendo 3DS.

Users can adjust the amount of 3D, and even disable it completely.

Rockchip has dubbed their tablet the Supernova x1 but little will be known officially about the device until the IFA in September.

Pictures show a 3.4-to-4-inch screen, a microSD slot, a USB port, SES Astra's 3D channel and volume controls.

You can view a slideshow of pics here: Rockchip Supernova x1 via Engadget

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According to sources close to the matter, Blockbuster is preparing to file for bankruptcy in the next month.

Senior debt holders, company execs and the six major movie studios have all discussed Blockbuster's intentions to prepare a "pre-planned" bankruptcy in September.

The company will use Chapter 11 to restructure $990 million in debt and break leases on over 500 stores. The company has lost over $1 billion since 2008.

If the six studios decide to drop support for Blockbuster, the company will never emerge from bankruptcy, as it will lose its constant stream of DVDs and Blu-rays.

Blockbuster currently has 3425 brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S., and that is after they closed almost 1000 in the last year, alone. CEO Jim Keyes, say the sources via the LATimes, wants to use the bankruptcy to close up to 800 of the worst performing stores around the nation.

The company has fallen a long way from the top, with its current market value placed at around $15.31 million. Blockbuster was purchased in 1994 by Viacom for $8.4 billion.

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