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Software is not a tangible item, yet it can be patented. It can also be copyrighted. It’s the only thing in the world that can receive both protections from the United States government. Software patents are a hot-button issue in technology. Big corporations and those who thrive on buying, selling, licensing, and enforcing patents love them. Small businesses, open source advocates, and many software engineers hate them.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether software (aka “computer-implemented inventions”) can continue to be patented. The case is Alice Corp. vs. CLS Bank and it focuses on software built to eliminate settlement risk in currency and financial transactions where money is held in escrow. The arguments began when Alice Corp. said that CLS Bank is offering services that infringe on their patent.

Alice Corp, in lower courts, has ruled that its idea can be patented because it’s used on a computer, thus making it an invention. What will be heard, and the core of CLS Bank’s arguments against Alice Corp, has been that the idea is not an invention just because it’s coded into a computer.

The arguments aren’t much different than what went through the courts in the 1970s, until the Supreme Court finally ruled on software-related patents, establishing strict rules on what qualifies. Those rules were eventually undermined by lower courts with other decisions, causing the market to flood with software patents.

In the 1970s, IBM and Microsoft’s Bill Gates were ardently against software patents, going so far as to say that they would bring the software industry “to a standstill.” Today, IBM is vigorously pro-patent for software and Microsoft spends millions every year protecting its vast software patent portfolio.

Potentially, hundreds of thousands of software patents could be on the block should the Supreme Court decide that software is not patent-able or, once again, if it severely restricts how patents can be applied. This would have far-reaching, even deadly consequences in many aspects of tech, but it could also fundamentally change things for the better. It’s a matter of who you ask.

Whatever the case, the tech industry’s eyes will be on the high court for the next few months awaiting an answer.

A whopping 97 per cent of the Chinese population prefers smart home appliances, particularly television sets, according to the latest survey conducted by China Household Electrical Appliances Association (CHEAA).

As a result, more than 90 per cent of the 500-plus appliance makers who took part in CHEAA’s fourth Appliance World Expo exhibited smarter interactive products.

For example, the world’s biggest appliance manufacturer Haier showcased a smart modularised television with bespoke functions. Another TV maker, TCL, has partnered with internet video firm Iqiyi to provide clients with products capable of streaming videos from various sources.

Pressured by stiffer competition from high-tech start-ups, established appliance makers in China have realised that they have to further improve their design and business models in order to survive in an internet-savvy world, said experts.

“The internet is transforming the whole industrial chain of home appliances, pushing it to be more interactive and smarter with big data and cloud computing,” noted Bu Zhengfa, Chairman of the China National Light Industry Council.

In addition, the demand for smart appliances such as air purifiers is growing as the Chinese become increasingly more health conscious because of the prevalence of smog and other ecological hazards in their country.

“Interactivity and health are the orders of the day for the appliance sector,” commented CHEAA Chair Jiang Feng.

The popularity of smart appliances was also further boosted by China’s broadband strategy, which was unveiled in August 2013. The programme aims to increase internet speed in rural areas by four megabytes per second (Mbps) by 2020 and by 20 Mbps for urban areas.

Facebook is buying Oculus VR, a virtual reality glass maker, for $2 billion.

The deal, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter, will include $400 million in cash as well as 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock.

As Facebook’s first hardware deal in the wearable devices arena, the acquisition marks a big bet by the social media giant on the next shift in the ever-changing technology industry.

Most people in the industry consider wearable devices to be the next big platform shift. Last week, Google, which has been testing Google Glass for years, unveiled its effort to develop computerised wristwatches.

Meanwhile, Facebook noted that virtual reality could become the next social and communications platform.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, said: “Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow.”

“Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever and change the way we work, play and communicate.”

Founded by Palmer Luckey, Oculus VR started as a Kickstarter-funded program that drew small investments from thousands of supporters.

Its virtual reality glasses “Oculus Rift” quickly attracted attention after being demonstrated at various gaming and tech conventions across the country. In December, it raised $75 million to market its virtual reality headsets for video games and develop products for use in other areas such as education, architecture, film and design.

The virtual reality firm plans to produce commercial versions of the Oculus Rift and hopes to take the technology beyond gaming.

It will maintain its headquarters in Irvine, California.

On April 8, Microsoft ends support for Windows XP, which means thousands of businesses and users globally will no longer have official updates and support from MS for their operating system. On Microsoft’s end, this is the normal cycle: stop supporting older software after a couple of new iterations are in place. Now with Windows 8 having over a year under its belt, it leaves Windows 7 as the “old” Windows to be supported and XP as the “let it out to pasture” OS.

The trouble is, some businesses made huge upgrades to XP a few years ago and are now facing high costs in order to upgrade again. Yet the new Windows is not always a fit. ATM makers and managers are one of those groups. While XP had good network support and was easily integrated as a “back end” OS for the generally still text-based machines that we all use to get money and make deposits, Windows 8 is, well, not as friendly.

The ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) says that synchronizing hardware and software upgrade cycles has been problematic and is often just not done. Taking control of the software side, by dropping Windows in favor of a more standardized, internally-controlled option, has been tempting for many financial institutions and some have taken the leap. The most popular option? Creating proprietary, small package versions of Linux. According to the ATMIA, “a small group of large operators” are the ones working on this as a solution. Things from there tend to trickle down to others over time.

About 95 percent of the world’s ATMs today are powered by Windows XP and about 60 percent of those in the U.S. will be using it after April 8.  Given that about 30 percent of the point-of-sale systems at convenience stores and petroleum retailers are Linux-based, it would make sense to use a compatible system for ATMs which often see the most traffic at those locations, sometimes with the cash register itself being used as one in “cash back” transactions.

The Obama administration announced last Friday that it would relinquish its control over the internet. However, it insisted that this task should be run by different nations along with the private sector and other relevant parties.

The US Commerce Department oversees the master database for top-level domain names like .net, .com and .org, as well as their assigned numeric addresses. However, this task was contracted to ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

According to Assistant Secretary of Commerce Lawrence Strickling, the US government has instructed ICANN to start a formal transition to globalise the Web. However, the new managing body should “maintain the openness of the Internet” as well as “support and enhance the multi-stakeholder model.”

This process is expected to be completed before September 2015, added ICANN boss Fadi Chehadé.

This move follows the European Union’s proposal that the US cede its technical control over the internet. It also aims to counter China and Russia’s proposal that the Web’s infrastructure should be managed by the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which is only made up of governments.

In December 2012, the US and its allies foiled China and Russia’s plan to give ITU a clearer role in overseeing the internet’s architecture, especially in allocating addresses. Furthermore, the latest announcement assures that ICANN will have a future role in managing the internet.

While many nations support the multi-stakeholder model, which includes the private sector and other relevant parties, many are wary of ICANN. One key concern is that the private, non-profit firm is largely influenced by companies that sell domain names.

Initially, Lieutenant Chris Bolton, Chief of Staff for Oakland’s Chief of Police, could not see the benefits of using social media and even associated it with more risks than benefits.

However, his mindset took a 360-degree turn when One Goh, 43, entered Korean Christian school Oikos University carrying a .45-caliber handgun and murdered seven people before surrendering to police.

At that time, the Oakland Police Department only had one public information officer, in addition to Bolton. Using Twitter and Nixle, which is a public notification tool, the two officers spent the day giving out updates, sending emergency alerts and dispelling rumours.

The experience opened Bolton’s mind to the power of social media.

“That one crisis really changed my mind on how social media can be used as part of a public information strategy,” he said.

Now, the Oakland Police Department uses Nextdoor and Facebook in addition to Twitter and Nixle. They are not alone; social media has been embraced by various police departments across the country as a valuable tool to gather details from citizens, solve crimes and disperse emergency information.

In 2013, a social media survey from the International Association of Chiefs of Police showed that 96 per cent of police departments utilise social media in some capacity, while over 80 per cent indicated that it helped them solve crimes.

“It’s very energizing, I think, to be on social media from a police perspective,” said Lynn Hightower, Boise Police Department’s communications director.

“People can communicate with the police department; it’s no longer that 800-pound gorilla that no one knows how to communicate with.”

The Boise Police Department has been on social media since 2009.