The climate is highly sensitive to carbon dioxide, according to several new studies, which means that our greenhouse gas emissions will lead to strong warming. The finding suggests we need to cut emissions fast if we are to avoid dangerous climate change.

A California man who lost $500,000 at blackjack and pai gow is suing a new Las Vegas casino, alleging he was too drunk to be allowed to gamble over a 17-hour period just before Super Bowl weekend.

"This is about you almost killing me," Johnston said. "What if I had gone to bed that night, with all those drinks in me, and I threw up on myself and I choked and died?"

Tablets are so good, it seems, that people are keeping the ones they have and not buying as many new ones.

“Consumers are deciding that their current tablets are good enough for the way they use them,” says Tom Mainelli, IDC vice president of devices and displays. “Few are feeling compelled to upgrade the same way they did in years past.”

And if there’s anything Apple shareholders hate, it’s modesty. That’s the second reason slowing growth in the tablet market hurts Apple in particular. Anything other than dramatic increases these days sends Apple shareholders scurrying to press “sell.”

In the long-running feud between the two companies, Apple had filed a renewed request to permanently ban 23 Samsung devices found to have infringed on its patents. But early Thursday, Judge Lucy Koh denied Apple's request, ruling that the iPhone maker "has not established that it is entitled to the permanent injunction it seeks," according to a court document.

While they mull over the decision to appeal, the two combatants are headed back to the courtroom this month to argue over a different set of allegedly infringing devices.

The country is engaged in painful soul-searching about whether NSA has gone too far and whether we should invite leaker Edward Snowden back for a ticker-tape parade. On the latter, Mr. Snowden has set the agency back perhaps a decade or more through the unrelenting disclosure of sources and methods.

The real question is whether the agency could pull off another major SIGINT success like it did after 9/11. Probably not. Mr. Snowden has done enough damage. A few changes in the law based on challenges from numerous groups and senators will do the rest.

Forbes released its annual rankings for the world's richest people on Monday showing that Gates overtook telecom mogul Carlos Slim for the first time in four years. Gates' current net worth is $76 billion, up from $67 billion last year, while Slim's fortune fell from $73 billion to $72 billion. The Microsoft chairman has held the No. 1 spot for 15 of the last 20 years.

While Gates has a $76 billion fortune, he has donated more than $28 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which works on the eradication of polio, malaria, and other dangerous diseases.

In order to protect their dominant market share, Keurig makers Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has been on a bit of an aggressive tear of late.

In a lawsuit filed against Keurig by TreeHouse Foods, they claim Keurig has been busy striking exclusionary agreements with suppliers and distributors to lock competing products out of the market.

The plan was confirmed by Keurig's CEO who stated on a recent earnings call that the new maker indeed won't work with "unlicensed" pods as part of an effort to deliver "game-changing performance."

Hyatt said he's been waiting that long for a U.S. ruling on whether his electronic signal to control machinery should be granted a patent.

"It's totally unconscionable," said Brad Wright, a patent lawyer with Banner & Witcoff in Washington who specializes in computer-related applications and isn't involved in Hyatt's case. "The patent office doesn't want to be embarrassed that they might issue a broad patent that would have a sweeping impact on the technology sector. Rather than be embarrassed, they're just bottling it up."

Tor, the team behind the world’s leading online anonymity service, is developing a new anonymous instant messenger client, according to documents produced at the Tor 2014 Winter Developers Meeting in Reykjavík, Iceland.

Over the long term, TIMB will likely become the messenger of choice for Tor users. Software such as TorChat and BitMessage already have significant userbases and smart advocates, but with the full weight of the Tor Launcher and team behind it, there’s little reason to imagine TIMB won’t succeed.

A court has ordered the video giant to remove blocking messages which claim GEMA is to blame for thousands of videos being unavailable in Germany on copyright grounds.

Time and again, users are informed that videos are blocked due to GEMA not granting the necessary music rights. As a result, GEMA has become very unpopular indeed.

“For almost three years, YouTube has misled the public with these blocking messages and unlawfully influenced public opinion at the expense of GEMA,” GEMA CEO Dr. Harald Heker said in a statement.