Ars has acquired several copies of the AdzPro demand letter; the only variations are the six-letter name of the shell company and the royalty demands, which range from $900 to $1,200 per employee.

Patent-licensing companies are going after the users of everyday technology rather than their traditional targets, the tech companies that actually make technology. This year, more than ever, trolls have moved beyond tech in a big way.

Project Paperless' spawn—AdzPro, AllLed, GosNel, and the others listed above—exemplify the new strategy. They send out vast quantities of letters, mainly to businesses that never could have imagined they’d be involved in any kind of patent dispute.

Windows 8 usage uptake has slipped behind Vista’s in the same point in its release. Windows 8 online usage share is around 1.6% of all Windows PC’s which is less than the 2.2% share that Windows Vista commanded at the same two month mark after release.

The New York Times have also said that U.S. consumer sales of Windows machines from late October through to the first week of December are down 13% compared to the same period a year previous.

Seven tonnes of fireworks lit up the famous landmarks of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House to a soundtrack co-written by Australian singer Kylie Minogue.

As many as 100,000 people were expected around Hong Kong's harbour for the city's biggest ever fireworks display, costing $1.6m (£980,000), the Associated Press reports.

Moscow was the first of the large European cities to welcome in 2013 with a fireworks display. Paris and London are among those planning similar events.

Beginning January 28, 2013, users' "full names" will be displayed across the check-in service and venue owners will have increased access to users' check-in data, the company announced in an e-mail sent to users late last night.

Foursquare's careful explanation of the new policies comes in the wake of an Instagram user revolt over new privacy policies that appeared to grant the Facebook-owned service perpetual rights to sell users' photographs without notifying or compensating the photographer.

As with Apple, Facebook funnels its foreign profits into its Irish subsidiary.

in other countries, paying, for example, $380,800 in British tax on estimated 2011 UK profits of $280 million, or a little over 0.1%. What is shocking is that Facebook paid so much Irish tax since it managed to convert its $1.3 billion gross profit into a net loss of $24 million.

The Caymans-operated subsidiary owns the rights to use Facebook's intellectual property outside the U.S., for which Facebook Ireland pays hefty royalties to use. This lets Facebook Ireland transfer the profits from low-tax Ireland to no-tax Cayman Islands.

For months, dozens of people could not use their keyless entry systems to unlock or start their cars whenever they parked near the Hollywood Police Department. Once the cars were towed to the dealers, the problem miraculously disappeared.

Turns out the problem wasn't with the cars, the batteries or even user error, but an illegal pirate radio station that was jamming the signal from keyless entry systems of several makes of cars.

The station was broadcasting Caribbean music around the clock through 104.7 FM, police say.

Most drivers were forced to read their owner's manual to learn how to access their manual key, Camara said.

A pornographic film-maker has revealed plans to chase more internet users for compensation for pirating others' adult movies.

Recipients will be told they are suspected of accessing one or several adult films via peer-to-peer networks and will be invited to negotiate a lump sum payment.

After a fruitful partnership lasting three years, PayPal decided to ruin their relationship with the so-called “bullet-proof” hoster by freezing the company’s funds for up to 180 days. On PayPal’s advice PRQ opened a second account to get by while the dispute was being sorted out, but then without warning PayPal seized those funds too.

Not content with freezing two accounts, last week PayPal sent an email stating that they will be keeping all funds in PRQ’s primary account for up to 180 days to act as a reserve in case of any chargebacks. PRQ informs us that historically there have been almost none of those.

Mounting a TV up and out of the way above a fireplace seems logical, convenient, and undeniably cool. However, there are serious issues with such placement.

There is nothing worse for an electronics product than heat (OK, maybe water or kicking it could be worse, but you get my point). Increasing the operating temperature of the TV can shorten what should be a lively and reliably long life.

The updated terms of service, introduced last Monday (though Instagram has since beckpedaled), would "transfer valuable property rights to Instagram while simultaneously relieving Instagram from any liability for commercially exploiting customers' photographs and artistic content, while shielding Instagram from legal liability," reads the suit.

"In short," the suit says, "Instagram declares that 'possession is nine-tenths of the law and if you don't like it, you can't stop us.'"