Mr. Kappos is a former Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and a senior adviser to the Partnership for American Innovation, a trade group funded by Apple, DuPont, Ford, General Electric, IBM, Microsoft, and Pfizer.

There is a near daily publication of opinion pieces taking aim at our country’s patent system. Many share these authors’ concerns with frivolous patent cases that waste valuable resources and cause some to question the legitimacy of the patent system. But rhetoric on the subject of patent litigation threatens to overshadow the facts, urging rash actions that risk upsetting the delicate balance of IP. The demonization of IP has gotten far out of hand, and these editorials unfortunately contribute to the unhelpful trend.

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Electricity and water are archenemies.

That's a problem for summertime, a season best spent by the ocean, pool or any other large body of water. But thanks to all kinds of brilliant tech, there are quite a few waterproof accessories you can purchase to make your gadgets as hydrophilic as possible.

Most of us have become accustomed to the amazing imagery of the world available on Google's Street View, but a new site promises the same kind of virtual tourism from the aerial perspective of drones.

Launched back in April by Switzerland-based Jan Hiersemenzel, TravelByDrone is a site that harnesses the power of YouTube and Google Maps to allow you to explore the planet via recorded drone footage.

Image: FLICKR, DON MCCULLOUGH 

Massimiliano Magrini just wrote a post offering a panoramic view of the “State of the Union” in the Country of the Dolce Vita. He talked about the number of startups in Italy and suggested that a current lack of available capital meant big opportunities for investors in the country. Interesting perspective indeed, but maybe a little more context can help. First, while Italy is not lacking startups, it’s also not lacking capital; but that’s now true all across the world. Capital is being commoditized, and the cost for starting something (anything, actually) is at an all-time low.

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It’s hard to say what was odder: the headline that sounded like it was written by a little kid, or much of the reaction to it. In case you missed it, the episode in question is this week’s blog post by Tesla CEO’s Elon Musk titled “All Our Patent Are Belong To You,” which has had the tech and automotive world buzzing about what he is up to. (Update: the title is a gamer reference, h/t Shiggity in the comments).

Image: http://gigaom.com/ 

In 2014, college grads don't need fancy pens or letter openers — especially not the entrepreneurial ones. If you want to give a gift that will make a lasting impression, try thinking outside the box.

I asked 12 startup founders from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to hand-pick the perfect graduation gifts for budding entrepreneurs. Here are their top choices:

Entrepreneurs seem to have blinders on when looking at competitors. Generally they are so focused on killing competitors that they fail to see the positive potential of a strategic partnership or some other type of collaborative relationship. Sometimes you have to put aside the emotion and the passion, and just look at what is best for your business.

BITCOIN DOES FOR MONEY WHAT THE INTERNET DID FOR PUBLISHING

While some people view bitcoin as a crypto-currency or wealth store (or even a religion), Mr. Vessenes described bitcoin as an asset class. He said it is a “distributed trust technology” where trust in a currency is no longer bound to a central bank, but across the Internet and via peer-to-peer networks instead. Bitcoin “does for money what the Internet did for publishing,” said Mr. Vessenes.

In this country, we used to talk about ballooning credit-card debt. Now the bigger money worry? Student-loan debt.

As more students graduate with a crippling amount of it (the total amount of student loan debt now tops $1.2 trillion, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), Silicon Valley is rethinking the way in which we ask people to pay for college.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

The rise of the World Wide Web in the 1990s heralded an age of innovation, enabling us to make nearly every kind of interaction better, cheaper and faster.

Investors have been rewarded for funding big, game-changing ideas during this era. Yet many of these innovations have been relatively modest concepts. Being first has been key: Test your idea, fail early and pivot until you have arrived at something that captures the popular imagination.

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It’s fashionable to talk about innovation and failing fast but exploring new technologies has always carried a great deal of risk as a BBC feature on failed aircraft design shows.

Aviation, like automobiles, was a wonderful opportunity for early Twentieth Century tinkerers. With the added impetuous of two world wars, the development of aircraft saw some strange experiments.

Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/ 

A new report from Rock Health looking at the future of the biosensor wearables market shows a market in transition. The next generation of wearables is more targeted towards patient populations, particularly chronic conditions. In a Google hangout about the report, Malay Gandhi, a co-author of the report, talked about some of the qualities that are making these wearables more appealing to consumers and the b2b market and features that will give them staying power.

Image: http://medcitynews.com/ 

Does raising the financial requirements to be an accredited investor reduce startup financing? The Angel Capital Association (ACA), a trade association of angel groups, claims that it does. But data on the angel capital market’s response to the 2010 increase in the threshold doesn’t support their view.

They're baaack — in zoos around the world, animals are taking to the field — or at least, the tank or the food bin — to predict the results of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

At the last World Cup in 2010, an Octopus named Paul in Germany correctly "predicted" the outcome of 12 out of 14 soccer games. Sadly, Paul died in October 2010, but other animals are taking his place as World Cup prognosticators, BBC News reported.

Image: Brazil's turtle "Big Head" favors a Brazilian victory over Croatia in the first game of the 2014 World Cup. Credit: Screenshot, BBC News 

Scientists have discovered vast water reserves near Earth’s mantle, a finding that could reshape our understanding of where Earth’s water came from.

According to a new study by a group of U.S. geophysicists, a reservoir of water three times the volume of all of Earth’s oceans has been discovered inside a layer of blue rock 440 miles deep.

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The biggest news in the motoring world this week was the revelation by electric car company Tesla that it would be opening up its patents “for the advancement of electric vehicle technology”.

“If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk writes in the blog, “we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology”.

Image: http://motorburn.com/ 

As originally envisioned, the product development funnel implied that a well-defined product development process exists. However, the original funnel, and others that have followed, are increasingly seen as lacking. This article proposes a new funnel that addresses these missing elements.

Image: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/ 

If you think your business has weathered the storm, think again. In addition to obvious economic challenges, the emerging generation of customers is determined to radically change the rules for customer engagement. Their expectations of relationship and personalization are taxing businesses today, and their power through social media will kill those who can’t or won’t comply.

The Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator’s inaugural class was a triumph, Sprint Corp. CEO Dan Hesse said. Hesse, who made opening remarks Thursday at the accelerator’s Demo Day, said that the program will welcome another group of startups in the spring and that recruiting will begin soon.

Image: Bobby Burch | KCBJ - Sprint Corp. CEO Dan Hesse kicks off demo day. Hesse also announced that the Sprint Accelerator plans to host another class in the spring. 

No one ever said being an entrepreneur would be easy. A million obstacles seem to stand in the way each and every day. The naysayers and budget woes can be enough for the average person to start waving the white flag.

But you are not an average person: You’re an entrepreneur. That means that even when times are tough, you’re still going to march forward.

Image: Zupnik Cinema Group II