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The JOBS Act has passed the Senate. In a 73 to 26 vote today, an amended version of H.R. 3606, which opens startup investing to individuals ("crowdfunding") and gives young companies more flexibility in filing to enter the public stock markets, cleared what is probably its last major hurdle before becoming law.

An amendment to increase investor protections in the crowdfunding section of the bill, Amendment 1884, passed the Senate earlier today. It increases restrictions on raising money from individuals, including a sliding scale of investment caps. And the bottom of the scale, individuals making less than $… Read more

The JOBS Act, a collection of regulatory changes that would make crowdfunding legal and make it easier for companies to become publicly traded, has been wending its way through congressional proceedings this week.

Today, two Democrat-sponsored Senate amendments to the House version of the bill--one to increase consumer protections in the crowdfunding section, and another unrelated amendment to reauthorize funding of the export/import bank--failed to win necessary votes in the Senate to be attached to the act.

The JOBS Act passed the House easily on March 8 by a 390-23 vote, and its supporters hoped that it would sail … Read more

Crowdfunding will likely become the new law of the land, but not as soon as its advocates had hoped.

The JOBS Act passed the House easily on March 8 by a 390-23 vote, and its supporters hoped it would sail through the Senate. But today the Act has been delayed in the Senate by new arguments and amendments.

Senate Democrats created an amendment to the Act, S.AMDT. 1833, designed to improve transparency and consumer protections around the crowdfunding portion of the act. It would replace H.R. 2930, the Crowdfunding bill that is incorporated into the JOBS Act. Today, … Read more

This week, possibly as soon as tomorrow, the Senate is likely to pass the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act. It has already passed the House, and most of the influencers in Silicon Valley are in favor of the bill. It will certainly change the way the Valley works. But not for the reasons many people think.

The JOBS Act is a collection of bills that were rolled up into one act in the House: H.R. 3606. The Senate was working on variations of some of the components included in 3606, but sources say that the most likely outcome … Read more

week in review Apple unveiled a new iPad, resetting the goal line again even as competitors scramble to catch up in the burgeoning market for tablets.

The new iPad--not the "iPad HD" or "iPad 3" as previously rumored--offers a higher-resolution Retina Display similar to that of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. It offers a resolution of 2,048x1,536--or 3.1 million pixels. It also features an updated processor--which the company boasted was four times as fast as the nearest competition--as well as a 4G connection.

Apple also cut the price of two models … Read more

The trail to the New York apartment where a hacker named "Sabu" of LulzSec and Anonymous fame was arrested last June can be traced back to a former Anonymous participant who turned against the group over its WikiLeaks activities.

Sabu, whose name is Hector Xavier Monsegur, pleaded guilty to computer hacking charges in August and spent the last six months or so working as an informant for the FBI. The undercover operation led to hacking-related charges being filed against four alleged cohorts in the U.K., Ireland, and Chicago yesterday.

Sabu was the proverbial big fish who was … Read more

An online hacker group associated with Anonymous responded to the arrest of six suspected hackers by hacking and defacing a security firm's Web site.

Members of AntiSec hacked the Web site of antivirus company Panda Security after it was revealed today that five men in the U.K., Ireland, New York, and Chicago had been charged with hacking-related offenses, as well as news that LulzSec leader Hector Xavier Monsegur, known as Sabu, had assisted federal officials in their probe of the group.

"Yeah yeah, we know, Sabu snitched on us. As usually happens FBI menaced him to take … Read more

The group of hackers known as "LulzSec" frequently taunted government pursuers over the last year as they published sensitive data snatched from myriad public and corporate Web sites.

Tuesday, we may have learned what happens when you mock the feds for too long. Authorities announced that five men in the U.K., Ireland, New York, and Chicago had been charged with hacking-related offenses. They also said the alleged LulzSec leader, known as Sabu, had entered a guilty plea on August 15 to 12 counts of computer hacking conspiracies and other crimes. According to the U.S. Attorney's … Read more

Government agencies have arrested several members of hacker group LulzSec, which has claimed responsibility for attacks on Sony Pictures and Fox's "X-Factor" reality series, charging them with crimes allegedly affecting more than 1 million victims.

Five of the arrested individuals are described as "core" members of the hacker groups Anonymous and LulzSec, while a sixth individual, who operated under a separate group called Antisec, was also arrested, the U.S. Attorney's office said today in a statement.

The arrests have likely put hackers on alert, even as tensions rise over future attacks. While law … Read more