Aneesh Chopra will step down from his position as the United States chief technology officer. The move is expected to be imminent and, while it’s unclear what Chopra’s next step will be, Fedscoop says sources have speculated Chopra is interested in running for political office or working as the head of a major technology firm in the Washington, D.C. area. Chopra was appointed U.S. CTO in April 2009 by President Obama. Fedscoop said possible replacements for Chopra’s position include Veteran Affairs CTO Peter Levin, Homeland Security chief information officer Richard Spires or Department of Health and Human Services CTO Todd Park.

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The International Trade Commission on Thursday reversed an earlier decision in a patent case that could cost camera maker Kodak hundreds of millions of dollars from Apple and RIM. Kodak had filed suit against both firms, claiming that their mobile devices infringed on multiple patents owned by the Rochester, NY-based company. An initial ruling in favor of Kodak was under ITC review, and the commission on Thursday reversed parts of the decision that had previously been ruled in Kodak’s favor. Other parts of the original ruling were sent to be examined by a judge of administrative law, and a final ruling is scheduled to be made on August 30th.

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Looking to scoop up one of Apple’s ultra-light notebook offerings? You may want to hold on to your wallet for a few more weeks. According to the latest report, Apple is preparing to update the notebook line in the not-too-distant future. “The Taiwan-based supply chain for Apple products will begin shipments of new 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch MacBook Air models featuring Sandy Bridge platform and Thunderbolt interface in late May for launch in June or July,” reads a report filed by DigiTimes. The article goes on to note that the updated Air will be assembled by Quanta Computer, with Catcher Technology, Auras Technology, Shin Zu Shing, Simplo Technology, and Dynapack all supplying components. The report echos earlier prognostications made by Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The current iterations of the MacBook Air were first revealed in October of 2010, just 7-months ago.

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An International Trade Commission (ITC) judge has ruled that Kodak did not infringe upon camera patents held by Apple. Reuters is reporting that an administrative law judge rejected the Cupertino-company’s claims, with a final decision by the ITC due on September 19th. Kodak, although not as prominent as it once was when film reigned supreme, still holds a treasure-trove of patents. “Many investors see Kodak’s value in its lucrative portfolio of intellectual property,” reads the report. “It has more than 1,000 patents and it made an estimated $630 million in 2010 from its licenses. But analysts have said this revenue from licenses is unpredictable and the portfolio might eventually dwindle.” Kodak has a pending suit filed against both Apple and Research In Motion, again surrounding smartphone camera technology, that is set to be decided upon on May 23rd.

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The business of smartphone production is starting to look more like the a John Grisham legal novel. While handset makers try to out-innovate each other with high-end, spec-heavy handsets consumers will flock to, lawyers are trying to out-flank each other with patent suits and red-tape. No longer can you have an armada of talented engineers and a driven executive team, you also must possess a war chest of hardware and software patents to prevent your company from entering litigation limbo — just Google the words Nokia, Apple, and patent if you don’t know what we’re talking about.

In an effort to protect itself from this corporate conundrum, Google has announced a $900 million bid for over 6,000 patents currently owned by Nortel. As the company’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Kent Walker, explained in a blog post: “The tech world has recently seen an explosion in patent litigation, often involving low-quality software patents, which threatens to stifle innovation. Some of these lawsuits have been filed by people or companies that have never actually created anything; others are motivated by a desire to block competing products or profit from the success of a rival’s new technology.”

Trying to prevent this, Google has publicly stated that its $900 million offer has been selected as the “striking-horse bid” for Nortel’s portfolio of patents in the company’s upcoming bankruptcy auction. “The patent system should reward those who create the most useful innovations for society, not those who stake bogus claims or file dubious lawsuits,” continues  Walker. “In the absence of meaningful reform, we believe it’s the best long-term solution for Google, our users and our partners.”

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Since it is Thanksgiving here in the United States, we thought it would be appropriate to cover a piece of kitchen technology in this week’s installation of Throwback Thursday. Today, in honor of the holiday, we’re covering a gadget invented over forty years ago that may be part of your T-Day celebration today, the electric carving knife.

Patented in 1964 by Jerome L. Murray, the high-tech piece of cutlery looks like a cross between a standard hand-mixer and a pair of electric hedge trimmers. The knife works its magic by rapidly moving two serrated blades back and forth over a central plane. The appliance gained popularity in the late 1960′s after is was manufactured by companies like Black & Decker, although it is less popular today thanks to one major drawback: maintenance. Electric knives have to be taken-apart and cleaned after every use to prevent the growth of bacteria between the blades and in the motor housing, making the convenience of such an appliance negligible.

Although not as popular as it once was, the knife is still used to cut the traditional Thanksgiving squab in houses all around the U.S.

Keep your ears open today, and if it sounds like someone is trimming a rhododendron bush in your kitchen… know that Mr. Murray’s electric knife is hard at work. Happy Thanksgiving!

BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.

Mail.com held its annual “Breakthrough of the Year” awards show in Los Angeles last night, and — in honor of BGR — they added a technology category to this year’s show. The winner of this year’s Breakthrough award in technology category was RealD. The official line goes something like this: “Using the characteristics of human perception to create a 3D image, the 2010 Breakthrough in Technology award recognizes RealD for the significant impact its breakthrough patented technology has had on our lives. From entertainment to piloting the Mars Rover, heads-up displays for military jets and robotic medical procedures.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with RealD, they are the company behind the cinema technology used to display movies in 3D (e.g. Avatar, Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, etc.). RealD’s self-written elevator speech looks like this:

We license our RealD Cinema Systems to motion picture exhibitors that show 3D motion pictures and alternative 3D content. We also provide our RealD Format, active and passive eyewear, and display and gaming technologies to consumer electronics manufacturers and content producers and distributors to enable the delivery and viewing of 3D content on high definition televisions, laptops and other displays.

Congrats to RealD! Hit the read link to see all of the other award winners. Anyone seen a 3D flick in a RealD cinema?

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Stockholm, Sweden is the place to be for cutting edge LTE technology. An active LTE network has been deployed and is being extensively used for testing — one of the first successful trials demonstrated the interoperability of LTE and HSPA networks. In the trial, a multi-mode LTE/HSPA device powered by ST-Ericsson’s commercially available M710 platform was used to launch an LTE mobile broadband data call. The call was then successfully transferred from the LTE network to an HSPA network. Sounds like small beans but seamless switching between LTE and HSPA is critical for the smooth transition from our current network technology to LTE, and with this first successful hand-off, we are one small step closer to commercially available LTE.

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It looks like Radio Shack isn’t the only green game in town when it comes to swapping out your unused gadgets for some cash. California-based Flipswap has just received a whopping $14 million in venture funding to help expand its cell phone and iPod recycling program. Pretty impressive for a “green” company in this uncertain economy. With all of you buying or planning to buy new handsets this winter season, we figure there are a lot of older, now unused handsets floating around. Yeah, some of you will go the eBay or Craigslist route but if you’re looking for an alternative way to offload your phone, you may want to check out Flipswap which will give you cash in return for your old cell phone or iPod. Flipswap is located in 6,000 retail locations and have even partnered with a few online vendors like Newegg and Amazon so you can get cash in the form of a gift card for your old phone. If your phone is too decrepit for cash, Flipswap will still take it for recycling purposes and will plant a tree in your name instead. One new tree is much better than one new handset in a landfill and this year alone Flipswap has planted an estimated 28,000 trees! BlackBerry owners in particular should take note as Flipswap recently partnered with RIM and will give you an extra $50 if you swap an old BlackBerry for a new BlackBerry. The company is also in the process of expanding its retail program so you can get cash for your old phone and apply it immediately to your new handset purchase. w00t! Flipswap is definitely worth looking into before you toss that old handset into your garbage can. Think green and recycle, y’all! Hit the read link for more info or if you’re a Berry addict, go straight to Flipswap’s dedicated BlackBerry page.

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