You may have heard by now that Apple no longer has claim to the name Mighty Mouse, since small-volume mouse maker Man & Machine, who had labeled its own pointer "Mighty Mouse," managed to wiggle its way through all the red tape to a successful trademark application. There's a lot of messiness involved, but the truth of the matter is a) it was dumb for Apple to borrow a name from a cartoon character in the first place, and b) the Mighty Mouse was one of Apple's worst products to date. In the end, I'm thinking there's a hint of karma in this reversal of fortune. Hopefully Apple's next mouse will be mightier in deed than in name. [Engadget]

Even though movie-poster regulars such as Owen Gleiberman and Peter Travers have labeled it "freaky and terrifying" and "a potent frightfest" respectively, studio execs seem skittish about releasing Paramount's Paranormal Activity. Instead of manning up and giving it a nationwide release, the studio has asked potential ticket buyers to declare their intentions here. I'm all for crowdsourcing experiments, but this just seems like studio cowardice at its most yeller. They call it "the first-ever major film release decided by you"—it sure won't be the last. [Movie Site]

iPhone owners love to crap all over AT&T customer service whenever they get near a JD Power & Associates survey, but apparently, for the 1.5 million who get TV programming from the T, service couldn't be sweeter. Good ole JD released the results, naming AT&T best in the west and south, Verizon tops in the east, and WOW! numero uno in the north central region. (No, World of Warcraft didn't start a cable company... or did it?) It might not startle you to learn that none of the cable and satellite carriers who actually provide TV service to the majority of the nation appear in the (positive) results. Just wait till you serve as many people with TV as you serve with cellphones, AT&T. Then let's see where you stand. [JD Power]

Danny Sullivan, king of the search engine watchers, pinned down Sergey Brin after a Google event and showed him some bad results. Like if you type "car rental," all the major agencies are there, but when you type "california car rental," many companies disappear (including my personal favorite, Hertz). He also asked why searching "search engines" brought up discussion of search engines, but "search engine" just brought up many older search sites—notably excluding Google itself. Brin said people probably don't search for Google on Google, but Sullivan disagreed. I was actually under the impression that if you go to Google and type "google," you break the internet, so in either case, I'm just glad to be enlightened. [Search Engine Land]

The stakes for RealNetworks aren't terribly high either, as sales of RealDVD might have been slow because of, oh, I don't know, the mountains of free software that does a better and more complete job. Within the day, Real filed a countersuit which could possibly set a new precedent for the interpretation of the Hollywood's DVD license. Even in a best-case scenario, the most legal headway that could probably be made would be to permit neutered software like RealDVD, which would still leave any useful method of DVD backup well outside of the law. [NYT]

Purchase New Movies on iTunes Same Day as DVD Release CUPERTINO, Calif., May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced that new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios are available for purchase on the iTunes(R) Store ( http://www.itunes.com ) on the same day as their DVD release. New releases and catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Movies purchased from iTunes can be viewed on an iPod(R) with video, iPhone(TM), Mac(R) or PC or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV(R), with new releases priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles at $9.99. "We're thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios." New releases available for purchase on the iTunes Store this week, concurrent with their DVD release, include "American Gangster" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." Other popular titles now available for purchase include "Juno," "Cloverfield," "I Am Legend," "There Will Be Blood," "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." The iTunes Store is the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over six million songs, 600 TV shows and over 1,500 films including 200 in stunning high definition video. With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as new iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online. Pricing & Availability Movie purchases and rentals from the iTunes Store for Mac or Windows require iTunes 7.6.2, available as a free download immediately from http://www.itunes.com. iTunes movie purchases and rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. iTunes Movies are available in the US only and are $9.99 (US) for library title purchases and $14.99 (US) for new release purchases and $2.99 (US) for library title rentals and $3.99 (US) for new release rentals, and high definition rental versions are priced just one dollar more with library title rentals at $3.99 (US) and new release rentals at $4.99 (US). Short films are available to rent for 99 cents (US). Movies can be previewed, purchased and watched on iPod classic, iPod nano with video, iPod touch, iPhone and on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.