A federal appeals court said Friday that software makers can use shrink-wrap and click-wrap licenses to forbid the transfer or resale of their wares, an apparent gutting of the so-called first-sale doctrine.

The first-sale doctrine is an affirmative defense to copyright infringement that allows legitimate owners of copies of copyrighted works to resell those copies. That defense, the court said, is “unavailable to those who are only licensed to

Like the solid feel of a hardwood pencil but hate writing with a tiny stub? This modular continuous pencil is for you!

At first glance, I thought that the Continuous Pencil was just a stubby with a wooden holder. But no — each pencil can hold the stub of the previous pencil. You just Lego the new one right in, work the old stub to the end, then shave it down to start over again.

For some folks, it might be cumbersome to break out a penknife to start up a new pencil, but once you’ve