Are the lawyers smoking crack? And 9 other great stories from this week

Are the lawyers smoking crack? And 9 other great stories from this week:
When Apple v. Samsung Judge Lucy Koh asked if the companies' counselors were smoking crack, many of us chuckled, and some of us groaned. But it seems lots of folks were operating under questionable sobriety this week, not the least of whom included Kentucky state legislators, who wanted to include their schools in national testing, until they realized evolution was included in the biology portion of the exam.
Also, we addressed the insanity of the rumor that Microsoft might price its Surface tablet at $199. Pricing out OEM's and giving your hardware a price ceiling is no way to do business, we asserted. And our feature story on unregulated License Plate Readers drew an awful of ire, although in that story it's the state law enforcement agencies that are looking for the crack smokers. Probably.

• Kentucky lawmakers shocked to find evolution in biology tests
  
  State wants KY-specific ACTs; a politician says of evolution: "Darwin made it up."


• How Microsoft could make a $199 Surface RT a reality, and why it shouldn't
  
  A $199 price tag would stimulate consumer interest, devastate OEM involvement.


• Wish you were here: Curiosity and Mars Recon Orbiter send more postcards home
  
  Newest Mars rover finishes software swap and begins checkout phase.


• Why hacked Blizzard passwords aren't as hard to crack as company says
  
  A significant percentage of Blizzard passwords may already be in hackers' hands.


• Apple v. Samsung judge, at wit's end, asks if lawyers are "smoking crack"
  
  Each side keeps witnesses (and objections) coming despite judge's time allotment.


• Hands-on with Windows 8 RTM: software is finished, the experience ain't
  
  Apps remain the missing piece of the puzzle.


• From Altair to iPad: 35 years of personal computer market share
  
  Data shows that smartphones and tablets have been adopted far faster than PCs.


• Germany: Facebook must destroy facial recognition database
  
  Says opt-out mechanism violates European Union law.


• Review: Android's "Google Now" can teach Siri a few tricks
  
  Battle of the interactive assistants.


• Your car, tracked: the rapid rise of license plate readers
  
  Largely unregulated, cameras now collect millions of travel records every day.

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