This Day in Tech: Patent turns into a first-to-file system; two directors leave Twitter

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET News for Friday, September 16.

• Patent overhaul signed into law by Obama. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act is the first major patent reform since the 1950s, turning the system into a first-to-file patent system instead of a first-to-invent system.

CNET's Josh Lowensohn reports: "Proponents, including technology companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple have rallied for the first-to-file system, saying it makes our intellectual-property system more competitive with those in foreign countries. While smaller businesses have said the change in filing standards puts them at a disadvantage." With all the patent wars going on, between Apple and Samsung, Google and Oracle, and Apple and HTC, among others, intellectual property has certainly been a heated topic lately.

• Roundup: Windows 8 debuts at Microsoft Build. When PC growth is slowing, can Windows 8 help change the perception?

• There's been another shake up at Twitter. Early investors Fred Wilson and Bijan Sabet are out. The microblogging site also loses its chief scientist, Summize co-founder Abdur Chowdhury.

• Any history buffs out there? Here's an app that turns your iPhone into a time machine.

• Seven states join effort to stop AT&T and T-Mobile deal. Most states are all for the deal, but some states express concern.

• BlackBerry outage hits e-mail, messenger. CNET's Roger Cheng wrote: "This isn't the first major outage that RIM has suffered from. The company suffered from a massive outage in 2007, and another major e-mail outage in late 2009. Sprinkled over the past few years have been a number of other smaller outages."

• So when is the iPhone 5 coming? CNET's Kent German updates his rumor roundup.

• Scientists announce the creation of printable, functional blood vessels.

• Hundreds of Go Daddy-hosted sites were compromised, causing visitors to be redirected to a site with malware on it.