* Tim Lee on Microsoft’s Android Shakedown and how software patents threaten productivity-enhancing innovation.

* Ryan Singel reports on a start-up called Zediva and how it is working around idiotic copyright restrictions to offer customers new release movies.

* Austin Frakt on how the size of the tax subsidy for employer-sponsored health insurance varies by income.

* A post at Free Exchange discusses the potential of congestion control by means of gamification.

* And Mike Masnick revisits a recent talk by gamification guru Jesse Schell. I was talking about these years ago, but no one listened!

* Miriam Jordan reports on the sources of the increase in the U.S. Hispanic population.

* Chicago is using creative methods to tackle truancy. Jim Manzi cautions that efforts to cajole kids to attend school underscores the seriousness of the human capital challenge the U.S. faces in the coming years.

* Paul Burka, editor of the Texas Monthly, offers context and perspective on Gov. Rick Perry for non-Texans. Burka is not a conservative, as will become clear from his list. But he has followed Perry for many years, and he offers a number of insightful details.

* I am extremely excited about UP by Jawbone, an innovative manufacturer of computer “peripherals” that is fast emerging as a leader in the wearable computing space. The device, which debuted at TEDGlobal in Edinburgh (one of my favorite cities), is designed to make self-tracking sleep patterns, exercise, and diet much easier. I intend to buy one of the devices as soon as I can. PSFK has a brief report.

* Nicole Gelinas takes Michael Bloomberg to task for his failure to properly address New York city’s looming pension crisis.

* Rick Falkvinge, founder of Sweden’s Pirate Party, has written a terrific essay on how the patent system freezes up the creation and spread of new ideas. For more on this theme, I recommend reading the excellent Against Intellectual Monopoly.