Police found Amanda Pogany's stolen 1996 Honda in a chop shop and were able to return it to her. While in the custody of the thieves, the car got a few upgrades, including a new V-8 engine, manual transmission, leather interior, tinted windows, and oversize tires. Unfortunately Amanda won't be able to play The Fast and the Furious around the neighborhood with her new souped up car. She doesn't know how to drive a stick.

Mashable has a report of a patent that just issued (6-1/2 years after filing) — apparently Google now has a lock on location-based advertising. It's not clear that the search company intends to assert the patent against any other companies (such as emerging rival Apple), but it's useful as leverage. Here is the patent. Update: 03/02 14:34 GMT by S : Reader butlerm noted that the incorrect patent was linked. It now points to the correct URL.