News bites: Apple nearly doubles its profits

Apple reported strong sales of iPads, iPhones and Macintosh computers in the latest quarter. Profits increased 94 percent from last year, the company announced. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook is reported as saying, "I'd prefer to settle," referring to the company's ongoing patent dispute with Samsung over the design of the iPad and iPhone, which has resulted in Samsung products being banned from sale in some markets. CNet has the story here.

After months of speculation and rumor, Google announced that it's releasing its Google Drive cloud storage product. As is typical for Google products, Drive is expected to be free for most users. The product is seen as a competitor to the popular storage product DropBox.

However, ZDNet joins others in reporting the Terms of Service for Google Drive differ from competitors in that ownership of your files doesn't exactly remain yours.

The House is expected to vote on the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act today, probably sometime around 1 p.m. The bill, which has long been a pet project of transparency advocates like the Sunlight Foundation, has garnered wide bipartisan support in the wake of the recent GSA spending scandal. The measure would create uniform reporting standards for federal spending.