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Submission + - Oracle sues Google over Java

Submitted by cyberjessy
cyberjessy writes: CNET is reporting that Oracle is suing Google over the use of Java in the Android OS. Oracle claims Google "knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property."

This raises interesting questions. Is Java really open, in spite of being open source? And in hindsight, can we now call the criticism of Mono a bit unfair?
Google

Submission + - Oracle Sues Google (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by ink
ink writes: In what may be an attempt to accuse Google of infringing on the Java ME runtime re-distribution license, Oracle unleashed their lawyers on the search giant's mobile platform. Ars Technica continues:

"In a tersely worded press release, Oracle announced that it was suing Google for patent and copyright infringement over its use of the Java programming language for Android development. Neither the press release nor the complaint filed in the US District Court for Northern California go into any significant detail."
Security

Submission + - J. Doe Who Fought FBI Spying Freed From Gag Order (wired.com)

Submitted by Tootech
Tootech writes: So you wonder what happens when an ISP recieves a a so-called “national security letter” from the FBI well have a read of the ISP owners fight to not have to turn over everything and the sink to the FBI. The owner of an internet service provider who mounted a high-profile court challenge to a secret FBI records demand has finally been partially released from a 6-year-old gag order that forced him to keep his role in the case a secret from even his closest friends and family. He can now identify himself and discuss the case, although he still can’t reveal what information the FBI sought. Nicholas Merrill, 37, was president of New York-based Calyx Internet Access when he received a so-called “national security letter” from the FBI in February 2004 demanding records of one of his customers and filed a lawsuit to challenge it.
Apple

Submission + - Flash ported to iOS and iPhone 4 (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: You may remeber in early July Flash was ported to iPad under the name of Frash. Well, now that same port has been updated to allow it to run on iPhone 4 and iOS. But that’s not all, the same port will run on iPhone 3GS, iPad, and iPod touch.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft losing big to Apple in the campus OS war (virginia.edu)

Submitted by destinyland
destinyland writes: Apple has nearly surpassed Microsoft's share of operating systems among the computers of incoming freshmen at the University of Virginia, confirming earlier reports of an ongoing change. A yearly survey shows that among 3,156 freshman who own computers, Microsoft's share is just 56%, with Apple's share rising up to 43%, continuing a big five-year trend. Microsoft's share dropped 6% from the previous year, while Apple's rose 6% — though just five years ago, Microsoft's share was on 86% vs 13% for Apple. "It seems likely that the Mac-using students will outnumber their Windows cousins this school year," notes one technology blog, citing an new study showing that 70 percent of college freshman are choosing the Mac. Other interesting data from the Virginia study: In 1997, 26% of incoming freshmen said they didn't own a computer, a number which has now dropped to 0. And 99% of their computers are now laptops.
Mozilla

Submission + - Like Google, Mozilla To Silently Update Firefox 4 (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: Taking a page from rival Google's playbook, Mozilla plans to introduce silent, behind-the-scenes security updating to Firefox 4. The feature, which has gotten little attention from Mozilla, is currently 'on track' for Firefox 4, slated to ship before the end of the year. Firefox 4's silent update will only be offered on Windows, Mozilla has said. Most updates will be downloaded and installed automatically without asking the user or requiring a confirmation. 'We'll only be using the major update dialog box for changes like [version] 4 to 4.5 or 5," said Alex Faaborg, a principal designer on Firefox, in the 'mozilla.dev.apps.firefox' forum. 'Unfortunately users will still see the updating progress bar on load, but this is an implementation issue as opposed to a [user interface] one; ideally the update could be applied in the background.' Unlike Google, Mozilla will let users change the default silent service to the more traditional mode, where the browser asks permission before downloading and installing any update.
Math

Submission + - 5 Trillion Digits of Pi - New World Record (numberworld.org)

Submitted by KPexEA
KPexEA writes: Alexander J. Yee & Shigeru Kondo claim to have calculated the number pi to 5 trillion places, on a single desktop and in record time.
The main computation took 90 days on Shigeru Kondo's desktop. Verification was done using two separate computers.
The program that was used for the main computation is y-cruncher v0.5.4.9138 Alpha.
Patents

Submission + - Apple Mines App Store Submissions for Patent Ideas (unwiredview.com) 1

Submitted by
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes: "Apple has started filing a bunch of patents on mobile applications. That might not be so interesting in and of itself, but if you look closely at the figures in one of the patents, you can see that it's a copy of the third-party Where To? application, which has been on the App Store since at least 2008. There's also a side-by-side comparison which should make it clear that the diagram was copied directly from their app. Even though it's true that the figures are just illustrations of a possible UI and not a part of the claimed invention, it's hard to see how they didn't get some of their ideas from Where To? It might also be the case that Apple isn't looking through the App Store submissions in order to patent other people's ideas, but it's difficult to explain some of these patents if they're not. And with the other patents listed, it's hard to see how old ideas where 'on the internet' has been replaced with the phrase 'on a mobile device' can promote the progress of science and useful arts. This seems like a good time to use Peer to Patent."
Games

Submission + - Wipeout recreated with an RC car (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: If you’ve owned any of Sony’s PlayStation consoles then there’s a good chance you’ve also played one of the Wipeout, games. It’s a high-speed racing game that helped make the PSOne popular, and it’s now been recreated using a remote control car.

The project is the idea of Malte Jehmlich. He decided to create a track out of cardboard reminiscent of the Wipeout tracks. He then hooked up a wireless camera
to a remote control car, and modified the controller to be an arcade cabinet with a wheel and forward/reverse selector.
Apple

Submission + - Hardware hackers reveal Apple's charging secrets (ladyada.net)

Submitted by
ptorrone
ptorrone writes: "In this 7 minute video we explore "The mysteries of Apple device charging". Usually device makers need to sign a confidentially agreement with Apple who want to say "works with iPhone / iPod" and never talk about how the insides work. If you don't put these secret resistors on the data lines to you get the dreaded "CHARGING IS NOT SUPPORTED WITH THIS ACCESSORY". We demonstrate how anyone can do this and make their own chargers that work with iPhone 4, 3Gs, etc."

Comment Re:What????? (Score 1) 165

by jaak (#33111852) Attached to: Radioactive Boar On the Rise In Germany

It's called radioactive fallout. A large plume of radioactive debris was spread over Europe (in fact, this was how the accident was first detected outside of the USSR, not because the authorities reported it).

The debris contaminated ground water, lakes, rivers, forests, animals, livestock, etc. all over parts of Europe.

I was in the UK at the time and I remember the contamination almost destroyed the lamb and mutton industry there.

Wikipedia has some information on the effects of the disaster: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
Government

Submission + - Appelbaum detained at U.S. border, questioned abou (cnet.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Appelbaum detained at U.S. border, questioned about Wikileaks

A security researcher involved with the Wikileaks Web site — Jacob Appelbaum, a Seattle-based programmer for the online privacy protection project called Tor — was detained by U.S. agents at the border for three hours and questioned about the controversial whistleblower project as he entered the country on Thursday to attend a hacker conference. He was also approached by two FBI agents at the Defcon conference after his presentation on Saturday afternoon about the Tor Project.

Appelbaum, a U.S. citizen, arrived at the Newark, New Jersey, airport from Holland flight Thursday morning, was taken into a room, frisked and his bag was searched.

Officials from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Army then told him he was not under arrest but was being detained. They asked questions about Wikileaks, asked for his opinions about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and asked where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is, but he declined to comment without a lawyer present, according to the sources. He was not permitted to make a phone call, they said.

After about three hours, Appelbaum was given his laptop back but the agents kept his three mobile phones, sources said.

CNET News: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20012253-245.html
Earth

Submission + - G.M.'s Electric Lemon 2

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: On a day that saw him test-drive the new Chevy Volt, President Obama declared the federal rescue of automakers a success, delivering a message to 'naysayers' who have criticized a robust government role. Presumably one of those naysayers would be NYT Op-Ed contributor Edward Niedermeyer, who said the Volt 'appears to be exactly the kind of green-at-all-costs car that some opponents of the bailout feared the government might order G.M. to build.' The future of G.M. and the $50B taxpayer investment in it, adds Niedermeyer, 'now depends on a vehicle that costs $41,000 but offers the performance and interior space of a $15,000 economy car.'

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