Android

Global research and advisory firm, Forrester, said, "The explosion in open source projects in the HTML, mobile, cloud and big data spaces such as Android, jQuery, PhoneGap, Sencha, Hadoop and Cordova are driving a new model and a golden age of 'app' development."

Clearly, Linux had a great year—as did their many dedicated developers, communities, fans, and users.  » Read more

Now the that the jury has given Apple almost everything it asked for in its infringement suit against Samsung, what should we expect to happen next? I think it's a given that Samsung will appeal. Given the damages awarded and the obvious determination of Apple to defend its patents, Samsung has little choice but to press forward wherever it can in court. » Read more

As has been widely reported, the district court in the Oracle v. Google case has issued an order holding that the "structure, sequence and organization" (SSO) of 37 J2SE 5.0 API packages is not copyrightable. Oracle is expected to appeal.

The API packages at issue, comprising over 600 classes and over 6,000 methods, form part of the 166-package class library bundled with Sun's J2SE 5.0 JDK and JRE products. The accused 37 of the 168 packages in the Android Froyo platform's Dalvik class library substantially » Read more

On May 23rd the jury in the closely-watched Oracle v. Google case returned a verdict for the patent phase of the trial in Google's favor. The jury unanimously found that Oracle failed to meet its burden of proving direct patent infringement by Google through Android and the Android SDK.

By the time of the trial, the set of patent claims asserted by Oracle had been reduced to » Read more

Oracle v. Google has all the ingredients of an epic, high-stakes courtroom battle: a damages claim of up to $1 billion over the use of Java in the popular Android operating system, testimony by both Larrys (CEOs Page and Ellison) in the first week alone, and, of course, the disposition of some interesting legal issues, not the least of them whether APIs can be copyrighted.

But, more than all of that, the case serves as an important teaching moment, illustrating much of what doesn’t work in our patent system. » Read more

Five months ago, HealthTap launched its public beta to help people share health information based not around symptoms or treatments, but around the individual. This week they've expanded the system by launching iPhone and Android apps. » Read more

HP's attempt to kill the TouchPad proved two things: the appeal of a $99 tablet and the power of open source communities.

The first is clear--even if you hadn't decided how a tablet would fit into your life, it's a lot easier to figure it out for $99 than for $500. Too bad the BOM to build the TouchPad was more than $300. (Maybe it's time to subsidize tablets.) » Read more

Mobile Linux platforms are making incredible inroads into the emerging smartphone market. The market leading position that Apple developed and which seemed insurmountable just 18 months ago has now been eclipsed by the Android platform, alone. As the MeeGo smartphone platform enters the market this trend toward mobile linux ubiquity can only be expected to continue.  Further, the extension of these linux-based operating systems into higher value computing devices is, in parallel, threatening to transform the nature of personal computing. » Read more

Even people inside the open source market tend to underestimate it.

They think of it the way they think of the software market. If you're not collecting cash tribute for support (the equivalent of a cash price for the code) you somehow don't count. » Read more

Phrases I considered for this post's title ranged from "surprising choice" to "sign of the apocalypse." More than a few years ago, I remember buying my first piece of Sony hardware--a video camera. It was one of the first that also let you take digital stills, which it saved to a tiny, purple, proprietary Sony memory stick that was an expensive pain to replace or get a spare of. And that was how I first learned that Sony was mostly only interested in Sony. » Read more