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Android Market’s Malware Flood Level Rises With Plankton Surge

Yet another Android malware package has been publicized just two weeks after the last one, dubbed "DroidDream Light," was disclosed. This latest malware, named "Plankton" by Xuxian Jiang, an assistant professor in North Carolina State University's computer science department, exploits Dalvik, Androi...

LINUX PICKS AND PANS

PDF Shuffler: A Dead Simple, Dead Serious, Dead-On Winner

If all you do with PDF files is view them, you have very little need for an application the likes of PDF Shuffler. But if you find yourself in desperate need of a tool to let you slice and dice one or more PDF files, then this little app may well be one of the best computing tools you will use on yo...

Seasoned Devs May See a Sweet Deal in Honeycomb

Seasoned Java or Android appdevs looking to create apps on Android 3.0, aka "Honeycomb," will probably find it relatively easy to get up and running. "If you're a Java developer, it's going to take you three to five days to get to the point where you can be dangerous enough to develop apps," Marko G...

Google Debuts a Honey of an OS

Google staged an in-depth look at its Android 3.0 operating system, aka "Honeycomb," at a press conference Wednesday. It marks the official arrival of the first version of the Android operating system to be optimized specifically with the tablet form factor in mind. Features mentioned in the present...

LINUX PICKS AND PANS

LibreOffice: Meet the New Office, (Almost) Same as the Old Office

For some Linux adopters, exchanging Microsoft Office in Windows for the OpenOffice suite is a radical change in computing behavior. Swapping out OpenOffice for the LibreOffice suite may be a lot less traumatic. LibreOffice is a near clone of the OpenOffice modules. Yet it provides the potential for ...

EXPERT ADVICE

Java Lives

What does the future of Java look like? Many say Java is reaching the end of its life, while others go so far as to say Java is dead. Will Java become Cobol, an antique enterprise platform too entrenched to get rid of, but no longer relevant? Will Oracle's takeover of Java prove to be the final n...

Oracle Tightens Its Grip, Apache Slips Through Its Fingers

In protest over what it sees as excessive control over Java by Oracle, the Apache Software Foundation has resigned from the Java SE/EE Executive Committee on Thursday. Apache has served on the Java Executive Committee for more than 10 years. Apache's departure follows the EC's approval of the specif...

LINUX PICKS AND PANS

Mind-Mapping Apps: Lightweight Labyrinth, Quick-Witted VYM and Simple Semantik

Mind map tools offer users a system to graphically think through complex ideas in a somewhat controlled space on the computer screen. This type of software makes it easy to link related ideas with lines, branches and multiple colors in much the same way you would "think" about a topic with a scratch...

Google Files Steamed Response to Oracle’s Java Claims

At the heart of the case is whether the Android operating system infringes patents on the Java technology Oracle acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems early this year.

EXPERT ADVICE

Open Source Databases Have Come of Age

When the Internet and World Wide Web finally went mainstream in the mid-1990s, new Unix-like operating systems running on PCs went mainstream too. Developers working on these systems had access to a wide range of development tools, but these platforms didn't initially offer anything like the mature,...

CONFERENCE REPORT

Much Seen but Little Hurd at Oracle’s OpenWorld

As spectators crowded in to see keynote speeches Monday at Oracle's OpenWorld 2010, the question on everyone's lips was: What's Mark Hurd going to say? The recently ousted HP CEO was hired by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison shortly after Hurd left HP amid a scandal involving a female contractor and fudged ...

Snuffing Out OpenSolaris Dims Oracle’s Light in FOSS Community

Just a day after Oracle filed suit against Google for its use of Java in Android, the FOSS community received another blow at the hands of the tech giant in the form of news that it plans to kill the OpenSolaris project. "This is a terrible sendoff for countless hours of work -- for quality software...

Oracle Lawsuit Claims Google Slurped Its Java

Oracle on Thursday filed suit against Google for patent and copyright infringement in the latter's development of the Android operating system. Google "knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property," according to the suite, which "seeks appropriate remedies...

Google Makes Everyone an Android Dev

Google on Monday threw open its App Inventor beta program to the public. The tools used in this program let the user create mobile apps for the Android operating system, even if the user has very little programming knowledge. The App Inventor program's tools use a visual programming approach and cod...

EXPERT ADVICE

5 Python Pluses for the Enterprise

By now, you should at least be passingly familiar with Python. One of the fastest-growing languages, Python has been gaining popularity for years and has reached a level of maturity that makes it a top choice for enterprise development. Companies from Microsoft to Google have embraced Python and are...

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