Don't expect a positive answer from the Oracle
Mark Bridge writes:
Here in the UK, we have a double Bank Holiday weekend to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. That means two days away from work for many of us (and also two days of unseasonably bad weather, according to tradition).
In fact, the three of us at The Fonecast are celebrating our own anniversary this month. It’s been six years since we started podcasting about the mobile phone industry. We’ll be revisiting some of those early programmes - and the biggest mobile news headlines from 2006 - in this week’s podcast on Wednesday.
Last month a jury decided that Google hadn’t infringed two of Oracle’s patents when creating its Android operating system - and a judge has now ruled that the case doesn’t involve a breach of copyright either.
The case dates back to 2010 when Oracle claimed a significant part of the Android mobile operating system was “derivative of Oracle’s copyrighted Java API packages”. Google had responded by saying the Java programming language was free to use, which meant it could use the Java-related APIs in Android.
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Vodafone will be launching a ‘mass market’ smartphone this summer. The Smart II - an update from last year’s Vodafone 858 Smart - has been launched in the UK at £70 on ‘pay as you go’ before being rolled out to other European countries at under €99.
It’s described as having twice the processing power of the most expensive and sought-after smartphones available three years ago.
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London Underground and Virgin Media have named a list of 82 London Underground stations that will offer free WiFi this summer. Oxford Circus, Stratford, Liverpool Street, Leicester Square and King’s Cross will be among the first to launch.
Virgin Media’s WiFi service will be free throughout the summer, with charges introduced at a later date.
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UK-based m-ticketing technology specialist Masabi has demonstrated a proof-of-concept Android application that can read and display the contents of ITSO-based transport ticketing smart cards. ITSO is the UK government-chosen standard for smart ticketing that’s already being used by transport operators including Go-Ahead, Stagecoach and Newport Transport as well as in a number of regional schemes.
Masabi’s Smart Card Buddy Beta has been developed by the company’s Beta Labs programme and can be downloaded from the Google Play app store.
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