Tech Blitz: Google Loss to Oracle Could Stifle Innovation

A jury may decide Google's use of APIs was a copyright violation and not fair use, putting software innovation as we know it in jeopardy.This look at recent tech highlights includes a lawsuit that could change the face of software development, cops doing a bad job disguising an SUV as a Google Street View vehicle and how the feds let employees leave their jobs with your personal bank data in hand.

This blog features a round-up of the latest news, announcements, opinions and insights. We take a close look at software development, self-service business intelligence and the tools used to implement them.

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If Google loses a $9.6 billion lawsuit Oracle filed over the use of Java in its Android mobile OS, the future of software innovation could be bleak. At least that’s what some observers believe, and they present a compelling argument.

A jury could decide against Google over the fair use component of copyright law. Oracle claims that Google’s use APIs (application protocol interfaces) to use Java without permission is not fair use. If the jury agrees, every company that wants to interface with another company’s technology via APIs could need a new license agreement. Read More.

Government Spies on Citizens with Fake Google Truck

Police in Philadelphia got caught disguising an SUV as a Google street view vehicle. But local residents weren’t fooled.

The SUV had cameras mounted on top, but those weren’t for photos of city streets. Nope, those were license plate reader cameras. A Motherboard writer found this odd, because Philly police have operated at least 10 mobile camera units since 2011 that weren’t disguised.

Cities catch heat from using automatic license plate readers, which can collect more than 1,800 license plates per minute. They get to keep these images for up to a year even if they have no reason to investigate you. Read More.

Data Breaches Fail to Faze Bank Regulators

When you leave an employer, do you download a bunch of company information onto your own USB key? (I should ask, does company policy allow it, not do you get away with it.)

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) seemed to have no problem with employees doing this until lawmakers got wind of it. Seven departing employees over the past seven months walked out the door with the personal banking information of 160,000 private citizens. One of them didn’t want to give it back, either.

Now the FDIC says most employees cannot download the organization’s data to removable media, and it’s taking other security steps. Read More.

Linux Kernel King of Software Projects

At least 440 companies and around 4,000 developers contributed to the Linux kernel last year, which a leader in the community says makes it the largest software project in the world.

And yet, very few people use the Linux OS. Netmarketshare.com reports that Linux holds 1.65% of the desktop market share as of April 2016.

That number is misleading, as many websites depend on Linux. Have you heard of the Apache server? And how about Android? That’s based on the Linux kernel.

So for Greg Kroah-Hartman, second in command in the Linux kernel community, to say it’s the largest software project doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Read More.

Get Your Kids Coding on an iPhone

Kids can code on an iPhone now with the release of the popular visual coding app by Hopscotch Technologies.

Rather than handing your iPhone to your child to watch videos or play games, you can install this app. With it, kids can design games, art and animations with a block-based visual programming language. They get to share those programs with other Hopscotch users.

Kids created more than 6 million games using Hopscotch on the iPad. Now you can get yours started on a path to coding with an iPhone version of the app. Read More.

Researchers Turn to Origami for Robotic Surgery

Someday a surgeon may have you swallow a piece of origami to perform surgery from inside your body.

Researchers from MIT, the University of Sheffield, in England and the Tokyo Institute of Technology developed a tiny, foldable robot that a patient would swallow inside a capsule. Once the capsule reaches your stomach, it unfolds and crawls across your stomach to repair a wound or remove something else you swallowed, like a button battery.

Robots aren’t new to surgery. I’ve even watched a surgeon use the da Vinci Surgical System for minimally invasive surgery on a patient. I’m not sure why the surgeon allowed me to sit at the controls and operate them (though he locked it down from contact with the patient). This was quite a few years ago, so miniaturization of robotic technology seems to be a positive step. The “origami” robot includes a magnet, which allows the doctor to move the robot where it needs to go.

I’m not sure if researchers intend to find a new material for the tiny robot. They built this test model with the same dried pig intestine used in sausage casings. Read More.

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