trial

Android chief: We didn't believe we needed a license from Sun

SAN FRANCISCO -- Android chief Andy Rubin wrapped up his testimony this morning in the copyright portion of the Oracle-Google trial at the U.S. District Court here.

Google counsel Robert Van Nest picked up from where he left off on Tuesday afternoon, asking Rubin what happened after initial negotiations with Sun Microsystems ended in 2006. Rubin said that the Android team went forward to build the mobile operating system on its own.

"We wrote code ourselves, obviously," said Rubin. "In developing Android, we assembled it from various pieces."

Although it is constantly evolving, Rubin commented … Read more

Indie games steal the spotlight this spring

Sure, the future of gaming may see the end of used games, but it's also ushering in a wave of independent and download-only titles that may not have otherwise seen the light of day.

Current-generation consoles have provided independent studios with accessible platforms like Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) and the PlayStation Network (PSN) that exposes their work to millions of gamers, similar to what the App Store has done for iOS developers.

Microsoft has even taken it a step further with its XNA initiative, ensuring that literally anyone can create a game.

The widespread embrace of these titles has encouraged others to follow suit and has paved the way for indie classics like Braid, LIMBO, Bastion, Minecraft, and most recently, Journey.… Read more

The Pirate Bay sparks new criminal investigation

The torrent-downloading site The Pirate Bay announced last week in a blog post that the Swedish authorities had launched a new criminal investigation into its activities.

"The Swedish district attorney Fredrik Ingblad initiated a new investigation into The Pirate Bay back in 2010," the blog said. "Information has been leaked to us every now and then by multiple sources, almost on a regular basis."

Today, the torrent news site TorrentFreak confirmed that the Swedish police were looking into The Pirate Bay. Apparently, authorities requested that the Swedish hosting company Binero, where The Pirate Bay is registered, … Read more

Kodak aims to block Apple's renewed patent suit

Kodak has fired back at Apple in their ongoing courtroom battle, with the troubled photography company asking a judge to block Apple from reigniting legal proceedings on patents.

This latest tiff began last month when Apple requested permission from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan to file a patent infringement complaint against Kodak with the International Trade Commission, as well as a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Manhattan.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Kodak wants the patent dispute to be resolved as quickly as possible but believes that the renewed litigation should be put in … Read more

Funny and fun, this stunt bike game is worth your money

Bike Baron is a stunt bike game for both iPhone and iPad that might be the best we've seen yet for iOS. Made by an all-star developer team with folks from the groups that made Minigore, Death Rally, and Aqua Globs, this well-designed game really shines. Even the musical score is from the same person that made the music for Angry Birds. In other words, there's a lot of talent behind this game.

Unlike many of the games in this genre, you get just one set of controls for Bike Baron: arrows for tilting on the left and … Read more

Stunt bike racer with one big glitch

Xtreme Wheels is a stunt bike racing game that offers nice-looking graphics (with one extremely notable exception), but it's still somewhat lacking. You get a few options for controls, but like most games of this type, gas and brake will always be on the right. On the left, you get the option to use a slider, arrow buttons, or you can use the accelerometer to tilt. The controls feel solid mostly, making you feel in control as you navigate past obstacles.

The graphics in Xtreme Wheels look great mostly, with one very noticeable problem (at least in our testing). … Read more

Stunt bike racer is fun, but needs work

MotoTrialz is a side-scrolling stunt bike game that's a fairly good remake of the game Trials, but it's not the best in the genre. Like other games of this type, you're challenged with riding a motorcycle over several obstacles in the least amount of time possible. You have a couple of different options for controlling your bike in MotoTrialz: you have gas and braking buttons on the right and you can choose between a slider on the left or the accelerometer for tilting your bike. You'll need to pick one and get comfortable quickly; these stunt … Read more

Linux programmer Reiser requests new murder trial

Hans Reiser, the jailed Linux programmer convicted in 2008 of killing his estranged wife, is going to federal court to demand a new trial, according to a 117-page handwritten filing posted by Wired reporter David Kravets, who covered the bizarre courtroom drama gavel to gavel in Oakland, Calif.

Reiser--known to the technology world as the founder of the ReiserFS file system software, claims, among other things, that his attorney forced him to take the stand against his will.

"My court appointed lawyers, the judges, the DDA, the police, C.P.S., County Counsel, the Public Defender, in short the … Read more

Sprint shortens trial period; ends Premier Program

Two small, but significant changes are coming to Sprint. And they're not changes that we like.

First off, Sprint has confirmed to PhoneScoop that it is shortening its return policy from 30 days to a mere 14 days. Of course, that means that new customers will have only two weeks to return new phones and leave service plans without incurring an early termination fee (ETF). If customers go past the 14 days, however, they will be locked into their contract and will be subject to the full or prorated ETF if they cancel early. Verizon Wireless made a similar change … Read more