Oracle has won a significant court battle against Google’s Android OS in relation to unauthorized use of its Java programming language that could mean Google paying $1 billion in damages.

The copyright case was decided by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington and stemmed from a 2010 case brought by Oracle that claimed that Google had illegally incorporated elements of Java into Android.

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You’re busy on the PC when you need to make a note, manage a task, maybe save a link. You could open Notepad, enter the details, save the file, and hope you can find it again later. But it might be easier to use FreeText to manage the whole process for you.

At its simplest, the program works like a more convenient version of Notepad. Links you type are recognized and become clickable; its window will by default remain on top of others; it minimizes to the system tray, and FreeText automatically saves your current file at regular intervals.

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I have long gotten used to the idea that the battery life of a smartphone will never match that of an old phone, so it is not high on my priorities list when I decide which smartphone I should buy next. Considering the advantages, this trade-off is something I can live with. Granted, our preferences may differ, but other traits like design, responsiveness, or camera are of a greater importance to me, and other people I know as well.

So I find it strange when an IDC survey, namely ConsumerScape 360, finds that battery life is the main reason why people buy a certain Android, iOS or Windows Phone smartphone, more so than operating system, screen size, brand or camera resolution. To quote my colleague Wayne Williams, "That seems very unlikely. No one shops for a phone because of battery life. No one".

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Windows devices and computers are a dime a dozen, but machines that truly shine are few and far between. While Microsoft's Surface line is wonderful, other manufacturers are quite hit and miss. With that said, Lenovo is one of the few companies that you can always depend on for high-quality Windows products.

Today, the manufacturer announces two beauties -- the ThinkPad 10 tablet and the ThinkStation P300. The tablet in particular is something Windows fans have been clamoring for, since the ThinkPad Tablet 2 has been getting very long in the tooth.

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On November 13 2013, Motorola showed the world that it was possible to make a powerful smartphone that runs the latest version of Android and sell it for under $200 without a contract. Unsurprisingly, Motorola had a huge hit on its hands with the Moto G (top selling phone in Brazil and Mexico).

Six months later, Motorola is showing once again that it is very serious about capturing an even bigger share of the budget smartphone market by announcing a 4G version of the Moto G (selling for GBP 149 in the UK in the coming weeks) and, more importantly, introducing an even more inexpensive smartphone, the Moto E.

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The UK Information Commissioner's Office has published a new report highlighting the eight most common vulnerabilities that have led to organizations failing to keep data secure.

The threats were identified as part of the ICO's investigations into data breaches caused by poor security practices. Many of these have led to financial penalties being imposed on the organizations involved.

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Twitter has rolled out a new version of its iPhone and iPad app with the release of Twitter 6.5. Its headline new feature is support for the "mute" feature that allows selected users to be hidden from the user’s timeline.

Version 6.5 also implements a number of improvements to the iPad version that had previously been rolled out to the iPhone build. These include selected content previews in the user’s timeline and the ability to choose filters for photos.

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You might have taken some great digital photos, but they can always be made better, and one way is to transform them into a photo mosaic: a picture built from the color-matched thumbnails of other images.

This isn’t always easy. As we’ve discussed before, AndreaMosaic is a very powerful mosaic creator, but with a complex interface which means it can be hard to follow. Fortunately there are simpler alternatives -- and Mosamic is one of the very best.

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We've got some disappointing news for those S3 owners who've been holding out with their fingers crossed for an update to Android 4.4, as KitKat is simply not going to happen on the international version of the Galaxy S3 (and the S3 Mini).

Previous rumours had indicated that UK owners of the S3 were going to get KitKat, speculation which was underlined by the fact that over in the US, the upgrade has been confirmed and is indeed about to roll out.

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With the Moto G, under Google's ownership, Motorola has proved it is capable of making an appealing entry-level Android smartphone that does not employ inferior hardware to launch with a sub-$200 price-tag. The Moto G, unsurprisingly, has turned out to be a popular choice in this segment.

Today, at a press event, Motorola just announced a new version of its successful Moto G which features 4G LTE cellular connectivity. Consumers who shop in the entry-level smartphone market are likely to find the newly-unveiled device even more appealing, compared to its 3G-toting brethren, as the faster cellular data speeds amount to noticeable improvements when used on compatible mobile operator networks.

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Despite the presence of iWorks and numerous other productivity suites on iPad, many users were hoping Microsoft would eventually roll out a version of Office for Apple’s tablet. The biggest sticking point was Surface -- Microsoft’s suite is, after all, one of that tablet’s biggest selling points, and providing Office for rival devices could prove risky.

At the end of March, Microsoft responded to the demand by releasing free iPad apps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint and tackled the Surface issue beautifully. The apps are excellent, fully touch optimized, and designed from the ground up to run on an iPad. But they require you to have Office 365 to create or edit documents, which isn’t a restriction Surface users have to worry about.

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It is said that Twitter is the social network for those who suffer from verbal diarrhoea, and it's certainly true that you have to be slightly selective about who you follow if you are to avoid drowning in an avalanche of overwhelming drivel. But even if you do pick and choose who appears in your timeline very carefully, there may be times when you want certain people to just shut up. You could stop following them, or even go as far as blocking them, but this might be seen as taking things a little too far. Twitter's new mute function could be the solution to the problem you didn’t know you had.

Announced in a post on the Twitter blog, Product Manager Paul Rosania says the feature is being rolled out to not only the web version of Twitter, but also the official iOS and Android apps. In many ways, muting is a watered down version of blocking a user and it could prove useful in certain circumstances. You may have some friend who is watching a show you've yet to catch up with. To help avoid spoilers, you could mute their tweets until you're up to date; the same idea rings true for sporting results, and other big announcements.

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Each and every month Netflix ranks ISPs by the level of service it observes, based on streaming speed. In the past we've seen Comcast drop significantly in these rankings, though once Netflix agreed to pay the cable company, things suddenly changed.

With latest rankings, the service added Canada to it's list, and there, Bell Aliant and Bell Canada were tops in speed. In fact, average speeds in the nation topped those provided by US carriers, though ranked behind most European nations.

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Android is a mobile operating system, so many people think of it only for tablets and smartphones. However, it is actually very versatile, and has made appearances on both desktops and laptops too. That said, most Android laptops have proven to be low-quality garbage.

Today however, Archos has thrown its hat into the Android-laptop arena, with the all-new ArcBook. The company calls it an "affordable mobile productivity enhancer". I call it a neat little laptop!

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Windows PCs are messy beasts at the best of times, with uninstallers leaving great swathes of program files and Registry entries behind. The complicated way that programs and hardware is tied in with Windows can have more serious repercussions too, should you suddenly find your graphics card not working properly and the installer refusing to play ball.

It’s at times like this you need a tool that can thoroughly remove the driver and all traces of the other paraphernalia installed. Thank goodness, for the clearly labeled Display Driver Uninstaller.

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