Billy Tompson: Boot up: Google's Linux patent loss, BT broadband woes and more

Plus the surprise phone manufacturer contributing to Android, why Amazon has a cloud business and more

A burst of 11 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Google loses Linux patent lawsuit, pointing up vulnerability for Android >> Los Angeles Times
"Google has lost a high-stakes lawsuit in Texas that is raising sharp concern that the Internet giant could face more such claims. "A federal jury last week awarded Linux patent-holder Bedrock Computer Technologies $5 million in the closely watched patent infringement case. It may be the first such award over the Linux kernel that is at the core of the open-source operating system."
A cloud on the horizon the size of a man's hand.

Nokia is one of the most active Android contributors, and other surprises >> carlo daffara
And no, it's not the Evul Tracking Software thing. Also: about 75% of Android comes from external projects.

How and why did Amazon get into the cloud computing business? >> Quora
Answered by Werner Vogels, Amazon's chief technology officer. So it's a pretty full answer.

Android Wifi/Cell Cache >> Atesea
A map drawn from an Android phone's location cache data.

Apple's 92% earnings windfall: The bloggers nail it, the pros miss by a mile >> Fortune Tech
"The shortfall in iPad sales was one of the few categories the Street called correctly."
Still.. one out of six (iPods, iPads, iPhones, Macs, revenue, profit) isn't bad, eh?
How long before a Wall Street firm hires one of the bloggers to do the forecasting job?

Malware authors target Google Chrome >> Ed Bott
"After the fake scan is complete, another dialog box comes up, warning that 'Google Chrome recommends you to install proper software.' "That's terrible grammar, and this social-engineering attack is likely to fail with an English-speaking victim, who should be suspicious of the odd wording. But a user whose primary language is something other than English might well be fooled. And the malware author has anticipated the possibility that you might click Cancel in the dialog box. If you do, it still tries to download the malicious software. "Each time I visited this page, the download I was offered was slightly different. My installed antivirus software (Microsoft Security Essentials) didn't flag it as dangerous. When I submitted it to VirusTotal.com, only five of the 42 engines correctly identified it as a suspicious file. Less than 8 hours later, a second scan at VirusTotal was a little better. This time, eight engines confirmed that the file was suspicious."

Windows Phone 7 gets hidden WiFi connectivity. What? It didn't have it already? >> Recombu
"It's another item on our wish-list for that Mango Windows Phone 7 update, the ability to connect to hidden WiFi networks, has been solved by phone-maker HTC, who have released a custom app exclusively for HTC phone users. "They'll then be able to enter the names of up to 3 hidden WiFi networks, and connect to them. Hidden WiFi networks do not appear on devices when you search for nearby networks, and is generally thought of as being more secure, as you need to know both the password and network name. "The lack of hidden WiFi is an eye-rolling blunder from the burgeoning smartphone brand- most businesses 'cloak' their wireless network."
Eye-rolling blunder? Harsh. Though possibly fair.

See your Android tracking files >> Packetlss on GitHub
In three months is anybody going to remember that Android phones track you too?

BaltTech: Drug-dealing robots in Baltimore >> baltimoresun.com
Yes, we know just what you're thinking. Go and read it, then.

There will be no Tech City in London if BT is not brought to heel >> Techcrunch
"While there are sceptics about the whole 'East London Tech City' project, I do know that there is a big appetite to nurture this industry. Nothing happens over night, but at least we've started. "However, one thing I have been banging the table about ? increasingly angrily as the weeks and months have past ? is the provision for broadband to startups in London. "Time and time again startups are telling me that while they can deal with hiring people, deal with finding lawyers and partners and VCs, what they can't deal with is the achingly slow response times of broadband service providers."

Privacy, Security & Your Dropbox >> Dropbox blog
"The previous section should clarify our commitment to user privacy. That said, there have been a lot of questions raised about government data requests. "Just so you know, we don't get very many of those requests ? about one a month over the past year for our more than 25 million users. That's fewer than one in a million accounts. "That said, like all U.S. companies, we must follow U.S. law...When we get a government request, we don't just hand over your information or files. Our legal team vets all of these requests before we take any action. The small number of requests we have received have all been targeted to specific individuals under criminal investigation. If we were to receive a government request that was too broad or didn't comply with the law, we would stand up for our users and fight for their privacy rights."

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Charles Arthur

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