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Oracle has been dealt a blow in its ongoing patent infringement case against Google.

Late last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected several of the claims in a patent that Oracle has cited in its infringement case against the search giant. According to Groklaw, which obtained the notice, 17 of the 21 claims in Patent No. 6,192,476 have been rejected by the USPTO, following a re-examination the agency conducted earlier this year.

The patent, called "Controlling access to a resource," describes how a so-called "principal" calls for access on a software … Read more

Mozilla is laying claim to big performance improvements for Firefox 9, while Firefox for Android goes in for a shave and a haircut as it gets an entirely different look. Both desktop and Android updates are being released today.

Firefox 9 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux | Android) continues the browser's rapid-release development oscillation, where feature enhancements and performance improvements take the lead in alternating months.

The JavaScript improvement called Type Inference, which Mozilla spent more than a year developing, debuts on the PC version of Firefox. The short version is that sites that heavily rely on JavaScript--like Web apps … Read more

commentary Hewlett-Packard may think it's resuscitating WebOS by turning it into an open-source platform, but the truth is the plug was pulled a long time ago.

In a case of too little, too late, HP said it felt the open-source route was the best one for WebOS. The company is gambling that the operating system will take off on its own.

It's a bad bet. Past open-source platforms have had a mixed record of success. And people who had any interest in WebOS, whether consumers or developers, have been jerked around enough by the companies that have mismanaged … Read more

There is a rather serious vulnerability in Java version 1.6.0_26 that is apparently being actively pursued by hackers, one that is easy to implement and allows hackers to compromise systems without being detected.

The exploit was found a couple of months ago and was addressed in the latest round of Java updates both from Oracle and from Apple for OS X users; however, many people have not yet updated their systems and hackers are working to take advantage of this flaw on these systems.

The vulnerability allows a maliciously crafted Java applet to run undetected on many browsers … Read more

Google hopes to better the Web with Dart, but Microsoft has declared itself an opponent of the programming language rather than a potentially valuable ally.

Google hopes Dart will address shortcomings in JavaScript, the programming language that endows Web sites with some brains. In a blog post yesterday, though, Microsoft said that improving JavaScript is the way to go.

Five members of Microsoft's JavaScript team said the Dart sales pitch argues "JavaScript has fundamental flaws, and to support these scenarios requires a 'clean break' from JavaScript...We disagree with this point of view."

Dart got off to a rough start, … Read more

Apple has released an update to its Java runtime for OS X, which is available for OS X Lion and Snow Leopard operating systems. The updates address some "reliability, security, and compatibility" issues involving the current Java implementations in these operating systems, if people have chosen to install them.

The largest fixes in this update address problems where code in Java applets could be run outside of the Java sandbox and thereby compromise the security of the system. Sandboxing is a method of isolating running code that has received a bit of attention recently.

Starting with OS X … Read more

iPhone 4S pre-orders top 1 million units, Yahoo pulls out of its bid for Hulu, and Netflix announces the cancellation of Qwikster in a brief blog post.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Google today launched an "early preview" of Dart, a programming language the company hopes will help Web application programmers overcome shortcomings of JavaScript that Google itself feels acutely.

Programmer and project leader Lars Bak detailed the project in a talk today at the Goto conference in Denmark and in a blog post. Dart is geared for everything from small, unstructured projects to large, complicated efforts--Gmail and Google Docs, for example.

"If we want to focus on making the Web better over time, we have to innovate," including with new programming languages, Bak said in an interview … Read more

Despite the surge in demand for Android, Apple's iOS still holds the lead among mobile platforms, at least according to the latest data from Net Applications.

In a survey of the mobile landscape for September, iOS hit a new record with a 54.6 percent share of the market. That's up from 53 percent the prior month and 42 percent a year ago.

Trailing behind Java ME, which is typically used in feature phones, was Android with a 16.26 percent share. Though in third place, Google's mobile OS has seen a rise from a year ago … Read more