A jury found that Google’s use of the Java programming language in Android is legal, in a patent battle that lasted some six years. Oracle, which owns Java, argued that Google stole code to build a mobile operating system that ended up being the most popular smartphone OS in the world. Google prevailed over Oracle in 2012, but a year later a court found that software APIs can be copyrighted, which meant Oracle could revive its legal battle against Android.

Google didn’t just save Android with this win, avoiding a huge financial hit in the process – a win for Oracle could have forced Google to cough up as much as $9 billion. The victory is also important for future patent battles that cover copyrightable software.

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Augmented reality might factor in to the future of firefighting.

This week, a team from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a research institute in Switzerland, revealed the smart visor they have been working on that will help firefighters see through smoke and darkness while simultaneously freeing up their hands and allowing them to do their jobs with less constraints.

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For those who think that Google and Amazon have effectively already won the market for AI home assistants, you might not want to sleep on Apple just yet. Though Siri is not without its fair share of limitations, its functionality and feature-set has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years. And looking ahead, a report from The Information earlier in the week claimed that Apple has some grand and ambitious plans for its intelligent assistant.

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Apple’s pressure-sensitive 3D Touch feature didn’t find its way to the cheaper iPhone SE, probably because of the cost of a touch-sensitive panel. But what if the SE — and any other phone with a speaker and mic — could have their own, slightly MacGuyver version of 3D Touch?

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Smartphones and tablets can control anything and everything these days, which is pretty awesome. The “Internet of Things” craze means most items in your home can be connected to the internet, and practically anything that can be connected to the internet can be controlled by iOS or Android. But sometimes controlling things with your phone is a pain in the butt. You have to find the right app, wait for it to open, and then you’re using up battery life unnecessarily.

Maybe you should snag the Logitech Harmony Home Companion / Home Control instead. It can control up to eight devices in your home, and it’s on sale on Amazon fro just $129.99 through Saturday, May 28.

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Independently, playing video games and watching movies are immensely enjoyable activities. But when the two mix, the result is often an exercise in disappointment. Likely rooted in Hollywood’s never-ending effort to print money without exercising an ounce of creativity, movie executives always seem keen on taking whatever video game happens to be hot at the moment and turning it into a movie. Even in the face of ridicule and a string of box office failures, we’ll likely never see Hollywood stop trying to turn popular video games into hit films.

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SpaceX is ramping up the number of launches of its Falcon 9 rocket, which is good for the company, and great for fans of large explosions.

Tonight, Elon Musk’s rocket company is shooting a commercial communications satellite to geostationary orbit. The first stage will once again try and land on a barge in the ocean, but the trajectory of the launch means that the landing will be “challenging.”

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Summer is almost here. In fact, if you live in the Northeast, summer just came from out of nowhere. With beach season practically upon us, it’s time to take advantage of all the preseason sales and stock up on beach gear before prices go up. If you’re looking for a bargain on a must-have accessory, look no further than the Gaosa Universal Waterproof bag for Outdoor Activities, which will fit any iPhone and most Android phones, keeping them safe from splashes. In fact, you can even capture underwater photos and videos at depths up to 82 feet.

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It’s 2016 and for some reason, the world’s most powerful nations still have nuclear weapons – you know, just in case they need them. America’s nukes are controlled by computers, no surprise there. On the plus side, these computers are so old that they can’t be hacked by zit-popping teenage hackerss. In fact, the devices used to control nukes are so old that most Snapchat users might not understand what they are.

These massively destructive weapons are actually controlled by floppy disks. That’s right, the same ones that died off years ago. Is there really nothing more modern that people can use when they have their fingers on the button?

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Much like the characters featured in the game itself, Ghost Recon Wildlands has been surprisingly hard to find over the past several months. After being unveiled at Ubisoft’s E3 press conference last year, Wildlands immediately went into hiding, with nary a screenshot or a trailer to be found.

In fact, I’d nearly forgotten the game even existed. Until today.

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