Month: March 2016

(credit: Engine)

On the same day that five key states voted in the presidential primaries, startup lobbying shop Engine took a close look at where the candidates stand on important tech issues like privacy, net neutrality, and patent reform. If your views on those issues align with Engine's, you won't find their 2016 Candidate Report Card an encouraging read.

After taking a look at the candidates' records in four policy areas, Democrat Hillary Clinton got the highest overall grade: a B+. Her challenger Bernie Sanders got a B, while Republican candidates ranked lower: C+ grades for Marco Rubio and John Kasich, a D for Ted Cruz, and straight F's for Donald Trump.

Candidates were ranked on "privacy and security" based on whether they understood the importance of strong encryption and supported reforming privacy and surveillance laws. Bernie Sanders (the only candidate who has suggested leniency for Edward Snowden), got a B. Both Sanders and Clinton (B+) have a "relatively nuanced approach" to the encryption debate. Trump (F), Kasich (C-), and Cruz (C) have made statements "that show little understanding of what encryption is and its role in protecting user safety and security." Rubio earned a D for his promises to double down on NSA surveillance.

Android N isn't all about notifications and multi-window mode, even if they are the biggest and most noticeable features. (credit: Google)

Android N has a bunch of big new features in store for its users—the ones who eventually receive the update and don’t have those features torn out or replaced by their phone’s manufacturer, anyway. We’ve already covered a lot of the biggest user-facing stuff, including the multi-window multitasking mode, the revamped notifications and quick settings, and the new UI customization options.

But every year there are a few smaller or hidden features that are important to the platform but don’t get as much of a spotlight, either because they’re hidden under the covers or they appeal to a narrower audience. As we’ve done for Android L and M, we’ve looked at the developer docs and come up with a handful of new additions that you ought to know about as you’re playing with these early developer builds.

ART JIT

Google formally switched from the Dalvik Java runtime to the Android Runtime (ART) back in version 5.0, and it has continued to make new changes and optimizations since. Android N introduces a big one with far-reaching consequences—after switching entirely to ahead-of-time (AOT) code compilation in the first versions of ART, this version re-introduces just-in-time (JIT) compilation under certain circumstances to speed things up in areas where ART slowed down.