Month: June 2016

(credit: Wikimedia)

Google successfully made its case to a jury last month that its use of Java APIs in Android was "fair use," and the verdict rejected Oracle's claim that the mobile system infringed its copyrights.

After Google argued its case, though, Oracle filed a motion arguing that the judge should decide as a matter of law that fair use didn't cover it. In the wake of the jury's pro-Google verdict, Oracle's motion was its last hope of a trial victory.

It didn't happen. US District Judge William Alsup shot down the motion on Wednesday. The same order also denied Google's motion making similar arguments, filed at the close of trial but before the jury's verdict.

Enlarge (credit: http://www.e3expo.com)

E3 informally kicks off today, and Ars will be on the scene this week covering all the action. Before the event begins, we're surfacing our liveblog schedule.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo may be a bit smaller this year, thanks to some high-profile publisher departures. But that doesn't mean the show overall won't be the same loud, in-your-face cavalcade of big-name game announcements and demos that it has always been. Oh, and the gaming public will be right outside the doors this year, which should amp up the excitement a bit.

This year's E3 has the added potential of a heavily rumored new console announcements from Microsoft (and an actual mid-cycle upgrade announcement from Sony). And then there's virtual reality, which is poised to be a major presence once again now that big-name hardware is starting to get into consumers' hands.

Warcraft

Garona is a half-orc slave of Gul'dan who knows how to slice a man in two with a sword, but decides to join the humans because they have warm, fluffy blankets.

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I'm not too proud to confess that I love watching vaguely humanoid creatures smash each other with hammers and broadswords. I mean, that's what's best in life. So here's some good news about Warcraft, the new movie based on the PC games: it delivers quite a bit of orc-on-orc action, particularly in the giant hammer department. The gryphons are good, too. But in spite of the action, you're left wanting more. That's because this movie lacks compelling characters whose adventures we actually care about.

The plot of Warcraft is needlessly complicated, though it all boils down to orcs fighting humans. Orc warlock leader Gul'dan has brought the Horde together to flee Draenor, the orc homeworld, because he's trashed the environment with evil fel magic. The Horde is preparing to head through a giant portal to the human world of Azeroth and take over. Meanwhile, the humans have never seen orcs before and are not crazy about orc colonial tactics, which involve the aforementioned hammers, as well as general burning and killing. All the battle scenes are genuinely fun, and it's entertaining as hell to watch the humans figuring out how to exploit orc weaknesses in one-on-one combat.

Too many cooks

Instead of telling a relatively straightforward story of the clash between two worlds pitted against each other by dark magic, Warcraft zooms from land to land, character to character, delivering a stew of a tale that suffers from way too many ingredients. There's the drama of Anduin, a great warrior whose son has finally reached soldiering age, who struggles to overcome the fear his son will die just like his wife did. There's Garona, the half-orc slave girl, torn between the world of the noble Horde and the vaguely democratic Alliance. Then there's Khadgar, a young sorcerer questioning his powers, whose mentor Medivh is sworn to protect Azeroth but is stricken by a mysterious ailment. And NO I'M NOT EVEN DONE, because then there's Durotan, a good orc leader who questions Gul'dan's fel-infused power-mongering. And there are also Orgrim and Draka, who secretly support Durotan's rebellion against Gul'dan.

Video shot/edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

It has been a couple of years since Samsung upgraded its Gear Fit activity tracker, and the new Gear Fit 2 is competing in a much more crowded market. While Fitbit still reigns as king, Apple unveiled its Watch and Microsoft came out with two versions of its own band. That's also not to mention that what people expect from their fitness trackers has changed rapidly: built-in heart rate monitors are now commonplace, and the basic step and distance tracking and calorie counting metrics just aren't enough to warrant a permanent spot on your wrist. Samsung clearly took all of that into account when making the Gear Fit 2 and, in turn, created a strong device that's made even stronger by its competitive $179 price.

Design: Gadget-y done right

The slightly redesigned Gear Fit 2 is a subtle improvement on the original. But more importantly, it's what the newest Microsoft Band should have been. The Gear Fit 2 is rounder and more seamless than the first, blurring the lines that separate the band from the display module. The band is your typical silicone wrap that we're used to seeing on fitness trackers now, and the closure is a simple snap-in design. The band comes in small and large sizes, so the Gear Fit 2 is easy to put on and even easier to wear, even if it's not the most fashionable piece.

Whoa. (credit: Warner Bros. / Village Roadshow)

Ahead of the start of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony president and CEO Andrew House has confirmed the long-rumored existence of a more powerful PlayStation 4, codenamed Neo, that will be sold alongside the standard PS4.

Speaking to the Financial Times (subscription or Google-Fu required), House made clear that this isn't a replacement for the current PlayStation 4 hardware, but merely would provide an upgraded experience to games that would largely work on both consoles.

“It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4,” he said. “We will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle... All games will support the standard PS4 and we anticipate all or a very large majority of games will also support the high-end PS4."

(credit: frankieleon)

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that law enforcement can legally scan or swipe a seized credit card—in fact, it is not a Fourth Amendment search at all, so it doesn’t require a warrant.

In the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals’ 15-page opinion, swiping a card does not constitute a physical search, as the magnetic stripe simply contains the same information obviously visible on the front of the card. Plus, the defendant, Eric-Arnaud Benjamin Briere De L'Isle, couldn’t have had a reasonable privacy interest in the card, the court concluded, because he would have tried to use it when he tried to buy something, thereby giving up privacy interests to a third party (the issuing bank).

According to court records in United States v. De L’Isle, the case began in June 2014 when Eric-Arnaud Benjamin Briere De L'Isle was driving westbound on I-80 and was pulled over by a Seward County, Nebraska, sheriff’s deputy.