Google has enhanced the enterprise management capabilities for its Android smartphone platform, making it possible for administrators to secure and reset lost or stolen devices.

One of the key updates is a new version of the Google Apps Device Policy app, which now makes it possible to locate a lost or stolen Android device on a map, call it, and reset the device PIN or password remotely through a new site called My Devices.

According to Mozilla, "installing 10 add-ons will double Firefox's start-up time." In some cases poorly written add-ons can slow down the browser even more.

The slower start-up times make Firefox look bad, even if add-ons are responsible, which is why Mozilla is launching a new effort to improve Firefox add-ons.

To help speed up what many consider the best part of Firefox, Mozilla is reaching out to developers of slow add-ons and asking them to work on performance. The company has updated its Performance Best Practices for add-on developers and is encouraging developers to optimize their code.

Upon further examination, however, the allegations appear to be incorrect. Samsung is claiming that the result is simply a false positive.

After Samsung made its claim, security software company F-Secure went a step further, and demonstrated that VIPRE will indeed identify a directory named C:WindowsSL as StarLogger - even if the directory is empty.

Neither Hassan nor NetworkWorld, who published his claims, provided any evidence beyond the directory name; no logging binaries, no logs, no e-mail traffic or screenshots.

A security researcher says he discovered keylogging software installed on two brand-new Samsung laptops that could be used to monitor all activities on the computer remotely.

Eventually, a supervisor got on the phone and confirmed that Samsung put the software on the laptop to monitor machine performance "and to find out how it is being used."

The incident could incur the wrath of customers similar to the backlash that occurred after Sony BMG Music Entertainment sold copy-protected compact discs that installed so-called rootkit software hidden inside computers in 2005.

Sarver's message says apps that replicate Twitter's "core functionality" are no longer welcome, but those that extend that functionality are.

From the app developers' point of view the new rules are a not-so-subtle "get lost". Their argument runs like this: we put together thousands of Twitter applications, many or most of them for free, and Twitter's ridden to success on our backs.

You, dear Twitter user, are only valuable in two roles: as the uncomplaining recipient of corporate, endorsed, API-compliant advertising, or as yet-another end user filling up a data mine.

That's right... the complete source of Arx Fatalis is available for download. The complete list of changes in this patch confirms this to be the case (because the wording on the patch download page is a bit vague).

So... what will become of Arx Fatalis, now that its source is openly available? Who can say... but I, for one, intend to keep an eye on it.

Oracle will deliver two Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) based on the OpenJDK project - one free and the other paid.

Messinger did not explain how the premium JVM would differ from the free version, but the premium edition will likely see performance tuning and tie-ins to Oracle's middleware.

He did not say how Oracle would price the JVM, or explain how it would be offered, according to QCon Tweets.

Oracle has hiked up the price of MySQL, killing low-priced support options and more than doubling what it charges for the commercial versions of the database.

The hike, which was anticipated, gives power to skeptics who'd questioned Oracle's motives for buying MySQL and who continue to fear for the future of MySQL.

SkySQL was formed in June, and it's composed entirely of former MySQL employees.

"We can go back and say to Oracle customers: you trusted us before, it's the same support and consulting team and experts in your field - why not trust us," Sandberg said.

The OpenOffice.org (OOo) community has declared independence from Oracle as members have joined the LibreOffice project, a fork of the open source office suite.

Oracle's uncompromising attitude has now instigated a mass exodus of OOo community members as independent contributors flock to LibreOffice.

The LibreOffice developers will continue to merge Oracle's improvements wherever possible, but statistics published recently show that a bulk of the project's code is coming from completely new contributors.

He wrote to Apple to complain that his work was being distributed through their App Store, under terms that contradict the GPL's conditions and prohibit users from sharing the program.

All they would have to do is follow the license's conditions to help keep the software free. Instead, Apple has decided that they prefer to impose Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and proprietary legal terms on all programs in the App Store, and they'd rather kick out GPLed software than change their own rules.