Samsung, Google in airline link-ups

Samsung and Google will market their brands to air passengers in separate deals with airline companies, says Computing.

In the UK, Samsung's Galaxy Tabs - an Android mobile tablet - will be available at Heathrow Airport's Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse for passengers to try out. Customers will be able to swap their boarding cards for a Galaxy Tab pre-loaded with films, music and games, and then return it once their flight is called.

Samsung MD of mobile, Simon Stanford, said: “Our collaboration with Virgin allows us to demo the product in a real-life situation, where people have a genuine need for a portable entertainment device, and we're pleased to be able to give Virgin Clubhouse customers a chance to try before they buy.”

TalkTalk and BT have been granted judicial review of the UK's Digital Economy Act by the High Court, note the BBC.

A judge will now scrutinise whether the Act is legal and justifiable, and could make wide-ranging recommendations. BT and TalkTalk argued that the legislation had been "rushed through Parliament" before the election.

Internet service providers are unhappy with the part of the Act that requires them to take action against suspected illegal file-sharers.

Panda Security has joined with Trend Micro in attacking Microsoft for offering its Security Essentials freebie security scanner as an automatic download, states The Register.

Microsoft Security Essentials has been available for more than a year, but it only began offering the software via its software update mechanism last month. The download is only offered to Windows users who aren't already running anti-virus software.

Specialist anti-virus firms have criticised the auto-download move, arguing that Redmond is restricting choice.

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has threatened to leave the Java community if Oracle does not stop placing restrictions on the technology, reveals V3.

Other Java Community Process members have been urged by the ASF to vote against the upcoming Java 7 portfolio, unless Oracle's restrictions are removed.

Since 2007, the ASF has been fighting the field-of-use restrictions that first Sun Microsystems, and now Oracle, imposed on the test kit licence for Java SE. The restrictions protect Java commercially at the expense of the ASF being able to use the open software where it needs, according to the organisation.