Google's Old 'Don't Be Evil' Policy Might Be Forced Upon It
IN THIS ISSUE: Will Google Finally Be Forced to Split?; Android Hackers Have a New Target; Tesla Unveils Cybercab, Robovan; TUTORIAL: The Correct Way to Use Dicts; The Birthday Paradox: Using AI to Fix Bugs; On-device Sharing with Class
Will Google Finally Be Forced to Split?
Having seemingly abandoned its founding principle "Don't Be Evil," Google has for years engaged in (and been convicted of) anti-competitive behavior, and been fined and ordered by courts to knock it off. It hasn't, of course, so a break-up might be the only remaining remedy.
Android Hackers Have a New Target
Exploiting a reported (now patched) vulnerability in the Qualcomm SoC that powers virtually all devices running Android, hackers are targeting specific users rather than launching a broad-based attack through, for example, the Google Play app repository.
Tesla Unveils Cybercab, Robovan
In perhaps his most audacious presentation to date, Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Warner Bros. Studios last week unveiled the Cybercab and Robovan, a pair of driverless vehicles designed to shuttle people and cargo "wherever regulators approve." Production is set to begin in 2026.
TUTORIAL: The Correct Way to Use Dicts
The hash structures for key-value pairs that Python calls dicts might be simple to erect, but can be hard to keep up over time. This technique simplifies code maintenance by treating dicts as a wire format, converting them on-the-fly to data structures.
The Birthday Paradox: Using AI to Fix Bugs
In any room containing 23 people, there's a 50-percent chance that at least two of those people will have the same date of birth. That's simple math. The same logic can be applied to larger problems, which is what this test engineer did to figure out and repair a vexing software issue.
The FileProvider class, that is. With the emphasis in recent years on data security for Android devices, Google and the developer community have locked the system down. Offering secure file sharing without the insecurity of paths is the FileProvider class. Here's how to use it.
Edward Correia
