posted by Thom Holwerda on Fri 31st Jul 2009 22:41 UTC
The rumours around an Apple tablet device, and with tablet device I mean an iPod Touch but larger, have been circling around the internet for a long time now. As usual, Apple's secretive nature means we know absolutely nothing for sure. In the meantime, Micheal Arrington, who quit his iPhone in favour of an Android headset out of frustration with Apple, and Fusion Garage have been working on their own tablet device. The release date is getting closer, and the specifications are - allegedly - actually here.The alleged specifications come from The Straits Times from Singapore, home base for Fusion Garage. Fusion Garage is the team working on the CrunchPad, and they gave an exclusive sneak preview to The Straits Times. The device is supposed to ship in November, and is totally geared towards the cloud. Here's the specifications list:
As you can see, there's no local storage, not even an SD card slot. This means that the device is really engineered towards the cloud internet, as it assumes you will always have an internet connection so you can save your stuff. Software-wise, it's a browser-based operating system which uses the WebKit rendering engine and the Linux kernel. It has an on-screen keyboard, and features touch gestures for day-to-day operation.
Several other previously mentioned things are no longer on the alleged list - microphone, microphone, webcam, and so on. At an alleged 399 USD, this is a lot of money for such a device, but I must say it does have a certain appeal. However, will it be able to compete with any possible Apple tablet? Time will tell.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/12/10 15:30 UTC
New Zealand's internet filtering system went live last month - but the government forgot to mention this to its electorate until its hand was forced by online freedom campaign, Tech Liberty. Thomas Beagle, a spokesman for the group, said he was "very disappointed that the filter is now running" and that its launch had been conducted in such a "stealthy mode". He added: "It's a sad day for the New Zealand internet." It's sad indeed, that things like this are possible in modern democracies.
Linked by jermar on 03/11/10 18:56 UTC
Version 0.4.2 of the little-known microkernel-based multiserver operating system HelenOS has been released. See their official release notes to find out what other bleeding-edge features besides an experimental and highly modular networking stack this release brings.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/11/10 18:55 UTC
Motorola will start loading Microsoft's search and map services onto its Android smartphones in China, bringing more non-Google services to the phones amid a row between Google and China.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/11/10 18:52 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
"Khronos Group, the association behind OpenGL, has today announced the fourth generation of its cross-platform API spec, which takes up the mantle of offering a viable competitor to Microsoft's DirectX 11. The latest release includes two new shader stages for offloading geometry tessellation from the CPU to the GPU, as well as tighter integration with OpenCL to allow the graphics card to take up yet more duties off the typically overworked processor."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/10/10 22:18 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
"The CodePlex Foundation has announced the arrival of several new board members, including Jim Jagielski, the Chief Open Source Officer of SpringSource. Jagielski, who was one of the original cofounders of the Apache Software Foundation, brings a lot of credibility and leadership experience to the CodePlex Foundation."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/10/10 22:16 UTC, submitted by kang327
Brown University has developed an IDE for Java called Code Bubbles that takes a pretty radical departure from current IDEs. While most IDEs, such as Eclipse are file-based, Code Bubbles is based on fragments. The system appears to support reading and editing code with fragments, multi-tasking, annotating and sharing, and debugging with bubbles. There's a website with video too.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/10/10 0:15 UTC
Palm has released the PDK for the webOS, which allows developers to code in C and C++, while also providing access to, for instance, the 3D chip. "The PDK complements the Palm webOS Software Development Kit, letting developers use C and C++ alongside the web technologies that power the SDK and mix them seamlessly within a single app. The PDK enables new functionality, including immersive 3D graphics, and gives developers who have built games for other platforms an easy way to bring their titles to the webOS platform. Developers can download the beta PDK and start developing today, but distribution of games built with the beta PDK will require functionality provided in an upcoming Palm webOS update."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/09/10 23:40 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
"Mozilla's high-performance TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, which was first introduced in 2008, has lost a lot of its luster as competing browser vendors have stepped up their game to deliver superior performance. Firefox now lags behind Safari, Chrome, and Opera in common JavaScript benchmarks. In an effort to bring Firefox back to the front of the pack, Mozilla is building a new JavaScript engine called JaegerMonkey."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/09/10 23:38 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
"Few people understand Microsoft better than Tandy Trower, who worked at the company from 1981-2009. Trower was the product manager who ultimately shipped Windows 1.0, an endeavor that some advised him was a path toward a ruined career. Four product managers had already tried and failed to ship Windows before him, and he initially thought that he was being assigned an impossible task. In this follow-up to yesterday's story on the future of Windows, Trower recounts the inside story of his experience in transforming Windows from vaporware into a product that has left an unmistakable imprint on the world, 25 years after it was first released."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 03/09/10 23:36 UTC
Cisco Systems today introduced its next-generation Internet core router, the CRS-3, with about three times the capacity of its current platform. "The Internet will scale faster than any of us anticipate," Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers said during a webcast announcing the product. At full scale, the CRS-3 has a capacity of 322Tbit/sec., roughly three times that of the CRS-1, which was introduced in 2004. It also has more than 12 times the capacity of its nearest competitor, Chambers said.