CyanogenMod 7.0 Released

"After over 4 months of work, many sleepless nights, and contributions from people all around the world, I am proud to release CyanogenMod 7.0 into the wild! CM7 is based on the 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) release of Android from Google. We’ve added most of the great features from CM6 you know and love, and many new ones including support for several tablets. We are currently providing support for 30 devices! I continue to be amazed with this community and the dedication of everyone involved."

Groklaw Calls it a Day, To Close May 16

Should I be sad or relieved? Groklaw, the website that played a central role in the SCO vs. sanity case, has just announced it will close up shop on May 16 of this year. Groklaw's place in history has been secured, surely, but in recent years, the site became more and more like a relic from the past, clearly stuck in the everyone vs. Microsoft mindset of the late '90s and early 2000s. Even in today's announcement post, Groklaw shows that its time has indeed come.

ASUS Releases Honeycomb Linux Kernel Source Code

Well, this is fascinating. ASUS hasn't even released its Eee Pad Transformer yet, but it's already put up for download the source code to the Linux kernel used in the Android Honeycomb operating system the machine runs. In other words, Google isn't withholding anything it is not allowed to withhold. As said by many - storm, teacup, meet. Go here, select download, select Android.

Ars Reviews GNOME 3.0

Ars has reviewed GNOME 3.0, and concludes: "The solid technical work that has been done under the hood really complements the new user experience features in GNOME 3.0. Despite some of the gaps in the feature set, I think that the environment and the new shell is a good starting point for building something even better. The GNOME contributors will be able to iterate on the design and move it forward in future updates."

LLVM 2.9 Released

"This release includes 6 months of development that provide major enhancements and new features over the LLVM 2.8 release. LLVM 2.9 includes much better optimization and code generation than LLVM 2.8 (particularly for modern ARM targets), improved support for C++'0x in Clang, and a much more mature LLDB."

RC2 Build of OpenJDK 1.6.0-b22 for OS/2, eCS

"The netlabs.org project to port Java to OS/2 has released an RC2 build of OpenJDK 1.6.0-b22; both JRE and SDK packages are available, including versions marked as 'single processor only' to avoid SMP crashes. This release improves system tray support and has other fixes, and can compile and run Java applications, including GUI applications that use AWT and Swing. It uses the Odin32 runtime libraries; a GA release is scheduled for mid-April, and future updates should include browser plugins and OpenOffice support. The project is still short on funding; you can help by sponsoring units via Mensys. There is also a review with some screenshots showing some applications running with it." He didn't test Minecraft, though.

Android Virtualisation on Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9

B Labs demonstrates Codezero Embedded Hypervisor virtualizing an Android instance on Pandaboard with a dual-core Cortex-A9 based TI OMAP4 SoC. Codezero Embedded Hypervisor is a hybrid L4 microkernel that also acts as a Linux virtualization solution (currently version 0.4.4 in the demo). Earlier versions of Codezero are open source B Labs also releases open API toolkits for the hypervisor enabling operating systems and baremetal software development on multicore ARM processors.

Of Open-Source and Openness

In a recent article Thom contributed his opinion to the discussion about the openness of Android that started when Google choose to withhold the source code for honeycomb, here are my 2 cents. In the article the obligations GPL puts on Google are made very clear. This makes it clear that Android is indeed an open-source project. However being open-source and being open aren't always the same thing.

Apple Asks Toyota Take Down Cydia Ad, Toyota Complies

"Apple also heard about the theme and ad campaign. I received a call from our contact at Velti this evening as well as an email asking me to please take the theme out of Cydia. On the phone, he explained Apple had contacted Toyota and requested they remove the theme and stop the advertising campaign. They (Velti) in turn contacted me relaying the message. The reason Velti listed for the removal request of the theme emailed through our dev portal was 'Toyota's making us take it down...' Toyota had agreed to do so to 'maintain their good relationship with Apple', our Velti contact told me on the phone."

Woz: Tablet is the PC for ‘normal people’

"Tablets are the culmination of what Steve Jobs wanted to create at Apple from the beginning", Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has said. During a keynote session at Storage Networking World in Santa Clara, California, Wozniak was asked how tablets would change the computer industry. He compared them to TVs. "The tablet is not necessarily for the people in this room," Wozniak told the audience of enterprise storage engineers. "It's for the normal people in the world."