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Google’s Android Roadmap: New Clues Emerge

"Here in the Android-watching world, the air has smelled of uncertainty for quite some time. Ever since Google announced Android Honeycomb, the tablet-optimized edition of its mobile OS, there's been no shortage of questions about the platform's future and the direction in which it's headed Thanks to some revelations made at this week's Mobile World Congress, we're finally getting some firm answers ."

Enlightenment Libraries Reach 1.0

Enlightenment version 16 was one of most configurable window managers back in late nineties (and still is). For the next version however Rasterman and friends decided to create a complete desktop shell instead of just a simple window manager. Enlighenment version 17 is therefore based on a set of graphical libraries which can used for other applications as well. But do we need another set of libraries when QT and GTK+ are already mature and stable? Depending on your needs, you might find that using the Enlightenment libraries is truly an enlightening experience!

Next-gen Snapdragon Mobile Chip: Quad-core, 2.5GHz

"The name Snapdragon is fast becoming well-known among consumers as the chip to have inside your smartphone. Offering speeds of up to 1.5GHz at the moment, it's certainly one of the fastest mobile chips out there. Qualcomm doesn't want the reputation of Snapdragon to falter, though, so the chip manufacturer has just announced an update that will have smartphone and tablet users drooling. The next iteration of the Snapdragon processor line is codenamed Krait and uses 28nm manufacturing technology. It will be offered in single, dual, and quad-core versions with clock speeds up to 2.5GHz. If the huge increase in performance wasn’t enough for you, Qualcomm also boast a 65% reduction in power use over existing mobile ARM chips."

Nokia New Strategic Direction: What is the Future for Qt?

With the news that Nokia is choosing Windows Phone 7 as its main smart phone platform, there has been some doubts concerning its commitment towards Qt and Meego. On the QT blog, Nokia's Director of Qt ecosystem discusses its future. Nokia re-affirms it's committed to Qt, and also says it will be launching a Meego device later this year. Nokia after all is not the only company with an interest in this platform and tablets from other companies like Fujitsu is already starting to emerge.

Flash Player 10.2 Out of Beta, Drops All PPC Support

"Today's release of Adobe Flash Player 10.2.152.26 is considered final by Adobe, according to the company's Flash Team Blog, and ushers in a new level of hardware-accelerated video decoding in most modern Intel Macs The company has dropped all support for PowerPC-based players, including security updates, in a clear sign that the 10.1/10.2 releases are a "reference" release for Flash playback."

Windows 7 SP1: February 16 on MSDN, February 22 for Web

"Microsoft has informed close partners that SP1 has hit the Release to Manufacturing milestone. MSDN and TechNet customers will receive the bits on February 16, followed by a general web release on February 22. According to sources close to the matter, Microsoft sent out internal announcements to mark the RTM of Windows 7 SP1 in January. Russian site Wzor confirmed the RTM too and has leaked several versions of Windows 7 SP1 for various languages."

Increasing Adoption of Open Source Software

"A recent survey by Gartner found that more than half of organizations surveyed have adopted open source software (OSS) solutions as part of their IT strategy. Nearly one-third of respondents cited benefits of flexibility, increased innovation, shorter development times and faster procurement processes as reasons for adopting OSS solutions. However, the survey revealed that only one-third of responding organizations had a formal OSS policy in place."

Android 2.4 See in April, May Keep Phones, Tablets Divided

"Google may be planning to keep Android 2 and 3 segregated in a long-term split of the platform, according to a ViewSonic source on Monday. The 2.4 update, once thought to be called Ice Cream, is now said to be a continuation of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) that would simply add backwards compatibility for dual-core apps on single-core phones. Ice Cream, Pocket-lint heard, should be Android 3.1 and would keep the two apart in features and the interface."

Nokia Takes MeeGo Theme Code Offline; Preparing Custom UI?

"Nokia has temporarily closed the MeeGo-themed branch of its Qt Quick components project. Hartz says that moving behind closed doors is a temporary measure and that the code will be published as soon as the developers are permitted to do so. Although the situation is a little bit frustrating for developers, it's arguably an extremely positive sign that Nokia is getting close to finally delivering a MeeGo product."

How to Run Multiple Operating Systems

In this series of OS News articles, I'vedescribed how to refurbish maturecomputers. One useful technique is torun multiple operating systems on a singlecomputer. This retains the benefits of the existing Windows install andcouples it with the advantages of open source software.Thisarticle explores different techniques to runmultiple operating systems on one computer and discusses theirbenefits andshortcomings.