Monthly Archive:: February 2011

Refreshed DisplayPort Interface Coming to Tablets and All-in-Ones by 2012

Submitted by poundsmack 2011-02-17 Hardware 13 Comments

"Yesterday, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), the organization behind several display interfaces, has refreshed the DisplayPort Embedded standard, also known as eDP for short. The updated standard now includes a new Panel Self-Refresh feature that was developed to save system power and further extend battery life in portable PC systems. This was detailed to us during CES when we visited the DisplayPort booth at CES."

GPL-like Licenses Explicitly Banned from WP7 Marketplace

Submitted by Radio 2011-02-17 Windows 204 Comments

Well, well, well. We all know Apple's App Store policies are incompatible with the GPL, and as such, software using this license can't be distributed in the App Store. So, what about Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Marketplace? Well, whereas the App Store doesn't specifically mention the GPL (Apple's terms are simply incompatible), Microsoft drops the pretence and simply bans GPL and GPL-esque licenses outright.

Samsung Unveils New Improved Bada 2.0 Smartphone Platform

Guest post by fran 2011-02-17 Wireless 11 Comments

"Samsung Electronics has announced the bada 2.0 smartphone platform with support for near field communication (NFC), HTML5, the Wholesale Applications Community, multitasking and voice recognition. According to Samsung, bada 2.0 also comes with a new and improved software development kit (SDK) that opens up the platform to more developers working across different PC operating systems."

Intel Sees Future For MeeGo Mobile System After Nokia

Guest post by fran 2011-02-17 Intel 11 Comments

"Intel Corp. said the MeeGo mobile operating system developed with Nokia has a future even after the Finnish handset maker's decision to use Microsoft Corp.'s software in some devices.Meego will be used in tablets this year, the CEO said. It will also be used in mobile phones and in embedded devices in the automotive industry , he said."

Google’s Android Roadmap: New Clues Emerge

Guest post by fran 2011-02-17 Wireless No Comments

"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 ."

Both RIM and an Open Source Group Aim to Have Android Without Dalvik

Guest post by Amy Bennett 2011-02-17 Linux 2 Comments

A new open source project hopes to take Android and change it so it has a clean-room OpenJDK-based Java VM and will be based on what they refer to as a more standard Linux kernel. Meanwhile, rumor has it that RIM is considering using somebody's Java VM to run Android apps, but it won't be Dalvik.

RIP Symbian: In Memoriam of a Mid-End Phone OS

Neolander 2011-02-17 Wireless 47 Comments

So the writing is on the wall. In a very bold move, Nokia's new CEO, Stephen Elop, has decided to fully ditch Nokia's migration plan for the past few years and have the company embrace his former employer's operating system, Windows Phone 7, instead. This noticeably implied getting rid of two competitors, Symbian and the upcoming MeeGo, which were both put on the road to slow death. This article aims at saying goodbye to an old citizen of the mobile space who's now heading to its grave: Symbian. (Warning: Rant ahead)

The Next Brick to Decorate Your Wall: iOS 3.x Devices

Eugenia Loli 2011-02-17 Apple 77 Comments

Well, it might be safe to say that Apple's own engineers stopped testing their Apple apps with 3.x iOS devices, and have created bugs that make these apps unusable. This is to be somewhat expected, Apple has a track record of not-so-great backwards compatibility (on the Mac), but what we also expected was to not get these broken updates forced to us. It's one thing to stop updating the firmware of older iOS models, and another thing breaking them.

Sony: We’re Kicking Cheaters and Pirates Off PSN

Thom Holwerda 2011-02-16 Games 33 Comments

You'd almost forget it, but a few weeks ago, the Playstation 3 was hacked wide open - like a pristine cave deep in the world of Minecraft. This has let out all sorts of nasties, and now Sony is trying to clean up the mess. For once, I'm in full agreement with their position.

Nokia Plan B Was Just a Hoax All Along

Thom Holwerda 2011-02-16 Wireless 40 Comments

"There's just one problem, though: the 'nine young investors' don't really exist - according to the last tweet on the @NokiaPlanB Twitter account, it was all a hoax perpetuated by 'one very bored engineer who really likes his iPhone'. Ouch."

Google Counters Apple Subscriptions with More Flexible One Pass

Thom Holwerda 2011-02-16 Google 20 Comments

"Hot on the heels of Apple's subscription service announcement, Google has lifted the curtain on its own offering that will allow publishers to set a price for recurring content delivered via your Google login. The payment system is called 'One Pass', and it allows publishers to offer not only subscriptions, but also metered access, 'freemium' content, and even individual articles. So far, One Pass seems more flexible than Apple's offering, and the company will likely take a much smaller cut from publishers than Apple will."

Microsoft Phone Sees Boost in App Developer Activity

Guest post by fran 2011-02-16 Windows 9 Comments

"Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system has lured an increasing number of application developers since the software maker announced a partnership with Nokia. In the four days after the Feb. 11 deal, 4 percent of new app projects started were for Windows Phone, compared with 1 percent in the previous four days."

Motorola Can’t ‘Envision’ Using Windows Phone 7

Thom Holwerda 2011-02-16 Wireless 10 Comments

"Motorola is apparently sticking to its Android guns for the foreseeable future. Not in its future? Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services for Motorola, laid it out quite plainly for the press at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week. 'I don't envision us using Microsoft,' she said. 'I would never say never but it's not something we're entertaining now. We're the only vendor who is 100% Android.'"

NVIDIA Demos Next Generation Kal-El Quad-Core Tegra

Thom Holwerda 2011-02-16 Hardware No Comments

"NVIDIA took the wraps off its first quad-core Tegra processor design at the Mobile World Conference today and it's a sight to behold. Dubbed Kal-El, the new chip will be capable of outputting 1440P video content and offer 300 DPI on devices with a 10.1" display."

Enlightenment Libraries Reach 1.0

Guest post by Kostis Kapelonis 2011-02-15 General Development 36 Comments

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!

CRUX PPC 2.7 Released

Submitted by nell 2011-02-15 Linux 3 Comments

"CRUX PPC 2.7 is now available. It works on Apple 32bit 'NewWorld' G3/G4 and Apple 64bit G5, Genesi PegasosII and Efika, Acube Sam440ep, YDL Powerstation, IBM Intellistation POWER and IBM Power Systems servers. CRUX PPC 2.7 is, as usual, released via two different installation ISO: 32bit and 64bit. The 32bit version is based on a single lib toolchain instead the 64bit one comes with a multilib toolchain. These two versions share the same ports tree."

Splashtop OS Beta 0.9.8.1 Now Based on MeeGo

Guest post by garyd 2011-02-15 Linux 15 Comments

I'm uncertain what Linux distro they were using before but today's release of version 0.9.8.1 is free to use on Intel Atom based systems. It would be nice if they distributed an image that doesn't require Windows to install but their target market appears to be Windows devices that include Slashtop OS as an alternate boot option in order to get online faster.

When Things Get Even Worse than You Thought

Thom Holwerda 2011-02-15 Wireless 47 Comments

"Yesterday I did my last look at the past, about how the decision was made by Nokia to terminate its smartphone OS platforms etc. That is all water under the bridge. There is no going back. Time to look into the future. And while my instant reaction on Twitter may have been a bit hasty and negative about Nokia-Microsoft partnership for smartphones, I have now done my first full, comprehensive analysis of its near term potential. And I am sorry to tell you, I was too optimistic over the weekend. It is far worse. I will go through every relevant part and analyze it. So lets look at 2011 and beyond, for Nokisoft Microkia."

Nokia Shareholders Have a Microsoft-Free Plan B

Submitted by sawboss 2011-02-15 Wireless 61 Comments

"While Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop has steered the company into a Microsoft future, not everyone is happy about it. Workers have walked out in Finland, and now a group of shareholders is planning a new strategy called "Nokia Plan B". The new plan has been formulated by a group of young Nokia shareholders who all have experience working for the company. None of them are happy with the decision to embrace Microsoft, and all of them plan to challenge the decision and strategy going forward."

Man Decides to Open Source His Genetic Data Using GitHub

Submitted by sawboss 2011-02-15 Open Source 27 Comments

"Manu Sporny, founder and CEO of Digital Bazaar, has decided to use GitHub to store a project of a nature. Rather than a piece of software, he is listing his own genetic data as an open source project. He has released all his rights to the data and made around 1 million of his genetic markers public domain."

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