Monthly Archive:: July 2012

Interview: Jussi Hurmola, CEO of Jolla Mobile

Submitted by Radio 2012-07-11 Wireless 5 Comments

Stefan Constantinescu interviews the CEO of JollaMobile, the company that will continue the work that Nokia started with Maemo/MeeGo before ditching it for Windows Phone. This answer indicates just how far these guys already are: "In order to make a smartphone these days you need chipset vendor support, ODM support, and some other companies too. We're currently in the negotiations phase, and we're really close to being able to communicate what partners we actually use. This is our present situation."

Metroon brings Windows 8 interface to the iPhone

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-11 Apple 11 Comments

"If you're eagerly awaiting Microsoft's Windows 8 Metro interface, due in late October, then you might be interested in obtaining it a little earlier for an iPhone or iPod Touch. Metroon, a Dreamboard theme for jailbroken iOS devices, does just that - providing a near-perfect replica of Microsoft's Metro interface." Up until 4-5 years ago, one of the most popular skinning activities was to make Windows look like Mac OS X. These days, people are putting loads of effort into bringing Metro to iOS (or Android). Subtle, but telling, shift. A few weeks ago, I upgraded my dad's iMac to Lion. His first response when opening the Address Book: "god that's tacky. Yuck!" The sooner this anachronistic skeuomorphism dies, the better.

Interview: Alan Kay

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-11 In the News 22 Comments

Andrew Binstock interviews Alan Kay, and there are just so many fantastic quotes and insights in there I have no idea what to pick as the OSNews item. This one? "Pop culture holds a disdain for history. Pop culture is all about identity and feeling like you're participating. It has nothing to do with cooperation, the past or the future - it's living in the present," Kay argues, "I think the same is true of most people who write code for money. They have no idea where - and the Internet was done so well that most people think of it as a natural resource like the Pacific Ocean, rather than something that was man-made. When was the last time a technology with a scale like that was so error-free? The Web, in comparison, is a joke. The Web was done by amateurs." What about this gem? "I was never a great programmer. That's what got me into making more powerful programming languages." Or, my personal favourite: "My interest in education is unglamorous. I don't have an enormous desire to help children, but I have an enormous desire to create better adults." Read this. Now. That's an order.

Re-designing the classic email client

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-11 Graphics 75 Comments

"We're able to produce absolutely stunning websites and mobile apps with great interaction design. Interfaces that are smooth and fun and let us understand information without even trying. But when it comes to email clients, we get a bit of a boring feeling, like using an old piece of software from 10 years ago. I think we can do better. So let's do that." Great ideas and beautiful design by Tobias van Schneider, but why he would forcefully shoehorn this clearly digital UI into Mac OS X is beyond me. It has no place there. This just screams Metro.

Why we don’t need another version of Android this year

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-10 Wireless 31 Comments

"Conventional wisdom suggests that, just like Gingerbread in 2010 and ICS in 2011, the next version of Android could make an appearance sometime in the fourth quarter of 2012. But the current state of the Android ecosystem indicates that this might not be the best course of action for Google, its OEMs or their customers. In this article, we'll take a brief look at why Google should stick with Android 4.1 until 2013, and push Android forward with hardware, not software later in the year." Fully agreed. Give the ecosystem some time to catch its breath. I mean, it's not as if the competition has anything groundbreaking up its sleeve - iOS and Android are so close these days.

What’s in the Dalvik cache?

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-10 Wireless 23 Comments

I've been flashing CyanogenMod 9 nightlies for months now, and the process to do so has become pretty much muscle memory at this point (if cwm ever changes its menu order I'm screwed). One step of this process has always fascinated me simply because I have no idea what exactly it does and why I have to do it: clearing Dalvik cache.

ACTA revived through Canada-EU trade agreement

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-10 Legal 12 Comments

"While the court referral has attracted the lion share of attention, my weekly technology law column reports that there is an alternate secret strategy in which Canada plays a key role. According to recently leaked documents, the EU plans to use the Canada - EU Trade Agreement, which is nearing its final stages of negotiation, as a backdoor mechanism to implement the ACTA provisions. The CETA IP chapter has already attracted attention due to EU pharmaceutical patent demands that could add billions to provincial health care costs, but the bigger story may be that the same chapter features a near word-for-word replica of ACTA." Democracy? Bah humbug!

Microsoft acquires Perceptive Pixel

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-10 Microsoft 34 Comments

"Microsoft and Perceptive Pixel Inc. (PPI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire PPI, a recognized leader in research, development and production of large-scale, multi-touch display solutions." Yes, Jeff Han is now a Microsoft employee. This demo still amazes me - from 2006. Before the iPhone. Before Android. Before the iPad. Remember that the next time you wind up in a discussion about who supposedly invented what.

Twitter follows Facebook down the walled garden path

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-09 Internet 13 Comments

"Twitter set off alarm bells across the web in recent weeks when it ended its partnership with LinkedIn and reiterated its warning that it would be cracking down on the terms of its API. The company didn't offer any explanation for why it removed tweets from LinkedIn, but speaking with sources familiar with the company's plans, The Verge has learned that major changes are coming in the next few months which will move Twitter from an open platform popular among independent developers towards a walled garden more akin to Facebook." If I can't use Boid, I'm not sure I would still use Twitter.

Ex-Nokia staff building new MeeGo smartphones

Submitted by Mbg 2012-07-09 Wireless 106 Comments

Sorry for the delay in writing a story about this, but here we finally are: Nokia's MeeGo (or Maemo or whatever it's called this hour) is getting its successor. Yes, MeeGo, the short-lived but beloved platform running on the unicorn phone, the Nokia N9, will continue onwards in a slightly different form. Its new home? Jolla - a company formed by former Nokia chief operating officer Marc Dillon, who was the principal engineer for MeeGo/Maemo at Nokia since 2006.

Betting the company on Windows 8

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-09 Windows 45 Comments

Jeff Atwood: "In the post PC era, Microsoft is betting the company on Windows 8, desperately trying to serve two masters with one operating system. The traditional mouse and keyboard desktop is no longer the default; it is still there, but slightly hidden from view, as the realm of computer nuts, power users, and geeks. For everyone else, the Metro UI puts an all new, highly visual touch and tablet friendly face on the old beige Wintel box. Will Microsoft succeed? I'm not sure yet. But based on what I've seen so far of Windows 8, its pricing, and the new Surface hardware - I'm cautiously optimistic." So am I. However, a lot - and I mean a lot as in 'everything' - will depend on the quality of the Metro applications. So far, the quality has been utterly abysmal, both for first and third party ones. Microsoft is promising Metro application goodness for RTM, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Windows 8 RTM in August, availability in October

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-09 Windows 36 Comments

"Windows 8 is on track to Release to Manufacturing the first week of August. For enterprise customers with Software Assurance benefits, they will have full access to Windows 8 bits as early as August. Additionally, she noted that RTM is when we’ll be turning on the commerce platform so that developers can start earning money for their apps. Tami went on to say that Windows 8 will reach general availability by the end of October! This means that new Windows 8 and Windows RT PCs will be available to buy and upgrades will be available starting in October. She also mentioned that that Windows 8 will be available in 109 languages across 231 markets worldwide."

Microsoft’s Downfall

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-09 Microsoft 110 Comments

"Analyzing one of American corporate history's greatest mysteries - the lost decade of Microsoft - two-time George Polk Award winner (and V.F.'s newest contributing editor) Kurt Eichenwald traces the 'astonishingly foolish management decisions' at the company that 'could serve as a business-school case study on the pitfalls of success'."

Easy 6502: learn 6502 assembly

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-08 General Development 57 Comments

"In this tiny ebook I'm going to show you how to get started writing 6502 assembly language. I think it's valuable to have an understanding of assembly language. Assembly language is the lowest level of abstraction in computers - the point at which the code is still readable. Assembly language translates directly to the bytes that are executed by your computer's processor. If you understand how it works, you've basically become a computer magician." More of this, please.

Google launches worldwide campaign to legalise gay marriage

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-08 Google 98 Comments

Fantastic initiative by Google. Anna Peirano details: "Google is launching a new campaign called 'Legalize Love' with the intention of inspiring countries to legalize marriage for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people around the world. The 'Legalize Love' campaign officially launches in Poland and Singapore on Saturday, July 7th. Google intends to eventually expand the initiative to every country where the company has an office, and will focus on places with homophobic cultures, where anti-gay laws exist." As proud as I am of living in the first country to legalise same-sex marriage, it's easy to forget we only did so in 2000. Also, it's about time the large technology companies of the world started using their power, reach, and money to do good. Hopefully, this initiative will transcend company boundaries, uniting them behind a common, noble goal.

Mozilla to cease development on Thunderbird

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-06 Mozilla, Gecko 90 Comments

Mozilla has announced it's ceasing development on Thunderbird; one more version will be released, and it'll be security updates from then on. "Most Thunderbird users seem happy with the basic email feature set. In parallel, we have seen the rising popularity of Web-based forms of communications representing email alternatives to a desktop solution. Given this, focusing on stability for Thunderbird and driving innovation through other offerings seems a natural choice." Makes sense - I mean, there's only so much you can do with something that needs to send and receive mail, and I can't imagine Thunderbird having a lot of users. Strange, almost Microsoftian obtuse announcement, by the way.

Interview: RIM CEO Thorsten Heins

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-06 Wireless 7 Comments

Iain Marlow interviews Thorsten Heins: "While the core technology of BlackBerry 10 is ready to go - outside developers are already working on an array of applications - I decided that the way some features worked together and the related software integration needed more attention and refinement. The goal of BlackBerry 10 is to bring some of the best technologies in the world together in a seamless environment. Simply put, I could still see some of the seams. We decided to delay the launch of BlackBerry 10 to give us ample time to integrate software, test, and polish the final product." While I wonder if RIM can take such a delay, I'm glad Heins understands the importance of polish. since many PlayBook owners appear quite content with their device, I'm very curious to see what BB10 will be like.

SNESDev-RPi: a SNES adapter for the Raspberry Pi

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-06 Games 18 Comments

"A few weeks ago I got my Pi delivered and started working on what I would describe as 'universal console'. In this post I describe my initial thoughts about this project and present an adapter that allows you to use SNES controllers as input devices for the Raspberry Pi." This is what the Pi is all about. Amazing work by Florian (can't find his last name!), code and instructions are available. So cool.

How to fix the patent mess

Thom Holwerda 2012-07-05 Legal 132 Comments

Since I want to get this out of my system: here's a set of proposals to fix (okay, replace) the current failing patent system. No lengthy diatribe or introduction, just a raw list.

Building and dismantling the Windows advantage

Submitted by Piet Simons 2012-07-05 In the News 42 Comments

Interesting charts by Horace Dediu: "As a result the Mac began to whittle down the advantage Windows had. The ratio of Windows to Mac units shipped fell to below 20, a level that was last reached before Windows 95 launched. It's as if the Mac reversed the Windows advantage. This was an amazing turnaround for the Mac. But the story does not end there." Too bad Dediu didn't include Android devices in his charts. The picture would change dramatically, and would downplay the important of either Windows or Mac/iOS. We're in a three-horse race - not the two-horse race Dediu paints.