Digital Trends - Mozilla has set loose Firefox 10, the latest version of its open-source Web browser for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. New features in the release are largely limited to technologies aimed at Web developers, but there’s one important new feature that ought to appeal to anyone who has augmented their browser’s functionality: by default, most add-ons will be compatible with new versions of Firefox by default, and users will have an easier time managing and (if necessary) updating their add-ons to new versions of the browser.
Digital Trends - Late last year, Ubuntu announced it would bring the open source operating system to mobile devices. Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said Ubuntu will soon be found on “tablets, phones, TVs and smart screens from the car to the office kitchen, and it will connect those devices cleanly and seamlessly to the desktop, the server and the cloud.”
Appolicious - Google?s winning smartphone strategy was to make Android open source and invite anyone and everyone to create a device for their mobile platform. It worked, as HTC, Motorola and others jumped on the opportunity to create smartphones to rival the iPhone. However, the market was reset when Apple released the iPad. Yet another game-changer, the iPad set new standards for tablets, and is already prepping for a third generation release. All the while, Google?s been building an Android platform designed for tablets, eventually releasing Android 4. ...
Mashable - Hewlett-Packard just announced it would fulfill its promise to make the code of its dormant mobile operating system, webOS, open-source ... by September.
The company, which effectively stopped the webOS platform in its tracks when it killed the HP TouchPad tablet and Palm line of phones last summer, said in a statement that it would gradually release parts of webOS to the open-source community over the next eight months. Starting this month with Enyo 2.0, the webOS developer tool, HP will make individual elements available bit by bit. (The full schedule is below.)
Mashable - The Mozilla Firefox Challenge has named a winner -- but the real champion is the public, who yet again proved that crowdsourcing and grass roots campaigns are an effective way to raise money for charity.
The Challenge, hosted on the Crowdrise fundraising platform, pitted 12 celebrities in a race to see who could raise the most money for a charitable cause. Users could donate directly to the charities or sign on as co-fundraisers through Crowdrise.
Reuters - Samsung Electronics Co plans to merge its own 'bada' mobile phone operating software with an open-source Tizen platform as the world's biggest smartphone maker seeks alternatives to Google's Android in its devices.
Digital Trends - As Windows 8 gets closer to reality, more details of Microsoft’s make-it-or-break-it effort to translate its desktop computing success to ARM-driven tablets are emerging. First, Microsoft revealed that ARM-based Windows 8 devices won”t be able to run legacy Windows software—it’ll be the Metro way, or the highway. Now, Microsoft’s Windows 8 hardware certification requirements reveal another restriction: Microsoft plans to require ARM-based Windows 8 devices use UEFI secure booting technology, dubbed Secure Boot. Although the requirement is likely intended to protect consumers from firmware attacks and prevent so-called jailbreaks of ARM-based Windows 8 tablets, it will also make it difficult or impossible for owners to use the hardware with non-Windows operating systems, like Linux.
The Gadget Hound - Sure, the original launch PlayStation 3 was expensive, but it came loaded with such powerful features as native support for old PS2 titles and the ability to install another operating system — such as Linux — directly onto the console.
Novell, one of the earliest names in networking, has agreed to a $2.2 billion buyout by software company Attachmate as well as a sell-off of $450 million worth of intellectual property assets to a consortium organized by Microsoft.
One of the most fascinating and highly technical conferences in the IT industry will take place next week in New Orleans, when SC10 kicks off with seven days of big computers, and big solutions to big problems.
If VMware buys Novell's SUSE Linux business, the virtualization giant could abandon its anti-operating system crusade and compete more directly against the likes of Red Hat and Microsoft.
As long as Microsoft exists, there will be those who believe it's the KGB of the open source world, secretly doing everything it can to destroy the free software movement in general and Linux in particular. Microsoft has made so many missteps in regards to open source that you can't blame people for thinking that. But if you use Microsoft products to run your business, and would prefer it and other proprietary vendors (Oracle, IBM) find a better way to interact with open source projects than in a courtroom, you may be interested in the CodePlex Foundation.
Informazioni su: Linux Journal - The Original Magazine of the Linux Community
A vDSO (virtual dynamic shared object) is an alternative to the
somewhat cycle-expensive system call interface that the GNU/Linux kernel
provides. But, before I explain how to cook up your own vDSO, in this brief jaunt down
operating system lane, I cover some basics of vDSOs, what they are and why
they are useful. more>>
A content management system is a centralized repository for your content. A Web site is a composite of decentralized fragments that are assembled on the edge, in just-in-time fashion as the content is being delivered to users. If it's not a Web site, what does a CMS do? more>>
Creating a live Linux USB stick isn't anything new. And, in fact, the ability to have persistence with a live CD/USB stick isn't terribly new. What many people might not be aware of, however, is just how easy it is to make a bootable USB stick that you can use like a regular Linux install. more>>
Razor-qt is a new desktop environment based on the QT toolkit. I installed it from the PPA and gave it a quick go. It?s early days for the project, but it might eventually become a refuge for lovers of KDE 3 in the same way that Xfce has become popular with people who want to recreate the Gnome 2.x experience. more>>
Portability is a huge advantage that Linux enjoys over most other desktop operating systems as most major distros work very well when installed to a flash drive. However, there are still machines in service that just won't play ball when it comes to USB booting. Fortunately, I found a nice little utility that can work around this problem. more>>
Perl has been around for more than 20 years. During that time, it has received
its share of both praise and criticism, and lots of
misconceptions surround it. Much of this stems from long-outdated
notions of what Perl used to be, but have nothing to do with what Perl
actually is today.
more>>
I've realized I've missed out on a huge area of computational
science—chemistry. Many packages exist for doing chemistry
on your desktop. This article looks at a general tool called
avogadro. It can do computations of energy and gradient values.
Additionally, it can
do analysis of molecular systems, interface to GAMESS and import and
export from and to several file formats. more>>
No, it's sadly not a day for shopping. Today, some of the most visited websites are dark to raise awareness of two bills now making their way through the U.S. Congress. more>>
I'm in midtown Manhattan, connected to the Net over my hotel's slow but costly wi-fi connection. Normally when I'm traveling ? at least here in the U.S. ? I avoid lame hotel connections by using AT&T's cellular data system, usually through my iPhone's "personal hotspot." more>>
BeOS was a much loved and highly advanced desktop operating system that ceased active development in 2001. ZevenOS is a Ubuntu 11.10 based system (with a bit of help from Xubuntu) that attempts to recapture some of the BeOS look and feel. more>>
What may sound like a perverse concept is actually one of the many ways
smartphones can change your life. If you play a musical instrument
but don't happen to have perfect pitch (most of us, sadly), you can buy
a tuner, pitch pipe, tuning fork or any number of other aids to
keep yourself in tune. If you have a smartphone in your pocket, however,
you also can simply download gStrings. more>>
I hope all my readers enjoyed the best of the holiday season. I've been busy with the predictable confusions and minor crises that attend this time of year, but I managed to find time to jot down some recommendations for my readers. Go on, you've been good, give yourself a few extra belated gifts and don't worry if your budget's busted - it's all free software, you can't beat these deals. more>>
The recently released Linux Mint 12 offers a two pronged approach to supporting those who prefer the traditional Gnome desktop. Firstly, the Mint Gnome Shell Extensions (MGSE) transform Gnome 3 into something resembling Gnome 2. Secondly it ships with Mate, the Gnome 2.0 fork project. more>>
I used to have a paperweight sitting on my desk that read something like ?Robert H. Lane, appointed President of Commodore Computers....? It was the sort of thing that they gave to executives. A brass plaque of their appointment as it appeared in the Wall Street Journal or the Globe and Mail. more>>
