There are nearly 4,000 different types of devices running Android, OpenSignalMaps has found. More than 1,300 of them have custom ROMs that tweak the android.build model. Android brands are almost as diverse as the models, OpenSignalMaps discovered. Further, the application programming interface level, meaning the Android version, has also become more fragmented over time. These facts bear out the general impression that Android is a fragmented operating system. However, that's not necessarily a bad thing.[More...]
Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet? Or would it, perhaps, end up sweeter?
That, essentially, is the question at the heart of the forking process, which in turn is at the heart of a key situation today. Namely: Now that we have LibreOffice, do we still need OpenOffice as well? In the wake of Apache OpenOffice's new update, that's been the question du jour down at the Linux blogosphere's Punchy Penguin Cafe.[More...]
The Internet is a hub for acquiring music, video and a just about any
other form of content. Miro is one of the most capable player apps that
I have seen for all of this media. Keeping up with the various forms
of content the Web has to offer can be a daunting task.[More...]
Two years after its initial attempt to sell Nexus smartphones directly to consumers flopped, Google is apparently trying to revive the strategy. This time, though, it's added a few new touches. It's going to work with up to five device manufacturers at a time to create a portfolio of Nexus-line devices that include smartphones and tablets.[More...]
SugarCon, the SugarCRM user meeting held in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, did some important things for Sugar. It was a coming out party of sorts for a company with a distinct business model and strategy, namely open source. It was also validation of that strategy and, for many, a new realization of what open source means.[More...]
Murmurs about Google's supposed plans to launch its own tablet soon are growing to a roar. Source code from Google and Samsung indicate that a Nexus tablet is in the works, Slashgear reported. "It seems logical that it will be a Google Nexus device consistent with the Nexus smartphone, but the problem is there's nothing unique about the Nexus smartphone," suggested Andrew Eisner, director of community and content at Retrevo.[More...]
Life is never dull here in the world of technology, but some weeks it's hard to remember that this is actually the real world, and not some epic tale of the battle between good and evil. We've seen plenty of examples of good pulling ahead in the struggle in recent weeks, of course -- but there's never any shortage of dastardly deeds being committed, either.[More...]
Keep Everything. Share Anything. When a company like Google uses a tagline that includes the words "share anything" for a Dropbox-like cloud file storage system, my immediate reaction is "with whom?" Google, after-all, is a company that's made its money delivering ads based on what it learns about our habits. There's been debate about this very question since Drive launched.[More...]
There's no denying the incendiary nature of the topic of desktop Linux, which tends to gets rehashed in heated detail every so often both on these pages and beyond. What some may not remember, however, is that there's another recurring Linux subject that can be equally controversial. It hasn't appeared in some time, but apparently some slow fires have been burning all along, because they just flared up anew.[More...]
The latest edition of Canonical's Ubuntu 12.04 desktop operating system shows considerable maturity. Precise Pangolin is built around the default Unity interface with an optional Heads Up Display designed to keep hands on the keys rather than constantly interrupting the work flow by grabbing the mouse.[More...]
Recent news that Microsoft and Barnes & Noble agreed to partner on the Nook e-reader line rather than keep fighting suggests the prospect of fewer IP suits in the industry. However, the deal further obscures the blurry IP and patent landscape currently impacting both enterprise IT and consumer technology. It is good to see settlement. However, this settlment comes from the one conflict in this ongoing war that was actually shedding some light on the matter.[More...]
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