Search

The Age of the Connected Car is dawning. The Linux Foundation is positioning an open source Linux OS to take the front seat in steering carmakers to adopting Automotive Grade Linux as the engine driving all in-car electronics. Today's automobile has from 60 to 100 sensors to control everything from ...

KaOS is an interesting and very efficient Linux distribution built around a refined KDE desktop environment. The KDE integration is much more controlled in KaOS than in other Linux choices. The latest release for this 14-month young Linux distro came in late June. KaOS is a bit of a rarity. It is in...

Half a dozen companies this week launched the Open Interconnect Consortium to define the connectivity requirements and improve the interoperability of some 200 billion devices expected to make up the Internet of Things by 2020. The consortium will focus on defining a common communications framework ...

LG has launched its Android Wear-powered G Watch around the world. The smartwatch can be ordered from Google Play and purchased at retailers in the United States, Canada, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Japan and South Korea. In 15 other countries -- i...

Working with the Android OS on a desktop computer environment takes personal computing in a new direction. How many will follow it remains to be seen. The release of Android-x86 version 4.4-RC1 (KitKat-x86) by the Android-x86 Project brings the viability of an Android distro as an alternative deskto...

Aiming to capture a piece of the market that has given the Raspberry Pi such a warm reception, SolidRun on Wednesday announced a new tiny computer of its own dubbed the "CuBox-i." Available in four models with prices starting at $45, the tiny computer includes an OpenGL|ES 2.0 GPU with OpenCL 1.1 em...

Canonical on Monday announced a $32 million campaign to crowdfund the creation of Ubuntu Edge, a brand-new smartphone that dual-boots Ubuntu phone OS and Android. Launched on Indiegogo, the month-long campaign focuses on funding a limited production run of 40,000 devices. Backers committing $600 by ...

Google has refreshed its music app. It's a big deal, because Google has introduced custom radio and an a la carte music streaming service, All Access, for an introductory price that's $2.00 cheaper than a la carte streaming leader Spotify. Fee-based Spotify, Rdio and now Google Play Music All Access...

Have you ever considered becoming a cartographer? It's not as hard as you might think. I've been trying out OruxMaps, a map viewer for Android that functions two ways. One mode is online with the usual suspects like Google maps, OpenStreetMap, and so on; the second and more intriguing method is offl...

Linux Mint 14, released in December and dubbed the "Nadia" version, is loaded with a horde of improvements to all four of its desktop environments. It is not usually necessary to grab every new release to a distro, but Nadia is a significant upgrade to an evolving Linux OS. This one is a keeper. The...

Developer Alex Gavrishev's free, widget-oriented app lets you assign home screens specifically to be used in the car, and it lets you create large, easy-to-punch buttons for six shortcuts per screen. The buttons render well at tablet-strength high resolutions, unlike other car apps I've tried. One ...

If you're a regular reader of this column, you may remember that I recently took a look at Cloud TV's HD Widgets, an app for creating your own elegant, translucent widgets to replace ugly stock widgets that appear to permeate today's Android phones -- Motorola, I'm referring to you mainly. I've had ...

Advanced penetration testing product maker Pwnie Express has unveiled a new tester that looks just like a power strip. The Power Pwn is a fully integrated enterprise-class device that can be used over Ethernet, wireless or Bluetooth connections. It is priced at $1,300 and is currently available for ...

I have to confess to being a little unfair on the Shazam Encore app for its first LinuxInsider test. It is supposed to identify songs you're listening to, but I think I may have asked it the impossible. I had downloaded the app just before a planned lunch that included a sojourn to my neighborhood c...

We all know that the 20th century predictions of a paperless office were a pipe dream, maybe never to happen now. Digital media appear to have created more paper swirling around us, rather than less. If you've been holding out for the paperless dream, forget it. Give up now, because there's currentl...

The stage is set for a new battle of mobile form factors. The winner could set a new non-desktop standard for consumers and office workers looking for a better alternative to bulky laptops. Lighter, thinner and more powerful are the key factors guiding the designs of tablets, convertibles, hybrids a...

OK, Greenpeace, arrest me now as an eco-criminal. I must have single-handedly deforested a good tract of the Amazon rain forest over the last few days. In mitigation, I plead that this was because of the requirements of my job. I was testing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The device is sleek and sexy, ha...

Google unveiled Android 4.0, aka "Ice Cream Sandwich," in Hong Kong on Wednesday. The presentation was accompanied by Samsung's announcement of the Galaxy Nexus, the first smartphone running Ice Cream Sandwich. Ice Cream Sandwich is a redesign of the Android OS. It has a highly visual interface, a f...

Having multiple choices of desktop environments is one of the Linux OS's strong points -- as well as its potential nemesis. This lack of a uniform desktop strategy means confusion for Linux newcomers and frustration for seasoned users. For example, the two most used desktop environments are GNOME an...

In what could potentially be a huge win for Android, Swedish automaker Saab has selected the operating system as the basis of its IQon in-vehicle infotainment system. Saab will open up the API for IQon to third-party developers and set up an app store to which they can post their apps after approval...