Feeling a bit wily with your aging N900 ? If so, today at the MeeGo conference in San Francisco, MeeGo 1.2 Developer Edition was released just for you (and the attendees, of course). Although it’s not a daily driver, intended more as a developmental snapshot, you stand to have a lot of fun by tinkering with this open source OS . If you’re a programmer with some spare time, the news is even better: the group is currently focusing on improving the voice dialer, SMS, camera and WiFi experience. Unlike the general release of MeeGo 1.2 , the Developer Edition is designed specifically for the N900. So, if you’re suitably equipped and reasonably interested, grab that Nokia, push Android aside , and check the source for everything you’ll need. MeeGo 1.2 Developer Edition released for Nokia N900, wants to go where you go originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 24 May 2011 03:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posts Tagged ‘open-source’
MeeGo 1.2 Developer Edition released for Nokia N900, wants to go where you go
May 24th, 2011 
admin 
Posted in att, engadget 
Tags: entry, meego, meego 1.2, meego conference, meego conference 2011, meegoconference, nokia-n900, nokian900, open-source, source 
No Comments »Google Ice Cream Sandwich coming in Q4 2011 to smartphones and tablets alike
May 12th, 2011 admin “One OS that runs everywhere.” There you have it, folks! Google intends to meld its Honeycomb tablet wares and Gingerbread smartphone software into one delicious Ice Cream Sandwich. Maybe that’s why the “sandwich” bit is in the name, eh? Either way, it’ll be a universal OS that runs on everything from teeny tiny Android phones to 10-inch tablets and will intelligently adapt to each form factor with things like a resizable status bar. Some other fancy new additions were demonstrated during Google’s I/O 2011 keynote , including face-tracking and camera focus shifting based on voice recognition, but most of the salient details remain under lock and key for now. We’ll be sure to dig around Mountain View campus fridges in search for more clues about the next major iteration of Android. Google Ice Cream Sandwich coming in Q4 2011 to smartphones and tablets alike originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 12:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in engadget Tags: 10-inch-tablets, 2011, confirmed, entry, focus-shifting, ice cream sandwich, io 2011, io2011, mountain, official, open-source, q4 2011, tablet-wares, tablets No Comments »ZodTTD makes PSX4Droid 3.0 free, claims Google booted him from Android Market
April 7th, 2011 admin It’s been one week since Google pulled the PSX4Droid emulator from the Android Market without warning, and today its lead developer has decided to take a stand — ZodTTD’s made a new version of the app free of charge, and is hosting it at his personal website as a downloadable APK. He now claims that not only did Google pull his app, the company has frozen his developer accounts, effectively restricting his ability to publish to (and profit from) the Android Market until this gets sorted out. We can’t confirm his story at this point — and we hear things may not be quite as cut-and-dried as he claims — but we can tell you that if you happen to have a legally-obtained PlayStation BIOS and ROMs sitting around, you’re only a few clicks away from being able to use them on your Android phone. Not a bad deal, eh? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] ZodTTD makes PSX4Droid 3.0 free, claims Google booted him from Android Market originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in engadget Tags: ability, app, apps, developer, download, emulator, entry, open-source, opensource, personal, psx, psx4droid, quite-as-cut, zodttd No Comments »Android chief Andy Rubin tackles open source qualms, says Honeycomb isn’t ‘one size fits all’
April 7th, 2011 jedwan Google got a lot of flak for withholding the Android 3.0 source code , and plenty more when Businessweek sources claimed the company had set aside its open stance to dictate from a throne , but today the man who would allegedly sit atop the royal seat says it isn’t so. Andy Rubin, the man in charge of Android, says that “there are no lock-downs or restrictions against customizing UIs” nor “any efforts to standardize the platform on any single chipset architecture” as have often been rumored before, and that when Honeycomb is finally ready for phones , Google will indeed release its source code. Overall, he claims that Android’s position when it comes to open source hasn’t changed since day one — which is nice for those who would like to believe that Google’s still sticking to its motto — but that’s not likely to appease companies cut out of the loop simply because they weren’t part of the early adopter club. If Google’s methods will reduce fragmentation , though, who are we to judge? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Android chief Andy Rubin tackles open source qualms, says Honeycomb isn’t ‘one size fits all’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Google keeping Honeycomb source code on ice, says it’s not ready for other devices
March 27th, 2011 jedwan Itching to put some sweet, crunchy AOSP Honeycomb on your hardware of choice? You might have quite a wait, as BusinessWeek reports that Google will not release the Android 3.0 source code in the near future, and we just received confirmation of the same. Google forwarded us the following statement, which pretty much says it all: Android 3.0, Honeycomb, was designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes and improves on Android favorites such as widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization. While we’re excited to offer these new features to Android tablets, we have more work to do before we can deliver them to other device types including phones. Until then, we’ve decided not to release Honeycomb to open source. We’re committed to providing Android as an open platform across many device types and will publish the source as soon as it’s ready. It’s fairly clear that the company’s motivation here is the same as it’s been all along — Google wants to restrict Android to the devices it was designed for. Though the company long insisted that earlier versions of Android were not for tablets , manufacturers quickly adapted the source code to slates anyhow, and we can imagine the company wasn’t thrilled some of the middling results. At that time, Google’s only weapon was to deny access to Gmail, Maps and Android Market, which it did liberally (with a few exceptions to the rule) but this time it sounds like it’s simply withholding the ” entirely for tablet ” source code instead of sending cease-and-desist letters out. Another explanation, however, could just be that Honeycomb’s not ready for primetime without some OEM help — last we checked, smartphone support was a far cry from final, and even the finished Motorola Xoom still has a few software kinks to work out. Here’s hoping a nice cold bowl of Ice Cream will smooth things over with the open source community before long. Google keeping Honeycomb source code on ice, says it’s not ready for other devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in engadget Tags: entry, from-the-ground, honeycomb, open-source, opensource, source-code, sourcecode, such-as-widgets, time-it-sounds No Comments »Oops: Android contains directly copied Java code, strengthening Oracle’s case (updated)
January 22nd, 2011 jedwan Florian Mueller has been killing it these past few months with his analysis of various tech patent suits on his FOSSpatents blog, and today he’s unearthed a pretty major bombshell: at least 43 Android source files that appear to have been directly copied from Java. That’s a big deal, seeing as Oracle is currently suing Google for patent and copyright infringement in Android — which isn’t a hard case to prove when you’ve got 37 Android source files marked “PROPRIETARY / CONFIDENTIAL” and “DO NOT DISTRIBUTE” by Oracle / Sun and at least six more files in Froyo and Gingerbread that appear to have been decompiled from Java 2 Standard Edition and redistributed under the Apache open source license without permission. In simple terms? Google copied Oracle’s Java code, pasted in a new license, and shipped it. Now, we’ve long thought Google’s odd response to Oracle’s lawsuit seemingly acknowledged some infringement, so we doubt this is a surprise in Mountain View, but we’re guessing handset vendors aren’t going to be so thrilled — especially since using Android has already caused companies like HTC and Motorola to be hit with major patent lawsuits of their own. We’ll see what happens, but in the meantime you should definitely hit up Florian’s site for the full dirt — it’s some 47 pages worth of material, and it’s dense, but if you’re into this sort of thing it’s incredibly interesting. Update: It appears things aren’t this simple, but they’re still not great. Check here for the latest. Oops: Android contains directly copied Java code, strengthening Oracle’s case (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in engadget, htc Tags: analysis, apache, directly-copied, engadget, florian mueller, infringement, lawsuit, mountain, open-source, oracle, sun No Comments »Researchers eavesdrop on encrypted GSM call: all you need is a $15 phone and 180 seconds
January 1st, 2011 admin It’s hardly a fresh idea — researchers have claimed that GSM calls could be cracked and listened in on for years . But there’s a difference between being able to do something with a $50,000 machine and a warrant, and being able to do the same thing with a few $15 Motorola phones, a laptop, open source software and 180 seconds of spare time. Security Research Labs researcher Karsten Nohl and OsmocomBB project programmer Sylvain Munaut recently spoke about a new GSM hack at the Chaos Communication Conference in Berlin, and they were able to walk the audience through the eavesdropping process in a matter of minutes. According to them, it’s not terribly difficult to use a $15 handset to “sniff out” location data used to correctly route calls and texts, and once you’ve nailed that down, you could use modified firmware to feed raw data into a laptop for decryption. Using a 2TB table of precomputed encryption keys, a cracking program was able to break in within 20 seconds — after that, you’re just moments away from recording a live GSM call between two phones. Of course, speeches like these are made to encourage security officials to beef up the layers between you and ill-willed individuals, but it’s hard to say what (if anything) will change. For now, we’d recommend just flying to each and every person you’d like to speak with. Unless you live in the Greater New York area — you’re probably better off risking a hacked conversation than heading out to LGA / JFK / EWR. Researchers eavesdrop on encrypted GSM call: all you need is a $15 phone and 180 seconds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 09:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in att, engadget, LG Tags: 27c3, att, berlin, chaos computer club, communication, eavesdropping, encryption-keys, greater, hack, open-source, securityresearchlabs, spy No Comments »open phone, cell phone tracking open source – Automotive Forums
October 17th, 2010 jedwan Where are you going to get free, open source maps from if you don’t use OSM Previous post The Cell Phone Tracking Software That Keeps On Taking Free online GPS tracking service with your Motorola iDEN.
Posted in Cell Phone Tags: get-free, gps, motorola, open-source, osm, phone, taking-free, tracking, tracking-service No Comments »PreFox is the webOS browser Mozilla won’t make (but they will make Firefox Home for Symbian)
September 24th, 2010 jedwan Despite its fairly magnificent set of developer tools, webOS still gets the short end of the third-party app stick more often than not for the simple reason that there aren’t many devices in the field, relatively speaking — and considering how late Mozilla is in the mobile browser game, they’ve got bigger fish to fry. Of course, the code underpinning Firefox is open source, so it comes as little surprise that it’s been repackaged into a Pre-friendly form with the aptly-named PreFox. The app’s developer warns that this is more of a proof of concept than anything else, but we’re sure it could get whipped into shape with enough time and effort. Separately, judging from a request for developers, Mozilla proper has started planning for a Symbian build of Firefox Home , its companion app to Firefox that makes transferring bookmarks and open tabs a breeze between your desktop and your phone. Seems like another case of attacking the low-hanging fruit — Symbian’s just about everywhere, and we’re sure Mozilla would like to make its presence known. PreFox is the webOS browser Mozilla won’t make (but they will make Firefox Home for Symbian) originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in att, engadget Tags: att, comes-as-little, desktop, entry, fennec, firefox, firefoxhome, mozilla, open-source, symbian, webos No Comments »Google’s Schmidt says requiring stock Android would violate ‘the principle of open source’
September 24th, 2010 jedwan The suggestion has been made countless times that manufacturers who customize their devices’ builds of Android (that is to say, nearly all of them) should have the decency to offer users the option of reverting to a completely clean, stock version of the platform if they so choose. The concept came up at a press lunch featuring Google CEO Eric Schmidt last week, and the dude responded with an interesting explanation for why they don’t require that of their partners: “if we were to put those type of restrictions on an open source product, we’d be violating the principle of open source.” Of course, “the principle of open source” is open to wild differences in interpretation, the source of well over 20 years worth of intense debate in the developer community and the reason why countless types and versions of open source licenses exist (GPL, BSD, MIT, and so on). We’d also argue that the fact that Google is allegedly placing a range of arbitrary restrictions on certified devices (that is, those that feature the Market and other Google apps) gives them the platform they need to impose one more… but hey, Schmidt’s an opinionated guy, and until Android stops growing by leaps and bounds, there’s probably not a great capitalism-inspired argument that can be made here. Peep the video of the luncheon after the break. Continue reading Google’s Schmidt says requiring stock Android would violate ‘the principle of open source’ Google’s Schmidt says requiring stock Android would violate ‘the principle of open source’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Posted in engadget Tags: engadget, entry, eric-schmidt, ericschmidt, open-source, principle, says-requiring, source, video No Comments »
