Showing headlines posted by bob

It appears there isn't much of a future left to KDE's Nepomuk framework that was developed at a cost of 17 million Euros... It's going to be replaced going forward in the KDE land...

The BeagleBone Black has been one of the popular low-cost ARM development boards in recent months for budget-minded hobbyists due to its $45 price-tag, being Linux friendly, and support for powering off a USB cable. While it may be a cheap ARM development board, is its performance too dauntingly slow?

One of the big attractions behind the growing popularity of open source software is the ability to get it and use it for free. In a world of ever-rising costs in pretty much every other aspect of business and life, "free" is an offer that's increasingly difficult to refuse. Support is one area, however, where "free" may not be all it seems -- particularly for enterprises.

What skills do you need and which projects should you participate in as beginner in open source? These are common questions for beginners to open source software, hardware, communities, and methodologies. New folks to open source can start their discovery online and offline. Events and projects of many different kinds will help beginners find what they are good at and allow them to get to know their own skills.

Is it safe to use? What alternatives do I have? Is it easy to install? These were some of the questions asked by Amandeep, a New Delhi based owner of a small scale clothing company, when I pitched to him a few open source solutions that could make his day-to-day operations more efficient. For someone without any IT background (but a sharp business sense), these were brilliant and relevant questions. The answers to these questions won't just help Amandeep, but if shared broadly may help reduce the apprehension of a significant number of small scale business owners, especially in India. My interactions have shown that a lot of these businesses are looking to grow, enhance their productivity, and most importantly, save costs.

Raspberry Pi super-computing clusters have been attempted before, but usually they don't turn out as nice as this new one that's comprised of 40 Raspberry Pi boards inside of an acrylic chassis...

RadiumBoards launched a 720p, 1.3-megapixel MIPI Camera Board for the Wandboard a month after Avnet announced a $49, 5-megapixel Wandcam for the open SBC. In recent months, three camera add-ons have emerged to give eyes to the community-backed Wandboard single board computer. In November, E-con Systems released a $69 Wandboard version of the 5-megapixel e-CAM50IMX6 […]

The Android operating system, which Google touts as open, isn't. Google imposes strict restrictions on smartphone manufacturers and app developers in its Android mobile application distribution agreement, according to excerpts of documents revealed by Ben Edelman, an associate professor at the Harvard Business School. The information was obtained from two MADAs admitted in open court.

What if the Linux Foundation made an operating system and nobody ran it? Tizen, the mobile operating system driven by the Linux Foundation, has added 15 new members including Chinese smartphone maker ZTE and Japanese operator Softbank Mobile.…

After releasing its BlackBerry Messenger chat app for Android and iOS devices to considerable fanfare last fall, BlackBerry on Thursday announced that it had expanded the app's functionality on those platforms with two key features. Previously available only to users of BlackBerry's own mobile platform, BBM Voice and BBM Channels are now part of the company's offerings for Android and iPhone.

the decision is for systemd, and given that Ubuntu is quite centrally a member of the Debian family, that’s a decision we support. I will ask members of the Ubuntu community to help to implement this decision efficiently, bringing systemd into both Debian and Ubuntu safely and expeditiously. It will no doubt take time to achieve the stability and coverage that we enjoy today and in 14.04 LTS with Upstart, but I will ask the Ubuntu tech board (many of whom do not work for Canonical) to review the position and map out appropriate transition plans

The Tizen Association announced 15 new members, including Baidu, SoftBank, Sprint, and ZTE, following a Samsung leak of an updated TouchWiz UI for Tizen. Tizen has always been the presumed heavyweight among the new crop of mobile Linux operating systems, yet it has increasingly seemed more like a wispy shadow. Now, despite growing signs that […]

Although its timetable may not always be ideal, Valve has come through for Linux users lately. Not only has it released a native Linux version of Steam (with many native games!), it also has expanded its Linux support as the basis for its standalone SteamBox. The first step toward a Steam-powered console is the operating system.

Ideum is prepping an Android 4.1 version of its 46-inch, Intel Core i7-based Platform 46 Coffee Table, featuring 3M’s 60-touch, capacitive HD touchscreen. Ideum is currently shipping the 3M-enabled Platform 46 Coffee Table with Windows 8 support, starting at $6,950, and is now preparing an Android 4.1 version due “later this year. The Android multi-touch […]

In past articles, I have looked at distributions that were built with some scientific discipline in mind. In this article, I take a look at yet another one. In this case, I cover what is provided by NeuroDebian.

Linux on the desktop may have missed its adoption time line, but Linux in the cloud is a win-win proposition for the post-PC movement. Microsoft's Azure may be the only real threat to Linux cloud dominance -- all other major cloud software platforms are based on Linux and open source software. Some enterprise Linux distros are showing up as cloud-based offerings.

Vodafone joined Ubuntu’s Carrier Advisory Group, as Ubuntu demoed more progress on a unified desktop and mobile UI — but a Debian decision on init could further isolate Ubuntu. Canonical has yet to sign up any vendors or carriers for upcoming smart phones running Ubuntu, which is not surprising, considering the first Ubuntu phone release […]

Watching gibbons play is like nothing else on earth: they show astounding flexibility, speed, and grace as they swing, run, and jump. These long-armed primates are found in forested areas of Southeast Asia and move by swinging and leaping from tree to tree. Their sense of fun is almost tangible in the air around them. Although lofty, these attributes are what the Gibbon project, an education management system, aspires to bring to schools and colleges.

Just a month ago, our geek wish of getting a 3D printer was granted: a Makerbot Replicator 2X arrived at our office. Since then we've been busy learning by trial and error about the possibilities and limitations of 3D printing. You can read my review of the Printrbot Simple Kit. So far, in short, I can describe 3D printing as: Building an object, by depositing layers, and creating every layer by drawing it with melted plastic. The key to understanding 3D printing, and thus learning how to do it better, is to think about the objects as a stack of layers. Then, consider how the layers will look like as they are being stacked.

ARM unveiled a Cortex-A17 core for midrange mobile devices, which will appear first in a MediaTek MT6595 octa-core SoC that includes four 2.5GHz -A17 cores. ARM compares the Cortex-A17 with the Cortex-A9, claiming 60 percent faster performance and improved power and area efficiency. Yet, it also appears intended as an update to the newer Cortex-A15 […]