Yahoo! News: Linux/Open Source

Linux/Open Source

• Ubuntu moves beyond the desktop with new TV interface, menu-killing navigation system (Digital Trends)

  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.”

• Android tablets approach tipping point, mimic smartphone rise (Appolicious)

  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. ...

• HP's Plan to Open-Source WebOS: What's Taking So Long? (Mashable)

  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.)

• Mozilla Challenges Prove Crowdsourcing Still Works for Fundraising (Mashable)

  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.

• Samsung seeks to merge smartphone operating platforms (Reuters)

  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.

• Microsoft requiring Secure Boot for ARM devices, hamstringing Linux (Digital Trends)

  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.

• One Laptop Per Child Debuts Rugged Tablet for Students in the Developing World (Mashable)

  Mashable - One Laptop Per Child will unveil its XO 3.0 tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Monday. The fully functional tablet is designed to be inexpensive, use little energy and brave extreme weather conditions. The rugged tablet includes the Marvell ARMADA PXA618 SOC processor, Avastar Wi-Fi SOC, standard or Pixel Qi sunlight-readable display, and supports Android and Linux operating systems. Unlike any other tablet on the market, it can be powered by solar energy, other alternative sources or hand-cranks.

• Firefox 9.0 tops Android Apps of the Week (Appolicious)

  Appolicious - The New York Times called 2011 a prime year for Android as its undeniable dominance finally made major app developers take notice. The result is a number of top brand apps heading to the Android Market, and that growing interest is reflective in this week’s app roundup. Mozilla has long since been interested in the Android platform, and 2011 offered a series of updates for Firefox on Android devices. Papa John’s Pizza and Krispe Kreme also launched Android apps this week, inching one step closer to hungry consumers.

• Sony to disable another original PS3 feature: "Install Other OS" (The Gadget Hound)

  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.