Smartphones lead mobile sales, Android moves into no. 3 spot
Mobile handset sales continued their global growth last quarter thanks largely to the increased sales of smartphones. According to data from analytics firm Gartner, smartphone sales were up over 50 percent year-over-year for a total of 61.6 million units sold, with the top four OS vendors accounting for 91 percent of the worldwide smartphone OS [...]
Oracle sues Google over use of Java in Android
In a tersely worded press release, Oracle announced that it was suing Google for patent and copyright infringement over its use of the Java programming language for Android development. Neither the press release nor the complaint filed in the US District Court for Northern California go into any significant detail. “In developing Android, Google knowingly, [...]
Week in tech: net neutrality waffling, gay porn pirating, and more
The dog days of summer are upon us. In case you spent the week at the beach and missed out on the big news of the week (hint: Google, Google, and Google), here’s your weekly recap of the top stories from Law & Disorder, Nobel Intent, and Open Ended. Cars hacked through wireless tire sensors: [...]
Oracle’s Java lawsuit undermines its open source credibility
Thursday, Oracle filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Google, accusing the search giant of infringing on patented Java technologies in its Linux-based Android mobile operating system. Even though Oracle appears to have a solid basis for legal action, the lawsuit could permanently burn bridges between Oracle and the broader Java ecosystem. Such blatantly antagonistic litigation [...]
Intel, Nokia tout MeeGo as inclusive alternative to Android
During the annual LinuxCon conference last week in Boston, Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin moderated a discussion panel about the Linux-based MeeGo platform with Nokia’s MeeGo Ecosystem Development head Thomas Miller and Intel open source technologist Derek Speed. During the panel, Miller and Speed discussed some of the technical and logistical characteristics that differentiate [...]
Solaris still sorta open, but OpenSolaris distro is dead
An internal Oracle memo that was released last week provides a detailed summary of the company’s plans for the Solaris operating system, which Oracle obtained when it acquired Sun. The memo offers a mix of good and bad news for Solaris enthusiasts. It reveals that Oracle is strongly committed to advancing the Solaris platform and [...]
Reach out and touch your netbook with Ubuntu multitouch
Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth announced Monday that multitouch support and gesture-based interaction will arrive in Ubuntu 10.10, the next major version of the popular Linux distribution. The feature will be tightly integrated in Unity, Ubuntu’s new lightweight netbook environment. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has developed a software framework called uTouch that is intended to [...]
Etc: The OMG!Ubuntu blog interviewed me (Ryan Paul) about Gwibber.
The OMG!Ubuntu blog interviewed me (Ryan Paul) about Gwibber. Read More: OMG! Ubuntu Read the comments on this post
Ubuntu 11.04 dubbed Natty Narwhal, will impale users in 2011
Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth revealed today that Ubuntu 11.04 will be codenamed Neutered Nudibranch Natty Narwhal. In a blog entry, he described the reasoning behind the codename and discussed some of the features that are planned for the release. Ubuntu is developed on a time-based six-month release cycle. There are two new versions every year, [...]
Hands-on: Motorola’s Droid 2 sequel is a worthy update
Motorola set the standard for Android-based QWERTY sliders when it launched the original Droid last year. An aggressive advertising campaign, excellent specs, and an appealing form factor propelled the Droid to the top of the charts and made it one of the best-selling Android smartphones. Motorola is sticking to its winning formula for the product’s [...]
Android’s ascent in China might not elevate Google
Google’s Linux-based Android mobile platform is rapidly gaining traction around the world. Recent reports suggest that it is on a trajectory to become the dominant mobile operating system in China, a region with a large population of mobile Internet users and enormous growth potential. Although this may seem like an unambiguous victory for Google on [...]
Chrome team sets six-week cadence for new major versions
Google announced today via the Chromium Blog that it plans to release new stable versions of Chrome every six weeks. Though the team has managed to ship five major revisions in less than two years, the new accelerated pace means we could see Chrome 9.0 by the end of this year. According to program manager [...]