Archive

As a result of recent updates to the BBC's Flash-based iPlayer, open source media players can no longer play its content. The updates implement SWF Verification, a copyright protection mechanism that excludes free alternatives to Flash player, such as that offered by the XBMC community, among others...

As communication becomes more Web-centric, text editors become more essential writing tools. Blocks of text get tweaked with HTML codes to provide a more graphical appearance. So good text editors are those with many of the same features found in word processors, only without the added formatting an...

Microsoft and Amazon have entered into a patent cross-licensing deal that covers, among other things, Amazon's Kindle and its use of Linux-based servers. The agreement calls for Amazon to pay Microsoft an undisclosed amount of money. Microsoft has forged similar deals with other companies that marke...

After nearly four years of legal battle, a case involving the unauthorized use of open source software last week came to a final conclusion that affirms the legal right of open source developers to collect damages when their code is used improperly. The case of Jacobsen v. Katzer dates back to 2006,...

Cloud computing describes an Internet-based computing infrastructure that has abstracted users and user applications from the underlying computing resources that support them. In concept, cloud computing is functionally different from previous IT architectures in that users no longer need to own, ha...

To be really useful, a note-taking program needs more than the ability to simply put letters on the screen. It requires a database mentality with a quick and simple user interface. NoteCase Manager is designed with all the features needed to be a true digital note-processing system. I tend to be fin...

Smartphone manufacturing giant HTC on Tuesday unveiled three new smartphones and announced upgrades to its Sense user interface at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Two of the smartphones -- the Legend and the Desire -- run the Sense UI on top of Android. The third, the HD mini, runs Sense on ...

Google has updated the beta version of its Chrome for Linux with a variety of fixes designed to make the browser more reliable, the company announced Thursday. Version 5.0.307.7 of Chrome for Linux addresses several bugs that were problematic in the previous version. One fix, for example, changes an...

It may not seem obvious at first, but the tragic earthquake in Haiti, the historic election that put a Massachusetts Republican in the U.S. Senate and the 2010 Super Bowl all have something in common: the smartphone. During each event, billions of consumers around the globe were glued to their phone...

Krusader is one of those must-have computing tools that turns difficult or tedious computing tasks into easy, point-and-click operations. It's an advanced twin-panel file manager that's loaded with features. When I made the switch from the Windows to the Linux operating system, I had a short list of...

Google's Nexus One phone is a winner, according to Linus Torvalds, founder of the operating system it's based on. "I generally hate phones," explained Torvalds, who is known as "the father of Linux," in a blog post on Saturday. "At the same time I love the concept of having a phone that runs Linux, ...

When the Symbian Foundation announced the opening up of its namesake smartphone platform on Thursday, it caused a major shift not just in the mobile landscape but also in the FOSS world. Announced by Nokia back in 2008, the transition of the leading platform from proprietary code to open source was ...

Few, if any, photo viewing apps on any platform provide a perfect photo management experience. However, F-Spot Photo Management for Gnome gives Linux users a fairly complete set of photo tools. F-Spot ranks among the most well-known photo apps for Linux. In many ways it is similar to Google's repack...

Fresh off the introduction of its Nexus One smartphone, hailed by some tech analysts as the first real iPhone killer candidate, Google has debuted mockups of a possible tablet device running its yet-to-be released open source Chrome OS. The mockups, posted on Google's Chromium Web site, depict a dev...

Positioned somewhere between the smartphone and the laptop, Apple's new tablet is billed as "the best way to experience the Web, email, photos and videos." While the Macintosh, Windows and Linux platforms all compete to varying degrees on PCs, netbooks and smartphones, the iPad currently stands more...