Archive

Google has added new near-field communications capabilities to Android 2.3, aka "Gingerbread," via a small feature release, version 2.3.3. NFC lets consumers use their mobile devices make purchases and exchange data with other devices, among other things. The new features include a comprehensive NFC...

Tracking files you open and edit day-by-day for quick retrieval is a computer feature that should be a built-in part of the Linux desktop but isn't yet. The GNOME Activity Journalattempts to fill that void. It has potential to improve productivity but needs more growth to be really useful. The Activ...

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is compiling information on the capabilities of vendors that can assist it with its Linux-based information system. NGA has asked vendors to provide a description of their capabilities by Feb. 11. In a quick-response "Sources Sought" notice issued Jan. 28,...

Seasoned Java or Android appdevs looking to create apps on Android 3.0, aka "Honeycomb," will probably find it relatively easy to get up and running. "If you're a Java developer, it's going to take you three to five days to get to the point where you can be dangerous enough to develop apps," Marko G...

Google staged an in-depth look at its Android 3.0 operating system, aka "Honeycomb," at a press conference Wednesday. It marks the official arrival of the first version of the Android operating system to be optimized specifically with the tablet form factor in mind. Features mentioned in the present...

For some Linux adopters, exchanging Microsoft Office in Windows for the OpenOffice suite is a radical change in computing behavior. Swapping out OpenOffice for the LibreOffice suite may be a lot less traumatic. LibreOffice is a near clone of the OpenOffice modules. Yet it provides the potential for ...

Google on Monday disclosed more details about Android 3.0, nicknamed "Honeycomb," prior to the operating system's official unveiling, scheduled for Wednesday. Honeycomb is designed from the ground up for tablets and has a new holographic user interface. It includes a so-called Action Bar to let user...

Google will reportedly allow in-app payment abilities in Android applications sometime this quarter. Android Developer Ecosystem Manager Eric Chu announced this at the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco Tuesday, according to reports. In-app payments will let Android app users purchase vi...

The upcoming new Unity shell design for the next release of Canonical's Ubuntu 11.04 could change the face of the popular Linux desktop as we know it. Canonical creator Mark Shuttleworth is pushing the change to Unity while other Linux distros are rolling into GNOME 3. Linux Picks this week takes a ...

Canonical, which leads the Ubuntu project, has reportedly decided to switch from the OpenOffice productivity suite to LibreOffice in future versions of the popular Linux distribution. Version 11.04 of Ubuntu, also known as "Natty Narwhal," is expected to be the first release to incorporate LibreOffi...

As the economy continues to improve, allowing us to feel a sense of hope that the worst is behind us, it's still critical for business owners to make sure they're making smart decisions about technology. After all, if the recession taught us anything, it's that we must be cognizant of cash flow, and...

The Linux OS has a number of nimble apps that take the hassle out of getting photo images and documents from a flatbed scanner to a hard drive or USB storage device. Two worthy examples reviewed in Linux Picks are Xsane and Simple Scan. While these and other scanner apps do a good job of creating fa...

Mobile malware may grow as a security threat this year, but security researcher Ralf-Philipp Weinmann says there's a worse threat lurking around -- the GSM baseband system. The threat from hacking GSM baseband systems has been largely ignored, Weinmann reportedly told the audience at a presentation ...

Google announced Tuesday that its Chrome browser will stop supporting the H.264 codec in a couple of months and will support its own WebM and Ogg Theora technologies instead. The announcement set off a firestorm. Some contended the move is a step backward for openness; others speculated that it migh...

CPTN, a consortium set up by Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and EMC to acquire hundreds of Novell patents, appears to have inadvertently faked out the open source community by withdrawing its proposal from the German Federal Cartel Office. News reports on Tuesday noted the event and alluded to possible su...