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The amount of open source software used by the U.S. government might well be one of the biggest secrets in Washington. Not even purveyors of FOSS, as in free and open source software, know the extent of federal agency adoption of nonproprietary software. Some in the Beltway Loop contend that open so...

PredictionIO is building the MySQL of prediction. The young company recently released version 0.7.3 of its open source machine-learning server. Unlike typical prediction algorithms and open source libraries, PredictionIO is based on making machine learning available to software developers. Cofounder...

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, or MADA, according to excerpts of documents revealed by Ben Edelman, an associate professor at ...

Google has refreshed its music app. It's a big deal, because Google has introduced custom radio and an a la carte music streaming service, All Access, for an introductory price that's $2.00 cheaper than a la carte streaming leader Spotify. Fee-based Spotify, Rdio and now Google Play Music All Access...

Jason Huggins took Web browser and website testing to new levels. Pushed by several Aha! moments, he recognized a pressing need for automation in applications testing. He also discovered that no existing proprietary software provided cross-platform features. What did not exist in a marketable box, H...

If you package e-books in the EPUB format, one of the handiest editing tools available is Sigil. The growing interest in mobile apps and e-reader devices such as Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook is fueling the e-book business for both reading consumers and authors. Without a dedicated edi...

Linux lacks any clear-cut system for determining which is the most popular or the best distribution, or which desktop environment is used more than others. That may be one of the major frustrations among Linux developers trying to spread the word about adopting the Linux desktop instead of Microsoft...

You could call Ian Sefferman's initial rise to CEO of MobileDevHQ a bootstrap career move. Seeing the rapid growth of consumer interest in mobile apps, he jumped into an infant industry to learn what would push it forward. His interests fell on a gaping opportunity. He focused not on business as a f...

MyNotex is a handy note-taking app that helps you rat-pack all of your scraps of information and images into a searchable database. It is easy to use and takes almost no time to learn. MyNotex is a bit different from traditional tree-form note-taking systems. It handles more than plain text notation...

Windows 8 is on its way. In fact, it's already here, in a manner of speaking. Microsoft recently released what it called a "consumer preview" version of the OS. When the final versions arrive, it will finally give Microsoft a leg up in the tablet market. That might take a bite out of the market sha...

Open source and innovation are locked in a dynamic and symbiotic relationship. Open source, community-based development evolved to meet developer needs for access and openness. While early open source represented innovation in development processes -- and, of course, was enabled by the emergence of...

More than 70 percent of mobile applications containing open source code fail to comply with basic open source license requirements, OpenLogic claims. The company scanned compiled binaries and source code where available for the top paid and free Android and iOS apps in the business and consumer sect...

Google on Monday threw open its App Inventor beta program to the public. The tools used in this program let the user create mobile apps for the Android operating system, even if the user has very little programming knowledge. The App Inventor program's tools use a visual programming approach and cod...

Roughly one out of five Android mobile apps asks to access private or sensitive information belonging to the device's owner, according to a study by SMobile Systems. One out of 20 apps can place a call to any number without interacting with or getting permission from the device owner, the report als...

The Garmin-Asus partnership Wednesday announced the new Garminfone, an Android-based smartphone that will be available on the T-Mobile USA network. This 3G device has a 3.5-inch screen and will be available later this year. The Garminfone follows last year's release of the Nuvifone G60, which was no...

The age of mobile computing is upon us. Small form-factor laptops, even smaller netbooks and smartphones keep us continuously connected with colleagues, family, friends and our bosses around the clock. These mobile gadgets make it possible to take all of our data with us wherever we go. Mobile techn...