Mobile

Anyone who's gone through the painful task of buying a new smartphone knows that the process of re-installing apps and getting the phone configured just-so is a major job. While the Android Market does keep a list of your apps in its library, automatic syncing is hit-or-miss. You can manually send e...

Google unveiled Android 4.0, aka "Ice Cream Sandwich," in Hong Kong on Wednesday. The presentation was accompanied by Samsung's announcement of the Galaxy Nexus, the first smartphone running Ice Cream Sandwich. Ice Cream Sandwich is a redesign of the Android OS. It has a highly visual interface, a f...

The Kindle Fire, the Android-based tablet Amazon revealed in late September, could well be the next step in the ongoing metamorphosis of Google's Linux derivative into a proprietary operating system. Even if Amazon does not lock down its altered Android platform, it clearly has created a major fork ...

Quanta Computer has agreed to pay Microsoft a license fee for devices that run Google Android or Chrome. It is the latest deal in a series that Microsoft has inked with manufacturers using Android, and more lately, Chrome, in their products. Other notable wins for Microsoft have been Samsung and HTC...

My first experience with trying to consume news on-the-go was back in the eighties using the original CompuServe text-based online service -- the first commercial online service. The process generally involved trying to connect a laptop to the hotel phone system through a combination of alligator ...

The proliferation of smartphones has created headaches for security-minded IT departments everywhere, but a Motorola subsidiary aims to give system administrators more peace of mind with a solution for managing Android phones in business environments. Three Laws Mobility, purchased by Motorola eight...

Amid continued traction for Android, there have been a number of other developments for mobile operating systems based on Linux. Given my support for and belief in Linux and open source software, you might expect me to be bullish on the prospects for all of this mobile and device Linux. However, bas...

Google and Samsung announced Friday they are postponing indefinitely the launch of the latest version of the Android operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, on a new Samsung phone. The companies released a joint statement asserting that it would be poor timing to unveil the product on the originally p...

The Android community is abuzz with speculation about Samsung's plans for its Unpacked event on Oct. 11 at the upcoming CTIA Enterprise & Applications Conference to be held in San Diego. Some rumors suggest Samsung will unveil the latest item in the Android Nexus family of smartphones, while oth...

A vulnerability in a logging tool that HTC has installed on some of its Android devices poses a serious security problem for users. The devices at risk are the Evo 3D, Evo 4G and Thunderbolt. The vulnerability allows hackers to collect a great deal of information about the device and its user -- inf...

Months after losing support from handset maker Nokia, the MeeGo mobile OS lost another major backer when Intel announced Wednesday it wouldn't continue with the Linux-based operating system. Instead, Intel will partner with Samsung to develop Tizen, a new open source Linux build. Intel launched MeeG...

Orb Network's media server software has been around for years; in fact, Orb and TVersity are the grandparents of current media-everywhere apps. However, this is the first time Orb has officially been available in an app for Android phones. Orb functions by grabbing indexed media content from your ...

Google's recent plan to buy Motorola Mobility has the potential for reshaping the entire Android landscape. If it wins regulatory approval for the purchase, Google may only have a short time span to connect its marketing strategy. When and if this happens, it could further fracture the open source A...

"Strike while the iron is hot" -- and the usual suspects have made Android licensing a hot issue. However, the title of the FSF article, "Android GPLv2 termination worries -- one more reason to upgrade to GPLv3," gives the game away. This is about politics, not licensing. About pushing a specific ...

Where did this "you are permanently barred from distributing" stuff originate? In digging around, I found a post titled "A Practical Guide to GPL Compliance" at the Software Freedom Law Center dated August 26, 2008, written by the team of Bradley M. Kuhn, Aaron Williamson and Karen M. Sandler. It st...