Hasta La Gadget!

Open source obsessive Michael Larabel says he has it on good authority that Microsoft is considering a native version of Office for Linux. Specifically, the company is taking a “meaningful look” at the idea, now that Linux is showing signs of becoming more of a player in the OS stakes. The information came to Larabel from an unnamed source during this year’s Free Open-Source Developers’ European Meeting (FOSDEM) in Brussels, and this voice in the shadows apparently also revealed the port could be ready in 2014.

Larabel is often right about things like this. But regardless of whether Office for Linux comes to fruition, the idea of Microsoft even thinking about it — and potentially giving such oxygen to a (free-of-charge) Windows rival — may come as a surprise. When someone alluded to this on Twitter, Larabel replied that he wouldn’t be surprised if there are “many doubters” but challenged them to “wait and see.” He points out that Microsoft has offered “unlikely sponsorship” to Linux projects in the past, albeit on a relatively small scale, and that the rumored Office for Android may also function as a stepping stone. Still, there’ll need to be a few more meetings in underground parking lots before we’re totally convinced.

Filed under: Desktops, Software, Microsoft

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Source: Phoronix, Michael Larabel (Twitter)

That Nintendo DS re-make of Final Fantasy IV may add 3D graphics, a variety of bug fixes, and a fresh localization, but who wants to lug around their old Nintendo DS? Thankfully, it won’t be much longer before the same version of FFIV ends up on iOS, as spotted by the folks at gaming forum NeoGAF. The game arrives on the iOS App Store for both iPhone and iPad starting on December 20, and is headed to Android sometime next year. As of now, it’s only got a Japanese pricing of ¥1800 ($21.77), but we expect it’ll cost about $17.99 when it launches Stateside. In anticipation of the pending release, Square’s marking down prices of its other iOS FF games (which are usually priced absurdly high), so now’s a good time to snap them up on the cheap. If you’d like to take a gander at the first images of the iOS port, Japanese publication Gamer has a first-look.

Filed under: Mobile, Apple

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Via: NeoGAF

Source: Square Enix

Coder extraordinaire Hexxeh earned much of his reputation from porting Chromium OS to just about everything, some of his targets more audacious than others. It’s about time he come full circle and port a Google platform to another Google platform, and he just recently did that with a very early Chromium OS conversion for the normally Android-based Nexus 7. Details are scarce other than that WiFi and touch input are working, although that’s really all that’s needed for something so web-centric, isn’t it? We’ll cut Hexxeh some slack when he says he’s in no rush to produce a more easily installed build for Jane and Joe Modder — when he mentions spending hours hacking the OS into the tablet just for fun, he probably deserves some leeway.

[Thanks, yo2boy]

Continue reading Hexxeh ports Chromium OS to the Nexus 7 simply because he can (video)

Filed under: Tablets, Software, ASUS, Google

Hexxeh ports Chromium OS to the Nexus 7 simply because he can (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first-run Motorola Droid has developed a reputation as the Phone That Would Not Die — while official upgrades stopped around Froyo, enthusiasts have been keeping the QWERTY slider alive ever since. Kfazz at the XDA-Developers forums has taken up the torch this time around with a port of Jelly Bean. Based on CyanogenMod 10, the build is surprisingly functional, if currently buggy. The only glaring holes are a sometimes-broken camera and the absence of Google Now. The main disincentives to waiting for a stable build are the slow performance and very limited remaining storage that result from trying to stuff a 2012 OS into a 2009-era smartphone: Kfazz can defy expectations, but he can’t defy reality. It’s thus more of a proof of concept, because-we-can port than a favor for holdouts keeping the Droid as their daily driver. If you want to keep a mobile ancestor feeling relevant for one more generation, however, the fountain of youth is waiting at the source link.

Continue reading Jelly Bean hits original Motorola Droid for the same reason we climb Everest: because it’s there (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Jelly Bean hits original Motorola Droid for the same reason we climb Everest: because it’s there (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While it’s not the first source code compiled build of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean available for your international model (I9300) Galaxy S III, this stable release from developer Faryaab brings all the latest features without many of the drawbacks. While the release we noted in June was lacking creature comforts like camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, storage and audio, a post on XDA-Developers indicates ROM flashers of this build will have all of those, with the only known casualty so far being “semi-broken” WiFi tethering. To turn that Galaxy S III into a Jelly Bean Galaxy Nexus, you will need to do a factory reset and rock a a custom recovery like ClockworkMod, but otherwise the switch (check out a how-to video from totallydubbedHD embedded after the break) should be straightforward. While this experience is meant to be pure, the developer notes it may not receive many updates going forward before he releases his own “SuperNexus” ROM. So, what’ll it be then — Jelly Bean and Google Now, or S-Voice, TouchWiz and all the rest of the features built into Samsung’s out of the box ICS experience?

Continue reading New AOSP Jelly Bean port for international Galaxy S III available, ‘mostly everything is working’

Filed under: Cellphones

New AOSP Jelly Bean port for international Galaxy S III available, ‘mostly everything is working’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  XDA-Developers, @Faryaab (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments