Feb 24

Kogan promises Linux netbook in “weeks,” we have our doubts

Posted in: Linux, netbook, open source, opensource, Today's Chili

Ruslan Kogan, the Australian who built up our hopes only to let them down recently with his make believe Agora, is back with more outlandish promises, and for whatever reason, we think he actually expects us to just believe him this time. During a recent interview, Kogan noted that he would like to be taking orders for a Linux-based netbook that he designs and specs in as little as “two to two and a half weeks.” He’s expecting to sell the 10-inch machines for around $529 to $539, which will buy you an Intel Atom processor, 160GB of HDD space, 1GB of RAM and a decent amount of magical pixie dust, we imagine. In related news, Kogan’s also hoping to have OLED TVs out within just a few months and region-free BD decks shortly thereafter. See, our skepticism isn’t that unwarranted, now is it?

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Kogan promises Linux netbook in “weeks,” we have our doubts originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 19

Nokia signs €500 million loan for Symbian R&D

Posted in: nokia, open source, opensource, research, Software, symbian, Today's Chili

You’d think a company like Nokia could just finance whatever it wanted, but just to be safe, it’s signing a loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to the tune of €500 million ($623.9 million). Why the sudden need for cash? According to Reuters, the five-year loan will be used in part to “finance software research and development (R&D) projects Nokia is undertaking during 2009-2011 to make Symbian-based smartphones more competitive.” More specifically, those R&D activities will “also benefit the work of the Symbian Foundation and its development of open-source software for mobile devices.” Sadly, that’s absolutely it for details, but we get the idea we’ll be hearing more about this soon. We hear you can accomplish some pretty wild goals with a half billion Euros.

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Nokia signs €500 million loan for Symbian R&D originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 17

Samsung: at least three Android phones and a LiMo handset in 2009

Posted in: Android, Google, Linux, mwc, mwc 2009, mwc09, mwc2009, open source, opensource, samsung, Today's Chili

While Acer unveiled its plan to launch a pair of Android phones this year via the slightly ancient pen-and-paper method, Samsung used an even trustier method: spoken word. According to Reuters, the company’s head of product strategy Won-Pyo Hong affirmed that Sammy would sell “more than three” Android phones by the end of this year, and furthermore, it would “definitely” unwrap a phone using the LiMo Foundation‘s Linux-based software before 2010 dawns. Hong wouldn’t disclose whether those Google-powered handsets would hit America, Europe or elsewhere first, but he did remark that both the US and Europe would be covered by the year’s end. We’d love to say we’re totally unaffected by such a tease, but c’mon, who has that kind of patience?

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Samsung: at least three Android phones and a LiMo handset in 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 12

Cuba launches its own Linux variant, Fidel reportedly cool with it

Posted in: Linux, open source, opensource, Today's Chili

It hasn’t been a year since Cuba lifted the ban on PCs for the majority of its citizens, and now it looks like ou neighbor to the south has been giving some serious thought to the implications of open source operating systems. To this end, the nation has recently announced Nova — its own Linux variant — at a conference on technological sovereignty in Havana. Not only does the nation see reliance on Microsoft Windows a security threat, but the U.S. trade embargo makes it virtually impossible for folks on the island to get the software legally. According to Hector Rodriguez of Cuba’s University of Information Sciences, about twenty percent of machines in Cuba are using Linux — a number he would like to see climb as high as fifty percent in five years. “The free software movement,” he says, “is closer to the ideology of the Cuban people, above all for the independence and sovereignty.” Be sure to check out the video of this latest weapon in the battle against U.S. software hegemony after the break (music by Jaco Pastorius and The Weather Report).

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Cuba launches its own Linux variant, Fidel reportedly cool with it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 29

Negroponte raps about OLPC 2: ‘designed as if we were Google’

Posted in: Apple, Google, open source, opensource, Today's Chili, touchscreen

Well, our interest was certainly piqued by that OLPC XO-2 mockup that surfaced yesterday, and now the Guardian is saying that the hardware development will take place open source. This is certainly fitting with the company’s idealistic ethos, and it’ll be interesting to see what other companies bring to the table as the reportedly $75 dual-screen device gets closer to real reality. “The XO-1 was really designed as if we were Apple,” Nicholas Negroponte says in the interview. “The XO-2 will be designed as if we were Google – we’ll want people to copy it. We’ll make the constituent parts available. We’ll try and get it out there using the exact opposite approach that we did with the XO-1.” He let a few details slip too, saying that it will be dual touchscreen, with one of the displays featuring a touch-sensitive, force-feedback, haptic keyboard. When asked how he feels about the possibility that other companies might profit from all this hard work developing the laptop of tomorrow? “I wouldn’t complain.” Class act, that one. Bravo.

[Via Make]

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Negroponte raps about OLPC 2: ‘designed as if we were Google’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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