Feb 14

CUPP crams ARM inside of a MacBook Pro, makes it run Android with a button press (video)

Posted in: arm, chrome os, ChromeOs, hack, hacked, hands-on, Linux, macbook, macbook pro, MacbookPro, mwc, mwc 2011, Mwc2011, NVIDIA, open source, opensource, operating system, OperatingSystem, os, tegra 2, Tegra2, texas instruments, ti, Today's Chili, ubuntu, video
CUPP’s original prototype wasn’t exactly gorgeous, but the premise was sound — couple an ARM platform with an x86 CPU in order to give consumers the ability to run a desktop OS and a low-power OS such as Chrome OS or Android. It’s a tactic that has far-reaching potential. Imagine this: you’re on a flight attempting to finish up a document, but you only have ten percent of your battery remaining. On a standard desktop OS (like Window 7 or OS X), that’ll get you around 15 to 20 minutes of life; if you were instantly able to sleep that OS after saving your most recent copy on the hard drive, boot up Chrome OS and finish it there, you’d magically have at least an hour of usage time remaining. The fact is that ARM platforms require a fraction of the power that standard x86 systems do, with a demo unit here at MWC proving that a sleeping Windows 7 machine actually consumed more power than a typical ARM system that’s running. The company has shown off a beast of a machine before in order to prove that it’s concept was legit, but here at Barcelona’s mobile extravaganza, it brought something special: a modified MacBook Pro with a TI OMAP-based daughter-board module sitting in place of the optical drive. In theory, a battery similar to that found in the machine above could power an instance of Chrome OS or Android for 20 to 30 hours, just to give you some numbers to nibble on. Care to see how it all panned out? Hop on past the break for a few impressions along with a video.

Gallery: CUPP’s modified MacBook Pro does Android, Ubuntu at MWC 2011

Continue reading CUPP crams ARM inside of a MacBook Pro, makes it run Android with a button press (video)

CUPP crams ARM inside of a MacBook Pro, makes it run Android with a button press (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 27

OpenPandora begins ‘private’ sales, fast-track your open-source gaming handheld for an extra $150

Posted in: gaming, handheld, open source, opensource, Today's Chili

What with all the excitement about Sony’s quad-core handheld and Nintendo’s autostereoscopic screen, we have to say, we nearly forgot about the open-source Pandora handheld slowly but assuredly shipping from the UK. Well, we’ve got some bittersweet news to share, and here it goes: you can now purchase a Pandora for $500, and have it ship within a week. What’s bitter about that? Because normally you pay $350 and get put on the pre-order waiting list. That extra $150 sounds like quite the surcharge, but it’s an option if you simply can’t wait for your number to come up, and OpenPandora chief Craig Rothwell tweets that some portion of those monies will help support the project. Still, those extra units have to come from somewhere, and if you’ve been standing in line for months, we imagine you won’t happy to hear that some rich kid can just swoop in and buy your Pandora out from under you without a care in the world.

OpenPandora begins ‘private’ sales, fast-track your open-source gaming handheld for an extra $150 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 17

UK aims to improve access to technology, internet with £98 Linux PCs

Posted in: Linux, Online, open source, opensource, PC, Today's Chili, uk, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom, web

Remember when the UK started distributing free laptops to poor schoolchildren in order to encourage them to get online? Well, a new, more frugal government is now in charge, and while the original scheme has been scrapped, today we’re hearing of alternative plans to help economically disadvantaged people leap onto the worldwide surfer’s web. The coalition government intends to offer £98 ($156) computers — which include an LCD monitor, keyboard, mouse, warranty, and a dedicated helpline — paired with subsidized £9 ($14) per month internet connections in its effort to show that the web doesn’t have to seem (or be) unaffordable. The cheapest machines will be refurbished units running open-source Linux distros, meaning that if this Race Online 2012 trial turns out well, we could see a whole new group of Linux loyalists rising up. The more the merrier!

UK aims to improve access to technology, internet with £98 Linux PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Apple pulls VLC from the iTunes store

Posted in: Apple, AppStore, Law, legal, open source, opensource, Today's Chili

Looks like VLC’s role as champion of open-source legal rights is no more — rather than lawyer up, Apple’s taken the easy way out, and simply removed the VLC media player from the App Store. Rémi Denis-Courmont — the VideoLAN developer who originally sued to have it removed — reports that an Apple attorney informed him that the company had complied with his takedown request, and pulled the app accordingly, which likely puts the kibosh on other potential VLC ports as well. If you think about it, the open-source community may have just planted the first brick in a walled garden of its own.

Apple pulls VLC from the iTunes store originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

Misa Digital Kitara hands-on preview (video)

Posted in: audio, capacitive, guitar, hands-on, impressions, Linux, Music, open source, opensource, preview, sound, Today's Chili, video

Ambidextrous, capacitive, programmable, open source, five simultaneous touch inputs. The Misa Digital Kitara has quite the laundry list of goodies to boast about, but we couldn’t let it slide through CES without getting our fingers on it and exploring for ourselves. The first thing that strikes you about this guitar-shaped synthesizer is its weight distribution — it’s no heavier than a good electric guitar, but a lot more of that weight is contained within its neck — and the second will inevitably be its lightning-quick response to touch. Misa tells us latency is less than 5 milliseconds and it felt like it.

There are two main modes of operation: a string mode, as seen above, and a ball mode allowing for even more adjustability. Both modes can then be further tweaked by choosing between the red and blue setting, with the former allowing for the performance of hammer-ons. Sliding your finger around the 8-inch touchscreen can do all sorts of wonderful things as well, such as altering pitch, tempo and volume, while those fearful of having no tactile feedback in string mode can apply a clear sheet over the screen that has tiny little ridges where the strings would usually reside. We say “usually,” because you’ll be able to configure the distance between the imaginary strings for yourself. The Kitara runs an open source Linux OS, which will be updatable via USB and is already compatible with Mac, PC and, naturally, Linux machines. It also has more than a hundred sound presets and we’ve been promised the option to customize them and create new ones by playing around with the algorithms in the future.

The black Kitara is made out of good old plastic (but it’s made very well) and costs $849 whereas the silver one you see in the gallery below is constructed out of a single block of aluminum and will set buyers back $2,899. Pre-orders are going on now through Misa Digital’s online store and shipping is set to start on April 3. Video follows below.

Gallery: Misa Digital Kitara hands-on

Continue reading Misa Digital Kitara hands-on preview (video)

Misa Digital Kitara hands-on preview (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 10:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 03

DIY telepresence robot uses PrimeSense Kinect drivers for extremely awkward push-ups (video)

Posted in: diy, hack, Hacks, kinect, mod, open source, opensource, robot, Today's Chili, video
From enhancing your WoW game to putting you in Tom Hanks’s shoes, DIYers the world o’er really do seem to love Kinect. And what do we have here? Taylor Veltrop’s Veltrobot remote telepresence ‘bot uses the PrimeSense open source Kinect drivers for tracking the user’s skeleton, with a modified Kondo KHR-1HV mirroring the operator’s movements (which are received via 802.11n WiFi). Right now he is only controlling the arms, but with any luck we should be seeing complete control over all the robot’s movements soon enough. Once the thing is finalized, Veltrop plans on releasing an open source development kit. And then? That’s right: robot avatars for everyone!

Continue reading DIY telepresence robot uses PrimeSense Kinect drivers for extremely awkward push-ups (video)

DIY telepresence robot uses PrimeSense Kinect drivers for extremely awkward push-ups (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 29

Putin orders Russian federal agencies to switch to open source software, galavant topless in the out-of-doors

Posted in: Linux, Microsoft, open source, opensource, os, Today's Chili
Never one to pass up the opportunity to run a hunkitudinous (look it up!) picture of Vladimir Putin, we were thrilled to hear that the Russian Prime Minister and ex-KGB man has signed an order specifying that “federal executive bodies and agencies of the federal budget” should transition to open source software beginning in Q2 2011. That’s right — it looks like there is something, at least, to those recent rumors that the country was dissing Redmond and contemplating a national open source OS. There’s a lot more to it that appears to be of little interest unless you’re a member of the apparat, in which case you’ll probably be reading this thing in the original in Russian soon enough. As for us, we’re just curious to see how the new software will be used to bedevil dissident groups once Microsoft is out of the picture.

Putin orders Russian federal agencies to switch to open source software, galavant topless in the out-of-doors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 03:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 22

Indamixx 2 music tablet now on sale: $699 for beta hardware

Posted in: audio, intel, Linux, maemo, meego, multitouch, Music, now available, now shipping, NowAvailable, NowShipping, on sale, OnSale, open source, opensource, ship, shipping, ships, slate, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili, windows 7, Windows7

So, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that $699 is $300 less than the purported $999 price tag we had originally heard would be affixed to the Indamixx 2 slate. The bad news? It’s just a rebadged iiView M1 Touch, which can be had for around $500. That said, those who fork out the premium will get a copy of Transmission 5.0 running atop MeeGo, not to mention a 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor, 2GB of RAM, a mini HDMI output and a 250GB hard drive. Those who’d prefer to snag a model that dual boots into Windows 7 can do so if they’re willing to part ways with $779, with both models including a mouse, free shipping and a gratis carrying case. Not exactly a bargain, but for those in desperate need of a music-centric tablet, it ain’t like you’ve got a ton of options.

Indamixx 2 music tablet now on sale: $699 for beta hardware originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 17

Android 2.3 Gingerbread’s source code now available

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, gingerbread, Google, open source, opensource, Today's Chili

Want to dig through 2.3 and see what all the fuss is about for yourself? Well, you’re in luck, because Gingerbread has just hit the Android Open Source Project’s repository, which means you can set up your machine to download the code. It’s great news for hardware companies that don’t care to get Google’s certification to include Android Market access — but it’s also great news for casual and serious hackers alike who are looking to craft some seriously wild, wacky custom ROMs. So, what are you waiting for? Get to it, folks.

[Thanks, Mike]

Update: Eager coders are being asked to “wait a few hours or a few days” before downloading to balance out the server load — and while you’re likely not interested in doing that, it’s probably in your best interest to heed the advice.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread’s source code now available originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 15

PrimeSense’s OpenNI provides the best Kinect drivers yet, from someone who would know

Posted in: hack, Hacks, kinect, open source, opensource, Today's Chili, video

We’ve been so wrapped up in Kinect hacks lately that we actually missed a Kinect non-hack that emerged last week. PrimeSense, who built the initial Project Natal reference hardware for Microsoft, has released its own open source drivers for the Kinect. PrimeSense is working with Willow Garage (best known for its open source ROS robot operating system), and Side-Kick (a motion gaming startup) through a new OpenNI organization it set up, and the trio will be combining their powers for good. The OpenNI framework will cover low-level hardware support (drivers for actual cameras and other sensors), and high-level visual tracking (turning your body into a 3D avatar that kicks ass in a virtual world). This should be a boon to an already vibrant Kinect hacking community, and if the video above is any indication, we aren’t far from Kinect-level interaction and gameplay on our lowly PCs.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

PrimeSense’s OpenNI provides the best Kinect drivers yet, from someone who would know originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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