Operating Systems Archive

  • Sharp to go Android next year as first Japanese cell phone maker

    Sharp to go Android next year as first Japanese cell phone maker

    Posted on November 18, 2009 | No Comments
    Android is still in its infancy in Japan where most domestic makers still stick with their proprietary operating systems, with basically no one outside the geek community knowing what it is. But things are changing slowly. Last week, SoftBank (the country's third biggest cell phone carrier) announced an Android-powered phone for next year when the company announced their new models for the next months. And yesterday, Sharp announced at an event in Tokyo it will roll out a yet to be specified number of Android-based handsets as early as the first half of next year. Sharp commands the biggest market share of all eight cell phone makers in Japan so this is very good news for the Google OS in what is the most advanced mobile society in the world.

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  • Samsung responds to Symbian claims, says it’s still supporting it

    Samsung responds to Symbian claims, says it’s still supporting it

    Posted on November 12, 2009 | No Comments

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    Contrary to popular belief (and reports from yesterday), it seems that Samsung actually isn't planning to ditch Symbian anytime soon -- or at least it's not prepared to tell the public. Shortly after announcing its own Bada OS, rumors began to fly that Symbian support would fade in the near future; according to a company representative speaking with Mobile Burn, however, that's simply not true. To quote:
    "Samsung is an initial member of Symbian Foundation and continues to cooperate with Symbian Foundation. At the same time, Samsung supports various existing open operating systems including Symbian, Linux, Android, and Windows Mobile. To provide more choices to meet consumers' many different tastes and preferences, we will continue our 'multi-OS' strategy."
    'Course, just because it's "continuing" to support Symbian doesn't mean that the hammer won't fall tomorrow, but at least for now it seems the Big S is safe from seeing one of its own jump ship. Phew.

    Samsung responds to Symbian claims, says it's still supporting it originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Costco: Upgrade three computers to Windows 7 Home Premium for $135

    Costco: Upgrade three computers to Windows 7 Home Premium for $135

    Posted on October 22, 2009 | No Comments
    If you have a Costco membership and three computers that you want to upgrade to Windows 7, then you can get a giant wooden palette of operating systems for $135 – this same three-pack is priced elsewhere at $150 while a single version of the upgrade runs $120.

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  • Hamburger keeps your mousing hand warm

    Hamburger keeps your mousing hand warm

    Posted on October 16, 2009 | No Comments
    As far as combining your love for keeping your mousing hand warm with your love for hamburgers is concerned, it looks like there are really only two options right now. One: you could buy this “Hamburger Warming Mouse Pad” for $15. Two: you could cook up a gigantic hamburger and stick your hand inside it. Keep in mind that you'd also have to stick your mouse inside it, so make sure to check with your workplace regulations to make sure that's okay.

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  • BumpTop Goes Multi-Touch. Um, Awesome.

    BumpTop Goes Multi-Touch. Um, Awesome.

    Posted on October 1, 2009 | No Comments
    What if the desktop on your computer was just like your actual desktop? That’s the core idea behind BumpTop, a really nice looking graphical overlay for Windows-based operating systems. But as cool as BumpTop looked, you still had to use your mouse and keyboard to manipulate it. As I made clear yesterday, I want those to die. So good news for me today: BumpTop is adding multi-touch support. And the result is awesome. When we think of multi-touch right now, most of us think of the iPhone. But really, with such a small screen, there are only so many gestures you can do. Multi-touch BumpTop greatly expands that roster, and includes several gestures that it claims to have patents for. Basically, they have gestures that use all of you fingers, and both hands, and even the side of hands. You can “lasso” things, “shove” them, “scrunch” them, and “crop” them.

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  • Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer On “Moving The Needle”

    Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer On “Moving The Needle”

    Posted on September 28, 2009 | No Comments
    Last week we showed the highlights and 10+ minutes of video footage of an exclusive hour-long TechCrunch interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Now for the rest of that interview. The video was just a teaser. I spoke with Ballmer for another 50 minutes on the record, doing a deeper dive into five key areas of Microsoft’s product strategy: Big Opportunities, Operating Systems/Browsers, Mobile, Search and Developers. This post is about big opportunities at Microsoft beyond their dual cash cows of Windows and Office. Microsoft generates around $20 billion a year in pre-tax profit, and spends nearly $10 billion on research and development. When Microsoft thinks about increasing (or sustaining) those profits, they have to think big. And they have to think long term. Ballmer says he thinks about new business opportunities in three buckets: expanding current businesses (short run), building things from scratch (long run), and big aquisitions (short cuts).

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  • Brute forcing success: load any operating system onto your TI-83+ calculator

    Brute forcing success: load any operating system onto your TI-83+ calculator

    Posted on August 17, 2009 | No Comments
    ti-gameIt's been a very long time since I last used a Texas Instruments graphing calculator. I thought it was cool to write programs on the TI-80 I used in college. It seems that in the time since, things have gotten a little more complex: TI calculators now have cryptographically signed operating systems! Ostensibly this is to prevent clever hackers from loading their own operating systems onto the calculators (the horror!). Leave it to the hackers, though, to find a way to do what they want!

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  • Robot OS paves the way for army of standardized robo-assassins

    Robot OS paves the way for army of standardized robo-assassins

    Posted on August 11, 2009 | No Comments
    You know how it is: you go down to your secret lair to work on the prototype for your armada of deathbots, and you get paralyzed by the sheer enormity of the project you've undertaken. Not only do you need to find the raw materials, you need to design the bodies and weapons systems, build in failsafes so they don't attack you, and basically write a complete operating system from scratch. That's a lot of work for a busy tyrant-to-be, and frankly such details distract from the big picture of global domination. Thankfully, there's a crew of people working to standardize and abstract robot operating systems to reduce the time-to-market for your electronic henchmen.

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  • The iPhone’s Competitors Have A Big Problem: Their Games Stink

    The iPhone’s Competitors Have A Big Problem: Their Games Stink

    Posted on July 23, 2009 | No Comments
    It's no secret that gaming on the iPhone has been one of the main keys to the App Store's success. You know it, I know it, and so you have to believe that all the competitors know it too. And yet, their actions would seem to suggest that they don't know it. Because they keep building devices, operating systems and app stores to compete with the iPhone, that simply can't hold a candle to the iPhone when it comes to gaming. At the Casual Connect conference in Seattle today, some numbers were thrown out there, talking about just how big gaming is now on the iPhone. Of the nearly 70,000 apps in the App Store, some 20% are games. Yes, that means there are between 10,000 and 15,000 apps that are games, just for the iPhone alone. To put that in perspective, that is more than the total number of apps that all of the App Store's big competitors (Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store, Palm's App Catalog, BlackBerry's App World) have — combined.

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  • OSes gone and very forgotten

    OSes gone and very forgotten

    Posted on July 11, 2009 | No Comments
    In honor of Chrome OS, here BusinessInsider has collected a nice selection of obscure old operating systems that basically died on the vine. Take BeOS, for example. Be was one of the most amazing OSes I’d ever seen, especially in about 1995. Then there were real clinkers like Inferno and Arthur, OSes that tried valiantly to [...]

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  • Layar opens up to developers, debuts API for mobile augmented reality platform

    Layar opens up to developers, debuts API for mobile augmented reality platform

    Posted on July 8, 2009 | No Comments
    SPRXmobile, the startup behind Layar, the mobile augmented reality browser for Android, is moving fast. Barely three weeks after launching its application too much fanfare (see my video interview with the company's co-founder Raimo van der Klein for more context), it is opening up its platform by handing out keys for its just launched API to a select number of developers. Interested parties will need to fill out a request form, which should be available in about half an hour following this link, and the company will subsequently handpick 50 developers and provide them with the necessary documentation, tools and a test environment for third-party layers. Layar is far from the only player in the mobile AR browser market, which is shaping up to be an interesting field as devices and the operating systems they run see technological advances at an ever-increasing speed.

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  • Review: Palm Pre

    Review: Palm Pre

    Posted on June 22, 2009 | No Comments
    Now that everyone has had their say about the Palm Pre, I thought it wise to say a few words about the oft labeled “iPhone killer” that Sprint and Palm hope will bring each back from the edge of the dreaded deadpool. It seems as though every touch-screen device to launch since the first generation [...]

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  • Clevo TN70M UMPC gets checked out in the UK

    Clevo TN70M UMPC gets checked out in the UK

    Posted on May 29, 2009 | No Comments

    Clevo's TN70M touchscreen little 7-inch UMPC / netbook has just made its way to the UK, and UMPC Portal's gotten its hands on some shots of the little guy. The netbook boasts a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU, a full QWERTY keyboard, a webcam, and a fingerprint reader, and is available with either XP or Vista operating systems. Clevo -- a company better known for its hulking gaming rigs -- has been pretty mum on whether the TN70M willl make its way to other shores as of yet, but it's retailing for about $520, and we'll keep our eyes peeled for you. There's one more shot after the break!

    [Via Slashgear]

    Continue reading Clevo TN70M UMPC gets checked out in the UK

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    Clevo TN70M UMPC gets checked out in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 06:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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