Posts Tagged: open-source

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28
Jul 10

Top 5 Free Android Widgets



One of the best design choices Google made for Android is to allow widgets on the home screen. The Android Market is full of widgets, and these are the top 5 free ones I’ve encountered.

…One of the best design choices Google made for Android is to allow widgets on the home screen. This took on additional significance when Android gained the ability a few versions back to have so many multiple, customizable home screens available. Widgets are tiny applets that sit on the home screen, displaying important information for the user and often providing a means to interact with that information. The Android Market is full of widgets, and these are the top 5 free ones I’ve encountered. Note that new widgets appear often, so this list only reflects the current crop.

Android Agenda Widget. This jewel provides a window into the user’s calendar, displaying a lot of information in a small space. The agenda can aggregate events from multiple calendars. The display can be customized in every way. In fact, there are more configurable settings than much bigger programs. This is really a collection of widgets, all of different sizes so you can choose the one that fits the screen space available. The…

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Top 5 Free Android Widgets

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25
Jul 10

Microsoft’s Real Tablet Competition: Google Android

Microsoft will counter Apple iPad with Windows 7 tablet hardware partners in late 2010. But Microsoft’s real tablet competition could be Google Android. Here’s why.

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Microsoft’s Real Tablet Competition: Google Android

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22
Jul 10

Android’s ascent in China might not elevate Google

Android’s growing popularity in China may not be a victory for Google, because Chinese mobile industry has created its own fork of the platform that cuts out Google as the middle man.

…Like most Linux-based mobile platforms, Android is not entirely open source. The core operating system consists of the GPL-licensed Linux kernel and an Apache-licensed middleware and userspace stack. Several key components at the higher levels of the platform particularly the Android market and several other pieces of Google-branded software are proprietary. Device makers that want to use include those components on their products have to commercially license the software from Google.

In our recent in-depth coverage of the Android fragmentation issue, we explained that Google uses its ownership of the Android Market as leverage to ensure interoperability between Android devices and to encourage a certain degree of consistency. In addition to paying licensing fees, Android Market licensees must also demonstrate that their products meet the strict requirements of Google’s compatibility specification.

As the sole arbiter of Android’s dominant application delivery channel, Google has enormous control over the…

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Android’s ascent in China might not elevate Google

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15
Jul 10

Linux Phones To Dominate Mobile Market — Linux Phones

Google’s Android and Chrome OS, Intel-Nokia’s MeeGo and Palm’s webOS are among the Linux-based operating systems that will run 62% of non-smartphones by 2015, according to ABI Research.

…Their final consumer offerings, of course, are differentiated by the providers individual application and OS environments including Google’s Android platform and Chrome OS, Intel-Nokia’s MeeGo and Palm’s webOS.

Conspicuous by its absence is Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS which use their own proprietary operating systems.

The lineup of Linux-based phones includes several from the LiMo Foundation, which to date hasn’t made a major impact in the market. However, more LiMo handsets are likely to appear in accelerating numbers as more and more members introduce their phones. The LiMo foundation offers a modular platform that is plug-in-based and hardware-independent while built around Linux software. The food chain ranges all the way from chipsets to third-party software developers.

ABI Research noted that it has prepared a separate report on smartphones using Linux.

Virtualization and cloud computing have taken over the mantle of hottest technology that only a few years ago was held…

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Linux Phones To Dominate Mobile Market — Linux Phones

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6
Jul 10

Ars reviews Android 2.2 on the Nexus One (screens)

The new version of Google’s Android mobile operating system brings some significant new features and performance enhancements. Ars takes a close hands-on look at Android 2.2 in this in-depth review…

…When the feature was announced at Google I/O, I stopped updating applications on my Nexus One and decided to wait for Froyo’s batch update feature. By the time I got Froyo this week, I had 22 applications in need of updates. This gave me a good opportunity to exercise the feature. It downloads and installs the updates in parallel, displaying progress bars in the notification slider that allow the user to monitor the progress of individual applications.

Left: A batch update displayed in the Android notification slider, Right: Multiple apps downloading simultaneously during a batch update

Two of the applications failed to download (22 at once was a bit too much for my 3G connection) and two of them had to be updated manually due to permission changes. To update the two that failed, I just had to hit the “Update all” button again after the first batch update was finished. For the two that required manual updates, I had to go through the normal application update process….

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Ars reviews Android 2.2 on the Nexus One (screens)

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30
Jun 10

4 Ways Google Can Clean Up the Android Market

It’s time to clean up the Android Market before the poor experience and questionable apps get out of hand. There are already 65,000 apps to be found there, so the time is right for Google to follow these simple steps and neaten the store.

…It comes down to openness -vs- control. Neither is inherently bad, but both can be carried to extremes. Consumers flock to iTunes because Apple does reasonable (maybe ‘fanatic’ is a better term here) app testing and applies standards (however draconian) to ensure some minimum level of app compliance. Consumers benefit and developers prosper. Apple has created a closed ecosystem where most benefit from the controls imposed. Apple is quite happy with their app ‘Disneyland’ and many consumers are too.

Open is as open does, and Android is well and truly open in any real sense of ‘open’ you want to apply. The downside is that none of the care and feeding of the app ecosystem in iTunes exists in Android. You can write anything you want and throw it into the app pond for others to consume. Much of it is great. Some of it is dreadful. A few are truly dangerous, waiting to be beheaded by remote kill switch. The Android ecosystem is less successful than iTunes, but suits certain app styles better. Consumers vary in…

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4 Ways Google Can Clean Up the Android Market

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16
Jun 10

Android Google Open Source Operating System for Smart Phone

Google has launched Android, a Linux kernel based OS for smart phone series with amazing features. Android 2.6 version has many features like, better copy-paste

…s Symbian OS. Android keeps Portrait and landscape keyboard styles for any kind of scenario. It has auto correct options and suggestions. Google online image sharing service Picasa is also available in Anroid.
Android from Google and iPhone from Apple are the competitors in the market. Let see who wins the race and grip the market.

var…

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Android Google Open Source Operating System for Smart Phone

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7
Jun 10

How does Google make money on the Android?

Google’s child Android is dominating the smartphone space. So we now question Google, on how they benefit from the Android phones- financially? Paid Content reports that Google has signed revenue-sharing deals with the major wireless carriers who support Android phones.

….
The revenue sharing deals appear to be advertising revenue shared with carriers that support Android. For handset makers, the revenue comes in when they include Google applications like search, maps, Gmail etc which is not a requirement for Android phones. Well, the details are sketchy since Google is not as open as Android. Google declined to comment on their agreements stating they are private and confidential.
By being nosy, we found that the deal is applicable only to handsets that are Google branded like the Droid, Nexus One and G1. It excludes any phone that uses it own User Interface like HTC Evo or Samsung Behold II. Since, all Google applications will generate advertising revenue, Google can still afford to share their revenue. In fact, Google has nothing to loose. At present, direct revenue generation is only from the search application.

So, does this make Google look cheap? This is a common technique employed by Microsoft, HP and other giants to generate revenue. AOL, MacAffe or even less…

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How does Google make money on the Android?

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31
May 10

Android Offline Google Maps

Android Offline Google Maps

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How To get Offline Maps on Android
Step 1. Go to Android Market and Install RMaps.
Step2. Install/Unzip Mobile Atlas Creator and keep the dll file in the same directory
Step 3. Open the Mobile Atlas creator and Choose map source as Google Maps , and use following controls to select a desired areas:

Right click to Drag
Scroll to zoom In/Out
Left click to select downloadable area

Step 4. Once the area is selected, you need to specify the zoom level. I personally prefer Zoom level of 18 since its detailed enough and not as detailed as Zoom level 19.
Note: zoom level 18 is the highest available for most non-US cities.
Step 5. Once you are satisfied, go ahead and select add selection with a name mentioned. Then select BigPlanet SQLite from Atlas Settings .
Note: If you plan to use another Application for Android Offline maps, say Maverick, AndNav, the default settings would be Maverick atlas format and AndNav atlas format respectively and maps source can be any.
Step 6. Go ahead and click Create atlas…

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Android Offline Google Maps

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25
May 10

Google vs. Apple in the battle of the fanboys - CNET News

Apple once had a lock on fanboys, but no more. Google is making waves and lots of friends with Android and other industry-changing products.

…ludachrs”if I buy a mac to write iphone apps I can still use it to write apps for android, how am I locked in” That’s the point. And I didn’t say you were locked in. In fact I said: ” I don’t think he used the word locked. He said monetarily invested.” “Not sure I understand the investment aspect of it.”My MBP was a lot. The Mac software was even more. If I sold it I would get peanuts for software that costs thousands and a $200 to $300 loss for the hardware. A big investment to get in and a big loss if I leave. With Google services I don’t really have to make a new investment and the services work with any platform I may decide to switch to. Like this 2 people like this comment
See more comment replies by plee86 May 24, 2010 1:44 PM PDT There is nothing new about the tech press and enthusiasts hating Apple. They’ve been at it for 30 years. Apple’s financial success in the wider consumer market has only amplified and deepened the hatred as the enthusiasts have been left fuming and wondering why the…

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Google vs. Apple in the battle of the fanboys - CNET News

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