Linux OS Distribution Reviews
[b]I installed the 12.04 Ubuntu release[/b] on a spare partition yesterday, in preparation of using the Ubuntu Customization Kit. My intention was to use UCK to respin a game DVD for our Reglue Kids. Our last LTS was 10.04 and we used that respin successfully for a number of years. So while we are waiting for SolusOS 2.0 to come out, and the subsequent Reglue Respin, I thought a nice game DVD would be fun.Uh…it would have been except…..
LXer Linux News
It takes 20 years to become an overnight success.
—Eddie Cantor
This week we release the Express and Community Editions of eXo Platform 4.0: The Open Source Enterprise Social Platform.
For me, the eXo adventure started almost 10 years ago when I coded the first JSR 168-compatible Portlet Container (here’s hoping 10 years works the same way Eddie Cantor had in mind). At the time, our first customer, the US Joint Forces Command (part of the Department of Defense) pushed us to create a company to help them build their content collaboration system during the Iraq war.
The Linux Foundation performed their annual global survey of members of their End User Council as well as other companies and organizations with sales of more than $ 500 million and/or 500+ employees. Their findings show the world’s largest enterprises are “increasing their investments in Linux for the third consecutive year.”
Ouya founder and CEO Julie Uhrman has sent out a message to the Kickstarter backers of the Ouya console that gives a peek at their projected shipping schedule. We see a sharp uptick today, and another near the end of the month when "larger-scale" weekly shipments are expected.
She also mentions that they have made a tweaks to the process that could shave days off the shipping time. We imagine building, sorting, and shipping out consoles to all the backers is not an easy job. Things can (and often do) go wrong, throwing off projections. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly and backers have their unit in hand soon.
Source: Kickstarter
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On Friday the 22nd of February 2013, Facebook launched a new upgraded version of their app. The featured app has the capabilities of allowing its users to make free calls to their fellow Facebook friends. The feature is however limited to the iOS subscribers only. Before this major shift, the free calling service was only available to its US and Canadian iOS users. After a successful run of the same, Apple decided to include it in all their devices supporting Facebook version 5.5. Facebook has always been identified with its messaging abilities but this is set to change. In the recent past complains were being directed to Apple as a company for their lack of newer innovation but it looks as if they have made a breakthrough, Apple can now catch a break.
The news could not have come in a better time. Currently most people (the youths to be exact) have fully embraced the social media craze and it is no surprise to find most of them spending a great deal of their time texting and charting with their online friends. The free calling element of the feature should come as an added bonus to the users. Isn’t just amazing having to call up your friend for free without worrying about additional charges due to the difference in your geographical locations? I am pretty much sure that sounds enticing.
The innovation should come as a surprise to many Facebook users because Mark Zuckerberg has publicly been heard denying the claim that Facebook has intentions of making a phone. When asked this question, Zuckerberg answer has always been no! As a defense to their latest invention, they have said that their main objective is to become a one stop shop for anything relating to mobile phones i.e. including making free calls.
Samsung, as usual, had a fantastic event at CES this year. While the Korean tech giant didn’t show anything mobile related off, they did showcase some stunning TV’s. Samsung could be saving the best for last later this year, but let’s keep in mind that Samsung has another event at CES tomorrow, January 9th. If we don’t see mobile related news then, we’ll more than likely see something at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in February in Barcelona.
The CES event taking place today showcased Samsung’s new larger displays for TVs along with a dazzling new interface for their Smart TVs. Additionally, Samsung has upgraded the hardware in their TVs and is much faster than last year’s models.
If you missed the event today and want to take a look at the highlights from the event, you’re in luck as Samsung as releases a video featuring just that.
The Apple iPhone creates quite a lot of buzz when it comes close to launch, and that has been the case with any iPhone that launched after the first gen iPhone back in 2007. Most of these are mere speculations, while in some cases there will be circumstantial evidence to confirm a feature or two of the next iDevice. The developers have a key role to play in the iOS ecosystem as devs are the ones who keep the platform running. And according to a new revelation, developers are claiming that Apple has been testing their apps on the next major version of iOS i.e. iOS 7 and also with the iPhone 6. The device being tested apparently goes by the name iPhone 6.1, which makes sense given that the iPhone 5 before release was known as the iPhone 5.1 and 5.2. The info was spotted on app usage logs by the developers.
It goes without saying that Apple could in fact be developing a new iPhone for a launch in Q3 this year, but that doesn’t quite prove that what developers claim to be the iPhone 6 is indeed that. What’s interesting is that the IP address of the data comes from Apple’s Cupertino campus, which could well mean that what the developers saw was real. We can know more about this as the days progress, but all in all this has been a great start to 2013 with the rumor mill picking up pace already. The Apple WWDC 2013 event will shed more light on Apple’s plans for the future of iOS and iPhones. There have been rumors pointing towards a quick iPhone refresh, which we can easily rule out.
It will be interesting to see what changes Apple will make with iOS 7, especially if there will be any new UI elements being added. Because ever since iOS 5, the platform hasn’t seen a major revamp of any sort. We can all learn from Google’s example which made the jump from Android 2.3 to Android 4.0 to substantially improve the performance. No doubt the current iteration of iOS is smooth as it is, but it would never hurt a platform to make it even more enjoyable. As for the iPhone 6 reference by the devs, I don’t think we should pay too much heed to it and it could well be a very early prototype, considering the fact that the iPhone 5 has been available for a little over three months now.
Source: TNW
Via: Phone Arena
Hyundai has announced a new deal with Google that will bring further integration of Google Maps with their Blue Link telematics platform. Blue Link is an in-car application that aids with mapping and allows phones to connect to it.
The new deal will see more Google Maps APIs being used to enhance the experience in their cars sold in the United States. The new APIs that will be used are:
Google has been aggressively improving their maps over the last year as increased competition has popped up. More integration with other platforms, such as cars, is good to see. This will (hopefully) make communication between your phone and car more seamless and provide even more data for Google to further improve the maps app.
Source: Hyundai
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We have featured Shape Services many times here at Android Central, but I would say they're best well known for their fantastic instant messaging client IM+ – full review here.
Just in time for Christmas, Shape has decided to have a big sale on all its products, and there are some rather hefty discounts on offer. These special prices will be available until the end of the year.
Click the below apps to be taken to Google Play.
Get 'em while they're hot.
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NORAD might have deserted Google Maps this year in favour of Microsoft to power their Santa Tracker, but Google has gone ahead and come out with their own apps anyway. Santa Tracker is available to download now for both Android devices and for Google Chrome. Perfect for the kids — and the big kids.
Naturally, at the moment the apps don't do a lot. All we see is a countdown screen as to when Santa will be taking off. The app should start working from 02:00 PST on Christmas Eve, as jolly old St Nick begins his global journey. When the app does kick into gear, we'll be treated to all kinds of Santa based information such as the number of presents delivered, his route plan, and when he'll depart in your part of the world. All this is displayed using Google Maps.
And, if that's not enough, through the power of Google Voice, you can go and request a personal call from the big guy himself. That does seem limited to North America though — but then, if Santa's using Google Voice, North America is all he can call.
More: Google Santa Tracker, Google Chrome Extension
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