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10Nov/090

What is BADA???

Samsung bada is a new open platform that enables a richer user experience in applications on Samsung mobile devices.

Samsung’s expertise in the mobile field

Samsung has about 20 years of experience in delivering the best-in-class mobile technology and devices to consumers across the globe.
Throughout its history, Samsung has focused on delivering a truly unique and innovative mobile experience, while upholding the highest standards of quality to consumers. Samsung bada is a culmination of Samsung’s deep expertise and experience in the mobile industry.

Purpose of bada

More and more people want rich and connected application-experiences that are currently available only for smartphone consumers. Samsung has developed bada to make these exclusive smartphone experiences available to everyone.

Key features of bada

Samsung design principles aim to deliver simple, intuitive, and innovative user experiences through innovative visual design. Samsung bada includes a next generation UI framework with feature sets and design elements that facilitate leading-edge user interfaces for every bada application.

Consumer demand for service-based applications is growing. Samsung bada includes integrated support for service-oriented features to enable the development of connected applications. Samsung bada developers can implement various service features in applications without the high learning curve required by previous platforms.

Samsung bada encourages the integration of common experiences and functions across application. Extensible core functions include a dialer, messaging, and address book, which applications can freely use.

Ecosystem of bada

Samsung is deeply committed to the developer community and the application store. With a series of developer days, the developer challenge, and the opening of the application store, Samsung is establishing an environment to encourage innovation and creativity among bada developers.

21Aug/090

How to install Java on Linux computer – Linux RPM package

sun-java-logoThis guide will provide you with advise and instructions on how to install Java for the Linux computer for Linux RPM package. In order to install the Linux RPM (self-extracting) file, please follow the instructions as provided below:
- Please type following command at the terminal:
su
- Now please enter the root password.
- You can change to the directory in which you want to install and for that please type following:
cd

- If you would like to install the software in the /usr/java/ directory, then please type:
cd /usr/java
- If you would like to change the permission of the file you downloaded to be executable, then please type following command:
chmod a+x jre-6u-linux-i586-rpm.bin
- you can commence thethe installation process by typing following:
./jre-6u-linux-i586-rpm.bin
This command will displas the binary license agreement. After reading the agreement, please. press the spacebar to display the next page. At the end, please enter yes to proceed with the installation.

Please note that the installation file creates jre-6u-linux-i586.rpm file in the current directory.

- In order to install the package, please run the RPM command at the terminal to install the packages and for that please type:
rpm -iv jre-6u-linux-i586.rpm

- Now Java is installed in jre1.6.0_ sub-directory under the current directory which is /usr/java/jre1.6.0_.
- If you want to verify that the jre1.6.0_ sub-directory is listed under the current directory, then please type:
ls

The installation is now complete. If you followed all the instructions as provided in this tutorial guide the Linux RPM is successfully installed on the Linux computer.

18Aug/090

New Mac OS X Snow Leopard Beta Released, Run to the Torrents

A new version of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard—labeled 10A335—has hit developers. Apple hasn't mentioned any new features or bug fixes, however. The Server version—which was released alongside—does come with an easier to use version of Podcast Producer, new spam mail filters in Mail Server, and other niceties.

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11Aug/090

KDE 4.3 released with interesting innovations

KDE 4.3 has officially been released. Code named Caizen, this release builds up on the previous release of KDE (4.2) bringing with it new innovations mainly on the desktop, applications and development platform.

Watch the following video to learn more about the fabulous new features in KDE 4.3.

Put in a nutshell, the prominent new features are as follows :

  • Plasma has a new theme called Air.
  • Now you can have different set of widgets in each workspace.
  • Introduced new widgets which connect to many prominent online web services such as Flickr, blogging platforms and social networks (Twitter ...).
  • Widgets can now live on the taskbar and many other places other than the desktop.
  • Instant file and folder preview feature introduced in Dolphin file manager.
  • A more helpful KRunner - The ubiquitous run dialog in KDE 4.

Read the details at the official KDE web site.

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11Aug/090

SSH Clients – OpenSSH and Putty

OpenSSH and Putty are free SSH clients to connect to a unix or linux server from a computer running windows operating system. Though Microsoft Windows has a built-in client to FTP and Telnet remote systems, it does not have a SSH client to connect to a remote server. OpenSSH and Putty are useful client if you need to SSH and Telnet to a remote computer.

OpenSSH for Windows:

OpenSSH for Windows is a free package that installs a minimal OpenSSH server and client utilities in the Cygwin package without needing the full Cygwin installation.The OpenSSH for Windows package provides full SSH/SCP/SFTP support. SSH terminal support provides a familiar Windows Command prompt, while retaining Unix/Cygwin-style paths for SCP and SFTP. the following are the general features of OpenSSH:

  • Windows NT Service Support
  • Windows Command Prompt support for SSH Terminal
  • SCP/SFTP server support
  • Includes Command-line clients

Free download OpenSSH installer from here. The full install of OpenSSH is about 5mb, while installer is under 3mb.

Putty Client:

PuTTY is a free implementation of Telnet and SSH for Win32 and Unix platforms, along with an xterm terminal emulator. Free download Putty from here.

We will see how to use OpenSSH and Putty in our future articles.

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22Feb/090

Nokia E55 short review

We sniffed out Nokia's new E55 not-a-QWERTY QWERTY candybar phone, which uses a SureType-esque predictive text mechanism with two letters per key, and looks pretty good doing it. Nokia's calling this the "world's thinnest smartphone," quite the feat if it's true, and it might just give Nokia's ultrapopular E71 a run for its money in the "fashionably smart" category. We played with the phone for a brief moment, and though it's running an alpha software build, we didn't have much trouble typing out a quick message.

Unfortunately, while the keys are naturally larger, they aren't very "clicky" or distinct -- not horrible, but certainly not best-in-class. The prediction works well enough, learning new words after one entry, and letting you d-pad up and down through other options if it doesn't get it right the first try. Overall the phone feels on par with quality of the E71, though lighter and smaller, and is insanely pocketable.

All article via engadget.com

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5Feb/090

Chrome 2.0 beta but no Linux version, yet

Google released a pre-beta version of its Chrome 2.0 browser late last week but has still not made a Linux or Mac version of the browser available.

The 2.0 version of the browser was released to developers and includes a number of new features including the begins of an extension strategy for the browser.

Senior Google staffers said, however, that Linux and Mac versions of the browser would only be made available later this year. CNet quotes Brian Rakowski, Chrome’s product manager, who said that the Mac and Linux versions of the browser were now at the “test shell” stage which meant that they could show web pages but are still in a very raw format.

Rakowski said that versions of Chrome for Linux and Mac would likely be made available by the middle of 2009.

Extensions

Chrome 2.0 pre-beta does include support for some extension scripts, which will pave the way for fully-fledged extensions in the near future. Extensions are among the most requested features from users and is a key part of the success of rival browser Firefox.

Other new features in version 2.0 of Chrome include autocomplete for web forms, full-page zoom, multiple browser profiles each with their own bookmarks and cookies, autoscroll using the mouse centre button and the ability to import bookmarks from the Google Bookmarks site.

Less obvious to users but key to Chrome 2.0 is the inclusion of a new version of the WebKit rendering engine. The new Chrome release uses WebKit 528.8, which is faster and supports features such as CSS canvas drawing for 2D shapes such as lines on maps or custom-generated charts.

Source: http://www.tectonic.co.za

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5Feb/090

Acer to ship 10-inch Aspire One with Linux

Despite earlier announcing that it would only ship a Windows XP version of its 10-inch Aspire One netbook, Acer now says it plans to release a Linux version as well.

A company spokesman said this week that the 10-inch Aspire One would soon be available with Windows XP or Linux and a choice of a 160GB hard disk drive or a 16GB solid state drive.

Acer’s original Aspire One had an 8.9-inch screen and a choice of Windows XP or Linupus, Acer’s customised Linux operating system. The Aspire One 10-inch is expected to be released in mid-February internationally.

Reports of pre-orders in the US pin the Aspire One 10-inch at $349. SA pricing and availability are not known at this point.

Source: http://www.tectonic.co.za/?p=3962

3Feb/090

Linux-ready XScale net board ships

Gateworks Corp. is shipping the second of its power-sipping Cambria Network Platform boards. The Cambria GW2350 ships with an OpenWrt Linux-based board support package (BSP) and optional dev kit, and targets enterprise and residential network applications, says the company.

The Cambria GW2350 is a lower cost ($211 in volume) version of the Cambria GW2358-4 board that was announced in August, and offers a single Type III Mini-PCI socket instead of the GW2358-4's four slots, says the company. The Cambria GW2350 is targeted at customer premise equipment that requires "a rugged, small form factor network processing engine," says the company.

The board incorporates an Intel IXP435 XScale processor clocked at 667MHz. The IXP435 integrates an XScale core with a pair of network processor engines (NPEs) -- programmable processing elements with their own instruction and data memory.

Except for the difference in price and the number of Mini-PCI slots, the GW2350 appears to be identical to the GW2358-4. It offers 128MB of DDRII-400 SDRAM and 32MB of flash, with a CompactFlash socket for expansion. The board also includes two Ethernet ports, two USB 2.0 host ports, a serial port, and a variety of other I/O. A GPS receiver and an additional serial port are optional. The GW2350 typically consumes only six Watts, and supports power-over-ethernet (PoE), says Gateworks.

The board is touted for its broad 8-48VDC input range and its reverse polarity and transient protection, which together are said to support applications ranging from automotive devices to solar and battery-powered wireless installations. The Mini-PCI slot can be used for 802.11ab/g, 802.11n, or WiMAX radios, says the company.

The GW2350 is preloaded with the open source Redboot boot loader, and OpenWrt, a community-supported Linux distribution. In addition, a hardware/software development kit is available as a separate option. The Cambria Dev Kit (pictured above, right) adds a USB JTAG flash programming interface, a passive PoE power supply/injector, a cable set, and a Linux development CD that includes the OpenWrt-based BSP.

Availability

The Cambria GW2350 is shipping now from stock, with prices starting at $211 in OEM quantities, says Gateworks. Customized versions are said to be available for volumes as low as 100 pieces. No new price was provided for the Cambria Dev Kit, but in August it was said to cost $410 per unit. More information may be found here.

For more information on the GW2350, including a detailed spec list, please see our coverage of the almost identical GW2358-4.

3Feb/090

Wrist-Worn Linux PC demoed at military tech conference

Eurotech's U.S. arm, Parvus, will demonstrate the company's innovative wrist-worn PC at a military technology conference June 19 in Washington, D.C. The Zypad WL 1000 runs Linux or Windows CE, and features hands-free operation, wireless networking, GPS tracking, and patent-pending power management technology.

The device targets emergency search-and-rescue, healthcare, homeland security, maintenance, law enforcement, logicstics, transportation, and defense applications. The Zypad WL 1000 is based on a Raza Microelectronics 32-bit MIPS-based AU 1100 processor (formerly offered by AMD) clocked at 400MHz. It has 64MB each of flash RAM and flash ROM, with expansion available through an SD card slot.

The Zypad WL 1000 has a 3.5-inch QVGA (240 x 320) touchscreen with automatic contrast adjust. It also features an 11-key backlit keypad.

Network interfaces include 802.11b/g, GPS, and PAN Bluetooth class 2 (32 feet), each with integral antennas. The device also includes USB 1.1 host and device ports, along with stereo audio I/O.

The Zypad WL 1000 comes with a 2200 mAh 3.6 V Li-ion removable battery pack claimed to offer up to eight hours of life, depending on usage. An external power supply and car adapter will be available separately.

Additional touted features include:

  • Comfortable weight distribution, even over clothing
  • Tilt and dead reckoning system -- can determine if a user is motionless or has fallen down, and initiate radiosonde beacon
  • Patent-applied-for switch initiates standby mode when users arm hangs down beside the body
  • Claimed battery life up to 8 hours

Mike Southworth, marketing director, said Pavus is optimistic about the marketplace prospects for the unique wrist-worn PC. "The WL 1000 is a great platform for systems integrators and OEMs to build products on. The types of projects expressing interest in the defense space include healthcare systems that provide treatment information and patient history to field paramedics. There's a Navy program that calls for such devices in the thousands of units."

Availability

The Zypad WL 1000 is being manufactured by Eurotech in Italy, according to Southworth. Parvus currently has demo units, and expects to have the product "on the shelf" in late July, priced at $2,500.

Eurotech's Wrist-worn PC roadmap also calls for an ARM-based model by year's end, Southworth said.

The Zypad WL 1000 is being demonstrated at the Armed Forces Communication Electronics Association's 2006 TechNet International Conference held today in Washington D.C.