Operating system

Computers
March 26, 2012
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ARM support may be coming to Chrome OS

By on March 26, 2012 at 8:30 PM.

ARM support may be coming to Chrome OS

Users who are interested in a Google-powered Chromebook only have two options, Acer’s AC700 or Samsung’s Series 5 Chromebook. Both laptops are powered by an Intel Atom processor, the only chip the platform currently supports. Recent rumors have suggest that Chrome OS may soon support ARM-based processors, however, opening up a number of new doors for the platform. According to the Chromium OS issue tracker, a new product code-named “Daisy” is mentioned numerous times, equipped a Samsung Exynos 5250 chip. Samsung’s 32nm chip will feature an ARM Cortex-A15 design and will be capable of running at speeds up to 2GHz — all while using less power than ARM Cortex-A9 chips and Intel Atom processors. The Chromium project is open-source, with user contributions playing a large roll in development. As such, the “Daisy” appearances do not necessarily mean Google is directly involved with the development.

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mobile
October 3, 2011
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iOS and Mac OS X market shares hit record highs

By on October 3, 2011 at 8:11 AM.

iOS and Mac OS X market shares hit record highs

A recent report from Net Applications suggests that Apple’s iOS and Mac OS X operating systems both achieved a record high global market shares during the month of September. iOS had a global market share of 54.65% for the month, up from the 53.04% grip it had on the market in August. iOS is trailed by Java ME with an 18.52% market share, Android (16.25%)  Symbian (6.12%) and BlackBerry (3.29%). Mac OS X reached a record high 6.45% share of the operating system market during September, up from 6.03% in August, which is dominated by Microsoft’s Windows (92.44%). Linux has a fraction of the market with a small 1.11% piece of the pie. Apple is expected to take the wraps off of its next iPhone during a press conference in Cupertino on October 4th, and we’ll be reporting all the news as it breaks. More →

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Exclusive
September 29, 2011
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Nokia to turn mobile landscape on its head with ‘Meltemi’ smartphone OS

By on September 29, 2011 at 9:00 AM.

Nokia to turn mobile landscape on its head with ‘Meltemi’ smartphone OS

Nokia is again developing a proprietary smartphone operating system after announcing this past February that it would abandon both Symbian and MeeGo in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. Citing multiple anonymous sources, The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Nokia’s executive vice president of mobile phones, Mary McDowell, is heading up the project. Code-named “Meltemi,” the new mobile platform is reportedly Linux-based and it is intended for use on low-end smartphones. BGR has independently confirmed the report, and we have learned additional details that paint an exciting new picture of the mobile industry should Nokia’s new OS realize its potential.

Updated with statement from Nokia. More →

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mobile
September 28, 2011
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Intel kills MeeGo in favor of Tizen

By on September 28, 2011 at 11:35 PM.

Intel kills MeeGo in favor of Tizen

Intel announced on Wednesday that it will be shifting its efforts from MeeGo to the new “Tizen” mobile operating system recently announced by The Linux Foundation. The move is in line with reports from early September that suggested Intel would move on due to a lack of consumer enthusiasm surrounding the OS. Nokia launched the MeeGo-powered N9 this month but also announced in June that it was ditching the platform in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS. “We believe the future belongs to HTML5-based applications, outside of a relatively small percentage of apps, and we are firmly convinced that our investment needs to shift toward HTML5,” Intel said in a blog post, explaining why it did not decide to evolve MeeGo. “Shifting to HTML5 doesn’t just mean slapping a web runtime on an existing Linux, even one aimed at mobile, as MeeGo has been.” Intel also noted Tizen will support smartphones, tablets, netbooks, smart TVs and in-vehicle systems.  More →

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Software
September 14, 2011
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Steve Ballmer: No platform will ship more than Windows

By on September 14, 2011 at 4:15 PM.

Steve Ballmer: No platform will ship more than Windows

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer surprised developers during Micorosft’s BUILD conference in California on Wednesday when he took the stage to talk up Microsoft’s new operating system, currently named Windows 8. Ballmer noted that there have already been 500,000 downloads of the operating system since it went live last night. “We still have a long way to go with Windows 8,” Ballmer said. “We’re retooling all of what we do.” Ballmer believes that the changes will compel developers to begin to favor Microsoft’s operating system, which he expects will ship on 350 million PCs this year alone. “There is no phone, there is nothing on the tablet, there is no operating system on the planet that will ship 350 million units of anything other than Windows,” Ballmer boasted, noting that Windows 8 supports both Intel and ARM chipsets. Before wrapping up, Ballmer, in typical fashion, called on “developers, developers, developers” to rally around Windows 8. More →

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mobile
August 31, 2011
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Samsung reveals bada 2.0-powered Wave 3, Wave M and Wave Y [video]

By on August 31, 2011 at 3:00 AM.

Samsung reveals bada 2.0-powered Wave 3, Wave M and Wave Y [video]

Just days ahead of the IFA trade show in Berlin, Samsung officially unveiled three new bada 2.0-powered handsets: the Wave 3, Wave M and Wave Y. We first heard wind of the Wave 3 last week when an Android user spotted it inside of Samsung’s Mobile Unpacked APK and now we have the full details. The Wave 3 is the high-end smartphone of the bunch and comes equipped with a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, a 5-megapixel camera, a 1.4GHz processor and HSPA connectivity all in a 9mm thin brush-aluminum shell. The Wave M is the first device to hit the market with Samsung’s new ChatON messaging software pre-installed. It offers a 3.65-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera, optional NFC connectivity, Wi-Fi direct, a tempered glass screen and a metallic body. The Samsung Wave Y is an entry-level bada 2.0 device and it is equipped with a a 3.2-inch HVGA display and a 2-megapixel camera. Read on for the full press release and a video detailing the new bada 2.0 operating system.
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Legal
August 8, 2011
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Apple sued over OS X fast boot feature

By on August 8, 2011 at 9:45 AM.

Apple sued over OS X fast boot feature

Florida-based Operating Systems Solutions has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. OSS is alleging that the Cupertino-based firm’s Mac OS X fast-boot feature infringes on one of its patents relating to a “method for quick booting an OS.” More specifically, the lawsuit says Apple infringes on:

A method for fast booting a computer system, comprising the steps of: A. performing a power on self test (POST) of basic input output system (BIOS) when the system is powered on or reset is requested; B. checking whether a boot configuration information including a system booting state which was created while executing a previous normal booting process exists or not; C. storing the boot configuration information from execution of the POST operation before loading a graphic interface (GUI) program, based on the checking result; and D. loading the graphic user interface (GUI) program.

LG Electronics was originally granted the patent in 2002 and Patently Apple said the patent was then reissued to a company named Promitus Technologies LLC in 2008. It remains unclear how Operating Systems Solutions obtained the patent, or if LG or Promitus Technologies are involved in the lawsuit in any way. More →

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mobile
August 5, 2011
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On Jumptap's network, Android dominates more U.S. states than iOS or BlackBerry

By on August 5, 2011 at 8:02 PM.

On Jumptap's network, Android dominates more U.S. states than iOS or BlackBerry

Jumptap recently released a report that separated the 50 states by mobile operating system. It mapped out which states are prominently iOS users, which use Android the most, and which states use BlackBerry smartphones based on 83 million users on its ad network. New England and the Midwest represented the largest pockets of iOS users while Texas, California and much of the West were Android users. New York is primarily a BlackBerry state, perhaps due to the number of corporate users in New York City. Alaska was neutral and Hawaii had more iOS users than Android or BlackBerry. Jumptap collected its data from its mobile advertising network, so the data doesn’t represent sales or market share of course. Read on for more findings from the report. More →

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mobile
August 4, 2011
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Android least open of open source platforms, report says

By on August 4, 2011 at 4:55 PM.

Android least open of open source platforms, report says

Android may be an open source operating system, but it’s not as open as other platforms according to a new research report from VisionMobile. The research firm compared Android, Eclipse, Firefox, the Linux kernel, MeeGo, Qt and Symbian and found that, of those open source environments, Android was the least “open.” According to the report’s “open governance index,” which scored each environment on how open it is, Android scored a 23%. It was far below the others; Eclipse scored the best with an 84% open governance index and no other platform scored less than a 58%, ArsTechnica said. Google’s Android compatibility chief Dan Morrill likely swayed the opinion on Android a bit when he said Google was using compatibility “as a club to make [phone maker's] do things we want,” and the report cites that quote specifically. However, VisionMobile also backs up its findings with a statement that can be read in full after the break. More →

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mobile
July 5, 2011
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Android market share jumps as BlackBerry slides; smartphones now owned by 1 in 3 Americans

By on July 5, 2011 at 4:55 PM.

Android market share jumps as BlackBerry slides; smartphones now owned by 1 in 3 Americans

According to a new report from comScore, 1 in 3 Americans now own a smartphone. Google’s Android OS is ahead of the pack with a 38.1% share of the market during the 3-month period ending in May — up 5.1% from the last report in February. Apple’s iOS operating system jumped 1.4 percentage points to a 26.6% share, and RIM’s BlackBerry OS fell 4.3% to a 24.7% share of the market. Microsoft also dropped from a 7.7% share to a 4.8% share, and HP’s webOS fell from a 2.8% share to a 2.4% share in May. Manufacturer mobile subscriber market share remained relatively flat: Samsung still has a 24.8% share of the market according to comScore, followed by LG (21.1%, down 0.2 percentage points), Motorola (16.1%, down 1 percentage point), Apple (8.6%, up 1.2 percentage points), and RIM (8.1%, down 0.5 percentage points). Read on for the full release from comScore. More →

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Software
June 30, 2011
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HP ponders Windows 8 tablets

By on June 30, 2011 at 11:30 PM.

HP ponders Windows 8 tablets

On Friday, HP’s brand new webOS-powered TouchPad tablet will make its debut in the United States. Even though HP purchased Palm for $1.2 billion last year so that it could stray away from the Windows-powered tablet market by owning webOS, the company may soon build tablets running Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system. In a recent interview with Fast Company, HP’s president and chief technology officer Phil McKinney suggested that Windows 8 tablets could be in the pipeline. “I’m limited to what I can talk about with Windows 8,” McKinney says. “We’re working very closely with [Microsoft], and I’m going to leave it at that or I’m going to start getting myself into trouble.” We could take McKinney’s statement two ways. First, HP is already a Microsoft partner on Windows 7 powered devices, so to deny Microsoft support for Windows 8 could be a blow to the Redmond-based company. Or second, HP does have a Windows 8 powered tablet in the works, but doesn’t want to start spreading rumors, especially during the launch of the company’s new flagship TouchPad device. We’ll have to wait and see what HP decides to do, but it seems like a confusing move — at least from the customer perspective — for HP to offer both operating systems on its tablet devices. More →

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mobile
June 29, 2011
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HP in talks to license webOS

By on June 29, 2011 at 6:15 PM.

HP in talks to license webOS

During an interview with Bloomberg recently, HP’s CEO Leo Apokether said that his company is in talks to license its webOS software to other manufacturers. “We are talking to a number of companies,” he said.”I can share with you that a number of companies have expressed interest. We are continuing our conversations.” Apotheker said there’s no specific time frame for when another company may announce that it’s using webOS and noted that “there is no time pressure.” However, Bloomberg said that Samsung has been named as one of the potential licensees, but that information is still being kept private. “Samsung will continue to strengthen its relationship with Google to provide ultimate values to customers,” Jason Kim, a Samsung spokesperson, said — hinting at the firm’s commitment to Android.  HP’s first webOS tablet, the TouchPad, will make its debut later this week on July 1st for $499.99. More →

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Exclusive
June 20, 2011
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RIM is black-burying carriers with half-baked BlackBerrys

By on June 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM.

RIM is black-burying carriers with half-baked BlackBerrys

Launching new products is always difficult. Launching new products with hundreds of different carriers is exponentially more difficult. Apparently there is an easy way and a hard way to do things, however, and RIM has been making carriers offers they can’t refuse. BGR has learned from a trusted source that RIM has been strong-arming several carriers, essentially forcing them to approve devices they normally would not move through the Technical Acceptance phase. More →

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