We are stardust. We are golden. And we've got to get ourselves back to the Xbox. According to some anonymous-type sources over at The Verge, Microsoft is set to continue its shift away from Zuneland into the world of Woodstock -- that's reportedly the codename of a new Spotify-like service set to make its debut at this year's E3. According to the reports, the tiny yellow bird of a service will work across platforms (think Windows 8, iOS, Android and, of course, the Xbox, amongst others), thanks, at least in part, in part to browser-based functionality. The service is said to be set to launch later in the year, around the same as some key MS operating systems.

Report: Microsoft revealing Xbox 'Woodstock' music service at E3 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

The two major classes of tablets seeking to grab a share of the iPad's market have in many ways been driven by operating system advances. Windows 8 will bring the new Metro user interface and ARM support to allow what has historically been the more powerful PC class to scale down. Android 4.0 unifies the platform's tablet and smartphone operating systems, encouraging it to take better advantage of the larger screen capabilities and scale up.

Indeed, the full potential of the new iPad won't be known until the release of iOS 6 to fuel Apple's historically tight pairing of hardware and software; that other shoe will likely drop at its developer conference in June. Despite the lack of a new operating system or form factor, the third-generation iPad and its now price-reduced predecessor have set the stage for how Apple plans to defending against Android and Windows tablets.

Continue reading Switched On: The iPad's landscape orientation

Switched On: The iPad's landscape orientation originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook’s Messenger app for Windows 7 computers leaked to the public late last year. The service was initially in a beta phase, but as of Monday it’s been officially released. Facebook previously created a Messenger app for iOS and Android smartphones, which allowed users to quickly chat with friends, share their location or photos and more. The desktop version, unfortunately, does not feature video chat and is limited to Windows 7, although Facebook is “working on making the app available for more operating systems, so stay tuned.”

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ViewSonic is doing its best to make splash here at Mobile World Congress with a number of tablet-related announcements. In addition to specific hardware launches, the company has also made some significant inroads with running Windows 7 Pro on its slates, mainly as proof of concept in anticipation of the upcoming Windows 8 launch. We liked a lot of what we saw but the P100, running both Android 2.3 and Windows 7 (theoretically upgradeable to both Ice Cream Sandwich and Windows 8) was the undisputed star of the show for ViewSonic. This dual-booting beast separates the two operating systems by way of a disc partition, and it seems to run both platforms at lightening speed. Check out our gallery below for hands-on images of the entire ViewSonic tablet line including the P100, the E10 Pro, the E70, the E100 and the G70, and stay tuned to see what ViewSonic brings to the table once Windows 8 launches later this year.

Canonical announced on Tuesday that the popular open-source Ubuntu operating system will soon be coming to multi-core Android devices. Users will be able use Android on their smartphones and Ubuntu as a desktop once the device is docked with a keyboard and monitor. Both operating systems will run simultaneously on the same device and have the ability to share contacts, messages and other common services. “The phone experience is pure Android – it’s a normal Android phone,” Canonical stated. “When the device is connected to a computer screen, however, it launches a full Ubuntu desktop on the computer display. It’s exactly the same desktop used by millions of enterprise and home users on their Ubuntu PCs, and includes hundreds of certified applications, from office productivity to photography, video and music.” The company plans to give live demonstrations of Ubuntu running on Android devices later this month at the Mobile World Congress trade show. Read on for Canonical’s press release.

Ubuntu for Android at MWC – world’s first full-featured desktop on a docked smartphone

Carry less, do a lot more. All the productivity and apps of the full Ubuntu desktop, built into your Android phone.

London, 22nd February, 2012: Canonical today unveiled Ubuntu for Android, bringing the world’s favourite free desktop experience to multi-core Android smartphones docked with a keyboard and monitor. Use Android on the phone and Ubuntu as your desktop, both running simultaneously on the same device, with seamless sharing of contacts, messages and other common services.

The phone experience is pure Android – it’s a normal Android phone. When the device is connected to a computer screen, however, it launches a full Ubuntu desktop on the computer display. It’s exactly the same desktop used by millions of enterprise and home users on their Ubuntu PCs, and includes hundreds of certified applications, from office productivity to photography, video and music.

All data and services are shared between the Ubuntu and Android environments, which run simultaneously on the device. So Android applications such as contacts, telephony and SMS/MMS messaging are accessible from the Ubuntu interface. Indeed, all data on the smartphone can be accessed at any time, docked or not.

Ubuntu for Android gives mobile workers a company phone that is also their enterprise desktop. Government and private institutions have embraced Ubuntu on the desktop because of its ease of use, security, manageability, superb range of native applications and excellent support for web browsers like Chrome and Firefox. The desktop can also include Windows applications, using thin client and desktop virtualisation tools. Today’s IT departments commonly support a PC and at least one desktop phone for every employee. Many also provide and manage mobile phones. Ubuntu for Android presents a compelling solution to IT complexity by reducing that burden to a single device.

The first PC for the next billion knowledge workers could be a phone – but they won’t just want to use it as a handset. They will want all the flexibility and productivity of a full desktop, as well as the convenience of a smartphone on the move. Ubuntu for Android represents the first opportunity for handset makers and network operators to address this growth opportunity in emerging markets.

“The desktop is the killer-app for quad-core phones in 2012″ says Mark Shuttleworth. “Ubuntu for Android transforms your high-end phone into your productive desktop, whenever you need it”

Manufacturers targeting the corporate phone, as well as the next-generation enterprise desktop and thin clients can easily add Ubuntu for Android to their smartphones. The customized version of Ubuntu drops in cleanly alongside the rest of Android, and the necessary Android modifications are designed for easy integration. Hardware requirements include support for HDMI and USB, standard features in high-end handsets planned for late 2012.

Ubuntu for Android justifies the cost to enterprise customers of upgrading to higher bandwidth 4G connections and contracts. Cloud apps like Google Docs work best with a full desktop, and shine with the lower latency of LTE. Network operators can deliver their own branded applications and services as part of the Ubuntu desktop, in partnership with Canonical.

Canonical leads the traditional Linux ecosystem in support for the ARM architecture, having co-founded Linaro (linaro.org), the consortium dedicated to the unification of Linux on ARM and the simplification of Android integration and delivery. That industrial experience, combined with Canonical’s long-standing leadership in desktop Linux and deep relationships with global PC brands enables Canonical to deliver an ARM-optimised desktop tightly integrated with Android, on silicon from a range of ARM vendors.

Google TV continues to make a decent impact at the Consumer Electronics Show. On Wednesday, Google and OnLive announced that the company’s streaming game service was coming to Google TV devices. OnLive delivers console-quality games that are synchronized, rendered, and stored on remote servers and then are streamed over the Internet. The service launched in 2010 and is available on Windows, OS X, Android and iOS operating systems. “With OnLive, the latest high-performance video games stream just as instantly as videos or movies,â€� said OnLive’s chief executive Steve Perlman. As the company does with most new platforms, the service will launch as a “Viewer” on Google TV, allowing users to watch and use OnLive social features. However, OnLive is working closely with Google to enable full gameplay with gamers from around the world. Vizio will be the first manufacturer to incorporate the service into its Google TV devices.

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The geekiest of the operating systems is branching out into entertainment. Ubuntu TV is the open-source answer to your living room set-up, and you could have a TV running the software by the end of the year. More »

Did you give or receive a smartphone for Christmas this year? If so, you contributed to the largest day ever for Android and iOS activations. According to Flurry Analytics, Christmas Day set a record for activations of those two smartphone operating systems in a single day. Between December 1st and December 20th, activations teetered between 1.3 million and 1.8 million devices per day, or an average of 1.5 million daily activations. That figure jumped 353% on December 25th, however, with 6.8 million iOS and Android devices having been activated according to Flurry. Read on for more.

The company also noticed a surge in new application downloads, no doubt propelled by the increased number of devices being activated. Between December 1st and December 20th, iOS and Android users downloaded about 108 million applications per day. On Christmas Day, downloads increased 252% to more than 242 million new Android and iOS apps were downloaded. Flurry explained that figure is “more than double any other day in the history of iOS and Android devices, except December 24, which delivered roughly 150 million downloads.” Finally, Flurry found that new Android and iOS phone users downloaded the largest volume of applications between 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm (normalized) on Christmas Day, with peak hourly downloads exceeding 15 million.

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While discussing his intentions to expand Nokia’s presence in the United States, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop recently made comments that suggest his company could have a Windows 8 tablet in the pipeline. “There’s a new tablet opportunity coming,” Elop told Bloomberg in a recent interview. “We see the opportunity. Unquestionably, that will change the dynamics [of the market].” Elop described Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system as a “supercharged” version of its Windows Phone operating system, implying a hint of interest in using the OS on a tablet. The two operating systems share a user interface called “Metro UI.” Nokia recently announced its first two Windows Phone devices, the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800, during its Nokia World conference. Elop confirmed the existence of a Nokia tablet in April, although early reports suggested it might exclude Microsoft from its tablet plans. Microsoft has already demoed a number of devices running Windows 8 and the first are expected to hit the market toward the end of 2012.

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Speaking with The San Francisco Chronicle recently, the deputy general counsel of Microsoft’s intellectual property group, Horacio Gutiérrez, discussed his company’s decisions to chase down other firms for Android-licensing agreements and the current state of patent wars. Gutiérrez doesn’t think Microsoft should be viewed as a “patent troll” for its recent agreements with Samsung, HTC, ViewSonic and Acer (among others) and its ongoing lawsuit with Foxconn and Barnes & Noble over the Nook. He also does not think the current patent system is broken. “Every time there are these technologies that are really disruptive, there are patent cases,” Guitiérrez explained. “Licensing is not some nefarious thing that people should be worried about. Licensing is, in fact, the solution to the patent problem that people are reactive so negatively about.” Read on for more.

Guitiérrez says that Microsoft invented a number of functions used in Android, including the “ability to synchronize the content that you have in your phone with the information in the server of your company or in your computer at home,” and the “efficiency of operating systems” as a whole. “I think the most important part here is that a lot of the innovation that is happening today is really happening in the software space,” Gutiérrez noted. “So the question of whether software should be patentable is, in a sense, the same as asking whether a significant part of the technological innovation happening nowadays should receive patent protection.” The San Francisco Chronicle’s full interview can be found via the read link below.

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Arguments have been made that web apps will gain momentum as mobile browsers become more capable, but not everyone sees mobile apps losing momentum any time soon. A new report from Berg Insights suggests that mobile app downloads will continue growing at a compound annual rate of 56.6% between last year and 2015, when nearly 1 trillion apps will be downloaded globally. ”Even though the download numbers will increase during the forecast period, most apps are free to download and app monetisation will be a challenge for developers”, Berg senior analyst Johan Svanberg said in a statement. “Free to download monetisation strategies such as in-app advertising and in-app purchasing will be increasingly important. This is especially true in the APAC region, which will account for over 40 percent of all mobile app downloads in 2015.” Berg Insights’ full press release follows below.

Berg Insight says 98 billion mobile applications will be downloaded in 2015

Gothenburg, Sweden – October 7, 2011: According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of mobile application downloads worldwide will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 56.6 percent between 2010 and 2015 to reach 98 billion at the end of the period. Berg Insight estimates that revenues from paid applications, in-app purchases and subscription services – so called direct revenues – reached € 1.6 billion in 2010. Berg Insight forecasts direct app store revenues to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 40.7 percent to reach € 8.8 billion in 2015. Apple’s iOS is the current leader in direct monetisation of mobile applications and will keep the number one position during the forecast period. The Android and Windows Phone operating systems are anticipated to be number two and three respectively in 2015.

“Even though the download numbers will increase during the forecast period, most apps are free to download and app monetisation will be a challenge for developers”, said Johan Svanberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “Free to download monetisation strategies such as in-app advertising and in-app purchasing will be increasingly important. This is especially true in the APAC region, which will account for over 40 percent of all mobile app downloads in 2015.” He adds that for the next coming years, the native mobile app is here to stay. New web technologies such as HTML5 are promising and will eventually be relevant alternatives to native apps. It is also important to remember that web apps and native apps are not mutual exclusives and publishers looking for maximizing reach should develop for the web as well as for the major mobile platforms.

Google’s Android platform gained once again during the three-month period ending in July, increasing it’s share by 1% over second-quarter totals to grab 40% of the U.S. smartphone market. Apple’s iOS stayed flat at 28% and RIM’s BlackBerry OS lost one point from June-quarter figures to fall to 19%. Windows Mobile and Windows Phone combined to take 8% of the market — with Windows Phone responsible for just 1% on its own — and the ghost of smartphone operating systems past is now buried somewhere in the “Other” category. Nielsen also notes that 40% of mobile phone users between May and July of this year owned smartphones, and Android topped iOS in the firm’s survey of which smartphone platform users intend to buy next. From “innovators” to “late adopters,” each consumer group Nielsen polled but one — “early adopters” — found Android to be the most appealing OS for their next purchases. A chart outlining consumers’ next desired smartphone operating system follows below.

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Continue reading ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro: a Windows 7 tablet that also runs Android -- sort of

ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro: a Windows 7 tablet that also runs Android -- sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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.

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Sure, you can run Linux on robots and on desktops and, apparently, on small cats, and we've also seen it on plenty of tablets before, but this one is a little different. Max Lee over at Galaxy Tab Hacks created the video below to demonstrate a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 running Ubunbu, but doing it on top of Android such that the tablet's native OS is running Linux in the background and then using a VM client to launch the UI. In other words: it's running both operating systems at once, and despite that we think the results are quite usable, even loading up this very website with aplomb. It's demonstrated after the break and if after watching you just gotta get a piece of that the full instructions are on the other end of the source link below.

Continue reading Ubuntu demonstrated running on Galaxy Tab 10.1, summarily dubbed 'Tabuntu' (video)

Ubuntu demonstrated running on Galaxy Tab 10.1, summarily dubbed 'Tabuntu' (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s iOS platform is now on its fourth iteration and from the second it was announced, iOS has been arguably the most cohesive and advanced mobile operating system in the world. That’s not to say iOS is perfect, as competing operating systems like Android have greatly accelerated their advancements in near light-speed fashion. With Apple’s next version of iOS due to hit in the coming months, here’s what we have to see in iOS 5.

For starters, notifications. This is a must, and Apple is well aware of that fact. How the company will end up integrating a revamped notifications UI into its almost clinically polished OS is up for grabs, though we could see Apple taking a page out of webOS’ book with unobtrusive yet meaningful notifications that peek out / push down into view, for instance. Apple did, after all, hire Palm’s webOS architect recently.

Apple really hasn’t let users customize their notifications settings at all thus far, and it might be time the company has a change of heart. It would definitely be a big surprise and an even bigger departure from Apple’s current philosophy, but a “profiles” type app that manages notification settings and options for all apps would be ideal. It might be similar to how RIM does it — set your custom notification tone, vibrate settings and more, all in the same app for anything you want to customize. Apple’s current setup is especially frustrating with hundreds of millions of iOS devices out there playing the same exact “ding” email alert tone. We get the branding aspect of it, but it’s time to let users customize their SMS, email, and notification sounds and settings.

Apple also has to open up access to its filesystem to be taken seriously as a viable modern-day smarphone OS. We understand that the filesystem is hidden so users don’t have to see it or manage what’s in it, and there are valid security concerns with giving apps the ability to write to any location, but a default or set list of locations all third-party apps could write and read to would be ideal. And the fact that Safari can’t upload a file from the iPhone itself is kind of insulting.

Additionally, we get the fact that iTunes is the preferred method of loading media to the device, but back to that filesystem… there is no reason why files like MP3 tracks or AVI video files downloaded from the device itself can’t be stored into some default location for later playback.

Apple is rumored to be switching to the cloud for a lot of its services, and we hope the company extends this concept to wireless device syncing. We should be able to enter our Apple IDs and have devices load our most recent backup over the air along with all our apps and settings.

An improved lock screen would be a welcome addition as well, with more information being able to be shown while the device is locked. This would save users the time it takes to unlock their phones just to see if they have a new email message waiting for them, and so on.

We’d also like to see a user-editable dictionary (we know it exists for some languages on the phone, but we’d like this to be universal and it needs to be reworked, too), the ability to use FaceTime over 3G, real gesture support and a few other improvements here and there.

Let’s be honest — none of these things are integral to the success of Apple’s next iPhone or any other iOS-powered devices. People will keep buying them either way because as a whole, they’re still amazing devices. But Apple is a company that got where it is by building incredible experiences and, often times, by leading instead of following. Apple’s iOS platform is now falling behind in several key places, including some areas of the overall user experience. For a company that puts so much time and resources into UX, I can’t help but wonder how much further Apple will let things slip before it reassumes a clear lead.

As hard as it tried, ASUS never could get its Eee PC prices down to $200 MSRP as promised way back in 2007 -- a time when Intel-based netbooks still shipped with Linux distros and "tablet PCs" ran a Microsoft OS. Fast forward to today and netbooks are being kicked to the curb for ARM-based tablets running smartphone operating systems. To compete, ASUS, a company that's become synonymous with netbooks, is planning to ship an unsubsidized $200 to $250 netbook running Android 3.0 or Chrome OS in June. According to DigiTimes sources, anyway, who tend to be pretty accurate with regard to Taiwanese companies. If true then expect to see it announced at Computex which kicks off in Taiwan on May 31st.

Will a $200 ASUS Eee PC finally ship with Google's help? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 03:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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