GNU/Linux at Google: Android, ChromeOS, Chromebooks, and Chrome News
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-03-18 18:24:00 UTC
- Modified: 2014-03-18 18:24:00 UTC
Android Gaming
Do we really need another Android console? Apparently so, as evidence suggests that Asus is jumping on that very bandwagon, possibly looking to score where a few of the current solutions have failed to hit. The device will be called Game Box, and the specs have appeared on AnTuTu while the controller struts its stuff all over the Bluetooth Special Interest Group website.
Ouya was the first to show the world that Android can be easily taken out from mobiles and tablets and put into a dedicated gaming console, which in turn opened up quite a lot of games waiting to be played, already available on the Play Store. Although Ouya didn’t perform as it expected to, other players in the field took note of the action.
Android TV
It will be controlled with an Android smartphone.
In this hands-on mini review, we take a quick look at the Ugoos UT2, a TV-centric mini-PC based on a 1.6GHz quad-core RK3188 SoC, and running Android 4.2.2.
Android Wearables
Google has plans to release an Android developer software development kit (SDK) in the next two weeks specifically designed for wearable devices. Sundar Pichai, Google’s SVP of Android, Apps and Chrome, shared at SXSW that the search giant will lay out a “vision for developers of how we see this market working” as part of the SDK.
Google has plans to release an Android developer software development kit (SDK) in the next two weeks specifically designed for wearable devices. Sundar Pichai, Google’s SVP of Android, Apps and Chrome, shared at SXSW that the search giant will lay out a “vision for developers of how we see this market working” as part of the SDK.
Android/Chromecast Software
We have just published the overview of the libraries and modules that various developers use in they Android mobile phone applications.
Android in Cars
-
He reminded the audience of Volkswagon's recent talks with Google, with Audi in particular committing to working with the firm on in-car technology based on Android. But he said that he wanted to see more collaboration from technology firms in other countries. "It would no doubt be a good thing if German and European IT companies would put themselves forward as partners too," he said.
Laptops and Android
-
Google is the one not keen on the idea of a dual-boot Windows-Android tablet-laptop, according to a fresh report from Asia and a CNET source.
CyanogenMod
-
OnePlus, the upstart making a CyanogenMod-powered phone, has revealed a few details about the device that the company says will be cheaper and better than big brand phones and definitely won't include a heart-rate monitor.
-
Koushik Dutta, the famed developer of CyanogenMOD has added DLNA support to his AllCast Android app. Ever since Google opened Chromcast to 3rd party developers Koush is on roll. He has, in fact, been toying with Chromecast the day it was released and created some stir in the free software community when Google changed the preview APIs for Chromecast which broke his app.
Statistics
-
Android tablet sales jumped to 120.9 million in 2013 to snag a global market share of 61.9 percent, up from sales of 53.3 million and a 45.8 percent share in 2012. Over the same time, iPad sales grew to 70.4 million from 61.4 million. But Apple's share of the tablet market dropped to 36 percent from 52.8 percent.
Tablets
-
HP has added a 7.85ââ¬Â³ unit to compliment its line-up of 7ââ¬Â³ and 8ââ¬Â³ tablets. The HP 8 1401 is a quad-core tablet that runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. “It’s got responsiveness that delivers entertainment where you want it. Sleek and smart with technology you can trust, the HP 8 is big on performance, slim in style, and small on price,” claims the company.
Google/Chrome OS/Chromebook
-
Phoronix is reporting that running Windows applications in Chrome OS via Wine seems very unlikely to happen. And it got me wondering about how many people really want to run Windows applications in Chrome OS
-
As usual, Mobile World Congress was packed with cool new SoCs, most of which are destined for Android phones and tablets. Some will see wider usage in the broader world of embedded Linux and Android devices.The big news was the invasion of 64-bit ARMv8 and x86 SoCs, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 and Intel's Atom Z34xx. The ARM models are built on the ARMv8 Cortex-A53 design. Eventually, we'll see the -A53 used in Big.Little hybrids along with the similarly 64-bit, server-class Cortex-A57.
-
Beast is fine. It’s old, but still kicking. It boots. It edits. It searches. It networks. Beast’s CPU is way over-sized for what I do and I do a lot. 99% of the time it idles. Every few weeks I open it up to full throttle to build the next Linux-3.10.x kernel, but what’s the rush? If it took twice or thrice as long I would still be happy.
-
The Samsung Chromebook 2 11.6-inch and Chromebook 2 13.3-inch models are the company’s latest additions to its line of Chromebook computers. And they are powered by the Exynos 5 Octa processor.
Chrome Security
At Google, there continue to be big cash bounties available for talented hackers. We've reported before on the bug bounty program that Google has been running for several years now, focused on rewarding hackers and security researchers with cash for discovering meaningful bugs in the Chrome browser. The company just participated in the annual Pwnium and Pwn2own events, where hackers and researchers are challenged to uncover bugs in browsers, and Google has already patched a number of significant bugs that were uncovered.
Google officials said this week that the company will reward developers of Chrome packaged apps by letting them give users free trials and in-app purchases, marking an expansion of Google's focus on fostering a robust ecosystem of applications. The company is also going to allow developers of browser extensions to charge for them for the first time. The Google Developers Blog makes clear that the company is very focused on monetization options for app creators, which has been a key point of focus for Apple as it has sought to attract iOS app developers.
Chrome Aura/GTK/Graphics
We aim to launch the Aura graphics stack on Linux in M35. Aura is a cross-platform graphics system, and the Aura frontend will replace the current GTK+ frontend.
-
Due to notorious Linux graphics drivers, Google developers working on Chrome/Chromium aren't looking to enable hardware video acceleration by default anytime soon. The problem ultimately comes down to poor Linux graphics drivers.
Chrome Voice
-
According to a post on the official Google Chrome Blog, the search and mobile OS giant has added a new version to the latest beta of the desktop-oriented Chrome Browser. The company calls it “Hands-Free Google Voice Search,” which, as the name implies, allows you to perform a search query simply by speaking up and activating the feature with a spoken command.
Ballnux Android (Microsoft-Taxed)
The large 5.9-inch phone expands to some big Asian markets like Indonesia and Singapore, but LG Electronics still won't commit to North American or European sales.
Samsung’s Galaxy devices could have a built-in security error that could allow for “remote access to data,” claim the developers of Replicant–an Android OS based on CyanogenMod. The security flaw discovered in certain Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets allows for access “to read, write, and delete files on the phone’s storage.”
On Wednesday, the Free Software Foundation reported that a back door was found in the Samsung Galaxy.
Misc.
-
The new $189 "Privacy Phone" comes with VPN, 128-bit encryption, and other tricks aimed at keeping you safe and anonymous.
-
Rich Miner strolls the halls of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, pausing every few minutes to check out the latest gadgets on display. As one of the co-founders of Android, he is walking through a world that has been all but conquered by the operating system he helped create. Now, as a general partner at Google Ventures, he’s tasked with finding and investing the search giant’s billions in the next big thing.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Total Lock-down Ambitions - Part I - DRM and TPM Need Not be the Future of Computing, There's Another Way
- Who is being restricted? Us, the users.
- New Upcoming Series About DRM and TPM
- We'll do our best to name and explain some of the alternatives that are still available
- More Microsoft Cuts and Layoffs (Microsoft Media Mole Jordan Novet Tries to Float "Hiring Freezes" Spin After the "Headcount" Spin Failed)
- As one might expect...
-
- The Rumour Was Right, Today is the Second Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in 2025
- It has only been two weeks since the year began
- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Had a Good 2025 Already (Its "Year 40")
- FSF will reach $400,000
- [Meme] Not About How Many Locks One Adds
- Some people try to point their fingers in all the wrong directions now that a new patch is available for rsync
- Computer Users Aren't Zoo Animals
- Animals don't belong inside cages in zoos, either
- [Meme] His Existence is Proof It's Not Infeasible
- We salute the FSF's original mission
- Links 15/01/2025: Efforts to End Wars and 'Newsflation'
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 15/01/2025: Abandoning Windows for GNU/Linux, SIS Progress Update
- Links for the day
- Links 15/01/2025: Social Control Media Spreading Lies, TikTok Banned in 4 Days
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Breaks Linux Again
- Does it even care? It's selling Windows.
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 14, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, January 14, 2025
- Links 14/01/2025: Vaccination Hesitancy Problems and Kangaroo Courts (UPC)
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 14/01/2025: Introduction to GrapheneOS and Small Internet
- Links for the day
- Dr. Miriam Bastian From the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Gives a Talk in a Couple of Weeks at FOSDEM (Brussels, Belgium)
- It's good to see people from all around the world and with very different backgrounds united around digital philosophy
- Andy Farnell on Eating Your Own Dog Food
- focuses on security but goes beyond that
- EPO Uses the Misnomer "AI" to Attack Software Developers in Europe
- The EPO is nowadays a huge pile of crimes
- The European Patent Office’s (EPO) Communication on "Reform" is "Incomplete and Misleading," Says the Central Staff Committee at the EPO
- This puts Europe at risk and makes it more vulnerable
- [Meme] How to Lose Social Life (While Pretending to Still Have It)
- Talk to people, not to microphones
- Android (or AOSP) is More Free Than iOS, Both in Practice (as OEM Bundles) Both Are User-Hostile
- In a perfect world, people would choose and deploy software that is entirely made up of reciprocally-licensed bits
- Neuroscience of Consciousness Paper: Why Social Control Media and Proprietary Spyware Harm Your Health
- "Software Freedom turns out to be good for your health"
- Access to the Source Code of the Programs You're Using Matters (Even If You're Not a Coder and Cannot Fix Bugs)
- Companies like Microsoft tell us that full access to all the code isn't important
- Guardian Digital (linuxsecurity.com) Publishes Fake Articles About Linux and About (for) 'Linux' Foundation Openwashing
- Brittany Day is at it again
- Links 14/01/2025: LA Crisis and EU, UK Respond to "X.com" Threat From South African Oligarch
- Links for the day
- The Word About the Upcoming Talk by Richard Stallman - Scheduled for Friday This Week - Has Spread ("The Cost of Freedom," Lausanne, Switzerland)
- So the word is spreading
- "AI Music" is Not Music and It's Hardly "AI" Either
- Synthetic garbage is a solution in search of a problem
- Webspam in BetaNews
- Not only is it marketing SPAM
- [Meme] 13 Years a Slave of Microsoft
- Might makes right?
- Gemini Links 14/01/2025: The Gemtext Print Hurdle and New Game: Fill!
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 13, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, January 13, 2025
- Links 13/01/2025: Conflicts, Prisoner Exchange, and Homes on Fire
- Links for the day
- Angola: Microsoft Windows Falls Below 10%
- Microsoft has a really bad 2024 in Africa
- [Meme] Twitter ("X") Has Been Grooming Radicals Since 2022
- Musk's very own "grooming gang"
- [Meme] What Free Speech Ought to Mean
- It does not sound like RMS suggests anything other than quitting social control media
- Gemini Links 13/01/2025: RestFest, Yule, and Deedum
- Links for the day
- Modern Web Browsers as Web Censorship Software
- We continue to recommend Geminispace
- Two Weeks From Now Dr. Richard Stallman Speaks at The Summit of Future 2025 (India)
- he will be giving a "Keynote Address" in India
- Microsoft is Tight With Money: It's About the Salaries ('Cost' of the Workers)
- a question of cost, not skill
- Google Got People Sort of Addicted to Android So It Can Cash in (Services, App Store, Advertising) Decades Later
- This is not software freedom
- The Free Software Foundation Reaches 370k Dollars in Funding, Due Date is January 17th When Richard Stallman is Guest of Honour in Lausanne (Switzerland)
- Even fellow board members seem unaware of it
- Record Lows for Windows (Microsoft) in Botswana
- The market share of Vista 11 is seen as going down
- Preserving Deleted Articles About Bill Gates Talking Like a Drug Dealer About Computer Users
- Now it's 2025. Different challenge.
- Links 13/01/2025: Disinformation, Social Control Media Actively Promoting Nazism, and Catchup With Ukraine
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Front Group Starts the Year by Championing Underage (or Child) Labour
- the fake 'FSF'
- TPM Boosters Inside Debian (TPM Isn't About Security, It is About Control Over Users and Their Machines)
- We're not rushing to any conclusions
- Aaron Swartz Died 12 Years Ago After a Vicious Government Campaign to Stop Him
- The Aaron Swartz story is a reminder of the importance of having verifiable/verified information out there for the general public to see
- Links 13/01/2025: GitLab Enshittification and Minimalism and Efficiency with Gemini Protocol
- Links for the day
- Links 13/01/2025: Hardware, Health, and Conflicts
- Links for the day
- Chatbots Are Not Data-Driven, They're Human-Censored and Rely on Wage Slaves (and Sometimes Unpaid Volunteers)
- This is the Microsoft wage slavery
- Microsoft Appears to Have Fallen to Only 15% in Maldives
- This is a problem for Microsoft
- Rumours of IBM Canada Layoffs
- We'll keep a vigilant eye on this
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 12, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, January 12, 2025