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Linux World Domination: The Covert Expansion of Linux to Broadcast, Games, and Even Watches

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Summary: A look at some news about Linux-powered devices and the areas they now occupy

Linux is everywhere. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. But with brands like Android, TomTom or TiVo it might take some effort to see it and especially to show this to others.



In the past few days we saw Android's role (or the role of Linux) in various mundane areas of the industry [1-3]. Other uses include drones (not just the lethal ones), rugged computers, telepresence, and hackable devices like the Raspberry Pi.

The desktop is not everything, it was the emerging market when mainframes declined and now we have devices that do to the desktop the same thing it did to mainframes (vendors use 'cloud' hype in an attempt to drive data back to their datacentres, despite storage being cheap).

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. Google breaks ChromeCast's ability to play local content
    Bad news for all ChromeCast users who were thinking of being able to stream local content to their HD TVs. Google has pushed an update for ChromeCast which has broken support for 3rd party apps like AirCast (AllCast) which allow users to 'stream' local files from their devices to ChromeCast connected TV sets.


  2. It's a Go for Omate's Android-Powered Smartwatch
    Omate's $199 TruSmart watch has already garnered more than twice its funding goal on Kickstarter, and there's almost a month still to go for the device, which comes with a 5 MP camera and cellular modem. "A lot of these crowdfunded smartwatches are being seen as the drizzle before the thunderstorm of the major players coming in," noted Reticle Research principal analyst Ross Rubin.


  3. Android games now out-selling games for Sony and Nintendo handhelds
    IDC and App Annie's study suggests that iOS and Android combined now generate four times the revenues of dedicated gaming handhelds


  4. With Android Poised for Embedded Boom, Developer Training is Needed
    The use of Android in embedded devices is heating up and along with that comes demand for developers skilled in embedded Android, say analysts and service providers within the embedded industry.


  5. Rugged fleet computer runs Android on TI ARM SoC
    Micronet announced the availability of a ruggedized, Android 4.x-based touchscreen fleet computer. The A-307 runs on the ARM Cortex-A8-based TI Sitara AM3715 SoC, and offers a 7-inch resistive WVGA touchscreen, USB and serial connections, and numerous wireless options including WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3G radios.


  6. Linux-powered telepresence bot gets a boost
    Suitable Technologies has absorbed a majority of the employees of Willow Garage, the research lab that created Texai technology central to Suitable Tech’s “Beam” mobile telepresence robot. The remotely-piloted Beam bot, which can be controlled via a WiFi or 4G LTE cellular connection, runs Robot Operating System plus low-latency Skype-like video conferencing software on top of an Ubuntu-based embedded OS.


  7. Hey Raspberry PI, where is my cat?
    Last week my family went on a summer holiday to Menorca leaving me at home with just the cats for company.

    Half way through the week I realised that 5 cats had become 4 and that I hadn't seen one for a good couple of days.


  8. Raspberry Strudel: My Raspberry Pi in Austria
    I remember my first colocated server rather fondly. It was a 1U Supermicro that had been decommissioned from my employer after a few years' service. Although it was too old and slow for my company, the 800MHz CPU, 1GB RAM and 36GB SCSI storage was perfect for my needs back in 2005. A friend was kind enough to allow me to colocate the server at his facility for free. So, after a lot of planning, I installed and configured Debian, generated SSH keys and set IPs so I could manage this machine remotely. Once it was colocated, it became my primary server for Web, DNS, SMTP and my perpetual Irssi-in-a-screen session. The machine served me for more than five years until I ultimately replaced it with newer hardware.


  9. Compact SBC features 2GHz quad-core AMD SoC


  10. Linux-powered quadrocoptor has three cameras
    A startup called Pleiades is over a third the way to its Kickstarter goal for funding a hackable Linux quadrocopter that starts at $520. Spiri, which runs Ubuntu Linux with Robot Operating System (ROS) extensions on a dual-core Freescale ARM SoC, is an airborne craft that uses three cameras and a variety of sensors to navigate autonomously.


  11. HDMI-stick mini-PC runs Android on quad-core ARM SoC


  12. Home automation device offers HD fisheye pan/tilt
    A $209 Linux-powered home automation and security system aimed at apartment dwellers is off to a strong crowdfunding start on Indiegogo. BlackSumac’s Piper features motion, sound, and temperature detectors, and offers a 180-degree fisheye HD camera with pan and zoom viewable and controllable via smartphone apps.




Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM Effect at Confluent: Mass Layoffs and IBM's Business Conduct Guidelines (BCGs) Said to be Violated
For Confluent employees who survived the layoffs there will be "culture chock"
Estimates That IBM to Lay Off Close to 10,000 Workers in 2026 (Not Counting People Pushed Out)
There's still chatter about Confluent mass layoffs
Sophie Brun, Raphael Hertzog & Debian sexual conflicts of interest
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
IBM Has Turned Red Hat and Fedora Into Slop
This is IBM policy
IBM is Being Robbed, Companies and Jobs Are Destroyed
Companies taken over by IBM will be exploited and destroyed to keep a bubble inflated for a little while longer
In Confluent Layoffs, IBM Vapourises a Quarter of Its Workforce (IBM Buys Something That It Destroys Already)
In the past, such things were typically referred to as "media blackout"; now it's just "the norm".
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC logs for Wednesday, March 18, 2026
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the basic facts (this has aged well, except the times/ages/numbers)
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Not only did Google news link to a slopfarm; it linked to three run by the same team!
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New Post Has Just Explained How IBM Gets Robbed by the People Who Fail IBM
Their plan for IBM is a personal plan
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RMS rightly calls those things "bullshit generators"
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coming from a generally RMS-friendly account
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Links for the day
Smug Threat by Garrett to Put My Family and I in Prison Doesn't Prove We Did Anything Wrong, It Only Proves He's Truly Desperate to Stop Further Publications That Embarrass Him
his reputation is poor in the United States
systemd Increasingly Microsoft Project, Controlled by Microsoft and Slopware
Cannot allow choice
What IBM Meant to Red Hat: "Proprietary Bundling, Restricted Source Access"
Anyone or anything that joins IBM likely shortens its lifespan
IBM Thrashing Confluent Upon Arrival, Based on Rumours
We deem it a bigger issue that investigative journalism perished, not that one must rely on hearsay online or mere "rumours"
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Reject misnomers, explain what's actually happening
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What is happening to Europe???
EPO Demonstration Happening Right Now, Later This Week Things Will Only Escalate Further
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Links for the day
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Not going to work all month long
EPO Staff Demonstration Today
The demonstration will be live-streamed for those thousands of colleagues who don't live in Munich
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Links for the day
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It helps raise awareness of Software Freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
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For those who never before saw a SLAPP, they basically make many demands
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So the main question is, did IBM just fire 800 people?
"Vibe-forking" and Why It'll Ultimately Fail (Hype on Top of Hype)
Code made with LLMs sucks; converting solid, human-tested code into slop only complicates matters and increases risk
Updates About Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation
After all those years (a decade) and in spite of phony scandals many people out there still respect him
LLM Slop With "Linux" in the Domain Names
This is becoming a pain and a problem also in the arts and in software engineering
The EFF Has a Bug, Fixing This Bug is Likely Not Possible Anymore
"the EFF's continued existence impairs the arrival of a replacement organization, one which will actually champion digital rights."
Links 17/03/2026: Microsoft Windows Broken by Samsung, Afghanistan-Pakistan War Escalation
Links for the day
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Links for the day
Héctor Orón Martínez & Debian shadow candidate pressure on Sruthi Chandran
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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Links for the day
For Third Time in a Week The Register MS Runs Google SPAM That Paints Google as an Ally of Women (Which is False, They're Womanisers)
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British Justice Minister Sarah Sackman Blasts Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The "legal industry" is due for "some reckoning"
GAFAM Deprecating Old Videos ("Content") by Removing the Support for Their Format for No Good Reason
"Security" is not a valid excuse
Credit/Debit Cards Have Long Been Called Plastics, Over Time They're Becoming More Like Pure Plastics
They cost less than a dollar to manufacture
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People Who Attacked Techrights Also Attacked My Mother
Picking on old ladies because you don't like Free software advocates is never OK
Little Community Element Left in CentOS
CentOS, unlike Fedora, was meant to be long supported and solid
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The masters of Social Control Media decide what ideas can and cannot be expressed
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
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IRC logs for Monday, March 16, 2026