On the other hand, the Android embedded 'Linux fork' and the dalvik VM may become irrelevant when the class libraries are decoupled from the platform, as in IcedRobot.
my phone is on virgin. Speed isn't the problem so much as connection reliability. Even when my voice connectivity is showing max bars, the 3g will often struggle. Would prefer universal wifi - councils could offer open access points once Julia's NBN rollout takes shape. 3G is a scam.
B&N have the Nook, even they see the writing on the wall. As for printed vs digital, people still read books. People just don't buy as much retail.
In Australia, several of our major bookstores too face downscaling or closure. Recently I've attended a couple of fire-sales offering 30-50% off. The books that remain? Stuff that has been sitting on the shelves at full price for several years. Even at half price, material that's 4 years out of date ain't worth it.
i'd agree with your sarcasm except that html5 is a cross-platform solution. Steve wants you to spend as little time as possible in the browser. Or at least that's the thrust of Apple's tv ads that promise 1000s of apps exclusive to iphone4. Many of these apps, albeit not with the same native lustre, could be written in html and js - cf webos.
no doubt Google has plans for investment in a bunch of renewable energy projects across the globe. The US administration mightn't be in a position to introduce a carbon offset scheme any time soon. But to remain competitive in international markets that do price pollution, Google will proudly proclaim they're already carbon-neutral since, say 2014.
webos has shipping devices, an OS roadmap for a forthcoming tablet and a community. The App model is also similar - html frameworks supplemented by a native C API.
Instead of pumping money into a stillborn platform, google should just focus on wooing pre3 and veer users with retrofitted chromeos services for webos. Cloud revenues...
It's a great technique when dealing with existing codebases. Take a bug report, write a test. Test fails unexpectedly? Congrats, you just found another defect lurking unseen. But the assumption that system testers will catch your mistakes is dangerous. Customers only have limited patience.
i think we're overestimating the Slashdot effect here. B&N plans to sell hundreds of thousands of these things. The geek community who actually buy these things explicitly to root them might rank in a few thousand. Do they ship to australia?:-) they might even attract a few extra buyers - i'll be needing a small computer for travelling later in the year. The lack of 3G isn't really an issue because roaming is expensive and at least in Argentina they wouldn't sell me 3G on a prepaid SIM. (Wifi in bars and hostels) And even if they 'sell at a loss' i wouldn't hesitate at buying a few ebooks to read on vacation.
Geeksphone, in Madrid, are releasing a new 'Zero' phone in 2 days time, with a higher end 'Two' in the pipeline.
Crowd-sourcing via CyanogenMod seems to be their preferred method of development.
Being a small company overseas, it probably won't be available on contract anywhere but I'd certainly consider buying a 'Two' outright for my next device - might be a good Meego target, even.
the bytecode might not be identical but is sufficiently interoperable. Volunteer developers from the IcedRobot project have in a matter of weeks produced a java classloader to dynamically run a hello world application directly from a dalvik dex file with an eventual goal of running the entire android API minus dalvik VM. i.e. Unmodified Android app binaries running atop a regular jvm.
If Android apps run just as well on Playbook and (via IcedRobot or Myriad Alien) Meego, Bada or WebOS, then you have the advantage of the native ecosystem + android.
Each of these niche OSes compete on various strengths - their challenge is to create a compelling Ux (User eXperience, as seems the term in vogue) on which to host native apps. If the native environment provides a nicer, more intuitive shell than the stock Android from Google then you're getting a superset of functionality.
e.g. Wine on Gnome/KDE is far from ideal due to the closed source nature of the Win32 original - But Android is free to modify, so seamless integration into BB/Meego/Bada/webOS is possible. The non-RIM alternatives have the advantage of leveraging Android's Linux roots even.
It depends on how Android apps on QNX actually work.
(1) If they've ported dalvik from Linux to QNX then dex binaries might work unmodified from the Google App Store.
(2) If they've adapted their existing JVM, a translation from dex back to standard java bytecode may be required. (Android translates java bytecode into a special format for execution on dalvik)
The second scenario imposes a technical limitation on repackaging an app for BB. The IcedRobot project is using a special Java classloader, 'Daneel', to interpret 'dex' files on the fly - whether RIM are doing something similar is anyone's guess.
I wonder how running 2 different Java VM's along with separate native apps have on battery life...
It's possible they don't use Dalvik at all but have adapted their existing JVM to exhibit multiple personalities for both their existing Java ME applications and Android.
e.g. Implementing class libraries for both Java ME and Android but running on the same virtual machine architecture may reduce the footprint through shared libraries.
It's possible Dalvik apps could run *faster* on the new Blackberry than on Android!
QNX is an embedded RTOS that's allegedly light years ahead of Linux for certain things. If RIM have managed to port Dalvik to QNX minus the design choices of Google's Linux-fork, Dalvik could seem just as 'native' on QNX than the 'official' Android.
It's a pity Slashdot linked to some pay-per-click summary instead of the actual press release.
Developers will simply repackage, code sign and submit their BlackBerry Java and Android apps to BlackBerry App World. Once approved, the apps will be distributed through BlackBerry App World, providing a new opportunity for many developers to reach BlackBerry PlayBook users. Users will be able to download both the app players and the BlackBerry Java and Android apps from BlackBerry App World.
At least for Android, it sounds pretty clear that they're cutting Google's store out of the picture.
So, MS sues US companies into oblivion... Are htc and samsung etc, in international waters, subject to such extortion? If not then all these giants of Asian tech need to do is open a web shop with international shipping. I doubt O'Bama is going to hunt down private citizens purchasing goods online. No GSM carriers with decent SIM only plans? That's another story but illustrates, even in my own country, what a cartel the entire phone industry is. i.e. where it's often cheaper to buy a phone on an expensive contract than prepaid + own phone.
Every web app is an app not coded in objective-C and hence cross platform. Every TV ad centres around their extensive app catalogue, exclusively available for iPhone.
What if someone were to develop a phone OS entirely around a web framework that could run web apps as if they were native? iOS would lose its lustre if HTML5 and Javascript ruled the handset.
Well considering the previous story was about a contractor being jailed for 15 years for 'spreading freedom' in Cuba, perhaps Stallman knows more than most about being tracked by cell towers. As a friend of the revolution, having visited Cuba and given various speeches on software freedom, he's possibly a person of interest to his own government's agencies. Hence his stance on RFID chips and the like.
I'd agree that tivoized Android devices are a bad thing. In the sense that phones not supported by CyanogenMod prevent you from running your own bootloader and the hence access the usual freedoms available on PCs.
But I disagree with the statement regarding eavesdropping: "If it's all free software, you can probably protect yourself from that, because that's caused by the software in the phone". Probably?? I suspect support for eavesdropping is purposely built into the silicon for post 9/11 counter-terrorism measures.
Running Crysis isn't one of them. Sorry to bust your nihilist bubble, but Apple is laughing all the way to the bank.
So when can we expect an ARM machine capable of running Crysis?:)
I mean that's the expectation those holding out for better specs have - a machine with all the bells and whistles that can run android/meego etc with all the convenience of an iPad but still fallback to, say, Ubuntu for everything else.
My advice would be buy a Win7 netbook, one of those convertible models. Apple and Android makers aren't going to be shipping 'desktop specs' any time soon.
Yes it's a phone with a big screen and no phone.:) For a 'real OS' with a keyboard, trackpad and 4GB of RAM Apple will sell you a Macbook Air.
Apple are deliberately NOT catering to a class of user for whom a dual core CortexA9 with 4GB would be ample as their primary machine. Though nor are Android device makers.
Isn't the selling point of iOS that it runs only one application at a time? That when you switch between apps it shuts down one and starts the other? In which case 512MB should be enough for anyone.:)
But as soon as you want to run a 'proper' multitasking OS with several apps in memory simultaneously, you'll see the memory spike. Though if those apps are all written to the same shared libraries, or VM, up to 1GB might suffice for the sort of apps typically running on Android.
Slashdot Mirror
On the other hand, the Android embedded 'Linux fork' and the dalvik VM may become irrelevant when the class libraries are decoupled from the platform, as in IcedRobot.
my phone is on virgin. Speed isn't the problem so much as connection reliability. Even when my voice connectivity is showing max bars, the 3g will often struggle.
Would prefer universal wifi - councils could offer open access points once Julia's NBN rollout takes shape.
3G is a scam.
B&N have the Nook, even they see the writing on the wall. As for printed vs digital, people still read books. People just don't buy as much retail.
In Australia, several of our major bookstores too face downscaling or closure. Recently I've attended a couple of fire-sales offering 30-50% off. The books that remain? Stuff that has been sitting on the shelves at full price for several years. Even at half price, material that's 4 years out of date ain't worth it.
Amazon killed the chain store, not the iPad.
i'd agree with your sarcasm except that html5 is a cross-platform solution. Steve wants you to spend as little time as possible in the browser. Or at least that's the thrust of Apple's tv ads that promise 1000s of apps exclusive to iphone4. Many of these apps, albeit not with the same native lustre, could be written in html and js - cf webos.
no doubt Google has plans for investment in a bunch of renewable energy projects across the globe. The US administration mightn't be in a position to introduce a carbon offset scheme any time soon. But to remain competitive in international markets that do price pollution, Google will proudly proclaim they're already carbon-neutral since, say 2014.
webos has shipping devices, an OS roadmap for a forthcoming tablet and a community. The App model is also similar - html frameworks supplemented by a native C API.
Instead of pumping money into a stillborn platform, google should just focus on wooing pre3 and veer users with retrofitted chromeos services for webos. Cloud revenues...
It's a great technique when dealing with existing codebases. Take a bug report, write a test. Test fails unexpectedly? Congrats, you just found another defect lurking unseen.
But the assumption that system testers will catch your mistakes is dangerous. Customers only have limited patience.
i think that res is perfect for an 11.6" - extreme portability. When at a desk, external display...
i think we're overestimating the Slashdot effect here. B&N plans to sell hundreds of thousands of these things. The geek community who actually buy these things explicitly to root them might rank in a few thousand. :-) they might even attract a few extra buyers - i'll be needing a small computer for travelling later in the year. The lack of 3G isn't really an issue because roaming is expensive and at least in Argentina they wouldn't sell me 3G on a prepaid SIM. (Wifi in bars and hostels) And even if they 'sell at a loss' i wouldn't hesitate at buying a few ebooks to read on vacation.
Do they ship to australia?
Geeksphone, in Madrid, are releasing a new 'Zero' phone in 2 days time, with a higher end 'Two' in the pipeline.
Crowd-sourcing via CyanogenMod seems to be their preferred method of development.
Being a small company overseas, it probably won't be available on contract anywhere but I'd certainly consider buying a 'Two' outright for my next device - might be a good Meego target, even.
the bytecode might not be identical but is sufficiently interoperable. Volunteer developers from the IcedRobot project have in a matter of weeks produced a java classloader to dynamically run a hello world application directly from a dalvik dex file with an eventual goal of running the entire android API minus dalvik VM.
i.e. Unmodified Android app binaries running atop a regular jvm.
The difference being that BB licensed Java. Google did not.
If Android apps run just as well on Playbook and (via IcedRobot or Myriad Alien) Meego, Bada or WebOS, then you have the advantage of the native ecosystem + android.
Each of these niche OSes compete on various strengths - their challenge is to create a compelling Ux (User eXperience, as seems the term in vogue) on which to host native apps. If the native environment provides a nicer, more intuitive shell than the stock Android from Google then you're getting a superset of functionality.
e.g. Wine on Gnome/KDE is far from ideal due to the closed source nature of the Win32 original - But Android is free to modify, so seamless integration into BB/Meego/Bada/webOS is possible. The non-RIM alternatives have the advantage of leveraging Android's Linux roots even.
Being 'on hold' equals Steve threatened to sue?
It depends on how Android apps on QNX actually work.
(1) If they've ported dalvik from Linux to QNX then dex binaries might work unmodified from the Google App Store.
(2) If they've adapted their existing JVM, a translation from dex back to standard java bytecode may be required. (Android translates java bytecode into a special format for execution on dalvik)
The second scenario imposes a technical limitation on repackaging an app for BB. The IcedRobot project is using a special Java classloader, 'Daneel', to interpret 'dex' files on the fly - whether RIM are doing something similar is anyone's guess.
It's possible they don't use Dalvik at all but have adapted their existing JVM to exhibit multiple personalities for both their existing Java ME applications and Android.
e.g. Implementing class libraries for both Java ME and Android but running on the same virtual machine architecture may reduce the footprint through shared libraries.
It's possible Dalvik apps could run *faster* on the new Blackberry than on Android!
QNX is an embedded RTOS that's allegedly light years ahead of Linux for certain things. If RIM have managed to port Dalvik to QNX minus the design choices of Google's Linux-fork, Dalvik could seem just as 'native' on QNX than the 'official' Android.
At least for Android, it sounds pretty clear that they're cutting Google's store out of the picture.
fire, air, water, earth?
So, MS sues US companies into oblivion... Are htc and samsung etc, in international waters, subject to such extortion?
If not then all these giants of Asian tech need to do is open a web shop with international shipping. I doubt O'Bama is going to hunt down private citizens purchasing goods online.
No GSM carriers with decent SIM only plans? That's another story but illustrates, even in my own country, what a cartel the entire phone industry is. i.e. where it's often cheaper to buy a phone on an expensive contract than prepaid + own phone.
Every web app is an app not coded in objective-C and hence cross platform. Every TV ad centres around their extensive app catalogue, exclusively available for iPhone.
What if someone were to develop a phone OS entirely around a web framework that could run web apps as if they were native? iOS would lose its lustre if HTML5 and Javascript ruled the handset.
Meet webOS...
Well considering the previous story was about a contractor being jailed for 15 years for 'spreading freedom' in Cuba, perhaps Stallman knows more than most about being tracked by cell towers. As a friend of the revolution, having visited Cuba and given various speeches on software freedom, he's possibly a person of interest to his own government's agencies. Hence his stance on RFID chips and the like.
I'd agree that tivoized Android devices are a bad thing. In the sense that phones not supported by CyanogenMod prevent you from running your own bootloader and the hence access the usual freedoms available on PCs.
But I disagree with the statement regarding eavesdropping: "If it's all free software, you can probably protect yourself from that, because that's caused by the software in the phone". Probably?? I suspect support for eavesdropping is purposely built into the silicon for post 9/11 counter-terrorism measures.
So when can we expect an ARM machine capable of running Crysis? :)
I mean that's the expectation those holding out for better specs have - a machine with all the bells and whistles that can run android/meego etc with all the convenience of an iPad but still fallback to, say, Ubuntu for everything else.
My advice would be buy a Win7 netbook, one of those convertible models. Apple and Android makers aren't going to be shipping 'desktop specs' any time soon.
Yes it's a phone with a big screen and no phone. :) For a 'real OS' with a keyboard, trackpad and 4GB of RAM Apple will sell you a Macbook Air.
Apple are deliberately NOT catering to a class of user for whom a dual core CortexA9 with 4GB would be ample as their primary machine. Though nor are Android device makers.
Isn't the selling point of iOS that it runs only one application at a time? That when you switch between apps it shuts down one and starts the other? In which case 512MB should be enough for anyone. :)
But as soon as you want to run a 'proper' multitasking OS with several apps in memory simultaneously, you'll see the memory spike. Though if those apps are all written to the same shared libraries, or VM, up to 1GB might suffice for the sort of apps typically running on Android.