Open-source software is an important part of many web workers’ toolkits. Whether you just use an open-source browser like Firefox or you’re a die-hard Linux fan who actively contributes to open-source projects, we cover the most important open-source news and most useful apps here.
Another nail in OS X 10.4 Tiger’s coffin was recently hammered in a post by Mozilla Foundation’s Josh Aas. Support for Tiger Already Terminated Aas reveals that development support for OS X 10.4 Tiger was terminated as of September 2009, but much of the code required to support … Read More »
Nokia and Intel have joined to merge the Maemo and Moblin platforms. The merged OS will be known as Meego, and is intended to power pocketable computers, smartphones, tablets and netbooks. It will be hosted by the Linux Foundation, and is an open source platform. Read More »
Intel and Nokia are merging their respective mobile Linux Operating Systems — Mobilin and Maemo — to form a new OS called MeeGo. It will be hosted by the Linux Foundation and target connected devices. And it will be fighting for increasingly limited developer attention. Read More »
Apple, since its 1970s launch, has enjoyed special favor and even worship from the open source community, free thinkers and supporters of open standards. And yet, with each new step, Apple becomes more closed. That’s why, as the cash registers ring in Cupertino, peril lies ahead. Read More »
Still running a PowerPC Mac and hurting for some serious browser speed, up-to-date security and web standards compatibility? Being open-source applications, Mozilla’s web browsers and Thunderbird email client are open to being breathed on by third-party developers, several of whom specialize in optimization of particular versions … Read More »
Citrix’s announcement that its Receiver software will allow iPad users to run Windows 7 sessions via virtualization has caused predictions that the iPad may have much promise as a business tool. But why stop at Windows? The iPad will reach beyond Apple’s iPhone OS and Windows. Read More »
I have a keen interest in portable apps from my time spent working on client sites. Having a suite of productivity applications on a USB flash drive has come in handy many times in my consulting career, especially when I’ve needed a graphics application. Read More »
Mozilla, which recently released its Weave Sync add-on for Firefox has released a set-of APIs that will allow developers to use Weave Sync services in new products independent of the browser. Weave services offer an opportunity to build new apps that leverage browsing/browser specific data. Read More »
Good news for HTML5 proponents: MPEG LA has announced that it will extend its royalty-free license of the H.264 video streaming format for an additional five years. In doing so, the license holder has agreed not to charge for use of the near-ubiquitous H.264 encoding format … Read More »
Now that Firefox Mobile for Maemo is out the door, where will Mozilla turn? The Windows Mobile alpha is long in the tooth, but might it get leap-frogged by Firefox for Android? Here’s a few sites where you can watch the development progress. Read More »
Mozilla’s new Firefox for Maemo is an impressive new mobile browser designed to provide a seamless experience for users across phones and PCs. But in an era built on smartphone apps and app stores, can a browser-based strategy win? Read More »
While most of the technology world was watching Steve Jobs launch the iPad, some (unfortunate) others were listening to Oracle executives lay out the roadmap for the newly approved Oracle-Sun Microsystems behemoth. Most of what they learned was what they already knew — it wasn’t until …
Has Mozilla truly brought a desktop browser to the small screen? The not-so-easy answer is yes and no. But this first version of Firefox for Maemo looks promising for an initial release. And Weave brings desktop data to your phone — even open tabs. Read More »
Can film makers use principles known from open source software to produce their works and make a living while doing so? That’s the question Tim Baumann set out to explore when he began producing his first feature film Valkaamaa in October of 2006. Baumann … Read More »
A battle is raging in the blogosphere about whether Apple’s new iPad is good or evil, since it is a closed and proprietary platform with a locked-down content system built in. But the iPad is unlikely to mean the end of hacker culture. Read More »
After spending years in beta, Mozilla’s Weave synchronization tool is finally out in a new version 1.0. Firefox users who tote multiple devices will especially take to the extension, which is slated to eventually track and sync all your Firefox preferences. Read More »
We’ve been anxiously following Mobile Firefox for a long time. While this mobile version of Firefox has already hit some platforms, Android owners were understandably excited when Mozilla confirmed an Android version was under construction. Rumor has it there may not be long to wait. Read More »
Mozilla’s Firefox for Maemo isn’t quite ready for its already expected debut. A third Release Candidate just hit for Nokia tablets and while performance is marginally better, plug-ins were pulled out. That means no Adobe Flash just yet for this otherwise solid web browsing client. Read More »
While the debate over Mac versus PC will last for eternity, one of the elements that many “diehard” PC users have thrown at Apple fanboys is the ability to really tweak their experience, through application add-ons and plugins. Mac users who use Firefox have had a little … Read More »
When I upgraded from Firefox 3.5.7 to 3.6 the other day, I discovered that a few of the add-ons that weren’t yet compatible were important to me. In fact, they had become such an integral part of my daily workflow that I was significantly slowed down … Read More »
While the recession has battered many U.S. software companies, Red Hat–which has staked its future on open-source Linux software, virtualization and cloud computing — has flourished. The company has a number of secrets behind its success, some of them unique. Read More »
Mozilla today released Firefox 3.6, which, as I reported back in November when the popular open-source browser was released in beta, sports improved performance, personas (the ability to easily switch between different skins for your browser), and updated support for web standards, including … Read More »
Even as Mozilla rolls out Release Candidate 2 of its Firefox 3.6 browser update, and is only days from official release, some are convinced that the upstart open source browser is doomed. However, Mozilla’s Director of Firefox, Mike Beltzner, provides some good reasons why it isn’t. Read More »
Google, nearly six years since it first applied for it, has finally received a patent for its MapReduce parallel programming model. The question now is how this will affect the various products and projects that utilize MapReduce, such as Apache’s MapReduce-inspired Hadoop project. Read More »
The iPhone’s lack of support for Adobe’s Flash platform has been a topic of much debate ever since the smartphone’s 2007 début. However, a recently developed JavaScript work-around successfully manages to get Apple’s popular iPhone running Flash files, without the need to void your warranty … Read More »
Macworld’s Joe Kissell observes that there are many fine Mac Web browsers to choose from, and there’s no reason not to have several installed so that you can switch among them as needed. Indeed, I virtually always have at least three up and running at … Read More »
Nokia has extended support for the Ovi Store to the N900, its impressive — but pricey — Maemo-baed flagship device. Could that help score a much-needed subsidy deal with T-Mobile USA? Read More »
Facebook is today joining the Apache Software Foundation as a “Gold” sponsor — only a $40,000-a-year commitment, but part of a broader effort to open source Facebook’s infrastructure and developer tools. Read More »
While the term open source used to conjure up socially lost Linux cave-dwellers, in recent years, open source has gone decidedly mainstream. Even as open source-focused startups spread out, proprietary software players are acquiring open source companies and spreading their influence. Are these healthy trends? Read More »
Opera Software has named Lars Boilesen (shown) as the company’s new CEO, replacing Jon S. von Tetzchner, who co-founded the Norwegian company in 1995 and has served as its head ever since. The shift marks the end of an era for the company. Read More »
Mozilla’s Raindrop messaging project holds a lot of promise. Like many early-stage, open-source Mozilla projects, the design of Raindrop isn’t being widely publicized, but there are now more interface clues as to why it could be important. Read More »
After many promises to deliver the next version of the Firefox browser — version 3.6 — this year, it turns out Mozilla won’t be able to deliver. According to a blog post, it won’t arrive until the first quarter, and Firefox 4.0 may also be delayed. Read More »
Even as Mozilla’s Firefox browser continues to strip market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the company has been showing off user interface mockups of the next major release: Firefox 4. Now, with its new Firefox 4 Design Challenge, you’re invited to pitch in. Read More »
Google’s Jonathan Rosenberg, senior VP of product management, late Monday put what was more of a tome than a post up on the company’s blog, entitled “The Meaning of Open.” Originally sent to Google employees as an email, it reads like a manifesto. Read More »
Mozilla Firefox has passed Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to become the world’s most popular browser, according to StatCounter. Firefox 3.5 had 21.93 percent market share at the end of last week, compared with 21.2 percent for IE 7 and 20.33 percent for IE 8. Read More »
Microsoft officially announced the availability of an open-source Linux implementation of Silverlight 2 this week. The release of the runtime environment dubbed Moonlight 2 is based on a cooperation between Microsoft and Novell that started in 2007 and also involves royalty-free access … Read More »
The very capable, and conversion-headache-preventing (HUH?), open-source VLC player is one of the very first things I install on any new Mac, after Firefox. If you’re playing anything that isn’t a straightforward .AVI file, and especially if you want to play the notoriously tricky .MKV format, … Read More »
Firefox Mobile, aka Fennec, doesn’t exactly have an aggressive rollout strategy, but what’s already very cool about the browser is that it has add-ons from outside developers. Here are highlights from some of the 40 or so mobile add-ons already built. Read More »
The European Commission is dropping its long-standing antitrust case against Microsoft involving browsers after the company agreed to offer users easy alternative choices to Internet Explorer, even as its market share continues to dip. The announcement was delivered in Brussels by Europe’s competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes. Read More »
It’s Tuesday and that can only mean it’s time for our weekly feature, the BlackBerry Buzz. The Buzz is where you’ll find out what’s been going on in the BlackBerry brambles. You’ll hear about everything that’s worth knowing in the awesome world of the BlackBerry. As … Read More »
We all know that we should safeguard our critical data and documents in case of a disaster. Yet way too few of us follow the best practices of having these items backed up and kept in multiple locations. As a Florida resident conscious of the … Read More »
The successful rise of Mozilla’s Firefox browser is one of the most storied tales of the open source community. Despite the browser’s success, however, Mozilla remains hugely financially dependent on Google– possibly perilously so. Read More »
The inevitable iPhone update is looming ever closer in the distance, and accordingly, the iPhone rumor mill is heating up. Today, news came that frequent Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn, a Taiwanese hardware company, received an order to build the new iPhone, which still won’t arrive in … Read More »
Mozilla is putting the finishing touches on a final version of Fennec, a version of its Firefox browser for mobile phones. As Mozilla tries to play catch-up in the world of mobile browsers, Android devices will play a key role. Read More »
I live in Firefox all day, and I’m always on the lookout for add-ons that increase my productivity. I found such a utility recently, and it has already become my favorite add-on. KwiClick brings one-click searching to Firefox that is outstanding. Just enter the Google … Read More »
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