Here the ump-shh ump-shh is dished out by Ableton Live, with effects being controlled by the Aurora.

[Aurora via Hack A Day]

[RKS Design via Yanko]

Android Scan discovers pricing and metadata for any product with a barcode. After a code is scanned automatically into the phone using the camera, you can get images of CDs, DVDs or book covers along with detailed reviews on Amazon. It will also display a list of stores nearby that offer the product, links to online storefronts, online music sample tracks and local library searches. [Android Scan]

Breadcrumbz Allows users to navigate and record a route using images instead of a map. The goal is to develop a community around the app where users can share geo-content. [Breadcrumbz]

Pocket Journey "connects your location to the voices of a global community of artists, historians, architects, musicians, comedians and others so you can quickly know everything about anywhere." The app will rely on a community to provide in-depth information about a particular area for tourists or locals looking to explore. [Pocket Journey]

GolfPlay may be more of a niche offering, but it is a big niche, and if you have ever played the game you know that any help you can get is more than welcome. The app is intended to offer golfers support for real-time necessities like GPS locations, game statistics and weather information. [GolfPlay]

Commandro is an elaborate social networking app that allows users to communicate with a network of friends and coordinate and plan activities. [Commandro]

For the complete list, check out the following links: [Phandroid and Android Blog]

The Cubit is a boxy tabletop with a clear surface. All a potential multitouch table owner needs to get started is a webcam with an infrared filter and a small image projector. Plug in the webcam, install the Cubit software, turn on the projector and start touching.

Eyebeam fellows Addie Wagenknetch and Stefan Hechenberger said they were releasing the Cubit in order to "prove that anyone could build [a multitouch table]." Besides offering the designs and software online, the two are selling DIY kits that include parts and instructions.

The Cubit was on display at the Maker Faire, along with several other open-source multitouch projects. Though open-source has long been focused on software, it looks like DIYers, like Eyebeam andBug Labs, are now taking the philosophy into the realm of hardware as well. [Technology Review]

[MAKE via Shiny Shiny]

Commission will verify whether Microsoft is complying with EU antitrust rules, whether the principles announced today would end any infringement were they implemented in practice, and whether or not the principles announced today are in fact implemented in practice."

"Microsoft is saying it will give access to open APIs, however, but there are terms...It's the same old story. Patent protection applies, and people can use the APIs commercially as long as they pay Microsoft a royalty. They are trying to enclose open commons by trying to apply their business model, which is all about owning technology, to open source."

Documentation for the API and com protocols for all of those products will be available for free—just today, they're throwing up over 30,000 pages of Windows client and server protocols that were under lock and key. And every protocol still covered by one of their patents will be available for cheap licensing. Office 2007 will be friendlier with other formats as well, in addition to being more open about its own standards.

Finally, they're launching the Open Source Interoperability Initiative to "promote and enable more interoperability between commercial and community-based" wares. They're promising "resources, facilities and events, including lags, plug fests, technical content" and more.

Microsoft Makes Strategic Changes in Technology and Business Practices to Expand Interoperability

New interoperability principles and actions will increase openness of key products.

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Microsoft Corp. today announced a set of broad-reaching changes to its technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for developers, partners, customers and competitors.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)

Specifically, Microsoft is implementing four new interoperability principles and corresponding actions across its high-volume business products: (1) ensuring open connections; (2) promoting data portability; (3) enhancing support for industry standards; and (4) fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.

"These steps represent an important step and significant change in how we share information about our products and technologies," said Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer. "For the past 33 years, we have shared a lot of information with hundreds of thousands of partners around the world and helped build the industry, but today's announcement represents a significant expansion toward even greater transparency. Our goal is to promote greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for customers and developers throughout the industry by making our products more open and by sharing even more information about our technologies."

According to Ray Ozzie, Microsoft chief software architect, the company's announcement reflects the significance that individuals and businesses place upon the ease of information-sharing. As heterogeneity is the norm within enterprise architectures, interoperability across applications and services has become a key requirement.

"Customers need all their vendors, including and especially Microsoft, to deliver software and services that are flexible enough such that any developer can use their open interfaces and data to effectively integrate applications or to compose entirely new solutions," said Ozzie. "By increasing the openness of our products, we will provide developers additional opportunity to innovate and deliver value for customers."

"The principles and actions announced today by Microsoft are a very significant expansion of its efforts to promote interoperability," said Manfred Wangler, vice president, Corporate Research and Technology, Software and Engineering, Siemens. "While Microsoft has made considerable progress on interoperability over the past several years, including working with us on the Interoperability Executive Customer Council, today's news take Microsoft's interoperability commitment to a whole new level."

"The interoperability principles and actions announced today by Microsoft will benefit the broader IT community," said Thomas Vogel, head, Information Management, Novartis Pharma. "Ensuring open connections to Microsoft's high-volume products presents significant opportunities for the vast majority of software developers, which will help foster greater interoperability, opportunity and choice in the marketplace. We look forward to a constructive, structured, and multilateral dialogue to ensure stakeholder-driven evolution of these principles and actions."

The interoperability principles and actions announced today apply to the following high-volume Microsoft products: Windows Vista (including the .NET Framework), Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and Office SharePoint Server 2007, and future versions of all these products. Highlights of the specific actions Microsoft is taking to implement its new interoperability principles are described below.

— Ensuring open connections to Microsoft's high-volume products. To
enhance connections with third-party products, Microsoft will publish
on its Web site documentation for all application programming
interfaces (APIs) and communications protocols in its high-volume
products that are used by other Microsoft products. Developers do not
need to take a license or pay a royalty or other fee to access this
information. Open access to this documentation will ensure that third-
party developers can connect to Microsoft's high-volume products just
as Microsoft's other products do.
— As an immediate next step, starting today Microsoft will openly
publish on MSDN over 30,000 pages of documentation for Windows
client and server protocols that were previously available only
under a trade secret license through the Microsoft Work Group Server
Protocol Program (WSPP) and the Microsoft Communication Protocol
Program (MCPP). Protocol documentation for additional products, such
as Office 2007 and all of the other high-volume products covered by
these principles, will be published in the upcoming months.
— Microsoft will indicate on its Web site which protocols are covered
by Microsoft patents and will license all of these patents on
reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, at low royalty rates. To
assist those interested in considering a patent license, Microsoft
will make available a list of specific Microsoft patents and patent
applications that cover each protocol.
— Microsoft is providing a covenant not to sue open source developers
for development or non-commercial distribution of implementations of
these protocols. These developers will be able to use the
documentation for free to develop products. Companies that engage in
commercial distribution of these protocol implementations will be
able to obtain a patent license from Microsoft, as will enterprises
that obtain these implementations from a distributor that does not
have such a patent license.
— Documenting how Microsoft supports industry standards and extensions.
To increase transparency and promote interoperability, when Microsoft
supports a standard in a high-volume product, it will work with other
major implementers of the standard toward achieving robust, consistent
and interoperable implementations across a broad range of widely
deployed products.
— Microsoft will document for the development community how it
supports such standards, including those Microsoft extensions that
affect interoperability with other implementations of these
standards. This documentation will be published on Microsoft's Web
site and it will be accessible without a license, royalty or other
fee. These actions will allow third-party developers implementing
standards to understand how a standard is used in a Microsoft
product and foster improved interoperability for customers.
Microsoft will make available a list of any of its patents that
cover any of these extensions, and will make available patent
licenses on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
— Enhancing Office 2007 to provide greater flexibility of document
formats. To promote user choice among document formats, Microsoft will
design new APIs for the Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications in
Office 2007 to enable developers to plug in additional document formats
and to enable users to set these formats as their default for saving
documents.
— Launching the Open Source Interoperability Initiative. To promote and
enable more interoperability between commercial and community-based
open source technologies and Microsoft products, this initiative will
provide resources, facilities and events, including labs, plug fests,
technical content and opportunities for ongoing cooperative
development.
— Expanding industry outreach and dialogue. An ongoing dialogue with
customers, developers and open source communities will be created
through an online Interoperability Forum. In addition, a Document
Interoperability Initiative will be launched to address data exchange
between widely deployed formats.

The Interoperability Executive Customer (IEC) Council, an advisory organization established in 2006 and consisting mainly of chief information and technology officers from more than 40 companies and government bodies around the world, will help guide Microsoft in its work under these principles and actions. The full text of Microsoft's new Interoperability Principles, and a full list of the actions Microsoft is taking, can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/interoperability/default.mspx.

The interoperability principles and actions announced today reflect the changed legal landscape for Microsoft and the IT industry. They are an important step forward for the company in its ongoing efforts to fulfill the responsibilities and obligations outlined in the September 2007 judgment of the European Court of First Instance (CFI).

"As we said immediately after the CFI decision last September, Microsoft is committed to taking all necessary steps to ensure we are in full compliance with European law," said Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel. "Through the initiatives we are announcing, we are taking responsibility for implementing the principles in the interoperability portion of the CFI decision across all of Microsoft's high-volume products. We will take additional steps in the coming weeks to address the remaining portion of the CFI decision, and we are committed to providing full information to the European Commission so it can evaluate all of these steps."

It will be priced the same, despite having a cool joystick based controller. Later on, a Wi-Fi module, will come for HiroP owners, which can be bought at cost. HiroP buyers will also get a free IO module, the Von Hippel, for their trouble. And those who want to wait for the Wi-Fi enabled pieces can do so later, still able to keep the early adopter discount. [Bug]

Jan 02, 2008 09:15

OpenMoko Extends Mobile Phone to Power Next-Generation Dash GPS

New Dash Express(TM) GPS: Personal Navigation Device Leverages OpenMoko's Open Device Platform
TAIPEI, Taiwan —(Business Wire)— Jan. 2, 2008 OpenMoko and parent company FIC today announced a partnership with Dash Navigation, Inc. revealing that the Dash Express, the first Internet-connected GPS device for the consumer market, runs on the Neo mobile hardware and software platform. The partnership with Dash to build the Express device marks OpenMoko's first foray into the GPS market, and represents commercial validation of the company's mobile platform vision. The Dash Express is now available for pre-order directly from Dash Navigation.

On the heels of the successful launch of the Neo 1973, the world's first totally open FOSS mobile platform, the innovative Dash Express breaks ground as the first consumer electronics device based on the OpenMoko GTA0X reference design. Dash Express features applications developed by Dash Navigation and uses the OpenMoko kernel and bootloader. The GPS hardware was jointly designed to Dash's specifications by OpenMoko and FIC Mobility, who will manufacture the device.

"We always saw the Neo 1973 as more than a mobile phone; it's the harbinger of the coming generation of open mobile devices aimed at the Web2.0 social networking market," said Sean Moss-Pultz, CEO of OpenMoko. "We knew if we could free the phone, others would springboard from that and build revolutionary products. Dash seized the opportunity, improved the Neo hardware and OpenMoko Linux platform, and built a revolutionary product that will disrupt the mobile GPS market."

Dash marks a new kind of ODM relationship that enables companies to more easily create consumer products based on open hardware specifications and GPL licensing. OpenMoko officials predict this will enable more derivations of the Neo platform to enter the commercial market.

"Dash's support of open standards allows consumers to get the content they want into their cars," said Rob Currie, president and COO, Dash Navigation. "OpenMoko and FIC are technology leaders that have been great partners for us, and they continue to be important contributors to the development of diverse and accessible consumer mobile applications."

The Dash Express is now available for pre-order at the company's website (http://www.dash.net). The device is priced at $599.99 and includes three free months of Dash Service(1). The Dash Express will begin shipping in mid-to-late February directly from http://www.dash.net followed by broader retail distribution in Q2 2008.

OpenMoko and Dash will be featured at the press-only innovator showcase during CES, Lunch @ Piero's. The next generation of the Neo hardware platform will be announced shortly.

About Dash

Dash Navigation connects people to the information that empowers them in their cars. The company's first product, the Dash Express(TM), is the first personal navigation system with two-way, Internet connectivity. It's the smartest way to get from A to B — and get information about everything in between. Dash is located in Sunnyvale, Calif. and is funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Skymoon Ventures, Crescendo Ventures, Artis Capital and ZenShin Capital Partners. For more information visit Dash Navigation at http://www.dash.net.

About FIC

Founded in 1980, First International Computer, Inc (FIC) is a world leader in the design and production of computer motherboards, graphics cards, PC systems, notebooks, mobile solutions, and other electronic devices. Publicly listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE 3701), FIC has a workforce of over 5000 employees spread amongst six supplier hubs, ten manufacturing/assembly sites and seven branch offices.

As an OEM/ODM supplier to many of the leading brands in North America, Asia, and Europe, FIC has established itself as a pioneer of innovative products, supplying engineering expertise, advanced R&D, and logistical services throughout the world.

For the latest information on FIC products and services visit http://www.fic.com.tw.

About OpenMoko

OpenMoko is the commercial and community driven effort with a mission to create an open platform that empowers developers and consumers to customize their mobile devices, much like a computer, in any way they see fit. OpenMoko is dedicated to helping innovators bring the freedom and flexibility of Web2.0 to consumer electronics and vertical market devices.

For the latest information on OpenMoko visit http://www.openmoko.com.

(1)Note: Dash Product and Dash Service subscription sold separately. Other fees and taxes, including a one-time activation fee to reactivate a deactivated Dash Product, may apply. The Dash Service and fees are subject to change, at any time as set forth in the Dash Service Agreement available at http://www.dash.net. Dash purchasers will receive one month free Dash Service at initial turn-on and two additional free months Dash Service after registering at http://www.mydash.net.

The photo you see above is only a concept design. In its current stage of development, the locoGPS is a rough piece of hardware that uses a slightly confusing toggle process to get GPS working on any Jailbroken iPhone (they are also in the testing phases for an iPod touch solution). The early software merely finds your coordinates and plugs them into the Google Maps application. For now, thats it. The beauty of the locoGPS is that it can be improved upon because of it's open source design. If this gets a real time navigational map and a few useful plug-ins, it could be a popular iPhone add-on.

But for now, the locoGPS raises eyebrows on potential alone. Part Foundry expects the locoGPS to start shipping in February 2008, and they're currently taking pre-orders for the $89 device. [Part Foundry via MacDailyNews]

The thing's covered in felt and can communicate with the "USB fish" transmitter to wirelessly alert you to emails, RSS feeds, weather reports or breaking news. You can customize him to dance, spin, flap or flash, and can also use him as a VoIP phone, MP3 speaker or alarm clock. AND, you can program him to detect sound (intruder alarm) or light (turn off your TV). Oh, and you can use his text-to-speech to read stuff to you as well. Only $99. [Firebox]

What distinguishes the Zonbu from other operating systems is the Zonbu Plan, which offers automatic software upgrades and synchronized online storage for a monthly fee. It is also what allows the laptop to sell for $279, provided you subscribe for two years. With the $15/mo plan the hard drive links up with the Amazon S3 server and provides backup and additional storage that can be accessed from anywhere. Without the Zonbu Plan, the laptop will cost $479.

The other neat feature of the Zonbu OS, is its potential to integrate with anything. One example is the public folder, which makes any file in the folder remotely accessible and and usable by any script written for Zonbu. We were able to drag and drop images into the public folder and have them appear on our Facebook page, via a Zonbu Facebook App.

On the hardware side, Zonbu went with an Everex laptop, the same manufacturers who offer the $200 Wal-Mart PC. It features a 1.5 GHz VIA processor, 512 MB of RAM, 60 GB HDD and a 15.4-inch widescreen LCD. Their goal is not to create a powerhouse, but to offer a low-cost Windows alternative. The laptop also has a CD-RW/DVD combo drive, 802.11 b/g, 3 USB ports, headphone/microphone jacks and VGA out. The Zonbu Desktop, in comparison, went with a 1.2 GHz processor, and used 4GB flash memory backed by Amazon's S3 server as its primary method of storage.

As we've mentioned in the past, the Zonbu GUI is generally quick and responsive, with programs like Open Office and Banshee music player proving more than adequate. But the OS lacks the polish and power of Vista or OS X. As an example, dragging an image from the browser to the desktop is not possible; sites such as YouTube can also glitch out a little. However, these aren't dealbreakers, but examples to show the difference between the top dogs and new competitors.

The CTO would have a much different agenda than the head of technology under the current administration, the "cyber-security czar". While that post is concerned with preventing cyber attacks, the CTO would concentrate on critical issues facing the technology world as well as maintain an open line of communication between the government and the American citizens by using—what else?—the internet.

The rest of his outline includes plans to provide broadband access to areas lacking it, open up the 700MHz wireless spectrum so smaller carriers can compete, and create a federally-backed, $50 billion venture capital fund for the development of more environmentally-friendly technology.

Obama also wants a transparent government, where meetings between Cabinet officials and government executives are streamed live, and the public can comment on legislation on the White House website for five days before it is signed into law. Giving the public wide access to the policy makers is a radical step from the closed governments of the past. Though it kinda takes the term "commentard" to a new level. No word yet on Obama's banhammer, but we guess it will be as swift and merciless as ours, democracy be hanged.

Other proposals in Obama's technology manifesto include reforming the patent system to provide better security to important innovations and decreased protection for trolls, and regulations on network neutrality. Overall, Obama's plans seem very advanced, open-source and engaging to the community, things that any technology buff can appreciate. OK, Hillary: your turn to network with the nerds. [Venture Beat]

Selanikio points to one example where EpiSurveyor has already been a great benefit: the Zambian Health Ministry. They used the software to conduct their first-ever malaria survey and were able to reorganize shipments of medicine to villages that were in need of it within weeks. In addition to donations for the project, Dr. Selanikio is most in need of help building a sustainable business model to keep this revolutionary idea going. If you have the experience and would like to help, visit the site and get in touch. [EpiSurveyor via BBG]

For good measure, Nokia is also throwing in a Flash-capable browser, which we doubt will be relying on a shitty EDGE network. If Nokia pulls this off, the development may propel the company even further up the tables, and we'll be in for a handset at a reasonable price point, with open source potential (proper 3rd party apps) and usability surpassing even that of the iPhone. Who knows? We may even see a user-replaceable battery in the mix! We might be fanboys, but hell, if Nokia makes those promises come true, they can have our iPhones. Hit the video to check out a prototype in action. [Nokia]

(And, thoughtfully, a tripod mount which I'm sure can be used to give your creation working tank treads.) Specs are here, but first, the official list of the all-important bug modules, which latch onto the base with steel tentacles to create your pocketable open-source gadget Voltron:
•GPS, Digital/Videocamera, Touchscreen LCD, Accelerometer are officially coming.
•The list of things slated afterwards along a more vague timeframe include a "2x" touch sensitive LCD, QWERTY, speaker with mini jacks in and out and a teleporter.

BUGbase Technical Specifications

* ARM1136JF-S-based microprocessor
* 1 USB 2.0 HS host interface/4 hub port connections
* 1 USB OTG HS interface
* 4 UART serial links
* 4 channel SPI interface
* I2C (400 kbits) interface/4 channels
* I2S interface/2 channels
* Smart LCD interface
* Camera sensor interface
* Micro memory card interface
* MPEG4 hardware encoding/decoding
* Hardware graphic acceleration
* 10/100 Ethernet MAC
* 802.11b/g

* Base unit LCD module interface
* Base unit onboard memory (FLASH/DDR SDRAM)
* JTAG/ICE support
* Serial debug port
* Power system
* AC operation
* Battery operation/up to 4 external batteries
* Fast battery charging/simultaneous of internal and external batteries
* Smart power management support
* Battery-backed real-time clock
* Audio out via onboard piezo speaker

If you recall, the little EPA-friendly silver box comes without a keyboard, mouse and monitor, but surely any self-respecting geek has plenty of those lying around. Zonbu's CEO, Gregoire Gentil (who also had a hand in the Gentoo Linux platform that Zonbu runs) says it's really a secondary PC, for kitchens, living rooms or wherever. You can have a look at Brian's full-throttle hands-on for details, but here are some things to keep in mind:

• It comes with many software titles pre-installed for music and video playback and Office-doc management. It's got an IM client and Skype, though it won't support video yet.

• The current version doesn't have integrated Wi-Fi, though you can use a dongle. Gentil says that his company is exploring a Wi-Fi option for the future.

• The pricing breakdown is a little funny. It's $99 if you commit to two years of service. $13 per month gets you 25GB of storage in the cloud, transparent to you from the desktop. (The internal memory is just a CF card, so up to 8GB.) You pay for service up front, so a two-year order with the 25GB storage would cost, up front, $370.95 (including the free three month deal). It's $199 if you only want one year of service, and if you don't want any service at all, it's $249.

• Service includes maintenance and tech support, plus new programs every six months. The downside for geeks is that in this arrangement Zonbu keeps admin access to itself. You'd need to go without service to have root-level control.

• As you can see from the photo above, there's very little you can't plug into this thing. It has six USB ports, and supports 800 cameras and 1500 printers without any extra drivers necessary. It also supports Mac-formatted, FAT32 and NTFS formatted drives, so like more drives than Windows or Apple (unless you know some trick).

• And for you greenies, remember, this baby uses just 10 watts while a standard PC uses 200 watts, and it has EPEAT Gold status for being made entirely out of earth-friendly materials. Put that in Al Gore's pipe and smoke it.

[Zonbu]

Here's a complete list of apps, a video tour, along with a list of sweet surprises I discovered after a few days with the Zonbu.

•Zonbu's App list is extensive, including browser, email, cal, full office doc tools, finance, music library (with ipod syncing) video playback, skype, P2P/Torrent, IM, publishing, and a few games including Tron and Civilization.
•The install is efficient. Apps open slowly, but when they're going, I had no problem using multiple apps at once. The machine only bogs down when handling real- world tests. I ripped the soundtrack to The Life Aquatic to 128kbps MP3 files, and it took 30 minutes on the Zonbu, versus 7 minutes with other programs working on my 2.33 GHz Macbook Pro with 2GB of RAM. That's 4x slower, but at 1/25th the price. I can accept that.
•The PC isn't $99 unless you get a two-year Amazon S3 service plan. For $13-$20 bucks, you get 25-100GB of synched data. There's a one-year service plan, too. The plans include next day hardware swaps (a warranty), tech support, managed care.
•You can't install your own stuff on the Tweaked Gentu linux install. But Gregoire at Zonbu is a big Open source geek, so he's made the their data-synching version of Gentu available for free. Just download it, install it on your own hardware and get your own S3 account.
•Working with large files over a slow network could be a problem. But this machine is completely capable of anything up to that point, and considering the price, you'd have to be a real ass to complain about it. The connection is 128-bit encrypted.
•Zonbu's OS and local cache is stored on a 4GB CF card that is a 150x speed unit with a custom controller. It reads and writes at a respectable 30MB/s and 15MB/s. They'll sell an 8GB unit, and you can also expand the local storage by adding a USB drive. They also sell an optional $50 CD burner/DVD reader. A DVD writer is in the future.
•Windows are transparent when dragged, and the window close and minimize buttons are similar to Vista's. The GUI is extremely lightweight, despite the transparencies.
•3D acceleration uses 64 MB of system mem.
•There's hardware decode of MPEG-2. Even with average sized MPEG-4 files being played, CPU utilization stays around 15%. Very nice.
•Starting end of June, they'll ship 500 units to early buyers, but not at the reduced/rebated price with service. Around September, the Zonbu comes out of beta, and the $99 price will be there.
•Just in case you didn't realize it, no keyboard, mouse or monitor.
•6 USB ports, VGA, mic and headphone out. PS2 Mouse and keyboard plugs.
•Ethernet and support for Belkin USB WiFi Adapter
•When you log in, it checks Amazon S3 for updates. There is a Web-based client for your S3 data. Sync is manual coming down, but changes on the Zonbu sync upward automatically.
•Neato Apple ][ screensaver
•VNC client is particularly useful.
•They're planning a car and a livingroom variant. The car thing is useful, since the device is CF driven, so shockproof, but you'd have to find a way to get EvDo support. (EvDo to ethernet router seems like overkill compared to hacking USB EvDo driver in.)
•The fanless device gets hot on it's side, maybe freezing. But this is an early piece of hardware, so this could change.
•The 1.2GHz intel-compatible VIA chip is "green." No kidding, that's what happens when you have a low-power chip. That's like saying a 1.2 liter Civic is green.
• The design is fanless. The prototype box I had got hot and froze at one point, when I placed it on its side. Small gripe. The aluminum stand that holds it upright is slippery on the bottom. I worried that I'd trip on the mouse cable and smash the thing into the floor. Nothing some rubber bumpers from a hardware store couldn't fix.
•Zonbu's first 500 units ship end of June as part of a beta. But there won't be a rebate to bring the device to a $99 price point until September-ish. I think you can join the waiting list now.
•They'll be selling skins for the black faceplate. Or you can upload your own image and they'll ship you a custom sticker.

App List:

Browser: Firefox
Email and Calendar: Evolution
IM: Pidgin works with AOL, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and IRC networks.
VOIP: Skype
Peer-to-Peer clients: Azureus and aMule. Bit Torrent and other standard protocols such as eMule and eDonkey.

Office productivity: Open Office. word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, draw, database, math, Acrobat, Personal Finance Manager.

Media Player: MPlayer
Music Library: Banshee
Photo Organizer: F-Spot
Sound: Sound Recorder and Recording Level Monitor.
Photo Editor: Gimp
Web Page Editor: Nvu

Games

Action — Supertux, Tiltball, Tron
Arcade — Breakout, Frozen Bubble, Penguins, Pingus, Tetris
Puzzle — Blackjack, Chess, Crossword Puzzles, Solitaire, Sudoku, Swap Attack
Shooter — Blobwars, Chromium
Simulation — Billiard, Civilization
Mini Games — Ataxx, Five or More, Four in a Row, Iagno, Klotski, Mahjongg, Mines, Nibbles, Robots, Same GNOME, Tali, Tetravex

Ah, life's little conveniences, neatly packaged in your planet friendly Zonbu. Our accessories include a calculator, a CD-DVD creator, Image Viewer, Notepad, a screenshot program, a zip extractor to create and open compressed files including zip format and a Reference category with access to a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a thesaurus and a translation website.

Home Page [Zonbu]

First off, Dell's going to be shipping the default install of Ubuntu. However, when it comes to drivers, they're going to be supporting a subset of other OS installations, and using some closed source drivers when it's necessary—as in, when there's no equivalent open source version. For you, this means better compatibility.

However, the fact that Dell is entering this Linux game means they're going to push people hard to make drivers compatible and/or open source. Fantastic for Linux users.

As for peripherals, Dell is going to set up a wiki page so you can see which ones are supported and what problems they have. This includes printers, which they recommend you buy from Dell (shocker).

For other hardware, Dell is working on adding support in conjunction with other manufacturers, which means it's actually great news for Linux fans since a big manufacturer like Dell will lean hard on peripheral makers to provide Linux compatibility.

The bad news is they're not going to support any "proprietary audio or video codecs" like MPEG 1/2/3/4, WMA, WMV, DVD, Quicktime and others. If you want those, you're going to have to install them yourself. – Jason Chen

Ubuntu 7.04 Offering—Technical Details [Direct2Dell]

I'll be honest, I can see an "open source" car being successful in terms of the onboard computer and the types of applications it can run, but are there really enough people who know how to work with engines to that degree to make this more than a pet project for serious green auto geeks? I guess we'll see, but in any case it's cool to see the open source movement getting outside and getting some fresh air for once. –Adam Frucci

The open source car, known as the c,mm,n is powered by hydrogen [AutoblogGreen]

But, if the open source community can find out what goes into these gaps and plug'm, soon enough you should be rocking out to an open source Archos capable of playing back weird codecs, streaming things to other things, and doing all kinds of stuff that it wasn't meant to do originally&madsh;similar to the way that open source users took the Linksys router and beefed it up. – Jason Chen

Download Page [Archos - Thanks Rick!]

Yes, Cisco/Linksys has had problems with GPL before. From what we heard from the tech industry when that scandal hit (2003-ish), Linksys was borrowing freely from GPL and but not attributing it, a definite no-no. When Cisco purchased Linksys in 2003, they had a source code review and discovered the "oversight". After the obligatory "WTF do we do" meetings, Cisco decided to release the firmware into the open source community. This is why Linux hackers latched on and upgraded their router into a $600 beast.

Cisco is in much the same situation now. Linksys, their devision that made the iPhone WIP300, has borrowed from the GPL without attribution. What does this mean? Well, if Cisco is going to release the firmware for the WIP300 iPhone, that means open source coders are free to hack it to do whatever they want.

The WIP300 is a SIP phone, which is an open source standard for VoIP popularized by SIP VoIP provides and the project "Asterisk", which lets you roll your own VoIP at home with just a linux box. But if hackers get to this phone, they could possibly load it up with Skype, Google Talk, or MSN as well as SIP.

In any case, we look forward to Cisco's next step. – Jason Chen

Open Source Researcher Alerts Cisco to GPL Issue [Cisco]