A smartphone running on Ubuntu Touch will be available in 2014, according to Canonical founder and product strategy leader Mark Shuttleworth. Canonical has signed an agreement with an unnamed manufacturer to have the Linux distribution put onto high-end smartphones, with other manufacturers also apparently in talks to do likewise.
Despite breaking all previous records for crowd funded hardware projects, Canonical's Ubuntu Edge has failed to reach its lofty $32 million target. Despite raising $12.8 million through funding from over 27,000 backers, Canonical fell well short of its target by almost $20 million ending the project. With the campaign to launch its own smartphone ended, the company issued a statement on its campaign site telling early adopters to "look out for Ubuntu on smartphones in 2014," although it seems that these won't be running on Canonical's own hardware.
Canonical has managed to achieve a new record in hardware crowdfunding, with its smartphone reaching $10.4 million in pledges at the time of writing. The Indiegogo campaign for the Ubuntu Edge has beaten the $10.2 million raised during the Pebble smartwatch's Kickstarter campaign, though it is still a considerable distance away from being funded and put into production.
Canonical has adjusted its seemingly-underperforming crowdfunding campaign for an Ubuntu-powered smartphone for a second time, after a significant drop in new pledges. The company has removed the tiered prices of its first change, and now offers the Ubuntu Edge smartphone at a cost of $695 instead of its full $830 price, in an attempt to achieve its $32 million target.
Canonical has updated the crowdfunding campaign for its Ubuntu-powered mobile device, after considerable success in its opening days, in an attempt to maintain momentum. After breaking the $4 million barrier and selling out of the 5000-unit allocation at the initial $600 level, the company has updated its Indiegogo campaign to offer a large array of pledge levels for the Ubuntu Edge smartphone.
Canonical has launched a crowdfunding campaign a smartphone running on Ubuntu. The company is looking to raise $32 million within 31 days to put the Ubuntu Edge into a limited production run, which could see backers receiving the high-powered smartphone by May 2014 if the IndieGoGo campaign reaches its lofty target.
Forums for the Linux distribution Ubuntu have been hacked, with sensitive data for all members of the forum being seized in the intrusion. Usernames, passwords, and e-mail addresses for every user on the Canonical-operated forum has been taken in the attack, which is estimated to have affected around 1.82 million users.
The founder of Canonical, Mark Shuttleworth, called out users of Linux that believe that using the operating system is "supposed to be hard." A blog post by Shuttleworth responding to recent changes and rolling releases in the Ubuntu Linux distribution complained about aspects of the community that seemingly want Linux to be an insular, introverted and exclusive operating system.
Canonical has launched a version of its Linux distribution specifically made for tablets. Ubuntu for Tablets follows on from Unbuntu Phone, launched last month at CES, and the desktop version of Ubuntu in using the same base code, but instead relies on touch-based navigation and gestures, rather than physical buttons or keyboards.
Canonical has announced that it is set to release the first public preview of its Ubuntu Phone operating system for smartphones. The initial release will be available in two builds, one for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and another for LG's Nexus 4, while source code will also be posted for developers to begin working on installations for other devices.
Valve has launched its Steam game distribution platform on Linux, after a lengthy period of beta testing. Initially announced in July 2012, the internal project has now opened up the store on Ubuntu, with interested users being able to download the client through Canonical's Ubuntu Software Center at no charge.
The first new devices running Ubuntu’s mobile operating system will hit the market in October, reports the Wall Street Journal. Developers will gain access to the beta versions of the operating system as early as late this month, with a variant that is designed to run on Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus device. Without getting into specifics, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth also added that the company will target two geographically large markets at the time of launch.
We got a chance to check out a demonstration of Ubuntu's mobile operating system that was announced at the start of the year. It was running on a GSM-version of the Galaxy Nexus, and was certainly impressive when viewed from a close distance. The graphics look clean and smooth, without any hiccups on what is an older, though one-time flagship device.
As was hinted yesterday, Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth announced today the pending release of a new, touch-enabled version of Ubuntu targeted at smartphones. Ubuntu for phones brings its own gesture-driven interface to the smartphone sector, with personalized graphics, integrated search, and support for native and HTML5 apps. Shuttleworth showed off the new operating system in a virtual keynote on YouTube, one in which he sought to position Ubuntu as a way of unifying the user experience across the numerous form factors that define modern computing.
The Ubuntu homepage is teasing a countdown to what hints at a touch-based version of its Linux variant. The banner on the site reads, “So close, you can almost touch it,” setting the stage for a major announcement, or possible reveal, of the next iteration of the popular OS. The countdown is expected to run its course by 8AM ET on Wednesday, January 2nd, when all will be revealed.
Dell’s long anticipated XPS 13 ultrabook with Ubuntu is finally on sale. First announced in late July, it is the first premium ultrabook to feature Linux pre-installed instead of Windows. The XPS 13 is the culmination of Dell’s Project Sputnik initiative, which aimed to bring a Developer Edition of its ultrabook running Ubuntu 12.04LTS “Precise Pangolin.”
Web search settings in the latest Ubuntu 12.10 are to blame for what the Electronic Frontier Foundation calls a "data leak" and a privacy violation. Unless settings are altered, every time a search is performed for a document, application, or other file using the Dash feature, the search includes results from Amazon. Search results can also return advertisements sent unencrypted in the results, allowing for Wi-Fi or network sniffers to intercept and read the text.
Users of the Google Nexus 7 can now install Ubuntu onto the tablet. The Linux distribution maintained by Canonical can be made to run as the operating system instead of the factory-installed Jelly Bean version of Android, though the exercise is meant to help in developing a future iteration of Ubuntu for mobile devices, and not for general use.
Dell will release a version of its popular XPS 13 ultrabook with Linux preinstalled. The company has issued a statement on the release indicating that the Linux-based ultrabook is part of its Project Sputnik initiative with the aim of bringing an Ubuntu developer notebook to market. When it is released this fall, the XP3 with Linux will ship with the Ubuntu 12.04LTS distro onboard.
Valve is bringing the Steam game distribution platform to Ubuntu. A company blog for the project tells of an 11-person team porting not only Steam, but also Source engine-powered game Left 4 Dead 2. According to the post, co-founder of Valve Gabe Newell has been interested in a Linux port of Steam and Source for some time, and last year formed the team devoted to the project.
Three days prior to the release of Ubuntu Linux distribution 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin, the next major release has been named. Following the software's trend of alliterative titling, version 12.10 of the popular distribution will be known as Quantal Quetzal.
Parallels has released a minor update of Desktop 7 for Mac, its flagship virtualization software. The patch introduces "experimental" support for the final beta of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, a Linux variant due to be launched on April 26th. Another new Linux-related feature is the ability to download and install Fedora 16 without leaving the Parallels Wizard.
The XBMC team has posted a finished version of its comprehensive 11.0 Eden update. The version is the first fully updated version to simultaneously reach both desktop platforms as well as jailbreak-based implementations on the second-generation Apple TV and iOS. Every platform now lets an XBMC device serve as an AirPlay target for video and more.
Canonical in the run-up to Mobile World Congress sought to change the approach to smartphone use with Ubuntu for Android. Going beyond even Motorola's Webtop, it promises a full Ubuntu Linux desktop with a windowed environment when the smartphone is mounted in a dock and attached to both an HDMI display and a USB keyboard. From the start, users get a full Chromium web browser, Gwibber social networking, Thunderbird for e-mail, and VLC for media playback.
Mark Shuttlework, the Ubuntu Project Founder, has given users a run through a new feature dubbed HUD (Head-Up Display) that will make its debut in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. The new UI element is designed to replace menus marking a significant change to the way users will interact with the latest release of the popular Linux-based distro. According to Shuttleworth, the goal is for HUD to ultimately replace menus altogether in Unity applications, as the video embedded below illustrates.
Some of the details of the upcoming Ubuntu Linux 12.04 features were detailed at the Ubuntu developer's summit that ended last week. They have been summarized by ExtremeTech thanks to an LTS (long term support) release. Also dubbed Precise Pangolin, the release by Canonical and the Ubuntu development team will work on fixing bugs of the open-source OS for the next five years.
Canonical leader Mark Shuttleworth on Monday vowed that Ubuntu Linux would be getting a much stronger emphasis on mobile in the future. The company would be pushing developers and partners to go beyond the desktop and develop smartphones as well as tablets, TVs, and in-car systems by the time Ubuntu 14.04 arrives in or near April 2014. Speaking at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, he said there was a "underlying hunger" for an alternative to Android among free, open-source platforms.
Ubuntu 11.10, the free Linux-based OS is available for download (free, ubuntu). The latest version, also known as Oneiric Ocelot, includes several enhancements, most notably a new launcher, new dashboard, and new app switcher. The new update provides access to the Ubuntu Software Center to get apps supporting the OS.
Microsoft in the SEC filing for its annual report has removed Linux as a competitor on the desktop. While discussing what it has to compete with in operating systems, the Windows developer has scratched out Linux altogether and has relegated it to a factor only in niches like embedded and servers. Only Apple and Google are left in the category, Wes Miller noted in finding the difference.
ASUS will soon release a 12-inch Eee PC netbook that uses Ubuntu Linux, as revealed by a Monclick web store listing. The Eee PC 1215P will be the largest from the company with Linux preloaded. Other specs include a dual-core 1.5GHz Intel Atom N570 CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive.
One of the first attempts at seizing on the iPad's popularity has quietly fizzled out as Augen appears to have shut down. The company's US page has been down for a month, and both e-mail as well as warranty returns appear to have gone unanswered. Augen had triggered worry early on when it planned a set of e-readers that would have shipped in April but missed their release without a correction from the company.
GalaxyTabHacks has posted detailed instructions on how interested parties can install Ubuntu Linux onto the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The hack finds a way to use the distribution without completely overriding Android. Dubbed Tabuntu, the OS runs as it would on a virtual machine.
Commodore on Friday said it had nearly finished its first wave of production for the remadeC64. The now dual-core Atom PC is due to ship this coming week. Its launch coincides with the company opening an office in Fort Lauderdale that will handle custom orders beyond the pre-configured models on tap.
Australian hardware maker Kogan has introduced four new Agora-branded devices on Thursday. This includes the Agora Internet TV Portal that promises to bring the web and access to the Android Market to users' TVs, the Agora 7-inch Tablet PC, and Agora 12-inch Laptop along with a Pro version of the notebook. The netbooks run on Ubuntu Linux 11.04 while the other devices depend on Android 2.2.
The Samsung Nexus S, which ships with Android 2.3 and was shown to boot up on MeeGo in the past, has now been hacked to run on Ubuntu. Developer Steve Troughton-Smith accomplished the feat and posted full instructions on the XDA Developers forum. The device with this OS, however, isn't fully functional, with the touchscreen not yet working, among other major issues.
The Google Chrome OS testbed netbook the Cr-48 has been hacked by users to run Mac OS X, Windows 7, and Ubuntu. Users of the Cr-48 have posted instructions on how install Windows 7 and Ubuntu on the Something Awful forum. Instructions on how to hackintosh a Cr-48 will be posted soon, although a video (included below) of the device running Mac OS X has already been posted by Damian W.
Ubuntu will get its first entry into the same tablet arena filled by Android and iOS with a newly uncovered model. Tenq's P07 is running Ubuntu Netbook 10.10 is more optimized for touch as a result. A 32GB SSD provides the main storage; Ubuntu's light requirements give it an "almost instant" boot time, Giz-China understood.
The Ubuntu One cloud service has now brought out an Ubuntu One app for the iPhone (free, App Store) that lets users stream multimedia using Apple's Airplay technology. AirPlay lets iOS 4.2 device users stream music, video or photos to AirPlay-compatible hardware such as the Apple TV, AirPort Express or others. AirPlay support is becoming more common in hardware devices from third-party makers.
The PandaBoard development tool for mobile app developers is now shipping. The mainboard sports a dual-core 1GHz TI OMAP4 processor and 1GB of RAM, along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1. It will help devs create OMAP4-compatible apps for Android, Angstrom, Chrome, MeeGo and Ubuntu-based devices.
A new report pegs the new Canonical distro of Ubuntu Light for netbooks to begin appearing on shipping Dell netbooks within the next month. Dell is considered the most likely to be the first vendor to launch netbooks featuring the OS, as it currently sells more PCs with Ubuntu than any other manufacturer. The netbook optimized version of Canonical’s Ubuntu 10.10 is able to boot in 7 seconds.
Augen is readying six new tablets, including a device that features dual-boot capabilities for Android and Ubuntu. Although the company may be better known for its $190 Kmart tablets, the upcoming Latte and Espresso series offer a range of higher-end features and prices ranging from $200 to $600.
China's Nufront together with chipmaker ARM announced on Tuesday that they launched the former's first computer chip, the NuSmart 2816. Based on 40nm architecture, the system-on-chip includes a dual-core Cortex A9 and runs at 2GHz. Unlike most ARM chips, the NuSmart is intended for full-fledged computing and should reach netbooks, tablets, ultra-thin notebooks and all-in-one desktops.
Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth on Monday said via his blog that the first Ubuntu Linux build with support for multi-touch inputs will be out on October 10. The software will be developed on the Dell XT2 tablet, but by the launch date, it will work with other computers and peripherals, including Apple's Magic Trackpad. The development team has written what Shuttleworth calls a touch language, which allows for basic gestures to be chained or composed into "sentences."
Dell has quietly released a new notebook this week, the 13.3-inch Latitude E4310, which was spied early last week. The company also replaced its 10.1-inch Latitude 2000 with the Latitude 2110 netbook. The business-grade E4310 is offered with Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate in both 32- or 64-bit guises, and a Windows XP downgrade option. There are two processor choices, including 2.4GHz or 2.53GHz Core i5s.
Human interface solutions developer Synaptics Inc. on Monday announced it has made its Synaptics Gesture Suite available for Linux-based devices. This move brings multi-touch support to the open source operating system for the first time. Synaptics currently offers its multi-touch interface in Windows-based TouchPad devices.
Sharp has unveiled its latest Ubuntu-powered NetWalker portable computer in Japan on Monday, this one called the PC-T1 and taking on the tablet form factor. It replaces the PC-Z1, which had a netbook design with a hardware QWERTY keyboard. Text input in the new device is via handwriting recognition and a virtual QWERTY keyboard, though a Bluetooth keyboard can also be connected.
As it promised last month, Dell today started taking orders for the Latitude 13. The 0.65-inch thick CULV system is now known to be an inexpensive buy and at $559 starts out with a 1.3GHz Celeron M, Ubuntu Linux, 1GB of RAM and 802.11g Wi-Fi. Every version comes with a six-cell battery, although Dell hasn't said how long the battery should last.
VIA this week introduced its M’SERV S2100 mini server meant for home and small business users. Powered by VIA's own 1.6GHz Nano CPU, the server has the capacity to hold two 3.5-inch SATA II hard drives with up to 4TB of space. There is an integrated CF card slot from which users can boot the S2100, two gigabit Ethernet ports, three USB 2.0 ports and a VGA output. VIA says the server can perform network video recording and virtual server applications thanks to its VT virtualization support, among others.
SmartQ has launched its V5 mobile Internet device (MID) in China recently. The V5 has a 4.3-inch resistive touchscreen with 800x480 resolution and can play back 3D graphics and video thanks to its hardware acceleration, though exactly what type isn't being specified. The company does reveal, however, that the device is powered by a 600MHz ARM11 CPU which can be overclocked to 800MHz thanks to a firmware update. Most interestingly, the V5 ships with Android, Ubuntu Linux and Windows CE 6.0 preloaded.
Dell on Monday leapt fully into Intel's Pine Trail Atom-based platform by launching a new version of the Mini 10. The new version makes use of a 1.66GHz Atom N450 to extend its battery life past the original and, in a version with a 6-cell battery pack, can last for up to 9.5 hours on a charge. It also gets the new option of a Broadcom HD video decoder.
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