Ubuntu demonstrated running on Galaxy Tab 10.1, summarily dubbed 'Tabuntu' (video)

Ubuntu demonstrated running on Galaxy Tab 10.1, summarily dubbed 'Tabuntu' (video): "

Sure, you can run Linux on robots and on desktops and, apparently, on small cats, and we've also seen it on plenty of tablets before, but this one is a little different. Max Lee over at Galaxy Tab Hacks created the video below to demonstrate a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 running Ubunbu, but doing it on top of Android such that the tablet's native OS is running Linux in the background and then using a VM client to launch the UI. In other words: it's running both operating systems at once, and despite that we think the results are quite usable, even loading up this very website with aplomb. It's demonstrated after the break and if after watching you just gotta get a piece of that the full instructions are on the other end of the source link below.

Continue reading Ubuntu demonstrated running on Galaxy Tab 10.1, summarily dubbed 'Tabuntu' (video)

Ubuntu demonstrated running on Galaxy Tab 10.1, summarily dubbed 'Tabuntu' (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s Amit Singhal: We Never Stop Searching From Our Mobile Devices

Google’s Amit Singhal: We Never Stop Searching From Our Mobile Devices: "

Today at a special ‘Inside Search’ event in San Francisco, CA, the search giant is taking some time to walk through some of the recent (and upcoming) advancements in its search products.

Google Fellow Amit Singhal kicked off by discussing what he calls our quest for knowledge — as evidenced by the huge volume of searches that we perform on Google all day, every day. And to underscore that idea, he presented a series of graphs depicting how traffic to Google varies throughout the week.

The bottom line: while desktop query volume is subject to fluctuations, we never stop searching from our mobile devices.

This trend is most pronounced in the graph above. In it, you can see how desktop queries dip during the summer months and around Christmas time. But that doesn’t happen to the mobile graph. We keep searching when we’re eating lunch, or away from the office, or visiting the family, or going on vacation.

Singhal says that this indicates that our quest for knowledge never ends(I think it also shows that we’re always hungry for content, though that doesn’t necessarily mean knowledge). Either way, it’s good news for Google — Singhal says that in the last two years, they’ve seen a 5x growth in mobile traffic, no doubt driven by the iPhone and Android.

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Google and Sprint team up to take your digital dollars with new NFC payment system? (updated)

Google and Sprint team up to take your digital dollars with new NFC payment system? (updated): "

There's been rumors of a Google-fied mobile payment system for some time, and now it looks like the Mountain View crew is teaming up with Sprint to finally make it happen. Last month, we heard that the Now Network would bring NFC payments to its customers this year, and Bloomberg reports that the partnership and payment system will make its debut on May 26th. Apparently, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C. are the first cities getting the service, which is a much broader initial footprint than its Isis mobile payment competition. The anonymous sources also say that Verifone and Vivotech are providing the hardware and software that will let you replace your credit card with a Nexus S -- because you always wanted to replace your credit card with your Nexus S.



Update: According to All things D, the payment system will be put through its paces by none other than El Goog's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt at the D9: All Things Digital conference next week -- where we'll be on hand to peep the contactless payment presentation in person.

Google and Sprint team up to take your digital dollars with new NFC payment system? (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 15:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Smartphone buyer's guide: the best phones for Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and more!

Smartphone buyer's guide: the best phones for Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and more!: "

The world of smartphones changes mighty quickly, and if you blink, you're bound to miss the latest and most delectable devices. That's where we come in, to provide timely roundups of everything your friends expect you to know, along with the insight that you crave. To bring you up to speed, in our December buyer's guide, at first blush you might have thought we were doing an overview of the best Android phones on the market. That's because of our 16 highly-esteemed handsets, a whopping 13 of them had Google's operating system at the core. As you'll see, the landscape has changed somewhat, and these new contenders that have come out swinging.



We've broken down this buyer's guide by mobile carrier, each including the best handset money can buy, our favorite QWERTY alternative, and the most well-rounded budget phone available (with $79 as the absolute ceiling). For smaller US providers, we're providing a single selection, though we're confident it's a good one. You'll definitely be presented with some difficult choices, but that's merely a testament to the abundance of stellar phones that aggressively compete for your dollar. With that said, let's dive in -- it's roundup time.

Continue reading Smartphone buyer's guide: the best phones for Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and more!

Smartphone buyer's guide: the best phones for Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Ice Cream Sandwich coming in Q4 2011 to smartphones and tablets alike

Google Ice Cream Sandwich coming in Q4 2011 to smartphones and tablets alike: "

'One OS that runs everywhere.' There you have it, folks! Google intends to meld its Honeycomb tablet wares and Gingerbread smartphone software into one delicious Ice Cream Sandwich. Maybe that's why the 'sandwich' bit is in the name? Either way, it'll be a universal OS that runs on everything from teeny tiny Android phones to 10-inch tablets and will intelligently adapt to each form factor with things like a resizable status bar. Some other fancy new additions are being demonstrated right now, including face-tracking and camera focus shifting based on voice recognition.

Gallery: Android Ice Cream Sandwich

Google Ice Cream Sandwich coming in Q4 2011 to smartphones and tablets alike originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 12:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Music Beta to stream 20,000 songs for free, official! (updated)

Google Music Beta to stream 20,000 songs for free, official! (updated): "

It's not quite official but there's little doubt that Google will launch its Google Music service at its big I/O event later today. While the Wall Street Journal couldn't get a Google spokesman to admit it, Peter Kafka over at All Things D got Jamie Rosenberg, Director of Android Product Management, to spill the details a bit early. Google's service will essentially mimic the music locker functionality of Amazon's Cloud service, albeit without the ability to sell songs direct to consumers. Ouch. Unfortunately, Google's plans to launch a more feature-complete service were derailed when discussions with the labels broke down. According to Rosenberg, 'A couple of the major labels were less focused on the innovative vision that we put forward, and more interested in an unreasonable and unsustainable set of business terms.' So, rather than putting the service on hold, Google will launch its music service with the ability to store up to 20,000 of your own uploaded songs for free which you can then stream over the web to your desktop or Android phone or tablet -- any device that supports Flash (don't worry iOS users, your time will come). Amazon's service, by comparison, offers just 5GB of free storage for about 1,200 songs stored at a mediocre bitrate. Google will also best Amazon with a feature that automatically creates playlists. Google expects to roll out the service to its US users within 'weeks' with Music Beta invites going out later today to Verizon Xoom owners (others will be able to sign up at music.google.com). Keep it right here because we'll be bringing you the announcement live.



Update: And it's officially official, called 'Music Beta by Google' at this point. There's a simple presentation with artists, albums, and easy playlist creation. You can manually create them, or there's a feature called 'Instant Mix' that will make you a playlist based on any single song. It'll automagically pick 25 different tracks to build a 'truly ingenious mix.' You know, kind of like another, similarly intelligent service. All of this syncs to the cloud, which means no wires needed to download anything.



But, more importantly, songs can be cached locally. You can pick any song, album, or playlist to download onto storage, at an unknown quality. It's the same pinning idea that's in the new movies feature. That and more is demonstrated in the video below.



The service is launching in beta today, allowing 20,000 songs, and it'll be free -- 'at least while it's in beta.' Also, the updated music app is available now, which will work with any music on your phone and any phone running Android 2.2 or above. To get full-featured you can request a beta and get in line, but if you happen to be reading this from I/O you're in the beta. Congrats, you lucky bums!

Gallery: Google Music

Continue reading Google Music Beta to stream 20,000 songs for free, official! (updated)

Google Music Beta to stream 20,000 songs for free, official! (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 12:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CyanogenMod 7.0 is now final, ready for your consumption

CyanogenMod 7.0 is now final, ready for your consumption: "Is your phone manufacturer's Android ROM not treating you quite the way it should? Worry not, Cyanogen's got your back as usual and has just released the final v7.0 of the CyanogenMod, now based on Android 2.3.3. There's an extensive list of supported Android handsets, which is now also augmented with a couple of tablets: the B&N Nook Color and the Viewsonic G Tablet. As usual with custom ROMs, we advise reading up and making sure you know what you're doing before you do it, but if you're already up to speed on the latest in homebrewed Android, this is the moment you've been eagerly waiting for. Full details of the changes made in version 7 plus instructions on how to get it set up on your Android device can be found below.



[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

CyanogenMod 7.0 is now final, ready for your consumption originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android chief Andy Rubin tackles open source qualms, says Honeycomb isn't 'one size fits all'

Android chief Andy Rubin tackles open source qualms, says Honeycomb isn't 'one size fits all': "

Google got a lot of flak for withholding the Android 3.0 source code, and plenty more when Businessweek sources claimed the company had set aside its open stance to dictate from a throne, but today the man who would allegedly sit atop the royal seat says it isn't so. Andy Rubin, the man in charge of Android, says that 'there are no lock-downs or restrictions against customizing UIs' nor 'any efforts to standardize the platform on any single chipset architecture' as have often been rumored before, and that when Honeycomb is finally ready for phones, Google will indeed release its source code. Overall, he claims that Android's position when it comes to open source hasn't changed since day one -- which is nice for those who would like to believe that Google's still sticking to its motto -- but that's not likely to appease companies cut out of the loop simply because they weren't part of the early adopter club. If Google's methods will reduce fragmentation, though, who are we to judge?



[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Android chief Andy Rubin tackles open source qualms, says Honeycomb isn't 'one size fits all' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android Developers Blog: Application Stats on Android Market

Android Developers Blog: Application Stats on Android Market

You’ve got better things to do than wait in traffic

You’ve got better things to do than wait in traffic: "(Cross-posted on the LatLong Blog and Mobile Blog)



Ever been stuck in traffic, only to find out you’d have been better off going a bit out of your way to take a less congested route? If you’re like me, you probably hear the traffic report telling you what you already know: traffic is bad on the road you’re currently on, and you should have taken another. It doesn’t need to be this way, and we want to help. So we’re happy to announce that Google Maps Navigation (Beta) will now automatically route you around traffic. With more than 35 million miles driven by Navigation users every day, this should add up to quite a bit of time saved!



On a recent trip to New York, I was running late to meet some friends at the Queens Museum of Art. I had no idea that there was a traffic jam along the route I would normally have taken. Thankfully, Navigation routed me around traffic. I didn’t even have to know that there was a traffic jam on I-495, and I got to enjoy a much faster trip on I-278 instead.

Navigation now uses real-time traffic conditions to automatically route you around traffic.

You don’t have to do anything to be routed around traffic; just start Navigation like you normally would, either from the Navigation app or from within Google Maps. Before today, Navigation would choose whichever route was fastest, without taking current traffic conditions into account. It would also generate additional alternate directions, such as the shortest route or one that uses highways instead of side roads. Starting today, our routing algorithms will also apply our knowledge of current and historical traffic to select the fastest route from those alternates. That means that Navigation will automatically guide you along the best route given the current traffic conditions.



Not only can you save time and fuel, you’re making traffic better for everyone else by avoiding traffic jams. Keep in mind that we can’t guarantee that Navigation will be able to find a faster way, but it will always try to get you where you’re going as fast as possible.



You can begin routing around traffic with Google Maps Navigation for Android in North America and Europe where both Navigation and real-time traffic data are available.



Enjoy your newly found free time!



Posted by Roy Williams, Software Engineer, Google Maps Team

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