Open Source Pixels

So, the new HTC phones are facing delays in the US, and they now ship with a slightly modified US-specific Android build which removes data tapping and sports an altered app associations screen to avoid Apple’s patents. This is step one. Step two is companies avoiding the litigious and anti-consumer messes that are the US and German markets altogether. Clearly, IP laws are working to the benefit of the consumer and the market as a whole. Great work guys.

Wildfire Games has released the tenth alpha version of 0 A.D., an open source, historical real-time strategy game which features excellent graphics and sound. The new alpha brings Hellenic factions, basic technologies, civilization phases, click-and-drag wall building functionality, healing and more.

FXI’s Cotton Candy, A $200 USB stick size PC running Ubuntu and Android 4.0 will start shipping at the end of this month to anyone who has pre-ordered the device in back in February.

A lot of companies have chosen to blacklist certain Apps. The question is, “Does it do any good?” There’s a new threat on the horizon perpetrated by none other than The Corporate Machine: App Blacklisting. Seriously. There are Apps researched by and supplied by Zenprise that have been blacklisted, whitelisted and others that are in the undecided list.

LinuxMint13 RC is available for testing, this beta release comes with 2 desktop versions in a separated dvd`s: Mate and Cinnamon.

Google released a major update to its Chrome browser on Tuesday that tackles 20 security vulnerabilities, eight of which are classified as high-risk bugs. Chrome 19 – a cross-platform update for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome Frame – also includes a number of improved features such as tab sync. Google paid security researchers more than $7,500 under its bugs bounty programme for identifying the various vulnerabilities squashed by Chrome 19.

The LWN.net Weekly Edition for May 17, 2012 is available.

An interesting study has been making the rounds across the web these past 24 hours. The creators of OpenSignalMaps have been logging which new devices download their product, and they’ve collected data on 681900 devices. The results are… Diverse.

A company called OpenMobile is demonstrating an application compatibility layer so Tizen can run Android applications, The Handheld Blog reports. “The solution is targeted towards OEMs and not end users. So it’s upto the manufacturers of Tizen devices to modify the kernel etc. to bake support in for ACL.”

IBM has announced that the paperwork has been signed and that the
contribution of the Lotus Symphony code to OpenOffice will happen shortly.
“The successful delivery of Apache OpenOffice 3.4 has enabled us to
finalize our grant with the the Apache Software Foundation and initiate
this new phase of effort within the community. This is about envisioning a
future for Apache OpenOffice that builds on the best code we can offer
together with the best developers who have mastered it.” For those
wondering about what this code offers, there is a
Symphony Contribution wiki page describing the most interesting
features.