Mozilla's CEO Makes the Case for the Firefox Mobile OS

via allthingsd.com

No one likes a duopoly — in the tech business industry, that is. And one of the largest duopolies today is the mobile OS split between Apple’s iOS operating system and Google’s Android.

Mozilla, the foundation behind the popular Firefox Web browser, wants to take the lead amid the multiple companies vying for third place. The company is working on the Firefox OS, a mobile system software initiative similar to what Google is doing with the Chrome OS for the desktop. In a nutshell, it’s taking the set of standards coding for a browser environment and bringing it to an entire operating system for the phone.

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Facebook Home: Who Wins & Who Loses

via readwrite.com

Facebook did not just launch a "Facebook Phone" last week, as was expected. Instead, along with the HTC First, it offered up Home, a "family of apps" that is neither a phone nor a smartphone operating system - but which may ultimately have a far greater impact on the mobile industry than either one of those things.

Facebook Home overlays a visually appealing "Cover Feed" onto the Android smartphone home screen. The Facebook member's Newsfeed, pictures, texts, select notifications and "Chat Heads" of their friends are all displayed. If the Facebook Home user is inside another app - any other app - and receives a Facebook Message from a friend, for example, a "Chat Head" - the friend's face and message - pops up on the phone screen. While not a true operating system, Home becomes the de facto user experience.

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Facebook Home Review: Surrender Yourself Unto Zuck

via gizmodo.com

Facebook Home isn't a Facebook Phone, nor is it really "a bunch of apps," or a new operating system. It's an admission: Facebook means a lot to me, and is an interesting view of my life—and I want to look at it all the time, everywhere I go. If that sounds like you, Home is where your heart should be. If not, your phone will become something you hate.

Facebook Home doesn't do much because it's designed to not do very much. When you tap most Android phones to life, you trigger the information equivalent of someone shouting directly into your face, replete with spit flecks. Depending on your setup, you'll see a clock, clouds, weather, emails, news, IMs—a frothing info stew. And that's the point! Android lets you jam as much as you want into it.

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Facebook Home Leaks Online — But Don't Download It Yet

via mashable.com

The new Facebook Home launcher app for Android phones has already leaked online four days before launch, but resist the temptation to download it: It's super buggy and isn't worth the headache.

Tech site MoDaCo leaked on Monday a pre-release version of Facebook Home, the social network's launcher software that turns mobile devices into a Facebook-centric device. The beta software works with Google's Nexus 4 smartphone and Nexus 7 tablet, but eager early adopters have experienced some issues with the download.

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iOS 7: Is This What Apple's Next OS Will Look Like? - video

via mashable.com

It has barely been six months since Apple released iOS 6, but that doesn't mean we can't start dreaming about what's to come in iOS 7.

A new concept video for iOS 7 will have you dreaming of all the possibilities for Apple's next operating system for iPhone and iPad. Federico Bianco, who created the video, demonstrates how Apple could add a dream list of new features into the existing OS without drastically overhauling its look and feel...

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What Facebook's New Phone Software Will Look Like

via businessinsider.com

Facebook is reportedly set to announce new software for Android, Google's mobile software, tomorrow.

Today, @evleaks, an anonymous mobile leaker, posted photos of what it's going to look like at 9to5Google. Facebook's modification of Android appears to make the operating system simpler.

By most accounts, Facebook isn't totally taking over Android. It's just providing a "skin," or its own layer of design atop the operating system. This is widespread with Android. HTC and Samsung each have their own tweaks to Android. HTC has "Sense" and Samsung has "TouchWiz".

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iOS 7 reportedly behind schedule, but will come with a new look

via theverge.com

Back when we learned that Apple’s VP of industrial design, Jony Ive, would be leading human interface development across the entire company, many hoped it would mean some big changes for iOS, after years of iterations that appeared minor compared with the major overhaul of Android 4.0 and beyond. With the Worldwide Developer Conference looming just months away, all eyes are on iOS 7, and according to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, the push to meet its development targets is requiring the company to repurpose resources from the OS X team.

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Facebook Phone Is Coming, According To Reports

via businessinsider.com

The story that just won't die — the Facebook phone — is back.

Facebook sent out invitations for a media event next Thursday at its headquarters which read "Come see our new home on Android."

This immediately set off a wave of speculation about what Facebook would announce. The initial thought was that Facebook simply had a new, updated Android application.

But then reports started pouring in that Facebook was ready to announce a new operating system based on Android...

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Mozilla Unveils Firefox OS Smartphones At Mobile World Congress

via readwrite.com

It started with a gecko, of sorts. It then became a fennec, a type of winter fox. Now, it is a smartphone, and soon it will be available all over the world.

We are, of course, talking about Firefox OS, the open source, Web-based smartphone operating system created by Mozilla. The company announced Sunday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, that it has partnered with device manufacturers and mobile operators across the world to launch Firefox smartphones in 2013.

Mozilla also officially launched the Firefox Marketplace, an app store featuring mobile Web applications and websites that will be able to operate on the new smartphones. Both the Firefox OS and Marketplace are optimized towards HTML5 development and open Web standards using Mozilla’s Firefox browser as its backbone.

Mozilla claimed three initial manufacturers ready to build and deploy Firefox OS smartphones: LG, Alcatel and ZTE. These devices will be distributed to 17 global carriers in nine countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Serbia, Montenegro, Poland, Spain, Hungary and Venezuela. (Note that these are largely developing markets, and the list does not include the United States.) Since the announcement yesterday, Sony has also said that it would build and release Firefox OS smartphones in 2014. On the other hand, market leader Samsung has said that it is not interested in building smartphones for Mozilla (likely due to its investment in the similar Tizen platform).

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This Is Firefox OS in Action

via gizmodo.com

Firefox OS won't be coming to the U.S. until 2014, and chances are that its rather budget approach is not for you, dear gadget-obsessed Gizmodo reader. But Firefox OS burst onto the scene today at Mobile World Congress with announcements of new, upcoming handsets, and a global roll-out plan.

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Ubuntu for tablets unveiled: A crazy idea that might just work

via extremetech.com

Canonical has unveiled the tablet interface for Ubuntu, and the key features of Ubuntu Touch — the version of Ubuntu that will run on ARM smartphones and tablets. The Touch Developer Preview of Ubuntu, which you can install on your Nexus 7 or 10 tablet, or Nexus 4 smartphone, will be available to download on February 21.

The standout feature for Ubuntu Touch — if you believe Canonical’s hype machine, anyway — is side-by-side multitasking of Ubuntu phone and tablet apps. Ubuntu Touch (or whatever it ends up being called) introduces a new feature called “side stage” that looks almost exactly like split-screen mode in Windows 8′s Metro interface. The idea is that you can run a smartphone app on the smaller portion of the screen (which is portrait-oriented, like a smartphone) and a tablet app side-by-side. This sounds kind of cool until you realize that Ubuntu smartphones and tablets will run the same operating system (Ubuntu Touch), and that “side stage” is ultimately just a mirror of Windows 8′s split-screen mode.

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The History of Future Operating Systems: iOS vs. Android

via instantshift.com

It’s no surprise for me that you, the reader, enjoy this post using your new tablet or smartphone. Willing or not, we are living a great revolution and even if the transformations are very significant, many people don’t notice.

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RIM Could License BlackBerry 10

via businessinsider.com

RIM is essentially betting its entire company on the success of its new mobile operating system, BlackBerry 10. It'll officially unveil BB10 at a big press event on January 30 on it's own hardware, but RIM may also be open to letting other hardware manufacturers use it too.

In a recent interview with the German publication Die Welt that was passed around a lot this weekend, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said he'd be open to licensing BB10 to other manufacturers.

Here's what Heins said when asked about licensing BB10. Keep in mind this is a translated text using Google, so it's a little rough...

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Mozilla's First Peak Of Firefox OS Smartphones

via readwrite.com

Mozilla is turning its dreams of a smartphone running its own custom-built mobile operating system into a reality. In conjunction with Geeksphone, Mozilla announced two developer preview mobile devices today, dubbed Peak and Keon. Running Mozilla’s Firefox OS, neither of the phones are much to look at from a hardware perspective and are designed to bring the Web back to the forefront of the mobile ecosystem.

Keon is a low-range hardware option running a 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with a 3.5-inch screen, a 1580 mAh battery and a 3-megapixel camera. If that sounds basically like an iPhone 3G, well, it's really close to one from a hardware perspective.

Peak is slightly more powerful. It runs a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon processor with a 4.3-inch screen, 8-MP back and 2-MP front camera with a 1800 mAh battery. This phone would have been very happy at the top of the smartphone market… in 2011.

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Ubuntu OS Hands On CES 2013

via businessinsider.com

Ubuntu is a new open-sourced operating system for smartphones that seeks to be a free alternative to Android and iOS.

We got a personal demonstration of how the new Linux-based smartphone will work when it launches late this year.

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RIM will unveil BlackBerry 10 on January 30th in New York

via engadget.com

Just a few weeks until CES, and just under a month and half until we see BlackBerry 10 in its final, finished form. Invites to the US event have now been sent out, with calendars being circled for January 30th at a location in New York. Not only will we get the full details of RIM's new software, but those first devices that the new OS will arrive on. We'll be on hand ready to see exactly how the phone-maker plans to reverse its fortunes at the end of January.

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Analyzing The Most Popular Mobile Operating Systems

via inspirationfeed.com

When you decide to buy a smartphone, you would want to invest in a device that will last for at least a year. This article takes you through one of the most important factors that determine the usefulness of a smartphone — its operating system (OS). The OS running on all the hardware packed into a smart looking device determines how “smart” your smartphone really is.

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How Microsoft’s operating system has evolved over time

via techi.com

Have you ever wondered about the history of computers? ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator) might’ve been the first computer, but it was not the first computer with the mouse and keyboard that we’re accustomed to. The question is when (and how) did it start? Back in 1984 when Apple launched the Macintosh, the need for competition emerged, and at that time Microsoft engraved its name in history by introducing ‘Windows’. This gave rise to one of the most infamous rivalries in history — Apple vs. Microsoft. Within a short time, Microsoft’s OS became a success — and not just an ordinary success; it gained a huge customer base and is still dominant throughout the IT world. So let’s go back in time and see how Windows made its way to your computer (unless you’re a Mac or Linux user!).

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Windows 8 vs. Windows 7

via techi.com

Microsoft is releasing a new operating system, Windows 8, October 26th. There have been many changes, and many backend improvements, as well as a huge buzz on the Internet. But how well does the new operating system hold up?

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Windows 8 Is Really Confusing

via theatlanticwire.com

With less than a week to go before the big Windows 8 launch on October 26, everybody seems to be converging on the same unambiguous conclusion about the new software: bafflement. The business community is baffled about whether the new operating system can deliver the turnaround that Microsoft's stock needs right now. The technology community is baffled that Microsoft is tossing out a lot of widely known Windows conventions like the Start button and filling the screen with squares full of Facebook updates. Most important of all, consumers are just plain baffled. Nobody can figure out how to use the thing!

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