Linux Gadgets

The Probox2 Mini PC is an Android TV stick with a dual-core processor and a wireless remote. Plug the box into your television and connect it to your WiFi network and you can use the Probox 2 to run Android apps, stream music and movies from the internet, play games, or surf the web on your TV. It’s one of the better Android TV devices I’ve tested, thanks to decent WiFi performance and a sturdy case. It’s also always nice to get a model that comes with a remote — ...

Drawing inspiration from Facebook’s chat heads feature, Paranoid Android developers have completely overhauled Android’s notification and multitasking system with support for always-visible notifications which let you quickly open and close an app without minimizing the app you were using. The Paranoid Android team started showing off the software a week ago, and now there are builds of the custom version of Android available for a few phones and tablets, with support for ...

While there's an abundance of cloud storage services, few of them have dedicated conferences to help developers exploit that online space. Dropbox could well be a vanguard on that front, then -- it just announced its inaugural developer conference, DBX. The initial event takes place on July 9th at San Francisco's very familiar-sounding Fort Mason Center. Along with providing help straight from the source for the Sync API and other coding tools, DBX will serve as the launch platform for ...

Today's Amazon Gold Box deal is worth checking out. It's 3M's experimental Roku streaming projector for $170. There aren't many gadgets like this one—the idea is to pair a small, portable projector with a Roku Streaming Stick and then you'll be able to watch Netflix or Hulu wherever and whenever you want. The actual experience isn't so polished: Brent Rose reviewed it , and had problems with the resolution (a measly 854×480), the built-in speakers (quiet and tinny), and the ability to ...

It’s been less than half a year since Acer introduces the 7 inch Iconia B1 Android tablet which sells for around $150 in the US, and even less in other countries. But Acer is already getting ready to launch a next-generation Iconia B1 tablet with more memory and a slightly higher price. Focus Taiwan reports Acer also plans to launch a new 10 inch Android tablet called the Iconia A3 this summer. The new Iconia B1 7 inch tablet will have 1GB of RAM instead of the 512MB you get with ...

European budget tablet company Archos is adding an 8 inch tablet with built-in 3G capabilities to its lineup. The Archos 80 Xenon is up for pre-order in Germany for about 226 Euros ($296 US) including VAT.  Other retails are charging as little as 170 Euros ($223 US). The tablet has a 1.2 GHz processor and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. But the rest of the specs are kind of underwhelming. The Archos 80 Xenon features an 8 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel TFT display, and just 4GB of built-in ...

Amazon hat in China Google überholt und hat den eigenen Appstore für Android jetzt in China eröffnet. Damit ist Amazon das erste westliche Unternehmen, das bezahlte Android-Apps in China verkauft, im chinesischen Google Play Store gibt es bislang nur kostenlose Apps. Interesse an einem App-Verkauf in China hat mit Sicherheit auch Google selbst, schließlich verkaufen sich Android-Smartphones in China ausgezeichnet. Ganz ohne es an die große Glocke zu hängen hat Amazon jetzt den neuen ...

There are plenty of Android-powered TV boxes designed to let you run apps, surf the web, and even run the XBMC media center software on yocur TV. But the G-Box Midnight MX2 is one of the few that’s really designed with XBMC in mind. Matricom’s latest TV box comes with a custom version of XBMC preloaded. Not only does it support hardware-accelerated video playback for a wide range of video formats, but it’s also configured to make installing add-ons for Hulu, Amazon, ...

Debian might not exactly be a household name, but it’s one of the most powerful operating systems based on GNU/Linux, and many of the most popular Linux operating systems (including Ubuntu) are based on Debian. You don’t see major updates to Debian very often, because the developers are more concerned about offering stability than bleeding edge features. But after years of development, Debian 7 “Wheezy” is now stable and ready for download. The last time we saw a ...

Valve's bid to lure gamers away from Microsoft's platform just got a little sweeter: Left 4 Dead 2 is finally available on Linux. Despite early appearances in early leaks, the game has been absent from Steam's Linux compatible library. The wait might have been worth it -- early ports of the game apparently only ran at six frames per second, but it eventually surpassed its Windows counterpart. Now, Valve is looking towards is community to fine tune the port even further, offering a ...

In a market crowded by ocelots, cows and mountain lions, it's nice to see an operating system that isn't named after an animal. The trend bucking OS? Debian's 7.0 update, Wheezy. Okay, it's technically the name of a penguin from Toy Story, but we'll give it a pass. The distro's latest revision hit over the weekend, offering users an improved installer, new media codecs, UEFI support and a handful of tools to help users create their own XCP and OpenStack cloud severs. Perhaps even more ...

Pebble and its developer partners have been working at a manic pace in recent days, and they've just released a flood of status updates that prove they're not easing up. Along with confirming that the first red watches have shipped inside of the past week, Pebble is now claiming one of its first notable golf apps through an updated version of Mobile Software Design's Freecaddie. Would-be PGA stars can check the hole distance and par when paired up with an Android phone, with iOS ...

Just over a month ago, CyanogenMod founder Steve Kondik left Samsung, with a parting elucidation about the Galaxy S 4. The very same phone was expected to not be supported by the CM crew, leaving prospective buyers and fans of the firmware to consider their loyalties. Hope was restored when Kondik teased an image via Google+ showing the about screen for CM10.1 on T-Mobile's version of the handset (SGH-M919). Now, he's confirmed it's here (and quickly done, too), with word that other ...

Hello, what's this? While many of us were out enjoying the spring weather, @evleaks was busy posting photos of an unknown LG smartphone that, if real, represents a notable shift in the Korean company's design language. The device shares the Nexus 4's slightly curvy outline and lack of front-facing hardware buttons, but appears to have a taller screen, a new speaker grille and a different sensor layout. It's not very likely to be part of the Nexus program with that conspicuous LG logo ...

If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought a leak of the BlackBerry R-Series smartphone in red, a clever new notification system from the Paranoid Android team and quarterly earnings from Leap Wireless, the parent company of Cricket. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of ...

Back in January, XBMC for Android trotted out what it called the first End User Friendly build of its mobile media center -- a release designed with compatibility in mind. Half a million downloads later, the team is ready for the custom build's first major update, releasing XBMC for Android's first stable End User Friendly version today. "This is the first and only truly End User Friendly release of XBMC available on the internet," writes the team on its official blog. "We're hoping ...

One of the biggest highlights of Android's jump to 4.2 was the addition of Photo Sphere, a 360-degree panoramic shooting mode that pans vertically as well as horizontally. It's a neat trick, but the only way to share it was on Google+ or on a device running Android 4.2 or higher. Now, thanks to a new widget that utilizes the Google+ Platform API, you can embed an interactive 360-degree slideshow on any website you choose -- so long as your photos are stored on G+ and PicasaWeb. If ...

We've had a busy week, including our brand-new look . But what hasn't changed is that we've still got a whole bunch of posts for you to peruse. Between the spire on WTC One, the next killer feature in smartphones, Google Now for iOS, the AK-47's big makeover, Iron Man costumes and more, we've got something for everyone. Check it out below. 10 DIY Iron Man Suits That Give Tony Stark a Run for His Money Iron Man has finally returned to theaters across the country, ...

The rise of the Internet has come hand-in-hand with anime's explosive growth in popularity and reach. A genre that just a couple decades ago was only available stateside through informal networks trading VHS tapes—the original fan-subbers—has gone mainstream, winning Oscars, breaking box office records, and fostering a rabid online fanbase. And that fan base isn't just here for the tsundere school girls in knee high socks and too-short skirts, the themes and devices of many modern ...

A few months ago, NASA sent some Nexus Ones into space to see if a smartphone could hold its own against the million dollar satellites already up there. The answer is "not exactly." When it comes to photography, it's probably best to stick with the space-professionals. The trio of smartphone satellites coordinated to take hundreds of pictures of the blue marble, which were then sent back to Earth piecemeal over amateur radio waves for reassembly by space-enthusiast ...