"Chalk up another one to the folks behind the Pre dev wiki. Shortly after publishing our first expose into the current state of Pre hacks, details of another big accomplishment have just made their way out. Original NES Nintendo emulation is now possible if you can brave the developer mode switch and follow a few recompile and configuration instructions. Basically, it works by installing a native Linux version of the FCEUltra NES emulator from within a Debian chroot. Head over to this wiki page for the step by step. You can also check out a quick demo video embed after the break. " via palminfocenter.com
"Access has released a new update to its Palm OS Garnet VM for Nokia Internet Tablets running Maemo. Garnet VM Beta 4 (v1.03b) is mainly a maintenance release that includes some stability improvements and minor bug fixes. The Garnet VM is a virtual machine that essentially acts as an emulator with the ability to run native Palm OS applications on the Nokia N770, N800 and N810 devices. It supports over 30,000 native software applications written for the Palm OS, including some of the most popular mobile applications on the market, such as Google Maps, Bejeweled, SnapperMail and Sudoku. The Garnet VM runs compatible Palm OS applications with a 320 x 480 screen resolution. There are settings to change the default storage size, display configuration and storage heap. Basic versions of the Palm OS Garnet Address Book, Calculator, Date Book and Memo Pad are included. Users are able to install any Palm OS application and can configure compatibilty per app (memory, display and device model). The Garnet VM for Nokia Internet Tablets also includes Graffiti 1 character recognition, TCP/IP Networking support, the ability to Network Hotsync and language support for English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. "via palminfocenter.com
Motorola announced an EV-DO smartphone with both a slide-out keypad and a virtual QWERTY keyboard. The Evoke QA4 is equipped with a 2.8-inch touchscreen, accelerometers, Bluetooth, 256MB RAM, and an optional 8GB microSD card, and provides Motorola's new Web 2.0-like widget interface, says the company. Features listed for the Evoke QA4 include:
In the fourth quarter of 2008, worldwide sales of smartphones to end users reached 38.1 million units, an increase of 3.7 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Global sales of smartphones for 2008 reached 139.3 million devices, up 13.9 per cent compared with 2007.“After a strong third quarter with new product introductions, sequential growth slowed down again in the fourth quarter as fewer compelling new products and the worsened economic climate continued to make data plans associated with smartphones out of reach for most consumers,“ said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner. “In general in 2008, the focus from vendors and operators on increasing their smartphone portfolios remained very strong. Samsung, RIM, HTC and Apple saw their volumes and share increase during 2008 (see Table 2), thanks to their ability to offer compelling device experiences and touch interfaces.” Read more inside..
"Access is exhibiting at the Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona. The company has been showing off v3.0 of the Access Linux Platform, which was announced last October. Engadget caught a demo of it running on a TI Zoom OMAP34x-II Mobile Development Platform. ALP v3.0 features a revised UI with new support for "Hollywood-style" graphics, transitions and added support for 2.5 and 3D graphics environments. The new version of ALP also adds Limo support and retains the Garnet OS legacy compatibility layer. ALP has yet to see a consumer release on any shipping mobile hardware. LiMo Compliance Access Linux Platform v3.0 delivers on Access' commitment to provide LiMo compliance to help OEMs/ODMs, operators and application developers reduce development requirements and time-to-market for LiMo devices. Furthering its support for the LiMo Foundation and the advancements of mobile Linux innovation, Access has also contributed components to the LiMo Reference Platforms that will further ease the deployment of sophisticated and differentiated LiMo devices. Access' Strategic Contributing Offer (SCO) is a subset of Access Linux Platform v3.0. "We are pleased to count Access Linux Platform v3.0 as one of the LiMo Compliant products showcased at this year's Mobile World Congress," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation. "Access' contributions to the LiMo Platform and the introduction of their LiMo Reference Implementation are greatly appreciated and will accelerate the availability of LiMo further compliant devices." "ACCESS continues to deliver on its promise to provide a broad range of solutions that are right for today's fast-paced market. We remain committed to setting the standard for mobile Linux devices, and ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 is the next step in our technology evolution," said Tomihisa Kamada, Co-CEO and president of ACCESS. "The flexibility, modularity and openness of Linux make it ideal for mobile operators to deliver customized services — and our ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 and ACCESS Linux Platform mini products make this customization easy to develop and market to consumers." via palminfocenter.com
"Motorola has launched a new phone in Korea, the Motoprizm. It’s a touchscreen clamshell phone. Here are some of the most relevant features of the Motoprizm:
DMB support
E-wallet function
3.5mm headphone jack
USB 2.0 connectivity
Bluetooth 2.0
Memory card slot
2.8 inch 260k color TFT touchscreen at 240 x 400 resolution
3 megapixel camera
The handset is said to also offer daily diet and lifestyle suggestions. I am not really looking for any of those features in my touchscreen phone. I’d more interested in prices and whether the Motoprizm has 3G support or not." via mobilewhack.com
"Developers at Linux consulting firm NthCode have ported Android 1.0 to Nokia's N810 Internet tablet -- and they explain how they did it in a detailed LinuxDevices whitepaper. The paper details the changes Google made to the Linux kernel, and offers step-by-step porting tips. As detailed in the whitepaper by NthCode CEO Peter McDermott, his full Android port follows up on this July's announcement from hackers PenguinBait, B-man, and QWERTY-12, who hacked a pre-release version of Android onto the N810. With the release of the final Android 1.0 in late October, McDermott and his team, including NthCode developer Tang Yongjun, decided it would be fun to take the next step. NthCode is a Beijing-based consulting firm specializing in Linux device development, in markets that include mobile phones, set-top boxes, and "converged" multimedia devices.In the whitepaper, McDermott provides an overview of Android and its underlying foundation of Linux, Eclipse, and Android's Java-like Dalvik Virtual Machine (VM). Dalvik, he suggests, was created by Google "to escape from needing to cede control or pay a license fee to Sun." He also describes the Android emulator, which he dubs "as complete an emulator as we have ever seen."The NthCode team ran a painstaking comparison between Android's Linux kernel and the mainline kernel and found the differences to be "significant." Google had changed 75 files and added an additional 88, making substantial changes in emulation, power management, Netfilter, debugging, memory handling, and other areas.After summarizing the changes, the author takes the reader step by step through porting the kernel changes to the 2.6.25 Linux kernel, adding the Android patches, and bringing up Android on the N810. " Read more here:
"Gartner has just published their latest quarterly report on the worldwide smartphone market. The company says in the third quarter of 2008, the global smartphone market reported its weakest year-on-year growth since they began tracking the industry. Worldwide smartphone sales to end-users totalled 36.5 million units in Q3 2008, an 11.5% increase from the same period in 2007. In addition, Apple overtook Microsoft to become the number 3 smartphone OS vendor with the iPhone surpassing sales of Windows Mobile devices." Read more inside..
"Access has released a new update to its Palm OS Garnet VM for Nokia Internet Tablets. New features in the Garnet VM Beta 3 (v1.02b) include various bug fixes in Garnet VM core components, some bug fixes in Garnet PIM applications and application compatibility updates for Billiards and Toxic Balls. The Garnet VM is a virtual machine that essentially acts as an emulator with the ability to run native Palm OS applications on the Nokia N770, N800 and N810 devices. It supports over 30,000 native software applications written for the Palm OS, including some of the most popular mobile applications on the market, such as Google Maps, Bejeweled, SnapperMail and Sudoku. The Garnet VM runs compatible Palm OS applications with a 320 x 480 screen resolution. There are settings to change the default storage size, display configuration and storage heap. Basic versions of the Palm OS Garnet Address Book, Calculator, Date Book and Memo Pad are included. Users are able to install any Palm OS application and can configure compatibilty per app (memory, display and device model). The Garnet VM for Nokia Internet Tablets also includes Graffiti 1 character recognition, TCP/IP Networking support, the ability to Network Hotsync and language support for English, French, Italian, German and Spanish." via palminfocenter.com
"ACCESS CO., LTD., a global provider of advanced software technologies to the mobile and beyond-PC markets, today extended its ACCESS family of Linux platforms to include ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 and the new ACCESS Linux Platform mini, a mobile Linux platform targeted at price-sensitive and emerging markets. In a presentation to key constituents at its annual ACCESS Day event, Tomihisa Kamada, ACCESS CTO, executive vice president and co-founder, gave a preview demonstration of ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0, the next generation of the company’s flagship mobile Linux platform, which provides an advanced UI and LiMo compatibility essential to major carriers worldwide. The demonstration showcased highly detailed visuals, smooth transitions and animations, and an intuitive and engaging user experience.Additionally, ACCESS introduced ACCESS Linux Platform mini, the newest member of the ACCESS family of mobile Linux solutions. ACCESS Linux Platform mini is a compact, commercial-grade Linux platform designed for mobile and next-generation Internet-enabled devices. ACCESS Linux Platform mini features a scalable and customizable platform that includes a comprehensive application suite suitable for devices ranging from feature phones and low-end smartphones to Internet-enabled, beyond-PC devices, such as portable navigation devices, portable media players and set-top boxes. ACCESS Linux Platform mini is well-suited for the more stringent cost and performance requirements of mobile and Internet-enabled devices in emerging markets. The product’s market-proven technology has already been commercially deployed in China and Taiwan on devices from manufacturers such as global leader Haier Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Novarobo Technology Co., Ltd. " Read more inside..
"In my Archos 5 first impressions piece, I said that the Internet Media Tablet's ARM Cortex A8 processor and Opera 9 browser create "the best ARM-based browsing experience around right now and [is] definitely the one to beat." To qualify that statement, I've put the Archos 5 against the iPhone 3G and Nokia N810 (both commonly regarded as the best ARM-powered devices on the market) in a round of website load time tests.Though page load time is just one of many ways to evaluate a web browsing experience, it is often the most important. Full Web 2.0 support is key, too, but most consumers tend to value faster over fuller, especially when it comes to mobile internet devices." Read more here:
"The first Alpha version of Firefox Mobile is to be released next week, and to be only available for Nokia's touchscreen equipped N810 Internet Tablet. Of course, as the N810 has a touchscreen, Firefox Mobile will sport a touchscreen UI. Don't think this version of Firefox will be stripped down - it features many things that are available on the Desktop version. Obviously, given Firefox is Open-Source, expect to see some exsisting add-ons from the Desktop version ported, and, obviously, exclusive ones.On the subject of Firefox Mobile, it's been revealed that a version for Windows Mobile is in development, and, an Alpha version is schedule for release, sometime within the next few months. Though the screenshots don't indicate much of note, it's nice to see them regardless." via mobile-review.com
"An Israeli firm will ship a smartphone that runs Linux to the Russian market, according to industry reports. Possibly manufactured by Sharp, Emblaze Mobile's "Edelweiss" phone will offer GPS and an unprecedented 854 x 480 touchscreen, while running the Access Linux Platform (ALP), reports suggest.On its website, Emblaze Mobile offers only a spinning 3D Flash image of the Edelweiss, along with a "coming soon" teaser. However, a number of sites have reported that the phone will go on sale in Russia by November. The rumor may have originated on the Russian mobile news site, Mobile Review, which has apparently taken down its initial story about the phone. However, sites such as Engadget have already followed up, listing leaked features for the Edelweiss such as the following:
854 x 480 touchscreen
8GB or 16GB of storage
3G cellular capability
GPS
Camera (not listed but visible in photo)" Read more here:
"The latest Maemo builds (code named Diablo) offer OTA updates for the OS2008 and the installed applications. It doesn’t have to be rocket science anymore when you update your Nokia N810 or any other tablet. You’re only 3 clicks away from totally happiness and coolness every tablet geek ever imagined.Maemo automatically checks for updates when is connected to the internet. If a new version of the OS2008 or third party software is available, a cute orange exclamation mark starts blinking. You click on it and a summary of what the update is all about pops up. Click on Install updates via Application Manager and you’re done. Smart, simple, elegant OS and application updates in your fingerprints. Check the screenshots after the jump. I’m currently running Maemo 4.2008.30-2 on a Nokia N810." More photos here:
"The Pandora is equipped with 128MB of DDR SDRAM and 256MB of internal flash, and sports a 4.3-inch display offering a 5:3 aspect ratio. The device includes 802.11g WiFi, a USB host, dual SDHC slots, and a serial port. It includes a QWERTY keyboard and microphone, as well as TV-out, A/V-out, and headphone/microphone input. Game controls include a directional pad and two analog nubs, with rubber grip and click function. Specs for the final version of the clamshell-format Pandora, which measures only 5.5 x 3.3 x 1.1 inches (140 x 84 x 28mm), or slightly smaller than Nintendo's DS Lite, appear to be almost identical to those published in March when the open source Pandora was announced. New information on the Pandora includes the addition of Bluetooth, and a claim for ten-hour battery life. The ship date may have slipped by six months, but the expected price has risen only $10, to $330." Read more here:
"Just yesterday I was taking note of how much of a consumer push BlackBerrys are making these days. A few years ago, the word BlackBerry was synonymous with with "work", but I'm seeing more and more consumers carry the RIM devices around. More support for entertaining functions like audio and video content are surely helping that trend, which continued yesterday with the announcement of a partnership with TiVo. Based on that, I probably shouldn't be surprised at the latest smartphone market share numbers from Gartner. Nearly every platform sold more devices, but the big winner in my mind was RIM. The graph above shows the smartphone market share in the second quarter of 2008. Here's a quick rundown of the numbers this year and last, as well as my thoughts on what the 2009 will look like." Read more here:
"Plain and simple: in this new fring for Linux version (1.2.1.63) we’ve added a history TAB and integrated Dial pad (screen capture below) making calling via VoIP even easier. Also in this version we have addressed and resolved many bugs (though we’re pretty sure there are still more bugs to zap) This is for Nokia N800/N810 devices." Go get it from here
"Wind River announced it will acquire a Korean developer of Linux mobile GUI stacks. The $16 million acquisition of privately-held Mizi Research will bring Wind River "world-class mobile expertise" and will "accelerate its mobile services presence in Asia Pacific," says the company.The acquisition of Seoul-based Mizi depends on customary closing conditions, says Wind River, but is expected to occur by October 31st. The deal will not materially affect 2009 earnings, instead accruing to FY10, Wind River said. Founded in 1999, Mizi was among the first wave of companies attempting to commercialize embedded Linux. Today, it has 65 employees, and its Mizi mobile stack is integrated in 20 commercialized consumer electronics products, says Wind River.Mizi is known primarily for its Prizm lightweight Linux-compatible stack, pictured above. Rev'd to Prizm 3.0 in May 2007, Prizm incorporates its own small-footprint, embedded graphics stack. This makes it a bit less customizable than GTK-based heavy stacks, but able to run faster on less expensive hardware. Prizm is supplied as an SDK (software development kit) based on an Eclipse 3.0 GUI framework. It supports both Linux and Windows development hosts." Read more here:
"In 1997 the former Hewlett-Packard engineer was asked by Apple’s founder, Steven P. Jobs, to lead the hardware engineering division at the company, which was then struggling. Apple was wallowing in financial losses and the Mac’s appeal was waning. Mr. Rubinstein agreed, and over the next nine years he and his team of engineers breathed new life into the company by helping develop the iMac and the iPod.Those experiences should serve him well as he seeks to resuscitate Palm, whose roots in Silicon Valley go back to the PalmPilot, the revolutionary handheld computer, and the Treo, which turned heads as one of the first smartphones.In recent years Palm lost its way. Its share of the smartphone market has been halved to about 16.9 percent over the last two years. First, Research in Motion found the sweet spot of business users with its BlackBerry. More recently, Apple grabbed consumers’ fancy with the iPhone.Palm has tried to innovate beyond the five-year-old Treo with little effect. It announced with great fanfare last year that it would build the Foleo, a cross between a smartphone and notebook computer, only to cancel the project three months later. While cellphone makers like Samsung, LG and R.I.M. brought out products to compete with the iPhone, Palm has told Treo loyalists and investors to be patient. They will need to be. Palm’s stock price is down 90 percent since its high in March 2000. " Read more here:
"Access has positioned its Access Linux Platform (ALP) for use on mobile Internet devices (MIDs). At the LinuxWorld Expo this week in San Francisco, Access will demonstrate new ALP features such as Web-based widget and touchscreen support on a TI Zoom mobile development kit. ALP has been primarily marketed as a mobile phone stack in recent years. And, it appears to be finally gaining success, with efforts ongoing to adapt ALP to NTT DoCoMo's 3G network. NTT DoCoMo is Japan's largest carrier. However, ALP was originally conceived as a general-purpose operating system for mobile devices. Its best-known design win so far is probably the Linux-based Amazon Kindle eBook reader. ALP's flexibility will enable MID makers to create differentiated devices offering Web 2.0 experiences on larger touchscreen displays than phones typically have, Access says.The first MIDs are expected to arrive this year, with the market reaching 90 million units annually by 2012, according to ABI research cited by Access. Other MID Linux suppliers include LiMo, Moblin, and Maemo, according to another recent ABI report. While Maemo and Moblin are open source projects, LiMo and Access both stand to attract software developers to their respective phone stacks by supporting MIDs; having real target hardware simplifies application development. Seshu Madhavapeddy, GM of the Mobile Internet Device business group at Texas Instruments, stated, "By working with ACCESS to integrate OMAP platform-based hardware and software, we can deliver no-compromise web browsing and an enhanced user experience."In other news, Access announced that ALP has gained support for web-based Widgets, similar to those offered by Google, Yahoo, and AOL. Widgets are mini-apps, coded using Web standards, that run in unframed browser windows that lack buttons, allowing them to look like any other application. Widgets are typically used to update frequently viewed data or personalized content from the Web, and can even be used for user interface elements. " via linuxdevices.com
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"Motorola has launched a new phone in Korea, the Motoprizm. It’s a touchscreen clamshell phone. Here are some of the most relevant features of the Motoprizm:
"An Israeli firm will ship a smartphone that runs Linux to the Russian market, according to industry reports. Possibly manufactured by Sharp, Emblaze Mobile's "Edelweiss" phone will offer GPS and an unprecedented 854 x 480 touchscreen, while running the Access Linux Platform (ALP), reports suggest.On its website, Emblaze Mobile offers only a spinning 3D Flash image of the Edelweiss, along with a "coming soon" teaser. However, a number of sites have reported that the phone will go on sale in Russia by November. The rumor may have originated on the Russian mobile news site, Mobile Review, which has apparently taken down its initial story about the phone. However, sites such as 
