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Red Flag Software, others announce MeeGo-based operating systems
We're still waiting for a peek at some new hardware, but today's MeeGo Conference in San Francisco has now produced an announcement of another sort. Four companies -- including Red Flag Software, Linpus, 4tiitoo AG, and China Standard Software Company -- have announced that they're each planning to incorporate MeeGo 1.2 into their new MeeGo-based operating systems. All four will be geared towards tablets and feature a "MeeGo-based user interface," while the ones from Red Flag and Linpus will also apparently support netbooks. Head on past the break for Red Flag's press release, and look for its OS to make an appearance at Computex in just over a week's time.
Synaptics extends multitouch Gesture Suite to Linux, Chrome OS included
Well, it had to happen at some point. After eons of watching Mac OS and Windows users swiping away nonchalantly on their touchpads, Linux laptop buyers can now also join the multitouch fray. Synaptics has announced official Gesture Suite support for a wide range of Linux-based OS flavors -- Fedora, Ubuntu, RedFlag, SuSE, and Xandros get name-dropped, while future support for Chrome OS is promised -- which will all benefit from its set of multi-fingered touch and swipe responses. The infamous pinch-to-zoom is quite naturally included in the Suite, which will come bundled with new installations of those operating systems. We're not seeing any mention of a downloadable update as yet, but we imagine that'll be corrected in due course, whether by the company itself or the resourceful Linux community. Full PR after the break.
Newegg selling ASUS Eee Box with Red Flag Linux pre-installed
Well, Newegg just seems to be full of surprises these days. The latest example is this ASUS Eee Box (model EBXB202-BLK-E0037), which wouldn't be so remarkable if not for the fact that it comes pre-installed with the Chinese Linux distribution, Red Flag Linux. That helps bring the price down to just $189.99 after rebate, which also gets you the usual Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and the standard Intel integrated graphics. No word on the whole back story here, but it looks like this may well be the only readily available Red Flag Linux-based system available in the US right now. [Thanks, Michael]
Linux-powered Mobile Internet Device video walkthrough
If you're the dedicated, hardcore type who can sit through minutes upon minutes of walkthroughs despite painfully bad video quality, this one's for you. Of course, we can assume that even those of you who don't fall in the aforementioned camp would still be interested in a sneak (video) peek at the MIDINUX operating system, which is proudly showcased browsing the internet, entering text, playing back a movie, and playing games. The finalized product could obviously change ever-so-sightly between now and then, but regardless, be sure to click on through for an in-action look at Intel's Linux-based MID, and try not to become too envious, capiche?[Via eHomeUpgrade]
Intel's MID UMPCs: So long XP/Vista, hello Linux
Big news on the UMPC front this morning folks. Looks like Intel is shedding the Origami gorilla (read: Microsoft) as they prep a Linux-based platform to compete with Vista and XP-based UMPCs. Intel will unveil their new MID (Mobile Internet Device) platform at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing later this week. Unfortunately for their marketing department, they've already posted the slides. Unlike UMPCs which target mobile professionals, MIDs will target "consumers and prosumers" and feature a range of screen sizes from 4.5 to 6-inches with resolutions from 800 x 480 to 1024 x 600. Yup, these are the same devices we spotted under the in-house name of McCaslin sporting Intel's codenamed "Stealey" class of dual-core, battery-friendly processors. Intel's reference designs run a tweaked, 500MB version of China's RedFlag MIDINUX which boots in about 18 seconds (less than 5 seconds from standby) to a mix of open-source and proprietary code including Google Maps and web-based office and enterprise applications. Data access will be provided via HSDPA and WiFi. More GUI shots and reference designs in the gallery below.%Gallery-2587%[Via UMPC Portal] Read -- overview slides [Warning: PDF link] Read -- design slides [Warning: PDF link]
More red flag fun from TiVo and Macrovision
The continuing challenge that Macrovision seems to have with flagging TiVo content has claimed another victim. A harmless and potentially terribly boring flick from 1968 called "A Flea in Her Ear" has been flagged to expire within 24 hours of its first viewing once recorded to your TiVo in a totally legit manner. We're sure TiVo has some lame excuse this time like "broadcast noise" or something else totally irrelevant (the recording was, once again, made by a cable subscriber), and yes, we're sure nobody is terribly choked up about not being able to keep this flick around forever and ever. But it still threatens to uproot a very cornerstone of our freedom, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of TiVo. Thomas Jefferson would be totally ticked off.
