The MK802 is an inexpensive device with an Allwinner A10 processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of storage. It looks like a USB flash drive, but it’s basically got all the workings of a tiny computer designed to run Google Android — including a USB port which you can use for a keyboard or mouse and an HDMI port for…
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VIA Technologies is entering Raspberry Pi territory with its latest product — the APC. It’s a $49 barebones computer designed to run Google Android. The system includes a processor, memory, storage, and a range of ports for connectivity — but no case. You can slip the Neo-ITX system board into a computer case designed for a Mini-ITX or MicroATX motherboard,…
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It’s official: Motorola Mobility is now a subsidiary of Google. The proud new owner has said that it plans to continue running Motorola as a separate business, but Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha is stepping down to make room for Dennis Woodside, the Googler who will now head up the division. Google will continue to offer Android software free of charge…
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The home screen on Android tablets works sort of like a desktop on a computer. You can arrange shortcuts for launching apps or place widgets to show the time, weather, headlines, or other information. But the folks behind Chameleon think there’s another way to use the Android home screen and they’ve developed an app for Android tablets that offers a…
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The FXI Cotton Candy is getting a lot of attention as a PC on a stick that will be available soon for just $200. But a Chinese manufacturer has beat the Cotton Candy to market with a $74 USB thumb-drive sized computer. The Model MK802 is available from AliExpress for $74, or even less if you order in bulk. The…
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Intel, Samsung, the Linux Foundation and a number of other companies are working together to develop a Linux-based operating system for phones and tablets called Tizen. It relies on web technologies such as HTML5, which makes developing apps for the platform a lot like developing for the web. But like any new platform, there probably won’t be many third party…
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Mozilla has released a new beta of Firefox for Android which includes a major overhaul of the user interface. For the first time Firefox Mobile now includes a new user interface that uses Android design elements and support for Adobe Flash. You can download Firefox Mobile 14 beta for Android from the Google Play Store. It requires Android 2.2 or…
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Google Drive is cool and all, what with the 5GB of online storage users get for free. But Microsoft offers 7GB of free storage with Windows Live SkyDrive (or up to 25GB for some users). Now there’s an easy way to access your SkyDrive account from an Android device. Microsoft offers official SkyDrive apps for Windows Phone and iOS, but…
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Amazon has released a minor update to the operating system for the Kindle Fire tablet. Software version 6.3.1 includes a handful of changes, with most aimed at giving users more control over their security options. The Kindle Fire 6.3.1 update includes: Additional parental controls Users can now password-protect purchases You can disable access to specific content libraries You can block…
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Google and Oracle are duking it out in court over the question of whether Google had the rights to use Java as a basis for the Android operating system. Meanwhile the developers at Xamarin have shown that Android doesn’t need to run on Java at all. They’ve taken the source code for Android and modified it so that instead of running…
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Acer and Sony have started rolling out Android 4.0 software updates for tablets that shipped with Android 3.x. We’d already heard that Sony and Acer would be rolling out the updates in April, and it’s nice to see the software arrive before the month is over. Here’s a run-down of tablets that are in line for the updates: Acer Iconia Tab…
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Most US wireless carriers charge a pretty penny for data plans. But once upon a time Google imagined a world where smartphone customers would pay just $9.99 per month for unlimited data. The Verge has been poring through documents from a court battle between Google and Oracle, and spotted a document outlining Google’s 2006 proposal to subsidize the cost of…
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