More than a year after announcing plans to buy Fitbit for $2.1 billion, Google has announced that the deal has closed. The announcement may be a little premature, but Google says that despite the company’s reputation for shutting down the companies it acquires and for monetizing everything with ads, there are no plans to sell […]
Tag: open source
Google’s Fuchsia OS is an open source project that now accepts community code contributions
Google already has two popular operating systems: Android for phones and tablets, and Chrome OS for laptops, desktops, and… some other tablets. But for the past few years the company has also been working on a new operating system called Fuchsia. Development has been semi-public, with Google publishing the source code online. But now Google […]
Lilbits: High-res, high-refresh laptop displays, GIMP turns 25, and a 3D printed smartphone keyboard
Laptops with 4K displays have been around for a few years at this point, and notebooks with screen refresh rates up to 300 Hz are a thing now too. But you know what we haven’t seen much of yet? Laptops with high-res displays and high-refresh rates. Enter a new line of laptops from Eluktronics, which […]
Ardour 6.5 adds support for VST 3 plugins (open source digital audio workstation)
Ardour is an open source digital audio workstation DAW for recording editing, and mixing music, podcasts, or other audio content. Available for Linux, Mac, and Windows it’s basically a free software alternative to commercial software like Pro Tools, Adobe Audition, Logic, Reaper, or Studio One. Up until recently it was missing something that most other […]
Lilbits: Amazon’s flying camera
As expected, Amazon introduced a new cheaper Fire TV Stick today, along with new Echo smart speakers, a new Echo Show 10 smart display, and a new cloud game streaming service. There’s also a new eero mesh WiFi system with support for WiFi 6 and a starting price of $129 for a single router. But […]
Have I Been Pwned code base is going open source
Since 2013, developer Troy Hunt has been offering an invaluable online security tool called Have I Been Pwned. Enter your email address, and the site will let you know if it’s been found in any known security breaches… giving you a pretty good idea of whether it’s time to change your password. Now Hunt says […]
Lilbits: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 leaks, Intel’s reorg, and Apple’s $129 Thunderbolt 3 cable
Samsung is holding an event on August 5th, where the company is expected to officially introduce the Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Z Fold 2, and several other products including new earbuds, a new smartwatch, and two new tablets. But thanks to a series of leaks, it’s not like we don’t already know most of the […]
DragonBox Pyra handheld computer inches closer to release
The DragonBox Pyra is a handheld computer that’s been under development for more than six years, but it’s finally almost ready to ship. Designed to run free and open source software, the little computer has a 5 inch display, a keyboard for thumb typing, and built-in game controllers. A small number of prototypes were sent […]
Thunderbird 78 open source email client released (Dark Mode & integrated Calendar and Tasks)
The latest stable version of the free and open source Thunderbird email client is now available for download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Thunderbird 78 is an extended-support release (ESR) that includes a number of changes from last year’s Thunderbird 68 ESR. Calendar and Tasks functionality has been built into Thunderbird, so you don’t need […]
CutiePi Raspberry Pi-based tablet hits Kickstarter for $169 and up
The CutiPie is a tablet with a 8 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display, a 5,000 mAh battery, and a carrying handle. It’s also a modular, open source device that’s powered by a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ Lite single-board computer. The tablet is designed to run Linux-based software and the hardware and software designs […]
Haiku R1/beta 2 released (open source BeOS-compatible operating system)
Haiku is an open source operating system that’s been under development for almost two decades as an effort to pick up where the discontinued BeOS left off. But it’s been slow going. Today the Haiku team released Haiku R1/beta 2. It comes close to two years after the first beta release and more than a […]
Command & Conquer source code released, C&C Remastered now available for $20
As promised, EA has released the source code for the first two games in the Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy games. The source code for the original C&C Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert games is now available at Github under a GPL version 3.0 license. The move came ahead of today’s release of Command […]