Bigger is Better... Right?

It appears the mantra of "bigger is better" has gripped developers of the late as the handsets we see keep getting larger and larger. When most of us first saw the HTC Evo


we thought "Wow, 4.3 inch screen? That's huge!" We were used to seeing smart phone devices such as the iPhone, Nexus One, or N900 that at most sported a 3.7 inch screen. Personally I had assumed this was as large as our mobile handhelds were going to be getting for awhile.

I was wrong, twice over in fact.

In case you are unaware earlier this month the HTC Evo's record for the largest touch screen mobile device was shattered by Dell's Streak


Which boasts a 5 inch touch screen. Now I guess it is still within reason to carry a 5 inch device in your pocket, it provides a good viewing size that is at the same time still decently portable. How long will the Streak hold the "largest screen" award for?

Apparently not very long.

ViewSonic announced today that come October of this year they would be releasing a 7 inch android tablet with "full phone capabilities"


Just me or does something with a 7 inch screen seem obscenely large to be holding to your face to make a phone call with? Personally I am content with the 3.5 inch screen on my N900, if I need any more viewing space than that I am willing to wait the 20 seconds it takes for my netbook to boot.

What do you think, how large is "too large" for a handheld device? Are these larger screens useful or are we getting to the point where our "phones" are really trying to do/be too many things at once?

~Jeff Hoogland

Mugen Power N900 Extended Battery on the Way

If you are an N900 owner then you know one of the largest drawbacks to the device is the somewhat disappointing battery life. With heavy usage I've found I can drain the stock battery in my N900 in just over two hours. Searching around online I came across Mugen Power Batteries for the N900. Their extended battery sports 2400mah and should last much longer than the stock battery. Expect a comprehensive review once I get the battery and get a chance to run it through it's paces.

~Jeff Hoogland

Pearson Education - You will NOT use Linux

Summer is winding down and fall semesters are starting all around the country. My girlfriend started classes this week and one of her online classes required her to purchase access to the Pearson Online Education system. After she paid out the $55.00 it costs to gain access to the website she clicked through to the login screen and was greet by this lovely page


I felt like bending over and saying "Thank you sir! May I have another?" After dealing with a similar issue on Blackboard, I'm starting to get the feeling that education companies dislike FOSS operating systems. I told her to try and login anyways - The website refused. Upon clicking on their "system and browser requirements" link I was presented with the following page

Apparently I was wrong about this issue being similar to the one I had with Blackboard. At least Blackboard supported FOS browsers on Windows and OSX. That's right, not only does this Pearson Education system require Windows or OSX it required you to use Internet Explorer or Safari. In case you missed it, towards the bottom of the above screen shot

The kicker? The "MyLab" courses are rendered using Javascript and Flash. Those are both cross-platform technologies last I checked (that both ran perfectly fine in Firefox).

Now I understand that it can take a lot of time and resources to support another operating system/browser. Even if Pearson isn't willing to "support" Linux/Firefox users on their website they could at least let us login using the operating system/browser of our choice after seeing their warning message.

Finally, here is where you can contact the Pearson Education system:

http://247pearsoned.custhelp.com/app/ask

If you have a moment, please shoot them an email like I am going to, stressing the importance of cross-platform for technology - especially in an educational setting. Also for those all mentioning the user agent switcher, this is just a band-aid to a greater issue. It contributes to the idea these companies have that people only use Internet Explorer (or Safari on OSX). It is as bad as buying a system that has Windows on it and then not returning the Windows license when you intend the system to run Linux.

~Jeff Hoogland

Bordeaux helps support Wineconf 2010 and FreeBSD

Projects die without dedicated people to manage them and having funding for an FOSS project allows for those dedicated people to spend more time devoted to the project itself (instead of working that silly "day job"). If you have been by my blog before then you know I write about Wine software every so often and on a few specific occasions about Bordeaux, a commercial Wine product.

Now through October 3rd, 2011 Bordeaux is running a special donation promotion to help out a couple of important open source projects. The first of these is the annual Wineconf, that is to be held in Paris, France this year. The second is FreeBSDNews.net, a good news source for what is going on in the BSD community. The third and final project is the FreeBSD foundation itself, which is a non-profit organization.

As long as the donation sale is going on 50% of the cost of Bordeaux, which is only $25.00 at most, will be donated to one of these projects. Linux and Open Solaris copies sold will donate to the Wineconf and Mac, FreeBSD, and PC-BSD sales will be donated to the BSD projects listed above. Bordeaux is also the only commercial Wine solution to offer support and "official" builds for the BSD and Open Solaris platforms.

If you are unsure what Bordeaux is/if it is right for you be sure to check out my hands on review of Bordeaux 2.0.4 If you already have already purchased Bordeaux (or another commercial Wine software) then remember - you can always just donate right to one of the above project anyways.

~Jeff Hoogland

N900 OtterBox - Hands on Review

Ever looked at your N900 and think "You know what this needs? It needs to be bigger!"

Yea... I didn't think so. I felt the same way, but I also knew that the $500.00 investment I had made in my N900 was worth protecting. Now, casing a sliding phone is not as easy as casing something that has no moving parts, such as an iPhone or the Nexus One. Because of this not all cases that are designed for the N900 are created equally, in fact prior to the OtterBox I had owned a soft rubber case for the N900 that was a very poor quality.

Thankfully the OtterBox was of a much higher caliber. Composed of two sturdy, hard plastic pieces the OtterBox clips firmly over the front and back of your N900.

The OtterBox has a good design to it. There are openings on either side of the casing so the speakers can be heard properly and the openings for the MicroUSB and 1/8in port are each covered by a rubber stopper. The latter of these two features is very useful if you are like myself and often leave your N900 rest in the cup holder of your car where condensation can build up. This water can leave rust damage over time on your hardware. The top part of the case also does not obscure the Nokia or N900 logos at the top of the screen


Over all the case does not lend that much more thickness to the phone and the small amount it does add I feel is well worth the extra protection the casing offers should my N900 take an unexpected tumble to the ground. There are only two minor draw backs to the case. First is if you use the kickstand on your N900 often the view angle is reduced by a fair amount due to the extra thickness.

Second, the hard plastic case around the 1/8in (audio/video out) port is kinda narrow. The default ear-buds that come with the N900 plug in just fine, but a fatter 1/8in connection does not fit (I often use my N900 for audio playback).

And finally - in case you hadn't picked one up yet, the OtterBox for the N900 also comes with a pair of screen protectors designed to fit the N900's screen. This way should you like to carry around your N900 in your pocket you don't have to worry about spare change or your keys damaging your hand held's screen. You can pick up an OtterBox designed for the N900 at the cost of $25.00 over on Amazon.com (More Amazon savings with these coupons). If you ask me the case is worth every penny, but in the end it is your device! So if you want to risk it taking a fall unprotected that is your choice ;)

~Jeff Hoogland

Keep the "Linux" out of it Please

Android and Ubuntu are arguably the two largest Linux success stories to date. Ubuntu with its soaring success over other Linux-based desktop solutions and Android with its seemingly single handed domination of the mobile market.

What makes these two distributions so successful?

Anyone who owns a company or sells a product will tell you - you can have the best product in the world and no one would use it if you don't have the right advertising to back it up. Now, semantics and marketing are not the only reasons these distros have been so successful, they are genuinely good products, but there is no doubting that good PR doesn't hurt. This brings me to an interesting question:

What does Ubuntu's advertising have in common with Android's advertising?

Neither of them make any mention of that frightening word "Linux". Don't believe me? Take a look at the Ubuntu and Android homepages, do you see the word "Linux" anywhere to be found? This is not by chance, this is by design. The Blog of Helios asked an interesting question a few months back:

Is the Linux brand poisoned?

Canonical and Google certainly seem to think so. What do you think? Does the Linux name need to be left off a product in order for it succeed? If so, why do you think this is?

~Jeff Hoogland

Why this Linux Fan roots for MeeGo - not Android

Some people will tell you fragmentation is one of the main things that is holding back Linux from desktop adoption. Not having a unified name, packaging system, or heck even desktop environment often confuses new users and puts them into overload - Too much choice can be a bad thing.

Android is currently the only real player in the Linux mobile market. Now don't get me wrong, I am glad Android jumped in record time to right near the top of the smart phone market. I'm also glad that through this success it has put the power of Linux into the hands of millions of people (many of whom are none the wiser about their penguin powered device).

If Android is doing so well, one might ask - why does there need to be another Linux variation present in the mobile market? For starters, just as too much fragmentation is a bad thing having only one choice I feel is equally as bad. MeeGo will provide an alternate mobile platform that is Linux based for those of us who prefer something different to Android. There are a few reasons I personally prefer what MeeGo is to become instead of what Android is today.

First, MeeGo is backed by the Linux Foundation - a non-profit organization. Google has a lot of fantastic free services (heck this blog is even hosted on one of them), but the goal of these services as many of us all know is data mining (plus Google is about as far from a non-profit as you can get). I'd much prefer an operating system running on my device that is by people, for people. Not by people, for data mining.

MeeGo is going to have a real package management system. It is RPM based, but still it is better than simply having a "market place". The applications that are to be installed via this package management system are also to be written and compiled the same other native Linux applications are - using any language that is supported by the operating system. Instead of using a java layer like Android does.

Lastly, because MeeGo is backed by the Linux Foundation I'd bet most anything that they won't be forking the kernel like Google has done with Android. Having a mainstream kernel running in MeeGo will help ensure that other distros with a mainstream kernel will also be able to run on the same hardware with the least amount of issues possible.

Now I am sure the MeeGo hand held project is going to change and mature a lot over the next few months before we see it officially released into the market, but I'd be willing to bet that most all of these changes are going to be for the better and will only add to my above list. Do you think MeeGo is going to be able to compete with Android getting into the market this late?

Also, in case you noticed it - yes the horrible pun in the title is intentional.

~Jeff Hoogland