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Microlocal News Web Site EveryBlock Releases Source Code
The programming team behind EveryBlock, a location-specific news aggregator, has released the software's source code under the GPLv3 license. This could signal a way for the journalism industry to keep its foot in the door of local news reporting that's increasingly falling into the laps of "citizen journalists."
Since the code is fairly complex, programmers will likely start out using snippets of it to create smaller projects. Though releasing the code makes it technically possible to design all sorts of geolocation apps, St. Pete Times news technologist Matt Waite says, "If you think you just turn it on and put some ads on it and it will make money for you, you're high."
10 Of OStatic's Most Popular Open Source Educational Resources
Are you looking for some good open source educational material and perhaps some new applications to try this Fourth of July weekend? At OStatic, we put together regular collections of tips, tutorials, and recommendations designed to add to your open source arsenal. In this post, you'll find ten of these, ranging from resources for Linux users, to top OSS web development tools, to graphics and music gems, to good ways to get more out of Firefox. Dig in:
Three Open Source E-book Readers Worth a Look
If you're heading to the beach this summer, you might want to take along something good to read. Dead tree books are so last century and e-book readers are all the rage. While Kindles are cool, they're not the only game in town for reading the latest best seller. Try these open source options for mobile devices and netbooks instead.
Come For the Blog, Stay For the Q & A
Every day on OStatic, we strive to bring you interesting and informative news, commentary, and app reviews -- but that's not all the site has to offer. One of my favorite sections of the site is Questions, where visitors can get answers, trade experiences, and help each other troubleshoot.
Our readers are awfully smart and quick to jump in when a fellow Linux enthusiast needs a hand. When Naman Aggarwal had trouble unzipping 7zip files on a Mac, he turned to the OStatic community for help and people responded with several solutions to try.
Firefox 3.5, Portable Edition Arrives
You may already have the new Firefox 3.5 browser, but now, courtesy of the folks at PortableApps, you can get the portable version of Firefox 3.5 as well. It's downloadable here, and, like the other portable versions of popular open source applications that PortableApps offers, it's perfect as a lightweight app that you can keep on a USB thumb drive or other portable device. It comes bundled with a PortableApps launcher, so you can launch it directly from a USB thumb drive and have Firefox available with your customizations no matter where you are.
As Symbian Finally Rolls Out its Open Source Platform, Expect a Shakeup
Yesterday, we covered Juniper Research's findings on the prospects for open source operating systems on smartphones, which it deems to be rosy. Juniper is predicting that open source smartphone shipments will double from 106 million this year to 223 million by 2014. In our post yesterday, though, I made the point that the Android operating system isn't even mentioned in Juniper's announcement, while Symbian, LiMo and others are.
When it comes to Symbian, many observers have noted that ever since June 2008, when Nokia announced that the Symbian platform would be open sourced, very little seems to have happened. Symbian owns about 50 percent of the global handheld market. So where is the open source push that everyone was expecting? There are some answers to that question emerging, and Symbian's impact on smartphones could be much bigger than many are predicting.
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