Google: Android 4.0 to be open sourced in "coming weeks"

Summary: Google will make its Android 4.0 dubbed “Ice Cream Sandwich” available to the open source community in the coming weeks and is designed to fuel Google’s big push in both the smartphone and tablet war against Apple. Google’s planned purchase of Motorola’s Mobility unit — the most successful Android smartphone and tablet supplier — will also likely help if it ultimately musters government approval

Google’s next generation Android 4.0 — code named “Ice Cream Sandwich” — will be available to the open source developer community in weeks, one company spokesman said yesterday.
And yes, Ice Cream Sandwich is designed to re-unify the Android code base for smartphones and tablets, and will likely please more in the open source community, the spokesman indicated.
“It will be open sourced in the coming weeks, yes,” said Randall Sarafa, a spokesman for Google. “Correct. No, Honeycomb was not [open sourced].”
“ICS will be open sourced, and yes, ICS is meant to reunify and provide *one* release for both tablets and smartphones,” Sarafa wrote in another one of several e-mails written in response to questions from this blogger about Google’s open source efforts with respect to Android.
Honeycomb, the previous Android 3.0 code base optimized for tablets, was subject to some criticism for its potential to fork Android, and for not being available to open source developers.
“”Ice Cream Sandwich is Android 4.0, and it is one release for tablets, smartphones and everything in between. That means that tablets going forward can run on Ice Cream Sandwich as can phones, so it is an update for both tablets and smartphones,” Sarafa said.
This blogger wanted to talk to Google about the potential for ICS to compete more aggressively against iPad and iPhone 4 s but was told that a tablet spokesman was not available.
How about a spokesman from Motorola?
Google announced plans to purchase Motorola’s mobility business unit for $12.5 billion earlier this year.  Motorola is the largest and most successful hardware supplier of Droid phones and Android-based Xoom tablets.

No, Facebook Is Not Ruining Your Grades [STUDY]...!!!

The latest of several studies to look into the relationship between Facebook use and low grades has a counterintuitive twist — some kinds of Facebook use are correlated with higher GPAs.
“Facebook use in and of itself is not detrimental to academic outcome,” says study author Reynol Junco, a professor at the Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. “It depends how it’s used.”
The study, published last week in Computers in Human Behavior, analyzes 1,839 college students’ survey data about Facebook use and actual grades (as opposed to self-reported grades). It also takes into account students’ high-school GPAs.
On average, students say they spend 106 minutes on Facebook per day. Each increase of 93 minutes beyond 106 minutes correlates with a GPA decrease of .12 grade points — statistically significant, but not dramatic when applied to a real-world situation.
“You have to spend an inordinate amount of time on Facebook for it to be related to GPA in a way that is shocking,” Junco says.
It makes sense that a drop in grades would be caused by students who let Facebook time cut into study time. But the data shows no correlation between time spent on Facebook and time spent studying.
All Facebook activities do not have the same relationship with grades. Posting status updates and using Facebook chat generally mean a lower GPA, while checking to see what friends are up to and sharing links suggest a higher GPA. In other words, social Facebook activities were correlated with lower grades and information-related Facebook activities were correlated with higher grades.
This doesn’t necessarily mean forgoing Facebook status updates and chat is likely to improve a student’s grades. Nothing in the study implies cause and effect. Instead, it seems that what’s important about Facebook in an educational context has very little to do with how much time you spend on it.
Junco thinks there are ways Facebook can be used effectively in an educational context — which is why he sets up Facebook groups for each of his classes to continue discussion online.
“What I like best about it is that we’re using a technology that students already use,” he says.

Call of Duty – United Offensive Game Cheats revealed...!!!

After a good start of Game Cheats with the World’s most addictive game – Angry Birds, We are back to Game cheats for PC.

Call of Duty – United Offensive Game Cheats

Cheat List:
Add the “+set developer 1 +set sv_cheats 1” command line parameter. Press ~ during game play to bring down the console window.
Invincibility god
Gives the player all weapons in the game give all
Enemies don’t shoot at you notarget
Refills the players health meter give health
Makes the player commit suicide kill
Enables walk through walls noclip
Restart current level map_restart
Puts the camera at a third person perspective.
You are always invisible however. toggle cg_thirdperson
Removes the sky which can brighten or darken
the terrain depending on the map toggle r_fastsky
Puts the game in wire frame toggle r_showtris
Makes random textures turn invisible toggle r_lockpvs
Removes all on screen information making the
game look like a movie toggle cg_draw2d
Refills the players weapon ammo levels give
ammo Makes the ground and other stationary
textures white toggle r_lightmap
Allows rifles to be fired in Automatic Mode.
Hold down shoot weapon 32
Displays lines where the light comes through
the leaves toggle r_showLeafLights
Displays numbers on each texture toggle r_showtricounts
Displays where you can access via blue lines toggle r_showportals
Makes the players arm and gun invisible which
boosts the frame rate toggle cg_drawgun
Puts the game in multicolours (rather laggy) toggle r_measureOverdraw
Shows scripts over important soldiers and
objects toggle g_entinfo
Gives indicated item give
Teleports you to a specific node on the map jumptonode
Loads the map you want map
Gives a list of all commands in the game cmdlist
Gives information about the game graphics gfxinfo
Play Any Level

When in a Single Player game bring down the console with the “~” key, and type the following to play any level and mission you want.
Play Mission 1: Bastogne 1 map bastogne1
Play Mission 2: Bastogne 2 map bastogne2
Play Mission 3: Foy map foy
Play Mission 4: Noville map noville
Play Mission 5: Bomber map bomber
Play Mission 6: Train Bridge map trainbridge
Play Mission 7: Sicily 1 map sicily1
Play Mission 8: Sicily 2 map sicily2
Play Mission 9: Trenches map trenches
Play Mission 10: Ponyri map ponyri
Play Mission 11: Kursk map kursk
Play Mission 12: Kharkov 1 map kharkov1
Play Mission 13: Kharkov 2 map kharkov2
Cheats:
To activate cheats on Call of Duty: United Offensive you should either go to start-> run and type:
“C:Call of DutyCoDUOSP.exe” +set developer 1 +set sv_cheats 1 or create your own shortcut with that code.
Then bring down the console in game play and type the code below. Usually (~) or in my case (‘).I have only tested one code and it worked fine God = GODMODE

Every Android device now infringes Apple patent: Slide to unlock

Summary: Apple has received a confirmed patent for the “slide to unlock” control in use on every Android phone and tablet in existence.

Whatever your position is on patent infringement and the never-ending lawsuits in the mobile space, the fact is until the system is overhauled it is the law. I hate that design elements can be patented, instead of actual devices which makes more sense. Apple has been riding the patentability of design elements for a while, and has a number of Android device makers on the ropes as a result. A U. S. patent awarded today to Apple guarantees that every Android phone and tablet ever made infringes Apple’s design.
Anyone who has touched an Android device has come face-to-face with the slide to unlock feature. The device is inaccessible until a slider or similar control is touched and slid to a boundary, unlocking the gadget. This simple control has now been patented by Apple, removing it from the available design pool to anyone else.
Apple has been picking and choosing its targets for patent infringement litigation carefully, using various patents it owns to go after infringers. This new patent over the simple slide to unlock feature means the company can go after any Android device maker it wants, and likely have success in the courts.
Heck, the control on Windows Phone devices, sliding the lock screen up to access the phone functions, may very well infringe on this patent too. That could extend to the upcoming Windows 8 as early preview versions use this same control to unlock devices.
Apple filed for the slide to unlock patent before the original iPhone was released, and just received confirmation of the patent. That puts every Android device ever made firmly in the infringing category, should Apple choose to get nasty.

Four key reasons to include cloud computing in your business strategy...!!!

 

Summary: The issue of success or failure in moving your company data, IT storage, servers or software to the cloud is often driven by technical issues, including performance, bandwidth, security and total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) considerations.

This guest post comes from Mark Skilton, Global Director of Strategy and Global Infrastructure Services, Capgemini, and Co-Chair of the Cloud Computing Work Group, The Open Group.
By Mark Skilton
The issue of success or failure in moving your company data, IT storage, servers or software to the cloud is often driven by technical issues, including performance, bandwidth, security and total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) considerations. While many of these factors are key criteria for selecting cloud solutions, they usually don’t align with the bigger picture that C-level executives must consider when adding new IT solutions.
How IT can help sustain or create a competitive advantage has never been more apparent than today through the use of cloud computing. This technology boasts benefits such as reduced costs and scalability, just to name a few, but many companies fail to find the right fit for cloud within their business. [Disclosure: The Open Group is a sponsor of BriefingsDirect podcasts.]
This is because cloud computing is not one size fits all. Performance, network bandwidth, security, and total cost concerns can be allayed through a better portfolio and investment approach that considers the multitude of options available.
How cloud computing fits
In industries where working capital bears a high price and is in short supply, businesses often have to make ends meet and have limited investment available. Therefore, being able to source the lowest cost and drive efficiencies even further is critical to growing business and market share.
For companies with limited working capital resource or cash flow funds, the use of on-demand services becomes an attractive option for consumers to avoid upfront costs or maintenance of services. Likewise, companies seeking to provide better profitability from their operation and vendors managing their cost center can leverage on-demand models to target areas of their portfolio to reduce cost and maximize return.

When adopting cloud computing, companies are often driven by cost effectiveness, rather than looking at the bigger picture and asking what cloud solution is the best fit for the business.

When adopting cloud computing, companies are often driven by cost effectiveness, rather than looking at the bigger picture and asking what cloud solution is the best fit for the business. Cost savings, longevity of product, and performance aren’t mutually exclusive, and all should be factored into the decision-making process when researching and purchasing a cloud solution.
Here are four questions, which include key metrics and drivers, to ask when researching cloud solutions that will maximize the value of cloud computing for your organization:

1. Why is investment being spent on areas of IT that are not differentiating your business and can be commoditized?
   • Key Metric: The balance of percent of investment on non-core commodity IT
   • Key drivers: TCO needs to consider where to focus IT investment
2. How can IT grow and adapt with the ever-increasing expansion of data storage and the growth of computing demands eclipsing on-premise facilities?
   • Key Metric: The cost of storage and archiving , recovery and continuity
   • Key drivers: Latency of network and storage costs can be targeted through considering the whole IT portfolio, not just niche use cases of cost-performance. Look at the bigger picture.
3. How can access to new markets and new channels be better served through extending networks and partnerships?
   • Key Metric: Size of markets and effectiveness of sales channels, both internal sales and external direct sales and reselling
   • Key drivers: Total cost of acquisition can include the creation or use of third-party distributed marketplaces and self-service portals and platforms
4. Is your own IT fast enough to beat your competition or drive the cost savings or revenue and margin growth plans you need?
   • Key metric: Speed of IT delivery and its cost and quality of service.
   • Key drivers: Performance can be offered through selected service provisioning. Question whether all knowledge needs to be in-house. Skills can be as-a-service too.

Open Group Cloud Computing Book

The Open Group recently published Cloud Computing for Business –The Open Group Guide to address many of these key questions. The book is intended for senior business executives and practicing architects responsible for defining corporate strategy, and it identifies how to select and buy cloud computing services to achieve the best business and technical outcomes.
You can purchase a copy of the book from The Open Group here or download preview sections here:

Cloud Computing for Business – Preview – first 30 pages
Cloud Computing for Business – Section 1.8
Cloud Computing for Business – Section 4.1

This guest post comes from Mark Skilton, Global Director of Strategy and Global Infrastructure Services, Capgemini, and Co-Chair of the Cloud Computing Work Group, The Open Group.

You may also be interested in:

• Enterprises should harness the power of social media to better know their markets, says Capgemini
• Open Group cloud panel forecasts cloud as spurring useful transition phase for enterprise IT architecture
• Examining the current state of the enterprise architecture profession with The Open Group’s Steve Nunn
• The Open Group’s cloud work group advances understanding of cloud-use benefits for enterprises
• Mutual embrace of SOA and cloud computing builds into productivity waltz across the IT landscape