World: r3wp

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo: Tourists in for a 'Magical' Ride

http://www.space.com/13625-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-ride-passenger-experience.html

MIPS Android 4.x tablet for 99 USD, 250mW power consumption at full 
load :-)


http://www.osnews.com/story/25397/MIPS_99_Tablet_is_First_Ice_Cream_Sandwich_Tablet

99 USD, plus another 69 USD to actually get it to the US :(

I wonder if the NDK has MIPS support yet...

$168 would still be dirt cheap :)

Still under 200USD, where Apple commented, that solid tablet is not 
possible :-)

And I think MIPS had a custom R6 NDK version for MIPS. No idea about 
a R7.

http://developer.mips.com/android/download-android-ndk/:)

Ah, and http://developer.mips.com/android/says the ICS sources are 
coming "mid december".

Good! $200 is too much to pay for a device that can't run REBOL :-/

But an NDK means that it potentially could :)

Hardly the devices' fault :)

And maybe the R2 2.5 MIPS builds still work :)

That might be comparable to how the R2 2.5 WinCE builds for HandheldPC, 
which required a keyboard, ran on Windows Mobile 6.5 machines that 
didn't have a keyboard, but not on 6.5 Smartphone Edition phones 
that actually had the keyboard that the build required. But maybe 
the on-screen keyboard will be enough.

I used to play with v2.5 on my IpaQ device with virtual keyboard, 
slow to type, but worked well.

Weird. On every device I've tried the WinCE build with, the window 
didn't resize for the virtual keyboard, so the actual command line 
was covered up by the keyboard. Are you saying that this problem 
went away at some point with a more recent WinCE version?

Nope, just that you need to type without making typos ;)

We need RED for those, if Carl is still asleep :-)

And I'd like to apologize for that. The ARM build was made for my 
HP Jornada handheld pc (a netbook precursor) which had a hardware 
keyboard, then never updated to support virtual keyboards. Or the 
clipboard or command line either, but those weren't my fault.

R3 console is not much system friendly.

eh, R2, I mean ...

I would have settled for the capabilities of the Windows R2 console 
on WinCE. Lack of command line or clipboard support limited me greatly. 
On the other hand, as it was it got me through statistics class :)

Typos: I meant typos when using the virtual keyboard on WinCE without 
seeing what you're typing ;-)

Yup :)

WebOS goes open source:


http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/09/1857254/hp-making-webos-open-source?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkuser&utm_medium=feed

one of their goals will be to avoid fragmentation

That's a fine goal.

That alone would draw me towards it.

HP paid $1.2bn for the IP and gives it freely to the OS community 
:)

How does their app model work again? Walled garden?

I think they already enabled alternative stores, but when they open 
source the app platform, that will be a given, anyway

At 4 pm Pacific on Sunday the 11th, HP will be selling 16gb and 32gb 
Touchpads for $99 and $149 respectively at their HP store on eBay

http://stores.ebay.com/hewlettpackard

Expect all to be gone by 4.01 pm !

So, we now have apparently the best mobile OS now open source, and 
we have a number of rebol clones appearing ... is there any synergy 
that can be built from this?

Maybe, maybe not. WebOS' app model is based on web technologies, 
so the REBOL app model is mostly in competition with it

Sale has started but there is an issue!!

2763 - all sold out in minutes

OLPC tablet is completed:


http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/01/olpc-tablet-finally-arrives/

Hardware specs:

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO-3

I wonder why they don't put solar cells on these things so when you 
have to use it outside in equatorial sunlight, you can compensate 
for the extra power needed to make the screen brighter?

You should read the article

- there is no "extra power needed"
- they put solar cells on these things

Well sounds good then :)

that looks fat, ugly, and far from the concept images we saw in the 
past. India's tablet beats it imo. This OLPC project was overhyped 
from the very beginning imo- http://www.ubislate.com/

Well, one should probably not underestimate the design of the XO-3. 
I wonder which one breaks first, if a child uses one of each for 
a year. Also, the OLPC contains much more beefy educational software, 
specific inputs for measuring equipment and low-voltage charge input 
for mechanical charging with handcrank and solar charging.


The cover can double as a solar panel with built-in battery pack, 
which you take off and leave out in the sun. When it's charged, put 
the cover on the back and the tablet runs off that battery.


When comparing the UI responsiveness, there is pretty much no contest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0OuUr1pZBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5D06XQ1f3o

But the Ubislate is likely much cheaper to produce.

Henrik - I simply don't like things green, government funded, or 
done from public or any other dotations, especially when done fanatically. 
And OLPC is a so so project for me. Was OLPC1 or 2 any significant 
success? Well, Genesi, a commercial entity,might have better HW to 
share. As for tablet, I can't see much innovations there. Such projects 
feel like scientists got money to play, but with not much normal 
commercial focus. From such pov, and being funded by top companies 
like AMD, Intel, Google, I would expect a significant and radical 
innovative design, but it is not imo. One of reasons imo is, that 
none of those companies are willing to ruin their own market ....

Why are you comparing 366MHz machine speed towards the 800MHz one?

Well, you posted the Ubislate, so I thought a comparison was valid.

Yes, there are two models. Old one, 366MHz, you found video for, 
and 7+ version, with following specs: http://www.ubislate.com/specifications.html

if we stick to specs, they are still quite a bit smaller than the 
OLPC XO-3, and is still not designed for educational use, other than 
being cheap. For children in India, price may be a valid point to 
simply allow it to spread, but the OLPC is designed in and out for 
educational use.

A lengthy interview with the developer of the E-cat, Andre Rossi:


http://pesn.com/2012/01/14/9602012_Momentous_Breakthroughs_Announced_During_Anniversary_E-Cat_Interview/transcription.htm

Rossi should better show something, or all this story can be regarded 
a scam ...