Net Applications has released their report on global browsing usage numbers for iOS, Android, and Linux. The numbers show that from October of 2009 to August of 2010, both Android and iOS steadily increased their browser usage share, while Linux was mostly stagnant or declining. As of August 2010, iOS held 1.13% of global browser usage, Android held 0.20%, and Linux held 0.85%. To be frank, the fact that iOS holds a larger global browser share than Linux is a bit surprising. Hit the read link to see the detailed numbers with month by month breakdown.

[Via 9to5Mac]

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Thursday, Google announced that it added support for browser-based voice and video chat in Debian-based Linux distributions. If you rock Ubuntu, or any Debian-flavored OS, you can head over to gmail.com/videochat to download the plugin. The full text of the post is below:

If you’ve been wanting to use voice and video chat on Linux (our top video chat request), then we have good news for you: it’s now available! Visit gmail.com/videochat to download the plugin and get started. Voice and video chat for Linux supports Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions, and RPM support will be coming soon.

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The BBC has released an interesting analysis of the world’s supercomputing prowess based on the June 2010 TOP500 Supercomputing list. The report shows, unsurprisingly, that Linux is the king of supercomputing OS’ by an extremely large margin. Other fun facts from this months report include: the U.S. houses the most supercomputers (as well as the fastest), IBM is the largest manufacturer of supercomputing systems (HP is second), Intel is the most popular processor used in supercomputers (AMD is second), and the most widely used function for supercomputers is “research.” The fastest beast of the bunch, the Jaguar supercomputer, located in the U.S. at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been clocked at 1.759 petaflops; only two other machines on the list are clocked using petaflops. We’ve got all BBC article, complete with infographics, all queued up for you.

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Citing a renewed focus on security thanks in part to a recent series of cyber attacks originating in China, The Financial Times is reporting that Google is abandoning support for Microsoft’s Windows. Citing several anonymous employees of the search giant, the FT said that as recent as January, new Google employees were permitted to run Windows on their laptops, but the use of the OS on desktops was strictly forbidden. The continued use of a Windows machine is said to require authorization from high ups, and any employee that requests a Windows rig will need approval from the CIO. At the moment, authorized OSes are said to include Linux and Apple’s OS X. But for all of the talk of security concerns, the FT’s sources allege that the move also has as much to do with Google’s desires to ween its employees off of competing products as it prepares to launch its Chrome OS. Not surprisingly, Google declined to comment on the matter.

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Remember the Samsung 360 H1 we scooped the hell out of back in September? Well here’s its successor, the H2. Building on top of what was already an very impressive featurephone with a 3.5″ OLED display and 5 megapixel camera, the H2 is said to have a Super AMOLED WVGA display, 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording (720p, no doubt), 1GHz Cortex A8 processor and run LiMo complete with Vodafone’s 360 services. Of course with this being a leak, all of this information is far from official, but word is we’ll be seeing the H2 land on Vodafone in time for the World Cup.

[Via Unwired View]

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The Chrome Team is welcoming two more platforms out of beta, as both the Mac and Linux versions of the browser have officially shed their beta tags. The new, stable releases add several features, such as preference syncing and HTML5 compatibilities (geolocation APIs, app cache, web sockets, and file drag-and-drop). The Chrome team also posted a quick note about Flash:

In recent weeks, we’ve been beta-testing Adobe Flash Player integration into Chrome. While Flash Player integration in the browser is not included by default in today’s stable release, we’re excited to enable this feature with the full release of Flash Player (version 10.1) soon.

Head on over to the Chrome download page if you are interested in trying out the new code…and do let us know what you think!

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Nokia and Intel have jumped on the mobile operating system bandwagon by jointly announcing MeeGo, an open platform for mobile computing devices, tablets, netbooks, smartphones, internet-connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems. MeeGo takes the best of Intel’s Mobilin platform and merges it Maemo, the linux-based operating system that powers the Nokia N900. MeeGo will target a wide range of devices, including both ARM and Intel-based platforms, and will offer users a continuity across devices that is not yet seen with other mobile OS platforms. MeeGo will support the cross-platform Qt application and UI framework which allows developers to code for both MeeGo and Symbian simultaneously. Developers can download the Qt framework now and get cracking on the first MeeGo applications while they wait for the first MeeGo devices to launch in the second half of 2010. Anyone excited for yet another mobile OS to poke, prod and ponder or have we reached the saturation point?

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Everyone’s favorite iPhone outlaw, George Hotz (better know as geohot), has been at work mastering another piece of hardware: the PlayStation 3. And so far, Geohot has had quite a bit of success. On his blog, Hotz writes, “I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor. In other words, I have hacked the PS3. The rest is just software. And reversing. I have a lot of reversing ahead of me.” Now, Geohot is adamant that the hacking is for scientific purposes only, and he is not trying to provide a vector for software piracy; the ultimate goal would be to run home-made code or other operating system software such as Linux on the PS3. Although against piracy, Geohot is looking to post the decryption keys used by Sony so others can assist him in his scientific endeavor. Geohot’s blog is very interesting and, at times, deeply technical. We’ve got a few links queued up for your reading pleasure.

[Via PCWorld]

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You either love it or hate it, and ever since Chrome and Safari upped their games, we’ve been getting a little burned out by Firefox. Hopefully that will all change now with version 3.6 — new and improved (fingers crossed) and beta label gone. It’s now more customizable with additional add-ons and extensions, and it also features something new called “Personas,” which allows you to change the look at theme of your browser if you feel so inclined. Firefox 3.6 also has improved Javascript support as well as better support for HTML5 video, perfect for YouTube addicts excited about the recent introduction of HTML5 vids. If you haven’t abandoned Firefox for Safari, Chrome or IE8, you can download Firefox 3.6 starting today.

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Google’s Chrome browser has only been on the market for 16 months, but it has already taken a good share of the market and beat out Safari for the number three spot. Safari, for the first time ever, is now ranked fourth. By the end of December, Chrome was up at 4.63% market share whereas Safari fell to about 4.46%. Of course, the big boost likely came from the fact that Chrome Beta became officially available for Mac and Linux. Top dogs are still Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer, with IE8 still at the top but failing to see any real growth. So tell us, what browser are you currently using and why (speed, extensions, apps, etc)?

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Vodafone subscribers, Samsung fans and mobile enthusiasts in general — we hope you’re sitting down. Behold: Exclusive live shots of a previously unheard of Samsung handset supposedly due to be announced soon by Vodafone. Details for the time being are a bit limited — we don’t even have a name for you yet (UPDATE: as a commenter points out below, this may be the Samsung Riedel l8305 that recently received Wi-Fi certification) — but our ninja managed to score some extremely solid images and a handful of specs that are definitely noteworthy. First things first: We’re apparently looking at a Samsung-built Vodafone exclusive here that is powered by Voda’s own LIMO-based OS (Linux mobile). Beyond the brushed steel case sits a nice big OLED touchscreen display complete with haptic feedback. We’re also told the handset will sport an 8 megapixel camera and it will launch alongside the upcoming “Vodafone People” service. Details in that department are scarce as well but rumor has it the service involves Voda’s acquisition of Zyb last year; active contacts, location information, status updates, various integration with other social networks like Twitter and Facebook, etc. You can get a pretty good idea of what’s in store from the images below but basically, it’s what Google should have done on Android with Jaiku. Last but not least, we’re not sure exactly when Vodafone plans to make this guy official, though we’re hearing rumors of a special event that may be held in London on September 24th. Hit the jump for more shots and if you live in Vodafone land, get ready for what really could be a game-changing handset/service combo.

Opera tantalized everyone last week with its proclamation that the Norwegian company was about to reinvent the Web. We were skeptical at best. Here we are on launch day and, well, the Web kind of feels the same, but Opera has announced its latest and greatest innovation, dubbed Opera Unite. According to the post at Opera Labs, Opera Unite is an application that will turn any computer running the software into a web server. Users running Opera Unite will be able to share content with multiple computers over the Internet through the web browser, or even web applications called Unite services. Opera is pushing the service as a social media tool that requires no third party service, no complicated setup and no additional fees. Your data shared from your computer, on your terms and under your control. The service will launch with a few demo applications including Opera Unite Jukebox, an in-browser media player, and an instant messaging application. Opera Unite will work on Mac, Windows and Linux PCs with expansion to mobile browsers and other devices expected in the future. An alpha version of the Opera Unite software is now available for download.

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Leave it to our eagle eyed readers to dig through the depths of YouTube and emerge with some sweet eye candy. During a purported presentation last October from Axel Meyer, head of Nseries design at Nokia, the upcoming Nokia N900 Internet Tablet was given a bit of face time in a promo video. Granted, plenty of time has passed since this video was recorded so odds are good that the finished product will end up looking more like it did in the leaked mock up than in this video. For a quick reresher, reported specs at this point include a 59.7mm x 111mm x 18.2mm body, 3.5-inch 800×480 (WVGA) touchscreen, OMAP3430 500/600 Mhz processor, 5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash and auto-focus, 1GB total virtual runtime memory, Wi-Fi, HSPA, GPS and an accelerometer. Hit the jump for the video.

Thanks, CanisMajor!

It was a simpler time. The economy was the last thing on most people’s minds, Dane Cook was just a weird annoying guy from Waiting, Galvatron ruled over our comments section with an iron fist… And Garmin announced that it would enter the wireless arena with the soon-to-be released nuvifone. A lot has changed since then but one thing has remained constant over this historic 18-month period — no nuvifone. Believe it or not however, that might actually change in the near future. Despite having a bit of trouble spelling nuvifone, TWICE reports that Garmin is “getting very close” to a carrier launch here in the US. Why the massive delays? Garmin president and COO Cliff Pemble:

Originally we thought we’d launch the phone into the open market, but because of the strong interest we had from carriers, we chose to focus on a carrier-centric launch and meeting carrier requirements is a lot of work.

Yeah if Garmin thought working with carriers was easy, the company was definitely in for a rude awakening. The June/July time frame does jibe with what Reuters reported back in April so it’s looking like this little guy may actually see the light of day. We shall see.

Thanks, Rich!

[Via GPS Tracklog]

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[Via The Next Web]

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