US mobile phone customers will at last gain the option of a Linux-based handset later this year, when operators begin offering a high-end Motorola Linux/Java smartphone aimed at business professionals. The A780 will roll out globally in early Q4, reaching select US regions before 2005, according to Motorola.

(Click for larger image)

"It sort of depends which operators get through the first testing cycle for launch," said Motorola's Jonathan Nattrass. "But we're expecting it'll reach market in the US in Q4." Nattrass is director of product management for Motorola's high-performance GSM products group.

Motorola has so far introduced three Linux phones outside the US, including the A760, A768, and E680, and the phones have been well received, says Nattrass. "We're very pleased with market reaction and takeup, and the operators are very pleased with performance."

The A780 will be the first Motorola Linux phone -- and almost certainly the first Linux phone of any kind -- to reach the US market, confirming statements in a March, 2004 interview with Motorola Linux phone GM Michael Sudol that the company would time the debut of Linux phones in the US with the holiday season, and "ramp up" its Linux strategy globally toward the end of 2004.

Meanwhile, interviews (see stories here and here) with mobile phone browser giant OpenWave suggest that Linux will hit its stride in the global phone market in 2006, possibly becoming a standard platform for smartphones that, much as DOS did for PCs, will spawn a rich third party software market.

For its part, Motorola will continue its strategic investments in Linux as a cell-phone platform, but will continue to offer phones with other OSes as well. "We're holding fast with [our multi-OS] strategy. Java is at the core of our mobile OS strategy, and Linux is the OS we've primarily paired with Java. But, we'll continue to work with MS, Symbian, and BREW, based on operator needs," said Sharen Santoski, senior manager of global partner and tech communications for Motorola's personal communications sector.

Concurrent with this week's announcement of the A780, Motorola also announced the Windows Mobile based MPx220, which boasts a 1.23 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and quad-band wireless, as well as the CN620, which runs Windows CE 4.2 and offers seamless roaming between GSM/GPRS cellular and 802.11a Wi-Fi networks. Motorola offers Symbian and BREW based phones as well, but sold a 19 percent stake in Symbian in Sep., 2003.

Clearly, though, Motorola has high hopes for its Linux mobile phones. Says Nattrass, "You can see how we've gone from the traditional smartphone, the A760, and branched out into more focused areas, such as providing better consumer entertainment experiences [with the E680] and offering more for business professionals [with the A768 and A780], because we found that a lot of people are using camera phones for business purposes. Realtors and insurance agents, and so forth. I think we're only going to continue to build on that strength, and the key focus for us will be offering both the higher-tier functionality, and driving our Java/Linux technology down into mid-tier and mass market phones."

About the A780

The A780 is a quad-band phone phone supporting the 800/850MHz and 1900MHz bands used in the Americas as well as the 900/1800MHz bands commonly used around the world. In addition to voice service, the phone will provide Internet access via normal GPRS or via "EDGE," or Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution technology.

GPRS, or General Packet Radio Service, provides theoretical data rates up to 171.2Kbps, and is widely available from "2.5G" carriers around the world. EDGE is theoretically capable of 240Kbps data rates, which puts it close to the broadband-like speeds (384Kbps and higher) offered by 3G networks. East European carriers with new equipment, and European carriers that do not have a 3G license are likely candidates to roll out EDGE services, according to Nattrass, who adds, "The A780 can fall back on GPRS if the EDGE service is not available."

According to 3G Americas, an industry association of operators and manufacturers in the GSM technology market, EDGE service is currently available from 44 operators in 26 countries in the Americas, and 49 operators in 37 countries outside the Americas. Nattrass cites Cingular and AWS among US-based carriers offering or planning to offer EDGE services and phones.

Hardware features

The A780 is among the first devices to use the PXA270, a member of Intel's XScale family of ARM-based system-on-chips. Intel launched the PXA27x chip family, formerly codenamed "Bulverde," in April of this year, touting the processor's ability to capture higher quality pictures, extend battery life, and deliver fast multimedia performance. The chips are part of Intel's Personal Internet Client Architecture for wireless devices that combine voice communications and Internet access capabilities. Initial PXA270s are expected to run at 312 MHz, with future chips reaching double that speed, but Motorola did not disclose what speed processor runs the A780.

The A780 includes about 48MB of built-in user storage space, and supports an additional 48MB of removable storage on a TransFlash card. It includes a USB device port that uses a standard USB cable to attach to a PC, where it appears as a USB mass storage device. Rather than IrDA, the device implements Bluetooth wireless, enabling users to transfer large files reasonably quickly (and over greater distances), a feature useful for printing photos directly to Bluetooth printers, according to Nattrass.

The phone utilizes the classic Motorola flip-phone form-factor, but the phone buttons are actually positioned on the outside of the flip-lid. Opening the phone reveals the full expanse of the PDA-like 240 x 320 color touchscreen.

Another enticing feature is the 1.3 megapixel digital camera.

Software features

Like Motorola's previous Linux-based phones, the A780 is based on MontaVista Linux. MontaVista first pledged to support Intel's new PXA27x chips in November of 2003.

The A780 also includes a Java J2ME MIDP 2.0 runtime engine with support for several advanced Java APIs, including 3D Java, also supported in Motorola's E680 phone. Motorola revealed some of its Java plans in October of last year, and Nattrass says the company will continue to improve and extend Java support in its Linux phones. "Our roadmap is to roll out as many APIs as possible for Java. We're really focusing on Java support to enable and broaden application support from Java development community."

At least one native application will also be available for the A780 -- Motorola announced last week a deal with Certicom to offer its Movian VPN client for the device.

The A780's messaging client, like those in the A760 and A768, will continue to support POP3 and IMAP4 email protocols. However, the A780 will be Motorola's first phone to support "Motosync." Motosync is a Bluetooth-based synchronization feature that works initially with Microsoft's Mobile Enterprise Exchange 2003 servers, with agreements in place to add support for other commercial email servers in the future. Nattrass describes Motosync as follows: "There's a very simple, one-time setup and registration on the network with your corporate email system. Then you've got three possibilities for synchronizing your email: either manually, or a timed event such as every 10 minutes, or at a 'push' notification from the server. You can synchronize your inbox, calendar, and contacts."

Like the A768, the A780 will also include Picsel Technology's ePage document browser, which translates Microsoft Office, Flash, PDF, and HTML files, as well as common graphics file formats, to an internal "eFIF" format, enabling a single display application to display and edit many kinds of files without requiring native application support for the original file format.

Unlike the A768, which uses Picsel as its Web browser, Motorola opted for Opera 7, a full HTML browser, for the A780. Opera 7 supports small and medium size screens, as well as xHTML, DHTML, WAP, and, in its newest version, IRC (Internet Relay Chat).

The phone is also supplied with a fullscreen viewfinder for the camera, hands-free speaker phone, speaker-independent voice dialing, mp3 player, video recorder/player, 3D games, PIM, and a message client supporting MMS, SMS, IM (WV), and SMTP, in addition to POP3 and IMAP4.

copy from www.linuxdevices.com

Two people were shot and killed Friday at a community college in Dearborn, Michigan, in what police believe was a murder-suicide, an official said.

A man and woman were found dead in a classroom building on the campus of Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn Deputy Chief Gregg Brighton said.

Investigators believe the man shot the woman but would not provide further information, Brighton said.

A shotgun was involved in the incident, which occurred in a classroom that was not being used, he said.

"We're in the very preliminary stages," Brighton said. "We've just made the scene safe. The crime lab is on the scene with detectives." Watch Brighton describe the scene »

Police responding to a report of gunfire at the school had entered the south hallway of the Fine Arts Building when they heard another gunshot, Brighton said.

"We were in the building when we heard the shotgun blast, and when we finally got to that room, we had two deceased parties," he said at a news conference. "We believe this is a murder-suicide."

The campus was briefly in lockdown and will remain closed for the rest of the Friday, a school official said.

The school's emergency system immediately notified students, faculty and staff about the shooting via e-mail and cell phone, said Marjorie Swan, vice president and controller of the college.

"Our hearts go out to the family and the friends of the young woman who lost her life today," Swan said.

copy by CNN

(CNN) -- Jeanne Thomas was sitting at her desk at work when she decided to check the security camera that she installed in her home. The Thomas home had been burglarized before, so she installed a monitoring device where she can watch a live video feed of the camera in her home.

When Thomas decided to pull up the feed of her house Wednesday morning, she couldn't believe what she saw. There was someone inside her home, someone she didn't know. Thomas picked up the phone and called 911.

"I'm watching my home on live monitor, and there is a black man in my house, and he is robbing it," she told the dispatcher. The woman on the other end of the call asked Thomas where she was, and Thomas replied, "I'm in Fort Lauderdale, at my work."

Thomas' home is in Boynton Beach, Florida, more than 20 miles away, yet she was watching over the Internet as two men walked through her home, picking up items. Watch the video from Thomas' home »

Police later arrested Curtis Williams, 20, and Steven Morales, 19.

According to the Boynton Beach Police, Williams and Morales entered the house through a pet door. As the 911 dispatcher was calling police to the scene, Thomas stayed on the line, giving a play-by-play of what she was seeing.

"He's in my house. I am seeing him walk around my house. He's in my bedroom right now," she said. The bedroom cannot be seen in the video, but the door from the living room into the bedroom is visible.

Thomas watched as the men wandered through her home, taking valuables such as her TV and Wii gaming console.

"This is unbelievable," she told the 911 dispatcher. "The cat is freaking out. The dogs are hiding."

One of the burglars took a bag of shredded cheese from the refrigerator and could be seen on the video stuffing it in his mouth. None of them noticed the small camera that resembles an air freshener.

"They walked right up to it and didn't know what it was," Thomas said later.

A few minutes after Thomas called 911, the video shows police officers entering the home.

According to the police report, "Williams and Morales had placed the victim's 37 inch flat screen TV, a safe, gaming machine with several misc. games (total value approx. $3000) on the victim's bed."

Williams and Morales told police that two other people, not seen on video, were also involved in the incident.

All four suspects were arrested and charged with burglary of a dwelling and attempted grand theft.

Thomas' husband thought she was nuts for spending $250 on the webcam system, telling her she would never catch anyone. But to her, it now seems like a smart investment.

Thomas hopes it will be a lesson for burglars.

"You never know who is watching you," she said.

by Kim segal CNN

The future of Microsoft's long running Flight Simulator series has been cast into doubt, after the software maker US laid-off the entire development team.

Microsoft says it is "committed" to the series, despite shutting the Aces studio when it cut 5000 jobs.



But third party developers say Microsoft needs to outline its plans for the game in more detail.

MS Flight Simulator is arguably the longest running computer game series ever, first launched back in 1982.

Nels Anderson, founder of enthusiast website FlightSim.com said the studio closure was a "dark day" for the flight sim market.

Speaking to the BBC he said he was baffled by the decision.

"Microsoft have apparently cancelled a 27 year franchise. Flight sims were one of the few things about Microsoft people actually liked. It made them money and had an enormous following.

"To cancel something like that is an amazing thing to do," he said.

Just Flight's director, Dermot Stapleton, which publishes third party add-ons for MS Flight Simulator, told the BBC that as Microsoft had only announced the studio closure, people would have to draw their own conclusions as to what future plans the firm had in store for the game.

"It's the end of the line for their in-house development studio, but that doesn't mean it's the end of the line for the game.

"All Microsoft did was name a group of developers working on the game Aces Studio and now, as they've laid them and a load of other developers off, they have been somewhat hoisted on their own petard.
Flight Simulator 1.0
The Flight Simulator series made its debut back in 1982

"My guess is that Microsoft will now licence the code to a third party developer and then cross that "cash bridge" when they come to it."



Deja vu

But Nels Anderson was more pessimistic, saying Microsoft had done something similar with its Train Simulator series.

"Microsoft announced a sequel to MS Train Simulator back in 2003. A year later, they shelved the project. Three years later, they announced a new version, that too was cancelled.

"I think this gives us an indication as to what is in store for Flight Simulator," he said.

Most people agree that the latest incarnation, MS Flight Simulator X, has at least three to four years use before it starts to show its age. Even today, many still use the five year old Flight Simulator 2004, rather than FSX.

Speaking to the BBC, Derek Davis, editor of PC Pilot magazine, said there was a silver lining to the bad news.

"I don't know what the eventual fate of Microsoft's Flight Simulator series will be, but I think we're going to see a rise in sales and an increase in third-party development.

"There is now some stability to be had - we're all going to be using FSX for some time - and that is going to make it far easier for developers to produce new aircraft."