LINUX MAGAZINESLINUX MAGAZINES: Open Source News, Articles and Reviews

ARCHOS now introduces a new large-screen Android-based tablet, the ARCHOS 7 home tablet. This new product is specially designed to enhance the digital lifestyle in the home. The ARCHOS 7 home tablet bridges the gap between the smartphone and the desktop PC to provide constant access to the web, customization through Android Apps, and multimedia content – all in a large-screen format. This new device testifies to ARCHOS’ strategy of offering innovative electronic products with extremely competitive pricing.

Price: $159.97

One of the things I like my most about my T-Mobile G1  is that I can tether the mobile phone to my laptop and use my mobile phone’s Internet connection to browse the web.  Tethering isn’t anything new, but most cell phone carriers simply won’t allow it.  They want you to go buy their expensive AIR cards and then pay an additional $50 – $75 per month for service.

Graham Stewart, from Boulder, Colorado created a very nice little Android app to tether the G1 to a laptop (or any computer for that matter).

Here are the instructions to get everything set up:

To get on the Internet, you’ll need to do a few things.

1. Open a cmd prompt (Press the windows icon and type cmd in the search bar). You need to navigate to the directory that contains the adb.exe file.  In my case, I just downloaded the ADB utility (see above) and not the entire Android SDK platform.  I unzipped the ADB utility into a folder called “Android” on my C: drive.  Now in the cmd prompt you’ll type cd C:Android

Now you need to type: adb forward tcp:1080 tcp:1080

If all goes well you should receive something that says “Daemon started successfully” (and then the window will appear to close).  The program is still running in the background so whenever you’re done using the Internet you should close it.  Press Ctrl+Shft+Esc to open the Task Manager.  Under the Processes tab, close the file called adb.exe to exit the program.

Tip: I created a simple shortcut on my desktop (right click on your desktop and select New Shortcut) to skip having to open the cmd prompt and enter the forwarding command each time.    If your adb.exe file is located in a different folder than mine below, just change the path to match yours. Here is what my shortcut looks like.

C:Androidadb.exe forward tcp:1080 tcp:1080

I also changed the icon of the shortcut to a cell phone because I’m cool like that.

2. Using Firefox is the best way to browse the web using this tethering app.  You can use Internet Explorer but I’m not making a tutorial for installing the proxy program with IE.  IE is scary.

Anyways, using Firefox, go to http://www.foxyproxy.com and download the plugin for Firefox.  Firefox should install it and then restart.  Once Firefox has restarted you should see something in the bottom right corner that says “FoxyProxy: Disabled.”  Right click on that and select Options.  Click on the Global Settings tab and then select “Use Socks Proxy for DNS Lookups”.  It will make you restart Firefox again… do so.

Now left click on the “FoxyProxy: Disabled” in the bottom right corner once.  Click on the tab that says Proxies.  On the right, click on Add New Proxy.  Make sure Enabled is checked and then give it a name. I named my connection “G1? but you can name yours whatever you’d like.  Now click the tab at the top that says Proxy Details.  Select Manual Proxy Configuration and enter the host name (which is localhost) and the port (which is 1080).  Check the SOCKS proxy box and then choose Socks v5.  Click OK at the bottom of the window.

You’re so freakin’ close now!

Now that you have TetherBot installed on your phone, you’ve added the adb utility to your laptop and you’ve configured FoxyProxy in Firefox you should be able to give this thing a whirl.

These are the steps you’ll need to take each time you launch TetherBot

The port bouncer will let you connect to a single port on a remote host. This works well if you need to establish an SSH tunnel to your home machine.

This should work for TCP only vpns (openvpn can be configured in this mode) but it wont work for Microsoft PPTP (because it’s GRE based) or most typical openvpn setups (because they are UDP based).

and you should be routed through to the server in question.

For more articles from Coldplatter, please visit http://blog.coldplatter.com

As smartphones further paved their place in the enterprises, Apple, RIM Blackberry, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Google Android are eying for the spotlight. In the last quarter, Gartner said that Smartphone sales had surpassed 41 million units, a 12.8 percent increase compared to the same period last year.Today, Smartphones have become a compulsory gadget for corporate users. They are not only revolutionizing the mobile handset market, but also changing the way we use PCs. The reason behind the success of the Smartphones is increased interest in social networking with Facebook and Twitter, which demand high speed internet and connectivity features.In 2009, all the major mobile vendors update its range to increase their revenue and market share. Here, the feature discusses the biggest stories in the Smartphone industry.1.    Google Android platform and Google Phone

Google Android is an open source mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel launched back in 2007. The platform targets mobile devices in large, but now it seems that various PC vendors are working on Android based netbooks and tablets. Recently, it is reported that the Android OS claimed 27% share in the market, whereas iPhone OS reported 55% share in the Smartphone market in US for November month.Various Smartphones based on the platform is already available in the market like HTC G1, HTC Droid Eris, Motorola Droid, Samsung Galaxy, GW620 Eve, etc. Meanwhile, Google has been working on Android based Smartphone, called “Nexus One”, which will be available in January and will pose challenge Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry.2.    Apple updates its iPhone

In June, Apple launched the iPhone 3GS, with a boosted processor, better camera, more storage space, and a digital compass. The new Smartphone is more evolutionary up gradation than the revolutionary improvement to the hardware. The new iPhone 3GS has a number of new features which will certainly impress the corporate world like hardware encryption and support for ActiveSync policies. The new device fixed various anomalies of its predecessors and incorporated features like copy and paste, universal search, voice memos, and remote wiping. 3. Microsoft Windows mobile 6.5 OSMicrosoft launched a minor upgrade of its Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system in October for next generation of Smartphones, called Windows Mobile 6.5. The new software features a new UI and a richer browsing experience having new services like My Phone, which allows to synchronization of text messages, photos, video, contacts and more to the Web; and Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Meanwhile, the company has been working on its new platform called Windows Mobile 7, codenamed “Photon”, which is a major upgrade planned for release in June 2010.4. PC vendors join the Smartphone race

After the recent success of Smartphones and the take part in the pie, major PC vendors like Dell, Acer, HP, etc join the race with their handsets. In November, HP had announced its new iPAQ Glisten, a feature-rich 3G world Smartphone that meets the increasing demands of modern mobile professionals. In the same month, Dell Computers launched its Android-based Dell Mini 3 smartphone. Acer had introduced neoTouch, which is a new addition to its growing line of Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets, based on 1 GHz Snapdragon CPU. 5. Mobile App Market

According to latest research, mobile applications market will reach $9 billion by 2011. Apple has dominated the space with over 2 billion download and therefore other vendors are also entering in the field. However, the new apps will pose increased difficulty for developers.