OStatic

Over at The Apple Blog today, I wrote about some cool geocaching applications for the iPhone that make the adventure lots more fun. If you?re not familiar with the sport, here?s the scoop. People venture out with GPS devices and look for containers hidden somewhere in the great outdoors by other geocachers. Once found, you jot your name in the logbook, put the container back where you found it, and go find another. Think of it as a pumped-up version of the treasure hunts we used to go on as kids.

If you're already a geocaching fan or want to give it a try but don't have an iPhone, try out these open source apps for your computer, netbook, or cell phone.

Over at The Apple Blog today, I wrote about some cool geocaching applications for the iPhone that make the adventure lots more fun. If you?re not familiar with the sport, here?s the scoop. People venture out with GPS devices and look for containers hidden somewhere in the great outdoors by other geocachers. Once found, you jot your name in the logbook, put the container back where you found it, and go find another. Think of it as a pumped-up version of the treasure hunts we used to go on as kids.

If you're already a geocaching fan or want to give it a try but don't have an iPhone, try out these open source apps for your computer, netbook, or cell phone.

Over at The Apple Blog today, I wrote about some cool geocaching applications for the iPhone that make the adventure lots more fun. If you?re not familiar with the sport, here?s the scoop. People venture out with GPS devices and look for containers hidden somewhere in the great outdoors by other geocachers. Once found, you jot your name in the logbook, put the container back where you found it, and go find another. Think of it as a pumped-up version of the treasure hunts we used to go on as kids.

If you're already a geocaching fan or want to give it a try but don't have an iPhone, try out these open source apps for your computer, netbook, or cell phone.

This morning, reports that Google Voice is headed for Blackberry and Android handsets started making the rounds on the web. Google had previously announced that this was in the works, but provided official confirmation today, in this post.

According to the post: The mobile application makes using Google Voice with your cell phone simpler by letting you place calls and send SMS messages directly from your Google Voice number. You can call from your phone's address book or enter in numbers directly, and your outbound calls will display your Google Voice number as the caller ID. You can also listen to your voicemail and read transcriptions of your messages. As GigaOm points out, some people may be underestimating how far-reaching this could be, with Google standing between users and their carriers.

Although I own a BlackBerry and I am writing this blog post, I am not writing this blog post on a BlackBerry. I could if I wanted to, though, thanks to the new public beta launch of the WordPress BlackBerry client.

A TypePad blogging client for BlackBerry already exists, but so far there hasn't been anything for WordPress users and, of course, nothing open source. Naturally, I was thrilled to take this new app for a spin and, I must say, it's pretty snazzy for something still in beta.

The skyrocketing success of Apple's App Store and the recent launch for Research In Motion's (RIM) App World for BlackBerry is clear proof that people want third-party apps for their mobile phones. Unfortunately, developers with a brilliant idea for the next blockbuster app typically have to decide which platform to choose before they write their first bit of code -- iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, etc.

The creators of PhoneGap think it's nonsense that developers have to write the same app in several different programming languages to reach the widest swath of mobile phone customers, so they developed an open source, cross-platorm framework that bridges the gaps among them.

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 8 to combat rival browsers. It's the company's response to a bitter battle for market share.

Open source share growing in netbook market. Linux has 10 percent of the hottest new PC category. Here's why that's disruptive.

Red Hat chairman prescribes open source to solve state's economic woes. He says it could improve North Carolina's competitiveness.

Top 10 open source game projects to revive. These titles just need a little TLC.

Create BlackBerry applications with open source tools. Part 3 of this series focuses on creating a social networking application.

Although I suppose, technically speaking, everyone at OStatic should use the G1 smartphone with its open source platform, some of us really love our BlackBerrys. You already know Kristin uses Funambol to sync contacts and calenders with the desktop, but tethering the BlackBerry to a laptop takes an entirely different approach.

If you've hung on to your BlackBerry smartphone in the hopes that you'll one day see an open source version of it's code, you're in for a long wait.

Speaking at the BlackBerry Developer Conference hosted by Research In Motion (RIM), RIM Senior Software Developer Cassidy Gentle said, I would expect some of our Eclipse or Mobile Tools for Java could be made available on an open source basis, but as for our APIs or other software?that's a pretty big leap.