Hard on the heels of the news that Dell's “Project Ophelia” thumb PC is expected to ship this summer, thin client vendor Devon IT on Tuesday rolled out a similar contender of its own called the Ceptor.

Devon IT

Like Dell's device, the $99 Ceptor is designed to plug into any HDMI-compatible display or monitor. Slightly larger than a USB memory stick, the multimedia-capable unit can then transform such a device into a “zero client” virtual desktop.

Whereas Dell's device uses Linux-based Android, however, the Ceptor uses Devon IT’s own Linux-based zero-client operating system, known as ZeTOS, to let users access their virtual desktops.

'An enterprise-class device'

At the heart of the Ceptor is a dual-core ARM processor with ZeTOS preloaded. The device features integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capability as well as USB on the go via a USB-B micro host port and 1080p HD video output. Users need only enter their user name and password to get up and running in a remote session.

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We've seen several Linux tablets emerge over the past year or so, but examples with triple-boot capabilities are much less common.

Enter the Python S3, a tablet released on Monday by Italian Ekoore that can boot three operating systems: Ubuntu Linux, Android, and Windows 8.

“The Python series was born with the purpose of uniting in a single tablet multiple operating systems,” explains the Italian Ekoore website. “The components of this device are the result of careful and accurate selection, to ensure perfect compatibility with all operating systems.”

Ready for a look? Here's what we've got.

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Google has introduced an IDE (integrated developer environment) aimed at easing development of Android apps.

Android Studio made its debut Wednesday at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco.

Android developers could use the Android Development Tools (ADT) plug-in for the Eclipse IDE, but Android Studio will be the first dedicated IDE for the mobile OS. Google built Android Studio on the base of IntelliJ's Idea Java IDE.

"The pivot around the IntelliJ IDE is a shift for Google," noted Al Hilwa, who covers application development software for IDC, in an email interview. IntelliJ "is less complex and more friendly than Eclipse and should help Android reach a broader section of developers," Hilwa wrote.

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Google has shown off new features that can reduce data consumption and improve Web performance on Android-powered mobile devices, drawing partly from capabilities already supported in the Chrome desktop OS.

The improvements include new file compression formats for images and video, and a new commerce system that makes shopping easier on mobile devices, Google said at its I/O developer conference Wednesday.

The idea is to bring some of the capabilities that Chrome offers on the desktop to the Chrome mobile browser, said Sundar Pichai, head of the Android and Chrome operating systems at Google.

“Our goal is to make the Web better, both on the desktop and mobile,” said Linus Upson, VP of engineering for Chrome.

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At PCWorld we work hard to stay on the cutting edge of technology, both in our reporting and with our publication. With that in mind, we’re proud to announce the launch of our newest PCWorld Digital Magazine Enhanced Editions, the Enhanced Android Edition and the Enhanced Kindle Edition—and, just as with the Enhanced iPad Edition, we’re pleased to offer them free to our current print subscribers!

The PCWorld Enhanced Editions differ from PDF and replica versions of the magazine and incorporate rich multimedia content, including videos, interactive slideshows and features, podcasts, and other elements. The pages are all optimized and include support for high-resolution displays, and are remastered into device-intuitive layouts that allow for unique navigation through each issue. Your options include using the interactive table of contents, swiping from page to page, or gliding through article content with the tip of your finger. Embedded links take you directly to related information within the issue as well as to websites for additional content, and the app allows you to bookmark and share articles via email and Twitter.

Print subscribers can access any of the Enhanced Editions in three easy steps. First, download the app from your device’s app store: For Android, you’ll find it on Google Play; for Kindle, it’s available on the Amazon Appstore; and on the iPad, use iTunes. Once you’ve downloaded and opened the app, tap the menu, and then tap My Account to log in. Enter the email address you provided when you signed up for your print subscription along with your PCWorld magazine account number (located on any print issue), and you’re all set.

Once you’ve logged in, your free issues of the Enhanced Edition will automatically appear in the Library section of the app. If you aren’t sure what email address you entered at the time of your subscription order, or if you need to add your email address to your account to get access, visit PCWorld Magazine Customer Service and update your account.

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Toshiba has expansion plans for its U.S. tablet offerings later this year as it explores more screen sizes and price points.

The company will introduce new Windows 8 and Android tablets at multiple price ranges in the United States, said Carl Pinto, vice president of marketing at Toshiba America Information Systems, during a Thursday press event in New York City.

The new tablets will represent a renewed effort by Toshiba to expand in the U.S. tablet market after a long silence.

One of the new tablets will be shown at the Google I/O show, Pinto said. The Google developer event will be held between May 15 through March 17 in San Francisco.

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Intel is expanding into low-cost laptops and tablets starting at $200 with new low-power Atom chips based on an architecture called Silvermont, which the company is expected to talk about next week, according to a source familiar with Intel’s plans.

The company expects the release later this year of tablets and laptops with detachable or folding screens priced between $200 and $399 with Atom chips code-named Bay Trail, which is based on Silvermont. Silvermont is the first Atom architecture overhaul since 2008, when the first Atom chip was released and subsequently panned for its performance.

Intel has promised better performance and battery life in tablets, smartphones and laptops with Silvermont-based Atom chips.

Intel will spill more details about Silvermont at an event to be held on Monday at the company’s Santa Clara campus. Speakers at the event include Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group.

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When Intel said recently that its Bay Trail chips will power a wave of $200 touchscreen laptops, the company wasn't talking only about Windows.

Those $200 notebooks will predominantly run Android, Intel Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer David "Dadi" Perlmutter told CNet. Windows laptops could reach the $200 mark, but that “depends on how Microsoft prices Windows 8,” Perlmutter said. “It may be a slightly higher price point.”

IDGNS

An earlier report by The Wall Street Journal claimed that Microsoft may slash licensing costs for small, touch-equipped notebooks. The lower cost of Windows, combined with lower resolution requirements and low-end Intel processors, could make for some cheap Windows 8 devices later this year.

Even so, Android laptops will likely be even less expensive, because Google doesn't charge a licensing fee for the operating system.

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According to a study released today from Strategy Analytics, the iPad is losing ground to the competition.  Although Apple still leads the tablet market, surges in sales of Android and Windows RT devices have reduced its dominance significantly.

In the first quarter of 2012, Windows held 0% of the tablet market.  In the first quarter of 2013, their share has risen to 7.5%.  Additionally, Android devices have grown their share of the market from 34% to 43%, all of which dips into Apple’s sales and has caused a 15% reduction in their share of the market.

Leaps forward in mobile processor technology have helped enhance the capabilities of Windows RT and Android tablets, leveling the playing field and allowing them to gain ground on Apple.  The Dell XPS 10, Sony Xperia Z, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and other popular tablets operate on Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processors, which utilize an all-in-one design to save space and maximize efficiency.

The iPad may owe a portion of its current dominance to its legacy.  Being the first tablet on the scene, and having held the majority of the market since 2010, it has an embedded strength that’s been difficult for competitors to weaken.

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Microsoft has signed up another major electronics manufacturer to its Android and Chrome patent licensing program, this time Taiwan's Foxconn, which will pay royalties to the U.S. software giant.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it covers Foxconn manufactured devices running the Android and Chrome operating systems, including smartphones, tablets and televisions, Microsoft said on Tuesday.

Foxconn is just the latest contract manufacturer to sign up for Microsoft's Android and Chrome patent licensing program, despite the fact that Google developed the two operating systems.

Both Android and Chrome use its technologies, according to Microsoft, and in the past the U.S. software giant has sued Android vendors over alleged patent infringement. In 2011, Microsoft filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Nobles, along with one of Foxconn's manufacturing companies, for running patent infringing software on its Android-based Nook e-reader.

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The creators of Android originally dreamed it would be used to create a world of "smart cameras" that connected to PCs, a founder said, but it was reworked for mobile handsets as the smartphone market began to explode.

"The exact same platform, the exact same operating system we built for cameras, that became Android for cellphones," said Android co-founder Andy Rubin, who spoke at an economic summit in Tokyo.

Rubin, who became a Google executive after the search giant acquired Android in August 2005, said the plan was to create a camera platform with a cloud portion for storing photos online.

He showed slides from his original pitch to investors in April 2004, including one with a camera connected "wired or wireless" to a home computer, which then linked to an "Android Datacenter."

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If you’ve been eager to replace your start screen with a scrolling Facebook feed, your day has finally come.  The HTC First is the first smartphone with deep enough Facebook integration to be dubbed the “Facebook phone.”  It uses an Android OS primed with Facebook’s baby-blue interface, sending you directly to the familiar news feed, photo service, and messaging system that used to hide in a dedicated app.

Reviews for the HTC First “Facebook phone” started appearing on the web today, with largely positive reactions.  Its specs are on par with what smartphone users expect, and some have expressed an appreciation for the way it puts Facebook front-and-center without making it difficult to use other Android programs.

Early comparisons to the Samsung Galaxy S4 are pitting the HTC First against stiff competition, and showing serious promise for the fledgling smartphone.  Although not full 1080 HD like the S4, it does run at 720p on a 4.3-inch screen.  A 5 MP primary camera and 1.6 MP secondary camera, 16 GB of storage, and Jelly Bean 4.1 OS run on a cutting-edge Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor, with an Adreno 305 GPU and 1 GB of RAM.

Since a Facebook app has been available for a long time, the HTC First doesn’t have an entirely unique selling point, except that Facebook comes preloaded and dominates the interface.  The appeal may lie mostly with extremely active Facebook fans, but with Facebook reporting more than 1 billion active users, that may be more than enough. 

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The Galaxy Note 8.0 is Samsung's stylus-equipped answer to the iPad Mini, but it'll be a tough sell when it launches April 11 for $399.

That's $50 more expensive than Apple's small tablet, at a time when most small tablets are trying to undercut the Mini. Samsung's hoping that the Galaxy Note 8.0's S Pen stylus and standout features will lure buyers.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 has an 8-inch display with a resolution of 1280-by-800 pixels, a quad-core Exynos processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a microSD card slot, a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front camera. The Note 8.0 runs the Android 4.1 operating system, with Samsung's TouchWiz interface on top.

The $399 price tag is attached to a Wi-Fi model, but a version with 4G is coming.

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The FairSearch coalition, whose members include Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle, has filed a complaint with the European Commission against Google and Android, saying that the company is using the OS as a Trojan horse to deceive partners and monopolize the mobile marketplace.

Android has become the dominant smartphone operating system when counting units sold, with a market share of 70 percent during the fourth quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Google is now using that dominance to lock out competition in mobile sector, FairSearch said.

The way Google packages apps such Maps and YouTube on Android-based smartphones "disadvantages other providers, and puts Google's Android in control of consumer data on a majority of smartphones shipped today," while the "predatory distribution of Android at below cost makes it difficult for other providers of operating systems to recoup investments in competing with Google's dominant mobile platform," according to the coalition.

"We are asking the Commission to move quickly and decisively to protect competition and innovation in this critical market. Failure to act will only embolden Google to repeat its desktop abuses of dominance as consumers increasingly turn to a mobile platform dominated by Google's Android operating system," said the FairSearch coalition's Brussels-based counsel Thomas Vinje, in a statement.

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Admit it: You once owned a crazy multifunction remote. It had a black-and-white touchscreen and was supposed to let you control every entertainment device in your house from the comfort of your couch. That was the promise, at least. All it really did was force everything into the wrong aspect ratio and switch the clock on your microwave to Greenwich mean time.

Well, good news: The world is now a better place. Your PC is now the most powerful entertainment device in your home, so it’s time to ditch your outdated remote control in favor of your smartphone.

When you have open platforms on both sides of the equation—your Android phone and your PC, rather than “some Panasonic remote” and “some DVD/HDTV combo thing”—it becomes easy as pie to rig up a super-powerful remote-control solution. A smartphone super-remote isn’t just for people who have home theater PCs, either. With a little networking know-how, you can use your Android phone to wake up a dormant PC when you’re away from home so you can start a torrent, stream media to your phone, or just poke around your PC while you’re out and about.

Whether you want a media remote, a remote desktop client, or a way to stream media from your PC to your phone, this guide will teach you how to get set up with a secure, usable connection on the desktop side and connect with the best apps on the Android side.

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What a difference a month makes. Less than 30 days ago, Google reported there were finally more devices in active use running Android 4.0 and up than devices running the Android 2.3 operating system (code named Gingerbread).

The vast majority of those Android 4.0 users, however, were using Ice Cream Sandwich and not the various flavors of the newer Jelly Bean (Android 4.1 and 4.2).

Now, Google's Android developer site reports a jump of almost nine percentage points for Jelly Bean devices (counting both versions 4.1 and 4.2) from 16.5 percent of all Android users in early March to 25 percent in early April. According to Google’s numbers, the majority of Jelly Bean devices run version 4.1 and not 4.2, which was released in February.

That's a massive jump in just a few weeks. Unless thousands of users suddenly upgraded their devices or went out and purchased new phones , something is rotten in the city of Mountain View.

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Just as rumors resurfaced that Google is getting into the smartwatch game, Oko International, the maker of a wide range of watches and timepieces sold under the brand name 'Android,' is suing the company for trademark infringement.

Oko, established in 1991, sells more than 400 watches and clocks that have been trademarked as "Android" products since 1994. Its pieces, which are marketed across North America, Japan and Western Europe, generate between $1 million and $5 million in annual sales.

The company, however, does not seem intimidated by Google. "It does not matter how big the company is. We did not give Google the right to use that name," said Oko chief designer and CEO Wing Liang.

The timing of the suit, which was filed Wednesday in the California Central District Court, is noteworthy. It was filed the same week Google's Android unit was reported by the Financial Times to be in the midst of developing its own smartwatch.

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Ninthchamber asked the Printers forum about printing from an Android device.

One usually doesn't associate printing with phones or tablets, in large part because once you have a portable device, you have less need for paper. But it still occasionally comes in handy.

You can print directly from an Android device with the right Wi-Fi or Bluetooth printer. However, as I don't like to give advice that involves spending large sums of money, I'm going to tell you how to do it with whatever printer you already own. The only expenses will be paper and ink.

[Email your tech questions to answer@pcworld.com or post them on the PCW Answer Line forum.]

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Password-protecting your smartphone makes sense, as it prevents unauthorized users from accessing your data.

But it can also work against you. Suppose, for example, your phone gets lost. If a Good Samaritan finds it and wants to return it, he or she won't be able to do the necessary detective work. (And it's not like you'd want them poking around your data anyway.)

Fortunately, Android 4.0 offers a solution in the form of lock-screen contact information, which will display the message of your choosing even on a passcode-protected device. Here's how to set this up:

1. On your Android phone, head to Settings, then look for an entry called Lock Screen. (I found this under the Personal section on my Samsung Galaxy S3; on your phone it might be under Security or somewhere similar.)

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Canonical made quite a splash at the start of this year when it announced Ubuntu for phones, but—apart from what it demonstrated at the time—we're still waiting both for the downloadable image it promised to provide for the Galaxy Nexus and for specifics on actual devices.

Many outlets have reported that Ubuntu phones are due in October, but that's still far from certain. Work on apps, however, has clearly begun.

In the meantime, those who can't bear the wait now have at least some solace: an Android app you can download today that gives you at least an early taste of what Ubuntu Linux for phones will really be like.

Intrigued? Read on.

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An appeals court should rule, as a matter of law, that Google’s commercial use of Java in a market where Oracle already competed was not fair use, the software company said in a filing.

“This Court should not stop at finding that Google infringed Oracle’s copyrighted work. A remand to decide fair use is pointless,” Oracle said in a filing on Monday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Oracle is appealing a decision by Judge William H. Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Google was cleared last May of most of the infringement claims in Oracle’s lawsuit, although it was found to have copied a few small portions of Oracle’s Java code.

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Wine is coming to Android, meaning that in the future you may be able to run native Windows programs on your Google-powered tablet, according to an online report.

Alexandre Julliard, the Wine project’s lead developer, on Sunday briefly showed off an early version of Wine for Android during the Free and Open Source Developers’ European Meeting (FOSDEM) in Brussels, Belgium. The demonstration showing Wine running an unspecified Windows program on Android was “horrendously slow,” according to the Linux-focused site Phoronix.

We reached out to Julliard for comment, but had not heard back at the time of this writing.

It’s not clear how far along development is for Wine on Android, but Julliard attributed the slow performance to his demonstration environment, Phoronix reports. Instead of showing Wine running on an actual Android device, Julliard ran Wine inside an Android software emulator typically used to test apps under development for Google’s mobile platform.

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Sdlmd downloaded an Android app that wanted access to Contacts, even though it had no legitimate reason to check on friends and relatives. What can be done?

[Email your tech questions to answer@pcworld.com or post them on the PCW Answer Line forum.]

As protection against malware, adware, and just plain arrogant software that thinks it owns your phone, Android requires apps to announce what they may access and change. For instance, an app must tell you if it might access your contacts or track your location. The app provides this information at installation, when a list of so-called permissions pops up before you make the final install-or-not-install decision.

But installing an Android app is an all-or-nothing choice. If you object to what an app wants to do, and you're not willing to root your phone, your only other option is to not install the app.

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Samsung is now updating its Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 2 tablets with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and new stylus functions through Samsung Premium Suite.

The update is for the Wi-Fi versions of the devices and finally brings Samsung's tablets current with Jelly Bean, after the company slowly rolled out Android 4.1 to its phones in the fall. Android 4.2 has already begun appearing on some Nexus tablets.

The more intriguing features, however, come from the Samsung Premium Suite, with special attention to the capabilities of the stylus.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 was the first in the company's line to support a multiwindows feature so you can run two apps side by side on screen. The feature later trickled through to the Note smartphones and Galaxy S III phone. Now, Samsung has updated this feature for the Note 10.1 with a cascade view, which lets you freely resize, move, and pin selected apps in multiple views, running simultaneously.

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There's no shortage of Android tablets in the marketplace today, but devices that run Ubuntu Linux are still much harder to come by.

Canonical's own mobile plans are still a work in progress, of course, but on Monday an intriguing new contender popped up on Notebook Italia and then Engadget.

Specifically, the new “Nibbio,” or “Kite,” Full-HD tablet from Italian DaVinci Mobile Technology will dual-boot Ubuntu and Android and is due to begin shipping next month.

Just 19 ounces

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Last week saw a flurry of new products being unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but one that didn't attract much coverage until the weekend looks pretty compelling.

It's yet another example of what I call the march of the tiny Linux PCs that's been going on for close to a year now, and it's got a diminutive price point to match its size.

New from the creator of the MK802—another notable exemplar of this trend—the RK3066 is a miniature Android PC that's just $55.

Bluetooth support

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