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VXL announced more than a dozen new “Itona” thin clients with Via processors, including seven models that run Linux. The mid-range Itona TC1536 runs on a 1GHz C7-M CPU, the C32 and C35 run on a 1GHz C7, and the C35S, D35S, D51S, and E35 run on a 1.6GHz C7, the company says.
AndroidPolice claims to have tested a pre-release version of Android 2.2 (“Froyo”), and says it's up to 450 percent faster than Android 2.1, thanks largely to the addition of a JIT (just in time) compiler. The operating system upgrade will also offer USB tethering and WiFi hotspot support, says TechCrunch.
Arbor Technology announced a seven-inch tablet PC that offers a 1.1GHz Intel Atom processor and 4GB of flash storage. The ruggedized Gladius G0710S has a touchscreen display, gigabit Ethernet and 802.11b/g/n networking, dual cameras, a RFID reader, and the ability to survive four-foot drops, according to the company.
Sony's removal of the Playstation 3's “Other OS” option will cause higher support costs for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and other research institutes using arrays of PS3s for high-performance computing, says ArsTechnica. Meanwhile, three lawsuits have been brought against Sony over the offending PS3 update, says IGN.
Verizon Wireless and LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A. have launched the first U.S.-destined Android smartphone from LG, previously promoted with the movie “Iron Man 2.” The mid-range LG Ally offers a 3.2-inch touchscreen, slider QWERTY keyboard, 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, S-GPS, and a 3.2-megapixel camera, says Verizon.
Cavium Networks announced new versions of its Octeon II family of multicore system-on-chips with between 8 and 32 MIPS64 cores. Supported by a Linux SDK, the Octeon II CN68xx/67xx SoCs are equipped with 85 L3-L7 application and security acceleration engines, virtualization features, 100Gbps of connectivity, and new “real-time” power-optimization technology, says the company.
McObject has released version 4.1 of its Linux-ready, in-memory database for embedded and real-time transaction processing applications. ExtremeDB 4.1 is touted for improvements including the addition of CRC and RC4 encryption, faster on-disk storage and retrieval, a binary scheme option, support for custom collations, and improved transaction logging, says the company.
Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam reportedly told the Wall Street Journal that it is working with Google on the latter's widely rumored Android based tablet computer. Meanwhile, an “HP insider” is said to have told Examiner.com that HP will release a WebOS-based tablet computer in the third quarter, code-named the HP Hurricane.
Aaeon announced a COM Express module featuring Intel's “Pineview” Atoms and NM10 I/O controller. The COM-LN supports up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, includes gigabit Ethernet, has eight USB ports and three SATA channels, and provides both PCI and PCI Express expansion.
Canonical demonstrated its first fast-boot version of Ubuntu, said to launch a running browser in less than 10 seconds. The Ubuntu Light distro employs a new netbook- and tablet-oriented desktop environment called Unity that will also drive the Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition, due in October.
The Wireless Gigabit Alliance announced a specification it says will bump wireless networking speeds up to 7Gbps — more than ten times faster than the highest 802.11n rate. The organization also announced it will collaborate with the WiFi Alliance, ensuring that future devices are backward-compatible with today's 802.11 products.
The NPD Group says U.S. sales of Android smartphones have surpassed Apple's iPhone to take the second spot behind Research in Motion (RIM), with 28 percent of the market. Meanwhile, Sprint has joined Verizon in turning its back on Google's Nexus One, says eWEEK.
Grace Digital Audio is shipping a Linux-based Internet tuner that offers Pandora access and costs only $105. The Solo Wi-Fi Receiver provides over 50,000 radio stations, podcasts, and on-demand programs over its 802.11b/g WiFi receiver, runs on two Watts of power, and according to one early DigitalGuru review, is “heartily” recommended as “a great little device at a very affordable price.”
[Updated: 12:15PM] — AppliedMicro announced a system-on-chip (SoC) said to offer the industry's smallest form factor for a Power Architecture-based product. The APM801xx costs only $10 in volume, uses a PowerPC core clocked at 400MHz, 600MHz, or 800MHz, ships with a Linux eval kit, and enables networked embedded consumer devices that run on less than a single Watt, claims the company.
Lineo Solutions, Inc. announced Linux-based server and client software enabling remote updates of embedded devices over the web. The SmartU2 for Linux System consists of core management server software called “SmartU2 Manager,” as well as a 100KB “SmartU2 Agent” client that runs on embedded Linux devices, says the company