Fujitsu has developed a new electronic paper technology that can hold vibrant color images without electricity. The thin, flexible paper is more vivid than an LCD, requires only small amounts of electricity to update, and could be commercialized as soon as 2007, Fujitsu says. (more…)

Peplink has entered the SBC (single-board computer) market, shipping two low-powered ARM boards previously available only in its network appliances. Additionally, the company will ship in six weeks what could be the smallest SBC ever to run Debian Linux. A mini-ITX board is also under development. (more…)

Aeronix used Linux to build a $99 instant messenger appliance aimed at keeping kids from tying up the family PC while chatting with friends. Naturally, hackers soon appropriated the device for other duties, such as remotely controlling/monitoring Sony's Aibo robot. (more…)

“Hot, Cool, Retooled” is the theme of the SpeechTEK Conference and Exhibition running August 1 through 4 in New York City. It will feature an interactive hands-on demo lounge where attendees can explore the speech technologies that are reshaping consumer electronics in PDAs, games, mobile phones, and other handheld devices. (more…)

Qualcomm is sampling a high-integration mobile phone chipset targeting convergent consumer devices such as multimedia players, gaming devices, and cameras. The MSM7500 integrates an ARM11 application processor with an ARM9 modem processor, and supports embedded Linux, BREW, and other third-party OSes. It works with CDMA Rev. A networks. (more…)

Free software is a billion dollar industry with proven business models, writes eWEEK columnist Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. Dual-licensing, support, and other models can all work, if the right model is chosen and implemented wisely. (more…)

A satellite communications company has called satellite-delivered WiMAX “the future for handheld devices.” At a WiMAX Forum Plenary today and tomorrow in Vancouver, PanAmSat will use WiMAX to deliver what it claims to be the first-ever live video sent by satellite to a handheld device. (more…)

The latest SDIO device-controller IP (intellectual property, for buildling semiconductor devices) from Arasan Chip Systems supports Version 1.20 of the SDIO specificiation for postage-stamp-sized SD memory expansion cards, which are being built into a wide range of new digital products such as mobile phones, PDAs, multimedia players, and digital cameras. (more…)

Addonics is shipping a CompactFlash-to-SATA adapter that can be used to boot a computer from a Linux operating system embedded in a CompactFlash card. The prosaically named “SATA to CF Adapter” is claimed to be among the fastest CF readers/writers available. (more…)

Neoware says it has developed software that can eliminate CompactFlash chips from thin-client designs. Neoware Image Manager streams applications and operating systems on-demand from Linux or Windows servers to PCs or thin clients, allowing users to run applications without any need for local storage. (more…)

Win Enterprises is sampling an embedded board in a custom form-factor it says was designed to support a fanless Pentium M or Celeron M CPU in the smallest package possible. The IP-06058 comes with Linux drivers, and targets industrial automation, medical, scientific, and military/aerospace applications. (more…)

FSMLabs says its real-time Linux distributions now support AMD64. RTLinuxPro and Carrier Grade RTLinux support AMD Opteron, Athlon 64, and Turion 64 chips. Targeted applications include communications blades, dedicated networking and security systems, instrumentation and control hardware, high performance simulation, and high resolution imaging, according to the company. (more…)

Parvus is shipping a trio of powerful fanless PC/104-Plus CPU modules aimed at high-vibration, extreme temperature sealed embedded-PC applications, such as mobile computing. The SpacePC CPU-146x boards feature an 800MHz ULV Pentium III processor, along with heat-spreader plates for attachment to heat-sinks or cases. (more…)

x86 is no longer the top architecture for embedded Linux devices, according to LinuxDevices.com's 2005 reader survey. ARM has passed x86 in new projects, our research suggests, while PowerPC is gaining quickly. This article by Peter Seebach tracks the history, fun-factor, and ultimate commercial success of non-x86 Linux. (more…)

Viosoft and KwikByte have teamed on a sub-$500 embedded Linux development kit for ARM920T-based devices. The kit includes KwikByte's KB9202 development board and Viosoft's Arriba Embedded Linux Edition toolsuite, and can be used for end-to-end development and debug from Linux or Windows hosts, the companies say. (more…)