Parvus has announced a modular on-vehicle platform for data acquisition, video surveillance, networking, Internet access, GPS tracking, and video surveillance. Dubbed “Mobile Information Infrastructure” (M2i), the platform supports embedded Linux, among other OSes, and targets mass transit and other mobile… (more…)

E Ink is preparing a Linux-based electronic paper development kit. The AM-100 EPD kit includes a 170dpi, 6-inch (diagonal) SVGA (800 x 600) “EPD” (electronic paper display) module supporting four shades of gray. (more…)

A French fabless chip house has ported Linux to its flagship SoC (system-on-chip) for secure smartcard readers and PIN-entry pads used in point-of-sale (POS) applications. Innova-Card's MIPS32-based USIP Professional IC features on-chip memory, storage, and cypto, and is available with a Linux-based software… (more…)

MySQL AB is distributing the first release candidate of what it calls “certainly the most important release in MySQL's history.” MySQL 5.0 features many new ANSI SQL-compliant features, rewrites to bring previous functionality into ANSI SQL compliance, and several new storage engines, tools, and extensions. (more…)

Increasingly smart, well-connected devices pose growing security threats, according to an in-depth editorial at CIO Insight. Author Evan Schuman notes that McAfee has launched an anti-virus product aimed at POS (point-of-sales/service) devices, and that any Internet-connected device — including printers, smartphones, and VoIP phones — represents a potential security threat. (more…)

Hardware-assisted tools vendor American Arium says its principal firmware engineer, John Overton, will speak on debugging Linux on ARM targets, at the ARM Developer's Conference next week in San Jose. (more…)

Broadband customer premises equipment chip vendor PMC-Sierra is shipping a Linux-powered hardware/software reference design for VoIP WiFi broadband routers. The company says high-performance Linux routing helps the design deliver PSTN-like voice quality (public switched telephone network), while… (more…)

An open source project to create a simulator for ARM-based development boards has achieved its first major release. SkyEye 1.0.0 targets Linux and uClinux on 11 different ARM-based board families, simulating devices such as NICs, LCDs, touchscreens, and Flash, in addition to the processor. (more…)

Opera Software released a banner-free version of its freely downloadable Web browser Tuesday, and logged more than a million downloads within two days, it says. Elimination of the ads was made possible in part by healthy revenue streams from embedded versions, a company spokesperson said. (more…)

Mel Reyes's recently published Hacking Firefox: More Than 150 Hacks, Mods, and Customizations (ExtremeTech, paperback) explains why Mozilla's Firefox web browser has caught on big time with users. (more…)

IBM's DeveloperWorks site has published a series of tutorials aimed at helping applicants pass Linux proficiency tests from the Linux Professional Institute (LPI). The “101” series exams target junior-level certification, while the “201” series target intermediate-level certification tests. (more…)

An Australian company that in June ported its consumer device user interface development kit to Linux/Qtopia has now targeted its first development board. Fluffy Spider Technologies (FST) says its FancyPants graphics platform supports Aiji Systems's SMDK2410 board for Samsung's S3C2410X01, a 16/32-bit… (more…)

Micro/sys is offering a free Linux development kit along with first orders of its new XScale-based PC/104 SBC (single-board computer). Aimed at point-of-sale terminals and industrial control panels, the SBC1670 includes a color flat-panel display controller, audio, debounced keypad inputs, and several PC-style… (more…)

STMicroelectronics (ST) is sampling an SoC (system-on-chip) that integrates a VLIW-based core with an MPEG-2 decoder, and runs Linux. The STi5301 is the first in a new STx5300-series of SoCs that the company says are powerful enough for use in inexpensive, single-chipset set-top box and digital video recorder designs. (more…)

IBM has published the following technical articles, tutorials, and downloads on its DeveloperWorks website. They cover a range of interesting (though not necessarily embedded) technical topics, primarily related to Linux and open source system development. Some require free registration. Enjoy . . . ! (more…)