IBM, Freescale, and other Power Architecture Advisory Council (PAAC) members plan to release a new “unified” Power instruction set architecture (ISA) this quarter. Meanwhile, Power.org has released a new branding program, and plans to ship a new “platform architecture specification” aimed at simpler Linux-based reference designs. (more…)

Linux phone stack provider a la Mobile has joined the OSDL (Open Source Development Labs), in order to work with the Lab's Mobile Linux Initiative (MLI). The MLI aims to improve and promote Linux for phones and other mobile devices. It now has 15 members. (more…)

[Updated Jul. 25] — Gizmo softphone provider SIPphone is offering free calls to the landlines and mobile phones of other active Gizmo users, in 60 countries. The standards-based Gizmo softphone is… (more…)

TimeSys's subscription-based online service offering for embedded developers has gained a Linux 2.6.17 reference distribution for Atmel's AT91SAM9261 SoC (system-on-chip), new 2.6.11 patches for Freescale's MPC8272-ADS PowerQUICC II development board, and documentation related to static device nodes, cross-compiling drivers, and subversion. (more…)

Enea will demonstrate the Linux port of its “Linx” interprocess communication (IPC) technology at the Freescale Technology Forum (FTF), next week in Orlando, Fla. The company touts Linx as a more performant, scalable alternative to TIPC (transparent IPC) in heterogeneous, distributed computing environments such as those found in telecommunications. (more…)

IBM has published the following new 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…)

The fourth book by embedded designer and manager Lewin Edwards is now available for purchase. So, You Wanna Be an Embedded Engineer aims to help engineers transition effectively from academic to commercial settings, or from non-embedded to embedded fields. (more…)

A unique daughter-card approach, developed by Liantec, now allows the addition of 16x and 1x PCI-Express, AGP, and PCI expansion function cards to mini-ITX motherboards. It allows the mini-mobos to be used in I/O-intensive graphics, storage, and networking applications. (more…)

The events program and speaker list have been announced for the fall Embedded Systems Conference, set for Sept. 25-28 in Boston. The event will feature 160 exhibitors and 82 classes in eight tracks. (more…)

Fluffy Spider Technology (FST) will reportedly port its user interface technology to ERTOS, a micro-kernel based real-time Linux implementation likely to be used in Qualcomm mobile phones. FST's “FancyPants” UI technology has already been embedded in a multimedia-enabled mobile terminal used in New York City taxis. (more…)

Trolltech has updated the downloadable demo of its software stack for Linux-based mobile phones. The demo shows off the capabilities of both the touchscreen and keypad versions of Qtopia Phone Edition 4.1.1. (more…)

Embedded VAR (value-added reseller) Mistral Solutions is supporting Linux and other embedded OSes on a digital receiver PMC (processor mezzanine card) from Pentland Systems that targets high-speed analog data acquisition applications. (more…)

NAND flash chipmaker Samsung Electronics says it has entered into mass production of an 8 gigabit NAND flash memory chip aimed at mobile phones, MP3 players, gaming consoles, and other consumer devices. (more…)

Cornfed Systems is shipping an embeddable SIP stack and SDK (software development kit) for x86. The Cornfed SIP User Agent 1.0 offers graphical Gnome or commanline interfaces, while the Cornfed SDK helps users embed standards-based Voice-over-IP clients within Linux-based applications or devices, according to the company. (more…)

The Real-Time Linux Foundation is soliciting papers for its eighth-annual Workshop, set for Oct. 12-15, 2006 in Lanzhou, China. The conference presents original work related to research, experiments and industrial case studies, as well as issues of integration of real-time and embedded. Top papers will receive publication offers. (more…)