VDC has forged a partnership with First Technology Inc. (FTI) and FTI's principal analyst, Paul Zorfass. The collaboration with Zorfass, who once served as executive director of the Computer Research division of the Yankee Group, will enhance the depth and breadth of VDC's embedded market research, VDC says. (more…)

Freescale is readying a reference design for Windows Vista “SideShow” applications, such as external laptop displays that run mini-applications (addressbook lookups, for instance) without booting the laptop. (more…)

IP telephony specialist Digium is readying a significant release of the Asterisk IP PBX (private branch exchange) open-source software (OSS) that it maintains. Additionally, the company is offering telephony application developers early access to a DSP-based Linux IP telephony appliance it plans to ship early next… (more…)

Via is shipping a Linux-friendly x86-compatible desktop processor, accompanied by a “Clean Computing Initiative” aimed at offsetting the chip's environmental cost. (more…)

Worldwide shipments of converged mobile devices achieved record shipments of 19.3 million units in Q2 of 2006, a 42.1 percent year-over-year gain, IDC reported on Sept. 12. For the entire year, shipments of the devices are expected to reach nearly 100 million units, according to the analyst firm. (more…)

IBM is shipping its first Cell-based computer. The BladeCenter QS20 is a blade designed for use with IBM's Linux-based System Cluster 1350 product line. It targets graphic-intensive applications in medical imaging, aerospace, defense, digital animation, communications, and oil and gas exploration. (more…)

Trolltech is shipping the Greephone, its open, user-modifiable Linux mobile phone aimed at helping developers write applications for, or modify components in, its Qtopia Phone Edition (QPE) software stack. (more…)

Did you miss out on the LinuxWorld 2006 conference and expo held last month in San Francisco? Well, we have some good news for you: the show management has posted all of the keynote talks online for free public viewing. (more…)

Samsung says it is developing 40nm process technology, with the aim of producing flash memory chips up to 32 gigabit (Gb) in capacity. Several such chips could soon be combined in memory cards up to 64 gigabytes (GB), the company says. The chips use patent-pending “Charge Trap Flash” (CTF) technology. (more…)

Portwell is shipping a ruggedized ATX board with a “Core 2 Duo” socket said to support “all Intel mainstream desktop processors.” The Ruby-9716VGAR features an LGA-775 processor socket, along with PCI Express, gigabyte Ethernet, and SATA interfaces. (more…)

Embedded software companies selling only development tools face challenges ahead, according to Venture Development Corp. The research firm's recently released report on the embedded software development tools market warns that the market for “unbundled” software development tools such as compilers and debuggers is expected to undergo little if any growth. (more…)

A series of one-day trade shows on embedded systems and real-time computing will be held during the next four months in cities around the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The Real-Time and Embedded Computing Conference (RTECC) events will include embedded Linux sessions and demonstrations. (more…)

This whitepaper examines the market potential for hardware add-in cards that interface open telephony systems with the PSTN (public switched telephone network). It also looks at trends driving businesses to adopt IP telephony systems based on several popular open source PBXs. (more…)

Motorola is readying a slim, Linux-based PDA phone, according to several sources around the web. The E690, a tri-band GSM phone with QVGA touchscreen and 2 megapixel camera, will reportedly ship to China Mobile customers at an unspecified time. (more…)

Foreword: This whitepaper examines the market potential for hardware add-in cards that interface open telephony systems with the PSTN (public switched telephone network). It also looks at the trends driving businesses to adopt IP telephony systems, and at various popular open source PBXs and other tools. (more…)