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IEI Technology has released an EPIC single board computer (SBC) featuring the Intel HM55 Express chipset paired with an Intel Core i7/i5/i3 or Celeron processor. The Nano-HM551 supports 1080p video, offers dual display capability with its VGA, LVDS, and HDMI ports, and USB, serial, and SATA I/O.
Habey announced a compact Intel Atom-based fanless computer with four Mini PCI Express (Mini-PCIe) slots, enabling dual 3G mini-modules along with two more peripherals. The WIT-1800 is equipped with the Atom N450 or D410 processor, up to 2GB DDR2 memory, SATA and CompactFlash storage, plus gigabit Ethernet, USB, and serial I/O.
Google has added enterprise security support to its Google Apps for Android 2.2. Newly enabled features include support for remote wipe, remote idle lock, improved password protection, and a new Google Apps Device Policy app, says the company.
Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci has said to expect a line of Acer tablet devices on Nov. 23, with some running Android and others running Microsoft Windows. Lanci also predicted that the worldwide tablet market will reach 40 million to 50 million units by 2011.
ITTIA announced a new version of its lightweight, Linux-compatible SQL R-DBMS (relational database management system) with several features aimed at the embedded market. ITTIA DB SQL version 3.3 adds a custom memory allocator and graphical database editing utility, says the company.
Motorola's Android-based Droid X and Droid 2 helped the company's mobile device business attain profitability for the first time in more than three years. The company as a whole earned a $109 million profit for the third quarter, and revenues hit $4.9 billion, up 13 percent from Q3 2009, reports Motorola.
The MeeGo project released version 1.1 of the MeeGo core, plus version 1.1 upgrades for the Netbook, In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI), and Handset user experience (UX) stacks. Supporting Intel Atom and ARMv7 architectures (starting with the Nokia N900 smartphone), MeeGo 1.1 adds touch support, improved telephony, and Qt 4.7, which includes a QML scripting technology for animated touch-enabled apps.
Variscite is shipping what it claims is the lowest cost Cortex-A8 computer-on-module (COM) on the market. The $49 VAR-SOM-AM35 integrates the 600MHz AM3505 or 3D-accelerated AM3517 processor, running on only one Watt, and offers LCD and touchscreen interfaces supporting up to 2048 x 2048 resolution, plus interfaces including SD card, Ethernet, USB, serial, and CAN Bus.
Logitech's Revue set-top box for the Android-based Google TV IPTV service got kudos in an eWEEK review. Meanwhile, Google gave away 10,000 free Revue devices to developers, Logitech released its Harmony Android app for Google TV, and broadcasters have blocked content from Google TV over digital piracy concerns.
Juniper Networks announced an end-to-end suite of security products and services for smartphones designed to span enterprise and consumer needs. The Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite offers antivirus, personal firewall, anti-spam, loss and theft prevention, monitoring and control services, and parental controls for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile platforms.
Intel opened a 300mm wafer fabrication facility in China, its first semiconductor manufacturing plant in Asia. Meanwhile, the chipmaker is also expanding in Oregon with a $6- to $8 billion investment in five 22nm fab projects targeting processors for mobile devices.
Digi-key is shipping a 1080p-ready development board based on Texas Instruments' Cortex-A9-based, dual-core, 1GHz OMAP4430 system-on-chip (SoC). The $174 “PandaBoard” offers 1GB of DRAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, DVI, and HDMI connections, and targets smartphone and mobile device development using open source Linux distributions such as Android, Angstrom, Chrome, MeeGo, and Ubuntu.
Barnes & Noble announced a $249, all-color version of its Android-based Nook e-reader that adds full web browsing and video viewing capabilities. The Nook Color offers 8GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, and a seven-inch, backlit 1024 x 600 color touchscreen, but while it offers 802.11n Wi-Fi, there is no 3G option.
Google announced that the Android Market for smartphone and tablet applications reached the 100,000 application mark on Oct. 25, one week after the Apple iOS App Store topped 300,000. Meanwhile, ABI Research lists both operating systems as driving an “exploding” global smartphone market that grew 50 percent year-over-year in the second quarter.
While announcing its merger with the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF) today, the Linux Foundation launched an open source build system project called the Yocto Project. Based on the Poky Linux build system, the CELF- and Intel-driven Yocto Project aims to provide open source tools to help companies make custom, Linux-based embedded systems for ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, and x86 architectures.