| News Archive (1999-2012) | | | 2013-current at LinuxGizmos | | | Current Tech News Portal | | | About |
A Texas jury ordered Google to pay $5 million in damages to Bedrock Computer Technologies for infringing on a patent related to Google's use of Linux on its servers. The ruling could enable Bedrock to extract settlements from many more Linux-related firms, and it also suggests that Google will struggle to defend itself against Oracle's lawsuit over Android, writes patent expert Florian Mueller.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences demonstrated a quadruped robot intended to test gait control and locomotion — and eventually mimic the movement of a triceratops. The flexibly jointed, 3.1-foot FROG-I robot runs Linux on an Intel Xscale PXA270 processor, communicating via Wi-Fi with a host computer, while lower-level functions are controlled by two Texas Instruments DSPs.
SanDisk and its manufacturing partner Toshiba announced a 19-nanometer (nm) process technology for fabricating flash memory chips. The companies will begin sampling a 64 gigabit (Gb), 2-bits-per-cell (X2) monolithic flash chip later this quarter, with volume production following later this year — enabling smartphones and tablets with 128GB flash disks by early 2012.
Canonical confirmed that it will ship Ubuntu 11.04 (“Natty Narwhal”) on April 28, and announced a new online trial version of the Linux operating system. The U.K.-based company also announced some new details of its server edition, including easier provisioning and a fully certified J2EE stack.
Acrosser announced a console server that features a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and up to nineteen serial ports. The ACS-R5401FL offers hard disk or CompactFlash storage, dual gigabit Ethernet ports and eight 10/100 ports, six USB 2.0 ports, and a VGA output, the company says.
Nexcom announced a compact, fanless automation computer that tolerates shock, vibration, and temperatures ranging from 23 to 131 deg. F. The NISE 103 is equipped with a 1.8GHz Intel Atom D425 processor, up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, CompactFlash and SATA storage, plus Mini PCIe, gigabit Ethernet, serial, USB, and DIO connections, says the company.
Acer's forthcoming Aspire One 722 netbook will include a dual-core AMD C-50 “accelerated processing unit,” with discrete graphics, an “HD” screen with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, and more than seven hours' battery life. Meanwhile, AMD will upgrade its “Fusion” processor range with the C-60, adding 1.33GHz Turbo Core functionality and Radeon HD 6290 graphics, the Macles website further reports.
Toshiba announced that its 10.1-inch Android 3.0 tablet will ship in Japan in June for $723 under the name “Regza AT300.” But despite rosy long-term projections for Android tablets, early problems — high cost requirements, an unstable Android 3.0, and Japanese component shortages — some vendors are delaying or sticking with with Android 2.x, say industry reports.
Despite weakening consumer demand, strong business spending and emerging markets are driving demand for Intel's traditional businesses, leading to record first-quarter numbers. Mobile devices represented only a fraction of the total, but Intel hopes to boost that this year, starting with newly confirmed plans to port Android 3.0 (“Honeycomb”) to the “Oak Trail” Atom processor.
Open Invention Network (OIN) announced a 28 percent increase in membership in its open source patent protection licensing service since the beginning of the year, bringing the total to 334 corporate supporters. The 74 new organizations covered under OIN's royalty-free license include Hewlett-Packard and Facebook, as well as smaller Linux-focused entities such as Clonezilla and Mandriva.
Enea announced a major upgrade to its embedded Linux development environment, incorporating Timesys' LinuxLink development software. The newly renamed Enea Linux PlatformBuilder is initially available in a “ELPB-NE” version for NetLogic Microsystems' MIPS-based multicore XLP, XLR, and XLS processors and combines Enea's former Eclipse-based framework with the LinuxLink configuration and build system, says the company.
Aaeon announced a Qseven-format CPU module with an Intel Atom N450 processor as well as PCI Express, LPC, and SMBus expansion. The AQ7-LN module ships with up to 1GB of DDR2 memory and up to 4GB SSD storage, and offers dual display capability, plus SATA, gigabit Ethernet, and USB connectivity, says the company.
E-con Systems has announced a five megapixel camera add-on designed to work with the Texas Instruments (TI) DM3730 evaluation module (EVM). The e-CAM50_DM37x snaps onto the EVM board and connects to the high-speed CMOS sensor interface on TI's DM37xx or Sitara AM37xx processors, providing 720p video capture as well as stills, the company says.
Sprint's Kyocera Echo smartphone is a unique Android 2.2 gadget that converts from a standard smartphone to a 4.7-inch tablet formed from dual 3.5-inch displays. If the abysmal battery life doesn't faze you, the Echo is an enjoyable phone that may give you all the tablet you really need, says this eWEEK review.
The Fedora Project announced the beta release of its Fedora 15 “Lovelock” Linux distribution, featuring the new GNOME 3 desktop, the Systemd initialization system, and a new dynamic firewall feature. Meanwhile, though, GNOME 3 has received mixed reviews from the GNOME faithful, many claiming the project went too far in simplifying the interface.