Via has announced a new “open industry standard” for embedded boards. Targeting “ultra-slim” applications, and set for an April debut, the “Em-ITX” form factor (left) offers dual I/O “coastlines,” plus an “Em-IO” expansion bus that will support optional add-on modules, the company says. (more…)

Freescale is sampling a pair of new ARM11-based system-on-chip processors (SoCs) targeting industrial and consumer devices running Linux and other embedded OSes. The i.MX353 and i.MX357 omit the MLB (media local bus) and automotive focus of other i.MX35 parts, and with $12 pricing in volume, target a broader customer base. (more…)

Several car manufacturers and suppliers have launched an alliance for open source collaboration on In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems. The new Genivi Alliance is developing an IVI reference design and middleware based on an Intel Atom platform running Wind River Linux, says the… (more…)

MontaVista today announced it was supporting the Intel-sponsored Moblin open-source community, which develops the Linux-based Moblin stack for Intel-Atom-based embedded devices. The announcement appears to be tied to an upcoming release of MontaVista Linux for Intel Atom, which will be available in mid-March, according to the company. (more…)

MontaVista has launched a community website for embedded Linux developers. The new “Meld” site is open to all embedded Linux developers, offering social networking technology like a graphical “People Map” (pictured below) to help developers find each other for collaborative projects, says the company. (more…)

[Updated Mar. 4] — Nokia-owned Qt Software is shipping Qt 4.5, a cross-platform library now available under a commerce-friendly LGPL license. Additionally, Qt launched a new cross-platform IDE (integrated development environment) and SDK, and said it would discontinue the Linux-only Qt Extended stack (formerly… (more…)

Intel's latest Z5xx Atom processors are larger than their predecessors — on purpose. Intel says its new “P” and “PT” Atoms are designed for the automotive and transportation industries, with larger cooling surfaces for operation from -40 to 85 deg. (more…)

Always Innovating announced an open-source Linux netbook that boasts a detachable touchscreen tablet and 10-15 hour battery life. Running OpenEmbedded/Angstrom Linux and Mozilla's Fennec browser, the Touch Book weighs less than two pounds, offers WiFi 80211.b/g/n, and uses the Texas Instruments OMAP3-based BeagleBoard design. (more…)

Growth in the smartphone market over the next five years will be led by Linux, says a study by In-Stat. In addition, the total share of the handset market held by smartphones will double to about 20 percent by 2013, predicts the research firm. (more…)

Wind River is shipping a version of its commercial embedded Linux distribution for Altera Nios II FPGAs. Running on the NIOS II softcore, the distribution supports Altera's entire line of FPGAs and “HardCopy” ASICs, and is available with tools and development hardware. (more…)

Embedded Linux is alive and well in Eastern Europe and Russia, says the CEO of a Belarus-based “full-service” device design startup. In a LinuxDevices interview, Promwad's Roman Pakholkov (pictured) describes his company's path to becoming an independent Linux product design… (more…)

[Updated Mar. 2] — Microsoft's lawsuit against Linux devicemaker TomTom is “clearly a provocation,” and the action will ultimately make the open source community stronger. So said Keith Bergelt, CEO of the Open Invention Network (OIN), in a brief interview with LinuxDevices a day after the suit came to light. (more…)

Open-Plug is working to integrate its Linux feature-phone telephony stack with the Intel-sponsored Moblin stack for mobile Internet devices (MIDs) running on Intel's “Moorestown” processor. Open-Plug's ELIPS Linux Telephony Stack will voice-enable Moblin- and Moorestown-based MIDs when they ship next year, says the French software vendor. (more…)

Timesys has upgraded its LinuxLink DIY embedded development service with a Linux update and Git-tree service. The LinuxLink Update Service alerts users about new and updated Linux components that apply to their projects, and then provides the tested updates via the Timesys Factory and Timesys Git tree, says the company. (more…)

Toradex is now sampling a credit card-sized COM Express module based on Intel's Z5xx Atom processor. Available in 1.6GHz Z530 and 1.1GHz Z510 models, the “Robin” board is equipped with seven USB 2.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, an SATA port, and a microSD slot, the company says. (more…)