A fabless semiconductor company in India is sampling two Linux-compatible, ARM9-based system-on-chips (SoCs) for consumer-grade networking and storage appliances. MosChip's MCS8142 and MCS8144 SoCs offer PCI Express, gigabit Ethernet, TCP/UDP/IP offload engines (TOEs), and a display controller option, the company says. (more…)

Facing a financial storm, Motorola plans to focus its smartphone efforts on Google's Android, and put Windows Mobile on the back burner until 2010. The beleaguered cellphone manufacturer will postpone Windows Mobile development until version 7 is released next year, said Motorola in today's conference call. (more…)

Free Electrons has posted 32 free videos from last November's CELF Embedded Linux Conference Europe (ELCE). Additionally, the company says it will work for free to get any drivers or BSPs (board support packages) it is hired to create merged into the mainline Linux kernel. (more…)

Myka is shipping an embedded Linux device that downloads, stores, and plays BitTorrent media files on an attached TV. Available in 80GB, 160GB, and 500GB models, plus a Developer's Edition with a 1TB disk, the Myka appliances offload BitTorrent peer-to-peer duties from a PC. (more…)

VMware is offering a free (LGPL-licensed) client for use with its VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) thin client technology. The VMware View Open Client lets users access personalized, data center-hosted desktops from “almost any” device, VMWare claims. (more…)

A developer of open source VoIP recording software is readying an embedded VoIP recording appliance. The OrecX VoIP Recording Appliance combines OrecX's Oreka TR Total Recorder application with a 1U, Linux-based, rack-mounted server aimed at the small-to-medium business (SMB) call-handling market, says the company. (more…)

Asus is taking pre-orders for a netbook based on Intel's second-generation netbook platform, the secret-shrouded N280/GN40 chipset. Early product specs confirm that the second wave of netbooks are likely to offer faster graphics and lower power use, along with room for much, much larger batteries. (more…)

VDC Research Group announced the winners of its 2008 “Platinum and Gold” awards, which rate the non-product characteristics of computer board vendors targeting embedded systems. The Embedded Board Vendor Awards draw from user ratings of issues such as price, availability/delivery, technical support, and reliability, says the research group. (more…)

[Updated: 11AM] — D2 Technologies is shipping a WiMAX mobile-phone reference design based on Linux, with Google Android and Windows CE/Mobile flavors to follow in Q2. The “dual-mode” design can mix and match WiMAX, WiFi, and cellular radios, and uses a Texas Instruments OMAP-based processor. (more…)

Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) is shipping a short-form XMC module based on Freescale's dual-core, PowerPC-based MPC8640D processor. Targeting military applications, and available with extreme temperature range support, the XPedite5102 ships with BSPs (board support packages) for Linux and other popular… (more…)

Dell will announce a high-end, customizable phone that runs either the Linux-derived Google Android or Windows Mobile operating system, says a report. The phone could ship as early as next month, and be available with or without a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the report claims. (more…)

[Updated: 4PM] — Despite a “vicious downturn” in the economy, long-term prospects for wireless broadband-enabled notebooks, netbooks, and mobile Internet devices (MIDs) are “exceptional,” says Research and Markets. (more…)

PureWave Networks is using Linux, a Freescale processor, and an off-the-shelf middleware package from Enea to create its next generation of WiMAX base stations. Due later this year, the base stations will aim to bridge the gap between macro and pico WiMAX stations, says the company. (more…)

Raza Microelectronics (RMI) announced a network-attached storage (NAS) reference design based on Linux and a new, lower-cost version of RMI's previously available XLS208 SoC. RMI's “NAS Media Server Reference Design” uses RMI's new dual-core, 750MHz XLS108 SoC, and comes with a boot loader, SDK, and “RAID-enabled” Linux 2.6 implementation. (more…)

Igel has announced five new thin clients that run Linux, using Via or AMD processors. The new UD2, UD3, UD5, UD7, and UD9 (left) offer a variety of form factors, as well as “Digital Service Pack” software that can simply thin-client configuration, says the company. (more…)