This month's Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) in Boston drew 14 percent more attendees than last year's, reports Venture Development Corp. (VDC). In a full summary report on the annual event, the market research firm lists the major announcements, interesting exhibits, and of course, the best giveaways. (more…)

Germany-based industrial computing specialist SSV has started shipping an add-on WiFi module for its miniature ARM-based SBC (single-board computer) targeting WSNs (wireless sensor networks). (more…)

A research firm serving the mobile phone industry has published an 18-page whitepaper about open source licensing. Entitled “GPLv2 vs. GPLv3,” the paper examines the meteoric rise of open source software, and the forces that shaped each license, before concluding with an extremely detailed point-by-point comparison. (more…)

Embedded board-vendor Techsol has introduced a compact, touchpanel single-board computer (SBC) based on a low-power ARM9 processor. The Medallion TPC-35 targets low-cost HMI (human-machine interface) applications, comes with Linux 2.6 pre-installed, and supports a cornucopia of embedded GUI stack… (more…)

Nokia plans to ship WiMAX-enabled Internet tablets next year. The as-yet unnamed model or models in Nokia's Linux-powered “N-series” Internet Tablet line will use Intel “Baxter Peak” WiMAX chips and will support Sprint's “Xohm” WiMAX service, the top phone-maker has revealed. (more…)

Embedded market analysts from Venture Development Corp. (VDC) attended the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) held in Boston earlier this month. This guest column presents VDC's summary of the event, extracted from the firm's latest Embedded Systems Bulletin. (more…)

Taiwan-based embedded networking device vendor Artila Electronics has announced a new programmable automation controller targeting facility management, remote device monitoring, building automation, and machine control. (more…)

A privately held German company with offices in the U.K., U.S., Cyprus, and Malta is touting its Linux-based thin-client technology as a climate change remediant. “2X Ltd” says businesses can halve computer-related electrical consumption by replacing PCs with Linux-based thin clients and its centralized management software. (more…)

MontaVista has ported its newest “real-time” capable embedded Linux operating system to a PowerPC SoC (system-on-chip) targeting secure networking and pervasive computing applications. MontaVista's Linux Professional Edition 5.0 is claimed to offer the “first real-time Linux” for AMCC's 440EPx SoC. (more…)

Embedded Linux services provider TimeSys has published a brief podcast describing the Embedded Systems Conference held in Boston last week. Hosts Gene Sally and Maciej Halasz discuss the show's size and relationship to the West Coast ESC, along with the role of Linux at the show. (more…)

[Updated Sep. 27] — Advanced Knowledge Associates (aka AKA) has started shipping a compact, 3-inch-square processor module powered by an FPGA with dual PowerPC 405 hard cores. The PRISM200 (packaged reconfigurable integrated system-on-module) runs Linux, and targets low-powered military, medical, industrial,… (more…)

An annual conference devoted to smartphones of every type, including Linux-based devices, is set for Oct. 22 in San Francisco. The Smartphone Summit is co-located with the CTIA Wireless I.T. (more…)

Italy-based KDev has used Linux to build a cellphone-to-web gateway device aimed at letting users easily and instantly upload camera-phone photos to the web. The FoxBox MMS integrates a GSM/GPRS cellular modem card, and accepts photos sent via multimedia messaging service (MMS). (more…)

More than 100 million handsets with touch screens will be shipped in 2008, and more than 500 million will ship by 2012, according to a new study by ABI Research. Citing recent product introductions, the research firm says intuitive user interfaces are now becoming a critical ingredient in smartphones. (more…)

MontaVista will ship a “fifth-generation” Linux-based operating system for mobile phones in mid-November. The company says Mobilinux 5.0 will offer new security, power, networking, and quick-boot capabilities, along with footprint reductions, real-time improvements, and lower build costs for vendors of handsets and other mobile… (more…)