Italian start-up Mazatech is offering a technology preview of a commercial library for hardware-accelerated 2D vector graphics. The company's AmanithVG library implements most of the Khronos Group's OpenVG specification, using a pair of 3D APIs, also from the Khronos Group. (more…)

Intel has made it easier for Linux users to get the most from its new, fourth-generation graphics architecture. The company's Open Source Technology Center has announced immediate availability of free, open-source software drivers that support the 2D/3D graphics features of the 965 Express Chipset, the first chipset supporting the new architecture. (more…)

[Updated Aug. 22, 2006] — In September, Sony expects to ship a Linux- and Qtopia-based handheld device featuring WiFi connectivity, an Opera web browser, and a variety of text- and voice-messaging clients and media players. (more…)

[Updated Aug. 12] — Lenovo recently made headlines by adding Linux as a pre-installed OS option on its top-of-range T60p. (more…)

By 2011, 446 million people could be watching TV on their cell phones, according to IMS Research. Given adequate service quality, the market research firm expects 50 percent year-over-year TV phone growth, fueled by both TV-over-cellular and broadcast-based services such as DVB-H. (more…)

Axiomtek will soon ship a PICMG-compliant SBC (single-board computer) supporting “mainstream” LGA775-pin Pentium D, Pentium 4, and Celeron D processors. The SBC81202 runs Linux, and is suitable for a wide range of industrial application environments, according to the company. (more…)

Several distributors of Via mini-ITX boards appear to be stocking a new embedded model with dual LAN ports and four serial ports. The Epia EK is powered by Via's two-chip Luke CoreFusion chipset, clocked at 800MHz or 1GHz. (more…)

Embedded Planet has announced a family of PowerPC-based AMCs (advanced mezzanine cards) and an AdvancedTCA (ATCA) carrier board. The “AMC Platform” product family will support RapidIO or gigabit Ethernet backplanes, and work under Linux and other popular embedded OSes in standards-compliant wireline and wireless… (more…)

Texas Instruments (TI) has published an 18-minute videocast about programming its DaVinci RISC/DSP chips using Green Hills Software's (GHS) “Multi” IDE (integrated development environment). Used with a hardware JTAG probe, Multi permits simultaneous OS-aware debugging of Linux and DSP BIOS executives running on the DaVinci chips, GHS says. (more…)

Worldwide PDA shipments during the second quarter of 2006 reached the highest second-quarter level on record, Gartner reports. Total shipments were 3.7 million units, a 2.7 percent increase from Q2 of 2005; however, end-user revenue fell by 4.1 percent to $1.38 billion, reflecting a lower average selling price. (more…)

GE Fanuc Embedded Systems is shipping a 6U CompactPCI SBC (single-board computer) powered by a Freescale 1GHz MPC7447A or 1.4GHz MPC7448 PowerPC processor. The “C2K” features flexible I/O expansion, the company says, and is available with Linux in standard or ruggedized, conduction-cooled versions. (more…)

Italian developer Fulvio Ricciardi has produced a GPL-licensed x86 Linux router distribution available as a live CD or bootable CompactFlash (512MB) image. The ZeroShell Net Services distribution includes a Web-based configuration interface, and can provide “the main network services a LAN requires,” Ricciardi… (more…)

A small Canadian company is taking orders for a mobile robot that runs Linux, and is based on standard, modular PC components, interfaces, and bays — sort of a PC on motorized wheels. WhiteBox Robotics says its 914 PC-Bot “does everything a PC does,” with the added capability of mobility. (more…)

Access hopes to win 30 percent of the market for mobile device operating systems by 2010, according to Tomihisa Kamada, chief technical officer and co-founder, as quoted by the International Herald Tribune last week. The company's share is currently four percent, thanks to its acquisition of PalmSource. (more…)

Netgear used Linux and a MIPS32-based Cavium SoC with integrated security processing to build an SSL VPN server aimed at small- and mid-sized businesses. The ProSafe SSL VPN Concentrator uses SSL tunnels, rather than IPsec, to offer secure, browser-based access for up to 25 concurrent users, Netgear… (more…)