The user interface (UI) on Motorola's latest Linux-based mobile phone includes concessions to mainstream interface design aimed at increasing appeal in the replacement market, writes MobileBurn editor Michael Oryl in a brief review of the UI found on a prototype of Motorola's forthcoming high-end,… (more…)

A Chinese mobile phone software vendor has licensed a suite of A/V (audio-visual) codecs for its Linux smartphone software stack. China MobileSoft (CMS) says A/V technology from InterVideo will enable users of phones based on its Linux smartphone stack to record and play “high-quality, jitter-free video clips.” (more…)

This article by a developer working on the Xanadux project reports on efforts to port Linux to HTC's mobile phones that normally run Windows CE. After two years, at least one of HTC's mobile phones — the Blue Angel — is making and receiving phone calls, “even if things are still a bit rough-and-ready,” the article's author writes. (more…)

There is a curious lack in the Linux community — the number of community-led Linux distributions for commodity mobile phone hardware is zero. There are PDAs for which you can get a GSM/GPRS SD card; there are mobile phones, such as the Motorola A780, that are (more…)

The Linux-powered Nokia 770 Internet Tablet offers convenient Internet browsing and email through built-in WiFi, or via a Bluetooth connection to a compatible mobile phone. The device boasts a 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touch-screen, plus integrated WiFi, Bluetooth, and a reduced-size MMC (RS-MMC) card slot. (more…)

ABI Research has published a prediction of technologies it says are unlikely to achieve widespread adoption in 2006. Three key mobile technologies you probably won't see next year, according to ABI, are: broadcast mobile video, 100 Mbps WiFi, and high-speed cellular data transfer. (more…)

EmbWise Technologies says it has ported its SD/MMC/SDIO support software to MontaVista's Mobiliux 4.0 software platform. The company's SDIOWorx stack currently supports Intel's PXA270 applications processor, and includes an SDIO bus driver, plus drivers for the chip's SDIO host controller, SD/MMC memory cards, SDIO-Bluetooth (Type A), and SDIO-WiFi, according to the company. (more…)

Video Without Boundaries (VWB) will introduce a new Linux-powered set-top digital media center at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month. The MediaREADY 6000 combines a PVR (personal video recorder) with multimedia record/playback/jukebox functions, Internet Web and email access, voice/video-over-IP conferencing,… (more…)

This high-level whitepaper from Datalight examines the role of NAND flash memory in embedded devices, and how that role is likely to evolve. The article examines emerging hardware and software trends driven by the explosive growth of high-capacity consumer electronic devices. (more…)

Come one, come all! Linux and Windows are battling for dominance in embedded/device computing, and we're keeping score. Our Great Gadget Smack-down tallies up nearly 800 devices, from mobile phones to cow-milking machines, to find out which OS is actually shipping in the most gadgets, and which specific… (more…)

National Instruments (NI) is shipping a batch of Linux drivers that it says triples the number of its virtual instrumentation and measurement devices that support Linux. The company hopes the release will allow more Linux OS users to achieve the lower system costs and increased productivity of virtual instrumentation, it says. (more…)

Wind River will hold a regional developer conference in Southern California focused on military/aerospace products and technology in January. The one-day event will include Linux- and VxWorks-based product demonstrations, and is set for Jan. 11, in Manhattan Beach, a suburb of Los Angeles. (more…)

LinuxDevices.com recently caught up with OSDL spokesperson Bill Weinberg, to discuss the organization's new Mobile Linux Initiative (MLI). Weinberg, who serves as the OSDL's representative to the MLI, filled us in on the initiative's early progress, strategy, and tactics for… (more…)

NeoMagic has announced support for a range of mobile digital TV broadcast standards based on its MiMagic 6+ multimedia applications processor SoC (system-on-chip). Support is immediately available for the ISDB-T mobile broadcast protocol, while DMB (including DAB) and DVB-H are expected early next year, according to the company. (more…)

McAfee AVERT Labs predicts a substantial increase in security threats to mobile and handheld devices next year. In its recently released 2006 Threat Forecast, McAfee calls mobile malware a “serious cause for concern” due to the relatively small percentage of devices that are protected by mobile security. (more…)