EzHomeTech is shipping a uClinux operating system and VoD (video-on-demand) software stack for STBs (set-top boxes) based on a Sigma Designs digital media processor SoC (system-on-chip). The EZV 2.0 stack for Sigma's EM862x supports HTTP and ASF streams of files encoded in common formats, including Microsoft formats, the company says. (more…)

Arabella is shipping microcode for Freescale NPUs (network processing units) that it claims speeds IP routing and NAT (network address translation) by a factor of ten, when used with its asymmetrical multiprocessing (AMP) Linux implementation. Expedited Fast Path (EFP) microcode supports PowerQUICC II chips and older NPUs with CPMs (communications processor modules). (more…)

Mediabolic and Broadcom will ship in October a Linux-based hardware/software reference design for an embedded home media NAS (network-attached storage) server. The design uses Broadcom's MIPS32-based “NASoC” (network-attached storage-on-chip), along with Mediabolic's Media Server software stack for… (more…)

eCosCentric has certified ports of Jungo's USB stacks to its small-footprint, open source embedded OS. The Jungo Embedded USB Software Stacks for eCos include OTG (on-the-go), host, and device stack implementations said to comply with USB 1.1 and 2 standards. (more…)

Taiwanese board vendor Arbor Technology claims it is first to ship a mini-ITX motherboard graced with a PCI Express x16 slot. The ITX-i7435 supports several Socket 478 Pentium M/Celeron M processors, and targets multimedia, gaming, and other applications requiring high-quality graphics performance. (more…)

Parvus has announced a modular on-vehicle platform for data acquisition, video surveillance, networking, Internet access, GPS tracking, and video surveillance. Dubbed “Mobile Information Infrastructure” (M2i), the platform supports embedded Linux, among other OSes, and targets mass transit and other mobile… (more…)

E Ink is preparing a Linux-based electronic paper development kit. The AM-100 EPD kit includes a 170dpi, 6-inch (diagonal) SVGA (800 x 600) “EPD” (electronic paper display) module supporting four shades of gray. (more…)

A French fabless chip house has ported Linux to its flagship SoC (system-on-chip) for secure smartcard readers and PIN-entry pads used in point-of-sale (POS) applications. Innova-Card's MIPS32-based USIP Professional IC features on-chip memory, storage, and cypto, and is available with a Linux-based software… (more…)

MySQL AB is distributing the first release candidate of what it calls “certainly the most important release in MySQL's history.” MySQL 5.0 features many new ANSI SQL-compliant features, rewrites to bring previous functionality into ANSI SQL compliance, and several new storage engines, tools, and extensions. (more…)

Increasingly smart, well-connected devices pose growing security threats, according to an in-depth editorial at CIO Insight. Author Evan Schuman notes that McAfee has launched an anti-virus product aimed at POS (point-of-sales/service) devices, and that any Internet-connected device — including printers, smartphones, and VoIP phones — represents a potential security threat. (more…)

Hardware-assisted tools vendor American Arium says its principal firmware engineer, John Overton, will speak on debugging Linux on ARM targets, at the ARM Developer's Conference next week in San Jose. (more…)

Broadband customer premises equipment chip vendor PMC-Sierra is shipping a Linux-powered hardware/software reference design for VoIP WiFi broadband routers. The company says high-performance Linux routing helps the design deliver PSTN-like voice quality (public switched telephone network), while… (more…)

An open source project to create a simulator for ARM-based development boards has achieved its first major release. SkyEye 1.0.0 targets Linux and uClinux on 11 different ARM-based board families, simulating devices such as NICs, LCDs, touchscreens, and Flash, in addition to the processor. (more…)

Opera Software released a banner-free version of its freely downloadable Web browser Tuesday, and logged more than a million downloads within two days, it says. Elimination of the ads was made possible in part by healthy revenue streams from embedded versions, a company spokesperson said. (more…)

Mel Reyes's recently published Hacking Firefox: More Than 150 Hacks, Mods, and Customizations (ExtremeTech, paperback) explains why Mozilla's Firefox web browser has caught on big time with users. (more…)