The Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF) has incorporated in California as a not-for-profit organization. The new status, obtained January 1, will give CELF more flexibility to fund open source development work, and create relationships with other organizations, it says. (more…)

LynuxWorks is now shipping its first product targeting the retail/POS (point-of-sales) market. BlueCat Linux POS is based on a 2.6 kernel, supports USB and variety of POS hardware, and comes with long-term support. It includes drivers for POS peripherals such as barcode scanners, and is available with development tools. (more…)

IBM has published the following technical articles, tutorials, and downloads on its developerWorks Website. They cover a range of interesting (though not necessarily embedded) technical topics. Some require free registration. Enjoy . . . ! (more…)

The PC/104 Consortium has absorbed the new, mid-sized Embedded Platform for Industrial Computing (EPIC) standard into its growing portfolio of embedded computer board-level specifications. According to the consortium, an “overwhelming majority” of members voted in support of adopting EPIC, (more…)

TVBLOB Srl has developed a “software toolkit” companion to Toshiba's multimedia device hardware reference design. TVBLOB's Scattermedia toolkit adds drivers, middleware, and application layers useful for implementing Linux-based devices such as media players, streaming servers, digital video recorders, soft-phones, and video-conferencing appliances based on the AVM49R. (more…)

Roku has encapsulated its DSP-based “network music player” technology on an embeddable module, to help device-makers add features such as Internet radio and digital music playback to products such as audio/video receivers, televisions, radios, and music players. The three-inch-square module will simplify complexities such as multimedia protocols, CODECs, Wi-Fi drivers, (more…)

Virtio Corp. has enhanced its software tool that emulates TI's OMAP2420 system-on-chip (SoC) development platform, adding support for the platform's onboard TWL92230 system power manager. Virtio's VPOM-2420 Virtual Platform release 2.0 provides “fast, full-function emulation” for TI's OMAP2420 development platform, which targets advanced 3G phones, the company says. (more…)

[Updated Jan. 24, 2005] — Octagon Systems has devised a smaller, potentially more cost-effective scheme for expanding PC/104-compatible embedded systems, and has begun manufacturing products to the associated “XBLOK” specification. The tiny modules measure 1.65 x 3.55 inches — less than half the size of standard (more…)

CodePoet Consulting has released a new version of uClibc, the small-footprint alternative to the standard GNU C library (glibc). uClibc 0.9.27 features a new stdio (standard i/o) core, support for Linux 2.6.x kernels, an improved shared library loader, support for several new architectures, bugfixes, and more. (more…)

Arcom is shipping a compact, rugged embedded Linux system targeting RFID (radio frequency identification) edge controllers. The RFID-EC is based on an XScale PC/104 board running Linux, Java, and an RFID software stack from IBM. A rackmount option is also available, as is a development kit. (more…)

A pair of market studies from In-Stat emphasizes the impact that the growing adoption of VoIP is having on multiple market segments. Chip makers and cable television operators, in particular, are expected to experience substantially increased revenue from sales related to both stationary and mobile VoIP deployments, according to In-Stat. (more…)

The Zaurus User Group (ZUG) will form a new organization with a broad focus on open source embedded software. The Open Embedded Software Foundation (OESF) will host user forums and software downloads, with bandwidth donated by iBiblio. ZUG will continue, but with a narrower focus on Sharp's Linux-based Zaurus PDAs. (more…)

IBM, which has been awarded more patents than any other company in each of the past 12 years, says it will donate 500 patents to open source users and developers. The move represents a challenge to other patent-holders to unlock technologies that might impede innovation, according to an eWeek article. (more…)

A company claiming to be the largest “specialist retailer” of wireless technology in Europe and North America has begun selling one of the world's first Linux-based smartphones. Expansys now offers E28's e2800+ for £334.95 (£285.06 excluding VAT), with discount pricing available via a Vodaphone service contract. (more…)

Embedded Software Group (ESG) is collaborating with Transmeta on a fanless digital entertainment center reference design based on Linux and open source DVR (digital video recorder) software. The Royal Linux Media Center runs ESG's Royal Linux OS, and MythTV software, on a Transmeta development board based on its Efficeon chip. (more…)