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Canonical announced the open source OpenStack cloud platform will be the core technology in its Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud package, which allows organizations to launch Linux-based clouds. Meanwhile, Ubuntu spin-off Linux Mint announced a release candidate (RC) of version 11: Based on the latest Ubuntu 11.04, the distro is foregoing the new Unity desktop as well as GNOME 3.0, in favor of GNOME 2.32.1.
O'Reilly Media announced a new Android Open Conference Oct. 9-11, in San Francisco, designed for anyone who creates, sells, or markets Android-related products. In other open source conference news, the Linux Foundation last week announced keynote speakers, including Linus Torvalds, for LinuxCon Japan, June 1-3, and Linux Expo of Southern California announced events for Software Freedom Day 2011 on Sept. 17.
Samsung announced what it calls “the industry's first production of a high-performance toggle DDR 2.0 multi-level-cell (MLC) memory chip.” The 64 gigabit (Gb) chips will target smartphones, tablets, and solid-state disks (SSDs), and are created using an “advanced 20-nanometer (nm) class process,” the company says.
Globalscale Technologies announced a $249, mini-PC hardware/software development kit based on the Marvell PXA510 — a new ARMv7, 1GHz processor capable of 1080p video. The D2Plug clocks the PXA510 at 800MHz, and offers 1GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB flash, a full set of peripherals including 802.11n and Bluetooth 3.0, plus Ubuntu Linux and Android 2.2 support, says the company.
Ximea GmbH announced Linux-compatible “smart cameras” that include Intel Atom processors and color image sensors ranging from WVGA (752 x 480 pixels) to five megapixels. The Currera-R devices offer 1GB to 4GB of flash storage, microSD slots, VGA and Ethernet ports, and isolated digital I/O, the company says.
Google's Android Market, which recently passed the 200,000-application milestone, received new features geared toward improving the user experience. New features include top new free, top new paid, and top grossing lists, an editors' choice section, a top developers list, and an improved related apps function that suggests recommendations based on other buyers' choices.
AT&T announced it will offer Cisco Systems' seven-inch Android-based Cius tablet this fall, tuned to its 4G HSPA+ network as part of a new billion dollar plan by the carrier to offer “next-generation services for businesses.” Meanwhile, struggling Cisco announced fiscal 3Q earnings showing a 17.6 percent loss in net income, and warned of more job cuts to come.
Via announced a quad-core version of its Nano processor, boasting a TDP of just 27.5 Watts. Simply named the “QuadCore,” the CPU features adaptive overclocking, 4MB of L2 cache, the PadLock cryptography engine, and pin-to-pin compatibility with earlier Via CPUs, the company says.
Acrosser Technology announced a 1U rackmount network server that can be equipped with Intel Core 2 quad-core or dual-core processors, as well as Pentium or Celeron CPUs. The AR-R5800 offers eight gigabit Ethernet ports, two LAN bypass pairs, four USB ports, dual SATA hard disk drive (HDD) bays, and PCI Express expansion, the company says.
McObject announced a design win for its in-memory ExtremeDB database management system, which will be integrated across dozens of Linux-based IPLink IP routers and SmartNode voice-over-IP (VoIP) routers from Patton Electronics. Patton is adopting ExtremeDB as a component of its Linux-based Trinity AE distribution to manage configuration data on the routers, says the company.
New information is emerging about Intel's future Atom processors, which are downsizing in order to meet the power and space requirements of mobile devices. The 32nm “Cedar Trail” will ship later this year with enhanced PowerVR SGX545 graphics, HDMI and DisplayPort support, and the ability to use up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, while the 22nm “Silvermont” will use Intel's 3-D Tri-Gate technology and ship in 2013, reports say.
Samsung and Acer will start selling the first Google Chrome OS notebooks starting June 15, priced from $349 to $499 but also available as part of monthly business/school subscriptions. The 12.1-inch Samsung Chromebook Series 5 and the 11.6-inch Acer Chromebook offer dual-core 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 processors, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a 16GB solid state disk, memory card reader, a webcam, USB, Wi-Fi, and optional 3G.
ZiiLabs announced dual- and quad-core Cortex-A9 SoCs (systems-on-chip) clocked at 1.5GHz and aimed squarely at the Android tablet market. The dual-core ZMS-20 and the quad-core ZMS-40 also supply 48 or 96 Stemcell media processing cores, respectively, supporting 1080p video playback, HD video calling, and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics, plus DDR3, LPDDR2, HDMI 1.4, and OpenCL technology, says the company.
Rhomobile announced a new version of its cross-platform smartphone app development framework, adding support for near field communication (NFC). Rhodes 3.0, which continues to support Android, BlackBerry, iOS, and WebOS, now adds Windows Phone 7 and Windows CE support, the company says.
Timesys announced LinuxLink support for PMC-Sierra's MIPS-based WinPath3-SuperLite networking system on chip (SoC), a scaled-down version of the WinPath3. The company also announced a free Timesys University embedded Linux training series, starting with classes focusing on home automation with the Freescale i.MX51, medical devices employing the i.MX53, and internet radios using the Texas Instruments AM3517.