Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 12, 2012January 12, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Marvell SMILE Plug Enables Education 3.0

Marvell worked in collaboration with Stanford University to design the Marvell SMILE Plug, a development kit designed to turn a traditional classroom into an interactive learning environment. Designed to engage students (via their smartphones / tablets) in critical reasoning and problem solving, the SMILE Plug creates a “micro cloud” within a classroom that is controlled by the teacher. The Plug based on Stanford’s Mobile Inquiry Based Learning Environment (SMILE) – hence the name – provides the ability to establish a local Wi-Fi network for up to 60 students. To simplify deployment and management of the SMILE Plug, Marvell has developed a plug administration API and user interface called Plugmin. Key Features of the SMILE Plug: Wi-Fi support for 60 clients Easy deployment and management 5V Lithium Ion Backup battery Open Platform: Arch Linux for ARM and NODE.js SMILE Junction Server: Plug server/client environment & SDK and access to SMILE applications […]

January 11, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

20 Times More Graphics Performance with Imagination G6200 and G6400 PowerVR Series 6 GPU

Imagination Technologies announced the first two IP cores, namely PowerVR G6200 and G6400 GPU IP cores, part of PowerVR Series6 GPU cores. PowerVR Series6 relies on PowerVR Rogue architecture based on a scalable number of compute clusters and designed to target the requirements of new high-end graphics applications for smartphones, tablets, PC, console, automotive, DTV and more. The G6200 and G6400 have 2 and 4 compute clusters respectively. The company claims that PowerVR Series6 GPUs can deliver 20x or more of the performance of current generation GPU cores targeting comparable markets thanks to the new Rogue architecture that is around 5x more efficient than previous generations. The PowerVR Series6 GPU cores offer computing performance exceeding 100GFLOPS (gigaFLOPS) and reaching the TFLOPS (teraFLOPS) range. The PowerVR Series6 family introduces new technologies and features such as: An advanced scalable compute cluster architecture. High efficiency compression technology including lossless image and parameter compression […]

January 11, 2012January 11, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Google TV at CES 2012

Google TV was not very successful in 2011 to say the least, Google decided to cancel Google TV appearance in some tradeshows and the Logitech Revue is now phased out, but may come back with a vengeance in 2012 as many companies showcase Google TV based solutions and products at CES 2012. I will mainly talk about the devices and hardware platforms in this post, if you want to know what’s new in Google TV 2.0 checkout “Google TV 2.0 For Android 3.1 Released“. Google TV Reference Design Last week, Marvell announced it would offer the official Google TV Reference Design based on its Armada 1500 (Dual Core ARMv6/7 CPU + GC1000 GPU) “Foresight Platform” replacing Intel CE4100 used with the previous version of Google TV. If you have not seen it yet in my previous post “Marvell Armada 1500 Google TV at CES 2012“, you can watch the video […]

January 11, 2012May 1, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Vuforia: Qualcomm Augmented Reality Platform

Qualcomm named its Augmented Reality Platform “VuForia” at CES 2012. I was a bit confused reading the press release and thought it was a new product. Actually, it is the augmented reality platform whose Beta SDK has been released in December 2011. Qualcomm explains that “Vuforia’s computer vision functionality will recognize a variety of 2D and 3D visual targets. With support for iOS, Android, and Unity 3D, Vuforia will allow you to write a single native app that can reach over 400 models of smartphones and tablets.” To showcase the AR platform, Qualcomm and Sesame Workshop, the producer behind Sesame Street, have joined forces to explore augmented reality experiences for children and created a prototype playset that brings physical toys to life. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and […]

January 11, 2012January 11, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Asus Unveils 249 USD Nvidia Tegra 3 Android 4.0 Tablet

During Asus Keynote at CES 2012, the company showed the Eee Pad MeMo 7 (ME370T) featuring a Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad-core processor running Android ICS with 1GB of RAM, 16GB to 32GB of storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, aGPS, a SIM card slot, micro-HDMI output and up to 8.5 hours of battery life. As you can see in the picture above, the good news is that the Tablet would be available for 249 USD in Q2 2012 according to reports in several websites. I could not find Asus official press release. In another blog, I found that Nvidia also announced DirectTouch technology that uses the Nvidia Tegra 3 companion core to sample touch on the device more frequently (about three times more often) resulting in a more responsive UI. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting […]

January 10, 2012January 10, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Ubuntu TV Features and Video Presentation

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about Ubuntu Smartphone and Television UI Mockups, and today we know more as Ubuntu has just released more information on Ubuntu TV as well as a Video promo of the system. Here are the key features of Ubuntu TV : All broadcast television – Terrestrial broadcast in US and EU standard formats, for SD and HD content with EPG. Cable and satellite possibilities – Integrate your cable or satellite service into Ubuntu TV. Online Videos – Ubuntu TV integrates online content providers to offer a diverse catalogue of movies, TV shows and music straight from the Internet. Tablet/Smartphones Interaction – Link phones or tablets to Ubuntu TV, presenting related content to viewers while they watch such as information on movies by the same director or the reaction on Twitter during live shows. Intelligent search – To simplify and streamline the experience Ubuntu […]

January 10, 2012January 10, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Always Innovating Unveils Open Source Android 4.0 HDMI Dongle STB

Always Innovating announced the “HDMI Dongle”, an open source portable STB that runs Android 4.0 on a Texas Instruments OMAP4 processor clocked between 1 and 1.8GHz with 256MB to 1GB of RAM, a microSD slot, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a remote control that provides NFC & accelerometers. The HDMI Dongle is a device of the size of a USB stick that can be plugged into any HDMI port to transform a any HDMI (and USB) capable TV into a smart TV. The USB port is used to power the device. The company says the HDMI Dongle is “technically compatible with GoogleTV”, which probably means it is not yet supported, but a software upgrade could enable Google TV for Android 4.0. The device provides a full-compatible Android experience and any application for this operating system can run on the dongle. The HDMI Dongle can stream and decode from the Internet 1080p H.264 […]

January 10, 2012January 10, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Tizen Releases Source Code and SDK Previews

Tizen, a new Linux based HTML5 operating systems aimed at mobile and consumer devices, was announced at the end of September 2011 without much detail. Today, Tizen has posted a set of pre-release tools, source code and related documentation to give application developers an early look at Tizen. Tizen Alpha (pre-1.0) is a very early preview and is not yet designed for use to create production applications. They specifically released the following items: Tizen source code preview – Operating system source code, including middleware, basic UI, and menu interface Tizen SDK preview – SDK & APIs: Web IDE, Emulator, Web API documentation, and Toolchain If you plan to try Tizen SDK, you development machines should match or exceed the following requirements: Ubuntu 10.04/10.10/11.04 32-bit (Windows and Mac version will be available later) At least dual-core 2 GHz CPU (recommend VTx supported by CPU) At least 2 GB of RAM memory […]