mbed 2.0 SDK Released, becomes Open Source and Supports $12.95 Freescale Freedom Board

The mbed community has had a pretty busy week, with first the announcement that mbed SDK would become open source, the release of mbed 2.0, and finally support for the low cost Freescale Freedom board FRDM-KL25Zpowered by Kinetis Cortex M0+ KL25Z MCU. mbed becomes open source The mbed Software Development Kit (SDK), a C/C++ MCU software platform, has always been free (as in free beer) for both commercial and noncommercial use, and the large community around mbed has written tons of code for ARM microcontrollers. But now that the SDK has now a stable API, and the developers achieved transparent portability for code based on the SDK across multiple controllers and multiple toolchains, they decided to release the SDK source under an Apache 2.0 license. Although sharing modifications is encouraged, this license allows users to keep the changes closed if they wish to do so. mbed developers explain that the 3 […]

iWave Systems Announces RainboW-G15S Pico ITX Board Powered by Freescale i.MX6 Duallite/Solo Processor

iWave Systems has just launched the RainboW-G15S, a Pico ITX single board computer featuring Freescale i.MX 6 Solo and Dual Lite processor at Embedded World 2013, in Nuremberg, Germany. This embedded board targets intelligent industrial control systems, industrial human machine interface, ultra portable devices, home energy management systems, and portable medical devices. RainboW-GS15 Specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Dual Lite/Solo, (Quad /Dual compatible) System Memory – 512MB DDR3 (Expandable up to 2GB) Storage – On-board Micro SD slot, standard SD/SDIO slot, optional eMMC  support, and an optional SATA 7-pin connector (Probably just to make the board pretty since i.MX6 Solo and Duallite do not support SATA…) Connectivity – 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet USB – 2x USB Host Connector + micro USB OTG connector Misc – Half mini PCIe card connector, CAN Header Audio & Video interfaces: AC97 Audio Codec with Audio Out Jack & Audio In Header HDMI  Port LVDS connector  with […]

F9 Android Set-Top Box Features Samsung Exynos 4412 Processor

Geekbuying just announced they would be soon selling a tiny Android set-top box powered by Samsung Exynos 4412 quad core processor. This media player will come with 1 to 2 GB RAM, 8G to 16G flash, and run Android 4.0 (ICS), upgradeable to Android 4.1 or 4.2. Here are the specifications of this device: SoC – Samsung Quad Core Cortex-A9 Exynos 4412 @ 1.6GHZ + Mali-400 Quad Core GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM (optionally 2G) Storage – 8GB flash (optionally 16GB) + microSD slot Connectivity – WIFI 802.11 b/g/n Video Output – HDMI Audio Codec – MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, OGG, WAV, etc. Video Containers – AVI, MKV(XVID/px/H.264), MOV, TS, M2TS, RM/RMVB, FLV, 3GP, MPEG, DAT, MP4 USB – 2x USB 2.0 Power Supply – 5V/2A Weight – 109g The device will come with an HDMI cable, a power adapter, a 2.4Ghz remote control, and a user guide. Geekbuying […]

$21 CARAPP APP327 Bluetooth OBD2 Car Diagnostic Scanner

As cars become more sophisticated, you’re now able to access all sort of data from your car and display this on a computer or tablet to diagnose problems or simply to create your own high-end dashboard. This morning, I’ve come across CARAPP APP327, a Bluetooth diagnostic scanner compatible with OBD2 standard (On-Board Diagnostic II), which could can just connect on an OBD2 connector if your car is recent enough. This has been around for many years (since 1996), but I had never heard about this technology until today. Wikipedia OBD2 page explains the OBD2 connector (16-pins) should be within 2 feet (0.61 m) of the steering wheel according to the standard, which also specifies the type of diagnostic connector and its pinout, the electrical signaling protocols available, and the messaging format. After you connect the Bluetooth adapter, you just need to install the applications needed for your platform (e.g. Android, […]

Samsung HomeSync Media Server Comes with a Dual Core Processor, 1TB Storage

Yesterday, Samsung announced the HomeSync, a media server featuring a dual core processor at 1.7 GHz, 1GB RAM, 8GB eMMC, and a 1TB hard drive. HomeSync is said to be running a modified version of Android Jelly Bean. Here are HomeSync specifications: Processor – Dual Core @ 1.7GHz (I’d guess it should be the Exynos 5250, but why all the mystery?) System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC + 1TB HDD Connectivity LAN – Gigabit Ethernet WiFi – 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz & a/n 5GHz HT40 2×2 MIMO Channel Bonding Bluetooth – V4.0 USB – 2x USB 3.0 Host, 1x Micro USB (11pin) Video Output – HDMI out Audio – Optical Audio (Audio Amp. Connection) Video Codec – H.264, H.263, MPEG4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark, WMV7/8, MP43, VP8, DivX Audio Codec – MP3, AAC LC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA 9std/10pro/Lossless, FLAC, Vorbis, AMR-NB/WB, Wav, Mid, AC-3 DRM – HDCP 1.3/2.1, Playready, Widevide, Trustzone […]

Nvidia Tegra 4 Benchmarks on Tablet Reference Design

Mobile World Congress 2013 has just started. Nvidia is showcasing both a smartphone reference platform based on Nvidia Tegra 4i (Phoenix reference phone) and an unnamed tablet reference design with Tegra 4 during the event, and several Android benchmarks have been run on the platform including Antutu and Quadrant. The results in the quad-core Cortex A15 Tegra 4 are really impressive with over 36,000 in AnTuTu and 16,000 in Quadrant, which are the best scores ever reported (by far) on those two benchmarks, as the top score in Antutu achieved with an overclocked Galaxy Note 2 is just over 27,000, a phone like the HTC One X scores around 5,600… Android Police also ran two other benchmarks that can help to access web browsing performance: Vellamo (HTML5) and SunSpider. The Tegra 4 completes SunSpider in 494ms (vs 1124ms with HTC One and 208ms in my desktop PC), and scores 3300 […]

ISEE Introduces IGEP COM CYGNUS & AQUILA Powered by TI Sitara AM335x Processor

ISEE will officially launch and showcase 2 new computers-on-module at Embedded World 2013 on February 26-28, in Nuremberg, Germany: IGEP COM CYGNUS and IGEP COM AQUILA. Both CoM shares the same characteristics except the former is powered by TI Sitara AM3352 (Cortex A8, no GPU) and the later by TI Sitara AM3354 (Cortex A8 + PowerVR GPU). This makes the CYGNUS suited for cost sensitive applications such as industrial control, home automation, and test and measurement devices, and the AQUILA for applications that requires more advanced graphics and multimedia capabilities such as gaming, auto infotainment and navigation devices. The key specifications of the 2 modules are as follows: Processor – Texas instruments Sitara AM3352 Cortex A8 @ 720 Mhz (CYGNUS) and AM3354 Cortex A8 @ 720 Mhz + PowerVR SGX GPU (AQUALIA) System memory – 256 MB DDR3 SDRAM, 303 MHz, 16-bit Storage – 128 MB SLC NAND FLASH + […]

CoolShip is a $89 Rockchip RK3066 Android Keyboard Desktop Computer

If you’re nostalgic and miss your Commodore C64, FocusWill Coolship could be right for you. It’s a keyboard desktop computer running Android 4.0 ICS (or a customized of Android version called CoolShip OS) powered by Rockchip RK3066 SoC with 1GB RAM, 4 to 8 NAND Flash, VGA and HDMI outputs and more. Here are the specifications of this device: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 Dual Cortex A9 @ 1.5Ghz + Mali-400MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 4 to 8 GB NAND Flash +  SD Card slot Connectivity: 10/100Mbps Ethernet (via USB to Ethernet chip) 802.11b/g/n Keyboard – 104 Standard QWERTY keyboard with number keys + Touchpad Video Outputs – VGA + HDMI with dual display support. Video Codecs – MPEG-1/2/4, H.264, H.263, RMVB, WMV, VC-1, AVS, MVC, RV8/RV9/RV10, VP6/VP8 Audio I/O – Stereo Speakers (2×1Ω;0.7W), 1x MIC and 1x Earphone jack USB – 2x USB2.0 Power Supply […]

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