Google Unveils Edge TPU Low Power Machine Learning Chip, AIY Edge TPU Development Board and Accelerator

AIY Edge TPU Dev Board

Google introduced artificial intelligence and machine learning concepts to hundreds of thousands of people with their AIY projects kit such as the AIY Voice Kit with voice recognition and the AIY Vision Kit for computer vision applications. The company has now gone further by unveiling Edge TPU, its own  purpose-built ASIC chip designed to run TensorFlow Lite ML models at the edge, as well as corresponding AIY Edge TPU development board, and AIY Edge TPU accelerator USB stick to add to any USB compatible hardware. Google Edge TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) & Cloud IoT Edge Software Edge TPU is a tiny chip for machine learning (ML) optimized for performance-per-watt and performance-per-dollar.  It can either accelerate ML inferencing on device, or can pair with Google Cloud to create a full cloud-to-edge ML stack. In either case, local processing reduces latency, remove the needs for a persistent network connection, increases privacy, and […]

Olimex Unveils ESP32-POE Board with… PoE Support

ESP32 POE

One of the differences between ESP8266 and ESP32 is the latter adds an Ethernet MAC, and as a results we have seen a few ESP32 boards with an Ethernet jack offering 10/100M connectivity, including Olimex ESP32-GATEWAY, Olimex ESP32-EVB, or ESP32 Monster Board. ESP32 Ethernet enabled boards are definitely in the minority however, and what’s even more difficult to find is an ESP32 board with Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support. The good news is that if you’re looking for such type of board, Olimex is working on one based on requirements from their customers. Olimex ESP32-POE board specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROOM-32 module with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth LE External Storage – micro SD card socket Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet with PoE power management based on Si3402 IEEE 802.3at Type 1-compliant chip Expansion UEXT connector for Olimex modules 2x GPIOs stripes spaced at 1″ on 0.1″ step Debugging/Programming – micro USB port […]

MakerAsia KBX is a Cool Extension Case for KidBright ESP32 Board

KidBright MakerAsia KBX

Last week, I wrote about KidBright32, an ESP32 board aiming to teach STEM to students in Thailand, a bit like BBC Micro:bit but with more advanced features, and all KidBright training course and tutorial in Thai language. The project also been partnering with MakerAsia to create a cool-looking extension enclosure for the board calld KBX (KidBright Extension) with display, USB, I/O ports etc… MakerAsia KBX case specifications: TFT Display with Touch USB OTG port with support for Keyboard and JoyStick SD Card slot I/O Extension port with support for I2C, SPI, UART/PGM, and 15 GPIO’s Various buttons and LEDs The two LED dot Matrix displays, plus buttons, LEDs, and + buzzer around are already part of KidBright32 board. It’s unclear whether a battery is included in the kit, or you can somehow fit one inside, as the photos show a micro USB cable connected to the box. They also appears […]

FriendlyELEC NanoPC-T4 Board Kit Unboxing and Assembly

NanoPC T4 Case

FriendlyELEC introduced NanoPC-T4 RK3399 SBC (Single Board Computer) last May for $129. The board comes with a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor, 4GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, dual-band WiFi module and an M.2 socket with NVME (PCIe) SSD support. The company has now sent me the device with accessories for review / evaluation. In this post, I’ll check out all items received, and show how to assemble all components. NanoPC-T4 Board Kit Unboxing Let’s getting started, and open the package… I received two identical kits with two NanoPC-T4 boards, acrylic enclosure with spacers, screws and nuts, 12V/2A power supply, heatsink, and an RC-100 IR remote control. In theory, I also expected two WiFi antennas per kit since that’s part fo the kit in their website, but I did not see any. The remote control is an optional item. [Update: Ooops. I found the antennas inside the package for NanoPC-T4 board.] I’ve […]

Khadas Edge is Both a Standalone Board and a System-on-Module powered by Rockchip RK3399

Khadas Edge

One of the two most common type of Arm boards are single board computers with everything from processor to memory/storage to ports is placed on a single PCB, and system-on-modules with processor, memory and storage, and sometimes some extra chips with for network connectivity, audio and power management that are supposed to be inserted into a baseboard exposing connectors and headers. The upcoming Khadas Edge board is a little different since it combines both categories into one board with USB receptacles and HDMI output as well as 314-pin MXM3 edge connector to connect to Khadas Captain baseboard, or any other custom compatible baseboard. Khadas Edge will come in three variants (Basic/Pro/Max) with the following specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 up to 1.8GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 up to 1.5GHz, Arm Mali T864 GPU with support for OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL, DX11, VPU with4K VP9 and 4K […]

NVIDIA Jetson TX2i Module is Designed for Industrial Environments

Jetson TX2i

NVIDIA Jetson TX2 “Artificial Intelligence Computer” module was announced in March 2017 with a Tegra X2 hexa-core processor, a 256-core Pascal GPU, 8GB RAM, 32GB storage, and support for 4K 60 fps encoding and decoding. But it turns out NVIDIA announced an rugged version of the module dubbed Jetson TX2i designed for reliable operation in harsh industrial environments in March of this year. NVIDIA Jetson TX2 and TX2i are pin-to-pin compatible, and can run the same software, but TX2i has been designed and tested for rougher conditions. Feature Jetson TX2 Jetson TX2i Shock 140G, 2ms 140G, 2ms Vibration 10Hz ~200Hz, 1g & 2g RMS Random: 5g RMS 10 to 500Hz Sinusoidal: 5g RMS 10 to 500Hz Temp Range -25°C – 80°C -40°C – 85°C Humidity 85°C / 85% RH, 168 hours -10°C to 65°C / 95% RH, 240 hours Operating Life 5 Years (GB at 35C: MTBF=1,747,520 hours GF at […]

MINIX NEO C Plus is a 9-Port USB-C Adapter with Dual HDMI Output

MINIX NEO C Plus USB type C Hub

Hong Kong based MINIX Technology Limited is better known for their Android TV boxes and WIndows mini PCs, but the company also makes accessories for computers, and their latest product is MINIX NEO C Plus, a multi-port USB-C adapter providing 9 interfaces including two HDMI output ports capable of 4K UHD resolution at 30 Hz. MINIX NEO C Plus specifications: Input – USB type C port Ports / Interfaces 2x HDMI up to 4K @ 30 Hz for triple mirror or dual extend mode. Gigabit Ethernet 3x USB 3.0 ports (5Gbps) 1x USB type C port for power delivery Micro SD card and SD card readers The downside is that – for some reasons – the dual 4K HDMI display support, and triple mirror / dual extend modes are only available for Mac OS. It should also be noted that the HDMI displays connected to the adapter can only display the […]

Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite Android One Phone Now Up for Pre-order for $181.99 and up

Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite

Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite is the successor of Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphone, which will also run the latest Android 8 Oreo firmware, and receive regular firmware updates for at least 18 months since it’s part of Android One program. Mi A2 Lite phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor coupled with 3 to 4GB RAM, and 32 to 64GB storage. It will officially be announced on July 24th together with its big brother Xiaomi Mi A2 powered by Snapdragon 660 processor and a larger 5.99″ display, but some companies are already taking pre-order with  Banggood  starting at $199.99, and GeekBuying offering it for $181.99 shipped and up.. Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa core Arm Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Adreno 506 GPU System Memory – 3GB or 4GB RAM Storage – 32GB or 64GB RAM, micro SD card […]

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