Hardware Category - Page 634 of 1116 - CNX Software

December 19, 2017December 19, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

TDK CeraCharge Solid State Battery-in-a-Chip is Designed for IoT & Wearables

We’ve recently seen solid state batteries are prone to dislodge current Lithium Ion battery technology as they are safer, support higher energy density, and faster charging. Such batteries are expected to be seen in car in the first part of the next decade, in smartphones starting possibly in 2019, but TDK has just announced their own CeraCharge rechargeable solid state SMD battery with mass production scheduled to start in April 2018. TDK CeraCharge battery-in-a-chip will come in compact EIA 1812 package (4.5 x 3.2 x 1.1 mm), offer a capacity of 100 µAh at a rated voltage of 1.4 V, and can be recharged up to 1000 times. Potential applications include IoT devices, real-time clocks, Bluetooth beacons, and systems for energy harvesting. The battery – which will look very similar to an SMD capacitor – does not include liquid electrolyte, and instead uses a solid ceramic element as electrolyte which rules out any risk of fire, explosion, […]

December 18, 2017November 15, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

How to Use Khadas VIM2 Board with VTV Expansion DTV Board as a Live TV Streaming Server

Khadas VIM2 is the first and only Amlogic S912 based hobbyist development board on the market, which makes it interesting by itself, but the company also added some interesting features such as an SPI flash for network boot, Wake-on-LAN support, and more. Last month the company sent me a sample of the Khadas VIM2 Basic (2GB RAM/16GB flash) together with VTV Extension DTV Board featuring a DVB-T2/C and DVB-S2 tuner. I’ve already checkout the hardware and shown how to assemble the kit, so for the second part of the review it seemed like a good idea to use the board as a Live TV streaming server broadcasting satellite, cable or terrestrial TV to devices connected to the local network. At first I wanted to use Linux operating system, because I could have run other Linux server services, but SuperDVB, the company that makes and supports the tuner board, only have […]

December 18, 2017January 7, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

MINIX NEO N42C-4 Triple Display Capable Mini PC Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

MINIX NEO N42C-4 mini PC was first unveiled last September at IFA 2017, as the first Apollo Lake mini PC from the company. The device has some interesting features like the possibility to upgrade the RAM thanks to two SO-DIMM slots, and storage via an M.2 SSD slot, and support for up to three display via HDMI 1.4, mini DisplayPort 1.2, and USB type C connector. Just like MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro model, the device is pre-loaded with an activated version of Windows 10 Pro, and includes a VESA mount. The company has now officially launched the device, with sales starting at the end of December for US$299.90 / 299.90 Euros on sites like Amazon [Update: NEO N42C-4 is now up for pre-order on GearBest]. MINIX has sent me a unit for review, so as usual, I’ll start by checking out of hardware, before testing Windows 10 Pro, system performance […]

December 18, 2017 by TLS - 7 Comments

QNAP QBoat Sunny Review – Part 1: Unboxing, Closer Look, and Initial Setup

We spotted the QBoat Sunny at QNAP’s booth back at CES in January and much has changed since then. Not only did QNAP change from an Intel based solution to an ARM based one, but the product seems to have shifted from being a development board to a strange kind of IoT server. The QBoat Sunny sample that QNAP provided for us to look at is based on the Annapurna Labs AL-314 quad core ARM Cortex-A15 SoC which is clocked at 1.7GHz. This has been paired with 2GB of DDR3L RAM (non-expandable) and 512MB of NAND flash that isn’t user accessible, much as on their NAS products. This simply contains the core parts of the QTS Lite OS. As such, you need to install an M.2 SATA SSD to be able to get started with the QBoat Sunny. QNAP provides a list of compatible SSDs on its website, although some […]

December 17, 2017December 17, 2017 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 25 Comments

Zotac ZBOX PI225 Review – SSD-Like Mini PC Tested with Windows 10 & Ubuntu

What makes the Zotac ZBOX PI225 so interesting is that this is the first true ‘card’ form-factor mini PC. It is a mini PC that looks like a SSD. Whilst Intel replaced the ‘stick’ form-factor with a similar ‘card’ form-factor for their next generation mini PCs they also required a ‘dock’ in order to use them. The difference with the PI225 however is that it actually is a standalone mini PC and includes all the necessary input/output ports. Intrigued by this new form-factor I decided to purchase one and the following is my review of its performance and capabilities. The Zotac ZBOX PI225 is a fanless device which features an Apollo Lake N3350 SoC with 32GB of storage pre-installed with Windows 10 Home, 4GB RAM, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, two USB Type-C ports, a micro SD card reader and a power connector. Importantly it comes with all the accessories you […]

December 16, 2017December 16, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Arduino & Grove Compatible StitchKit Mixes Fashion & Technology (Crowdfunding)

I don’t really get fashion. For example, I don’t understand why somebody would spend $100 on a pair of “Jean-Patrick Coultier” trousers, while you could get pretty much the same for about $20. My clothes just need to keep me warm and comfortable. And now I can see people starting to attach blinking lights to their clothes. Heresy!!! But others have a different opinions, and people interested in fashion, may not be interested in electronics, but still want those shiny things on their clothes. StitchKit is an Arduino compatible board that can also take Seeed Studio Grove module designed for those kids, teachers, designers, and cosplayers who want to easily add LEDs and other electronics to clothes or other wearable pieces without having to dig into the technical details. The system works around MakeFashion board powered by an Arduino compatible Microchip / Atmel ATMega32U4 AVR micro-controller with two rows of […]

December 15, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Mediatek Unveils Sensio MT6381 6-in-1 Biosensor Module for Smartphones

Nearly exactly two years ago, Samsung unveiled S3FBP5A bio-processor for fitness tracking wearables with five analog frontends measuring PPG, ECG,skin temperature, BIA, and GSR data, and that is (or was?) expected in the company’s S-Patch3 health tracker. Mediatek has now come up with something with similar functionalities, but instead of being a standalone bio-processor for wearables, Sensio MT6381 biosensor module is designed as a companion chip for smartphones, and capable for delivering 6 different types of heart and fitness data in about 60 seconds. MediaTek Sensio key features and specifications: Integrated R and IR LEDs for reflective PPG measurement + 1-channel ECG analog front-end Health Data Heart-rate in heart beats per minute Heart-Rate Variability (variation in the time between heartbeats). Blood Pressure Trends Peripheral Oxygen Saturation (SpO2) – amount of oxygen in the blood. Electrocardiography (ECG) – electrical activity of the heart over a period of time Photoplethysmography (PPG) – […]

December 14, 2017June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Holo P2P Distributed Hosting is Powered by Holochain Technology, Leverages Holo Fuel Cryptocurrency (Crowdfunding)

The Internet is now mostly centralized, for example most people search with Google, and Facebook dominates the social media space in many countries. That also means access to content can easily be blocked by governments, and many companies will use your personal data to their benefits. Holo network promises to “take back the Internet” thanks to a P2P distributed web hosting system, where people hosts app from developers in their HoloPort devices, and get paid for hosting crypto apps in Holo Fuel cryptocurrency that can in turn be used to pay for processing power and/or storage on the network, or converted into other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, or fiat money (Dollars, Euros…). It’s like a new Internet that uses the current “pipes” (i.e. you’d still need Internet through your ISP), but all content would have to be created from the ground up. It basically aims to replace datacenters, websites, and app […]