Archos is known for its Android Tablets and MP3 player. But Henri Crohas, Archos’s CEO, would like to release a human robot with the height of a child for 300 Euros, a bit like a small version of Asimo, the Honda human robot. In an article about Henri Crohas, published by Liberation (French Newspaper), it is mentioned “No, Crohas rejoices when we mention the evolution of Archos advances: thinner and thinner tablets and on the domotics (Home Automation) side, a robot of the height of a child sold for less than 300 Euros”. Archos has since then confirmed to PC World France, they worked on this type of products, but would not provide further details at this point. But such robot could be used as a toy or it could be programmed to do some simple tasks. Rumours are that they work with another French company, Alrebaran Robotics, which designed […]
Use Your Desktop Computer to Control Your Android Device
AirDroid is a free application that allow you to control your Android smartphone (or tablet) with your computer via WiFi. You simply need to install the app on your smartphone and to connect to the interface with your desktop web browser. You’ll then be able to manage your files, pictures, contacts.. or send SMS with your computer keyboard. You can watch the video below for an overview of AirDroid features: You can download this application at http://market.android.com/details?id=com.sand.airdroid 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 reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com
Android 4.0 on Archos G9
Archos has been working on porting Android 4.0 (ICS) to Archos G9 Series Android Tablet (Archos 80 G9 and 101 G9) and have released a video demo (via Charbax). Archos G9 tablets are powered by OMAP4430 and OMAP4460 (Turbo version) so the port should have been pretty smooth as it is the default SoC used by Android 4.0. Archos still have to complete video hardware acceleration, Samba/Upnp and 3G stick support as well as all other Archos-specific features. The offical Android 4.0 release for Archos G9 should be available by Q1 2012. 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 reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com
99 USD Android 4.0 Tablet (Novo 7) Powered By MIPS Processor
MIPS has just announced the Novo 7 a low cost Android ICS tablet powered by Ingenic’s JZ4770 mobile applications processor that leverages a MIPS-BasedTM XBurstTM CPU running at 1GHz. The new tablet is available with a 7″ capacitive multi-touch screen. 8″ (Novo 8 ) and 9″ (Novo 9) form factors will be available soon. All versions include support for WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, USB 2.0, HDMI 1.3 and microSD, as well as 3D graphics with the Vivante GC860 GPU, 1080p video decoding and dual front/rear cameras (2 MPixel). The XBurst processor’s power-efficient architecture provides extended battery life-the 7″ tablet draws less than 400mA during active web browsing. The Ingenic JZ4770 SoC inside of this (ultra) low cost tablet is one of the first MIPS-based systems-on-chips (SoCs) targeted for mobile devices that delivers 1GHz+ frequency. The JZ4770 SoC is powered by a MIPS32 compatible XBurst CPU designed by Ingenic. The XBurst CPU […]
Android 4.0 Demo on Ziilabs Jaguar Tablet Reference Design
Yet another Android 4.0 demo on a development platform. This time, Android 4.0.1 runs on a Jaguar Tablet powered by Ziilabs ZMS-20 ARM Cortex A9 processor. It runs pretty smoothly. 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 reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com
Android 4.0 For Blind or Visually Impaired Users
Android 4.0 (ICS) has some interesting features for blind or visually impaired users. With accessibility mode enabled, smartphones such as the Galaxy Nexus will dictate the name of the icons has you touch them and instruct you to tap it if you want to use this application. You can also use 2 fingers to scroll the current and you’ll get audible feedback to know where you scroll. Google has setup a YouTube channel (EyesFreeAndroid) to showcase features and applications available to blind and visually impaired users. Here’s an example below showing the touch exploration tutorial. 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 reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com
Beyond NFC Payment: Other NFC Use Cases
During CarteS event, NXP has uploaded a video on YouTube showing several NFC applications that are not directly used for payment. In the video below, you’ll see several such applications including: Smart Advertizement: shopping advice, movie promotion, travel info and game Smart Meter for meter reading and real-time power consumption monitoring via an Android device e-Passport with NFC Technology for faster immigration procedure. Secure Online Authentication NFC-Enable motorcycle to prevent theft NFC-enabled figurines to interact with video games. Authentication to unlock door, laptop and more. Gesture enabled smart card where you can use gesture to sign your own card and enable/disable it. 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 reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com
DLNA/UPnP Linux Server with Coherence
Coherence is a DLNA/UPnP Media Server written in Python which exports local files or online media to UPnP clients. Coherence fetch the media files from several sources such as: Local applications media collections, like those from Rythmbox or Banschee, Audio-CD or DVB Online services like Flickr, last.fm, YouTube, Picasa Web Albums and other. Other sources can also be added thanks to Coherence plug-in architecture. The media server supports transcoding (currently experimental) that is to convert media files in another format. Coherence toolkit also contains other packages such as: Coherence-Config: a cross-platform GUI frontend for ‘Coherence’. Cadre: a picture DLNA/UPnP MediaRenderer which can display pictures from the local filesystem or from a MediaServer. Mirabeau: An application level proxy for UPnP devices which allows to share your UPnP content between two or more local networks over the Internet. It uses XMPP as a transport (work in progress). UPnP-Inspector: a graphical UPnP Device […]