CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

ZOTAC to Sell ZBOX Nano mini PC based on Freescale i.MX6 SoC

ZOTAC, a company known to provide small x86 Linux PCs, is currently showcasing an ARM based version at CES 2014, part of their ZBOX nano series, running either Ubuntu 12.04 or Android 4.2 on a Freescale i.MX 6Quad processor. ZOTAC ZBox nano “ARM” specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX 6Q quad core Cortex A9 @ 1 Ghz with Vivante GC2000 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, SATA 3Gb/s interface with 2.5″ HDD support, and SD card slot (SD/SDHC/MMC) Video Output – HDMI 1.4 USB – 4x USB 2.0 host port Connectivity – GbE Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n via mini PCIe module. The computer currently runs Android 4.0.4 and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, but Android 4.0.4 will be upgraded to Android 4.2. ZBOX nano “ARM” mini PC will be available in Q2 2014 for a price between $100 and $150. Via Liliputing

January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Media Player SoCs at CES 2014 – Qualcomm Snapdragon 802 and Sigma Designs SMP8756

Apart from Nvidia Tegra K1, CES 2014 has been somewhat disappointing when it comes to new mobile SoCs announcement. On the media processor front, we’ve had Marvell announces Skyworth Android TV set-top boxes and HDTV based on their ARMADA 1500 Plus SoC, and we’ve got at least two new processors for media players with Qualcomm Snapdragon 802, and Sigma Designs SMP8756. Let’s have a look at some of the details. Qualcomm Snapdragon 802 Qualcomm has started to enter the media player space with MPQ8064 / 8064M last year, but I haven’t seen actual products based on this SoC, except Qubi, which is not shipping yet. This year, the company announced Snapdragon 802 SoC designed for next-generation smart TVs, smart set-top boxes and smart digital media adapters. As usual, the company gave very little details in the press release, but here’s what we know: Quad core Krait processor @ 1.8Ghz with […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Skyworth Announces K100 Smart TV, GS100 and GS300 Set-Top Boxes with “Google services for Smart TV” Powered by Marvell ARMADA 1500 Plus

What do company executives do when a product is not selling as expected? They organize a board meeting, deliberate for hours, and come up with a brilliant idea like “Let’s change the name!”. If I count correctly, this year would have been the release of products based on Google TV 4.0, but the company decided to scrap it, and this year, we have devices with “Google services for Smart TV” thanks to Skyworth K100 Smart TV, as well as GS100 and GS300 set-top boxes, all powered by Marvell ARMADA 1500 Plus SoC. Marvell published a press release yesterday detailing the news: Continuing its leadership in the Smart Home ecosystem, Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) today announced a partnership with Skyworth, a global TV maker, to deploy Smart TVs and set-top boxes with Google services for Smart TV. The new offerings are powered by Marvell’s ARMADA® 1500 Plus (88DE3108) system-on-chip (SoC) platform, a […]

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

DENKO MP-12 Mutual Induction Speaker “Magically” Amplifies Your Phone’s Speaker

Have you ever heard about “mutual induction speakers”? I had not, but I’ve just seen one on W2COMP blog, and all your have to do is to place your mobile device on the speaker, and it will amplify the audio vibrations, without any connection or setup required. It should work with any phones or tablets, no need to have a smartphone with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity. Here are some of the key features and specifications of the device: Audio – 2x 2W speakers Ports – MiniUSB Port Support audio input (Mini USB) and DC input (data) jack Power – Rechargeable BL-5C, or AA batteries. About 8 hours of audio on a charge. You can also use a power adapter. Dimensions – 55 x 250 x 150 mm Weight – 500g The phone/tablet speakers must faced the surface of the speaker, but if you have a CD player, you can still […]

January 8, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Asus Transformer Book Duet Hybrid Laptop / Tablet Runs Android and Windows Simultaneously

During CES 2014 pre-opening keynote, Intel showcased a laptop capable of instantaneously switch between Windows and Android by the press of a button, and separately, AMD also announced dual OS support with Android and Windows 8 running simultaneously on a computer thanks to a version of Bluestacks optimized for AMD APUs. So we can expect several hybrid laptop + tablet computers, let’s call it a “lapblet”, running Windows 8 and Android this year, and one of them is Asus Transformer Book Duet. Transformer Book Duet (TD300) Specifications: Processor – Intel Core i7 processor GPU – Intel HD graphics System Memory – 4GB DDR3L 1600 RAM Storage: Tablet – 128GB SSD + Up to 64GB Micro SD card Dock – Up to 1TB HDD Display – 13.3-inch Full HD IPS multi-touch display Connectivity – 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR, and 10/100M Ethernet Camera – Front-facing HD camera with a built-in […]

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Imagination Unveils OpenGL ES 3.0 Compliant Entry Level PowerVR Series6XE GPUs, and Series6XT Architecture Promising TFLOPS Performance

Imagination Technologies has announced four OpenGL ES 3.0 compliant mobile GPUs based on PowerVR Series6XE Rogue architecture for entry level ($100) smartphones, tablets, and other low-end consumer devices such as wearables and smart TVs, as well as four high-end GPUs based on PowerVR Series6XT Rogue architecture capable of TeraFLOPS computing power. PowerVR Series6XE GPUs The new PowerVR Rogue GPUs will deliver the same fillrate performance as equivalent Series5XT multi-processor configurations but offer more in terms of features and functionality, including OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenCL 1.x, and DirectX 9.3. Four entry-level GPUs have been introduced at CES 2014: PowerVR G6050 – Smallest fully-featured GPU core by Imagination with support for OpenGL ES3.0 and OpenCL 1.x. PowerVR G6060 – Same as G6050, but adds PVRIC2, the company’s second generation lossless PowerVR Image Compression. It reduces bandwidth requirements, and it likely to be used in entry-level tablets, HD TVs and STBs. PowerVR G6100 […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

January 7, 2014January 7, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Intel Unveils Edison Board for Wearables at CES 2014 Keynote

After an earlier Intel presentation about Intel RealSense Technology by Mooly Eden, Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager, the newly appointed Intel CEO, Brian Krzanich, officially opened CES 2014 with the pre-show keynote. This time there was nothing about processors for PCs, and the announcement the most interesting and relevant to this blog was Intel Edison, a tiny SD-card sized board powered by a dual core Quark SoC. Specifications: SoC – Unnamed and new dual core Intel Quark SoC @ 400MHz manufactured with 22nm process technology. MCU – Unnamed Intel MCU (MCS 51??) to manage I/Os and other baseline functions. System Memory – LPDDR2 Storage – NAND Flash Connectivity – Wi-Fi and Blutooth 4.0 LE Dimensions – Just like an SD card The board will support Linux, and common open source tools used by the marker community. It will also support Wolfgram language and Mathematica. There will also be […]

January 7, 2014January 7, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Type 115 Words per Minutes on your Smartphone with TREWGrip mobile Keyboard

Robert price can type 137 words per minutes on a desktop computer, and managed to achieve an amazing 115 words per minutes on a smartphone by using TREWGrip mobile qwerty keyboard. You may not be able to achieve the same speed yourself, but TREWGrip is an interesting portable wireless keyboard that should help you type much faster on your smartphone, or even mini tablets. It seems unintuitive at first, as the keys are actually located at the back of the keyboard as shown above, with illuminated indicator keys showing at the top showing where to type. The keyboard also have a 3-axis gyroscope to use it an an Air mouse. The keyboard communicates with your mobile device via Bluetooth classic. You’ll need some training to use this keyboard efficiently, but the company claims “the average user can achieve 90% of their QWERTY keyboard typing speed with only 8-10 hours of […]