Hardware Category - Page 756 of 1069 - CNX Software

May 19, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Arduino Primo Board Supports WiFi, Bluetooth LE, and NFC

A couple of weeks after unveiling Arduino UNO WiFi with ESP8266 and Atmel AVR, Arduino Srl has introduced Arduino PRIMO board with Nordic Semi nRF52 MCU with Bluetooth Smart and NFC, ESP8266 for WiFi, and STM32 to handle GPIOs and USB UART during May Faire Bay Area 2016. Arduino Primo board (A000135) specifications: Service Micro-controller STMicro STM32F103R8T6 ARM Cortex-M3 MCU @ 72 MHz with 64KB flash, 20KB SRAM USB/Uart converter & CMSIS-DAP GPIO expander, IrDA Board power management Operating Voltage – 2.0 to 3.6 V Arduino Micro-controller Nordic nRF52832 ARM Cortex-M4F MCU @ 64 MHz with 512 KB flash, 64KB SRAM Analog I/O Pins – 6 + 1 DAC DC Current per I/O Pins – 7 mA Bluetooth Smart – Up to +4 dBm output power, -96 dBm sensitivity Other features – PDM interface, AES HW enc, NFC tag WiFi Micro-controller Espressif ESP8266 Tensilica Xtensa LX106 WiSoC @ 80 MHz […]

May 19, 2016May 23, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 39 Comments

Xiaomi Mi Box Comes to the US with Android TV 6.0 Running on Amlogic S905X Processor

Xiaomi Mi Boxes have been available in China for a couple of years, and the only way to ship them to the rest of the world was to purchase via Chinese e-retailers. Xiaomi and Google have now worked together to bring Mi Box with Android TV 6.0, instead of the usual Chinese MIUI TV interface, to the US, and possibly to other countries. Xiaomi Mi Box (US) specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X-H quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDCP 2.2 and CEC support Audio Output – HDMI, optical S/PDIF and 3.5mm audio jack Video Codecs – VP9 Profile-2 & H.265 MP-10 up to 4K @ 60 fps, H.264 AVC up to 4K @ 30 fps, H.264 MVC up to […]

May 18, 2016May 18, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Programming ESP8266 Boards with a Smartphone

In recent days, I wrote about low cost MCU boards such as the $2 BluePill, and the One Dollar Board project, but several people commented that while the board themselves are very cheap, it might still be a problem in some developing countries, where access to computers cannot be taken for granted. So person suggested that such initiative would work better in some countries if programming was possible via a smartphone instead. Is that true? According to a 2014/2015 study by Pew Research Center, there is some truth to it, but it varies greatly between countries. For example, 55% of Brazilian adults own a computer at home, while only 24% own a smartphone, but in Kenya only 8% own a computer at home, while 15% own a smartphone. Some devices in the “cellphones but not smartphones” might be feature phones with WiFi and a web browser. Anyway ideally a low […]

May 18, 2016May 18, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Beelink BT7 mini PC Powered by Atom x7-Z8700 Processor Features 4GB RAM, Up to 320 GB SSD

When I reviewed Voyo V3 mini PC based on Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor, I was quite satisfied with the experience thanks to very fast storage with decent capacity (120 GB), the fastest Cherry Processor available combined with 4GB RAM which made for a pretty good experience under Windows 10 for just under $200. However, the mini PC networking capabilities suffer, with the lack of Ethernet, and WiFi limited to 802.11n @ 2.4 GHz. Beelink has been working on their own Atom x7 mini PC, namely Beelink BT7, with both Gigabit Ethernet & dual band WiFi, as well as various SSD options up to 320 GB. Beelink BT7 mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x7-Z8700 Cherry Trail quad core processor @ 1.60 GHz/2.40 GHz (turbo) with Intel Gen8 HD graphics @ 600MHz with 16EU (2W SDP) System Memory – 4 GB DDR3 Storage – 64, 128, or 320 GB SSD […]

May 18, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Asu Cast One Android Smartwatch Features a Projector and Touch Panel

Smartwatches and wearables in general have to main implementations for the user interfaces, either using a display and physical button, or a touch screen display. Asu Cast 1 changed all that, as they removed the display, using a touch panel (no screen) combined with a projector, using your hand or other surfaces. Asu Cast One smartwatch projector specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (APQ8026) processor @ 1.2 GHz System Memory – 768 MB RAM Storage – 4GB flash Projector – 1280 x 600 resolution, 15 lumens brightness (equivalent to 100 lumens DLP projectors), “screen” size: 2″ to 60″. Touch panel – Multi-touch Connectivity – WiFi and Bluetooth Sensors – Gravity sensor and gyroscope Battery – 740 mAh battery Dimensions – 50 x 41 x 14.6 mm Weight – 65.9 grams The thing runs a heavily customized version of Android 5.1, and supports DLNA, Miracast and Airplay. The company did not disclose […]

May 17, 2016May 17, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

NXP Unveils i.MX 8 Multisensory Enablement Kit with Hexa Core ARMv8 Processor

Freescale, now NXP, i.MX 8 processors have been a long time coming, but finally the company has now unveiled a Multisensory Enablement Kit based on i.MX 8 hexa core ARMv8 processor combined with a Vulkan-ready & OpenCL capable GPU. Key features of the development kit: Multisensory Processor Board Multisensory Expansion Board Isolation and separation of secure, safe and open domains Rich compute (6x ARMv8 64-bit main CPUs, OpenCL GPU) Vulkan-ready GPU with HW tessellation and geometry shading Efficient, multi-screen (4x) support via HW virtualization Failover-ready display path Up to 8x camera input for 360 degree vision Integrated vision processing HDR enhanced video Multi-sensor fusion and expansion Multi-core audio and speech processing NXP radio solution integration However, at the time of writing, there’s very little information about i.MX8 processors themselves, but I’m confident much more info should soon surface as NXP FTF 2016 is taking place now until May 19, 2016. […]

May 17, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Yubikey NEO is a $50 USB & NFC Key Used to Secure your Computer and Smartphone

YubiKey NEO is a dongle that supports both contact (USB) and contactless (NFC, MIFARE) communications to secure your Windows, Mac OS or Linux computers and/or Android/iOS smartphones using two factor authentication. It supports one-time password (OTP), smart card functionality (OpenGPG, PIV…), as well as FIDO Alliance’s Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) protocol. The key can be used in a variety of applications, such as logging into your computer, accessing gmail, github, dropbox, and other accounts, and disk encryption. It also works with password manager such as Lastpass or Dashlane. You’ll need to both enter your password, and connect the Yubikey to your computer to be able to login, and for NFC enabled smartphones, you’d need to tap the key on the device. In case you lose your key, online services usually have recovery mechanism in places, and some support registration of up multiple YubiKeys. The latter can probably be used for […]

May 17, 2016May 17, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

“BluePill” is a $2 Arduino Compatible Development Board Based on STMicro STM32 MCU

I’m amazed that if your budget for a board was just $5 for one MCU board, you now have so many options for your electronics projects: ESP8266 boards, a few STM8 boards, One Dollar Board project, and many more… Other options are “BluePill” or “RedPill” boards based on STM32 or GD32 32-bit ARM Cortex M3 micro-controllers that go for about $2 shipped, and can be programmed with the Arduino IDE thanks to STM32Duino project. BluePill board specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F103C8T6 ARM Cortex-M3 MCU @ 72 MHz with 64KB flash memory, 20KB SRAM. USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming Debugging – 4x pin SWD header or micro USB port Expansion – 2x 20-pin with power signals, I2C, SPI, GPIOs, ADC inputs, etc… Misc – Reset button, two jumpers (for boot mode), power and user LEDs. Power – 5V via USB, 2.0-3.6V power via 3.3V pin on […]