Leap Motion Demos: AirHarp and Hands-Free Quadrator

The Leap Motion, a 3D gesture recognition USB device, has been announced in May, but developer kits have only recently been sent out to… developers, and lots of demo has started to pop up, many of which are posted on Leap Motion Facebook page. My favorite demo is the Airharp which, as the name implies, is an harp controlled by finger gestures you do in the “air”, as it demonstrates both the accuracy and responsiveness of the Leap Motion. The project  is written by Adam Somers, Senior Software Engineer at Universal Studio and Stanford Alumni, who released both the binary and source code for this demo: AirHarp 0.1 – Binary built against Leap SDK v. 0.6.6 that lets you add & remove strings, cycle through scales and toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode. The source code for the Airharp which uses muskit, a C++ toolkit for music applications, both of which […]

$199 GIZMO EXPLORER KIT – Embedded Development Kit Based on AMD G-Series G-T40E APU

I’ve just stumbled upon a low cost and open source embedded development kit featuring AMD G-Series G-T40E dual core APU that comes with the following: The Gizmo Board – A compact (10×10 cm) development board for powered by an AMD G-Series APU. The Explorer Board – An expansion I/O board providing an alpha-numeric keypad, a micro-display, and a breadboard area for prototyping and customization. Sage SmartProbe JTAG Development Tool – The kit includes the SmartProbe hardware and 20 hours of trial time use. Ethernet & USB Cables – The USB cable lets you connect the SmartProbe to your PC. The Ethernet cable is for networking connectivity, which can be used to access the SmartProbe as well. USB wall charger Power Supplyand Cable – A universal power supply for the Gizmo board, with a U.S.-standard cord. 6x standoffs with nuts Alpha-numeric keypad – To connect to the explorer board Installation DVD […]

Texas Instruments OMAP 5 Cortex A15 Systems-on-Module Galore

Today Texas Instruments published a press release to announce partners 6 company had worked to design and manufactures systems-on-module based on the dual core Cortex A15 OMAP 5 SoC and that those would be on display at Electronica Trade Faire this week (13-16 October) in Munich. Embedded++ EPP-Pico-OMAP5430 This solution is actually a Pico-ITX board based on OMAP5430 with 2 GB LP-DDR2, USB 3.0 SuperSpeed connectivity (1x USB 3.0, 3x USB 2.0),  up to 16 GB eMMC storage, a SATA port, a 100Mb Ethernet port , UART, RS-323 & SPI ports, GPIOs, DVI and LVDS outputs, a serial camera input port, a micro SD card socket, Murata WiLink 8.0 connectivity solution (Wi-Fi, GNSS, Bluetooth®, Bluetooth v4.0 and FM technologies) and a built-in battery charger (1-cell Li-Ion). The company provides Linux and Android 4.1 BSP. Check the product page for a few more details. GreenBase GK-5432 GK-5432 is a computer on […]

Nvidia Has Ported Unreal Engine 3 to Windows RT

After Archos GamePad, more gaming news today, as Nvidia announced Unreal Engine 3 port to Windows RT. The company showcased Epic Citadel demo on Nvidia Tegra 3 based Asus Vivo Tab RT (previously known as Tablet 600) at a press conference held at IFA 2012, in Berlin. The demo above is the full PC implementation running on ARM hardware and renders graphics at 35 to 40fps. The Unreal Engine 3 “Epic Citadel” demo implements the full DirectX 9 pipeline, with shaders and materials. Nvidia also announced that UE3 Windows RT code is available to licensees from Epic now. 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

TechNexion EDM Modules: Open Software and (somewhat) Open Hardware ARM & x86 CPU Modules

TechNexion, a Taiwanese “embedded solution” company, was present at Computex 2012 showcasing their ARM & x86 CPU Modules and corresponding development kits. The company recently created the EDM Standard, an open hardware and software standard for x86 and ARM Computer on Modules available under the creative commons share alike license. Their EDM modules come in three form factors: EDM Compact: 82 x 60 mm (ARM only) EDM Standard: 82 x 95 mm (ARM and x86) EDM Extended: 82 x 145 mm (x86 only) They have already designed 5 modules based on this standard: EDM-CF-iMX6 EDM Compact Module powered by Freescale i.MX6 (solo, dual or quad) EDM-CT-AM437x EDM Compact Module powered by TI Sitara AM437x (single core Cortex A9) EDM-SF-iMX6 EDM Standard Module with Freescale i.MX6 EDM-ST-AM437x EDM Standard Module with TI Sitara AM437x EDM-XI-QM77 EDM Extended Module with Intel QM77 3rd generation i3/i7 core I could not find information about […]

Freescale 12-axis Xtrinsic Sensor Platform Technology for Windows 8 / RT

Freescale announced the Xtrinsic Sensor Platform, a 12-axis sensor development reference platform for Windows 8. This 12-axis sensor platform includes several sensors by Freescale and other companies: Xtrinsic MMA8451Q 3-axis accelerometer Xtrinsic MAG3110 3-axis magnetometer Xtrinsic MPL3115A2 precision altimeter, pressure, and temperature sensor An analog ambient light sensor A selection of 3D gyroscopes are also supported This platform is powered by Freescale ColdFire+ MCF51JU128VHS MCU which combines, configures and processes sensor data with Freescale sensor fusion software to match the requirements of Windows 8/RT. Xtrinic sensor platform communicates with the host device via USB. It does not requires extra drivers as it uses standard HID drivers. You can watch the video below which is an introduction (including some technical details) and demo of the system. Strangely, I could not find a similar Freescale 12-axis reference design for Android or Linux, and I’m not sure why they would limit this hardware […]

ASUS Windows RT Tablet 600: The First Ever Windows 8 Tablet Is Powered By Nvidia Tegra 3

Nvidia announced on its blog that ASUS unveiled a Windows RT (previously known as Windows 8 on ARM) tablet powered by Nvidia Tegra 3 and featuring a 10.1-inch touch screen display. This is a convertible tablet with an optional keyboard dock, so it’s like a transformer with Windows 8. The Asus 600 is said to have the following specifications: Nvidia Tegra 3 (Quad Core Cortex A9) 2 GB RAM 10.1-inch Super IPS+ display (Resolution  1366 x 768) 8MP rear camera with an LED flash 2MP front camera. WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity GPS support Gyroscope, compass and NFC. You can watch the hands-on video below provided by Nvidia. ASUS didn’t disclose pricing or availability. 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

Archos G10 xs Teaser Video with Sliding Keyboard Dock

Archos has just released a teaser video for its next generation Android tablet, the Archos G10 xs (xs stands for extra small). The video does not show much, except the concept of the new tablet which features a sliding keyboard where the tablet can be docked. Archos has not released the specifications for the G10 XS yet, but we do know the casing is made of stainless steel, is 7.6mm thick (12mm with the keyboard) and Archos has worked for 3 years on this design. There will be several models whose retail price should be between 200 and 300 Euros (Which would be between 200 and 300 USD in the US thanks to lower taxes). The new tablets will be powered by a Texas Instruments processor (probably OMAP 4) like the Archos G9 tablets and run Android 4.0 and Windows 8 depending on the model. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX […]