artificial intelligence (AI) News - CNX Software

August 15, 2026August 15, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM IT13 Max Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 26.04 on an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H mini computer

GEEKOM IT13 Max Mini PC review Ubuntu 26.04 Linux

We’ve already checked out the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown of the GEEKOM IT13 Max in the first part of the review, before testing the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H mini PC with Windows 11, so it’s now time to test Linux on the mini computer using Ubuntu 26.04. In this review, we will report our experience running Ubuntu 26.04 on the GEEKOM IT13 Max, after going through feature testing, running system benchmarks and AI benchmarks on the CPU, GPU, and NPU, checking out storage and USB performance, testing 2.5GbE and WiFi 6/7, stress testing the mini PC, and measuring the Meteor Lake mini PC’s fan noise and power consumption. Installing Ubuntu 26.04 We installed Ubuntu 26.04 alongside Windows 11 in dual boot configuration. We first shrank the Windows partition (C:) size by approximately half, before inserting a USB flash drive with Ubuntu 26.04 to start the installation […]

August 14, 2026August 14, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Gemma Translator multilingual interpreter runs locally on Raspberry Pi 5 with the LiteRT runtime

Gemma Translator is an open-source project for the Raspberry Pi 5 that acts as a multilingual interpreter running locally without access to the cloud using Google Gemma 4 and LiteRT runtime. It’s a project built by three Google engineers with the help of Google Antigravity. It includes code to run an on-device, fully offline voice translator/interpreter using Gemma 4 E2B (2.3B effective / ~5.1B total parameters with per-layer embeddings) and the LiteRT runtime. The hardware is comprised of a few components: A Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB of RAM Display – HDMI monitor or touchscreen display such as a 480×320 kiosk display Audio Microphone or USB audio capture interface Speaker or headphone output device Keyboard – The project demonstrated below appears to use a custom PCB (AX-4LABS-NEW) with a rotary encoder and four mechanical keys (of which only two are used) Optional 3D printed parts for the enclosure Software highlights: […]

August 11, 2026August 15, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM IT13 Max review – Part 2: An Intel Core Ultra 9 185H mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro (in 2026)

We previously checked out the hardware of the GEEKOM IT13 Max mini PC with an unboxing and a teardown of the 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 185H mini PC in the first part of the review, before booting it up to Windows 11 Pro. We’ve now had time to test it in more detail. So we will report our experience with the GEEKOM IT13 Max on Windows 11 Pro, covering feature testing, system performance benchmarks, AI benchmarks, YouTube 4K and 8K video playback in Firefox, 2.5GbE and Wi-Fi 6 network performance testing, and thermal performance, as well as measurements of fan noise and power consumption. Since we had already reviewed the GEEKOM GT1 Mega mini PC with the same Intel Meteor Lake CPU in 2024, we’ll compare the results to report any improvements or regressions since then. Software Overview and Feature Testing The System->About window confirms we have an “IT13_Max” […]

August 7, 2026August 15, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

GEEKOM IT13 Max mini PC review – Part 1: specifications, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

We’ve just received a sample of the GEEKOM IT13 Max mini PC powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU for review. With up to 35 TOPS, sixteen cores clocked up to 5.1 GHz, and up to 24 GB LPDDR5 memory, the Meteor Lake mini PC is well-suited for AI workloads, creative tasks, coding, and heavy multitasking. Two configurations are available: one with 16 GB DDR5 SODIMM RAM and a 1 TB PCIe Gen4 SSD, and another with 24 GB soldered-on LPDDR5-5600 memory and a 500 GB SSD. Both feature two 40 Gbps USB4 ports, five USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two HDMI 2.0 ports, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and dual 2.5 GbE networking, and come pre-installed with Windows 11 Pro. GEEKOM specifically sent us the IT13 Max mini PC with 24 GB LPDDR5 and a 500 GB M.2 SSD for testing. In this article, we will cover […]

August 7, 2026August 7, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Token Monitor – An ESP32-S3 desktop display that tracks AI coding assistant usage (Crowdfunding)

TokenMonitor supports Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, and customizable dashboard views

Fractal Manifold has introduced the Token Monitor, a 4-inch ESP32-S3-based desktop display for monitoring real-time AI coding assistant usage. The device features a 4-inch 480×480 IPS touchscreen with 5-point capacitive touch, Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 wireless connectivity, USB-C power, optional 1-cell Li-ion battery support via an AXP2101 PMIC, and two side buttons for power and boot functions. It shows usage information including quota consumption, session limits, token counts, reset timers, and estimated token costs. A local broker service fetches the usage data and transfers it to the device over a secure connection, keeping credentials on the user’s machine. Token Monitor specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with vector extension for AI/ML workloads RAM – 512KB SRAM; 8MB PSRAM Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Storage – 16MB flash Display – 4-inch 480×480 capacitive touchscreen with ST7701 driver and […]

August 5, 2026August 5, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

CtrlVibe AI Console keypad – An OpenAI Codex Micro alternative for AI workflows (Crowdfunding)

The CtrlVibe AI Console is a programmable desktop keypad designed for AI workflows. The device includes hardware controls for switching between AI tools, launching shortcuts, selecting execution modes, and recording voice input. It comes with nine programmable mechanical keys, a rotary encoder, a three-position switch, a 1.14-inch LCD, a built-in MEMS microphone, USB-C and Bluetooth connectivity, and RGB status lighting. The features and specifications of the CtrlVibe make it an alternative to Work Louder Codex Micro, a $230 mechanical macropad designed for OpenAI Codex. There is also an open-source firmware project available for the M5Stack Core2 that reproduces many of the Codex Micro’s features. While the Codex Micro is designed specifically for OpenAI Codex, the CtrlVibe AI Console can be used with multiple AI tools and uses a rotary encoder to switch between applications or models, along with a three-position hardware switch for selecting AI execution modes. CtrlVibe AI Console […]

August 4, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

reComputer Mini J501 Edge AI computer features NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 64GB/32GB module, two FAKRA camera connectors

Designed for robotics applications, the reComputer Mini J501 is an Edge AI computer powered by an NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 64GB or 32GB module, delivering up ot 275 TOPS of AI performance. The computer features 10GbE and GbE RJ45 ports, HDMI 2.1 video output, two USB 3.2 ports, two USB 2.0 Type-C Debug/Recovery ports, a 128 M.2 NVMe SSD, two FAKRA connectors for up to eight GMSL2 cameras, and a range of other I/O connectors. reComputer Mini J501 specifications: System-on-module (one or the other) NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GB (reComputer Mini J5011 model) CPU – 8-core Arm Cortex-A78AE v8.2 64-bit processor @ 2.2 GHz with 2MB L2 + 4MB L3 cache GPU and AI NVIDIA Ampere architecture with 1792 NVIDIA CUDA cores and 56 Tensor Cores @ 930 MHz DL Accelerator – 2x NVDLA Engines @ up to 1.4 GHz Up to 200 TOPS Video Encode – 1x 4K60 | 3x 4K30 […]

August 3, 2026August 4, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

$299.99 ASUS UGen300 USB AI accelerator combines 40 TOPS Hailo-10H chip with 8GB LPDDR4

ASUS UGen300 USB AI accelerator features a 40 TOPS Hailo-10H AI processor and 8GB of LPDDR4 memory to support large language models (LLMs), vision language models (VLMs), and AI vision workloads while consuming less than 2.5 Watts. In some ways, the hardware is similar to the Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ 2, but in a slim dongle form factor (105 x 50 x 18mm) and a 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen1 USB-C Type-C port instead of a 5 or 8 GT/s PCIe interface. ASUS UGen300 USB AI accelerator (UGen300-USB-8G) specifications: AI accelerator – Hailo Hailo-10H delivering up to 40 TOPS (INT4) or 20 TOPS (INT8) inferencing performance Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 @ 4266 MT/s Host interface – USB 3.1 Gen2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port Power Supply – 5V via USB-C port Power Consumption – 2.5 Watts (typical) Dimensions – 105 x 50 x 18 mm Weight – 145 grams ASUS says the […]