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May 18, 2017May 18, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-M64 Board Gets Allwinner R18 Processor with Google Cloud IoT Core Support

Banana Pi BPI-M64 board was launched with Allwinner A64 processor, but a few days ago, I noticed the board got an option for Allwinner R18. Both processors are likely very similar since they are pin-to-pin compatible, and Pine64 was first seen with Allwinner R18, so I did not really feel it was newsworthy. But today, Google announced Google Cloud IoT Core cloud service working with a few app partners such as Helium and Losant, as well as several device partners including ARM, Marvell, Microchip, Mongoose OS, NXP… and Allwinner, having just announced the release of an Allwinner R18 SDK with libraries supporting Google Cloud IoT Core. Let’s go through the board specifications first which are exactly the same as for the original BPI-M64 board, except for the processor: SoC – Allwinner R18 quad core ARM Cortex A53 processor with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC […]

May 18, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Google Releases Android O Developer Preview 2, Announces Android Go for Low-End Devices, TensorFlow Lite

After the first Android O developer preview released in March, Google has just released the second developer preview during Google I/O 2017, which on top of features like PiP (picture-in-picture), notifications channels, autofill, and others found in the first preview, adds notifications dots, a new Android TV home screen, smart text selection, and soon TensorFlow Lite. Google also introduced Android Go project optimized for devices with 512 to 1GB RAM. Notifications dots (aka Notification Badges) are small dots that show on the top right of app icons – in supported launchers – in case a notification is available. You can then long press the icon to check out the notifications for the app, and dismiss or act on notifications. The feature can be disabled in the settings. Android TV “O” also gets a new launcher that allegedly “makes it easy to find, preview, and watch content provided by apps”. The […]

May 5, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

AIY Projects Voice Kit Transforms Raspberry Pi 3 Into Google Home, Comes Free with Raspberry Pi Magazine

We’ve just reported about the preview release of Google Assistant SDK that works on the Raspberry Pi 3, and other boards with a microphone, speakers, and access to Internet. The Raspberry Pi foundation and Google have now made it even easier, as they launched AIY Projects Voice Kit with a Google Voice HAT, a speaker, a stereo microphone Voice HAT board, a button, a few cables, and a cardboard case. You’ll just need to add your own Raspberry Pi 3, follow the instructions to assemble kits, load and setup the software. Once this is all done, you’ll be able to press the top button, asking anything you want to Google Voice, including the weather. Price? Sort of free, as it comes with MagPi 57 magazine, where you’ll also find detailed instructions for the kit. Google AIY Projects got its name from a mix between (DIY) and artificial intelligence (AI), and […]

May 3, 2017May 3, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Google Assistant SDK Turns Your Raspberry Pi 3 into Google Home

Google Home allows you to select music, control your home automation system and more with voice commands, but now you can do the same with a Raspberry Pi 3 as Google released a developer preview (alpha v1) of the Google Assistant API that works on Raspberry Pi 3, and other development boards running Debian or Ubuntu. Functionalities are limited right now, with RPC API and Python sample code, but it only works with English language, and features such as timers & alarm, playing music, news, or podcasts, and precise location are not supported. Location is determined using your IP address only, and if you’re using some third party services / products such as Uber or Hue, you’ll need an actual Google Home device for initial setup. Google has provided instructions to use Google Assistant SDK with Raspberry Pi 3 board. First you’ll need a USB microphone ($5.99 on Amazon), and […]

March 22, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Google Releases Android O Developer Preview with UI & Audio Improvements, Better Performance, etc…

Nearly exactly one year after Android N developer preview release, Google has now announced the release of Android O developer preview in order to get feedback from the developer community before the official release of Android 8.0? Oreo? in Q3 2017. So what’s new so far in Android O? Here are some of the changes: Background activity limits – Automatic limits on what apps can do in the background for implicit broadcasts, background services, and location updates. Notification channels – New app-defined categories for notification content for better control from the use, as user may only block or change the behavior from one channel, instead of applying the same behavior to all notifications from a given app. For example, a News app may have notifications for Technology, Sports, Politics, International, etc… Autofill APIs – Platform support for autofill, where users can select an autofill app, similar to the way they […]

March 17, 2017March 17, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Google Releases Guetzli Open Source JPEG Encoder Generating 20 to 35% Smaller Files Compared to Libjpeg

Google has been working one several front to make data and images smaller, hence faster to load from the Internet, with project such as Zopfli algorithm producing smalled PNG & gzip files, or WebP image compression algorithm that provides better lossless compression compare to PNG, and better lossy compression compared to JPEG, but requires updated support from clients such as web browsers. Google has now released Guetzli algorithm that improve on the latter, as it can create JPEG files that are 20 to 35% smaller compared to libjpeg with similar quality, and still compatible with the JPEG format. The image above shows a close up on a phone line with the original picture, the JPEG picture compressed with libjpeg with the artifacts around the line, and a smaller JPEG picture compressed with Guetzli with less artifacts. You can find out more about the algorithm in the paper entitled “Guetzli: Perceptually […]

March 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

New 96Boards IoT Edition Boards Showcased at Linaro Connect 2017: BlueSky IE and WRTNode IE

Linaro Connect Budapest 2017 is taking place this week in Hungary, and during George Grey – Linaro CEO – keynote, he provided a status updates for the Linaro group, addressed some of Linaro’s criticisms from members and the community, and unveiled two upcoming boards compliant with 96Boards IoT edition both running Zephyr OS, and adding to BLE Carbon board announced last year. The first board is BlueSky IE board with the following key specifications: SoC – RDA Micro RDA5981A ARM Cortex-M4 Wireless MCU with 64KB ROM, and 32KB cache System Memory – 485KB SRAM. It’s unclear if that’s only the on-chip SRAM, and there’s also some external PSRAM added. Storage – 8Mb NOR flash 802.11 b / g / n HT20 / 40 mode Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with support for HT20 / 40 modes Crypto security hardware The second board is WRTnode IE: SoC – Mediatek MT7697 ARM […]

February 9, 2017February 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

LG Watch Style and Watch Sport Smartwatches Launched with Android Wear 2.0

Google released an Android Wear 2.0 developer preview last May at Google I/O 2016, with the new operating system now supporting standalone apps and keyboard and handwriting input method, featuring a new user interface with material design support, integrating Google Fit & Google Assistant support, and supporting many of the features available in Android 7.0 Nougat like data saver, and emojis. The first two devices running the latest Android Wear 2.0 will be LG Watch Style and Watch Sport smartwatches. LG Android Wear 2.0 watches specifications can be found in the table below (Source: XDA) LG Watch Style LG Watch Sport (W280A) Display 1.2″ 360×360 P-OLED (Gorilla Glass 3) 1.38″ 480×480 P-OLED (Gorilla Glass 3) Processor Snapdragon Wear 2100 @ 1.1GHz RAM 512MB 768MB Storage 4GB Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, LTE, NFC, GPS Sensors Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor, Gyro sensor Heart Rate Sensor (PPG), Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Barometer […]