$74 RIoTBoard Development Board Features Freescale i.MX 6Solo

RIoTBoard, which stands for “Revolutionizing the Internet of Things Board”, is a new Android & GNU/Linux development board sold by Element14 /Newark powered by Freescale i.MX6Solo Cortex A9 processor. The board also features 1GB DDR3 RAM, 4GB eMMC and plenty of ports including Gb Ethernet, HDMI, and more. The board can be used to design netbooks , nettops, mobile internet devices (MIDs), PDAs, portable media players (PMP) with HD video capability, portable navigation devices (PNDs), industrial control and test and measurement (T&M), and single board computers (SBCs). RIoTBoard specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX 6Solo ARM Cortex A9 MPCore Processor @ 1 GHz with Vivante GC880 and GC320 GPUs for 3D & 2D graphics, and HD video processing unit. System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 4GB eMMC, microSD and SD card slots Video Output – HDMI, LVDS, and parallel RGB interfaces Audio I/O – Analog headphone/microphone, 3.5mm audio jack […]

U-BRAIN MicroSmart is a Tiny “15-Axis” Sensor Module with Bluetooth or Zigbee Connectivity

Usuda Research Institute & Systems Corporation has just announced U-BRAIN MicroSmart, a tiny and lightweight 3D modules module with a “15-axis” sensor, 5 GPIOS, as well as optional Zigbee and Bluetooth connectivity allowing up to 100 meter range. The module targets wearable devices used for fitness and health applications. U-BRAIN MicroSmart (UBN-MS8) Specifications: Processor –  MCU + DSP Sensors – 6-axis position sensors, 3-axis posture sensor, 3-axis direction sensor, 1 temperature sensor, 1 audio sensor, and 1 light sensor. Connectivity – Optional? Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR or ZigBee with up to 100 meter range. GPIO – 5 GPIOS, TTL. Power Consumption – 10 mA max during use, 100 uA max in sleep mode Power – Via microUSB port Dimensions – 20 x 19 x 3.8 mm Weight – 2g to 5g depending on presence and selection of communication module The module will support Windows XP/Vista/7/9.0/8.1, Android 2.3 and greater, iOS, […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC

Google Cast SDK Officially Released for Chromecast

Since it’s release in July 2013, Google Chromecast HDMI TV stick has been very popular thanks to its low cost, and despite of its lack of feature, it does what it ‘s supposed to do – multi-screen experience across mobile devices and large screen displays – reasonably well. A Google Cast API preview was released at launch time for both the receiver (Chromecast) and sender (Android, iOS or Chrome) but the license terms prevented developers to release apps without written permission by Google as the API could still evolve. This restriction has just been lifted, as Google has now officially released Google Cast SDK for Chromecast and other upcoming Google Cast devices. The Sender SDK is available for Android, iOS, and Chrome on the sender side, and the Receiver SDK allows you to run an app on the Chromecast. Google claims the Google Cast SDK is simple to integrate because […]

BIOSTAR J1800NH mini-ITX Motherboard with Celeron J1800 Processor Sells for $56

Many people got interested in my post about MSI J1800i Motherboard because it was one of the first motherboard based on a low power Intel Bay Trail-D processor, namely Celeron J1800 dual core processor with 10W TDP, and the $60 price tag. However, I and others had doubt about the price, because Intel listed Celeron J1800 recommended price at $72, and that’s just the price for the CPU. I still can’t find site selling MSI J1800i in US dollars, although I could find for 66.90 GBP and 69.99 Euros on some European websites. You can really convert it into US dollars using the current exchange rate, as you have to take into account VAT and taxes. But today Fanless Tech has reported about two new motherboards based on Celeron J1800: Gigabyte J1800N-D2H, and BIOSTAR J1800NH. I could not find price for the Gigabyte motherboard, but BIOSTAR J1800NH is sold for […]

Huawei Ascend Y300 F1 Firefox OS Phone Features Qualcomm MSM8225 SoC

Firefox OS devices are slowly coming to market, but it could be that most of them are existing Android phones or tablets repurposed to run Firefox OS with little, if any, hardware changes. We’ve already seen Mozilla selected InFocus New Tab F1, an Android Tablet, for its development program, but actual products such as Huawei Ascend Y300 smartphone, will soon be sold with Firefox OS using the model name “Ascend Y300 F1” or “Ascend Y300 II”. Huawei Ascend Y300 F1 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm MSM8225 dual core Cortex A5 @ 1 GHz with Adreno 203 GPU System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, microSD card slot Display – 4″ touchscreen (WVGA – 800 x 480) Connectivity – 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS with A-GPS Cellular networks – GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS 850/1900/2100. Camera – 5MP rear camera, 0.3MP front-facing camera Battery – 1730mAh Dimensions – 124.5 x 63.75 […]

Tivizen USB Dongles Bring Digital TV (DVB-T, ATSC, 1Seg) to Your Android or iOS Devices

If you want to watch digital terrestrial TV on your Android tablet / phone / mini PC, or your iPad / iPhone, I’ve already written about Geniatech WiTV / Yeshgo Meron, as well as Geniatech PT115m / PT115e. The former are battery powered DVB receiver sending TV channel to your mobile via Wi-Fi, and is already available for purchase. The latter are micro USB or USB DBT-T dongles that you can insert into your Android or iOS devices, but they still do not seem to be available for purchase. Today, I’ve come across Tivizen USB dongles that appears to be very similar to PT115m/PT115e except there are several models with support for DVB-T, DVB-H (iOS and PC), ATSC (iOS only), 1Seg, and SBTVD standards, and they’ve been available since 2012… I won’t list the available technical specs for each device (mainly connector, dimensions, and weight), but here are the key […]

UP 7000 SBC

Cute Embedded Nonsense Hacks, Nouveau Driver for Tegra K1, and Android Defaults to ART

There’s been some news at the end of this week that may not warrant a full article, but are still fun and/or interesting nonetheless: comments by the lead developer of Fedora ARM  led to “Cute Embedded Nonsense” meme on Google+, preliminary commit for open source drivers for Tegra K1’s GPU, and Android Open Source Project defaults to ART instead of Dalvik. If you have a Google+ account, and circled a few people involved in ARM Linux, you must have seen a few postings about “Cute Embedded Nonsense Hacks” in your feed. It all started when Jon Masters posted about Red Hat’s ARM SBSA platform requirements, and in particular one comment that reads: I am all for people installing their own kernels if they want to. I support aggressively defined standard platforms (not cute embedded nonsense hacks) but not locked platforms. You can keep both parts when it breaks, of course. […]

The Internet of Insects Is Coming to You Powered by Fuel Cells

Connected_Coackroach

We’ve had the Internet for a few decades, and recently terms such as the Internet of Things, previously as (connected) embedded systems, and the Internet of Everything have started to become a common features of tech speak. But following research from Osaka University and the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT), we may soon start to talk about the Internet of Insects. Japanese researchers have developed a fuel cell that can be mounted on an insect, and generate powered from sugar (trehalose) found in the insect’s body fluid (blood lymph). The fuel cell consists of electrodes, a tank of body fluid and a pipe to be inserted into the insect. Then some chemical “magic” occurs. There’s already a prototype, which has been unveiled at IEEE MEMS 2014, an academic conference that tool place on January 26-30, 2014, in San Francisco. The prototype has been 3D printed, measures about approximately 20 […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC