BrainChip AKD1500 Edge AI co-processor with PCIe and SPI host interfaces
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Brainchip AKD1500 PCIe/SPI Edge AI co-processor to power battery-operated wearables and IoT devices

BrainChip AKD1500 is an ultra-efficient Edge AI co-processor delivering up to 800 GOPS while consuming just 300 mW of power, making it suitable for battery-powered wearables and IoT sensors. It’s based on the same event-based neuromorphic technology found on the earlier AKD1000, relying on spiking neural networks (SNN) to deliver real-time inference in a way that is much more efficient than traditional AI chips. What’s new here is that thanks to PCIe and SPI interfaces, the new ADK1500 co-processor can be paired to a wide range of hosts, ranging from Linux-capable application processors to resource-constrained microcontrollers with x86, Arm, or RISC-V architectures. BrainChip AKD1500 key features and specifications: Akida Neuron Fabric Clocked at 5 to 400 MHz Delivering up to 800 effective GOPS at <1mW/GOPS On-device learning capabilities to enable “secure application personalization, without the need for a Cloud connection or retraining” On-Chip Conversion Complex Memory/Storage 1MB on-chip local memory […]

HackStar
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HackStar – An RP2040 or ESP32-S3-based USB hacking cable/dongle (Crowdfunding)

HackStar is an ethical hacking tool based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 or ESP32-S3 in a USB cable or dongle form factor for education, pentesters, and makers. While the email I received claimed the HackStar was the “first-ever production-ready ethical hacking product on Kickstarter”, we’ve written about a range of hacking devices based on ESP8266, ESP32, and/or RP2040 microcontroller(s) such as the popular Flipper Zero, the BUG USB stick, nRFBOX V2 ESP32 wireless hacking tool, ESP32 Marauder Double Barrel, HackyPi USB adapter, and many others. What’s relatively new, or at least less common (see HackCable project), here is that the HackStar is also available as a USB Type-A to USB Type-C WiFi hacking cable… HackStar Cable hardware specifications: Wireless SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 dual-core LX7 processor @ 240 MHz with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE/dual mode USB Type-A male connector USB Type-C male connector Length – TBD HackStar […]

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open-source USB PD Sink implementation for embedded devices
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pdsink – An open-source USB PD 3.2 sink stack for embedded devices

pdsink is an open-source USB Power Delivery (PD) 3.2 sink implementation for embedded devices released under an MIT license. Vitaly Puzrin noticed that most available USB PD stacks come with at least one hard constraint: vendor lock-in, NDA, no public sources, coupling to a specific OS or framework, incomplete sink feature set (e.g., no EPR), or difficulty extending to new Type-C Port Controller (TCPC)/MCU combinations. So he created pdsink is an attempt to provide a small, platform-agnostic, readable sink-only stack that’s easy to adapt to different controllers. pdsink highlights: USB PD 3.2, SPR (Extended Power Range), and EPR (Extended Power Range for 28V and up) support on the sink side. Platform-agnostic C++ core that does not depend on a specific HAL or RTOS. Reference implementation using OnSemi FUSB302B + FreeRTOS (ESP32-C3). MIT license enabling the project to be used in commercial products without conditions. pdsink can be found on any […]

Nuvoton M55M1 Series MCU
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Nuvoton NuMicro M55M1 low-power Arm Cortex-M55 MCU enables on-device AI with Ethos-U55 NPU

Nuvoton’s NuMicro M55M1 is a low-power AI MCU that combines a 220 MHz Arm Cortex-M55 CPU with a 111 GOPS Ethos-U55 NPU to run basic AI tasks on-device. It specifically targets small IoT and embedded devices that need low-power voice, audio, or simple image processing. The chip embeds 1.5 MB RAM, 2 MB flash, and supports external OctoSPI/HyperRAM memory. Connectivity options include Ethernet, USB-OTG, CAN-FD, I3C/I2C/SPI, SDIO, and an 8-bit camera interface, along with ADCs, DACs, comparators, PWM, and multiple low-power modes.  It’s built for secure IoT applications with Arm TrustZone, secure boot, AES, and PSA Level 2 certification. Typical uses include voice triggers, smart sensors, simple vision nodes, small appliances, and industrial monitoring devices. Nuvoton NuMicro M55M1 specifications: CPU Core – 220 MHz Arm Cortex-M55 core Architecture – Armv8.1-M with Helium M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE) Arm TrustZone Technology DSP extensions Hardware Floating-point Unit (FPU), double-precision Cache – 16KB I-Cache […]

Eazeye Radiant transflective LCD sunlight vs laptop
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Eazeye Radiant 15.6-inch portable transflective LCD review

Eazeye sent me a sample of the Radiant 15.6-inch transflective LCD review for review after I wrote about the Eazeye 2.0 24-inch reflective LCD monitor last August. Yes, there’s been a little bit of miscommunication as I got a transflective LCD (TLCD) launched last year, instead of the new reflective LCD (RLCD). But that’s OK. While those are two different technologies, both monitors are designed to rely on natural light, and I assumed either would perform better outdoors and reduce eye strain compared to traditional portable monitors or laptop displays. Let’s find out. Eazeye Radiant unboxing and specifications I received the portable monitor in a retail box. The main surprise here was that I was expecting a 24-inch monitor, and this looked a little small. I quickly realized the Radiant was a 15.6-inch model instead. We can get part of the specifications on the back side of the package. But […]

Turris Omnia NG Wi Fi 7 router
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Turris Omnia NG Wi-Fi 7 router features dual 10GbE SFP+, mini PCIe slot for 4G LTE/5G, runs OpenWrt-based Turris OS

The Turris Omnia NG is a high-performance Wi-Fi 7 router with a mini PCIe slot for 4G/5G modems, two 10GbE SFP+ cages, a 240×240 px color display, and a D-Pad button, running OpenWrt-based Turris OS, and designed for advanced home users, small businesses, and lab environments. Built around a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm IPQ9574 quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A73 CPU, the Omnia NG supports Wi-Fi 7/6 tri-band connectivity. Additionally, it features four 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, NVMe storage support, and includes a 90 W power supply for attached peripherals. Other hardware highlights include rack-mount supports, a metal chassis, and antenna arrays for 4×4 MIMO operation. It comes 10 years after the original Turris Omnia open-source router was launched on Indiegogo. Turris Omnia NG Router specifications: CPU – Qualcomm IPQ9574 quad-core Arm Cortex-A73 processor @ 2.2GHz processor Memory – 2 GB RAM Storage 8 GB eMMC storage M.2 socket for […]

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Windows 95 on ESP32-S3 LCD board
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Windows 95 made to run on ESP32-S3 hardware with Tiny386 x86 PC emulator

He Chunhui (hchunhui) has developed the Tiny386 x86 PC emulator in C (C99) and managed to run Windows 3.1/3.2 and Windows 95 on an ESP32-S3 devkit with a 3.5-inch display. We had already seen Linux 5.0 boot on an ESP32 board, and Olimex ESP32-S3-DevKit-LiPo run a more recent Linux 6.3 image, but I think it might be the first time somebody has loaded Windows on ESP32 hardware. Bear in mind that since the Tiny386 is an emulator running SeaBIOS, it can also boot the Linux kernel directly. He Chunhui explains that the i386 CPU emulator is built from scratch and still lacks some features, such as debugging, hardware tasking, and certain permission checks. It also includes some 486 and 586 instructions to be able to boot a modern Linux kernel and Windows. The code is rather small as the CPU emulator is only about 6,000 lines of code (LOC) long, […]

Qualcomm Dragonwing IQ-X Windows industrial PC
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Qualcomm launches Dragonwing IQ-X SoCs for industrial Windows PCs

The Qualcomm Dragonwing IQ-X family, comprised of the IQ-X7181 and IQ-X5181 SoCs, offers eight or twelve Oryon cores clocked at up to 3.4 GHz, an Adreno GPU, and up to 45 TOPS of AI performance for industrial PCs running Windows LTSC. Those are upgrades to the Dragonwing IQ9/IQ8/IQ6 SoCs introduced last year, offering faster cores, higher speed interfaces, and more. The IQ-X chips support up to 64GB LPDDR5x memory, UFS 4.0 and SD 3.0 storage, eDP and USB-C display interfaces, up to six cameras, PCIe Gen4 connectivity for optional Ethernet, WiFi 7, and 5G cellular connectivity, and feature eleven USB interfaces and 221 GPIOs. As industrial-grade parts, they are rated for -40°C to 105°C operation. Qualcomm DragonWing IQ-X7181 and IQ-X5181 specifications: CPU IQ-X5181 – Custom Qualcomm Oryon 8-core 64-bit Armv8 CPU clocked up to 3.4 GHz IQ-X7181 – Custom Qualcomm Oryon 12-core 64-bit Armv8 CPU clocked up to 3.4 GHz […]

Boardcon MINI1126B-P AI vision system-on-module wit Rockchip RV1126B-P SoC