Enter Wearable Tech Innovation World Cup 2013 for Cash Prizes and Free Development Kits

The Wearable Technologies Innovation World Cup is a yearly competition open worldwide, with prizes worth a total of $200,000, “designed to inspire and stimulate excellent next generation solutions with the potential to become real marketable products for Wearable Technologies on the subjects Sports & Fitness, Healthcare & Wellness, Security & Prevention, Gaming & Lifestyle”. This year, the contest is open between June 1, 2013 and  November 30, 2013, and the good news is that even if you don’t win a cash prize, you can still purchase relevant devkit at a discount, or even get them for free. There are 3 companies involved who participate in the program from which you can get development kits: ST Microelectronics: STEVAL-IDB001V1(100% discount for the first 100 registrants) – STEVAL-IDB001V1 is a demonstration board based on STBLC01 low power Bluetooth low energy (BLE) controller and powered by STM32L MCU. Regular price: $159. STEVAL-MKI119V1 (No discount) – […]

Atmel SAM D20 MCU Family Features ARM Cortex M0+ Core

Atmel has just announced its SAM D20 family of embedded Flash micro-controllers based on ARM Cortex-M0+ processor core, designed for low power applications such as home automation, consumer, smart metering and industrial applications. The key features of Atmel SAM D20 MCUs are as follows: Cortex M0+ @ 48MHz, 2.14 Coremark/MHz Single-cycle IO access, supporting a pin toggling frequency up to 24 MHz Eight-channel event system Peripherals: Four to six serial communication modules (SERCOM) configurable as UART/USART, SPI or I2C Up to eight 16-bit Timer/Counters Peripheral touch controller (PTC) that supports up to 256 channels and supports buttons, sliders, wheels, and proximity Real Time Clock (RTC) and calendar with leap year correction 12-bit 350ksps ADC and 10-bit DAC Power Consumption: <150µA/MHz <2µA RAM retention and RTC Options between internal and external oscillators and on-the-fly clock switching The family supports features 14 new devices available in 32-, 48- and 64-pin package options […]

Texas Instruments Introduces SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 BoosterPack

Texas Instrument launched SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 in Q1 2012 in order to bring WiFi connectivity to any device including 8-bit or 16-bit MCU, as CC3300 internally handled all networking tasks, and exchange data with the MCU via an SPI interface. This Wi-Fi processor allows to use Wi-Fi for data transmission for the Internet of Things, and offers much better battery than other system relying on software to handle network traffic. Today, the company has just announced SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 BoosterPack, a low cost evaluation platform that works with both MSP430 and Tiva C Series LaunchPad evaluation kits, and sells for $35. SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 BoosterPack features and benefits as seen in the press release: SmartConfig technology: One-step Wi-Fi configuration using smartphones, tablets or PCs Easy network setup for display-less (headless) devices Simultaneous multiple device provisioning iOS, Android and Java sample applications available Royalty-free software Flexible memory size – Small memory foot print […]

Bsquare Announces Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Series Mobile Development Platforms

BSQUARE has recently announced the availability of its Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Mobile Development Platform (MDP), based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8974 (LTE), which will be released both in tablet and smartphone form factor. This development platfom has been designed for application developers and device manufacturers so that they can develop, test, optimize and showcase apps in Android 4.2.2 powered by the latest Qualcomm SoCs. Snapdragon 800 Tablet and Smartphone MDP specifications: SoC – 8974 Quad Core Krait 400 Snapdragon Processor @ 2.3GHz with Adreno 330 embedded GPU and Hexagon v5 QDSP6 Memory and Storage – N/A, apparently you don’t need to know… Display: Tablet MDP – 11.6” 1080p HD Multitouch Display Smartphone MDP – 4.3” 720p HD Multi-touch display Video Playback – UltraHD/4K video support via HDMI output Camera – 12MP rear camera w/ Flash (1080p HD @ 30fps) & 2MP front facing camera (1080p HD @ 30fps) Audio – Surround sound […]

VIA Unveils VAB-600 Pico-ITX Board Powered by WM8950 Processor

VIA Technologies has recently announced the VAB-600 Pico-ITX embedded board featuring WonderMedia WM8950 ARM Cortex A9 SoC clocked at 800MHz. VIA targets in-vehicle infotainment as well as mobile and healthcare applications for the board despite an operating temperature range between 0°C and 60°C. Here are the key features of this embedded board: SoC – Wondermedia WM8950 Cortex-A9 @ 800MHz  + Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash memory + 512KB SPI Flash for Boot Loader + microSD slot Video Output – Mini HDMI, on-board DVO (Digital Video Output) for TTL or LVDS display Video Codecs – MPEG2 MP@HL, MPEG4, H.264 BP/MP/[email protected], VC-1 SP/MP/AP, VP8 and JPEG/MJPEG. USB –  2x mini USB 2.0 host ports Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet (VT6113), 3G (SIM card slot) and optional WiFi support (VIA VNT9271B6050 WiFi module shared with one USB port) On-board Connectors: 2x COM connectors 1x RTC battery […]

Texas Instruments Announces Tiva Cortex M4 MCUs and $12.99 LaunchPad Evaluation Kit

Texas Instruments has just announced the Tiva ARM MCU platform, and specifically the Tiva C Series TM4C123x ARM Cortex-M4 MCUs, which are the first Cortex-M MCUs to be built on 65 nanometer flash process technology. The Tiva C Series TM4C123x MCUs, formerly known as Stellaris LM4F MCUs, are available now and target home, building and industrial automation. Key features and benefits of Tiva C Series MCUs: MCU Core – ARM Cortex-M4 floating-point core, operating at up to 80 MHz. Mixed-signal applications with high-performance analog integration – 2×12-bit ADC and 3 comparators.12-bit ADC accuracy is achievable at the full 1 MSPS rating without any hardware averaging. On-chip connectivity options – USB (host, device and On-The-Go), UARTs, I2C, SSI/SPI, CAN, etc.. Non-volatile storage of user interface or configuration parameters to reduce system cost – Thanks to integrated EEPROM. Low power –  Standby currents as low as 1.6 uA. Large choice of MCU […]

UDOO Single Board Computer Features Freescale i.MX6 Dual/Quad and Atmel SAM3 MCU

Have you ever dreamed of a single board with the power of 4 Raspberry Pi and Arduino Due functionality? This dream should soon become reality thanks to UDOO single board computer. This open source hardware board is powered by Freescale i.MX6 Dual or Quad with 1GB RAM, as well as Atmel SAM3 Cortex M3 MCU that provides access to Arduino compatible headers. Here are the specifications of the board: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 ARM Cortex-A9 CPU Dual/Quad Core @ 1GHz + Vivante GPU MCU – Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 (same as Arduino Due) System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – micro SD (boot device) + SATA (i.MX6 Quad only) Video Output – HDMI and LVDS + Touch (I2C signals) Audio I/O – Analog Audio and Mic Expansion Headers – 54 Digital I/O + Analog Input (Arduino-compatible R3 1.0 pinout) Connectivity Ethernet RJ45 (10/100/1000 MBit) WiFi Module USB – mini USB […]

Kontron Unveils SMARC Starterkit for ARM Systems-on-Module

You may have previously heard about ULP-COM (Ultra Low Power CoM), a standard for systems and computers on module. The standard has been ratified by the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies (SGET) in February 2013, and renamed to SMARC (Smart Mobility ARChitecture). This standard is specifically designed for low power designed, and is currently only used with ARM SoC. Kontron was involved in the design of this standard, released several ULP-COM, now SMARC, compatible CoM based on TI, Freescale and Nvidia SoC, and yesterday the company just announced SMARC Starterkit will all hardware and software components needed to get started with evaluation and development. This starter kit comes in a carrying case with the following items: SMARC Evaluation Carrier Board 7″ Display PM070W4 (WVGA – 800×480) Touch USB Kit ETP04USBR Mounting Kit Adapter and Cables: 1x Kontron LVDS Jili30 Adapter incl. cable 1x DSUB9 1x micro USB USB A Storage […]