STMicroelectronics (ST) announced an SoC (system on chip) claimed to be the industry's first to combine two ARM Cortex-A9 cores with a DDR3 memory interface. The SPEAr1310 offers dual cores clocked at 600MHz, gigabit Ethernet, plus connectivity including USB, SATA, and PCI Express, the company says....

Monsoon Multimedia announced a Linux-based IP set-top and DVR that supports streaming to and from remote PCs and Macs, plus the iPad as well as Android, BlackBerry, and iOS phones. The HD-ready Vulkano ranges in price from $259 to $379, starting with the Vulkano (8GB or 16GB storage) and advancing to the SATA-equipped Vulkano Pro (500GB or 1TB)....

While Amazon announced a smaller, lighter version of its Kindle e-reader today, the device still has a monochrome-only screen. Color E Ink displays are on the way, however, as today's announcement of a relevant controller chip -- the Epson S1D13524 -- made clear....

Amazon announced a third generation of its Linux-based Kindle e-reader, featuring a lighter and smaller body, a screen claimed to have 50 percent better contrast, and a battery life of up to one month. Still available with 3G, the device is also offered in a Wi-Fi-only version that includes a WebKit-based browser, the company says....

Berlin-based Raumfeld is shipping a Linux-based, UPnP and AV/DLNA-ready multi-room audio system claimed to be & hacker/DIY friendly.& The Raumfeld System comprises a handheld controller with a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen, Wi-Fi-enabled speakers, a 160GB music server and access point, and a & Connector& box that integrates existing A/V equipment, says the company....

Google has upgraded Android Market with a security tool to prevent the illegal use of paid Android applications, says eWEEK. The move follows an announcement earlier this week that Google will add a new carrier billing option to Android Market, according to another eWEEK. report....

Acrosser announced a single board computer (SBC) built around the Intel Atom N450 processor. The AR-B6050 offers up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, CompactFlash and SATA storage, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, six USB 2.0 ports, two serial ports, plus PCI-104 and Mini PCI Express, says the company....

Ibase announced an embedded Mini-ITX motherboard built around Intel's single-core Atom N450 or dual-core Atom D510. The MI889 offers a PCI Express x 4 expansion slot, two gigabit Ethernet ports, CRT and LVDS video outputs, plus both SATA and IDE support, the company says....

Marvell announced the availability of an open source installer, simplifying software deployment on its Linux-based Plug Computer reference design. The Easy Plug Computer Installer (EPI) is the first wizard-based installation tool for Marvell's Plug Computer, which is being supported by more than 20,000 developers worldwide, says Marvell....

Synaptics announced a range of capacitive touchscreens that will range up to 10.1 inches in size and support 10 simultaneous finger touches. Meanwhile, Digitimes predicted that demand for glass-based capacitive panels will grow steadily, at the expense of resistive touchscreens....

Infrax Systems announced a version of the HTC Desire Android smartphone designed for encrypted voice and data communications. In other HTC-related news, HTC will sell Android phones under its own name in China, HTC's & Sense& skin will move to Android 3.0, T-Mobile posted a teaser page for what may be the HTC G1 Blaze, and the carrier has discontinued HTC's original G1....

NCR announced two compact POS (point of sale) devices that run SUSE Linux for Point of Service, as well as a number of Windows operating systems. The RealPOS 40 and RealPOS 60 use Intel Atom and Celeron processors, respectively, offer enhanced energy efficiency, and provide both four powered serial ports and up to eight powered USB ports, the company says....

NetLogic Microsystems announced a multi-core & solution& using its MIPS-based XLP processor architecture, and says it will soon introduce nine new XLP SoCs. Aimed at high-end networking applications, the Linux-ready XLP8128S integrates four eight-core XLP832 SoCs clocked at up to 2GHz and offers over 160 programmable processing engines, for up to 160Gbps throughput and 240 million packets-per-second (Mpps) processing, says NetLogic....

Intel says it has developed a prototype silicon photonics link that moves data at 50Gbps, the equivalent of an entire HD movie being transmitted every second. Unlike present-day versions, silicon-based optical technologies will be affordable enough to be integrated into PCs, embedded devices, and consumer electronics, the chipmaker says....

Indian retailer Infibeam.com is readying two seven-inch tablet computers to be sold in India, one running Android 2.1, and one running Windows CE 6.0. Both known as the & Phi,& the devices have different CPUs and dimensions, but both offer 800 x 480 pixel resistive touchscreens and up to five hours of battery life, the company says....

Exacq Technologies is shipping a line of Linux-based hybrid video surveillance appliances with Intel Atom processors. The ExacqVision EL-S systems offer eight or 16 analog inputs and up to 24 IP inputs, allowing creation of systems with up to 40 channels overall, says the company....

Kmart has begun touting a seven-inch & Gentouch78& Android 2.1 tablet for $150, as well as a Linux-based seven-inch color e-reader called & TheBook eReader,& both from Augen. Meanwhile, TheStreet quotes analyst Ashok Kumar as saying Motorola will release a 10-inch tablet this November running Android 3.0....

Variscite announced a SODIMM-sized COM (computer on module) based on TI's DM37xx CPUs, with ARM Cortex-A8 cores clocked at up to 1GHz. The VAR-SOM-OM37 includes up to 256MB of RAM and 256MB of flash storage, offers a touchscreen interface supporting resolution up to 2048 x 2048 pixels, and is available with a Linux 2.6.32 or Windows CE 6.0 BSP (board support package), the company says....

A photo of a T-Mobile-destined, Android-based HTC & G1 Blaze& phone has popped up on Engadget, and Droid Life has unveiled Motorola's Droid 2, due for a Verizon launch next month. Meanwhile, Verizon's Droid X delay has been extended, some minor screen and security problems have emerged, and the phone has been rooted but not fully conquered, according to reports....

Fujitsu announced resistive multitouch screens that may be operated either via fingers or a stylus. To be offered in sizes ranging from 5.6 to 12.1 inches, the devices will target POS (point of sale), kiosk, and banking systems....