WindowsXpEmbedded
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ITG xpPhone on sale at long last!
Feel like stretching the very definition of "phone" for the sake of functionality or sheer bravado? You get to be friends with us. We've always had a soft spot for ITG's bizarrely conceived xpPhone, which does indeed run Windows XP, albeit the Embedded version, and the monstrous thing is now on sale after almost two years of teasing. It's running for a mere $798 PayPal Bux in its 3G incarnation, $732 for 3G-free, and $666 (yes, that 666) for the 3G-less version with DOS instead of Windows. We could go on all day listing specs for this thing, so we recommend you hit up that source link and feast on them for yourselves -- just make sure to have your PayPal login handy for when the irresistible nerdery of this thing reaches out and grabs you and never ever lets go. [Thanks, Eman Z]
Orion 720p PC-in-HDTV dreams of greatness, ends up working retail
Sadly, this 18.5-inch Orion LCD from Japan will never reach the heights of an Allio or Q42 display, destined for the lowly life of corporate hospitality and POS despite its 720p (1280 x 768) resolution, Intel CPU and Windows XP Embedded OS. Despite having just enough horsepower to drive streaming FLV and WMA, support 1GB flash memory and iEPG it's unlikely any true HD bliss is ever to bless any of these 50,000¥ ($549 U.S.) screens.
Microsoft launches Windows CE 6.0, now with added embeddedness
Anyone following things of this sort closely will know that Vista's not the only OS upgrade Microsoft's had in the pipeline, with both Windows XP Embedded and Windows CE seeing significant upgrades released today. So as to not leave good ol' CE feeling left out of the "embedded" game, Microsoft's also seen fit to rename the venerable mobile OS to something more buzzword-compliant -- henceforth, it will be known only as Windows Embedded CE 6.0 (or WECE, we suppose). The folks at The Inquirer have the rundown on what you can expect from the upgrade, much of which seems to be in line with the preview from earlier this year, including a completely rewritten, shared source kernel, the platform builder integrated into Visual Studio for a single development environment, and ready-made templates and libraries for things like GPS systems, networked devices and set-top boxes. It also comes in quite a bit under Windows XP Embedded in price, with volume licenses starting at $3 for the core version and $15 if you want to go for the professional model.
Windows XP Embedded soon to be USB bootable
There doesn't seem to be any shortage of products based on Windows XP Embedded, with everything from laptops to LCDs to an array of devices outside our scope of coverage running on the thing. But it looks like we could soon be seeing even more of the embedded OS if the latest service pack update is any indication. Among other things, the excessively-named Windows XP Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007 (set to be released next month) adds USB 2.0 boot functionality, which means that a full-fledged version of the OS can be booted from any old USB Flash drive, opening up a range of new possibilities including, as jkOnTheRun speculates, quick-boot environments for games and other applications. Possible, yes, but with runtime licenses that costs $90 per unit, it may not be the most feasible solution for casual purposes.[Via jkOnTheRun]
