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Qualcomm teases its chip for drones with autonomous navigation
We've known about Qualcomm's drone ambitions for a few months now, but it looks like the company is ready to demo the goods. Ahead of CES next week, the chipmaker teased features of its Snapdragon Flight drone platform. If you'll recall, Qualcomm is aiming to do for drones what its done for phones. And that starts with putting camera and communications tech on the same board. Perhaps most notably, Snapdragon Flight offers and autonomous navigation mode. This means when you're done filming, you can push a button and the UAV will return to the launch pad, avoiding any objects that block its path.
Lenovo Skylight slate hits the FCC, no longer the LePad?
You remember Lenovo's 10.1-inch, Android LePad tablet, right? Well, we hope you didn't get too attached to its name since according to this fresh FCC filing it appears Lenovo's renamed it the Skylight slate. Yep, it looks like the company just didn't want that Skylight name to perish along with its never-released smartbook. We found the tablet hanging around those good old federal stomping grounds and from the images it looks exactly like the LePad we saw back at CES. According to the Skylight slate's user manual, it also has the same specs as the version we saw back in January -- there's a 1280x800-resolution 10.1-inch display, Snapdragon 8650A processor, Android 2.2, SRS speakers, and 1GB of RAM. There are also a few very clear shots of its two-cell, 27Wh internal battery. We don't have any details on the US arrival of the new slate and its U1 dock (if it's even still called that), but we're still assuming it won't arrive stateside until Honeycomb has been ported over. Hit the source link for a bunch of internal and external pictures and a glossy user manual.
AnyDATA to preview new embedded 2G, 3G wireless modules at CTIA
It looks like Novatel isn't the only outfit that's figured out something useful to do with Qualcom's Wearable Mobile Device module designs. In advance of CTIA 2010 the kids at AnyDATA have announced the new DTW line of embedded 2G and 3G wireless modules. At 21 x 22 x 4.5mm they're smaller than a quarter, which means that your dream of having a wireless quarter might someday be realized! (But not a wireless Susan B. Anthony Dollar -- that would be crazy.) All modules in the line include GPSs and accelerometers, and at least two of 'em -- the DTW-200 (CDMA 1X) and DTW-500 (3G EVDO Rev A) modules -- feature A-GPS as well. Check out the PR after the break for all the details juicy details -- you know, except price and availability. Apparently those are still TBA.
Qualcomm pays out $19.6 million to Broadcom in patent suit
Looks like the pockets of Qualcomm are going to be about $19.6 million lighter real soon, as a federal jury in Santa Ana, California returned verdicts that found "certain Qualcomm products" infringing on three patents owned by Broadcom Corporation. The lawsuit was originally filed way back in May of 2005 and alleged that five of its patents had been violated, but during the course of the trials, Broadcom ditched one of the claims while the court stayed the case with respect to a second. Notably, none of the patents that were infringed upon were "developed specifically in connection with cellular technology or standards," but the seemingly willful wrongdoing will indeed cost Qualcomm just shy of $20 million -- that is, until a trial judge mulls this thing over and determines if the firm should face any additional financial punishment "based on the finding of willfulness."
