SBC
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Microsoft is adding support for AAC Bluetooth audio in Windows 10
That's great news if you own a pair of AirPods.
Atom-based Inhand FireFly SBC promises netbook-level performance at a "fraction" of the power
SBCs (or single board computers) may not always be the most exciting components around, but it looks like InHand Electronics has managed to break out from the pack a bit with its new FireFly board, which the company claims is the world's "smallest and most power efficient full-function Atom-based SBC." That translates to a total power consumption of about 4.5 Watts in actual numbers (or 500mW in sleep state) and, just as notably, it apparently boasts some performance that's "comparable" to your average Atom-based Dell Mini netbook. What's more, unlike some other similar boards, the FireFly packs both on-board DDR2 and expansion capabilities, which not only broadens the potential product base for it, but could also mean that the eventual products will be smaller than your average handheld / UMPC / MID as well.
ARM9 board gets firmware upgrade for 0.69-second Debian boot-ups
Technologic Systems' TS-7800 ARM9 single-board computer already had quite a bit going for it with its promised 2-second Debian boot times, but the company's now gone and let loose a new firmware upgrade that cuts that down to under a second -- 0.69 seconds, to be exact. As you might expect, that time is helped considerably by being able to boot the OS (Debian Sarge, specifically) off of the board's 512MB of NAND flash, and in that 0.69 seconds you will only get a linux shell prompt and access to the Busybox file system but, still, it is an OS booted in 0.69 seconds.
BellSouth IPTV: watching and waiting?
While SBC and others are launching IPTV offerings in 2006, BellSouth isn't sitting on their hands. The company is planning for a 2007 launch, which may provide time for lessons learned as well as strategic partner choices. By mid-year, BellSouth expects to trial IPTV with over a thousand folks. Currently, the technical trials are "aligned" with the Microsoft TV platform, but there's no guarantees just yet. Although the company denies it, we're thinking that they're in a "wait and see" mode to watch other providers using the Microsoft platform.What do you think: smart move for BellSouth to wait or will 2007 show them behind the IPTV curve?
First HD commercial of 2006
The new AT&T, AT&T and SBC that is, gets the HD Beat award for "First high-def commercial in 2006". They actually ran the commercial at 11:47 PM, but I did see it again on ABC after midnight. The widescreen aspect and beautiful imagery was fully taken advantage of, as the theme of the commercial was connectivity all around the world. Showing the sunrise-caused shadows in various locations really got the message across in way that standard-def or 4:3 television simply can't. Hats off to AT&T as we expect huge growth numbers in the high-def advertising space this year.
Microsoft shows off IPTV plans, partners
As the convergence race heats up, Microsoft is not sitting on the sidelines, as last week at the IBC show in Amsterdam they shed more light on their plans for IPTV devices with SBC, Intel, Motorola, Linksys and others. Among the announcements made for NTSC markets were:Previously announced Scientific Atlanta set top boxes including SD and HD receivers and DVRs, as well as IP-over-coax and DVB supportA Thomson/Intel box that is said to be commercially available, supporting Microsoft's IPTV Edition platform. Expandable to include DVR features, it also supports Windows Media 9, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 encoded sources.A system-on-a-chip developed with Sigma Designs specifically intended to support all IPTV edition features and lower cost so that it can be included in set top boxes, TV's, DVD players and gaming consoles. I don't think this nearly answers the question of where the Media Center Edition platform's future lies, but Microsoft is clearly doing everything they can to make sure they have their devices at the heart of your digital entertainment center of the future.
