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Intel acquires TI's cable modem unit, might be sneaking into your AV rack
Intel's been trying to break into the home entertainment market for years, and while it's made some inroads, it's also looking at a notable list of ho hum attempts that never managed to gain traction. Take the CE3100 processor, for instance -- a couple of years ago, the outfit seemed certain that this here chip would be powering every last living room box for the rest of eternity, and nowadays it's hardly a household name. But this week, Intel has picked up Texas Instruments' cable modem unit, which gives it a direct link into the very area it's been trying to exploit. The goal of the acquisition -- which is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter of this year -- is to combine TI's Puma product lines with DOCSIS and Intel SoCs. Once that magical marriage takes place, Chipzilla intends to push out complex set-top boxes, residential gateways and modem products, possibly even going for the OEM artery. Details beyond that are few and far betwixt, but we doubt it'll be too long before the pickup begins to bear fruit.
TI picks up first license for ARM's Eagle CPU core, mass market devices still a couple of years off
The mythical next generation of ARM's Cortex-A series, the Eagle, has made a reappearance in the news this week, but much of the mystery remains. Texas Instruments has now revealed itself as the first licensee of the new core, while also waxing poetic about its deep involvement and collaboration with ARM on its design and particular specifications. No, nobody was kind enough to let us in on what those specs might yet be, but since -- technically speaking -- the Eagle CPU hasn't even been announced yet, that's probably fair enough. For its part, TI expects to be first to market with its OMAP systems-on-chip integrating the latest Cortex core, but that won't be happening for a good while yet, as most projections peg the Eagle's landing to be no sooner than 2012. Guess we'll just have to make do with some dual-core Snapdragons until then.
Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots goes motion-controlled for TI design challenge
Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots have already seen some new life in an augmented reality demo, and they've now gotten yet another taste of the future -- Zachery Shivers and Anne Flinchbaugh have created a motion-controlled version of the game as part of Texas Instruments' Co-op Design Challenge. As you can probably imagine, that requires plenty of servos and circuit boards underneath the ring, but the key ingredient is TI's accelerometer-equipped Chronos watch, which lets you translate your actual punches into rock 'em sock 'em punches. Check it out in action in the video after the break, and hit up the source link below for the complete details on building your own.
Christie creates baffling 3D HD CAVE 'visual environment,' or your average Halo display in 2020
Whenever the word "Christie" is involved, you can generally count on two things: 1) you can't afford it and 2) you'll want to afford it. The high-end projection company is at it once again, this time installing a truly insane visual environment at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. The 3D HD CAVE is intended to help researchers find breakthroughs in biomedical studies, and while CAVE itself has been around for years, this particular version easily trumps prior iterations. For starters, it relies on eight Christie Mirage 3-chip DLP projectors, all of which have active stereo capabilities and can deliver a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,920. Yeah, that's 3.68 megapixels per wall. The idea here is to provide mad scientists with a ridiculous amount of pixel density in an immersive world, but all we can think about is hooking Kinect and the next installment of Bungie's famed franchise up to this thing. Can we get an "amen?"
Texas Instruments' Blaze tablet coming to developers this August
Back in February when Texas Instruments announced its ARM-based OMAP 4 system-on-chip 'Blaze' dev platform, we sort of figured it might be tablet-bound. And, here it is -- Blaze is going to be a tablet! Not a shocker, but we're glad to hear it, of course, since the tablet wars are hotter than ever and we love a good fight. So, what do we know about TI's entry in the game? Hardware wise it's going to be a 10.4-inch XVGA touchscreen LCD with two USB ports. Internally, we hear it'll boast a 1GHz OMAP4430 cpu, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS, and FM, plus external camera and pico projector modules. The tablet is not set for retail release, but for developers, but we're still pretty excited to see this one come out to play.
Motorola Flipout preview
We know you're excited -- the Nokia Twist finally has a legitimate competitor in the square-shaped pseudo-smartphone space! Motorola snuck up on us with its Flipout unveiling yesterday, so today we diligently trudged along to its local offices to get properly acquainted with this new Android handset. Running version 2.1 (Eclair) on a 600MHz processor might seem like a recipe for trouble, but it's the same Cortex A8 (TI OMAP 3410) as used in the Droid, and our time with the little quadrangle revealed it could handle itself with aplomb. The Flipout also boasts a freshened up Motoblur implementation and 512MB of both RAM and ROM, but only 150MB for user storage -- time to bring on Froyo, eh? With interchangeable back covers (two will come in the retail box) and that handbag-friendly form factor, the Flipout is unashamedly flirting with being a phone for style-conscious lady-geeks, but let's see if it doesn't appeal to gruff old types like us as well. Join us after the break for our full hands-on impressions.%Gallery-94308%
ARM, Samsung, IBM, Freescale, TI and more join to form Linaro, speed rollout of Linux-based devices
My, my -- what have we here? No, seriously, what is this hodgepodge of (rival) companies, and why have they suddenly decided to high five each other here at Computex? Frankly, we're still trying to piece it all together, but after sitting through a Linaro launch event in Taipei, we're beginning to get a better handle on the relationship that Samsung, ARM, IBM, Freescale, ST-Ericsson, Texas Instruments and the Linux Foundation have just made official. The outfits mentioned above are coming together to form the UK-based Linaro (a not-for-profit entity), which currently has 25 engineers but will see that figure shoot up to nearly a hundred around the world in the coming days. In short, the new firm -- which will have an annual budget in the "tens of millions of dollars" but below "$100 million" -- is seeking to "speed the rollout of Linux-based devices," with one of the key points being this: Linaro will "provide a stable and optimized base for distributions and developers by creating new releases of optimized tools, kernel and middleware software validated for a wide range of SoCs, every six months." Read on for more...%Gallery-94261%
TI-Nspire graphing calculator gets a new touchpad, nerds swoon world o'er
Texas Instruments has been making graphing calculators for twenty years now, and things look pretty much the same as they were in that bygone era of Amy Grant and C&C Music Factory. The company's latest, TI-Nspire with Touchpad, features -- you guessed it! -- a touchpad above the keypad for scrollin' around, as well as a letterpad (apparently they had to forgo QWERTY to make this compliant with tests like SAT and ACT). And, like its precursors, it comes with a snap-in TI-84 Plus keypad so your old dog won't have to learn any keystrokes. Available now from your fave e-tailer, look to pay around $140.
Optoma adds HW536 and EX762 DLP projectors to the 3D party
If 3D monitors aren't doing it for you, here are a couple of larger display options -- our lucky pals over at Engadget Chinese witnessed the birth of Optoma's two new 3D projectors in Taiwan yesterday. Pictured on the left is the HW536 cinema DLP projector (NT$36,900 or about US$1,150), which has HDMI input and projects a 1,280 x 800 image at 2,800 lumens with a 3,000:1 contrast ratio. Next up is the EX762 business DLP projector (NT$79,900 or US$2,490) that also sports HDMI input and a network jack, while delivering a 1,024 x 768 resolution at 4,000 lumens and a 3,000:1 contrast ratio. Just to add a tad more burden to your overdraft, each pair of ZD101 shutter glasses -- not bundled with either projectors -- will cost you a further NT$4,000 (US$125), in return offering a wireless range of up to eight meters courtesy of Texas Instruments' non-directional DLP Link technology (so no need to position any external emitters). A couple of close-up photos after the break.
Acer's H5360 and X1261 projectors take it to the third dimension
You know who else is firmly situated on the 3D bandwagon? Acer. This fine morning the outfit has busted out two new beamers, both of which are eager and willing to be paired with NVIDIA's 3D Vision setup for viewing in the third dimension. Outside of that, neither one is particularly awe-inspiring, but if you've got a 3D Blu-ray player on the brain, you might need one of these to fully complete the nerded-out basement experiment. Up first is the H5360, offering a native 1,280 x 720 resolution, a 3,200:1 contrast ratio, 2,500 ANSI lumens and an HDMI socket. The lower-end X1261 gets a lowly XGA resolution, a similar amount of brightness and a component video port. Check 'em real, real soon for $699 and $579 in order of mention, and hop on past the break for the rest of the details. %Gallery-86782%
Liquavista demos its color e-paper display with a new QWERTY-equipped dev kit (video)
You'll be forgiven for just glazing over during CES and ignoring all those ebook readers that were raining down, but Liquavista's attempt at marrying the endurance of e-paper with the desirability of color is well worth another look. The company has now furnished its LiquavistaColor dev kit with a QWERTY keyboard and also recruited Texas Instruments into the fold, whose OMAP system-on-a-chip is doing the grunt work under the hood. The video after the break indicates that touchscreen interaction is also planned, but the most impressive thing has to be the total lack of any redrawing pauses, which may be the considered the biggest drawback to the many E Ink devices out there. For the more conventional monochromatic crowd, we've also grabbed video of the LiquavistaBright, which replicates the rapid refresh skills, but omits the keyboard and OMAP in favor of a more compact form factor and Freescale iMX5x hardware. Slide past the break to see it all.
Hands-on with TAT's dual-screen phone concept and augmented reality app
What, you thought Home was the only project in the pipeline for these guys? The mobile UI experts at Sweden's TAT are in the house at MWC this week showing off a couple other nifty developments that are keeping them busy these days: a dual-screen UI concept utilizing TI's next-gen hardware, and an app that makes good on a concept it had demoed before. First up, they've been using a TI Blaze to demonstrate their vision of a phone with two displays, likely in a slider configuration (in fact, they showed a Droid to represent how they think the form factor could work) with a screen where you'd normally expect they physical QWERTY keyboard to be. It's slick and wicked smooth on the brutally powerful OMAP4 core, but realistically, this is something unusual enough so that we'd need to play with a unit for a good, long while before drawing any usability conclusions. TAT believes we could see devices with this kind of setup by years' end, but we don't know what carriers, manufacturer, or time frames would be involved at this point. Next up, Recognizr is the realization of the Augmented ID concept it showed off last year that lets you tag your face (it sounds weird, but it's quite literally true) with icons representing services that you use, each of which exposes information about you that you want others to know; then, other users with the system can put you in their viewfinder and see the same icons. It's not flawless -- in fact, TAT readily admits that they probably need better camera tech before it can be commercialized, and they had quite a few issues during our demo time -- but it's a clever concept that's better watched on video than explained, which is convenient considering that we've got videos of both of these goodies in action after the break. Check 'em out, won't you?
Texas Instruments unleashes new nHD DLP chipset, now with more pico
We didn't think it could be done, but the fine folks at Texas Instruments have just unleashed a tiny, tiny beast in their all new DLP pico chipset. The nHD DLP chipset, as it's known, boasts 640x360 resolution, a contrast ratio of "better than" 1,000:1, RGB LED wide color gamut (which should more faithfully reproduce colors), a new, and a lower powered processor. Overall, the package is 20 percent thinner and 50 percent lighter than the current generation DLP chipset. We hear the chipset should be available in the second quarter of 2010. The full press release is after the break.
Texas Instruments introduces ARM-based OMAP 4 SOC, Blaze development platform
Texas Instruments has just made its OMAP 4 system-on-chip official, and garnished the announcement with the first development platform for it, aggressively titled Blaze. We already caught a glimpse of it in prototype form earlier this month, and the thing is quite a whopper -- you can see it on video after the break and we doubt you'll accuse TI of placing form before function with this one. The company's focus will be on promoting innovative new modes of interaction, with touchless gesturing (or "in the air" gesture recognition) figuring strongly in its vision of the future. Looking at the SOC diagram (available after the break), you'll find that its grunt will be provided by the same ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore class of CPU that powers the iPad, though TI claims it will be the only mobile platform capable of outputting stereoscopic 720p video at 30fps per channel. Perhaps its uniqueness will come from the fact that nobody else cares for the overkill that is 3D-HD on a mobile phone, whether it requires glasses or not. It'll still be fascinating to see if anybody picks up the chunky Blaze idea and tries to produce a viable mobile device out of it -- we could be convinced we need multiple displays while on the move, we're just not particularly hot on the 90s style bezel overflow.
Bug Labs intros BUG 2.0 platform with faster processor, Android support
Tired of your BUGBase lagging out while you're trying to set up that crazy homebrew alarm system? Hope is on the way in the form of BUG 2.0, Bug Labs' next-gen development platform that moves up to a Cortex A8-based OMAP3 core from the original BUGBase's ARM11. The processor bump isn't the only change, though: they're announcing full support for running BeagleBoard apps and -- get this -- Android. That means that you won't necessarily need to be locked into Bug's own development environment for doing your thing, and obviously, folks already familiar with Android development should have a much easier time making the transition. Even better, the base maintains backward compatibility with existing BUGmodules, so most of your current investment won't be for naught -- save the old base, of course. Price and availability are yet to be announced.
TI stuffs WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and FM radios on a single chip, UWB and LTE are like 'hello?'
Heads-up, kids -- Mobile World Congress is but days away from liftoff, and it looks like Texas Instruments will be there with a purpose. The company has today introduced what it's calling the "industry's first quad-radio single chip," which throws 802.11n, GPS, FM transmit / receive and Bluetooth radios onto a single 65-nanometer WiLink 7.0 solution. Purportedly, this device reduces costs by 30 percent, size by 50 percent and bragging rights by 894 percent. The chip is currently sampling to OEMs with undisclosed names, which could mean that a prototype phone or two will be taking advantage in Barcelona. Fingers crossed.
Sony working to wedge laser-based pico projectors into its compact cameras?
Nikon's Coolpix S1000pj camera/pico projector combo hasn't exactly taken the world by storm, but we're guessing it took a little while before Reese's Peanut Butter Cups became a global phenomenon, too. If reports from DigiTimes prove to be true, Sony wants to be front and center to meet the eventual demand for such cameras, working with Opus Microsystems to license its laser-based scanning mirror chips, projector tech that sounds similar to Microvision's Show WX. Word is that other camera manufacturers are working with Texas Instruments for the development of their own pico-packing cams, relying on TI's DLP-based tech found in the S1000pj and a variety of other devices. Which will rule the roost? We'll take lasers over LEDs any day of the week.
TI's OMAP4 prototype drives three independent displays without breaking a sweat
It's been a long, long while since we've seen any life from the OMAP4 labs at Texas Instruments, but with the sudden resurgence of the tablet, now seems just about right for the company to start showcasing the platform's prowess once more. TI is expected to have a mind-bending showcase at Mobile World Congress later this month, but Slashgear was able to get a sneak peek at what's to come at the outfit's Dallas office. The device you're peering at above definitely piqued our interest, as it's some sort of twin-screened handheld that can actually support a third independent display courtesy of an integrated pico projector module. We're told that OMAP4 will bring along dual 1GHz ARM A9 cores, patently ridiculous battery life figures (145 hours of MP3 playback with a 1,000mAh battery) and support for 1080p output via HDMI. Naturally, TI has no intention of ever bringing this piece of hardware to market, but it'd certainly love if some other firm stepped in and did so. Here's hoping we're overrun by potential suitors in Barcelona -- given that the show kicks off on Valentine's Day, we'd say the timing would be just about perfect.
Pico projectors caught in the wild, one on a camcorder, one in Samsung's W9600 cellphone (video)
Yeah, we know: you haven't bought a pico projector and you really have no plan to do so. Still, it's kind of fun to see them doing their thing, beaming little, dim images onto walls from improbably small boxes. The folks at PicoProjector-info are happy to oblige, posting two videos of DLP picos in action at CES. The first is a Texas Instruments model that's been stuck atop a camcorder (presumably with bubblegum), pointing backward to splay the image of whatever it's filming into the wall -- and to temporarily blind whoever dares pick up said camcorder. Next up is a demonstration of the Samsung W9600, which we spent a bit of time with ourselves at CES. Now you can see how it looks in motion, as both videos are embedded after the break.
Samsung's pico projecting W9600 gets a brief hands-on
Samsung made a fairly tame showing at CES but we did bump into a rather sweet bit of integrated projection fun. The W9600 replaces last year's W7900, and, like its predecessor, the specs are pretty thin. We do know, however, that it uses Texas Instruments' WVGA chip for the projection, has a 5 megapixel cam, a completely beautiful touchscreen AMOLED display, and can project vids, pics, and even the phone's interface. We've always felt that projection phones are pretty toys but ultimately, we didn't see a really solid reason they existed when we first saw them, and we still don't with the W9600. That being said, this phone doesn't feel so much like a work in progress, the focus wheel, finish, branding and the rest make this feel a bit more like a real phone and less like a dummy phone. Of course, the whole point is moot as the Anycall-branded W9600 will likely never make its way to our pockets, let alone our carriers. But do feel free to wander the gallery and take in the sights. %Gallery-81854%
