Tag Archives: ARM
thechromesource Daily: Links for 7/23/10
Posted on 23. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
A new version of Chrome will be coming every six weeks from here on out.
Our pal Charbax has the inside scoop on Microsoft’s new ARM license.
This will make your day I swear; it’s about the LAPD’s concern over moving to Google Apps.
Is Google really all that threatening? CNN says “they’re no product killer”.
One of the many Wired blogs seems to realize that Chrome version 6 is right around the corner.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 6/14/10
Posted on 14. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
Asus is working on an ARM tablet that will run either Android or Chrome OS and will be released by its AGAiT subsidiary.
A Google Executive has thrown in his opinion on the AT&T limits on data the company is imposing.
It appears that a Google Music service could be coming this fall, with some exciting features to compete with Apple.
Mobile devices that blur the line between smartphone and computer heat up the competition between Qualcomm and Intel.
Google sure does have a lot of money in its coffers to invest in or acquire companies with.
Marvell Talks Cloud Computing, Chrome OS
Posted on 13. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
At Computex, I had the opportunity to talk to Bou Chung Lin, VP & GM of Taiwan Operations for Marvell. While we were going though an overview of the company’s offerings, we got on the subject of cloud computing and Chrome OS. Here’s a quick clip of his response to my questions regarding this.
We know that Marvell has been working on an ARM-based Chromium OS build, as our pal Charbax over at ARMDevices.net showed us earlier this year when the company showed it off running on their Armada 510 processor at CES in Las Vegas.
It will be interesting to see what will happen to Chrome OS in terms of using an ARM based solution versus an x86 one. I’ve heard rumors that Intel is readying a rival to ARM-based solutions, or perhaps start making their own ARM licensed product.
There is no doubt they are going to need to do something after some of the things that I have seen coming from ARM processors comprised of multiple cores that divvy up the duties for a device to separately process system, video and audio functions for mobile devices.
Freescale Semiconductor Working on Chrome OS
Posted on 03. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
The folks at Freescale Semiconductor were kind enough to invite us to their offices yesterday in Taipei to show off the fact that they are actively working on Chrome OS for ARM processors.
I learned a lot during my time at Freescale, and I now better understand that it is taking a good deal of work to port Chromium over to the ARM architecture as opposed to x86. They had a version of Chromium running on their iMX515 processor that was from last year’s Google open source build.
I happened to have the latest spring release of Chromium on a USB drive in my bag while I was there. However, the build that I had was specifically for x86 and the reality is that a lot of work has to go into making Chromium compatible with ARM’s low power, mobile specific platform.
Here are some pictures that they allowed me to take, giving an indication that they are working closely with Google to ensure that Chrome OS will not just run on Intel processors. My time at the Freescale office in Taiwan yesterday gives me an indication that there will probably be ARM devices running Chrome OS in the first quarter of 2011.
More Chrome OS news will be coming in the closing days of Computex, keep checking our RSS feed or follow us on @thechromesource if you’re a Twitter addict like I am.
Google VP: Chrome OS Release in Q4
Posted on 01. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
Speaking today at the Computex Cloud Computing forum, Google VP of product management Sundar Pichai said that Chrome OS will be on the market in the fourth quarter of 2010. The Cloud Computing Forum is featuring executives from Google, ARM and Quanta Computers.
Computex has been mostly focused on Microsoft products that are on display.
When asked about the Chrome vs. Android debate, Mr. Pichai said that providing open source platforms will allow the market to make the best determination about what operating system will work best in the mass market. It’s pretty clear that Android has really taken off, it will be interesting to see how Chrome OS will develop.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 5/13/10
Posted on 13. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
The Chromium Blog has a sneak peak at how their Native Client software development kit will allow for development of Chrome applications.
ARMDevices speculates that the Native Client SDK will allow complex web applications to run on ARM processors.
ReadWriteWeb has an article out that is about Mozilla’s plug-in checker, which now works with all browsers.
It’s clear that Google Apps plans to offer more than just the document and spreadsheet package common with productivity suites.
Those behind the Linux-based Ubuntu OS are contemplating switching from Firefox as the default browser over to Chromium.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 5/8/10
Posted on 08. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
ARM has created a Motorola Droid robot using Lego’s Mindstorm that is able to solve a Rubik’s Cube in twenty-five seconds.
Web document company Scribd, which embeds PDF files on web pages to keep documents secure, is moving from Flash to HTML5.
Chromium’s O3D technology will be moving from a plug-in to a JavaScript library, mainly because of the recent speed improvements.
Google has invested in Invidi, a TV advertising platform startup company and they plan work together selling ads on DISH Network programming.
KMWorld has a good article talking about how Google’s community fiber project is a great step for them to get into the enterprise market.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 5/6/10
Posted on 06. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
More Google services will be integrated with a single sign on, according to the Google Enterprise Blog.
The highly anticipated Google I/O developer conference May 19-20 will have its keynote presentations streamed live on YouTube.
ARM marketing vice president Ian Drew says that the delay in optimizing Flash for mobile devices has stalled the market to some degree.
A new feature to Google Goggles now allows someone to capture text with their phone’s camera and have it translated.
Google is in an interesting battle with Blue Destiny Records over the legality of linking to copyrighted material.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 4/30/10
Posted on 30. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
The fact that ARM-based smartbooks and tablets will support Flash acceleration could be one of the key strengths of Android and Chrome OS.
Here is a post that outlines some technical details on how Google collects WiFi information from driving down streets.
Ghostery, a popular privacy extension for Firefox, is now available for Chrome with a limited feature set.
Did you know Chrome 5 Dev has geolocation? I wrote about how to turn this on, but CNET has done an article now that it’s on by default.
The Speed Dial Extension looks like a really great way to spice up your new tabs for those who like customizing their Chrome experience.
Is Google’s Battle Against Apple Turning Towards Hardware?
Posted on 25. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
I don’t think that many people expected a battle pitting Google versus Apple a year ago, much less a rivalry that is based on hardware.
In that span of time, many things have changed. No longer is Eric Schmidt on Apple’s board and it is anyone’s guess how much longer Google branded services will be promoted on Apple devices. Acquisitions have been heating up between the two companies, with both of them sporting no debt and having large cash reserves.
This past week has seen Google purchase Agnilux, which is a start-up semiconductor company that was founded by some people who once worked for P.A. Semi, bought by Apple in 2008 and reportedly featuring some of the technology that is inside the iPad. You following this? I know, perplexing. There seems to be a rush for semiconductors in the hardware market to push the market past what we’ve been using for years: netbooks and laptops.
Case in point: the rumor that is going around whereby Apple plans on purchasing ultra-mobile chip developer ARM. While I’m sure Apple covets ARM’s technology (since it is used in the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch) it doesn’t sound as if ARM wants to become a part of Apple. That’s probably because even though they are ARM’s biggest customer, ARM would likely lose most of their other competing customers such as Samsung, Qualcomm and Google (now via Android and soon Chrome OS).
“Nobody has to buy the company”, is the quote from ARM CEO Warren East when asked about Apple buyout rumors. That may be true, but when you see that Chromium’s newest releases are showing that the hardware is being steered toward using ARM solutions for processing, this probably makes Apple a bit nervous because they already have hold of a nice niche with great margins.
It makes sense in that light why when they recently purchased chip designer Intrinsity, they decided to keep it quiet. Also kept silent is the fact that Intrinsity likely had more to do with Apple’s A4 processor than anyone inside the company wants to be known.
While we’re on the subject of hardware, expect to see a different platform model as Chrome OS progresses, one that blends Apple’s model with an open source software environment. In order to offer the best user experience the hardware requirements for Chrome OS are going to be dictated by Google. At the same time, they will allow developers to continue to work on Chromium in an effort to make it the best cloud platform out there.
Expect to also see an integrated store for apps that cost money with Chrome OS, with Google acting as the intermediary for billing and marketing of the marketplace. All other apps will be readily available on the web if they are free, allowing developers to focus on their craft and tipping their hats to Google for paid offerings and the platform that allows interoperability with other developers’ apps.
It’s a somewhat reverse model from Microsoft, which has in the past allowed for hardware manufacturers to develop for their platform, but keeping the operating system and tools to create applications under lock and key. Many times I have heard from developers how the methods by which Microsoft dictates its architecture causes problems in terms of software development; however these gripes seem to be declining.
Hopefully, Google will take caution to make sure that they do not end up with the same problems, but in opposite order. Hardware manufacturers may become exasperated by strong technical requirements needed for Chrome OS hardware, causing material costs to rise and thus margins to be much lower than is accustomed. Of course, one can also put into account the fact that the licensing costs that are associated with Microsoft’s operating systems will not come into play since Chrome OS is free.
At the same time, a hodgepodge of applications that run on Chrome OS are going to need to have a strong, unifying Google-like theme that will save the operating system from looking like a MySpace-oriented user interface. Apple has done this successfully, but of course at the expense of allowing an open environment and allowing some web functionality (Flash) to work properly on their devices.
Bottom line: Google bought a secretive hardware company, which has to mean something worthwhile for either the cloud or for mobile devices. Clearly this is a strategic move to compete with Apple, albeit in a different way than the iDevices. We shall soon see which way that is.
Four Chrome OS Contenders that Could Take on Apple’s iPad
Posted on 10. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
The iPad is ushering in a new era of computing device: the tablet. What’s really exciting is that this has all just begun, and we should expect to see a wide array of new tablets coming to market during the rest of this year. So here are the tablets that are expected to be launched with Chrome OS (along with an app store, we hope) as either the only platform or as an option. Without further ado, some of the contenders that will take on Apple tablet-style.
Freescale
Specs: 7-inch display, 1GHz Cortex ARM processor, WiFi, Optional 3G
Freescale Semiconductor showed off a tablet running Chrome OS at CeBIT that they said would cost only $200. Although the prototype that they displayed needed a keyboard in order to provide input, they were the first to actually show off a tablet. It’s possible they could bring something like this at a very good price to market, but the concern would be that the components at that price would not be cutting edge and therefore could have problems competing in the market.
But at the same time it’s a cheap tablet, right?
Notion Ink Adam
Specs: 10.1-inch PixelQi display with multitouch, nVidia Tegra 2 graphics and dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, 16GB solid-state drive, Wi-Fi, 3G
Designed in India, the unknown Notion Ink Adam could be a hit, although many also thought that the Fusion Garage JooJoo tablet would be, so we shall see. Nevertheless, this device looks stunning, and with the innovative PixelQi display which can turn off the backlight this could be a great e-reader and web enabled device all in one. It’s expected to have options in terms of storage and connection options, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this tablet is priced close to the iPad. It also has features that Apple’s tablet doesn’t such as a 3.2 megapixel camera and an HDMI output port.
HTC
Specs: Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor, possibly dual-touchscreen?
HTC privately showed an Android tablet at CES a few months ago, and speculation is mounting that they will be working together with the folks at Mountain View to produce tablet which may or may not be branded as a Google tablet. Seeing as how Google and HTC have a cozy relationship with Android (Nexus One and G4 smartphones) the first Chrome OS tablet could very likely come from HTC.
The photo shown here is a prototype dual touchscreen concept that the folks at Phandroid have posted. We don’t have any other pictures, so this is the best one to ponder upon.
Asus
Specs: Unknown, likely similar to the Eee T91 (pictured here)
Asus is primarily a netbook manufacturer, but CEO Johnny Shih has been adamant about making a tablet. The company already has a hybrid netbook-tablet device called the Eee PC T91, which pairs a keyboard with a display that can be rotated and folded over to transform it into a slate. It has the same specs as your average netbook, running an Intel AtomZ520 with 1GB RAM standard, but interestingly packs a 32GB solid state drive which is a requirement by Google for Chrome OS devices to ensure speed and user interface quality.
The Others
I’ve left out a few manufacturers that I need to give mention. Acer has claimed that they will have the first Chrome OS netbook but that is not a tablet and there hasn’t been any good information even if they are working on one. We know that the Dell Linux team has been openly working on Chrome OS (April 7 build here), and it would fit on their Mini 5 line of tablets (also known as Streak) coming out but that is pure speculation.
If there are any manufacturers that I have forgotten, please let me know. In the end, we’ll see some more developments relatively soon. Computex is coming up which will be closing in on the third quarter, a period of time when Chrome OS devices are expected to surface.
Computex to Have 50 ARM Products
Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
Computerworld is reporting that Computex, held the first week of June in Taipei, will have over fifty different devices on display that run on the ARM architecture. ARM is a company based in Cambridge, U.K. that develops and licenses their processor technology to a wide array of manufacturers. You can find ARM chips in your smartphone, and the soon to be released iPad tablet that has been of keen interest in the tech world has an ARM chip in it customized by Apple.
This wouldn’t be news for a mobile phone expo. But Computex is the second largest computer manufacturer conference. Because the chips require less power and produce a lower amount of heat than x86 processors, this technology will become prevalent in the netbook, tablet and smartbook market over the next few years. Many of these gadgets will be offered by wireless companies offering data services bundled together in the second half of this year.
Of particular interest of course is the fact that Chrome OS machines will most likely run on ARM chips. There already has been a successful prototype shown at the CeBIT conference not too long ago, and I would expect to see a good amount of machines running Chrome OS specifically when Computex rolls around. Right now many of these tablets and smaller computers are being shown running Android, however I am not quite convinced that operating system is the best choice for theses machine but instead simply a placeholder as Chrome OS is put through its paces.
Video: $200 Chrome OS Tablet by Freescale
Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
So it does exist. I had heard that there was going to be a Chrome OS tablet at the Mobile World Congress, and sure enough we finally see in a somewhat lengthy video the folks from Freescale showing off their prototype with a 7″ screen. This was the same model that was shown at CES running Android. The cost? Around $200, running on hardware in the form factor of their model known as the i.MX51. The video shows some locally cached video playback in HTML5:
This is just an observation, but it seems to me that other tablets are going to have a hard time competing against a tablet product that is only a couple of hundred dollars. But let’s face it: this is just a tablet, and there is only so much you can do with them. I’m not even sure how comfortable one would even be to use. Of course I have to admit I have never actually used one.
But in the demo you see that the Freescale product manager is using a mouse and a keyboard. Probably because the touch capabilities and interface for Chrome OS on tablets is not nearly complete. Earlier today I wrote about the business Chrome OS coming out and I explored the concept of Google having several different versions of their operating system. I feel like this demo gives more proof to that concept. The device itself is capable of touch, as they also showed a tablet running some variation of Linux that had capacitive input.
But for a couple of bills and with an ARM processor, how could you go wrong? It even appears to have a camera. That explains the large bezel.
Shout out to Armdevices.net.
The $100 Tablet, $85 Netbook
Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
It hasn’t been surprising that there aren’t too many Chrome OS products on display at Germany’s CeBIT conference, which is the largest computer manufacturer meet in the world. While I had heard rumors of Chrome OS ARM devices popping up there, nothing of interest has shown up yet. The best bet is that the largely Taiwanese manufactures of netbooks such as Acer, Asus and MSI are planning to reveal some interesting things on their home turf at Taipei’s Computex, set for the first week of June.
So while we sit through this lull before the exciting developments come to fruition, there are some really cheap gadgets that are coming out of CeBIT. And both of these prototypes could possibly be loaded with Chrome OS. It’s hard to tell because the Chromium projects site doesn’t offer me too much information on minimum requirements.
The first is a tablet, set at a price point of $100. It’s the 7″ Hivision Speedpad and it comes with a ARM 11 chip by Samsung, 2GB of storage and 256 MB of RAM. Did I mention it’s loaded with Android? Based on these specs, it may be difficult to run Chrome OS on this machine, but with ever falling component prices it may not be a far flung reality:
And then there’s the $85 netbook, or perhaps best described as “mini-netbook”. Made be Coby, its dubbed the NBPC722. It has a Marvell ARM, has a 7″ display and is running Windows CE. I couldn’t get any info as of yet on storage or memory, but I’m betting because it’s running Windows CE, these specs are pretty dimunitive:
Conclusion? Expect to see more devices like this coming in the next few months. While these two are running operating systems befit for a mobile phone or the distant past, I see them simply as placeholders for a time that will soon come where we see a browser-based OS being the standard for these devices. This is because that is the core function these products will provide for users.
What would you do with one of these?
HTML5 Will Replace Google Gears – But Not Without On2
Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
It certainly was a big deal a few years ago when Google first announced their Gears platform for web browsing. But the truth is that it was only a stopgap for what is to be the future: HTML5. Well, finally the time has come for HTML5 to shine, as recent developments have pushed it into the forefront for a more interactive web experience.
Basically Gears is a bridge between the browser and the native computing system. With HTML5, this type of flexibility is coded right in with web development. That benefits users because it provides for simplicity along with more flexibility in terms of development. Some things that you may use Gears for today, such as offline storage to all for a faster experience or just to have files when you’re not connected, can be done even easier with HTML5. Plus, the majority of browsers now support HTML5 unlike when Gears was announced back in 2007.
The official Gears blog had an update last week, explaining why there has been a lack of posts lately. No more updates to Gears, however until everything is completely moved over to HTML5 (which could be a while) support will continue. It’s also no coincidence that on the same day of that post it was announced that Google was finalizing its purchase of On2 Media for $124.6 million.
That’s because the video technology that On2 has developed fits well within what Google is trying to do with YouTube. Although some people like to complain about the lack of innovation sine Google purchased YouTube, they just recently have started a HTML5 beta on the site, and I’m sure that you can expect to see more interesting developments now that On2 is in the fold. That is unless Google bought On2 just to kill it, which seems doubtful.
One of the big things to watch for: video compression standards. On2 has a variety of these proprietary formats, and so it is not a stretch to expect HTML5 paired with one of them, namely called V8 VP8, to become the standard for Chrome and especially on YouTube, which currently uses a licensed technology called H.264 that works with Adobe’s Flash Player. There has been a call for On2 to make VP8 open source by some developers, and we’ll see what happens with that.
So what is the underlying problem with H.264 and Flash? Well, both of them have been around for a while with little relative progress in their technology. That’s not going to work too well in the near future with devices becoming ever smaller and portable running ARM processors.
You can check out a video comparison between H264 and VP8 from On2’s website right here if you’re interested.
Another Samsung Chrome OS Post: Yeah Blah Blah
Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
So Samsung is working on a Chrome OS product. What a shock. Although maybe in a dry news cycle there is an appetite for anything related to Chrome OS, that unfortunately doesn’t really strike me as news. Maybe I’m cynical, maybe I’m a realist (I could also be dumb, you could comment upon that if you want). The truth is that there are probably a whole slew of manufacturers that want to be the first that gets into the genre of Google’s cloud computing platform. But in being realistic that means that the one that offers the most compelling device specs for the initial launch will win.
It would really be no coincidence that Samsung has initialized a partnership with ARM to provide graphics capabilities to their mobile devices, but other sites are not reporting this little nugget of information. Instead of providing specifications for a future netbook, the interest that I have is more about the synergy that Samsung and ARM will create with this partnership.
Sure, its just a press release, but the reality is that Samsung doesn’t need an integrated processing and graphics solution for a television or a mobile phone. It’s to get into the netbook/tablet/smartphone market. And say what you will about them, but their products are pretty good. Mind you, to compete in the soon-crowded cloud operating system market they are going to be dealing with Taiwan companies that have been successful in the netbook market such as Asus and Acer. However, I would not be surprised to see Samsung do some innovative development that puts them ahead of the pack and eventually have a Chrome OS product that is ahead of their competition.
If Samsung is really interested in entering this market and competing on price, then they could do well. Their track record in consumer electronics is pretty good. But HTC, which came out of nowhere, is currently dominating in Android mobile phone sales because they are ambitious and were willing to take risks that traditional mobile phone manufacturers were not willing to do. Is it going to be a consumer electronics company like Samsung that can heed the call for emerging web operating systems? We will see.
Low Powered Mini ARM? It is Now Possible
Posted on 13. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
University of Michigan researchers have made what will be a breakthrough in processing power for mobile computing – an ARM processor that is smaller than a penny and uses a miniscule amount of power. The energy requirement for this chip right now is provided by a small solar powered unit, and eventually could be derived by other sources such as the body heat of a human. The goal of this project is to develop monitoring devices for health purposes but I can see a bigger use for something like this in the technology industry.
For those who are not aware (I’m one of those) ARM is a company based in Cambridge that has a business based on the Qualcomm model – they don’t manufacture their products, they simply research, develop and license them to others for use in electronic products. You might be surprised to know that ARM processors are already in 95% of the mobile phones that we use. In fact, the current ARM products are so successful because they work on the idea that low enegy and low heat dissipation is the reason why we enjoy phones that don’t melt in our pockets the way that laptops do when they’re sitting on our legs.
So it comes to no surprise that the next generation of laptops, netbooks and smartbooks are probably going to be based on this technology. Qualcomm has already released their processor for the mobile computing market, dubbed the Snapdragon. Expect to see products being released in 2010 with these processors, because their power and heat use are low enough to not require a fan for releasing heat from the chassis of a mobile computer.
Of course, I expect that Intel will come out with something to combat ARM processors like the Snapdragon, as the most popular netbooks right now use their Atom architecture. But for the time being, ARM is going to be the way to go when looking at computers that are light and fast – which is the model for what Google’s Chrome OS is expected to run on. Don’t be surprised if initial machines running Chrome OS that hit the market are using ARM processors.
Also, think about the applications for a processor that small. While it may be far off, think about the implications of tablets that could theoretically unfold out of your pocket and provide all of the processing power that you would need.
What kind of applications could you develop for a platform like that?
You can read more about the University of Michigan research project right here.
Video: Compaq Airlife 100 Breaks into Smartbook Territory
Posted on 12. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
Ever dislike sitting with your laptop until it gets uncomfortably hot to the point where you no longer can get any work done? With a new generation of computing devices called smartbooks, this problem – along with a few other hardware issues – fades away. A smartbook that has poppped up in the news today is the Compaq Airlife 100 which is an 10.1 inch Android machine that is based on a Snapdragon ARM processor. An ARM processor is the type of technology commonly found in smartphones and other highly mobile devices. Because of this, the chipset itself does not generate a lot of heat and therefore does not need a fan for cooling. Check out this video from CES:
Touchscreen, solid state hard drive and 3G? Where can I get one of these bad dogs?
So what is the difference between a smartbook and a netbook? The lines will probably blur sooner or later, but a netbook is a device that probably runs an Intel Atom chipset and runs a full function OS such as Windows. A smartbook has a hardware platform more akin to a smartphone, yet offers more functionality in terms of a larger internal storage capability, a full keyboard and a good number of inputs for versatility.
Right now most of these smartbooks are running customized Android platforms, but don’t be surprised if we start seeing some web OSs on these very soon.
Dell Shows Off its Tablet
Posted on 01. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.
Dell. Michael Dell. In this video he gives a peak to the Mini 5, a tablet that has Android as its operating system. This thing is clearly running some type of ARM chip, but he will not specify a whole lot in the video. It looks pretty good while going through the various screens quickly. At 5″, it seems to fit in one hand quite well, and I am wondering if this is going to be targeted towards selling to a wireless carriers, or if it will be a standalone product:
So, what’s the right size for these devices before they are too big for your pocket, too big for one hand? Five inch screens are probably the limit. We’ll see how these products sell. I would think that Chrome OS would be best utilized on something with a larger screen, over seven inches.
- Google Shows Off its Tablet Concept
- Google VP: Chrome OS Release in Q4
- Video: $200 Chrome OS Tablet by Freescale
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