LILYGO T-Watch Ultra – An IP65-rated ESP32-S3 smartwatch with 2.01-inch AMOLED, LoRa, and GNSS

LILYGO’s T-Watch Ultra is an ESP32-S3-based smartwatch development platform that appears to be an upgrade over the previous T-Watch-S3 Plus (1.3-inch display and a 940mAh battery), with a larger 2.01-inch AMOLED touch display, a higher-capacity 1,100mAh battery, and an IP65 waterproof and dustproof rating. The device integrates a u-blox MIA-M10Q GNSS module for positioning, a SX1262 LoRa transceiver for long-range communication, and a Bosch BHI260AP smart sensor for motion-based AI applications. Additionally, it features an RTC chip, NFC, a built-in microphone, a haptic driver, a microSD card slot, and a USB Type-C port for programming and charging. The watch targets...

Idle CPU power management: cpuidle

Twenty years ago, it was easy for an operating system kernel to go idle: when there were no tasks to run, “the idle loop” would be scheduled. Early idle loops were basically empty infinite loops that did nothing while waiting for the next interrupt to happen. This saved power simply by avoiding running instructions that needed power-hungry components such as the cache or FPU! Over time, changing technology has allowed multiple additional hardware mechanisms to reduce power to be introduced. With these new options available today, the idle loop is responsible for choosing and deploying the “best” way to go...

IP67-rated AI security camera feature Rockchip RV1126B or RK3576/J/M SoC for commercial, industrial, and automotive applications

Back in January 2024, Firefly released the CT36L AI smart security cameras, built around the Rockchip RV1106G2 SoC with a 0.5 TOPS NPU and Power over Ethernet (PoE) support. Now, Firefly has introduced two new AI cameras, the CQ38W-1126B and CQ38W-3576, which use a similar IP67-rated enclosure but come with much more powerful processors. Both new models no longer support PoE and instead use a 12V DC input, and they also add an RS485 interface. In terms of performance, the CQ38W-1126B is built around the Rockchip RV1126B with a 3 TOPS NPU and can run small multimodal AI models. The...

Loona Deskmate – An iPhone-powered AI desktop companion that doubles as a 165W GaN charging station (Crowdfunding)

Loona Deskmate is a screen-aware AI desktop companion for iPhone designed to act as a hands-free co-worker that understands your workflow, responds conversationally, and executes tasks directly across your apps. Instead of packing an expensive internal SoC and display into the robot, the Deskmate relies on a docked iPhone to act as its “brain” and face, while the base serves as a 165W GaN desktop charging station. It features real-time voice interaction (~0.5s response time), screen awareness, and a 3-DOF motorized head for lifelike motion and responsive behavior. The system relies on a smartphone (iPhone 12+) for computing and uses...

Comet Q KVM supports browser-based control of laptops and iPhones over Wi-Fi 6

Comet Q is a compact KVM device designed to provide remote control of laptops, mini PCs, and supported mobile devices through a web browser. The system connects over USB Type-C and allows users to access and operate a target device without requiring software installation or driver configuration. Comet Q is based on a dual-core Cortex-A53 […]

Banana Pi BPI-OM7 3D camera kit pairs RK3588 with Orbbec Gemini 2

Banana Pi has provided initial details about the BPI-OM7 3D camera kit, which combines the BPI-M7 single-board computer with an Orbbec Gemini 2 3D camera for computer vision, robotics, and spatial perception applications. The system is built around the Rockchip RK3588 processor, which integrates four Cortex-A76 cores clocked at up to 2.4 GHz and four […]

DongshanPI K510 SoM appears with dual RISC-V cores and AI acceleration

DongshanPI has previewed a SoM based on the Kendryte K510 in a recent social media post. The module targets AIoT applications involving computer vision and audio processing. The Kendryte K510 integrates dual 64-bit RISC-V CPU cores operating at up to 800 MHz, along with a dedicated RISC-V DSP. It also includes a second-generation KPU capable […]

M5Stack previews CardputerZero handheld Raspberry Pi CM0 system

M5Stack has teased the CardputerZero, a compact handheld system built around the Raspberry Pi CM0. The device integrates a display, keyboard, battery, and wireless connectivity into a credit card-sized form factor intended for portable Linux-based development and command-line tasks. The platform uses the Broadcom BCM2837 SoC, featuring a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor operating at up to […]

BeagleConnect Zepto – A “$1 computer” based on TI MSPM0L1117 Cortex-M0+ MCU

BeagleBoard.org Foundation’s BeagleConnect Zepto “$1 computer” is an upcoming open-source hardware board powered by Texas Instruments MSPM0L117 Cortex-M0+ MCU, part of the MSPM0 family introduced in 2023. It’s a tiny board with mikroBus-compatible headers, a TAG-CONNECT JTAG connector, two Qwiic connectors for expansion (or one Qwiic connector + USB-C depending on the variant), Boot and Reset buttons, and an RGB LED. BeagleConnect Zepto specifications: MCU – Texas Instruments MSPM0L117 CPU – 32MHz Arm Cortex-M0+ core Memory – 16KB SRAM Storage – 128KB dual-bank flash Package – QFN32 (5×5 mm) USB – Optional USB-C port for power (multiplexed with one of...

The electromechanical angle computer inside the B-52 bomber's star tracker

Before GPS, how did aircraft navigate? One important technique was celestial navigation: navigating from the positions of the stars, planets, or the sun. While celestial navigation is accurate, cannot be jammed, and doesn't require any broadcast infrastructure, it is a difficult and time-consuming process to perform manually. In the early 1960s, an automated system was developed for the B-52 bomber to automatically track stars and compute navigation information. Digital computers weren't suitable at the time, so the star tracking system performed trigonometric calculations with an electromechanical analog computer called the Angle Computer.1

The...