ARM Community: Smart Connected Devices - ARM Community

Now that Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 has wound down, here are a few more videos and insights I captured from a few of the ARM Partners: Texas Instruments, ST-Ericsson, ZTE and last but not least Proxama.

Texas Instruments
At the Texas Instruments (TI) stand I got to demo the recently released ARM Cortex-A9 based Samsung Galaxy Beam smartphone which features the built in TI DLP Pico Projector technology. This gives you the ability to project the screen of your smartphone onto the wall which could come in handy for displaying slides in an impromptu meeting or a college student who wants to show off their ga...

It’s looking like Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 will be a great week for ARM and the ARM Connected Community. I got a firsthand look at the new multicore LG devices, the latest in augmented reality, and remarkable demonstrations of ARM TrustZone technology. I then learned about Morpho’s collaboration with ARM Mali in GPU computing and discussed the latest Texas Instruments OMAP product offering.

LG Mobile Multicore Devices
I caught up Henry Nho from LG Mobile where he showed me the Optimus 3D MAX and the Optimus 4X HD, both based on the ...

It’s been a whirlwind week at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES). Throughout the week I had the chance to test drive some of the latest and greatest ARM based technologies that are on their way to making techies across the world very happy! On Day 1, tablets, smartphones and the BiggiFi software platform caught my eye first. On Day 2, my adventures spanned from the coolest Tesla electric car media console to tablets bringing computing to those that normally do not have access to technology via OLPC. On Day 3, I was styling with Wimm Lab’s Wearable Platform and found ‘Tagg – the pet tracker,’ so when my pup runs off I will always know where to find him…maybe I should find out if it works on teenagers too! And now on Day 4, I bring you Nufront and the Droid Angel.

At the ...

The onslaught on my poor feet continues from day 1 and day 2 at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) this week– my feet felt tired before I even got into the elevator this morning but it was all worth it to spend a few more hours looking at the technology crème de la crème at the show.

One thing that really caught my attention this week is how ARM based products are becoming more and more available in almost all the products that we use on a daily basis. Now there is even one for your pet, and I don’t mean a cell phone for your dog that can let the dog woof at you to say he’ll be home late… it’s more of a cell phone like product that can tell you where he is when he’s lost. This cool product called ‘Tagg – the pet tracker’ was awarded a Design and Engineering Showcase Award as part of Innovations 2012 at CES. We met with Christine Jorgensen who gave...

This is my first visit to the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas and it’s amazing to see just how big this show is. There’ve been lots of news releases coming out over the last few days and even during the show itself, with many introductions of new and sometimes updated products based on ARM technology and migrating to ARM technology. Stay tuned to ARM’s Smart Connected Devices blog and follow our ARMflix YouTube playlist to catch all of the hot gadgets and interviews at CES 2012.

My scoop today was getting my hands on two of the new products from Samsung, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 and the Galaxy Note. These new devices are really nice to get to grips with and show how technology is moving swiftly in the...

在即将过去的2011年里，平板电脑，智能手机，智能电视等大放异彩。从半导体产业来看，ARM®推出了ARMv8第八代架构，一系列全新的64位处理器，同时发布大小核（big.LITTLE）处理架构，业界对此充满期待。更为可喜的是多家ARM中国的合作伙伴推出的基于ARM CortexTM-A8或Cortex-A9的SoC产品, 在平板电脑和网络电视等领域都取得了骄人的业绩。其中90%以上平板电脑产品均采用基于ARM架构的内核，不论在市场规模，技术方案还是应用的丰富程度上，基于ARM的平板电脑方案继续领跑全球市场。

在移动互联网时代，人们的生活习惯和�...

Strolling into the ARM Powered Lounge at this year’s ARM TechCon gives one a real insight into the breadth of devices ARM appears in – and the prototypes on the horizon that will quite literally change the way people live.

First up, a prototype of ‘smart glasses’ that have been developed by Australian neuroscientist Dr. Stephen Hicks, Department of Clinical Neurology at Oxford University, and his team, to help people with visual impairment regain their independence. If all goes according to plan they will be commercially available by 2014.

Hicks and his team have used a Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP 3530 system-on-a-chip for the original prototype, featuring an ...

Last week it was reported that Linus Torvalds described the ARM SoC (System on Chip) ecosystem as a “Hodgepodge, ” with the article then going on to imply that the diversity and innovation in how an ARM SoC is implemented makes it very difficult to implement Linux on ARM. I have a slightly different take on it.

Proof is in Production
Quite simply Linux is a hit on ARM, there are almost 600,000 ARM powered Linux devices shipped every day in the form of Android tablets and phones using many different SoC’s from ARM’s Partners, and using different ARM cores from ARM7 to dual core ...

Microsoft发布Windows8为推动未来移动互联计算的发展又注入了一股强大力量：在昨日的Computex上，微软发布了可应用于ARM架构设备（例如应用基于ARM架构的高通，英伟达，德州仪器等系统级芯片的设备）的Windows系统，并展示了这一系统在ARM架构的平板电脑，超薄笔记本等一系列移动终端上的应用。这一最新发布充分展示了微软将功能强大的Windows软件应用于任何形�...

I think this is easily my 14-15th Computex and may even be more than that. I first came here in 1992 and started attending the show not long afterwards. But this year is sincerely the most exciting for me. This is because I am with a new company launching new tech for the first time in 12 years. To be doing that amongst old friends and partners gives this year a special feel.

On Tuesday I gave a speech at the Innovation forum entitled ‘How 3D Will Evolve’ and subtitled ‘and create additional revenues’. The success of ARM has led to the introduction of super powerful new smartphones and tablets able to render stereo 3D content. In fact, we’ve been working closely with ARM partners ...

北京时间2011年5月31日上午，台北国际电脑展(Computex2011)在台北南港展览馆盛大举行，ARM第一次有幸作为VIP贵宾受邀参加了这次盛会。ARM总裁Tudor Brown参加了此次Computex的开幕式，并受邀与台湾地区领导人马英九，台湾对外贸易发展协会董事长王志刚，台北市电脑公会主席王振堂，台北市电脑商业同业公会监事召集人 宣明智，及其他IT公司的代表一道为今年的台北国际电脑展拉开了帷幕。



基于ARM架构的产品在今年的Computex上大放异彩
计算机领域的变化从未像今年Computex展示出的如此迅速、明显——毫无疑问，...

For the first time, ARM is honored to be invited to join the opening ceremony of COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2011 as the VIP guest. ARM’s president, Tudor Brown attended the opening ceremony in TWTC of Nangang and together with Taiwan’s President Dr. Ying-Jeou Ma, TAITRA’s Chairman Dr. Chih-Kang Wang, TCA’s Chairman Mr. J.T Wang, TCA’s Convener of the Board of Supervisors Mr. John Hsuan, government officials from Taipei City Hall and Ministry of Economic Affairs, and other IT companies’ representatives to slide the tablets and kick-off this year’s COMPUTEX Show.


ARM Powered Products took center stage at this year’s Computex.
The changing face of computing was never so obvious than at this year’s Computex – no doubt that this is the 3rd era of computing. Our roving correspondent ...

A PC or laptop for every student has been the driving motivation for many Philanthropists. Technology innovations have certainly made this possible as the cost of such products have dropped from $1000 of dollars to $100s of dollars with the introduction of tablet computing. Tablets linked to a portable server with storage, internet access, and Wifi capability can empower educators who embrace technology into the learning process. This technology is functional, practical and affordable. It can be deployed more rapidly especially in areas that cannot afford the large investments for infrastructure.

At Pactron we focus on developing customized solutions for specific market needs and saw a great opportunity in the education market to create a Server and Touchpad combination that is functional, practical and affordable.

Tablets in the classroom? But how do teachers keep the students focused on the lesson and not the Internet? Provide tablets where teachers control the material that students can view. Gain the advantages of ease of sharing lecture notes, quick note taking for the students and even get feedback on how the students are doing on the lesson without worr...

Ever since computers were developed we have been interacting through abstraction layers or User Interfaces (UI). The mainstream UIs have seen little change in the past 20-years, but recently a new UI revolution has occurred and it is what I call the Third User Interface Revolution. From an engineering perspective this revolution is fundamentally different since it revolves around hardware separation and not just software.

A Brief History of UIs
From my perspective there has been three big revolutions with-respect-to UIs. The first revolution was the command-line c:> (or other) where the UI really became interactive for both consumers and engineers sharing the same interface. The command-line era was an interesting one where consumers had to raise their basic understanding of devices by using esoteric command line runes. I had many a difficult session attempting to explain these runes to family and friends, verging on impossible for some. This UI exposed the engineering environment details to everyone. Even today most Operating Systems provide a command-line, if not an extremely hidden one.

The second User Interface revolution changed everything and is ubiquitous; it simplified the consumer experience making the computer accessible to the majority. This was the introduction of windowing systems (i.e. WIMP – Windows, Icon, Menu, and Pointing Device). It changed how we interact with computers ...

Last year when I attended MWC, I blogged about feeling like a teenager because of the social media explosion that I saw.

Perhaps this year I should have titled my blog..”Feeling like a kindergartner”, due to me attending the event without my laptop, my presentation security blanket. Let me explain. At every trade show, being the consummate marketing professional I have felt compelled to carry my laptop with me to have all my presentations at my disposal and the ability to edit them on the fly. But thanks to my handy iPhone I would spend most of my time on that device to stay connected on email etc. and my back and shoulders would feel the brunt of carrying around the heavy laptop, not to mention the anxiety of making sure it was charged, just in case I needed to whip out a presentation.

This MWC, I thought that I would a take a leap and live the mobile dream by living on the road with my iPad alone.

With the aid and advice of our two IT guys at the office, I set up a remote client on my iPad that would allow me to log in to my laptop connected to our work network and modify presentations and access data when needed, then downloaded ...

Consumers love THEIR mobile devices. That is a fact. I highlight “THEIR” because today’s cell phones, and smartphones, and super phones and tablets really have become an extension of the individual consumer. There are so many choices in devices that the each consumer is able to find what suits his or her needs that best. Today you can choose between screen sizes, cost, platforms (operating systems + apps), form factors, and performance, not to forget things like battery life, color, and even operators. What ultimately makes all of this possible is an ecosystem that delivers scalable choice to the consumer and the ARM ecosystem is uniquely positioned to just that. If it wasn’t obvious, this fact has been made even clearer from CES th...

This week, I’ve had some time to reflect on what goes on behind the scenes in technology development for the mobile industry as I’ve been introducing two new processors to some of ARM’s leading silicon Partners. The two processors in question are the ARM Cortex-R5 and the ARM Cortex-R7. Both are high-performance real-time processors that will feature in the next generation of baseband processing chips for mobile handsets and tablets. These devices will be capable of running wireless communications using the industry’s new LTE standard and offering very fast data rates, high mobility and extremely responsive interactivity.

The semiconductor companies that develop and manufacture these chips are s...

At first glance I had to wonder why one of Bloomberg Businessweek’s mobile beat reporters, Olga Kharif, was writing an article on household appliances. But after reading the first sentence it all made sense. Kharif’s piece explores the new world of smart, connected appliances and how traditional manufacturers like Whirlpool will now have to slug it out with new entrants hailing from the mobile / telco world, like Samsung and LG.

These upstarts from the land of smartphones, apps and mobile web browsers bring a different take to the world of white goods – and the potential for profit is huge. According to Kharif’s article, the market for connected appliances may reach $6.2 billion by 2015 – that is a big pie. Ironically, the key to success in this market will be similar to what makes companies competitive in the cell phone and ...

It was easy to get caught up in the tablet buzz at CES this year. There were an unbelievable number of ARM Powered tablets on display to demonstrate that we are really at the beginning of the innovation cycle in this emerging market. If you missed CES this year, I was able to catch a few of these devices and the partners behind them in my Day 1 and Day 2 CES blogs and Charbax has some great videos hosted on his site. But while tablets generally captured the headlines at CES, I was more interested in the technology that was powering this new generation of devices.
...

If you haven’t seen my last 2 blogs, check out Part 1 and Part 2. I’ve put together a holiday gift list of some of the coolest ARM Powered gadgets on the market right now. So this year, avoid having your not-so-fun gifts regifted and try some of these awesome ARM Powered products that your friends and family will love.

Part 3: Gifts for Friends, Family & Around the Home
Bosch Tassimo Hot Beverage System – This fully automatic, energy efficient Cortex-M3 powered coffee maker (on display at ARM Techcon) quickly brews coffee, espresso, tea and mor...

Another holiday season is upon us. As I look back over the years, there are certain holiday gifts I’ve received that really stand out in my mind: my first CD player, cell phone, mp3 player, digital camera, laptop… Are you sensing a theme here? Gadgets make for fun, memorable gifts that everyone enjoys and most of the time make our lives easier.

I’ve put together a holiday gift list, divided into 3 categories, of some of my favorite ARM Powered Gadgets. Let’s kick it off with Part 1:

Fun Gifts for Kids, Teens & College Students
Air Hogs Hawk Eye – Keep your kids entertained for hours with this Cortex-A8-based remote controlled helicopter. It has a camera mounted on the front that allows in-flight video recordin...

At the Cortex™-A15 launch event earlier this month I was asked a number of times why ARM was going public about technology that we don't expect to see in devices until sometime in 2012. I suppose this is an obvious question but it struck me as funny because after 10 years at ARM I can't imagine doing processors any other way and here is why.

Most industry insiders know that ARM develops processor and SoC technology that we license to semi-conductor partners who in turn create advanced SoCs for devices in every market from toys and appliances to TV's and tablets. But what even the insiders don't fully appreciate is how this style of engagement changes the design process.

In a vertically integrated processor company the process is straight forward: Capture requirements from your customers, add in some market research, tap your internal technology teams for technology selection and design drivers (manufacturing technology to pipeline architecture), engage the device and software ecosystem, develop the product and move to market....efficient yes, innovative...

This year has been an exciting and transformative year in mobile. I can’t believe it was just a few years ago when we first introduced the Cortex-A8 and this year the Cortex-A8 has been featured from some of the most innovative smartphones, tablets, and connected DTVs. Software and hardware have come together to deliver a fully connected experience across multiple device platforms. The Cortex-A9 is already headed mainstream into mobile and smart connected devices, enabling multicore performance and flexibility. So here we are today celebrating the arrival of the Cortex-A15 MPcore processor. So ...

2010 has boldly been declared the “year of the tablet,” but as our own Bob Morris mentioned just last week, it’s not just general purpose tablets but eReaders are “the real thing that stuck with consumers.” It’s slowly coming to light that casual reading is not the only use that consumers may have for both of these devices. A growing number of companies like Inkling and Kno are developing software to provide students with textbooks, materials and web-based homework systems, all on one handy connected package. Then last week Texas state education officials announced a new Texas Education Itunes U channel where students can download podcasts, videos and other supplementary course material. So this got us thinking, how feasible is the idea of eReaders and tablets replacing hardcover textbooks and other course material?

The ability for students to touch ...

Netbooks, smartbooks, tablets ... Lots of buzz but where is the beef? I for one thought they would be here sooner. Until recently, netbooks and eReaders were the real things that stuck with the consumer, but it came after the UMPC and MIDs which were misses. In addition, when it comes to tablets, there were many attempts over the years that, to be kind, were not very successful. For tablets, it took Apple to break the code and deploy a product that resonated with the consumer and overnight define a new product classification.

So I get asked where are the ARM tablets and smartbooks, and why they have taken so long? Well it all comes down to timing and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt). Let me explain.

Google, Android or Chrome OS? A year ago it was clear that Android was the OS for these new...

根据中国在移动 Web 领域已赶超美国（作者：James Kendrick；来源：jkOnThe Run）一文提供的信息，Nielsen 称，中国移动互联网使用已超过美国。仅仅从过去 5 年来中国发生的市场变化来看，我便对此深信不疑。

据报道，截至 2010 年 6 月，中国互联网用户已达 4.2 亿，其中 2.77 亿为移动互联网用户。11.7% 的移动互联网用户仅使用移动电话上网。（信息来源：中国互联网络信息中心）这一数字在过去三年内得到飞速增长，由 2007 年 6月的 4400 万增至 2010 年 的 2.77 亿。移动电话及新型智能移动设备逐渐成为中国网民的主要上网设备。以下图表显示了市场的快速�...

I've been in marketing for a long time and one of the big questions is "how do you know you have been successful". The classic way is to look at TAM\SOM, design wins, share of voice etc which is great but in this new world of social media, the Internet and real time news we need to make sure we have some live measurements of how we are doing. It's not just a case of putting press releases out but measuring the effect and reach of them.

So if you are rereading this you are one of 20k people reading our blogs a week now. This may not seem a lot to some people but on a monthly basis it’s bigger than the distribution of most semiconductor industry publications. We have been doing this now for over a year and success for me would have been 200k hits in 2010, yet here we sit 8 months in and we have already more than doubled that figure.. I'd call this a success.

Secondly we embraced Twitter about the same time as blogs as an experiment. We tweet at shows, we re-tweet news and we tweet about what's going on in ARM that day and about how our partners are using ARM technology. It's not a full time job for any one person at ARM; it is a job embraced and shared by the entire marketing team. So how a...

My favorite annual pavilion panel at DAC is High School Panel: You Don’t Know Jack where 4 teenagers (this year 3 students who had just graduated and 1 student entering her final year in high school) were asked about their technology preferences. While their answers themselves are interesting, comparing the answers over the last four years reveal changing trends for smart mobile devices. The teens want better user experience, more integrated software and longer battery life. However, their preferences in devices hold some surprises.

iPhone? Yes, but no video and voice needed
While no student has an iPhone, a change this year is that all wanted one this year. In previous years, the teens had disliked the iPhone because some of their friends had worn through the keypad too quickly from all their texting. It seems that this issue has been resolved with later models. While the rumored iPhone 4 was attractive because it was thinner with longer battery life, they say no need for video chat. As it is now, they hardly make phone calls. Ideally they want a device that connects th...

I’ve drawn parallels in the past on this blog between the level of innovation and technology advancement that has been driven by a smarter, more connected human system (e.g. the social Web) and what can be possible if all technology (not just mobile technology) could enable the same level of connectivity, built-in feedback and intelligence.

There is a real opportunity for devices to become even smarter by working together by sharing information and operations. The hope is that this interconnectivity will lead to a network of smarter connected devices that is more comprehensive, adaptable and responsive – impacting everything from healthcare to the energy grid to safer automobiles. In the energy grid for example, devices can work within a system context rather than in isolation, adapting their workloads to the needs of those devices around them or detecting faults in the system of devices before a major problem arises.

But while innovation in hardware and application development is an exciting topic it is just one side of the equation, the other side of that equation is connectivity – the pipes connecting these devices.

That’s why I was excited to read a ...

Last fall, Glen Burchers of Freescale Semiconductor wrote “The Tablets are Coming, The Tablets are Coming” and Mike Rayfield of NVIDIA was saying that Tablet Computers are coming soon. At CES this year NVIDIA even declared a tablet revolution…

Since then, there has been a non-stop buzz about the numerous tablet devices that would hit the market. The launch of Apple’s iPad drove even more tablet announcements from top OEMs. Both Dell and HP have either shown or been reported to have multiple tablet form factors. And Archos recently discussed no less than 6 tablets by this summer. Clearly NVIDIA, Freescale, and numerous other visionaries see...

Smartphone that I Wanted to Take Home
Though there were some great devices at CTIA, but the one device that I wanted to slip into my pocket was the Samsung ...

参加完 国际电子消费展 (CES) 和 全球移动通信大会 (MWC) 之后，我发现 Android 已不再仅仅是一种手机操作系统；它可用于多种不同形式的设备：手机、电子阅读器、平板电脑、智能本、机顶盒 (STB) 等等。由于 Android 是开源平台，因此任何人均可根据自己的需要对其进行自定义。我们的某些软件合作伙伴正在向设备制造商提供 Android 自定义服务。

...

This is a traditional time of year as I prepare for 2010 Mobile World Congress to think about what we are going to see in the mobile world in 2010, and start the office sweepstake on how many phones and laptops we will have stolen this year.

If you are reading this at the end of 2010 and totally impressed with my forecasting skills, well thank you, if you are bent double with laughter then this is proof on how dynamic the mobile market is.

So as I’m an old tech guy I will give you my 10 (octal) predictions for 2010, or should I say 3732?

Consumers Just Want to Do More with More ARM Processors

As Smartphones become an integral part of the consumer’s digital life they expect their Smartphone to handle that many tasks without having to wait. In response to this demand expect Smartphones to increase their multitasking capacity through software/UI enhancements, and through the hardware with the adopt...

For ARM this is very exciting news, here is how we see the impact:

It levels the playing field. Fo...

At ARM TechCon3 last week, we had a chance to catch up with Brian Carlson of TI and Bill Galione of ST-Ericsson.

Brian Carlson took us through some of the emerging ARM based mobile computing devices using TI’s OMAP 3 technology. The highly responsive Palm Pre which is powered by the ARM Cortex-A8 which supports multiple applications at a time. The Archos internet tablet is the first OMAP 3 Android product that runs at 800 MHz. This very fast device can open multiple windows at one time and has a handy touch magnifying tool for close up reading. Carlson says there is much to look forward to from the OMAP 4 and the ARM Cortex-...

过去几个月来，基于 ARM 处理器的移动计算平台在中国一直备受关注。手机行业和 PC 行业的众多企业均对此“新兴”市场兴趣满满。此外，芯片集供应商已成为该市场中的关键合作伙伴，因为他们拥有芯片和公板设计。高性能 ARM 移动计算平台（如基于 Cortex-A8 的平台）比以往的平台更加复杂。因此，来自芯片集供应商的直接支持对于 ODM/OEM 完成初步设计非常重要。每周我都会接到来自这些公司的几通电话，询问有关该市场的更新信息（包括他们可以并肩合作的任何合作伙伴的信息）。有些电话非常有趣，因为是从深圳地区（多数灰色市场厂商聚集的地方）我从未听说过的某些公司打来的。灰色市场是指制售品牌非常小甚至无品牌或营销活动的设备的中国小型制造商。他们说希望做基于 ARM 的智能移动设备....

中国现在拥有巨大的灰色市场..数百家中小型公司正在这个市场中拼搏挣扎。他们非常灵活变通，只要是可以赚钱的设备，他们都愿意做。他们�...