Posted 02/09/10 at 02:28:03 PM by Bart Salisbury

Smaller, faster, cheaper is a mantra for today’s mobile communications hardware. Texas Instruments (TI) has taken this to heart, and tossed in multi-tasking and lower power consumer as well. TI is announcing a new chip, the WiLink 7.0, that rolls up Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and FM radio onto a chip that takes up less room, uses less power, and costs less than current multi-chip solutions.

TI says the WiLink crams all of the above into a single 65-nanometer chip, that requires 30 percent less material to build, and takes up 50% less space than existing two-chip solutions. Furthermore, TI says the WiLink will extend talk time and battery life with “Sophisticated Enhanced Low Power (ELP) technology.”

TI claims the WiLink offers best-in-class 3GPP test performance; supports both Bluetooth low-energy and Bluetooth 3.0; will support WiFi Direct and Soft AP as well as 802.11 a/b/g/n; and has improved FM transmit and receive capabilities with internal antenna support.

And, by placing all of them on the same chip, TI says it is able to reduce RF interference to insignificant levels, allowing all four components to operate at the same time without messing with each other. According to TI, a “mobile-device users could determine their current position with GPS, download a related map over a WLAN connection, and listen to an FM radio station over a Bluetooth headset all at the same time.”

Undisclosed OEMs already have the chip, which leads Engadget to speculate that prototype phones may make an appearance at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. TI expects the chip to be in mass-produced devices by the end of 2010.

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Posted 09/09/09 at 04:23:59 PM by Paul Lilly

School is back in session, and that means you or someone you know is probably in the market for a TI-83 or TI-84 graphing calculator. Never mind that Texas Instruments released a more high-tech version last year called the TI-Nspire. The problem, some math teachers say, is that the Nspire is more complex than it needs to be, even if it does function more like a computer than any calculator you've used before.

"TI-Nspire is a bit of a different model. It is taking us more time to have the market understand that," said Melendy Lovett, head of TI's education technology unit.

 While the five-year-old TI-84 Plus remains Texas Instruments' best selling calculator, the Dallas-based company hopes the Nspire will solidify its position as the market leader in the oft-overlooked, yet highly profitable calculator business.

So what makes the Nspire so different? An OS that makes the handheld number cruncher function more like a PC, for one. Students and teachers can run spreadsheets, take notes, view multiple representations of a problem on a single screen, create, save, and review work in electronic documents, and more.

"It sings, it dances, it does the dishes for you," said math tutor and retired teacher Lucinda MacKinnon, who also owns an Nspire. "I can't imagine getting teachers to use that thing in the classroom. There is way too much going on."

Forget about figures of speech - if Texas Instruments comes up with a program that would allow the Nspire to do the dishes, it could charge double the $135 asking price.

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Posted 11/13/08 at 02:46:36 PM by Andy Salisbury

If watching movies on your iPod’s screen is getting a little old, your woes might be gone before you know it. Optoma is planning to release their ultra-compact DLP Pico Projector on December 1st, just in time for the holidays!

The Pico has been labeled as the world’s smallest and lightest DLP projector, measuring only 51mm x 105mm x 17mm, and weighing a negligible 120g. Optoma is planning to offer the device at Apple Stores for roughly $500.

Zune owners (really?) need not worry, because it’ll work with other media players as well. Packing up to two hours of batter life, and a built-in 0.5-watt speaker, you’ll be able to watch most of Titanic using just the projector. Lucky you!

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