There's a gadget being developed that will eventually allow humans to communicate without the need for words. It takes the form of a neckband and picks up thought signals being transmitted to the vocal cords. A video demonstration can be watched in the full article. Just click the "read more" link below.

DCEmu Webmaster Wraggster announced that Homebrew Developer JimE has come out with WabbitDS, a TI-83+ Emulator. For those unfamiliar with TI-83+, it is a graphing calculator released by Texas Instruments and allowed for coding in both TI-BASIC and machine code.

The developer placed in a few nifty features in the application that make it easier to use. In addition to the basic functions as a graphing calculator, Wabbit DS also has a disassembler and a rotatable GUI. This program is pretty simple to use with customizable key configuration options and full touchscreen support.

Download: WabbitDS

Find more info in the full article.

Being ever so faithful to the homebrew community, ZX-81 has released an update for his PSPXTI TI-92 Calculator Emulator. To give you a refresher, this homebrew is an emulator of the TX-81 calculator from Texas Instruments (which has already been released under GPL).

The release today sees ZX-81's project at v1.2.1 status and one of its biggest developments is that it now supports the PSP Slim. The IR Keyboard functionality, as implemented in the previous version, has likewise gotten an update. Here's the full changelog for PSPXTI TI-92 Calculator Emulator v1.2.1:

• Now compatible with custom firmwares 3.x and PSP-slim
• Option to prevent the blue led to be displayed when L or R are pressed
• It has been linked with latest IR keyboard library so it should work better with Palm Keyboard
• The power '^' character is now properly mapped on IR keyboard
• Add a simple intro splash screen
• Support iso8859-1 fonts in print text functions (might be useful to translate menus in german, french ...)
• Bug fix and code cleaning

Those wishing to use this emulator are encouraged to look at the relevant txt files included in the download, most importantly the readme. You are also invited to visit the forum release thread linked below to discuss the homebrew with ZX-81 himself. And send him your thanks, while you're at it!

Download: PSPXTI TI-92 Calculator Emulator v1.2.1 fw 3.x
Download: PSPXTI TI-92 Calculator Emulator v1.2.1 fw 1.5
Download: PSPXTI TI-92 Calculator Emulator v1.2.1 src
Visit: PSP Development Forum

Seven big names in the online and mobile industry have banded together in an effort to release a new standard of mobile application software that will be easily available for mobile users everywhere.

ARM, a British company responsible for designing chips for cellphones, announced its plans during the fourth annual ARM Developers' Conference held this week in Sta Clara, California. ARM, along with Samsung, Texas Instruments, Mozilla, Marvell, MontaVista, and Movial have decided to design a Linux-based open source platform to base the next generation of mobile applications on.

The purpose of this new collaboration is the hope that they will be able to create products and technology at a quicker pace with the help of the online community by developing enhanced applications through this open source platform.

ARM plans to release the full platform by 2008 and expects that the first devices bearing this new platform will be available by 2009. However, some critics were saying that the iPhone already has the exact same capabilities as the ones planned by ARM and the other companies.

However, the potential of this new platform is still very high considering the amount of applications open source programmers can contribute to the effort. Mike Inglis, an execute VP at ARM had this to say about the collaboration:

Today's consumers are very knowledgeable about technology, want to be connected to the Internet and access multimedia content and applications anywhere, at anytime, yet they do not want to be restricted by short battery life and inadequate features that will limit their experiences.

By stepping up the collaboration among key stakeholders in the mobile market, we will be able to jointly deliver the devices and applications with the cutting-edge innovation consumers have come to expect.

Remember that nifty little gadget from last year, the external LCD projector that can display images from a mobile phone? Well, Texas Instruments took the idea one step further by creating a cellphone with the projector built right into the device: the Pico Projector.

The device is still in its early stages, and a prototype was demonstrated at a Pepcom event in New York. The actual projected image from the device looks like it still needs some improvement but it's already looking to be pretty nifty.

No more suffering small screens on your mobile phones, and judging from the demo in the video uploaded by Popular Science, it looks like it might make a good substitute for a portable media device as well.

Over twenty-five Gigabytes in the palm of your hand. This is the vision that Intel and other high-brow giants in the industry will be developing when they formed the USB 3.0 Promoter Group to upgrade the existing architecture and technology of current USB standards.

This project will be co-developed by HP, Microsoft Corporation, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments Incorporated, and will aim to improve USB connection speed to up to 10 times the speed we have at present. The new USB 3.0 will be designed to be backward-compatible, preserving the existing USB device class driver infrastructure and investment while improving it's speed and connectivity.

Jeff Ravencraft, technology strategist with Intel and president of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), explains the step up with the new USB technology being developed:

USB 3.0 is the next logical step for the PC's most popular wired connectivity. The digital era requires high-speed performance and reliable connectivity to move the enormous amounts of digital content now present in everyday life. USB 3.0 will meet this challenge while maintaining the ease-of-use experience that users have come to love and expect from any USB technology.

The project will be initially implemented using discrete silicon and is expected to be completed by the first half of 2008. The USB-IF will be expected to act as the trading liaison between Intel and the other companies for the new technology. When the USB 3.0 finally comes out, downloading over 10gb of pictures from your digital camera won't seem that big a deal anymore.

With a whole slew of memory card formats out there it's good news to hear that three big mobile phone companies - Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson - are cooperating to push for a standard unified format. Their plan is to have one single format for mobile phones, digital cameras and other gadgetry that requires a memory card.

Memory card companies are also said to be on board, like Micron Technology Inc., Spansion LLC, STMicroelectronics NV, and Texas Instruments Inc. We might not see the "one card" take over the gadget kingdom in the near future, but with technology running on its current pace it won't be surprising to see it take effect sooner than we expect.

 

More homebrew goodness from master coder Zx-81! He's just dropped by our PSP forums informing us of another release of his PSPXTI: A TI-92 Calculator emulator, this time bringing it up to v1.2.0. This PSP homebrew is a port of Xtiger, a unix emulator of Texas Instrument's TI-92 calculator originally created by Jonas Minnberg. Zx-81 managed to tweak it only after Misha Nasledov made it open sourced.

Anyway, we have a very lean changelog for this version, but that doesn't make it any less important. On the contrary, I personally think that with this update, Zx-81 has made a huge leap in making this port stand out. Why? Well PSPXTI v1.2.0 now has IR keyboard support. The good developer has a few reminders about using this though, here they are:

• You need the rom of your TI-92 or TI-92 plus, but it is NOT part of the PSPXTI package because it is the property of Texas Instruments
• This version works 1.5 and custom firmware 3.X-OE
• It's distributed under GNU licence and sources are included
• It has been developed on linux for Firmware 1.5 and 3.03-OE, and for the IR keyboard part it has been tested using a Targus Universal IR Wireless keyboard

That should clear any confusion regarding this application. However, for installation and instructions on how to use this, make sure you go over the readme file included in the download link below. There's also a PDF version of the TI-92 manual available in the PSP forum thread (also below), so you might want to take a look at that too.

Download: PSPXTI: A TI-92 Calculator emulator v1.2.0 (IR Keyboard)
Visit: QJ's PSP Development Forum

With the multiple patent infringement lawsuits (such as Sony facing at least two concerning Blu-ray) being tossed around lately, it seems that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

Lonestar Inventions has said that the Wii infringes on a patent it holds for a "high capacitance structure in a semiconductor device."

The said patent was granted back in 1993 and shows the implementation of a method which triples the effectiveness of parallel plate capacitors through the use of layers of conducting strips.

This is not the first time Lonestar has sued other companies with regards to this patent. The said company have already sued Texas Instruments and Marvell Semiconductor over this issue before. Both cases were eventually settled, however.

Also just this month, the company sued Eastman Kodak Company alleging infringement of the patent in question. Given these, we can't help but say that this company is no stranger to litigation. Nintendo, on the other hand, has not commented on this issue.

Not much details have come to the public's attention, so it's hard to tell if Lonestar Inventions does have a legal case with this. Hopefully, more news will turn up to enlighten the general public. Be sure to keep checking back here for the latest development on this matter.

About a year ago, DS homebrew developer Davr created DS85, an emulator of the Texas Instruments TI-85 graphing calculator. The calculator itself is an interesting piece of work, as it allowed for a degree of programming and custom apps, ie, homebrew games.

Unfortunately, application also had limited DLDI support. This meant that later-gen Flash cards such as R4 DS, M3 Simply, or CycloDS Evolution were unable to run DS85 even if there were patching tools available.

That just might change in the near future, as Louis (our tipster) has informed us that he's convinced Davr to hand out a DS85's source codes. Louis himself states he's currently busy working on www.comiccrowd.com, so he's asking other willing and able DS devs to check out the app's source codes, and see what sort of playing around that can do. Here are a couple of extra notes from Davr:

• The code is very ugly
• I started making various changes & optimizations & enhancements, but haven't finished them
• It may not even compile, and if it does, you'll be lucky if it works
• Have fun! :)"
  

Guys interested in updating DS85 can just head on over to the download proper. Good luck!

Download: DS85 source codes