VIA to release quad core Nanos by the end of next year

VIA's Nano processors are single core at the moment, they should be dual core by the end of the year and apparently they'll be quad core by the end of next year. When VIA released its monthly sales figures for August, the Press Release unsually included a few tid bits about future plans.
A VN11 chipset with DirectX support with support the new quad cores, providing more juice to the embedded computing space than ever before.
VIA's focus will still be on low power and I'd suggest the new chips will be aimed at enterprise level storage and server solutions and not at your next desktop.
Source: Thing.co.uk

VIA Em-ITX board in racing car!

The VIA Em-ITX form factor is the embedded platform that I refer to as LEGO-inspired. You take the VIA EITX 3000 board and then, if you need to, you can plug in smaller boards to add more features. This project, however, proves that the EITX-3000 is just as valuable on its own.

Students from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Lakehead University in Canada, built a race car to compete in the Formula SAE competition. 2010 was there second entry and second car, and their design is impressive.

The Lakehead University car can go from 0-100km/h (60 mph) in just four seconds! The 600CC engine was designed for a Honda motorcycle but they adapted it for use with the steel tube space frame that the team designed and constructed. The drive train is 6 speed short geared, chain drive, with a spool differential. It’s also decked out with suspension.

What’s particularly unique about the car is that there’s a little VIA PC inside all hooked up for engine adjustments, fuel monitoring, driver communication, GPS tracking and more.

The VIA EITX-3000 has two Gigabit Ethernet ports, two RS-232 and two RS-232/422/485 ports and six USB ports, giving ample room for all of the diverse connections the team needed.

Allan C. Pan who worked in the Electrical Team said that the VIA board was used for:

1) Real-time Engine control for both monitoring and on-fly perimeters adjustment
2) Real-time Air-Fuel Ratio for both monitoring and on-fly perimeters adjustment
3) Real-time GPS vehicle tracking over google earth and other map software
4) two Real-time Video and Audio feeds (one over see the the driver+road ahead and other one over see the suspension system)
5) two wireless networks, 1 for peer to peer connection using VPN, other one to connect other open/provided wifi netowrk for internet data access
6) WiMax network
7) dual Bluetooth PAN network, one for host system peripherals, the other one for data accessing
8) video streaming over LAN and WAN with compression

Many, many different crew members can be monitoring, tuning and communicating with the car and the driver, all at the same time, thanks to the VIA EITX-3000 board.

Earlier this month the team competed in the FSAE Michigan 2010 and they cam 39 out of 120 – not a bad showing at all!

You never know where you’ll find a VIA embedded board!

VIA says Intel's anti-competative nature still thrives

It wasn't that long ago that VIA sold more chipsets than Intel.
"Early in this decade, VIA was the most thriving chip-design company in Taiwan. It became a global leader that catered to almost 40 percent of the world chipset market and had annual revenue of nearly $1 billion. Back then, these achievements put VIA ahead of Intel."
VIA's VP of marketing, Richard Brown, blames Intel in part for the huge change of business for VIA. Commenting on Intel's 1.25 billion payout to AMD to settle anti-competative charges out of court, he has told TheMoneyTimes that "We do think the anti-competitive environment is still here and still needs to be looked at very carefully.”
He also pointed to a bright future ahead for VIA as the market focuses on mobility and low power consumption instead of Intel's MHz focus.

VIA embedded platforms will support Windows Embedded Standard 2011

With the release of Windows 7 just weeks away, Microsoft are keen to talk up the embedded counterpart to the full desktop OS, Windows Embedded Standard 2011. Like previous versions of Windows Embedded, the OS comes in component form so that OEMs can just choose the bits they need for their designs. VIA has long been a partner of Microsoft with their embedded versions, with all (so far as I can see) their products supporting the OS. The Windows 7-based Embedded Standard 2011 will be no different, according to a Press Release issued Tuesday.
"These features include support for 64-bit CPUs, Windows Aero user interface, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Touch (including multi-gesture touch interfaces and context-aware applications) and Windows Flip 3D navigation. These features enable developers to create product differentiation while focusing on their core competencies."

VB8003 and Trinity video

VIA shot a video about the VB8003 back in June, during the Computex trade show in VIA's home town of Taipei. At the time, the board was tucked away on the booth. The VIA Trinity platform had been announced but no product had actually been released. Here's the video, which was put on YouTube just three days ago:

New ETX board from AAEON

VIA's processors may soon find themselves responsible for entertaining folks, with the announcment of some new boards from AAEON, designed for high end entertainment devices.
"According to the specifications of the new board, customers will be provided with a 4.5 x 3.7-inch ETX COM format that boasts a 1.6GHz VIA Eden or a 2.0GHz VIA C7 processor, combined with VIA's fully integrated CX700M media system processor, or chipset. Dubbed EXT-CX700M, the board has been designed to support up to 1GB of DDR2 memory." - Softpedia.com.

Fujitsu FUTRO S100: Thin, power savvy and noiseless

Fujitsu has launched an ultra thin client for those who don't have enough space to accommodate fully fledged desktops or server based thin clients at their workplace. The Fujitsu FUTRO S100 is not only thin but it's also exceptionally silent due to the presence of a fanless VIA Eden ULV processor. It also features 512MB internal flash drive, Ethernet port, four USB 2.0 ports, and serial and PS/2 ports. This 1.7-inch thick device is Linux compatible and consumes only 11 watts or less under full load. Since its announcement, a lot of technical experts have expressed their views about it. Check out a few here.