WindowsForDevices.com Newsletter -- April 1, 2004 
      WELCOME TO THE WINDOWSFORDEVICES.COM WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

                          April 1, 2004

               by Rick Lehrbaum -- Editor-in-chief

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MICROSOFT UNVEILS TECH PREVIEW OF WINDOWS CE 5.0
Microsoft unveiled a Technology Preview Kit for Windows CE 5.0,
previously code-named "Macallan," this week at the Embedded Systems
Conference in San Francisco.  Microsoft says the final version of
Windows CE 5.0 will focus on increasing developer productivity through a
variety of feature enhancements including increased out-of-the-box
hardware support, security enhancements, advanced multimedia
capabilities, and automated testing tools.
Read full story


MICROSOFT REVEALS EXPANDED VOIP FEATURES OF WINDOWS CE 5.0
Microsoft announced expanded VoIP features that will be part of Windows
CE 5.0 this week at the Spring 2004 Voice on the Net conference.
Microsoft also disclosed a number of upcoming VoIP-based client devices
and services -- including desktop and wireless phones, IP set-top boxes,
residential gateways, and thin clients -- running the Windows CE
operating system.
Read full story


21ST CENTURY WURLITZER JUKEBOX PLAYS DIGITAL AUDIO, RUNS WINDOWS CE
Gibson Audio's Wurlitzer Digital Jukebox, which recently won the "Best
of Audio" award at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show, and was selected
by Popular Mechanics for an "Editor's Choice Award," was showcased at
the Embedded Systems Conference this week in San Francisco.  When it
hits production later this year, the device will run Windows CE in both
its wireless remote control and its base control unit.
Read full story


HALF-VGA RUGGED HANDHELD RUNS CE .NET 4.2
LXE has unveiled its latest rugged wireless handheld computer, a
horizontal half-screen device based on a 400MHz Intel PXA255 XScale
processor running Microsoft's Windows CE .NET 4.2 embedded OS. The model
MX3X boasts a unique "easy in/out" vehicle mounting system that enables
it to perform equally well as either a vehicle-mounted or handheld computer.
Read full story


WINDOWS CE POWERED HANDHELD TRANSLATOR RECEIVES MILITARY AWARD
VoxTec won the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Award presented
by the US Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) earlier this
month at a ceremony held to recognize significant achievements during
the annual DARPATech Symposium in Anaheim, CA.  VoxTec won the award in
recognition of its development of the Windows CE powered Phraselator, a
rugged handheld language translation device used by the US military.
Read full story


HIGHLIGHTS (AND TRANSCRIPT) OF BILL GATES TALK AT MOBILE DEVCON
In his keynote address at the co-located Microsoft Mobile Developer
Conference (DevCon) 2004, VSLive!, and AVIOS~SpeechTEK Spring 2004
conferences, Bill Gates described Microsoft's vision for seamless
computing, discussing a wave of technologies that enable connected,
information-driven applications, and "rich" interfaces and experiences.
Read full story


ESC BEST OF SHOW AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Wind River was named the overall Best of Show winner at the 2004
Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) for its full-scale replica of the
VxWorks-based Mars Rover.  Category winners were also announced for six
device categories.  In the Industrial category, Applied Data Systems
won, for presenting Macrovision Corp.'s Windows CE based Nomad Expert
Technician System, a wireless wearable computer currently used by
automotive service technicians to superimpose text and diagrams from
electronic service manuals.
Read full story


PC/104 CONSORTIUM ANNOUNCES 2004 DESIGN CONTEST WINNERS
The PC/104 Consortium announced the winners of its annual design contest
this week at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Francisco.  One
winner was an autonomous model helicopter developed by a team from the
University of Southern California.  Not only can AVATAR fly without
human intervention, it can also perform GPS waypoint navigation,
autonomous vision-based landing and autonomous sensor-based take-off,
and image processing from three Firewire cameras.  Check out the cool
photos and other details!
Read full story


FIVE SBC MAKERS LAUNCH MID-SIZED EMBEDDED SBC STANDARD
Five prominent single board computer manufacturers jointly unveiled a
proposed new industry standard this week. Dubbed "EPIC" -- an acronym
for "Embedded Platform for Industrial Computing" -- the new form-factor
sits smack in the middle between the size of the popular PC/104 and EBX
embedded SBC standards.
Read full story


OTHER NOTEWORTHY ITEMS FROM THE PAST WEEK . . .

*  VenturCom releases v6.0 of RTX real-time Windows extension
   Read full story

*  New 'low cost' Sharp SoCs support Windows CE
   Read full story

*  NetSilicon adds Windows CE SDK to ARM9-based SoC
   Read full story

*  Cirrus certifies 'highly integrated' ARM-9 SoC for Windows CE
   Read full story

*  Microsoft rolls out tech previews of next-gen mobile device
   development tools
   Read full story

*  New TI OMAP chip targets handheld terminals, runs Windows CE
   Read full story

*  Software improves VoIP voice quality, supports Pocket PC
   Read full story

*  Mobile gaming dev tool supports Windows Mobile, Windows CE
   Read full story

*  Building and testing a Windows CE stream driver
   Read full story

*  ATI Xilleon SoC to power Windows Media Center Extenders
   Read full story

*  VIA releases security tools, sample application source
   Read full story


. . . and that's not all.  Check here for the latest breaking news:

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