HP announced a netbook targeting "business applications" and "instructional use," and available with SUSE Linux. The HP Mini 2140 features a 10.1 screen up to 1366 x 768 pixels, Atom N270 processor, 160GB hard disk drive or 80GB SSD (solid state drive), plus an ExpressCard/54 slot.

[Updated 2:45PM] -- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced an X86-compatible chipset for ultra-portable laptops. With its Athlon "Neo MV-40" CPU that resurrects the venerable K8 core, the solderable AMD Yukon chipset could prove interesting for low-cost rugged boards and devices running Linux, though no lifecycle guarantees have been announced.

EMC's Iomega division is readying a networked external hard drive for home users. The Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive is available in a 500GB or a 1TB configurations, runs EMC's LifeLine Linux distribution, and provides networked storage and media streaming services, says Iomega.

PC BIOS giant Phoenix Technologies today launched a fast-booting Linux add-on aimed at PC makers and individual end users. This hands-on review finds "HyperSpace" works to redress slow boot times, WiFi connection hassles, and short battery life, at the cost of hardware and software flexibility.

Qnap Systems announced a six-bay (9TB), Intel Atom-based version of its family of "TS" network-attached storage (NAS) devices. The hot-swappable TS-639 Pro Turbo NAS runs Linux on a 1.6GHz Atom N270, and offers RAID 0-6 support, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, an an iSCSI target server.

Freescale has launched a new Linux-ready system-on-chip (SoC) family based on ARM's Cortex-A8 core clocked from 800MHz to 1GHz. The HD-capable i.MX51 integrates OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG 1.1 accelerators, and will be be delivered in several variants suitable for specific consumer electronics and embedded applications, Freescale says.

Ubuntu Linux 8.04 (Hardy Heron) has been ported to the Sharp Zaurus PDA in an open source distribution called "Zubuntu." Developed by hacker Omegamoon, Zubuntu 1.0 uses the LXDE interface, and can now be booted (mostly) from flash memory.

[Updated: 5PM] -- Freescale Semiconductor is sampling a system-on-chip (SoC) expected to compete with Intel's Atom processor in the netbook market. Offered with an Ubuntu Linux-based reference design from Pegatron, the i.MX515 uses ARM's Cortex-A8 core clocked from 600MHz to 1GHz, and targets sub-$200 netbooks that offer eight-hour battery life.

Sure, "no va" means "no go" in Spanish. Yet, "Nova" seems to be either the name or the codename for a Linux-based smartphone and device OS stack that handset maker Palm is expected to launch at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

German Linux integrator Millenux is launching a series of monthly workshops for Linux developers and IT managers on open-source Linux topics including high availablity (HA), Debian, and kernel development. The initial January 7 event in Munich will address "mobile computing," plus NoMachine's "NX" Xhosting technology.

Linux and Debian open source leader Thiemo Seufer died in a car accident on December 26, says a memorial notice on LWN.net. Seufer served as binutils maintainer for five years, and helped advance the Linux/MIPS project, while also contributing to the Debian and QEMU projects.

Mozilla Labs has released the first version of its "Fennec" mobile device browser that can be tested on PC desktops. Available for Linux, Windows, Macintosh, Maemo, and Windows Mobile, the "alpha 2" browser boasts extension hooks, faster panning and zooming, and improved look and feel,

With its recent 11.1 release, OpenSUSE has changed the end-user license agreement (EULA) users must accept in order to install the distribution. The new, more Fedora-like license could increase the distribution's appeal among those wishing to redistribute the software, including engineers assembling filesystems for embedded Linux devices.

The Linux Foundation will launch a contest in late January aimed at getting users to create 60-second videos showcasing what Linux means to them. In the finest tradition of open source, the contest riffs off of existing videos developed by commercial software firms.

Aaeon announced a COM Express module powered by Intel's N270 Atom processor. The new "COM-945GSE" targets "leading-edge applications" including gaming, entertainment, and industrial automation, with a 1.6GHz CPU, eight USB ports, two SATA ports, CRT, LCD, or TV video outputs, and gigabit Ethernet, the company says.

Lanner Electronics has announced a space-saving, "half-rack" network appliance that runs Linux on a Core2Duo or Celeron M chip. Targeting network security and acceleration applications, the FW-7872 has five Ethernet ports, a serial port, two internal SATA ports, and two external SATA connectors,

This article describes setting up an embedded Linux cross-development environment targeting a virtual machine running on the development host. It covers installing Qemu and using it to debug applications and kernels, both with supplied test-images and with custom kernel/filesystem images created with Buildroot.

Samsung Electronics will ship its first Android phone in the second quarter of of 2009, says a Korea IT News story. The phone will be released in North America by Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA, and Samsung's Android team reportedly now has 80 developers.

The market for MIDs, netbooks, and other devices that straddle the notebook and smartphone formats will turn into a battleground between X86 and ARM architectures, says ABI Research. The competition will come down to ARM's power-saving advantage vs. the X86 edge in software compatibility, says ABI.

Neuros has announced its first "bounties" for developing Ubuntu-based Linux software on its Neuros LINK open-source set-top box (STB) (pictured). The cash bounties cover Netflix, Move Networks, and iTunes integration, as well as projects on networking, video resolution, error reporting, and GUI upgrades, says Neuros.