hurricanemaxi
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 Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 1:16 pm Post subject: Tiny Android "Cotton Candy" USB Stick |
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Fresh Android device comes from a Norwegian startup headed by the man who sold ARM Holdings its GPUs
The popularity of Google, Inc.'s (GOOG) Android has naturally inspired Google and its allies to pursue pushing into new markets. Thus far many of these projects, like the Chrome OS laptops and Google TV (which is actually a modified version of Android), have been relative failures.
But inventive types keep coming up with new solutions.
I. Android on a Stick
The latest such product is "Cotton Candy" from FXI Technologies. To wrap your brain around this quirky device, imagine a Galaxy S II smartphone from Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KS:005930). Now take away the LCD screen. Cut out the modem. Remove everything except the core components -- the Mali GPU; the 1.2 GHz Samsung Exynos Processor; the DRAM; Bluetooth/Wi-Fi; and the NAND Flash memory.
That's more or less what's inside Cotton Candy.
This hardware is then inserted inside a USB stick, which has a HDMI connector its second side. The device also has a microSD slot, and appears to have a micro USB connector on its side, as well. It's loaded with Android 2.3 "Gingerbread".
The device can be plugged into computers and will launch a stand-alone Android window, which is merely a video feed from the operating system running on the USB stick. You can use computers' built in touch pads as touch input to the operating system. The unit was demoed to The Verge working with the pad on the Apple, Inc. (AAPL) MacBook Air.
The device can also be plugged into a TV using the HDMI connector. In this configuration, alternate input sources like a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard are necessary.
II. FXI Tech. CEO Helped Cook Up ARM Holdings' GPU Core
The product is the brainchild of Borgar Ljosland. Mr. Ljosland might not be a familiar name for American audiences, but he's a big name in the Norwegian electronics market.
Starting his career as a farmer, he later attended technical university. After graduation he co-founded and served as the chief executive at Falanx Microsystems, a company who cooked up low power IP (intellectual property) graphics cores. An "IP core" is a logic design, which is then transferred to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or an field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip to make working hardware -- in this case a GPU.
ARM Holdings, Plc. (LON:ARM), the world's biggest CPU maker in terms of architecture licenses, scooped up Falanx in 2006. It used Falanx's designs as a basis of its Mali GPUs, which today are found on smartphones like the Galaxy S II.
Mr. Ljosland worked for three years at ARM Holdings as a director of business development. He left in 2009, and after a brief stint as board chairman at Bassmakin, became chief executive of FXI Technologies a startup in based out of Trondheim, Norway.
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