Photos: The best of Mobile World Congress 2015

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A look at some of the biggest product news to come out of Barcelona… 

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Wearables and tablets and phones, oh my! Mobile devices of every kind were sprawled out across the exhibition halls at Mobile World Congress this week, where nearly 2,000 companies gathered in Barcleona to show off a slew of products to a 90,000-plus crowd. While every major brand was well-represented, HTC, Huawei, Samsung, LG and Microsoft were among the names that stole the spotlight as they debuted next generations of their flagship gadgets. Beyond that, a number of emerging IoT startups also drew a great deal of attention with their new wave of projects, from smart buttons to slick watches.

So without further ado, here’s some of the best things we saw over the last couple of days — other than the paella, tapas and Catalan wine, of course!

Microsoft Lumia 640 and 640 XL

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

HTC Grip

HTC Re Vive

Huawei Smartwatch and Talkbands

Huawei Mediapad x2

HP Spectre x360

Sony Xperia M4 Aqua

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet

Runcible Anti-Smartphone

Pebble Time Steel

LG Watch Urbane and Urbane LTE

LG Spirit and Magna

Microsoft Folding Keyboard

BlackBerry Leap

Silent Circle Blackphone 2

Guess Connect

Ford MoDe:Me Bike

Xiaomi Yi Action Camera

IKEA Qi Wireless Charging Furniture

La Comanda Click’N’Pizza

Atmel looks back at Q1 2014 wins and launches

Yesterday, Atmel execs detailed the company’s Q1 2014 highlights. Key launches, collaborative projects and product wins spanned multiple markets, including:

Winning with maXTouch (smartphones) – LG’s G Pro 2, G2 Mini and L Series 3 L90; Verizon’s Lucid 3, Xiaomi’s RedRice 5.5″, Gionee’s Elife S5.5 and ZTE’s Grand S Lite.

Winning with maXTouch (Android and Windows 8 tablets) – Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 4 10.1,” Galaxy Tab 12.2,” Galaxy Note 12.2″ and HP’s EliteBook 1000 G2.

Collaborating with Corning – Developing ultra-thin, next-generation capacitive touchscreens using Gorilla Glass and XSense.

Working with Mentor Graphics – Accelerating development of next-gen IoT devices using Atmel’s ARM-based Cortex M3 and M4 based microcontrollers under the auspices of the Embedded Nucleus Innovate Program.

Launching maXTouch 1066T and 1068T – Extending product leadership in the large screen capacitive touch market with devices targeted at 7″ – 8.9″ high performance tablets.

Introducing the new automotive maXTouch S lineup – Targeting touchscreens up to 14″ in center consoles, navigation systems, radio interfaces and rear-seat entertainment systems.

Debuting the SmartConnect platform – Integrating Atmel’s ultra-low power microcontrollers (MCUs) and wireless connectivity solutions into turnkey solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Introducing new low-power ARM Cortex M0+ microcontrollers (SAM D21, D10 and D11) – Offering Atmel’s peripheral event system, support for capacitive touch button, slider and wheel user interfaces, multiple serial communications modules, along with a full-speed USB interface, as well as additional pin and memory combinations.

Unveiling new $79 SAMA5D3 Xplained evaluation kit – Providing a low-cost, fast prototyping and evaluation platform for microprocessor-based design built around Atmel’s SAMA5D3 ARM Cortex-A5 processor-based MPU.

Xplaining 8-bit development– Offering a development board for Makers and engineers based on Atmel’s 8-bit AVR technology.

Launching the ATPL230A – Introducing a Power Line Communications (PLC) modem designed to implement the physical layer of the PRIME standard (Power Line Intelligent Metrology Evolution).

Rolling out Atmel Studio 6.2 – Upgrading the popular integrated development environment for Atmel AVR and ARM based microcontrollers.

Ramping up with LIN – Extending Atmel’s automotive in-vehicle networking leadership position with the launch of next-generation, low-power local interconnect networking (LIN) systems.

Hewlett Packard talks 3D printing

Hewlett Packard (HP) is currently prepping its first 3D printer for a mid-2014 launch.

“This is an acorn in 2014 and 2015 with very good long potential. Right, you’ve heard me say we got to plant acorns than they will eventually become oak trees but you should think in 2014 and 2015,” HP CEO Meg Whitman said earlier this week during a quarterly financial analyst conference call quoted by 3Ders.org.

“This is an acorn that maybe has very good long potential but the market is at its earlier stages. There’s a lot of potential to print in ways most consumers and companies would find acceptable.”

Whitman also noted that HP was “excited” about entering the 3D printing market.

“So we intend to play in the 3D printing market because it isn’t adjacency. It’s obviously different than paper printing but some of the technology is the same. And at least as we see here today, we anticipate adding – entering this organically,” Whitman explained. “And what we’re doing is focusing on what’s the value proposition by market segment, whether that be consumer or industrial. We’ve got some very interesting things coming. So stay tuned in 2014.”

As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the DIY Maker Movement has been using Atmel-powered 3D printers like MakerBot and RepRap for some time now. However, 3D printing recently entered a new and important stage in a number of spaces including the medical sphere, architectural arena, science lab and even on the battlefield.

Indeed, the meteoric rise of 3D printing has paved the way for a new generation of Internet entrepreneurs, Makers and do-it-yourself (DIY) manufacturers. So it comes as little surprise that the lucrative 3D printing industry remains on track to be worth a staggering $3 billion by 2016 – and $8.41 billion by 2020

The May 2013 Silicon Valley eFlea electronic flea market

The Silicon Valley electronic flea market, dubbed the eFlea by my pal and long-time attendee Dave Ruigh is this Saturday, May 11, 2013. My buddies and I try to get the eFlea by 6:00AM. Then around 9:30 we go over to Bobbies breakfast bistro and compare purchases and catch up on the scuttlebutt. We are often still gabbing by 1:00PM. There is a 3-dollar parking fee at the eFlea—you have to get a ticket out of one of the machines or you get a real ticket for 35 bucks. If you want to sell it’s still only 20 dollars for two parking spaces inside the market.

Be sure to get to the eFlea at the crack of dawn if you want to scoop up the really good stuff. Many attendees carry powerful LED flashlights to help pierce the darkness.

Because I go to the eFlea with my totally cool pals, they tip me off about toally cool gear like these Blonder-Tongue units.

My EE buddies are always looking for test equipment. Here is a nice HP signal generator. That is why you used to see Jim Williams and Bob Pease at the eFlea. Bob Dobkin, the founder of Linear Tech is there most months, as is Dennis Monticelli from TI.

Here is a nice Tek scope. There are scads of test equipment every month. Hey, something has to compensate us for living in this over-priced hell-hole called California.

There is a fellow who deals Metcals and every other type of soldering equipment you can think of. The eFlea is where you get that 0.010 lead solder.

Ya can’t design it if ya can’t see it. All my pals have an assortment of visual acuity enhancers, everything from eye loupes to these zoom inspection microscopes.

And here is a modest selection of power tools.

Well, you get the idea and see why it’s a good thing to show up early. Next post I will talk about our breakfasts at Bobbies and the cool gizmos we find.