When we first heard about Archos’ new line of Honeycomb tablets, we were pleased by their low prices and optional 3G USB stick option. Archos is releasing these tablets at a time where consumers have made it abundantly clear that they are far less likely to spend $500+ dollars on a tablet no matter what its specs are. On September 30, the 8-inch Archos 80 G9 (8GB) tablet will be available through 20,000 stores around the world for $299.99. Pre-orders will start being accepted on September 20.

Apparently a promotional image for Texas Instruments and Google Android has already been devised and TI will use the image for events starting in the Fall. Google will likely be creating an inaugural device for the iconic Android Ice Cream Sandwich platform — the OS version that works on both tablets and smartphones. For quite more »

The name “Skyhook” may not be familiar to a lot of you. If you’re an Apple keynote watcher, you may remember Steve Jobs mentioning a deal with them when talking about GPS. They are the company that allows location triangulation using Wi-Fi access points. Now Texas Instruments is interested in Skyhook. The two are partnering more »

Archos, a company mainly known for their PMPs, is planning to enter the smartphone market with their Internet Media Tablets (“IMT”) by employing Google’s Android OS.

If you are familiar with Archos’ IMT features, then you will be pleased to know that they would remain the same in an Android smartphone. To recap, here are some core features that would be present in this smartphone: 5-inch screen, Adobe Flash and Flash Video support, unrestricted access to TV, movies, music, games, photos, TV recording and HD playback, 500GB storage, 7 hour video playback battery life, and it runs on a 3.5G 7.2Mb/s HSUPA. Essentially, it is similar to the Archos 5g Internet Media Tablet with the main difference of voice support and the Android OS.

Monday, January 26, 2009 may earn the name Black Monday as over 40,000 people were told they were losing their jobs as several large corporations cut labor forces in an increasingly weak economy. Global technology company Texas Instruments was one of those companies, cutting 1,800 workers and 1,600 jobs that will be vacated by voluntary retirement.

Most of the jobs will come from internal support functions according to TI chairman, president, and CEO Rich Templeton.

Fulton Innovation brought its ecoupled wireless charging system to CES. While a competitor showed marketable products, Fulton showed working models but no finished products with release dates.

The booth simulated a home with an office, a living room, and a kitchen so a consumer or manufacturer could see how the system could be used in everyday life. On display was a modded iPhone, a Nintendo Wii remote, a remote control, a blender, several other cell phones, a laptop charger, and a portable tool chest.

You probably remember sitting in a movie theater, wearing those crazy blue and red glasses, the big monster seeming to come off the screen right at you. Well, 3D has come even further, and is even more amazingly lifelike. And one of the latest steps forward is actually a step into the past to Ancient Egypt.

Dolby Laboratories just announced yesterday that their 3D Digital Cinema was chosen to present the Giant Screen Films’ “Egypt 3D: Secrets of the Mummies.” This is a companion movie to “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age,” the National Geographic exhibition that tours all over.

Read more to find out about what tech Dolby is using with 3D movies.

Imagine being able to power your smoke alarm in your house without ever needing to change your batteries. It would get it’s energy simply from the energy and vibrations from everything around it. That is the goal of Texas Instruments. They call it “energy scavenging”, and they say the reality is not that far away.

Employing the inventor of the original microchip Jack Kilby, Texas Instruments, currently the world’s third largest chip maker, is busy trying to break another electronic frontier. This time by creating a chip that uses an infinitesimally small amount of energy to operate. They actually did a demonstration showing a clock being run on…get this…grapes.