Aldebaran Robotics and Nuance Communications are teaming up to help Aldebaran’s pint-sized Nao humanoid robot interact better with its human companions — in 19 different languages. Nao, which runs a customized version of Gentoo Linux on its 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 brain, is touted as a programmable, interactive humanoid robot featuring motion, vision, tactile, and audio capabilities. All that, and it’s cute, too!

Via Technologies announced a line of ARM-based Via Springboard SBCs supported with Android and Linux BSPs, and support services from prototyping to pre-production testing and diagnostics. The first Springboard is the $99, Pico-ITX-based VAB-600, built around a Via WM8950 SoC with a single 800MHz Cortex-A9 core, and featuring an I/O extender card and an optional WiFi module.

Toradex has launched a pair of Linux-ready SODIMM style computer-on-modules that incorporate the Freescale Vybrid SoC and start at as little as $26 in volume. The Colibri VF61 COM incorporates the Vybrid VF6xx SoC, which combines a 500MHz Cortex-A5 processor running Linux with a 167MHz Cortex-M4 microcontroller, while the low-cost Colibri VF50 COM uses the VF5x SoC model which omits the Cortex-M4 and runs at 400MHz.

The Tizen phone failed to make an appearance at Samsung’s Developer Conference this week, with some observers suggesting the mobile Linux platform could be delayed yet again to early 2014. Meanwhile, in a move to lure more developers, Tizen.org released an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) preview release based on the upcoming Tizen 3.0, extended its $4 million Tizen App Challenge to Dec. 8, and announced more third-party tools support.

At ARM TechCon, Cavium demonstrated an SDK for its upcoming ARMv8-based Project Thunder SoC family, and announced Ubuntu support for Project Thunder, while Cavium subsidiary MontaVista announced Carrier Grade Linux support for ARMv8. Meanwhile, Cavium and MontaVista joined Linaro and other companies in launching OpenDataPlane, an open source networking SoC interoperability standards organization for Linux.

Echelon Corp. announced an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) framework for peer-to-peer networking of embedded controllers. The IzoT multi-protocol stack is now available in an ARM-ready beta version and reference implementation optimized for the Linux-based Raspberry Pi SBC, and will soon be included in Marvell’s Easy Connect SDK for Marvell’s 88MC200 WiFi SoC.

Altera announced a new high-end ARM/FPGA Stratix SoC, and also the first processor to be manufactured with Intel’s 14nm 3D Tri-Gate process. The Linux-friendly Stratix 10 SX SoC will incorporate a quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 subsystem integrated with floating-point DSP blocks and gigahertz-speed FPGA fabric that offers twice the core performance of previous Stratix FPGAs, claims Altera.

ARM announced an embedded version of its ARMv8 architecture that will add virtualization and lightweight Linux support to the next of generation Cortex-R processors. The ARMv8-R architecture is 32-bit, but borrows features from the 64-bit ARMv8-A such as hardware-based virtualization and a more advanced MPU, enabling safety-critical embedded applications like automotive computers to run RTOSes, bare metal code, and Linux and Android on a single processor.

Mentor Graphics announced a small-footprint hypervisor designed for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and automotive telematics systems that use its Linux-, Android-, Nucleus-, and AUTOSAR-based automotive middleware. Mentor Embedded Hypervisor supports single- or multi-core AMP and SMP architectures, as well as ARM TrustZone security technology, and can partition devices and memory to prevent unauthorized access.

Sage Electronic Engineering, has released a free board support package for AMD’s community-backed Gizmo SBC equipped with the open source, Coreboot-based SageBIOS bootloader. SageBIOS BSP for Gizmo further supports the $189, G-Series-based Gizmo board with “free payloads and drivers to enable peripherals,” says the company.

Digia announced an Android and Linux-targeted embedded version of its cross-platform Qt GUI framework called Qt Enterprise Embedded that combines a Qt Creator based IDE with a new embedded Boot to Qt stack. The Digia-backed Qt project also released the beta of Qt 5.2 with a new Scene Graphic renderer and the first production-ready support for Android and iOS.

Systena began shipping what appears to be the first new mobile device to run the Linux-based Tizen OS. Aimed at developers in Japan, the Systena tablet runs Tizen 2.1 on a quad-core, 1.4GHz Cortex-A9 system-on-chip, features a 10.1-inch (1920 x 1200) display, and offers 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

Taiwan-based Gigastone announced the first U.S. release of the SmartBox, a $40 Linux-based mobile accessory that combines an SD card reader, a WiFi content streamer and personal wireless network, and a 2500mAh-strong battery charger. The SmartBox lacks its own internal storage or Internet access, but can wirelessly stream SD card content to up to six mobile devices via WiFi.

Wind River announced Wind River Linux 6, featuring Yocto Project 1.5 Linux kernel and toolchain, and expanded multi-architecture hardware support including 64-bit ARMv8. Wind River also announced a faster new Yocto-compatible version of its carrier-grade Wind River Open Virtualization software.

Via Technologies announced what it says is the industry’s first quad-core ARM-based Pico-ITX single board computer (SBC), featuring Android or Ubuntu Linux running on the 1GHz Freescale i.MX6Quad system-on-chip. The VAB-820 offers 1GB RAM, 4GB flash, a microSD slot, and coastline HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, composite video, and dual USB 2.0 ports, and supports extended temperature operation.

Telefonica announced the launch of Firefox OS 1.1 phones in Brazil, including the debut of LG’s first Firefox OS phone. The LG Fireweb offers a larger 4-inch screen and a more capable 5-megapixel camera than Telefonica’s current ZTE and Alcatel Firefox OS phones, but is limited to same 480 x 320 resolution.

Artila Electronics announced the release of an 80 x 50mm computer-on-module (COM) that runs Linux or Android on an ARM Cortex A8-based Freescale system-on-chip. The M-5360A module plugs into application baseboards via three bottom-side headers carrying numerous I/O interfaces including dual LVDS, VGA, SATA, Fast Ethernet, SD, USB 2.0, serial, and CAN bus.

Avnet released two Linux-based Software Defined Radio (SDR) development kits that combine Xilinx ARM/FPGA Zynq-7000 SoCs with Analog Devices RF transceiver modules. The SDR Evaluation Kit uses the community-backed Zedboard SBC and supports 2.4 to 2.5GHz operation, while the more advanced SDR Systems Development Kit is based on a Xilinx ZC706 baseboard and spans the spectrum from 70MHz to 6GHz.

AllGo Embedded Systems announced a new version of its Fast Boot Android in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) software said to boot Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) to full IVI system availability within four seconds. The Fast Boot Android support is intended for integration alongside the company’s Media & Connectivity IVI Suite, which includes a multimedia engine middleware package.

A startup called Wi-MM is prepping a bicycle computer that promises to notify users if their bike is stolen, then sound an alarm and track it down via GPS. The Bike+ BPU-100 device runs on embedded Linux, links to cloud services via a 3G cellular modem, and offers additional capabilities like route tracking, real-time location and mapping, Bluetooth sync to smartphones, and fleet management features.