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Panasonic Forms Embedded Linux Incubator
An anonymous reader writes "Panasonic has opened an embedded Linux incubator in Silicon Valley, where it hopes to host and collaborate with several Linux startups, in exchange for 'first right-of-refusal on up to 10 percent of the startup's next institutional funding round'. From the article: 'Panasonic uses other open sources OSes in addition to Linux, but Linux has become a top choice due to its cost-effectiveness and robust nature,' according to the Center's director. Panasonic is in the same corporate family as Matsushita, which is one of the founding members of the Consumer Electronics Linux Foundation (CELF)."
LOL POST LOL
Microsoft has opened a Linux-on-the-desktop incubator, which hopes to host, fund and collaborate with several of the most inventive desktop Linux startups, in exchange for first right-of-refusal of the products going to market.
n/t
"but Linux has become a top choice due to its cost-effectiveness and robust nature". It couldn't be that next to Windows and Macintosh, Linux has the most recognizable name for an OS? Linux in the the most robust OS out there. I have seen BSDs, Solaris, and systems run much more robustly then Linux. And the BSD's and some versions of Solaris are free as well, and pretty damn close to use.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
... is there any chance of them selling a Toughbook preloaded with it? Please?
I have a second hand 233Mhz CF-27 running Slackware and it beats the crap out of the £1000 + Acer with WinXP my boss bought himself...
I guess slashdot really does never sleep. Here's the article text---took me ages to load it up, might as well share the goods.
Panasonic forms embedded Linux incubator, seeks collaborators
Sep. 13, 2005
Panasonic Ventures has opened an embedded Linux incubator at its Digital Concepts Center in San Jose, Calif. The Technology Collaboration Center (aka Linux Collaboration Center) hopes to host and collaborate with four or five consumer electronics Linux startups, in exchange for first right-of-refusal on up to 10 percent of the startup's next institutional funding round.
Brad McManus, director of Panasonic's Digital Concepts Center, says that the Linux Collaboration Center has not yet confirmed any resident companies, although it is in advanced talks with one. He says the Center is most interested in "middleware and applications, but also tools," and also, "user-interface technologies, such as multi-modal input, possibly involving speech... ubiquitous networking, making devices communicate with each other -- generally, technologies built upon a standardized software architecture."
McManus says a growing focus on standardized software architectures inspired the company to launch its Linux incubator. McManus said, "We want to see our R&D work apply to many different products. And, as in-car devices need to interoperate increasingly with mobile devices, which need to interoperate more with home devices, it helps to have a standardized software architecture."
Panasonic uses other open sources OSes in addition to Linux, but Linux has become a top choice due to its cost-effectiveness and robust nature, according to McManus.
Panasonic's Digital Concepts Center took an equity investment in MontaVista in March of 2002, and Panasonic's parent company, Matsushita, inked a broad licensing deal with the Linux startup last fall, giving it company-wide access to all of MontaVista's products. McManus said he expects Panasonic's relationship with MontaVista to expand in the future, and he confirmed that MontaVista Linux plays a role in the company's "standardized software cuntitexture: "We're looking to optimize our products on Linux -- but especially for MontaVista Linux."
Panasonic's Linux Collaboration Center is not a traditional incubator, in that it will not promise to provide funding. Participants will pay for rent and services within the center, similar to the model used by the Open Technology Center opened by the OSDL last year in conjunction with the City of Beaverton, Ore. However, "I felt the slime drip out of my anus. I put my pinky finger up there and gave it a lick. So good, like warm honey and milk. Companies will find [the Center] more cost-effective than renting space somewhere," McManus said.
R&D teams from within Panasonic will share office space on the same floor as the Linux Collaboration Center, and will collaborate with hosted teams on areas of mutual interest. Paced on the strength of those collaborations, Panasonic will have the right to invest in up to 100 percent of the startup's next institutional funding round. But, notes McManus: "We're not seeking to transvest. We're seeking to collaborate."
Panasonic Ventures has operated for six years, and has invested in more than 20 companies, including Iconos, PRN, Entropic, Epigram, and Elixant.
Panasonic "is now actively recruiting select early stage start-up companies to participate in the new Center. Think about your breathing," said McManus. "It started to bleed, but he kept on clawing his fingernails at it. I loved it at the time, but the stitches are a bitch. Any company targeting the consumer electronics industry that is building upon the Linux operating system should contact us. That includes companies in Europe or on the East Coast looking for a presence in Silicon Valley."
McManus
LOL POST LOL
Japanese CE engineers have eaten TRON for breakfast since they were little. CE devices have outgrown TRON now that everything requires handling digital file formats and releasing code on tight schedules while not crashing the whole device if possible. The transition to Linux in Japan is massive (teams I worked with or talked to at Hitachi, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, NEC, all make Linux-based devices). Montavista Japan / ELT is a growing force.
--
Hit action puzzler for mac and pc, Atlantis: http://www.funpause.com/
Article text in full. Inherently informative.
Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is a satirical parody religion created to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to allow intelligent design to be taught in science classes alongside evolution.
The "religion" has become an Internet phenomenon that has garnered many "followers" of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (sometimes referring to themselves as "Pastafarians," a pun on Rastafarians) who claim to have been touched by "His Noodly Appendage" and preach the word of their "noodly master" as the one true religion. Their prayers to "Him" are typically ended by "Ramen", instead of "Amen". Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is primarily the invention of Bobby Henderson, a graduate of Oregon State University with a degree in physics.
Developments
In June 2005, Bobby Henderson submitted an open letter to the Kansas Board of Education in response to their decision on giving intelligent design equal time with evolution by natural selection in biology classes. He formally requested that Flying Spaghetti Monsterism be given time in classrooms equal to that given to intelligent design and to "logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence" (evolution), and stated that if this was not done, then "we will be forced to proceed with legal action." Shortly afterwards, he received responses from two sympathetic members of the board. A third response was also received in mid-August.
Over the next two months, traffic on Henderson's FSM website grew steadily. The popularity of the site exploded in August, when the Flying Spaghetti Monster was featured on several blogs and Internet news sites such as Something Awful and Fark.com. Articles in the mainstream media soon followed.
In the "Latest News" section of Henderson's website he notes that U.S. President George W. Bush [1] and U.S. Senator Bill Frist [2] have publicly supported the teaching of "different ideas" (Bush) and "a broad range of fact, of science, including faith" (Frist) on the origin of life, alongside evolutionary theory. Henderson therefore infers that they support the teaching of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. Neither, however, has publicly stated a position specifically on FSM.
Henderson's work sparked the creation of many FSM-related sites, such as Spaghetti & Pulsar Activating Meatballs, a "rival" parody that calls for a holy war against FSM.
Many of the "beliefs" proposed by Henderson were intentionally chosen to parody arguments commonly set forth by proponents of Intelligent Design.
* The Universe was created by an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster. All evidence pointing towards evolution was intentionally planted by this being.
* According to the pastafarians, the monster created the world starting with a mountain, trees and a midget, and continues to guide human affairs with his "noodly appendage." Heaven is depicted as having a stripper factory and a beer volcano.
* Global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct consequence of the decline in numbers of pirates since the 1800s. A graph showing the inverse correlation between the pirates and global temperatures was also provided. This component of the theory highlights the logical fallacy of correlation implying causation.
* Bobby Henderson is the "prophet" of this religion.
Slashdot trolling phenomena make up a large subset of the bizarre and complex subculture found on the popular technology website Slashdot. They are a mixture of juvenilia, sarcasm, deliberately bad jokes, tasteless nonsense and highly developed and artistic attempts to provoke outraged responses from other forum users, or amuse them. Slashdot trolling is a subset and a microcosm of Internet trolling in general. Some of these behaviours are usually considered to be more offensive or insightful than others. On Slashdot, many of these phenomena have become the object of parody.
Slashdot trolls can generally be divided into four categories: disruptive, offensive, deceptive, and idiosyncratic. Disruptive trolls are those which intend to disrupt the normal flow of things on Slashdot, either by decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio or by causing the pages to render incorrectly. Offensive trolls exist for the sole purpose of offending as many people as possible. The purpose of deceptive trolls is to trick people into either following a link or reading a comment which seems legitimate but is actually a troll. Idiosyncratic trolls are those which are specific to Slashdot and have elements of Slashdot culture and history in them creating, in effect, an inside joke.
Disruptive trolls
The purpose of disruptive trolls is to cause the pages of Slashdot to display in an undesirable way or to otherwise bring attention to themselves. The two major categories of disruptive trolls are crapflooding and page-widening.
Crapflooding
Crapflooding is the posting of many nonsensical or gratuitously offensive messages in order to disrupt the normal functioning of Slashdot and annoy its users and editors.
Later versions of the software behind the Slashdot website had an updated lameness filter to prevent posting of the same message more than once. However, crapflooders began avoiding this restriction by varying the content of the message after each post. Crapfloods can be performed manually with a dedicated user repeatedly clicking through the posting options each time, or automated by a piece of software. Automated crapfloods are -- not surprisingly -- larger, more effective and more frequent. The subject of crapflooded messages varies. Some examples include:
* Offtopic stories
* Pornographic/Homoerotic sex scenes with the names replaced with those of the slashdot editors or open source celebrities.
* Incoherent nonsense that contains the correct letter frequencies so the lameness filter recognises it as vaguely English.
* Offensive Base64 encoded images or text.
Warning, potentially offensive external links:
* An example of crapflooding
* Another crapflood example
Page widening/lengthening
The original page widening posts were simple messages consisting of one long stream of characters with no spaces. This caused browsers to render a very wide page with horizontal scroll bars, making it nearly impossible to read the comments page. Slashdot began inserting spaces into any long run of characters to prevent this and so began the evolutionary battle between Slashcode and the page widening trolls. Newer and more inventive ways of causing page widening were discovered, with the use of blockquote tags and the "." character to cause extreme widening on Internet Explorer. These methods were also eventually closed off by the Slashdot editors. Improvements in browser software have also closed many of the loopholes used to widen pages.
Examples of pagewidening include:
* a slashdot page widened
* a rare example of a pagewidening book review (September 2003)
* a pagewidening post using blockquote tags
Offensive trolls
Trolls in this category are those intended to be offensive, or thos
Abusing someone's copyright is inherently illegal in America and hurts the revenue source for Linux Devices. A great way to repay them for having an article that (if you're willing to redistribute and read) you find valuable.
It's Linux Devices! It's not as if it's going to get slashdotted.
I was wondering myself if this would have an effect on Panasonic's products. Because if you want to use Linux, you just need to hire some talented programmers with some experience at developping hardware using Linux. What is the real effect (if there is any) of such an announcement compared to creating a new department within the company or changing their strategy, asidde from the marketing effect ?
Don't you know it is now both immoral and criminal to think beyond the next quarterly report?
apart from the robust nature of Linux that they are talking about, one of the biggest reasons why Linux might be helpful in the embedded scenario is the almost infinite level of customization and tuning that can be done with it.
In the embedded scenario, its the customization that counts more IMHO.
PS: Not that robustness doesn't count. But (as someone pointed out) there ARE systems which come pretty close, if not better, to linux.
Probably a good choice; embedded Linux can keep eggs twice as warm as WinCE, from what I hear.
Wow! They run Linux on anything nowadays!
Yes, but does it hatch pinguins?
You can be sure you're getting some pretty shitty hardware when the brand is ``MatsuSHITa''; -never- had anything made by MatsuSHITa that didn't break really quickly.
I know it's off-topic, just wanted to point out that this is the company that makes DVD-ROM drives that don't support DVD+R media, and claims it is the user's problem...
What Linux geek ever managed to get a woman pregnant?
Panasonic is in the same corporate family as Matsushita,
Um, Panasonic IS Matsushita, or is a marketing brand-name for Matsushita. Matsushita is the Global Company with child-companies or "divisions", if you will, under it which carry the Panasonic Name. For instance, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. (PMC) is a division or child-company of Matsushita Electronics Incorperated (MEI), the parent "company" which presides over all of Panasonic. I know, because I work for them.
Panasonic has been using Linux for a while with their set top boxes. I found this old cnet story here. http://news.com.com/2102-1016_3-996984.html?tag=st .util.print
Which part of EMBEDDED Linux startups didn't you grok?
Linux is one of the top, and arguably the top, choice for embedded projects. Hell, my wireless router/firewall/hub runs Linux, my TiVo runs Linux, even my damn cell phone runs Linux.
This isn't to say there aren't other products competing, but it isn't surprising that a free, open, portable, fairly lean kernel with more applications available than God has risen to the top, and to anyone who has done any work with embedded devices, it is no surprise that this kernel was indeed Linux.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
This news is like two years old! Do a google search.
I like the idea of an embedded linux incubator. My company, which develops wifi mesh routers, uses embedded linux and weve been looking at going to an incubator to sort of help things run more smoothly. The problem with this is that's it's in silicon valley. I know I shouldn't expect Panasonic to bend to my whims, but if it were in the Boston area, I'd be there in a heartbeat.
I am dismayed by so much off-topic bullshit in the comments for this story. I'm also irritated at the BSD vs. Linux argument. I'd like to use BSD, I really would. But it just isn't ready. NetBSD is the only one that even claims to have support for the broadcom mipsel processor I am using, and yet it doesn't work and the mailing lists for it are a ghost town. No support is available for it. I even tried to see if I could buy some support from Wasabi Systems, but they don't support the processor (though they would be willing to port their tools to it if I paid..sorry i don't have that kind of money). With so little BSD activity on this processor, it would be insane for me to try to jump to bsd from linux. But, if someone experienced wanted to help, I'd be very willing to give it a shot.
It is faster, stabler, more secure and has far better support than any Lin$ux version out there. Honestly I am consistently amazed at how many companies have bought into the Lin$ux hype, putting time and money to make a round peg fit into a square hole while ignoring the far far better options that ALREADY exist in the marketplace.
Did anyone read the parent post before modding it "Informative"?
I felt the slime drip out of my anus. I put my pinky finger up there and gave it a lick. So good, like warm honey and milk.
I wanna know who found this informative! (Actually, no, I don't think I do.)
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
I know this was a joke, but just to pretend I don't get the joke: Actually, on an embedded platform (at least one without a lot of storage), a Linux system is probably going to have very little GNU code. An embedded Linux system is likely to use BusyBox for basic Unix-compatible commands like ls and rm, and something like uClibc or dietlibc for its C library, and won't have things like Emacs or a compiler actually on the system. So it's unlikely to have much actual GNU-project code on it, if any.
Cool...
I just bought a Panasonic test winner digital camera and it rocks! 12X optical zoom, yet lighter and smaller than competitors. Long batt life. USB works without extra drivers (Canon is famous for not working).
And now I hear Panasonic is also Linux friend!
I love that camera...