Chumby Industries, makers of the Wi-Fi video and widget displaying device, the Chumby, have just announced $12.5 million in Series B funding today. The company notes that this new financing is going to be used to “accelerate growth of the company, and expand and broaden the Chumby Network to other screen-based Internet connected devices.”

The lead investor was JK&B Capital, and other participants included existing venture investors, Avalon Ventures, Masthead Venture Partners and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures.

The Chumby is based on a 266MHz Freescale i.MX21 processor, and is equipped with 32MB of 133MHz SDRAM, and 64MB of NAND flash memory. The high-quality (TFT) QVGA (320×240) LCD display features LED backlighting controlled via PWM (pulse-width modulation).

The LiMo Foundation announced today the on-schedule availability of LiMo Platform Release 1. The LiMo group claims this is the world’s first globally competitive, Linux-based software platform for mobile devices. The platform is a modular, plug-in-based, hardware-independent architecture built around an open operating system, with a secure run-time environment for support of downloaded applications.

“With Release 1 of the LiMo Platform now completed, LiMo Foundation has established a scalable and sustainable mobile device platform that will spur rapid innovation and contributions from all LiMo members,” said Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation. “This is an extremely exciting time to be a part of the LiMo Foundation – in slightly more than one year, we have rolled out our deliverables on schedule, our membership has continued to grow strongly with broad engagement from across the mobile communications industry, and leading handset providers have already released a range of devices using LiMo technology.”

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PopSci takes a look at the current crop of ultra mobile Linux laptops on the market and asks “How much portable Linux goodness can you get for $400?” The author pits his old IBM Thinkpad X31 up against the Asus EeePC, and the Everex Cloudbook.

A Korean company has announced a unique mobile device melding an x86-based nano-PC with an ARM-based mobile phone. Miu’s HDPC can run Linux, Windows CE, or Windows XP on its 500MHz Via C7-M processor, while a 200MHz ARM9-based system-on-chip runs an unspecified mobile phone OS.

Miu appears to be an ODM — a company that designs products for other companies to market. As such, the HDPC (”hybrid dual portable computer”) seems to be a proof-of-concept design available to OEMs for rebranding and manufacture, likely with operating system customizations.

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iWave Systems of Bangalore has announced a Linux- and Windows CE 6.0-compatible industrial PDA targeting asset, inventory, and retail management. Available with RFID, WiFi, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity, the iW-Rainbow-G4 can withstand six-foot drops, and includes a 3.5-inch touchscreen and a sealed keyboard, says iWave.

The G4’s case measures a relatively large 8 x 3.8 x 1.4 inches. It also has stylized “wings” that may help account for the device’s claimed ability to withstand six-foot drops. The G4 meets IP65 standards, and is dust- and water-resistant, according to iWave.

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Ubuntu Mobile is an Ubuntu edition that targets an exciting new class of computers called Mobile Internet Devices. Tthe software is tailored for the Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) expected to launch in spring based on Intel’s Silverthorne technology and is designed to recognize basic iPhone-like gestures such as swiping to scroll through menus and websites.

A scrolling visual front end based on Flash or Clutter replaces the traditional Ubuntu desktop and is designed to be used solely with fingers, including with an on-screen keyboard.

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The upcoming Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring release will boast the easiest ever support for synchronizing with Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices in any distribution. The adventurous can already try out the support in the current 2008 Spring pre-release repositories, by following the instructions here. Support is included for synchronizing with both KDE (KDE PIM) and GNOME (Evolution). Similarly easy synchronization is also possible with many Nokia phones and with Blackberry devices.

You can checkout a video demo of the sync process in action after the break.
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A little late on this one but contrary to the post below, the Nokia N810 was not reduced so much. Seems Nokia jumped the gun a little. The price of the N810 was reduced, but shortly after our post they bumped it back up to $439, which is still a net $50 reduction, but not so quite as sweet at the original plunge!

Thanks to Thoughfix for the heads up.

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet received a hefty $90 price drop today. This brings the MSRP down to $389 USD.

The Nokia N810 is powered by Nokia’s Maemo Linux. It features a large 800×480 pixel display and a slide out thumb keyboard. In addition it incorporates WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth.

(via MobilityBeat)

Asus took some time out to soup up the Eee PC and announced a next generation model at CeBit going on this week in Deutschland. The main new features include a larger 8.9″ display with a expaned 1280×600 pixel resolution, more memory and an improved trackpad.

The new Eee PC 900 is due to be released in mid-2008 with a €399 pricetag for the 12GB version. Engadget has posted a gallery of pics of the new unit.