Motorola has announced two new devices: The MC65 and the MC959B.

The MC65 is the next generation EDA device, similar to the MC55 but running Windows Mobile 6.5.

The MC959B is in the MC9500 line, but includes both GSM and CDMA radio capability.

We've been following the changes to the Windows Mobile and Windows CE product lines, and the latest news is that Microsoft is moving the Windows Embedded group into the Server and Tools division. It is not clear what the impact of this change will be. However, this may reflect a continuing division between Consumer Phones and Embedded / Data Collection devices. Data Collection device manufacturers will benefit from keeping compatibility with the large installed base of Windows Mobile and Windows CE devices using native tools and .Net Compact Framework, while Window Phone 7 is a clean break requiring XNA or Silverlight for development. We will continue to monitor developments.

Here is a video on the new Intermec CS40, giving a good feel for its size.

Intermec has announced an addition to their Mobile Computer product line, the CS40. This device is a smaller, mobile phone sized device, but still incorporating an imager for barcode scanning, as well as 4 radios (WiFi, GPS, GPRS, and BlueTooth).

The CS40 competes with the new Motorola ES400 as data collection devices in a smaller form-factor that is appropriate for route accounting and sales personnel. While less rugged than an industrial device suited to a warehouse environment, these devices are still more rugged than a typical consumer phone.

The CS40 appears to be compatible with the Intermec Developer Library, so we expect our ITScriptNet client will work on this device. We will update once we have a chance to test.

The article in Wired about new mobile processors caught our attention. Samsung, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments are all shipping or about to ship their first dual-core ARM processors.

The reason this is interesting is that all Windows Mobile and almost all Windows CE portable devices use these processors. The increase in power for video applications is primarily being driven by the Consumer phone business, but as prices come down these chips will eventaully find their way into portable data collection devices as well. This will lead to a significant increase on the performance of these devices.

Have you ever noticed that most popular wireless communications methods use 2.4GHz? This includes Wifi (802.11), BlueTooth, cordless phones, and more? Gizmodo provides a very understandable explanation. Basically, it turns out that the 2.4 GHz band of the RF spectrum was set aside by the FCC for unlicensed communications (this means you don't need an FCC license to run your WiFi Access Point or BlueTooth headset). Furthermore, because all of these systems use frequency-hopping technology (which means the radios check a particular frequency to make sure it is open before transmitting), you can have multiple products running in the same physical area without interference from each other.

Z-Space Technologies, Inc. is pleased to announce a new addition to our line of Solution Pack applications. First unveiled at Vartech 2010, this application is a complete Package Delivery solution, suitable for either Courier or Campus delivery. Unlike our previous Solution Packs, this one is fully web-based, as it includes Pickup Scheduling and Package Tracking for the delivery company customers. We will have more information over the next few weeks, and the official release is targeted for September.