VIA chips still doing well in whitebox tablet sales

I don't hear a lot about no-brand tablets anymore; one upon a time there was just about daily news on the topic. According to this article though, they are still big in China and other Asian countries. In fact the article suggests that 44% of tablet sales feature VIA 8650 chips. Who knows if this is true?

WonderMedia tablet chips support Android 4.0

WonderMedia made some of the first chips to support Android tablets and they have just announced a new one that supports the latest Android 4.0. The WonderMedia PRIZM WM8950 SoC supports 1080p video playback, Windows CE 7.0 and Android 4.0.

The chip is destined for more than just tablets:

"With its high-performance, and feature-rich design, the WM8950 is also optimized for a wide range of innovative system design applications, including smartbooks, Smart TV, SmartStream for wireless display and multimedia streaming, networked projectors, digital signage, and thin clients." - Source.

New USB Tech from VIA Labs Boosts USB 2.0

USBExpressway, quite a mouthful, is a new technology by VIA Labs which means that when you've got multiple USB 2.0 devices plugged into a USB 3.0 hub, they will operate at full potential speed. This is realized by each device having their own port rather than sharing bandwidth.

"USB 2.0 provides 30-40MB/s of actual throughput, and this is shared across all connected devices. When multiple devices such as external hard drives, flash drives, and webcams are connected, they share available bandwidth which results in severely degraded performance. Compared to USB 2.0, USB 3.0 offers 10x more bandwidth and allows transfers as fast as 300-400MB/s. VIA Labs USB2 Expressway Dedicated Bandwidth Technology allows USB 2.0 devices to utilize USB 3.0 bandwidth, eliminating bandwidth bottlenecks and freeing each connected device to reach its maximum performance potential." - Source.

VIA's WonderMedia Making a Splash at CES

WonderMedia, a subsidiary of VIA, has a SoC solution, the WM8720, which features the Intel WiDi solution. With this technology you can stream content from a PC or laptop to any screen equipped with the WiDi connection. This can be provided via a chip in the TV or monitor, or an add-on. A total of six companies will be featuring the Intel WiDi solution with the WonderMedia WM870 chip at the Consumer Electronics Show in las Vegas this week. - Source.

VIA Nano Processor Powers New Lenovo Set Top Box

BesTV New Media and Lenovo launched a new Internet Set Top box in Shanghai last week. Lenovo is a huge brand in China and BesTV apparently handle distribution of 90% of the country's box office content. A third partner is VIA who will be providing the processor and media chip to power the new A30 wonder.

"Further hardware details are scarce at this point, but we do know that the A30 will have a BesTV service providing new and exclusive content, including movies of unknown origin "within a month of their release date," along with picture-in-picture functionality and, of course, internet access. There's mobile functionality too, as your smartphone can serve as both the box's remote and as an additional screen on which to view content. Naturally, Lenovo's not telling how much it'll cost, but our friends in the Far East will be able to pick one up in Q1 of 2012." - Engadget