#$25 computer

[partspeople-blog]

Yes, in fact, it is a sweet story; especially for students and developing countries. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK registered charity going into production of a tiny PC about the size of a short stack of credit-cards. The founder, Eben Upton, became concerned about deterioration of skills in newly admitted students as he was lecturing and working in admissions at Cambridge University. He observed only basic student software skills, but also a substantial drop in admissions to programming courses. Students knew how to create documents, but had very little knowledge of basic systems development and systems architecture. The foundation is dedicated to promoting the study of computer science and related topics and inspiring students to embark on technology careers.

[solsticeretouch-blog]

The $25 Computer

This is incredible, and a sign of how fast technology is evolving. 

Raspberry, as it's known (http://www.raspberrypi.org/), has developed a computer that will cost just $25! The best part about it, is the prototype is the size of a business card.

You see the central device that looks like a battery? That's the prototype casing of course, but you get an idea of how small it is. 

It won best in show recently at the 2011 ARM Tech Con. 

You would think due the small size of it, that it wouldn't be any good, but look how fast it runs! 

Specs:

700MHz ARM11 128MB or 256MB of SDRAM OpenGL ES 2.0 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode Composite and HDMI video output USB 2.0 SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot General-purpose I/O Optional integrated 2-port USB hub and 10/100 Ethernet controller Open software (Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice, Python)

Videos: Here is a video showcasing how smooth it runs games:

Here it is without a case, and streaming a movie without any lag at all. Yes, that's right, it plays 1080p BluRay rips:

So stay tuned, this has received a ton of attention recently and can be applicable for many things. I mean, it's just $25! It's cheaper than dinner on any typical night. It's almost like a disposable computer.