[Philip Lelyveld comment: $25 computer that is 3D-capable!]

[THINQ_]

The Raspberry Pi project, founded by Broadcom engineer Eben Upton and co-creator of Elite David Braben, aims to revolutionise the education industry with an ultra-cheap computer capable of amazing feats of computation.

Attendees of the Educating Programmers Summit found themselves treated to a demonstration of the Raspberry Pi single-board computer by co-creator Eben Upton. Based on chips from Upton’s day job at Broadcom, the Raspberry Pi is an entirely functional computer which will hit a retail price of just $25 in its basic incarnation – addressing one of the issues preventing the teaching of programming in schools today.  …

“For $25 we can give you a 700MHz ARM, we can give you more graphical performance than an Xbox One, we can give you the ability to play 1080p Blu-ray – this thing can even be used to replace your Apple TV,” he told attendees over an early prototype board. “For $35 we can add to that another 128MB of RAM, we can add the network option – and based on the feedback we’ve had online, we suspect that most of our business is going to be in that $35 point.

“Even at $35, you could equip a classroom of these for less than a thousand dollars.  …

… The [graphic] 3D capabilities are also impressive, with a recent video having been released showing the device running multiplayer FPS Quake III Arena at a totally playable frame rate despite the processor’s 700MHz clock speed.

See a video and read the full story here: http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/8/29/raspberry-pi-takes-aim-education-market/

[Home Theater Review]

Historically, housing markets going into the tank wouldn’t keep consumers out of the stores to buy the new, hot technologies and for the last few years that new, hot technology has been 3D HDTVs. Respectfully, 3D has its place as a feature of a modern flat set but what sells HDTVs today is a thin form factor and an even thinner profit margin, resulting in everyman pricing for huge, beaming HDTVs. People simply don’t go out to buy a new flat HDTV because of 3D. They get 3D because it comes with the set (sets that amazingly, often don’t come with glasses) and can be played back via an HDMI-capable $130 Blu-ray player or 3D-capable satellite receiver.

The economic downturn since 2008 has been nothing short of epic but that’s not to say people aren’t spending on electronics. They are, and in huge numbers, but for the first time in a generation the IT product isn’t a specialty AV product as much as it’s a computer. Apple’s iPad is the hot ticket. …

Some suggest that 4K video is poised to be the next “IT technology” while there was a small story showing mainstream consumer demand for HD audio to be higher than anyone thought. …

Read the full story here: http://hometheaterreview.com/the-next-it-technology-for-specialty-av-wasnt-3d-and-what-might-be-next/