Hasta La Gadget!

The thought of a computer that never crashes is incredibly appealing to anyone who has ever used a computer. Researchers from the University College London have created a computer system that they call a “systemic” computer that is able to self-repair and instantly recover from crashes. The researchers believe that their systemic computer could have many uses including the ability to help military drones reprogram themselves to cope with damage sustained in combat.

The researchers also believe that their systemic computer could help create more realistic models of the human brain. Computers today work through a list of instructions one at a time in sequential order. Instructions are extracted from the memory, executed, and the result is again placed into memory. The computer creation that researchers Peter Bentley and Christos Sakellariou have created that combines the data and the instructions on what to do with the data into systems.

The researchers give the example of the computer being able to monitor the temperature outside along with instructions on what to do if the temperature falls outside of a specific range. Each of the systems contains context sensitive data allowing the data to only interact with other similar systems. Unlike traditional computers that use a program counter, the systems in the systemic computer are executed at times chosen by a pseudorandom number generator designed to mimic the randomness in nature.

This means that the system is able to carry out instructions simultaneously with no one system taking precedence over the others. In the system, the researchers say that the results of a computation emerges from the interaction between systems that interact in parallel and randomly. The system also contains multiple copies of its instructions distributed across the many systems so if one system is corrupted the computer is able to access another clean copy to repair its code eliminating operating system crashes because a single bit of memory can’t be accessed.

[via New Scientist]

Systemic computer can rebuild corrupted data and never crashes is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The budget board makers over at the Raspberry Pi Foundation are clearly having a busy week, first launching the Model A in Europe, and now reporting that development of the camera add-on for the miniature computers has been completed. Well, the hardware has been finalized, at least, although it hasn’t been “tuned” quite yet (picture quality still needs improvement), and the drivers aren’t fully ready. The camera PCB measures around 25 x 20 x 9mm, and hosts a 5-megapixel, fixed-focus sensor that can shoot 2592 x 1944 stills and 1080p video at 30 fps. Aligning with the low cost of the main boards, it’ll set you back $25, but won’t be available for “at least a month.” Don’t just sit there twiddling your thumbs, though. Start brainstorming all the cool projects you can work on once you put an eye on that Pi.

Filed under: Desktops, Cameras, Misc, Peripherals

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Via: Wired

Source: Raspberry Pi

Looking for a slimmed-down Raspberry Pi with a single USB port, 256MB of RAM, no Ethernet and one-third the power consumption of a Model B board? You’re probably in the market for Model A — a $25 alternative designed for use in battery or solar-powered devices like remote sensors, WiFi repeaters, robots and so on. Europeans currently have exclusive access to the cheaper Raspberry Pi flavor, which according to an Adafruit test consumes only 100 mAh of juice (compared to about 300 mAh for the Model B, due to Ethernet power requirements). Beginning today, hobbyists can get their fix directly from RS Components and Element 14, with pricing fixed around £19, including VAT. According to the manufacturer’s blog post, Model A exclusivity will be short-lived, with the device coming to the rest of the world “very soon.” If you’re based across the pond, however, you can hit up our source links to place your order now.

Filed under: Desktops

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Source: RS Components, Element14, Raspberry Pi

Intel has announced that it will be shutting down its Desktop Motherboard group in the next few years, with the Haswell motherboards being the last of its offerings. The company will still supply chipsets to third parties, but will cease developing its own desktop motherboards once the Haswell launch is over.

Employees working in the group will be transitioned to other areas within the company, working with FFRDs. This marks the end of a two decade era and a change in the market as a whole. The need for Intel to produce its own desktop motherboards has diminished, and in purely business terms, focusing its efforts elsewhere is better for its bottom line.

Product warranties will be supported for their duration despite the eventual shutdown. This comes after an announcement earlier today that the company has rolled out Ivy Bridge processors for the budget market, with a total of three Celeron, four Pentium, and one Core i3 being launched today with a price range of $42 to $117.

Said Intel: “We disclosed internally today that Intel’s Desktop Motherboard Business will begin slowly ramping down over the course of the next three years. As Intel gradually ramps down its motherboard business we are ramping up critical areas of the desktop space including integration of innovative solutions for the PC ecosystem such as reference design development, NUC and other areas to be discussed later.”

[via Legit Reviews]

Intel’s Desktop Motherboard Business to shutdown within three years is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re like me, you may have long wanted to have a home theater PC in your living room entertainment center. The problem that I have – that I bet a few of you suffer from as well – is that my wife already has the entertainment center stuffed with all manner of knick-knacks. That means there’s barely any room for any actual home theater components.

A company called Xi3 Corporation has a new computer suitable for HTPC applications that will fit in just about any entertainment center, including mine. The machine is called the Z3RO Pro Computer and it measures just 4.875 x 3.625 x 1.875 inches.

That means the computer is roughly the size of a paperback novel, and not one of those gigantically thick Stephen King paperbacks either.

Inside that tiny chassis is a dual-core 64-bit x86-based processor operating at 1.65 GHz. The machine has an integrated GPU with 80 graphics cores and a top resolution of 2560×1600. It’s got 4 GB of RAM, and the ability to include an SSD ranging in size from 16GB to 1TB. The machine has a pair of DisplayPort video outputs including one that pulls HDMI duty as well. For connectivity, it has a gigabit Ethernet port, and four eSATAp 3.0 ports. Surprisingly, the one thing that’s clearly missing is integrated Wi-Fi, so you’ll have to use a USB dongle or Ethernet/Wi-Fi bridge for that.

It consumes only 15 W of power, and ships with the openSUSE Linux operating system pre-installed. That said, you can also install Windows 8 or other operating systems if you so choose.

Shipping for the Xi3 Z3RO Pro is set for Q2 2013 with prices starting at $399 (USD).