Hasta La Gadget!

The Raspberry Pi is a small computer on a developer board that can be used for all sorts of electronic projects and devices. The little board has been around now for one year officially, and to celebrate the first anniversary of the product launch, RS Components has announced a special limited-edition Raspberry Pi. The manufacturer has produced 1000 Raspberry Pi Model B Revision 2 boards in an exclusive blue color.

Each of the limited-edition blue boards is stamped with a serial number and comes supplied in a special presentation box. The limited-edition version also ships with a special crystal blue case and a certificate of authenticity. These limited-edition boards are not being offered for general sale and are being issued by the manufacturer through a variety of channels.

Most of these boards are being donated to charitable causes associated with young people and education around the world. However, between March and June of 2013 enthusiasts around the world will have the opportunity to enter competitions to win one of the special boards. To enter for a chance to win, simply send RSElectronics a tweet with the hashtag #bluePI.

While Boston Dynamics and DARPA are out engineering our extinction, a small company called Party Robotics has been working on a robot with far more awesome prime directive: to get you drunk.

The Bartendro works a lot like the Inebriator. Both robots dispense ingredients from a series of pumps, following pre-programmed recipes down to the milliliter. There are significant differences between the two though. First off, the Inebriator is based on Arduino while the Bartendro is run by the now popular Raspberry Pi. Second, while the Inebriator uses a moving drink shelf to ferry a glass between its dispensers, the Bartendro simply funnels the pipes from all of its dispensers into the middle. Third, while Inebriator has an onboard LCD control panel, the Bartendro can be controlled remotely thanks to its web app.

But the most important distinction between these two mix masters is that the Bartendro is actually for sale. Pledge at least $249 (USD) on its Kickstarter fundraiser and you get a fully assembled Bartendro; unassembled kits can be had for cheaper. Note that the Bartendro comes in 1, 3, 7 and 15 dispenser variants, and naturally the more dispensers you want the more you’ll have to pay. For instance, the 15 pump version starts at $2,499.

What I like about the Bartendro is that its software and hardware are open source. In fact Party Robotics is encouraging tinkerers to help come up with other uses for their robot. It can be used to mix not just alcoholic drinks but also juice or coffee, and may also be of use in laboratories or factories.

It’s officially been just over a year since the Raspberry Pi first went on sale, and the tiny $35 computer has been flying off shelves ever since. The small credit card-sized machine immediately sold out after it first went on sale on Leap Day last year, and some yearning DIYers and hobbyists have yet to get their hands on the toy due to constant back orders. To celebrate such a successful year for the Raspberry Pi, the company has introduced a limited edition “Blue Pi” Raspberry Pi board.

The sad news is that these are truly limited edition. The company announced that they’re only making 1,000 Blue Raspberry Pi boards, and they actually won’t be up for sale. Instead, they’ll be given to various charity organizations, and a few will be given away to some lucky winners, and one of them could be you. The company is simply asking to tweet at @RSElectronics with the hashtag “#bluepi”, and mention a suggestion for uses for a Blue Pi board.

Every week, the top ten entries will be selected by RS Electronics and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and those ten winners will be sent a Blue Pi. Easy! However, if you don’t win the first time, RS Electronics will be conducting giveaways and other events until June. If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on a Raspberry Pi, here’s your chance.

In the package, you’ll get a Raspberry Pi system made with a blue circuit board, a blue-tinted case to put your Raspberry Pi in for protection, a certificate of authenticity, and a nice blue box that everything will come in. It’s too bad you won’t be able to buy one for yourself, but even if you could, expect to have paid more than just $35.

Raspberry Pi launches limited edition “Blue Pi” to celebrate one year is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Raspberry Pi project is one year old today, having launched on February 29, 2012 (they’re going to have a rager of a party in 2016.) I sat down with the Pi-parents themselves, Eben and Liz Upton, as well as Pi-supporter Limor Fried AKA Lady Ada of Adafruit Industries to talk about the special occasion.

The current incarnation of the Pi, the Model B, just sold its millionth unit and the Uptons are hard at work at new versions of the beloved mini-computer. The popularity has stunned supporters in the UK and the US alike and we talked about education, the future of the Pi, the mystery of the ultra-rare Model A owned by Lady Ada, the only unit of its kind in America.

“I remember when Raspberry Pis were rare enough that I had a spreadsheet that told me where they were in the world,” said Eben. “Now we’re a million Pis in.”

The Pi is computing of the best sort – it’s a little intimidating at first and then an amazing amount of fun. If the Upton’s vision comes to fruition, expect to see an entire generation of computer-educated kids rolling through the school systems around the world, ready to take on the future.

Minecraft has been a big hit lately. The pixelated sandbox game has seen millions of downloads on multiple platforms, and today the game is seeing its release on the infamous Raspberry Pi hobbyist board. What’s perhaps even better, is that the game will be free to all Raspberry Pi users, which will save you a couple of bucks if you planned to buy it on another platform.

The Raspberry Pi version of the game, called Minecraft: Pi Edition, takes a few steps to get going, of course. Users will need to download a program called Raspbian “wheezy,” and then boot their RaspPi boards with the program. After that, all that stands in your way of hours of Minecraft play time are a few terminal commands.

There’s actually a dedicated blog specifically for the Raspberry Pi version of the game, and that’s where more details can be found if you need a little help getting the game going on your board. Of course, it takes a bit more effort than booting up a game on other platforms, but getting Minecraft for free seems like a good trade-off.

The Raspberry Pi is available for purchase in the US for $35, but it’s unsurprisingly sold out, and it’ll most likely stay that way for a while. However, if you don’t already have a Raspberry Pi board, you can buy one now and at least get yourself on the waiting list while you can, since waiting until they come back in stock might not be the quickest option to obtaining one.

Minecraft now available for free on Raspberry Pi is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.