Slimmer Raspberry Pi Available

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The "little brother" of the Raspberry Pi micro-PC family, the Model A, is now available in Europe-- ideal for customers wanting the credit card-sized computer at an even lower price.

Raspberry PiJust like its popular Model B brother, the Model A board carries a 700MHz ARM-based Broadcom CPU, but has just 1 USB port, 256GB of RAM and lacks an ethernet connector. It also cheaper ($25, down from $35) and uses even less power than the Model B.

"It’s what we said we’d do all along, and we can’t wait to see what you do with it," Raspberry Pi Foundation community manager Liz Upton says.

Model B Pi sales total 1 million since launch in February 2012. The bare-bones PC found use in a wide variety of projects-- one even got to reach an altitude of 40km attached to a high-altitude ballooon! That, or simply install XBMC on one for a cheap-as-chips HTPC solution...

Go Raspberry Pi Model A for Sale in Europe

Metro AG Adds to Management Board

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Metro AG appoints Media-Saturn COO Pieter Haas as Management Board member in charge for Media-Saturn and Business Innovation, effective from Q2 2013.

Pieter HaasThe move extends the Metro AG board to 5 members and underlines the "high strategic significance" of Media-Saturn for the Group.

"We are pleased that, with Pieter Haas, we are able to welcome a proven expert of the Media-Saturn business on the Metro AG Management Board," supervisory board chairman Franz Markus Haniel says.

Haas joined Media-Saturn as Dutch subsidiary MD on 2001, before joining the Media-Saturn board as COO in 2008. He started his career in 1986 as analyst and consultant with the Hay Group.

The Group still has to name a replacement for Haas within Media-Saturn.

Go Metro AG Appoints Management Board Member for Media-Saturn and Business Innovation

A Robot to Clean your... Mobile Displays

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Customers complaining about all the man hours they waste cleaning smartphones and tablets? No more-- Japan's Takara Tomy has an adorable mechanised solution with the "AutoMee S."

Automee SLooking like a palm-sized Roomba robot, the AutoMee S trundles on 5 tires (3 for maneuvers, 2 for cleaning) over devices, with sensors making sure the little robot does not fall off the edges while performing its duties.

Takara Tomy says the robot takes 4 minutes to clean a smartphone and 8 minutes for a tablet, and it even makes a "cute" sound once finished. Too bad the company denies responsbilities for potential damages to devices or their software...

The AutoMee S will be available in Japan from March 2013, with no mention of an international launch. No lie, we kind of want one.

Go AutoMee S

LG, Samsung Settle Display Disputes

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Following months of litigation over the infringement of OLED and LCD display patents LG Display and Samsung Display kiss and make up via out-of-courtroom settlement.

Samsung LGAccording to Yonhap News Agency the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy organised a peace summit at the Palace Hotel, Seoul, where the CEOs from both rivals negotiated for around 1 hour and 20 minutes.

As a result all lawsuits between LG and Samsung are over-- including the December 2012 Samsung patent suit covering 7 plane-to-line switching (PLS) designs and the September 2012 LG countersuit over OLED patents.

Samsung first sued LG after the arrests of 11 people for allegedly stealing and selling AMOLED technology secrets.

The two companies will now look into patent sharing (or cross-licensing) as the Korean government hopes for a "win-win" result from the negotiations. That, or more lawsuits.

Go Samsung-LG Dialog (Yonhap News Agency)

February Reveal for Playstation 4?

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Sony has Playstation-related plans for a 20 February 2013 New York event-- spurring a flurry of rumours and predictions on what exactly Sony has in store to beat the Microsoft and Nintendo competition.

PS4According to Sony we will "see the future" at the #PlayStation2013 event, while people "familiar with the matter" tell the Wall Street Journal say this is where the fourth Playstation should debut before it hits the market by the holiday quarter.

Meanwhile Edge Magazine reports the PS4 should see a number of changes-- such as a redesigned controller (with a touchpad instead of Select, Start and PS buttons) and a more PC-like (or less esoteric) internal architecture.

Apparently tech specifications include a 1.6GHz 8-core "R10XX" AMD CPU, a so-called "Liverpool" system-on-chip and 4GB of GDDR5 RAM. The WSJ also suggests Sony will incorporate more social gaming aspects, with more focus on how customers will interact with the machine.

Read more...

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