A Slice of Raspberry Pi with the Foundation at the Cambridge RaspberryJam

Yesterday was the first Raspberry Jam event in Cambridge, and several of the Raspberry Pi Foundation guys were on hand to talk about the Pi.

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The Raspberry Jam event took places in the William Gates building at Cambridge University. Before the event had even started there were some Pi’s on display, including a Gertboard, shown off by Gert himself!

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A lot of people have asked when the Gertboard will be available to buy. During the Q&A session it was revealed that the boards should hopefully be available in the next few weeks. More on that when we have it.

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Also on display was a working camera attached to the Pi. We can reveal that the camera should be available very soon at a $20-25 price point. It is a 5MP pixel as well!

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The quality of the images it was taking were extremely good. Here is a picture of me taking a picture of it!

Yesterday was the first Raspberry Jam event in Cambridge, and several of the Raspberry Pi Foundation guys were on hand to talk about the Pi. 18

Then it was onto the days events, and towards the end of the day there was a Q&A session with some of the guys from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. You can watch the entire Q&A session below.

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One thing Eben did that surprised the audience was to say that he didn’t want anyone to leave the event who wanted a Pi not to have a Pi so he had brought 200 Pi’s with him.

And he wasn’t kidding! I helped get the Pi’s from the car, and at one point I was carrying 100 Pi’s, and the scary part – they were lighter than an average laptop!

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It wasn’t long before there was a massive queue of people wanting to get their hands on a Pi, and we ended up selling around 65 in just a few minutes! I even bought another one which I will be giving away on the site soon, so stay tuned. In fact, Liz is holding my Pi in the picture at the start of this article.

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Liz and I taking a break after selling all those Pi’s.

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There were even Raspberry Pi stickers around!

Yesterday was the first Raspberry Jam event in Cambridge, and several of the Raspberry Pi Foundation guys were on hand to talk about the Pi. 17

All in all it was a fantastic day, and I had a great time. Lots more Pi news coming up over the next few weeks so keep checking out CDW for more!

Take a look at the Q&A session video below (you will probably want to turn your volume up – sorry!):

Also you might want to take a look at some of the previous videos we took.

A Slice of Raspberry Pi at Beeb@30 A Slice of Raspberry Pi at Sci-Fi London Horizons

Have you got your Raspberry Pi yet? If so, what do you plan to do with it? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

And if you were there yesterday let us know what you thought of the event.

XBMC for Android announced

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The guys over at XBMC.org have just announced XBMC for Android!

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This is what they posted:

We have been keeping a little secret.. the kind that is so much fun to share when the time comes.

Today we announce XBMC for Android. Not a remote, not a thin client; the real deal. No root or jailbreak required. XBMC can be launched as an application on your set-top-box, tablet, phone, or wherever else Android may be found.

The feature-set on Android is the same that you have come to expect from XBMC, no different from its cousin on the desktop. Running your favorite media-center software on small, cheap, embedded hardware is about to become a hassle-free reality. And as Android-based set-top-boxes are becoming more and more ubiquitous, it couldn’t be a better time. In fact, primary development was done on a Pivos XIOS DS set-top-box. And that is no coincidence, you will notice that Pivos is now listed as an official sponsor (more on that later). XBMC is stable and works great there, as well as on various tablets and phones. Though with Android, as many of you probably know, that is only the beginning of the story.

Learn more from here including a video of it in action.

The official eBay app for Windows Phone updated to version 1.18

If you you eBay then a good app to have is the official eBay app for your Windows Phone, and it has just been updated to version 1.18.

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The eBay Mobile application is designed specifically for Windows Phone. Using a streamlined interface that’s as elegant as it is practical, eBay members can search, bid, and check their activity on the go. Buyers can submit that last-minute bid on a hard-to-find item, sellers can check on their sales, and act on time-sensitive information on the spot without a computer. eBay is open for business anytime, anywhere on Windows Phone!

As usual there doesn’t seem to be any specific information on what is included in the update, so if you notice any changes let us know by leaving a comment below.

Download the eBay app now from the Windows Marketplace

Would you like Dr Who’s Sonic Screwdriver as a TV remote control?

Last year we reviewed the Kymera Magic Wand remote control from the Wand Company, and for their next offering they have the 11th Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver remote control. Bring on the Sonic!

Sonic Screwdriver

Widely considered to be the result of highly advanced Gallifreyan technological experiments, the Sonic Screwdriver is an indispensable tool for any travelling Time Lord. But whether you’re an original member of the Prydonian Chapter, or simply a massive fan of the popular TV series, it’s been impossible to get your hands on the Mark VII. Until now.

Immaculately designed and packed full of features, this die cast metal model is hand detailed, with polished copper plating and an authentic soft touch grip. Painstakingly built to last; with a little bit of care and occasionally replaced batteries you’ll be able to use this Sonic Screwdriver up to your 13th incarnation (and beyond?).

But it’s not just a spectacularly detailed collectable replica, oh no; the Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver is also a fully programmable, gesture based Universal Remote Control! Utilising infrared technology to control everything from TV’s and DVD players to stereos and iPod docks, you’ll be able to make changes with just a flick of the wrist.
With the blessings of the BBC, the Sonic Screwdriver boasts 13 authentic special FX sounds from the Whoniverse and comes in a gorgeous presentation case. Including detailed instructions straight from the Doctor himself, you’ll be able to get started learning how to use it straight away.

With 4 Operational Modes, you can practice and program your gestures; use it as a full blown replica, or control your Earthly devices in either full FX mode or Quiet Control mode. Plus, just like the Doctor, you don’t want it falling into the wrong hands so when not in use you can lock the Sonic Screwdriver using your personal authorisation code.

Product Features:

  • Advanced gesture recognition technology – 3 banks of 13 gestures
  • Die cast construction, copper plated, soft touch grip
  • Control any infrared device including iPod docks, TVs and Blu-ray players
  • Guided Setup – spoken prompts help you program your controls
  • 13 authentic special FX sounds
  • Illuminating tip lights up when in use and pulses on standby
  • Personal Lock Code
  • High quality presentation case
  • Double sided illustrated instruction manual

To learn more, click here. We hope to have one soon for review, so watch this space.

It will be available to buy on the 31st August for £59.99.

Apple updates iPhoto for Mac to version 9.3.1

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Apple has just updated it’s iPhoto for Mac application to version 9.3.1.

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This update includes:

– Addresses a problem during the migration of albums from MobileMe Gallery that may cause photos to be moved from their original events into a new event called “From MobileMe”

– Fixes an issue that in rare cases could cause iPhoto to hang when upgrading libraries

Do you iPhoto? If so, tell us what you think of it by leaving us a comment below.

XBMC 11.0 June Cycle update

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The guys over at XBMC.org have posted details on what is included in their June development cycle.

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This is what they posted on their blog:

As mentioned previously, we have now moved into a monthly development cycle, in which we merge new features at the beginning of the month and then perform bug fixes through the rest of the month. This means, at the end of every month, developers, bug-reporters, and those willing to deal with potentially highly unstable builds can try a snapshot from the current development cycle, and the organization, in turn, will have a more stable and predictable development process. For those of you who would prefer a stable version of XBMC, we will always recommend the most recent stable release (XBMC 11.0), but for the brave, you are welcome to try the end of the month build. To give an idea of just how unstable/alpha these builds can be, there will almost certainly be months in which some platforms won’t actually have usable builds. As always, we recommend you backup your userdata folder before upgrading.

With that said, let’s review some of the more notable changes in the June Changelog.

Airplay Updates

Two major updates have occurred on the Airplay side. First, AirTunes have finally been implemented on the Windows side. This means you can send both music and video from your iOS and iTunes devices to XBMC for Windows.

Second, when sending AirPlay music to XBMC, XBMC can now read the metadata sent in the stream and display the music information (e.g. title, author, coverart, etc.) on the screen. Unfortunately, this is only possible when sending audio from iTunes. iOS devices use FairPlay encryption, which XBMC is not totally compatible with at this time.

GSOC Updates

The efforts of our GSOC students are beginning to come to fruition. Montellese has been working over time to make the XBMC library faster and smarter. This month he has managed to push two fixes/updates to the library. First, movie sets now sort in a manner that better fit the rest of the library. In the past, movie sets were simply listed at the front of the movie library, like folders in front of files. Now, they are sorted based on the category. For example, the average rating of the movies inside the set would determine where the set would reside in a “sort by rating.”

A second new GSOC feature by Montellese should drastically speed up movie listings over JSON-RPC, which will greatly benefit mobile remote users and anyone else accessing the library from non-local devices. In the past, every call to XBMC’s movie library required spitting out every item in that library, even if the remote device was only looking for a few items. Now, a device can just pull those items it needs at any given point, for a massive time saving.

Conclusion

That covers some of the more notable and easily visible changes in this cycle. For a full list of all the May changes, feel free to take a look at our list of June milestones. Also, keep an eye out for the July Cycle. Or, if you are feeling a bit brave and a bit lucky, just start downloading here for Windows (OSX should be available within 24 hours)! Look here for Apple TV and iOS installation instructions.. Given the additional complexities of distribution, builds for Linux are not yet available at XBMC.org.

Also, as you no doubt may notice, there are fewer big features this month as more man hours are spent continuing to improve the features already recently added to XBMC (e.g. AudioEngine) and performing work to get XBMC ready on all platforms. As such, it is likely that we may begin intentionally winding down adding on additional new features in an attempt to get Frodo out sooner than later. When a roadmap has been established, we will, of course, update everyone.

I look forward to seeing what they do next!

Do you use XBMC? Tell us what you think of it by leaving us a comment.

Halo 4 Forward Unto Dawn trailer premieres at Comic-Con

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The full trailer for the live-action digital series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn has just been released following it’s world premiere at Comic-Con.

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Premiering this October on the new Machinima Prime channel on YouTube, and on Halo Waypoint, “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” is a live-action digital series that takes fans back to the terrifying beginning of the Human/Covenant war, when the Master Chief inspired a young cadet who would eventually become a leader aboard the UNSC’s greatest vessel: the UNSC Infinity. “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” tells a story leading into the events of “Halo 4,” the biggest entertainment event of 2012.

Check out the cool trailer below:

 

“Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” tells an exciting story of heroism and sacrifice on a scale never before seen in the “Halo” universe, taking fans back to the beginning of the human and Covenant war and leading into the events of “Halo 4.” Set against the backdrop of a United Nations Space Command (UNSC) military academy, a group of highborn cadets are training to be the next generation of soldiers in the UNSC’s ongoing war with insurrectionists in the outer colonial planets. Among these cadets, Thomas Lasky struggles with his doubts about this war, and with the burden of expectations he may not be able to carry. As Lasky comes to terms with his potential as a military leader, the terrifying alien alliance known as the Covenant arrives and turns his world upside down. Inspired by the Master Chief, he must decide what it means to be a hero. “Halo” fans that experience Lasky’s thrilling origin story in “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” will be rewarded with special insights into the story of “Halo 4” and the “Halo Infinity Multiplayer” experience.

Directed by Stewart Hendler (“H+,” “Sorority Row”) and written by Todd Helbing and Aaron Helbing (“Smallville,” “Spartacus”), “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” features a diverse cast of established and up-and-coming Hollywood talent, including Tom Green (“Dance Academy”) as Thomas Lasky, Anna Popplewell (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) as Chyler Silva, Daniel Cudmore (“X2,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “The Twilight Saga”) as the Master Chief, Ayelet Zurer (“Angels & Demons,” “Munich”) as Mehaffey, Mike Dopud (“Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol”) as General Black, Enisha Brewster (“Footloose”) as April Orenski, Masam Holden (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Elizabethtown”) as Michael “Sully” Sullivan, Osric Chau (“2012”) as JJ Chen, Iain Belcher (“Supernatural”) as Vickers, and Kat De Lieva as Dimah.

“Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” is backed by a top-tier production team led by executive producers Lydia Antonini and Josh Feldman, former Warner Bros. and Playtone executives, respectively. Continuing its involvement with the “Halo” franchise, Legacy Effects (“The Hunger Games,” “The Avengers,” “Avatar”) is creating specialised costumes and armor, and visual effects are being designed by an award-winning team led by John Sullivan (“The Pacific”). Production services are provided by Herzog & Co.

An extended, 90-minute Special Edition featuring additional footage and bonus content will be available Nov. 6 in the “Halo 4” Limited Edition and on video on-demand services.

Set almost five years after the events of “Halo 3,” “Halo 4” takes the series in a bold new direction and sets the stage for an epic new sci-fi saga, in which the Master Chief returns to confront his destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe. In addition to a rich story and campaign, “Halo 4” introduces a groundbreaking new multiplayer offering, called “Halo Infinity Multiplayer,” that builds off of the “Halo” franchise’s rich multiplayer history and promises to continue to innovate and redefine the way people think about storytelling and multiplayer experiences.

WP Central Reports That Windows Phone Olympics App Has Landed

WP Central is reporting that the official London Olympics app for Windows Phone has landed.  Read on for details!

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WP Central is reporting that the official London Olympics Windows Phone app is now available.  Here is what they are saying:

The official 2012 Olympic Games app has landed in the Windows Phone Marketplace. London 2012 was developed by the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and is designed to keep you up to date with the latest Olympic action and Paralympic action.

The app is laid out nicely with the following pages.

  • Live Updates Page that currently displays a countdown timer to the Olympic Opening Ceremony. From there, the page will display updates from the games.
  • Sports Page that breaks down the events by sports. Each sports tile will pull up the specific events, news items for that sport, a photos page and an About page that covers any rules and venue information on that sport.
  • Calendar Page breaks things down by date. Tap on a date and you’ll pull up an time listing of events by sport. Tap and hold an event to set a reminder so you won’t be late.
  • The Favourites Page lists any sport you’ve tagged as favorite or reminders you’ve set.
  • The Menu Page has links to view the games schedules and results, medal tally, athlete profiles, access the My Games section and access the app’s settings. The My Games section can be set to a specific Country to pull up news, reminders and favourites for the Country.

If you are an Olympics fan and are on Windows Phone, go ahead and download the app now!

WP Central Article on Olympics WP App

AMC Fires Back at DISH With Free Breaking Bad Episode

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AMC was recently dropped by DISH in the US as part of a contract dispute.  AMC fired back today…read on for details!

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AMC fired back at DISH for dropping them today.  AMC announced that they would provide a free video stream of the Breaking Bad season five premier to current DISH customers and is actively encouraging their fans to switch from DISH.  First, the DISH announcement that they were dropping AMC:

DISH to Replace AMC With Commercial-Free HD Movies

New Programming Also Slated to Replace IFC, WE

ENGLEWOOD, CO–(Marketwire – Jun 29, 2012) – DISH (NASDAQ: DISH) will replace three AMC Networks channels — IFC, WE and AMC — tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. ET with what the company believes is stronger movie and entertainment content.

DISH will be providing HDNet Movies to replace AMC, and is offering Style and HDNet to replace WE and IFC.

“HDNet Movies and HDNet are exciting offerings for our customers,” said Dave Shull, senior vice president of programming for DISH. “These are networks that will bring great entertainment, including first-run, commercial-free movies in high definition to our customers. DISH is the only pay-TV provider that did not raise its core package prices in 2012. We will continue to fight hard for choice, control, and value in home entertainment.”

DISH notified AMC Networks earlier in the year of its decision not to renew its contract due to the channels’ high costs compared to their relatively low viewership.

DISH’s actions come as AT&T and AMC Networks negotiate over what AT&T this week called an “excessive rate increase.”

“A significant portion of any pay-TV bill goes to fees for content providers like AMC Networks,” said Shull. “AMC Networks requires us to carry low-rated channels like IFC and WE to access a few popular AMC shows. The math is simple: it’s not a good value for our customers.”

AMC Networks has further devalued its programming by making its handful of popular shows available to consumers via iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.com.

“One of AMC’s biggest historical draws has been movies. However, their performance has been trumped by other DISH movie offerings, including the many thousands of titles available on Blockbuster @Home and from top-quality providers such as HBO, Showtime, Starz, EPIX, MGM HD, IndiePlex, and RetroPlex,” Shull said.

Beginning Saturday, HDNet Movies will be available on Channel 130, Style will be on Channel 128, and HDNet (soon to become a new entertainment and music channel called “AXS.TV”) will run on Channel 131.

This is displayed when you bring up the AMC website:

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Is Office 15 Coming on Monday?

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USA Today is reporting that Office 15 will be announced on Monday.  Read on for details.

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USA Today is reporting that Office 15 will be announced on Monday.  Here is the relevant part of the story:

Microsoft plans Monday to unveil software features crafted to jazz up Office 15, the next big upgrade of its ubiquitous suite of office-productivity programs, industry sources say.

Much is at stake. Microsoft’s core engine of profit — selling licenses for Windows systems packaged with the Office suite that includes Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint — is under intense pressure as competitors roll out products aimed at taking away market share.

Office 15 is scheduled to be available early next year, bristling with hooks into Windows 8, the latest upgrade of Microsoft’s operating system software, which will be generally available in October, according to several sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans. They declined to speak on the record because they were not authorized to discuss details. Microsoft declined to comment.

We are expecting to see a beta of Office 15 this summer, so this scans, but we’ll have to wait and see if it gets announced.  I am curious to download the beta and try it out on Windows 8, so as soon as we know something definitive, we’ll let you know.

In the meantime, hit up the whole story at USA Today.

USA Today Story

SkyDrive for Windows gets an update and a new logo

SkyDrive for Windows has got an update today.

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According to the Microsoft blog post:

Most of the changes in this update aren’t really visible. Millions of people depend on SkyDrive to automatically sync files, so as with most updates, this one improves performance, reliability, and compatibility of SkyDrive.

With the upcoming release of Windows 8, the time was right to redesign the SkyDrive logo. The refreshed logo is a natural evolution of the work we’re doing across Microsoft to deliver a more consistent experience across all of our products.

Are you using SkyDrive yet? Leave us a comment below.

Check out the day with spent with SkyDrive earlier in the year

FireCore update Apple TV ATV Flash to version 1.7, brings trakt.tv to the party

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FireCore have today released an update to its ATV Flash software for the Apple TV 2, taking it to version 1.7 and bringing with it trakt.tv.

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This is what FireCore posted on their blog tonight:

Today we are happy to release aTV Flash (black) 1.7 which, among other things, features seamless access to trakt.tv. trakt.tv is a free service that automatically tracks the movies and TV shows you watch, and provides recommendations for related content you may find interesting.

trakt.tv Scrobbling and Ratings

With our trakt.tv integration on the Apple TV, watched movies and TV shows are automatically ‘scrobbled’ back to your trakt.tv profile. You will also have the option to submit ratings for each video right from the Apple TV menu. Support for 2-way sync is also in the works, and will be available in a future version.

To learn more about trakt.tv, or to signup for a free account, please visit http://trakt.tv/.

Full Changelog

    • Added trakt.tv integration (scrobbling and ratings)
    • Added localized movie poster art
    • Added localized movie ratings
    • Added AirControl (beta) – an open control API for Apple TV
    • Added support for embedded DVB subtitles
    • Added advanced read-ahead buffering for SMB and NFS shares
    • Added Simplified Chinese translation
    • Added ‘Update All’ option
    • Added support for secure web logins
    • Improved metadata fetching speed
    • Improved video rotation detection for MOV files
    • Improved support for YUVJ420 & YUVJ422 formats (used by digital cameras)
    • Improved top-level menu layouts
    • Resolved crash when accessing ISO files on certain shares
    • Resolved potential streaming issues when using an unstable network
    • Resolved AFP related memory management issues
    • Other minor improvements & fixes

Great! Where can I get it?

If you’re already running a version of aTV Flash (black) the new 1.6 version can be installed through the Maintenance –> Manage Extras menu. Links for the new version can also be found in your account under the Downloads tab.

If you’re new to aTV Flash (black) you can learn about all the great benefits here.

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Parallels Desktop for 7 for Mac gets updated with enhanced Retina support

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Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac has just been updated to version 7.0.15104, bringing with it a number of fixes and improvements, including enhanced support for Retina displays and Windows 8.

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This update for Parallels Desktop for Mac (build 7.0.15104) includes the following fixes and improvements:

  • Run Windows 8, Ubuntu, and Fedora on the latest models of Mac computers (MacBook Air (mid 2012), MacBook Pro (mid 2012) , MacBook Pro with Retina display).
  • Run Fedora 17 in virtual machines.
  • Install Parallels Desktop on Mac computers running OS X Mountain Lion.
  • Use IMG disc images for the virtual machine CD/DVD-ROM drive.
  • Use USB 3.0 devices in virtual machines.
  • Improved Parallels Mobile connectivity with Mac.
  • Improved Linux distributions detection during Express installation.
  • Enhanced Retina display support.

The update is a little over 312 MB in size, so go update now.

Learn more about Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac from here