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The original Macintosh computer was released in 1984, and it was the first popular personal computer to run software featuring a graphical user interface. It had a 9 inch display, a 7.8 MHz processor, and 128 kB of memory.
Computers have come a long way since then — today you can pick up a $35 Raspberry Pi which has far more powerful hardware than a Macintosh 128. You can even emulate classic Mac software on it if you really want to… and if you’re going to do that, why not go a few steps further and build a miniature replica of a classic Mac case for the little guy?
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web.
- Turning a Raspberry Pi into a tiny Macintosh computer
The Raspberry Pi is a tiny, low-power computer that can fit in all sorts of tiny places… including the shell of a classic Macintosh computer, shrunk down to a palm-sized devices. [Cult of Mac] - Video preview of the upcoming Jynxbox dual-core Android media center box with XBMC
The Jynxbox line of set-top-boxes are small devices that let you run Android apps on your TV. Here’s a preview of the user interface for an upcoming model which supports XBMC and other media center apps. [Theater in a Box] - New Asus PadFone Infinity might just be called “new Padfone Infinity”
The next-gen Asus PadFone Infinity is a smartphone with an optional tablet dock that’s expected to have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and other top tier specs. Asus may also take a page out of the Apple and Google playbooks and just call the new model the new model instead of giving it an entirely new name. [Engadget] - BLU unveils Dash range of dirt cheap Android phones, starting at $49 (unlocked)
Don’t expect much from a $49 phone — that model has a 3.5 inch, 480 x 320 pixel display, a 1 GHz processor, and Android 2.3. But BLU offers models with better specs for $99 and up. Or you could just spend $199 and get a Google Nexus 4. [Android Police] - Panasonic Let’s Note LX is a 12 inch, 2.5 pound notebook
Like most Panasonic laptops, this model will sadly probably never be released outside of Japan. [Engadget] - Coming soon (for some reason): $130 Nintendo 2DS
I get that Nintendo is dropping support for 3D in order to save a few bucks — who uses that feature anyway? What I don’t get is why this dual-screen handheld game console doesn’t have a hinge that lets you fold it in half for portability and protection. [Polygon] - Earl rugged, E Ink Android tablet to launch in 2014 instead of mid-2013
This is hardly the first crowd-funded project to get its release date pushed back. [The Digital Reader]
I think that Mini-Mac is way cool. I think it is a very creative use of the Raspberry Pi. I amazed at what one could do with that little board.
Looks nice, but what’s it good for? Reminds me of various emulators out there,
such as Palm Pilot, Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari, etc. Do people really want to play Asteroids or Pong, and for how long before they get bored?
One useful app I can think of is Palm Desktop, which had a free online version/web site maintained by Palm. If I’m not mistaken, you could sync the online version
with the PC client and the Palm device. Sadly, Palm shut down the web site, and
Palm itself went away. Sure you could do the same think with Exchange or Google, but these environments lack the simplicity and speed of Palm Desktop.
webis is trying to do something like the Palm Desktop web site with its Pocket Informant web product. However, development of the web site has been delayed and the online service only syncs Android or iOS clients.
That mini-Mac is cute! It’s amazing how far computers have come.