The 99$ PC

2006-10-08

A PC for 99 $: the E-Way TU Tiny 200.

Tiny (dimensions: 11.5 x 11.5 x 3.5 cm; weight: 500 g.) has 128 MB Ram, a fanless 200Mhz CPU, 3 USB ports, and a Compact Flash slot; includes LAN, VGA, and audio.

The TU Tiny is compatible with Linux (for example with Puppy Linux, that runs using a 128MB USB Flash Card).

See also: the NorhTech MicroClient Jr, that share the same concept and design.

Categories : technology

Baby Orangutan

2006-02-22
Baby Orangutan Build a robot, made easy.
“The Baby Orangutan is a complete control solution for small robots, even smaller than the original Orangutan.
“Orangutan is based on the ATmega8 microcontroller. The WinAVR package allows you to write C programs for the ATmega8.”. Price: $24.95.
“You will still need two important items to get up and running:
A programmer for the AVR microcontrollers:
Atmel’s AVR ISP is a low-cost programmer that connects to a computer serial port.
A power source: rechargeable batteries are generally the most practical.”.
iBOTZ MR-1004 Hydrazoid

Left: the Baby Orangutan package (3 x 2 cm).
Right: iBOTZ MR-1004 Hydrazoid©.
“This sound-sensing robot walks on four legs and sports fiber-optic eye stalks.”. (Pololu Corporation)

Categories : technology

Planet Sinclair

2005-12-03

Planet Sinclair, by Chris Owen.

The Web’s biggest Sinclair-related archive:

Executive Calculator
“…The Sinclair Executive was the world’s first pocket calculator.
The advert described it as being “as thick as a cigarette packet”, reflecting Clive Sinclair’s stated belief that One must always bear a packet of cigarettes in mind as the ideal size.

…battery life was only a few hours and the machine could be physically dangerous. If it was left on, the batteries had a nasty habit of exploding and blowing the machine to bits.”.

C5 electric car
“Possibly Sinclair’s most famous product (albeit for quite the wrong reasons).

…Exactly a decade before the C5 fiasco, Sinclair was nearly brought down by another disastrous product: The Black Watch.”.

Categories : technology