Review: ABox Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Starter kit

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

One of the most amazing products in technology today is the Raspberry Pi 3 B+. This is a credit-sized computer that’s powerful and capable enough to run various Linux distributions and even Windows 10 ioT core for creating Internet of Things projects.

The ABox Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Starter Kit is an exceptional value for anyone looking to get into this cool and affordable type of computing or programming.  This starter kit has the main board has the Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.4GHz, dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2/BLE, faster Ethernet, improved thermal management and PoE capability via a separate PoE HAT.

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Netflix updates playback controls on iOS app

Bingeing episodes is going to be easier on your iPhone or iPad with the new Netflix update. The app adds forward and back 10-second buttons, the play/pause button is also bigger now. At the bottom of the screen there’s a row of icons at the bottom that shows Episodes list, Audio & Subtitles menu, and Next Episode button. It’s similar to what you see on the Android app. You can also now double tap the left or right side of the screen to fast forward or rewind a scene. You can download this update from the Apple App Store.

Source: The Verge

Microsoft, Google are working together to bring Chrome to Windows on ARM

Hoping to give Windows on ARM machines a bit more support, Microsoft is working with Google to make the Chrome browser a native Windows on ARM app. Microsoft is trying its luck again by creating Windows 10 on ARM, a line of PCs that run on ARM processors. It didn’t succeed the first time around with Windows RT and how limiting the system is. But this time it can run on x86 programs in an emulator, expanding the range of software the machine can run. But this will, of course, affect performance, so it’s better to develop native ARM apps.

That’s where this new collaboration comes in. Technically, Chrome works on ARM systems, but it doesn’t currently compile properly as a Windows-on-ARM application. 9to5Google spotted various commits by Microsoft engineers helping develop Chrome for Windows 10 on ARM. With the help of Microsoft developers and addressing issues, this can change that. Qualcomm is supposedly helping out as an executive last month said they are working to bring a native ARM port to Windows.

Source: Ars Technica

O-Wind Turbine wins James Dyson Award

Two students from the Lancaster University in the UK discovered a way to harness urban wind by inventing a new type of wind turbine. And this project is what won Chilean Nicolas Orellana and Kenyan Yaseen Noorani this year’s James Dyson Award. The two students taking up International Innovation MSc together invented the O-Wind Turbine. Instead of capturing wind travelling in one direction—which traditional turbines do—their invention has a geometric shape capable of generating wind, no matter which way the wind is blowing. The O-Wind Turbine was inspired by the NASA Mars Tumbleweed Rover and features a 25cm sphere with geometric vents. It sits on a fixed axis but spins when wind hits it from any direction. Gears drive the generator and these convert the wind power into electricity. Orellana and Noorani take home $50,000 for their project and another $8,500 for their university department.

In a press release about the win, Sir James Dyson said, “Design something that solves a problem is an intentionally broad brief. It invites talented, young inventors to do more than just identify real problems. It empowers them to use their ingenuity to develop inventive solutions. O-Wind Turbine does exactly that. It takes the enormous challenge of producing renewable energy and using geometry, it can harness energy in places where we’ve scarcely been looking—cities. It’s an ingenious concept.”