A computer for $25 is just a few months away, making it possible for computer literacy to be available for just about everyone.
Gizmag recently made the announcement. It has been the dream and brainchild of Eben Upton, current director of RPF, a non-profit foundation. The computer is called Raspberry PI. It is said to be a “barebones” computer with the right components to be able to do most computer tasks, although it won’t have Windows, a mouse, keyboard or monitor. What it will have is the wherewithal for young people to learn computer fundamentals and be able to put together those extra components. In this manner they become literate in the hardware essentials and develop an understanding of how a computer works.
But there are more advances to come in the computer arena, as the new technology is continually updated at lightning speed to bring new ways of translating and transmitting information. For example, South Korean scientists say they have developed technology that produces flexible memory so that computers can be bendable. This will allow e-books additional flexibility, decrease weight of computers and allow for research of human organs by direct placement of computer devices on human beings to help make medical diagnoses.
Just as the tablet PC was revolutionary when Apple, through its guru, Steve Jobs, introduced it several years ago, this new technology will allow rapid advancement of ideas and information. The next generation of computing will also be much faster due to spintronics, that research scientists tell us is the successor to the transistor. It will also conserve power as it performs computing functions at a rapid rate.
For those who want to keep abreast of the new technology, it is a never-ending task. The new generation of computers will broaden not just the ability of technology to expand itself but will also enhance education of more and more people, empowering those who have not been able to afford inclusion in the brave new world computers continue to create.
