External News

ATOMIC Pi – A high power alternative to RPi

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We’re RPi lovers, and the UP board is nice… but it’s about price and performance.  We feel there’s a market for a $34 Atom maker board.  Thus was born the ATOMIC Pi. 

  • Genuine Intel Atom x5-Z8350 quad core with 2M Cache. Runs up to 1.92GHz with a 480MHz GPU.  Eats RPi for dessert.  Beats some desktops.  
  • Loaded with memory: 2GB DDR3L-1600, 16GB eMMC, slot for SD expansion (up to 256Gb)
  • Full HDMI port with Intel HD Graphics & audio out
  • USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports
  • Fast dual band WiFI b/g/n 2.4 & 5GHz WiFi RT5572 IPX connectors on board
  • Bluetooth 4.0 CR8510 
  • Gigabit hardwired RJ45 Ethernet RTL8111G 
  • 9-axis inertial navigation sensor with compass BNO055 
  • TTL serial debug and expansion serial ports up to 3.6Mbps
  • Real time clock & battery
  • JST style connectors and a 26-pin header for power & GPIO. 
  • Runs on 5V. Typically 4-15 watts.
  • Legitimate licensed BIOS boots from SD, USB, or Ethernet. Linux comes preloaded… Yes, it’ll run Win10 64 bit.
  • Optional breakout shield with screw terminals for easy wiring
  • Well documented, find specs & files here. 
  • Our campaigns aren’t fancy, but we ship on schedule. Check out our feedback. 
  • What will you make with it?

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The making of Samurai Shodown (2019)

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They’re calling this the year of the samurai. And why shouldn’t they? The team at SNK Corporation has spent the last several years working to revive the venerable Samurai Shodown series, and the new entry finally launches this month — with an anthology of Samurai Shodown classics on the way in the fall. Evo, the world’s biggest annual fighting game tournament, will also feature 2019’s Samurai Shodown as one of this year’s nine main-event titles.

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NASA hack blamed on unauthorized Raspberry Pi

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An insecure and unauthorized Raspberry Pi device has been blamed for a 2018 security breach in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a department plagued with cyber security vulnerabilities, according to a new report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General.

The security breach in question saw hackers target a NASA employee’s Raspberry Pi device, which wasn’t authorised to connect to the JPL’s network, and make off with 500MB of data from one of its major mission systems.

This was just one of the more recent incidents from the past ten years of “notable cyber security incidents that have compromised major segments of its IT network,” according to the report.

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Someone Turned Mario Into A Battle Royale, And It’s The Best Thing

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Battle royale is one of the most dominant gameplay forms of the last few years, and Tetris 99 showed that you could apply the battle royale concept to anything. Mario Royale turns the classic NES game into a 75-person death race that’s some of the most fun I’ve had all year.

Mario Royale, which can currently be played in web browsers, is the creation of a YouTuber and programmer named InfernoPlus and pits 75 players against each other in a race through one world of Super Mario Bros. or The Lost Levels. Players can’t directly interact with each other⁠—a Mario can’t stomp on another Mario⁠—but power-ups like fire flowers and invincibility stars do allow players to take each other out. That’s not really the point, though; Mario Royale is a sort of collective race to the finish. Only the first three players to make it to the end of four levels will end up on the winner’s pedestal. The real challenge is making sure your platforming skills are up to par and that you can avoid goombas and clear jumps amidst all the chaos.

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Best NAS for Plex – 2019

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Best Plex Media Server NAS to Buy in 2019

If you are looking to upgrade your multimedia setup in 2019, chances are that you have already heard of the great multimedia application, Plex Media Server (PMS), that allows you to access all your movies and boxsets anywhere in the world, on almost any device! Plex is supported by everything from Smart TVs and Consoles, through to iOS and Android Phones – this incredibly accessible and intuitive media application provides all your owned media to you, as well as dressing it with titles, descriptions, background studio information, cast lists and recommendations for other shows! It is the perfect multimedia tool for those that want the colourful and information user interface similar to Netflix and Amazon Instant, but want to enjoy their own media, rather than stream/rent media from an online source! If you are looking to build your perfect Plex Media Server, it is highly recommended that you use a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive. This affordable server solution for plex means you have a discreet solution that is easy to setup, easy to forget and will just run in the corner of a room/cupboard as your multimedia centre and let you access all your films, box sets and home movies ANYWHERE in the world. However, choosing the right NAS for a plex media server can be difficult. Big brands such as Synology, QNAP, Asustor, WD and Netgear all have a range of NAS drives available that all promise to support the Plex Media Server application (which is FREE), but each performs better or worse than another. So today, I want to discuss the Top Plex Media Server NAS from each brand, at £500, £1000 and £2000+.

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Apple, Google, and Facebook Are Raiding Animal Research Labs

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Neuroscientists studying birds, mice, and fish are landing seven-figure salaries to help advance artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and more.

Jaguar is a mouse. He lives at Harvard’s Rowland Institute, where, from time to time, he plays video games on a rig that looks like it belongs in A Clockwork Orange. Metal bars position him inside a small platform in front of a metal lever; his mission is to find a virtual box’s edges by feel. To do this, he reaches with his right paw to grab the joystick, which can rotate 360 degrees, and maneuvers it until he feels feedback from the machine. When he reaches the right target area—say, an edge of the box—a tube rewards him with a dribble of sugar water.

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The Nintendo Switch Mini that Nintendo keeps denying might’ve just leaked

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Countless rumors and reports from credible sources (including The Wall Street Journal) have claimed that Nintendo is preparing to launch at least one new Switch model in the near future, but the Japanese company has refused to make the news official. The cat may finally be out of the bag, though, as a collection of accessories for the “Nintendo Switch Mini” has appeared on a Chinese gaming accessory manufacturer’s website.

Before we go any further, there are a few very important caveats worth noting. First and foremost, the image at the top of this post features a mockup of the Nintendo Switch Mini that has been floating around on the internet for ages. It’s not what the actual console is going to look like. Secondly, there are no actual specifications listed alongside the accessories (size, weight, etc.), which is suspicious, to say the least.

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A 3D-Printed, Computer-Controlled Loom

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Manual looms have existed for so long that nobody really knows exactly when they were invented, but they’ve been an important tool for as long as anyone remembers. During the industrial revolution, powered looms were invented and made textiles cheaper to produce than ever before. Then, in the digital age, computer-controlled looms became popular because they could weave new patterns at the push of a button. Despite being operated by a computer, however, they’re still very complex machines with many parts.

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