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Here are seven cool projects made possible with Intel's tiny computer
Thinking about using Intel Edison for your next builder project, but feeling a little uninspired? Don't worry: IDF 2014 is rife with examples of how to use the company's new development board. In the weeks leading up to the conference, Intel employees and partners alike used it to build robots, memes, high-altitude balloons and even clothing for a small showcase of the development board's potential. Care for a peek? Check out the gallery below to see some of Engadget's favorite Edison projects from IDF 2014.
Intel's building a reference tablet for Android developers
Looking for a new, stable and regularly updated slate to develop on? Intel has your back. The company says it's been working with Google to create the "Intel Reference Design for Android," a developer tablet designed to help device manufactures and developers get their products to market as fast as possible. "What we've done with Google is defined a list of components," Intel's Doug Fisher explained. "And then Intel builds a complete operating environment, a complete stack on top of that device." The partnership and pre-approved components allows Intel to promise that its reference tablets will pass Google Media Services standards, making it easy for OEMs using the device as a base to do the same.
Here's another reason you won't buy Intel's luxury wearable
Looking for a good way to alienate potential customers? Well, there's always the tried and true method: lock your device down to a specific carrier. Intel's MICA (My Intelligent Communication Accessory) $1,000 ballpark price tag and snakeskin coverings were bound to limit its customer base, but the company just announced it has one more barrier for entry -- the 3G enabled bangle is going to be exclusive to AT&T. Not that there's anything wrong with old Ma Bell, but some people find magenta just as fashionable.
Stephen Hawking asks devs to help Intel build a connected wheelchair
Why should developers be interested in developing on Intel's Galileo and Edison development boards? Because one of the smartest men on the planet thinks you should. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich paused the Intel Developer Forum 2014 keynote for a brief, encouraging message from renowned theoretical astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who introduced himself as "the guy who made black holes cool." His topic of choice wasn't space oddities, however -- but about how technology can be a life-changing force for the disabled. "Medicine can't cure me," Hawking said, "so I rely on technology. It lets me interface with the world. It propels me. It's how I'm speaking to you now."
Intel's Edison launches at IDF, and it's still tiny
Back in January, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich teased us with Intel Edison -- a tiny computer with a 22nm chip, on-board WiFi and Bluetooth and the footprint of an SD card. It was designed to be a lightweight and low-power development platform to help usher in the Internet of Things and the next generation of wearable devices. The company wouldn't give us a hard launch date for Edison back at CES, but Krzanich was happy to lay it out during today's IDF keynote: as of today, Intel Edison is shipping and available. Krzanich left it at that, short and sweet, and will be encouraging developers to adopt the program all weekend.
Hands-on with the Dell Venue 8 7000 tablet and Intel RealSense
If you've been on vacation even once in the last four years, you've seen it: tourists whipping out awkward tablets with subpar cameras to capture what can only be the worst photographs. Tablets aren't known for their stellar imaging capabilities, but Dell and Intel's next joint effort may change that, at least to some degree. During this morning's Intel Developer Forum keynote, Dell CEO Michael Dell and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich will preview a new tablet: the Dell Venue 8 7000 series. At 6mm thick, the new slate is purported to be the world's thinnest tablet. It's also the first device to feature Intel RealSense -- a photo technology that creates a depth map within every image it takes. Krzanich gave me a quick preview of the device before today's keynote.
This is what it's like to operate an arcade claw machine using just gestures (video)
We knew gesture cameras will be making their way to computers and mobile devices this year, but seeing one on the classic claw crane was a pleasant surprise for us. This IDF tech demo was courtesy of a Guangzhou company called The Best Sync, and according to Intel VP Doug Fisher, it only took three days to develop this project using Intel's RealSense technology -- as represented here by the Creative Interactive Gesture Camera (co-developed by SoftKinetic). The gestures were simple: move your hand in one of the four directions to position the claw, and clench your fist to drop it on the dolls. The joystick replacement didn't make the game any easier, but it seemed like everyone still had fun with it. Well, at least this author did, as you can see in our video after the break.
Intel's efficient 14nm processors to arrive on both enthusiast and entry systems
At IDF Shenzhen today, Intel briefly announced the 14nm successor to its budget 22nm Bay Trail processors. Dubbed Braswell, this new SoC architecture is mainly aimed at the likes of affordable Chrome OS and Android devices. It will also complement the higher-end Broadwell announced last September (and pictured after the break), though there's no word on availability for these two 14nm, 64-bit lines -- last we heard was that Broadwell's production had been delayed, with shipment still on track for the second half of this year. Fanless Core i7 systems just can't come any sooner.
Intel aims at China with its speedy LTE Cat 6 solution, shipping in Q2 this year
Marking Intel's 29th year in China, CEO Brian Krzanich took the stage at IDF Shenzhen with a little surprise: his company will be shipping its first Cat 6 multi-mode LTE solution, the XMM 7260, in Q2 this year. This follows the XMM 7160 that started shipping with Cat 4 LTE and half the number of basebands last October. The new solution has added support for China's popular TD-SCDMA plus TD-LTE networks, along with the usual 2G GSM, WCDMA plus FDD-LTE around the world. With Cat 6 LTE's carrier aggregation mode, the XMM 7260 can reach a top theoretical speed of 300Mbps, which is twice that of Cat 4 LTE.
