Author: Leon

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LEGO Mindstorm to use linux

One more win for Linux. Mindstorm is where it’s at for LEGO. Peter Molyneux said something brilliant in the recent Minecraft documentary. Minecraft approximates how LEGO started out–a bunch of generic blocks that you pour on the floor and get creative with. The Mindstorm pieces are still like that. The kits where you get exactly the blocks you need to build that exact model are not nearly as interesting.

LEGO Goes Linux – InternetNews.

From the ‘What else would they use?’ files:

Move over RaspberryPi and Arduino, there is a new maker on the ‘block’.

I’ve been lusting after Arduino and RaspberryPi based maker initiatives since I first heard about them. Plug and play build your own electronics with Linux and open source goodness – it’s just like LEGO people kept telling me.

Funny how times change. Now LEGO is set to embrace Linux in a limited way. The new MINDSTORMS EV3 robot playset will include Linux based firmware. Meaning, that Linux skills can now be used in a limited way to control/build/teach with LEGO.

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Huell Howser Died

You could tell the Huell Howser really was a nice person. His show, California’s Gold, was both useful and amusingly weird. Personally, his episode about the Golden Gate Bridge is forever part of me. Vicky and I laughed together while we watched it, not long after we’d met. And to this day we repeat our jokes about “now we are under the bridge” and “that’s why it’s the Golden Gate Bridge–because it’s orange”.

Huell Howser Dead: Beloved California TV Broadcaster Dies At 67 (UPDATES)

Huell Howser, host of public TV show “California’s Gold,” died in his home Sunday evening. Howser, who was 67, was a beloved TV personality who explored and showcased California’s history, traditions and communities.

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Android and Linux racing to be next gen consoles

Here’s an interesting race being run in vendor-sport land. We have two serviceable but aging consoles (PS3 & Xbox 360) and a new me-too console from Nintendo (Wii who?) Maybe we’ll be talking about PS4 and Xbox 720 in six months, but right now there’s a bit of buzz around consoles built on Linux or Android (which is really Linux inside). I give the advantage to Steam and Linux. Compare the loud noise in Google’s Play market to Valve’s Steam market.

GameStick Android console is the size of a USB stick

PlayJam, a company that currently operates a social/casual games network for smart/connected TVs called The PlayJam Network, has spent the last 12 months developing “GameStick,” a dongle-sized Android gaming console that plugs directly into a television’s HDMI port. The device currently exists in several different functional prototype forms, but bringing it to market will require the aid of an ongoing Kickstarter campaign, which has recently surpassed its fundraising goal of $100,000.

Steam-Powered Mini-PC Gets Detailed At CES

It might not be the strongly-rumoured Steambox games console itself, but on the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 a physical prototype of a Steam-powered mini-PC has been on show.

 

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Has the prison population gone down?

Probably not. Federal populations increased. State populations decreased, likely due to budget crunches created by the recession. We know about that here in California. A key line from the report: The majority (83%) of the decline in the correctional population during the year was attributed to the decrease in the probation population (down 81,800 offenders). Chalk this up as another effect of the bureaucracy.

The Prison Population is Down

After more than thirty years of constant increase, prison populations have leveled off and in the last few years have begun to decline (pdf). It’s a momentous change and Keith Humphreys argues that the story has been under-reported because few people want to play up the good news

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Unrelated links

Links to stuff I found interesting recently, not related to each other: