The Raspberry Pi Foundation did it again!
After the successful RPi 2 model B, and the surprisingly amazing little RPi Zero, they released the RPi 3 bringing a faster processor, WiFi and Bluetooth are now built-in, which is a great addition instead of having to buy separate USB dongles for the WiFi and the Bluetooth.
Celebrating their fourth year, and their product becoming UK’s best-selling computer, they announced their new Raspberry Pi, upgrading the processor, and adding WiFi and Bluetooth:
- A 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU (RPi 2 had a 900 MHz 32-bit quad-core)
- Integrated 802.11n wireless LAN
- Integrated Bluetooth 4.1
- Fits in same cases of RPi 2 and RPi 1 model B+
- Price still $35 !
For the rest of the features and details, check the product page.
Including the WiFi and Bluetooth on board not only decreases the costs, but should also make it easier to take WiFi and Bluetooth for granted, thus avoiding possible conflicts or driver issues.
As the saying goes “With Great Power Comes Great Opportunities”, or was it “comes great responsibilities”? anyway, you can do a TON of projects using these little computers, for example:
- Install “OSMC” and get yourself a nice media center that enables you to watch your favorite movies and shows on TV and stream to smartphones, tablets, and computers on same network https://osmc.tv
- Install “motion” and connect a USB web cam and start capturing any movements or even time-lapse videos
- Install “OpenCV” and start doing some objects recognition
- the opportunities are endless!
So what resources are available to help one get started and stay up-to-date?
- The official Raspberry Pi Blog https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/
- The MagPi Magazine https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/
- The Pi Podcast http://thepipodcast.com/
- Pi Weekly http://piweekly.net/
Start today by googling for “Raspberry Pi projects”, you will find lots of interesting ideas, all with detailed how-to shared by the awesome Raspberry Pi community.