This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, has so far managed to throw up all kinds of interesting surprising and often bizarre innovations. We’ve seen Parrot showcasing the insane Jumping Sumo, listened to Pebble introducing the next-generation of smartwatch and watched as Orbotrix highlighted the features and versatility of the new Bluetooth controlled Sphero 2B. The show isn’t over yet, so there’s still plenty more to come, including Intel’s announcement of the Edison, a "full Pentium-class PC" that’s the size of a standard SD card.
The announcement of the tiny little Edison fits in nicely with Intel’s previously announced processor that was built with wearable computing in mind. Intel’s Chief Executive Officer, Brian Krzanich, made the announcement, outlining the finer details and technical specifications of the mind-blowing Edison. The innovative little computer is definitely one to be taken seriously with its dual-core Quark processor that powers the Linux operating system. It certainly can’t be classed as a no-frills piece of kit either as it comes with built-in wireless networking and Bluetooth connectivity.
Intel’s announcement and product focus makes it immediately clear that it has plans for the Edison that should be taken seriously. Future developments for the product include a dedicated Edison app store as well as the release of a specialized version of Wolfram that will be developed and made available uniquely for this computer.
The live on-stage demonstration of the Edison at work also shows that there is a clear and present need for a device of this nature. Intel took the opportunity to showcase their little machine working in conjunction with a number of sensors fitted to a baby’s Mimo Onesie.
The Edison did an excellent job of efficiently capturing the information from the sensors, such as temperature and movement, and displaying that information on an output device, which in this case was a coffee mug of all things.
The larger picture is currently unknown, but it seems that Intel is readying themselves to be one of the biggest players in the wearable technology industry.
We’ve known for quite some time that personal wearable tech is going to be the next big thing, but this level of interest from a company like Intel once again highlights that.
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