This $9 computer is taking Kickstarter by storm
What can you do with a nine dollar computer?
Just about anything.
I'm Bridget Carey.
This is you cnet update.
You may start to think differently about computers after you learn about the chip.
This is a 9 dollar computer running Linux that you can program to do all sorts of things.
And it's blowing up on Kickstarter, raising more than 750 thousand dollars in Just a few days after they debuting on the crowdfunding website, the system promises to be easy to learn how to program, you can connect it to a screen using composite VGA or HDMI cables, you can surf the web over WIFI or play games with a Bluetooth controller.
It's preloaded with the language Scratch, to teach programming basics by building games and animations.
There are a ton of apps to let you do things like edit office spreadsheets or edit photos.
The California creators also have a handheld adapter Called the pocket chip to give it a small keyboard and screen on the go.
Together that's going to be 50 dollars, but you can get the chip alone for nine dollars, which is expecting to ship by January.
Before this, tinkerers looked to another small do it yourself computer, the Raspberry Pi.
That cost 35 dollars.
But the lower priced chip on Kickstarter packs in more perks.
Like wi-fi, Bluetooth, and on-board storage.
And Chip has a better processor than the latest Raspberry Pi.
In other news, Google is taking away the ability to edit Google maps, because too many people are abusing the mapmaker tool.
Its purpose is to let the community help correct map data, but people are spamming it with junk.
Just last month, someone created the image of an Android mascot peeing on the Apple logo.
Well, Google now says it does not have the capacity to review every edit, now that there's increased map vandalism, so it's temporarily turning the feature off.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Also, the Associated Press reports, three of Google's self driving cars have gotten into accidents on the roads of California.
And that's along with one other self driving car from Delphi Automotive.
There are nearly 50 self driving cars driving around California since September when the state began issuing permits to test the cars on the road.
The AP reports two accidents happened when the car was in self-driving mode.
Travelling at speeds less than 10 miles an hour.
Two other accidents happened when a person behind the wheel was driving.
Google and Delphi said their cars were not at fault, and the accidents were minor.
Of course, you can expect a few bumps in the road as they figure out this technology over the next several years.
Google says it wants to see these self-driving cars on the road by 2017 The company has been working on the project for five years already.
The city road testing, though is still relatively new.
That's your tech news update.
Head over to Cnet.com for more.
From our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Kerry.
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