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⬅️ Previous capture (2023-04-19)
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New Raspberry Pi Devices Will Have Sony AI Platform Built In
The Raspberry Pi started off as a low-cost device suitable as an entry point to computing for schools and young students, in the way that the BBC micros and other low-powered/high-constraint computers were back in the early 80s. And it then became a real hobbyist's device, powering all kinds of stuff - including, now, machine learning algorithms.
But then various industries realized that the low-powered chips had really good reliability, and the devices started working their way into all kinds of industrial applications. And so even though I have a mental model of the Pi as a purely consumer or hobbyist device, it really hasn't been that way for a while.
The small computing market has kind of centralized on the Pi for more than a decade now. There's no plausible alternative. Not that there aren't options, but the Pis have a reputation for reliability that you don't hear anecdotally about the others. Personally, I have one (circa 2017), along with a couple of SD cards, one for emulation, one for Raspbian. And I haven't really done much with it, apart from playing a lot of Bubble Bobble in the early days of the pandemic, which admittedly was pretty great. I remember seeing whether I could compile one of my games on Raspbian, and being delighted when I could, though it took hours given the more minimal specs. I played it on my TV, and got a huge thrill out of that, like being a kid again and playing around with our first computer, when everything was new. But since then my Pi, like many people's, has mostly gathered dust.
Microsoft officially adds Bing AI chat to SwiftKey keyboard for iOS and Android
Perhaps I don't have any right to write this. I'm interested, but not invested. I've used Pis a bit otherwise, but otherwise spend most of my time my Lenovo T-series. But it feels bad when every single company now is riding the AI hype train; it would be nice to have some part of my day-to-day that isn't adjacent to generative short term gains piped into a widening cultural abyss. Besides this, Microsoft is bring AI to SwiftKey. Am I going to have to change keyboards on my phone again? Just, stop. I don't want any of this.
Maybe there's an alternative timeline where Raspberry Pi didn't capture essentially 100% of the hobbyist small computing market. Maybe there's a future where chip shortages don't make an upstart challenging them almost impossible. And maybe, also, I should just close my eyes and let it go. Continue here, on the small web, on Mastodon and cohost (well, the jury's still out on cohost). Finally lock my Twitter account, delete the app, and block the URL locally. Refuse tracking and the corporate eye. Resistance in place. I can continue to make interesting things: to write (whether code or literary or journals or otherwise), to play music, to give money to mutual aid funds and gofundmes who need it. Amplify interesting things to my very small audience. Do good things and do right by people. Worry less about the bad things other people are doing and focus on all the many things I can choose to do instead.