Last week saw this year's annual Computex Taipei computer trade show go down in Taiwan. The second largest computer trade show in the world, it's traditionally a source for many product announcements from the major manufacturers. Most of the time these announcements are of x86-based products, but this year it was ARM's turn to take center stage, delivering on last year's announcement that ARM were to make a big push into the netbook market. Although none of the products listed here are in stores at the moment, all announcements point towards a good number of them being made available before the year is out.

 
 

As most of you probably know by now, a few months ago I started work on porting RISC OS Open's RISC OS kernel to TI's OMAP3 platform - a group of SoC's (Systems on a Chip) which use ARM Cortex-A8 cores. To date, OMAP3 SoC's have been confirmed as being used in various products, including the Pandora handheld gaming console, the Touch Book convertible netbook/tablet, and the BeagleBoard development board. For years RISC OS users have been asking for a new portable RISC OS machine, and soon they may find that they have several available.
 
 

The 2009 Wakefield Show takes place today.

• Stuart Tyrrell Developments' have unveiled their VPod graphics accelerator. For £149, the podule card for the Risc PC range of computers features hardware acceleration and high resolutions such as 1680x1050 in 16 million colours.
• NetSurf 2.0 has been released and is available for download on the NetSurf website.
• RISC OS Open has been demonstrated running on a A7000 computer.

Link: Wakefield Show news (via Twitter)

 

Reader Mike sent in these pictures of something he found while out walking his ferret. Yes, we have readers with ferrets. Although the concept of a reader with a ferret confuses us, luckily we don't have to use our brains for this update because Mike was kind enough to send in some words to accompany the pictures.
 
Standard disclaimer: As most of you have probably noticed, this was our April Fool's piece for this year. If you liked our UK:Resistance theme used for the fool then you'll be glad to hear it's been added to the theme selector available from your account control panel. Of course in the end the joke was on us, because UK:R changed their website design from traditional red and black to their new colourful layout a couple of months ago. Oh well!
 
Click the owly pic above to see the article in its intended guise.
 
 

THIS IS AN APRIL FOOL AS WELL
Just in case you can't tell.
 
We just received this by courier from Stuart Tyrrell:

Ok, so we're not Roman, but when have we ever let a small detail like that get in the way of a good party? And, if we're talking of partying, who better to show us the way? Ave Caesar!
 
It's been exactly V years since we last marked Veneralia with a product launch so we thought that it was about time that we did it again.
 
Last time it was our unique UNIpod hopping onto the stage that caused the uproar and has proved incredibly popular ever since. This year we're hoping our vibrant Vpod will spring forth to a similarly vast audience.
 
UNIpod: the only podule you'll ever need
Vpod: the only other podule you'll ever need ;-)
 
It's early in the season and Vpod is still a little bud, full of potential and vitality, verging on blooming but not yet bearing fruit.
 
We expect them to ripen by the 25th of April and to have a bountiful crop in time to produce stunning displays at the Wakefield flower^H^H^H^H^H^HRISC OS show.
 
So come along and share our vivid Vpod vision!
 
Venus Verticordia, the guest of honour at our celebration, had this to say about the Vpod: "I love it already and so will you!"
 
Adjusting her myrtle wreath vainly, voluptuous Venus voiced, "Vpod is such a fantastic product, I'm glad you named it after me."
 
Sorry, no pictures are available yet. Our artist has run out of #ffcba4, he expects to be able to pick some more up on his way back from lunch.
 
He dithered about mixing #ffcda3 and #ffc9a5, but he likes his pictures perfect.
 
Notes for Romans
Wakefield is a new town on the road from EBVRACVM to DANVM, between LAGENTIVM and CAMVLODVNVM.
 
Wakefield show: Dies Saturni xii Aprilis MMIX
 
Vpod costs X denarii

 

Newsgroup postings and the Portsmouth local newspaper are reporting that Paul Vigay was this morning found dead near his home in Southsea after being reported missing last night. His death is not being treated as suspicious. An online book of condolence has been opened for Paul.
 
Paul was well known throughout the RISC OS community. He became interested in computers around 1978 and had an extensive knowledge of a range of computer platforms from Acorn, Commodore, Sinclair and Atari to mainframe and mini systems to 'current' machines such as Iyonix's, PCs and Macs. In 2005 he started his RISC OS friendly ISP, Orpheus Internet.
 
Links
Original The News (Portsmouth) article
Second The News article ("Mystery of man found dead in the sea") (Front page thumbnail)
Third The News article ("Tributes paid to Hampshire UFO Expert")
BBC News article
Online book of condolence for Paul
 

Here's the plan: take an old Mac mini, blow the dust off it, and repurpose it as a media centre. In particular, I wanted it to:

• Watch and record Freeview channels
• Watch shows on BBC iPlayer
• Play downloaded videos

Here's how I got on.
 

Once again the time has come to wish you all a Merry Christmas. By the time you read this, chances are that Christmas has already been and gone, although I'm sure some of you will have a peek at the site today whilst chomping on your mince pies :)
 
From everyone at The Icon Bar, we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. Thanks for reading TIB in 2008 (what there was of it to read!) and we'll see you in 2009. Oh, and don't forget to vote in Drobe Awards 2008 poll while there's still time!
 
Links:
Christmas (Wikipedia)