This Is the ‘World’s Smallest PC’, and You Can Buy It Now

Late last year, we showed you a sneak preview of the FXI Cotton Candy; a dual-core computer that’s the size of a USB stick. Well, production is underway, and you can pre-order one right now.

Packed inside its tiny little frame is a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor built by Samsung, along with an ARM Mali-400 GPU. It also packs HDMI-out, WiFi and a Micro USB port— and comes with Android or Ubuntu pre-loaded as the OS. It also handles MPEG-4 and H.264 video formats, so you could plug it into a TV and use it as a rudimentary media PC.

It’s soon set to be rivaled by the Raspberyy Pi; a British effort to produce a similar product for around $35. To use the Pi, however, you’ll need to be at home with a command line.

If that’s not for you, the FXI Cotton Candy is available for pre-order at $199, and should arrive sometime in March.

[FXI via The Verge]

Ubuntu 11.10 Officially Released

Ladies and gentlemen, dear Ubuntu geeks, it is our greatest pleasure to announce today, October 13th, that the final release of Ubuntu 11.10 is here, available on mirrors worldwide (see the download links at the end of the article).

Dubbed Oneiric Ocelot, the new Ubuntu 11.10 operating system is the 15th release of the Ubuntu OS and it will be supported for 18 months on both desktops and servers.

Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) brings lots of improvements to the Unity launcher and panel, all on top of the new GNOME 3.2 desktop environment.

Oneiric Ocelot comes in the following editions: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Cloud, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Edubuntu, Mythbuntu, and Ubuntu Studio.

Under the hood of Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot):

· Unity 3D interface 4.22;
· Unity 2D interface 4.12;
· GNOME 3.2.0;
· Linux kernel 3.0.4;
· X.Org 7.6;
· Xorg Server 1.10.4;
· Upstart 1.3;
· GCC 4.6 toolchain;
· Python 2.7.2;
· Compiz Fusion 0.9.6.

The Ubuntu 11.10 feature tour:

· Improved desktop experience - yes, still powered by the Unity launcher and panel, now ported to GTK3 and offering advance filtering options and multiple sources;
· Two login methods - 3D interface or 2D interface, both powered by Unity;
· Breathtaking new login screen - powered by LightDM;
· A new Alt+Tab switcher - looks awesome and offers window preview;
· 14 new wallpapers - from various photographers around the world;
· Improved default theme - the default Ambiance theme has been once again improved;
· Totally new Ubuntu Software Center - with a redesigned and professional interface, it now includes lots of enhancements;
· Next-gen web browser - Mozilla Firefox 7.0 is once again the default web browser, doing a very good job;
· Next-gen email and calendar client - Mozilla Thunderbird 7.0 is now the default mail client;
· New default backup tool - powered by Deja Dup, storing secure copies of your important documents;
· Hybrid CD/USB ISO images - allows to write the ISO images directly on USB disks;
· Multiarch support - 32-bit compatibility on 64-bit systems;
· Support for the ARM architecture - available on the Server edition;
· Introducing Juju - the modern approach to cloud service orchestration and deployment;
· New music lens - linked to Banshee, to easily search local and online music;
· Support for scripting languages - including Japanese, Chinese and Korean;
· DVD image - with all the powerful apps you need;
· …and many more other small features for you to discover!

Source: softpedia