3 ms·

Why doesn't everything have a supercomputer (circa 1985) built into it? At $0.35, why not!?

• Alex3917 11y ago
  Because thinking of uses for computers now costs at least 1,000x more than the computers themselves.
• driverdan 11y ago
  Because it's completely pointless in most cases. The "Internet of Shit" Twitter account[1] may be satire but it highlights this unnecessary use of technology. 1: https://twitter.com/internetofshit https://twitter.com/internetofshit
• TD-Linux 11y ago
  Because a low voltage power supply for the micro is quite expensive generally, compared to everything else. Plus you're probably adding a PCB and more BOM parts. There are some ways to make cheap non isolated supplies, but then the microcontroller can't be wired to any external low voltage I/o. Of course, if you already have a PCB and power supply, then it makes total sense and most products that meet this criteria are microcontroller based.
• keithpeter 11y ago
  http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/08/how-low-power-can-you-go.html http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/08/how-low-... It takes a few decades for technology to filter through to applications. Charlie Stross had a go at mapping out some of the possibilities provided by cheap low power computing devices in the blog post above a few years ago.