We’ve done a short print run of the VIA Mini-ITX eBook and are offering ten free copies as part of a competition we are running on our Facebook page. The grand prize is a VIA VE-900 Mini-ITX mainboard featuring the VIA Nano X2 dual core processor.

If the pace of innovation around the Mini-ITX was fast during the first ten years of the platform, my bet is that it’s going to be even faster during the next ten as new applications, services, and experiences are developed around it that harness the potential of the Social + Mobile Cloud.  

With its low power consumption, compact form factor, advanced multicore processing, and high-resolution video capabilities, the VIA Mini-ITX will be at the heart of a growing number of innovative retail installations such as smart kiosks and multi-screen displays that provide consumers with highly interactive experiences in immersive environments.

Read more...

It’s very easy to talk in general terms about the exciting new applications, services, and experiences that will emerge with the Social + Mobile Cloud, but what exactly are they and how will they impact your daily life?

Here are a few examples that we mentioned in the VIA Mini-ITX eBook. Do you agree with them? What ideas do you have on the new kinds of applications that will emerge? Please feel free to post a comment below.

Read more...

As promised last Friday, here is a brief overview of the key trends driving the proliferation of the Social + Mobile Cloud:

Big Data

The rapid growth of huge datacenters is providing massive Cloud-based data storage, production, and processing capabilities on an unprecedented scale. In addition to allowing people to post all their digital data online and access it anywhere from any smart device at any time, Big Data is using its raw computing muscle and software smarts to slice and dice increasingly huge volumes of data in ways that were never before possible - opening up the development of sophisticated new applications, services and experiences.

Read more...

We’ve now reached over 1,000 downloads of the Mini-ITX eBook. Thanks to everyone who has helped us reach this milestone. In my entry yesterday, I talked about the emergence of what we call the Social + Mobile Cloud. Here are some additional thoughts on this subject.

When the Mini-ITX was first launched on the market, many of the enthusiast mods were focused on designing home PCs and home media centers for digitizing their media collections, including music, movies, TV shows, and photos. In other words, this was a time when people were building their Personal Cloud. Mainly comprised of entertainment and other personal content, the Personal Cloud resided primarily in a PC or server in the home and was generally accessible only to its owner and, in some cases, a small number of family members over a home network.

Read more...

Another theme we looked at in the VIA Mini-ITX eBook was the future of the platform over the next ten years.

In the PC market, we believe that demand for low power, small form factor desktop computers will continue to grow, particularly in developing countries and regions such as China, India, the Middle East, and Latin America where PC penetration rates still remain low compared to the US and Europe. The Mini-ITX will remain the de facto standard for these systems.    

Read more...

One of the key themes we explore throughout the Mini-ITX eBook is how many of projects carried out by the modders using the platform presaged the creation of new segments and applications in the PC market.

The plethora of Mini-ITX Home PC mods for example clearly showed the industry that PCs didn’t need to be noisy big beige boxes, but could be small, silent, and stylish instead. This led to the emergence of a huge market for small form factor PCs, though perhaps not surprisingly no commercial system has yet reached the creative heights achieved by the enthusiasts with their projects.

Read more...

Writing the VIA Mini-ITX eBook took a lot of hard work, not to mention a great deal of help and support from my team members and the modders themselves who allowed their projects to be featured in the book, but it was also an extremely rewarding experience.

For one thing, writing the book helped me put the developments in the technology industry over the past ten years in a much clearer perspective than I had before, and as an unintended consequence it gave me a much stronger platform for thinking about the direction the industry will move in over the next decade.

Read more...

We’ve posted this short video featuring the highlights of the Mini-ITX tenth anniversary eBook.

In this video you can see Epan Wu Head of the VIA Embedded Platform talk about both the past and the future of the Mini-ITX platform. Very interesting stuff.