RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents and one of two distribution partners for the Raspberry Pi in South Africa, has announced the winner of their limited edition Raspberry Pi competition which ran in 2013.
The competition was focussed around Raspberry Pi, the credit card-sized computer board. Two of the competitions were open to the general public and one of the competitions was specifically for RS customers.
To enter the competition you had to submit your idea as to what you would do with your Raspberry Pi if you were to win one. The best and most innovative project proposal was to win a custom designed, limited edition Raspberry Pi board with its blue casing, blue box and certificate of authentication.
Brian Andrew, MD of RS Components South Africa, says: “We were totally overwhelmed by the quality and inventiveness of the entries which made judging quite stimulating but challenging.”
The final winner of the third Raspberry Pi competition is the IPC’s Nkoka training team which entered the competition by proposing to use a Raspberry Pi device to create a digital notice board application that integrates personalised advertisements and notices on live television without interfering with live broadcasting feeds.
“We thought this to be extremely original. From the Raspberry Pi, the live television feed images can be manipulated remotely or locally using a computing device such as a smart phone, tablet or laptop. The live television screen is minimised with the side of the television screen displaying the advertisement or notice,” says Andrew.
The Nkoka training team noted in their proposal, none of the traditional communication methods currently used by companies are cost efficient or quick enough to update. With the new Raspberry Pi notice board, personalised adverts can be managed simply and cost effectively from a mere touch of a smart phone.
“The Raspberry PI is the future in computing technology and the digital notice board is a step closer,” the winning team stated in their proposal.
“The affordability and versatility of Raspberry Pi is what makes the computer device so attractive. It’s a small, 45g lightweight, credit-card sized computer that can plug into a TV or monitor, keyboard and mouse for use in various electronic applications like spread sheets, word-processing, games and playing high-definition video, similar to a desktop PC.”
The ARM-based board was developed a little more than two years ago in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to support in educating the next generation of software and hardware engineers in programming from a young age.
Computer developers worldwide have however taken a significant interest in this cost-effective device with more than 2-million units already sold globally.
“We are excited about the future of the Raspberry Pi, and look forward to what visionary thinkers will develop next to bring their innovations to life,” says Andrew.
