C.H.I.P. is a USD$9 computer that fits in the palm of your hand

A tiny computer called C.H.I.P. is currently taking crowd-funding platform Kickstarter by storm. Priced at just USD$9, the matchbox-sized device is still powerful enough to let users create documents, surf the web, send emails and play games.

C.H.I.P. has blown past its USD$50,000 funding goal; more than 20,000 backers having pledged over USD$1 million with 24 days still to go in the campaign.

Next Thing, the team developing C.H.I.P., said that it built the device "to make tiny computers more accessible and easier to use".

"C.H.I.P. is a computer for students, teachers, grandparents, children, artists, makers, hackers, and inventors," said the team on its Kickstarter page. "Everyone really."

In terms of hardware, the device features a 1GHz ARM processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of non-expandable storage, and Wireless N connectivity. C.H.I.P. only has a single USB port, but users have the option of connecting a mouse, keyboard or game controller via integrated Bluetooth. The device will ship with a custom version of the Linux operating system pre-installed with applications such as the Chromium web browser and LibreOffice productivity suite. 

C.H.I.P. has been designed to work with any screen using the built-in composite output or via optional VGA or HDMI adapters.

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