City-based start up Metis Learning has partnered with chip maker Intel to launch an educational tablet 'Eddy', aimed at children aged from 2-10 years.

The tablet, priced at Rs 9,999 will be available exclusively on eCommerce firm Amazon's India website for about a month, after which it will be available across leading electronics and toy stores.
"We had earlier launched a beta version and it got a tremendous response. We have made improvements and partnered Intel to power the device. We are confident of doing well across cities as parents are looking for solutions to help their kids learn in a fun way," Metis Learning Solution co-founder Bharat Gulia told PTI.

The device is priced at Rs 9,999 and will come with discounts and offers worth Rs 4,500 for a limited time as an inaugural offer. We conducted studies and found children in India are now increasingly spending a lot of time playing games on parent’s smartphones, who are often concerned about the content. Eddy provides a responsible and safe technology alternative for introducing kids to the digital age. Parents can easily control the content and the time the child has access to the device. Besides, Eddy’s screen ensures UV ray protection and lower eyestrain compared to other screens. It also comes with high quality drop-safe bumper made of food grade silicone bumper to prevent damage from falls," Gulia said.

Powered by Intel's Atom processor, the tablet comes pre-loaded with over 160 learning apps selected by Metis' educators and content experts to accelerate a child's social, emotional and cognitive development, he added.  The tablet features a seven-inch screen, 16GB memory (expandable upto 32GB), 1GB RAM, 2MP front and rear cameras, 2800 mAH battery and 3G connectivity via dongles.


Gulia said the company has received queries from other countries like Portugal for the product, but it is yet to take a decision on exporting the tablet. "Educational tablets may be a niche category but it is definitely growing. In markets like the US, the numbers are bigger but in India too, it is estimated to be about 10 per cent of the tablets

This is the first time I can remember that PC gaming was mentioned at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) without me having to remind an exec that we existed. Unprompted, Intel's Kirk Skaugen took to the stage in the main keynote proclaiming “desktop is alive and well. It's innovating, whether it's small form factors, all-in-ones, portable all-in-ones or extreme gaming. There are 711 million PC gamers in the world today, that's one in ten people on the planet,” he enthused.

Skaugen was talking up their new Broadwell processors, coming our way early next year. They're Intel's first 14nm product based on the Haswell microarchitecture. Simply put,” he said, “this 14nm technology is the most advanced silicon manufacturing technology in the world.”
But it's not simply the die-shrink that's going to be important for Broadwell as Intel is really pushing forward the processor graphics of its next CPUs.

That's interesting because, for the first time, Intel is going to be slotting their top Iris Pro GPU component into a socketed processor. That means you should be able to buy an Iris Pro-based processor and drop it into a cheapo mini-ITX H97 motherboard to make an affordable mini gaming PC. Of course you can already get a small form factor PC with the likes of the NUC and Gigabyte's Brix Pro, but those are super-expensive products. I'm hoping that Intel shifts the Iris Pro down into the more affordable i5 processor ranges, but they are not able to say yet what from those chips are going to take.

Unfortunately it's likely to remain a differentiator for Intel's K-series processors, even down at the Core i5 level. That still means potential for a far more affordable, teensy 1080p gaming PC than ever before.

“We're really focused around PC gaming and enthusiasts. This is the one area of PCs that has kept growing,” Intel's Lisa Graff told me at the show. “These are out most loyal customers: PC gamers. They want as much performance as we can throw at them. We're going to bring Intel's best technologies to bear for PC gaming.”

ASUS Chromebox is 12 cm X 12 cm sized fast, compact home or office computer that runs on Chrome OS. It has the latest Haswell processors and supports 4K ultra high definition video playback. The Chromebox works right out of the box with apps for work, play and communicating online or offline. It comes with virus protection built in and updates automatically. It starts up in seconds and gives you quick access to all your favorite websites and apps. It also houses a processor powerful enough for ultrafast multitasking performance in Chrome OS and the connectivity options to choose your own screen size, connect to multiple displays at once and even attach to any VESA-mountable monitor or HD TV. Starting at Rs. 21000/- in India, ASUS Chromebox is an attractive new proposition for those looking for a space saving desktop solution.

About the launch of the new product, Mr. Vinay Shetty - Country Head - Component Business, ASUS (India) said, "We're excited to launch the Chromebox in India. There's been an increase in demand for small form factor mini PCs / HTPCs and the Chromebox would be a great alternative for such applications. With Intel's latest Haswell processors and 4K ultra high definition video playback and running Google's Chrome OS, the Chromebox is a great new device for customers looking for a mini PC."


The ASUS Chromebox boots up in a flash and instantly syncs with Chrome across all your devices so you can bring your bookmarks, preferences and extensions with you. With 100GB of free Google Drive space free for two years you can access all your data and files in the cloud by logging into your Google account. The compact Chrome box is big on connectivity. It comes with high performance 802.11 b/g/n dual-band wireless, four USB 3.0 ports for fast data transfer, HDMI and DisplayPort for connecting to the latest displays and HDTVs, including support for dual displays and an SD card reader for easily accessing stored photos and documents.

The ASUS Chromebox also supports up to 4K UHD playback, letting you enjoy the best quality content from the web. Kick back and relax as you browse the web or view photos from your SD card and with a wide assortment of offline apps, ASUS Chromebox lets you edit documents, play games and use other popular apps without an internet connection.

The Chromebox is easy to use and share. Everyone can have separate accounts where all of their stuff is kept safe, or use guest mode and you can also easily switch between accounts. Parents can also ensure a safe and family-friendly web surfing environment by setting up supervised user profiles. ASUS Chromebox comes with a specially designed high-quality ASUS keyboard and mouse.

Some additional details about the product:
ASUS Chromebox CN60 (Celeron) - Rs. 21000/-
ASUS Chromebox CN60 (Core i3) - Rs. 36500/-
ASUS Chromebox CN60 (Core i7) - Rs. 58000/-