#82 Intel Launches Its First-Ever Complete NUC Windows 10 Mini PC

Intel is moving beyond making the super powerful Skylake processors for others, instead the world’s largest semiconductor chipmaker has launched its first ever complete mini PC, the Grass Canyon NUC for the low-end users.

PowerTech & Powertechmation: Intel has launched the best version of its mini PC series. The Grass Canyon NUC comes with Windows 10 and 2GB RAM and costs $255. Know everything about it here.

The new NUC mini PC has reinstalled Windows 10 which is the biggest refurbishment in the Intel NUC mini-series. The earlier models in the NUC lineup came sans OS and RAM which made many buyers hops on to other options. However, with everything in place now and the price as low as $255, Intel Grass Canyon NUC Windows 10 mini PC is a complete package.

Also read: How to Stop Windows 10 From Spying on You

Intel’s latest offering comes with a quad-core Intel Pentium N3700 Braswell processor, 2GB DDR3l RAM and 32 GB eMMC on-board storage and equipped with a drive bay for additional HD/SSD have been provided as well.

These features are customizable too. The RAM can be extended to up to 8GB in the Grass Canyon NUC and the user has the freedom to choose any of Windows 8, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Fedora, OpenSUSE and Android as the operating system.

The tiny PC with a mighty package delivers the same performance and visuals as the full sized tower. Additional features such as a 8-channel audio, built-in WiFi, and Bluetooth along with HDMI and wireless display capabilities makes NUC5PGYH an excellent home theater PC.

Also read: Intel XDK Update - HTML5 Games, Sublime Text* & Easier to Get Started

The Intel Grass Canyon NUC mini PC is available on Amazon and ready to ship. The tiny powerhouse is not the cheapest, but it is a better option for the users who were considering the previous models of the Intel NUC mini-series which cost around $180.

#13 Intel Curie: The Brain for low-cost, low-power wearables

Last year this month Intel's CEO Brian Krzanich introduced the world to the Intel Edison chip. This year he is introduced to us the Intel Curie, a button sized module using the Intel Quark SE SoC designed for wearables.

Curie is designed to be efficient at always on applications in form factors such as rings, bags, fitness trackers, and shoes to name a few.  

The Intel Curie module includes:

 Low power, 32-Bit Intel Quark microcontroller 384kB flash memory and 80kB SRAM 6-Axis accelerometer and gyroscope
 Battery charging circuitry (PMIC) Intel has created a software kit for wearable technology called Intel IQ. This software kit has been created to help developers and companies create fast wearable applications using Intel technology by including device, software, software for smartphone applications, cloud software and analytics capabilities. Currently they have released two software kits called Intel Body IQ and Intel Social IQ.

Intel Body IQ has a range of capabilities to name a few Intel Body IQ has algorithms and functions for counting steps, calculation of calories burned daily, visual device notifications for the status of the user. Intel Social IQ a few functions include device-to-device single state communication, notifications for user designated calls, SMS, social network notifications, and cloud portal for device companies to push brand notifications.

The Intel Curie module should come as no surprise to people as Intel has been putting a strong emphasis onto wearable technology in fitness and clothing with products and initiatives such as: 

 Basis Peak
 
 Fossil Group
 
 Luxottica Group
 
 MICA bracelet
 
 SMS Audio
 
 Intel Wearable Challenge
 
 Intel Vice President and GM of Intel's New Devices Group, Mike Bell, was quoted saying "In the future, we will see wearable products created by companies that have historically never used silicon before… It’s now up to the ecosystem to innovate with this technology; rings, bags, bracelets, pendants and yes, buttons, will all be possible."

Intel Curie is slated for release in the second half 2015.