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Today I'm thankful for Raspberry Pi and its $5 Zero computer

Today I'm thankful for Raspberry Pi and its $5 Zero computer

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The new $5 Pi Zero is as cheap as computers can get

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We don't have a Thanksgiving Day in the UK, but we do have Raspberry Pi. The British company that grew around its titular Raspberry Pi programmable computer is back with a new model today that's even more affordable and accessible than the $25 original. The new Raspberry Pi Zero costs just $5, while still having half a gigabyte of memory, a MicroSD card slot for storage, a Mini HDMI port, and a processor that's actually 40 percent faster than the original.

What's more, the Pi Zero will be bundled as a cover gift on the company's MagPi magazine (costing £5.99 in the UK), making it not only the cheapest computer ever assembled, but also the first one to be given away for free in this fashion. It's difficult to look upon this project with anything other than admiration. The goal of Raspberry Pi has always been to get more people into programming by making it insanely affordable, and in the space of just three years, it's shrunk its price down to a fifth of the original while expanding its capabilities.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is just one of a number of leaders in the tech world who advocate that innovation should serve the needs and purposes of everyone. "We really want to work on big problems that help solve big problems in users’ lives," says Pichai. And that is indeed a laudable job for Google to do. But to help solve small problems in small ways, we have the Raspberry Pi, which is the very definition of inclusive technology that's accessible to all. For this democratization of tech, I am thankful.