R Pi in main-stream periodicals

[Burngate]

This is the first time I've seen Pis mentioned in main-stream news papers or periodicals.

New Scientist, 6 Oct 2018 p. 10, an article about monitoring Borneo's rain forests.
Sarab Sethi of Imperial College et al. are using 12 Pis powered by solar panels to capture sound, video, etc.

If Pis have been mentioned elsewhere, I've not come across it

[W. H. Heydt]

MaximumPC has been running How To articles for various projects using Pis for a couple of years now. Not sure if MaxPC is a "main stream" periodical or not, but the same could probably be said of New Scientist.

[Heater]

I did not understand the question.

"Main stream news papers" implies to me any old garbage news source.

"periodicals" brings to mind respected academic journals.

Very likely you can find the Pi mentioned somewhere in both.

Of course there is a whole spectrum of publications in between.

[Burngate]

My definition of main-stream would be newspapers and monthlies that I read - so New Scientist qualifies, as does the Telegraph, but not Nature and not the Sun.
Make of that what you will.

Not that it's a question as such - more an observation that others might find interesting / controversial, perhaps a philosophical debating point about what constitutes news.

[Heater]

Interesting definition of "main stream".

So if you read it it's "main stream". If you don't it's not.

Never mind what the other 7 billion people on the planet are up to.

That is likely a very small stream.

[Burngate]

The other 7 billion can do what they want - Humpty Dumpty is my hero here.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."

Apparently, the French are not going to be allowed to use the phrase "Fake news". I hope we Brits can continue using French words after Brexit.

[Heater]

Burngate,

OK, you got me banged to rights there.

You see, Humpty Dumpty is my hero too. And I have quoted him here myself sometimes. Let's not forget the end of that dialogue:

"Impenetrability! That's what I say!".

Or that Humpty had a great fall...

[W. H. Heydt]

Perhaps the OPs point might be better described as "mass circulation" (in that you can walk into a common sort of store in the country of origin--I used to have somewhere I could go to buy British computer magazines--and expect to see the publication available) or even just "mass market".

"Periodical" to me means a lot more than academic journals. It means, generally speaking, regularly published magazines. That could be anything from weekly (e.g. TV Guide, Newsweek, or Time), through monthly (the aforementioned MaximumPC, Scientific American, or a thousand others), or even as infrequently as quarterly. Just so it comes out on some sort of predictable schedule.

I suppose the real question is about how much the Pi has seeped into the awareness of the general population. So far, I'd have to say: Not very. When it gets to the point that you mention "Raspberry Pi" and no one says, "What's that?" you will know that it is a "mainstream" device.

[Burngate]

... "mass circulation" ... "mass market" ... the awareness of the general population.

Exactly what I was trying to say. Thank you for putting it more succinctly than I managed.

And, yes, I'm disappointed that up till now it's been ignored by even those publications such as New Scientist that are supposedly promoting scientific / technological education.

[W. H. Heydt]

... "mass circulation" ... "mass market" ... the awareness of the general population.

Exactly what I was trying to say. Thank you for putting it more succinctly than I managed.

And, yes, I'm disappointed that up till now it's been ignored by even those publications such as New Scientist that are supposedly promoting scientific / technological education.

I suppose the irony here, at least as regards the scientific press, is that, while we know of any number of research projects that use Pis (the one counting penguins in the Antarctic always comes to mind), no one makes note of the fact that this cheap little computer is being used to support the work. But then, most reports in the literature don't mention any of the other tech that is--or might be--used, so silence on this point probably indicates general acceptance and no need to make a specific mention.

I do kind of wonder what the *general* press (e.g. Time, Newsweek, New York Times, London Times, etc., etc.) will do when the total sales of Pis hits 100 million. Unfortunately, I may not be around to see it, unless the sales bump up well past the current 5 million per year.