Media center

Media center or media centre may refer to:

Audio-visual software and devices

Journalism

Librarianship

Home theater PC

A home theater PC (HTPC) or media center computer is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, audio playback, and sometimes video recording functionality. Although computers with some of these capabilities were available from the late 1980s, the "Home Theater PC" term first appeared in mainstream press in 1996. In recent years, other types of consumer electronics, including gaming systems and dedicated media devices have crossed over to manage video and music content. The term "media center" also refers to specialized application software designed to run on standard personal computers.

An HTPC and other convergence devices integrate components of a home theater into a unit co-located with a home entertainment system. An HTPC system typically has a remote control and the software interface normally has a 10-foot (3 m) user interface design so that it can be comfortably viewed at typical television viewing distances. An HTPC can be purchased pre-configured with the required hardware and software needed to add video programming or music to the PC. Enthusiasts can also piece together a system out of discrete components as part of a software-based HTPC.

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is a series of credit card–sized single-board computers developed in England, United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools and developing countries. The original Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi 2 are manufactured in several board configurations through licensed manufacturing agreements with Newark element14 (Premier Farnell), RS Components and Egoman. The hardware is the same across all manufacturers.

All Raspberry Pis include the same VideoCore IV GPU, and either a single-core ARMv6-compatible CPU or a newer ARMv7-compatible quad-core one (in Pi 2); and 1 GB of RAM (in Pi 2), 512 MB (in Pi 1 models B and B+), or 256 MB (in models A and A+, and in the older model B). They have a Secure Digital (SDHC) slot (models A and B) or a MicroSDHC one (models A+, B+, and Pi 2) for boot media and persistent storage. In 2014, the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched the Compute Module, for use as a part of embedded systems for the same compute power as the original Pi. In early February 2015, the next-generation Raspberry Pi, Raspberry Pi 2, was released. That new computer board is initially available only in one configuration (model B) and has a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU and 1 GB of RAM with remaining specifications being similar to those of the previous generation model B+. The Raspberry Pi 2 retains the same US$35 price point of the model B, with the US$20 model A+ remaining on sale. In November 2015, the Foundation launched the Raspberry Pi Zero, a smaller product priced at US$5.

San Francisco

San Francisco (/sæn frənˈsɪskoʊ/), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California and the only consolidated city-county in California. San Francisco encompasses a land area of about 46.9 square miles (121 km²) on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, which makes it the smallest county in the state. It has a density of about 18,187 people per square mile (7,022 people per km²), making it the most densely settled large city (population greater than 200,000) in the state of California and the second-most densely populated major city in the United States after New York City. San Francisco is the fourth-most populous city in California, after Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, and the 13th-most populous city in the United States—with a Census-estimated 2014 population of 852,469. The city and its surrounding areas are known as the San Francisco Bay Area, and are a part of the larger OMB designated San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland combined statistical area, the fifth most populous in the nation with an estimated population of 8.6 million.

Westfield San Francisco Centre

Westfield San Francisco Centre is an upscale, urban Shopping mall located in San Francisco, California, managed by the Westfield Group and co-owned by Westfield and Forest City Enterprises. It is anchored by Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's, and includes a Century Theatres multiplex, a Bristol Farms gourmet grocery store and a branch of San Francisco State University. It connects directly to the Powell Street transit station via an underground entrance.

History

Originally developed by Sheldon Gordon (co-developer of The Forum Shops at Caesars and Beverly Center) the center opened in October 1991 as San Francisco Shopping Centre with approximately 500,000 square feet (46,000 m²) of space, the then-largest Nordstrom store (350,000 square feet) on the top several floors, the first spiral escalators in the United States, and connecting through to the adjoining Emporium-Capwell flagship store.

After a slow start, it soon became one of the top performing shopping centers in the country. In 1996, the adjoining Emporium (it had dropped the Capwell name by then) was shuttered in the wake of Federated Department Stores' buyout of its parent, Broadway Stores. The vacated store was temporarily used as a Macy's furniture store while it renovated its Union Square flagship in 1997.