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New 'Pentop' Computer To Help Children Learn
theodp writes "Educational toymaker LeapFrog is introducing the Fly "pentop" computer, a talking computer hidden within a pen the size of an electric toothbrush. Available in mid-October for $99 at Wal-Mart and Target, the device responds to written commands and is aimed at 9-14 year-olds who can use it as a calculator, a calendar, to create and record music, and to play logic and geography games."
I have 2 kids who are about 14, and I got to say there is no way I would give them something that costs $99 and is the size of a pen. They would loose it in 3 days.
Erlang Developer and podcaster
Leapfrog Talking Pen
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I said consummate v's...CONSUMMATE!
great!
Now how can I tell my children that hiking, climbing, biking gives much more fun than electronic gadgets??? Do you really think such gadgets are good for children?
Somehow I am getting more and more sceptical about these pseudo-educational gadgets.
michal
Is it just me, or does this gadget come across as just ... stupid and overpriced ? Seriously, you have to buy their "special" paper to use it!
Why would you pay so much for a device without a screen? You can pick up a Palm Zire 31 for around USD$130 and you get something that kids would think is SO much better than a talking pen.
"[the pen] can "see" what you write, read it out loud, and respond to written commands."
Oh yeah, I can just see kids using it to spell a whole load of non-educational words and have the pen read them out aloud in the classroom. LOL!
We just had a thread on the future of technology in schools.
Something tells me that this is not it. Seriously.
It took me a while to get hang of using the calculator (the circled "C" is the shortcut), one of Fly's really cool features. Following Fly's instructions, you draw a calculator box with numbers including "plus" and "minus" symbols on a piece of Fly paper. Then, you tap the numbers you want to calculate with the pen, and the gadget makes additions, subtractions, divisions, and multiplications for you. Here, too, you need good handwriting.
OK, so I need special paper, good handwriting, I draw a picture of a calculator, tap the numbers, and it speaks the answer. What could be simpler?
The UI on this thing sounds horrible, and the features it provides don't sound fun or useful, but other than that, it seems like a great device.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
This pen could be better utilized as a utility for the disabled, the blind could use it to learn how to write, could they not? Or it could be used as a tool to help the learning disabled.
Yeahh... but does it run Linux?
hejdig.
/OF
Remove the neccessity for special paper (with an accelerometer or some fancy triangulating gadget) and increase its computing power by connecting it to a computer or PDA (by bluetooth) and you might have something. I am not sure exactly what but something.
For instance have the pen somehow buzz which way to draw a line and it/you could make up a new interface on the fly.
I have tried digital whiteboard and wacom board and these solve other problems. If someone figures out how to put these solutions together into yet another solution we might have a cool thing.
I bet it's based on technology from Anoto. The whole thing sounds very much like what their technology is said to be capable of, and the "special paper" is very much in line as well. Cool application, but it does sound rather annoying, heh.
main(O){10<putchar(4^--O?77-(15&5128 >>4*O):10)&&main(2+O);}
...
I'll get my coat.judging by the number of 9-14 year-olds that told me how bad they "pwnd my n00b ass" at Counter Strike last night, something tells me they are beyond this.
I wonder how many "Easter Eggs" are hidden in this baby's handwriting / command recognition system.
Like:
"Tell me a rude joke"
"Fart!"
etc.
If I were a programmer devloping that thing, I'd find it hard to resist sticking a few in!
"Absorbing your worst..."
Of course, the shoe would only talk when walking over a specially marked carpet...
that will get lost very easily and run out of battery even quicker when you can buy a good old fashioned everything that it can do for less? The target age is 9-14 but by the time I was 12 any pen larger than the deluxe BIC one with a rubber grip was already too phony for us "teenagers". I highly doubt anyone older than the age of 11 would really want a $99 penputer to show off in english class. The games will probably get really boring really quickly and the pen will loose its snazz.
The point is, technology has only become a necesity of life because we've made it one, but notime soon will kids be behind technology for not owning a little expensive leapfrog pen. I tried organizing life on a palm pilot once in middle school only to realize it was horribly inconvenient. An expensive pen that doesn't have half the functionality of a palm pilot wouldn't be any different.
No one have a link of the NetBSD port for this thing yet?
Instead of charging $99 for a stupid talking device that doesn't even have a screen, and then having it compete against their Gameboy SP's and PSP's, how about develop some software for their portable devices.
Like.. put some educational interactive software on a PSP UMD disk. Make it so the kid has to get to certain levels in his educational software in order for him to 'earn' PSP time to play his games.
The idea of some $99 device that 9-14yo's will talk to annoys the hell out of me. When the fvck can a 9-14yo kid talk aloud and separate himself from friends, school, and family comotion?
Seriously.. the PSP and the Gameboy SP are two of the most ultimate devices that could be used for teaching... Instead, that aspect is completely ignored. Kids carry those things around.. They play them more than the parents control. How about some software that at least makes it so the kid has to spend a third of his time learning to spell or something.
--- We need more Ron Paul!
A) Yes, but can it run Linux?
B) Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of pens!!!
I am a big supporter of technology in our school systems - it only makes sense to acquaint kids - to some degree- with what technology is available. However, as per useless technology like this: the focus needs to be taken AWAY from trying to substitute real teaching with toys like this. Plus it's expensive and I wouldn't want my kid taking a $99 pen to school - When I was that age it was hard to keep track of a pencil.
If this thing could work so as to encourage children who cannot be bothered to learn to write clearly or draw even simple lines, it could actually be useful at one stage of development. Anyone who thinks to ask for hand-written applications for jobs nowadays will realise that many people cannot write properly, and there are still places where this is essential. Those of us who were educated before progressive education will remember how we were forced to learn to write letters and numbers clearly, use rulers and compasses etc.(and how long it took) Nowadays forcing children does not seem to be an option, but the simple ability to write does not motivate them to learn unless they have very involved parents. So, given the number of parents who are too busy or cannot be bothered, perhaps this thing or a derivative has a place.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
As a sysAdmin, I know you have a dim view of users, but think of it in the terms Why not instead sit down with them and HELP them learn. to be responsible, educated users. There are responsible places your kids can download music. Open frank discussions about pornography and your ability to see every packet & who requested it are enough to curb the porn.
But more importantly, The computer with the correct software can for example, repeat spanish verbs, forever, without getting frustrated at your child. It also has the instant access (that you enjoy) to a vast collection of information, that takes experience to learn how to sift for what you want. Your children will be at a disadvantage to mine, when book reports, science fair, history homework,term papers are due.
I'm not going to lie, It takes a fair amount of police work, nothing you aren't already used to. 2 26yr Olds, No PC in the bedroom. I have to lock the PC's up until chores and homework are done. Check the Router occasionally, Bring ANY unwanted activity to their attention. If they know they are watched they are much better behaved.
I agree, unfettered access can be damaging. However the benefits far outweigh the negatives. If you wait until High School, you won't be able to "teach" them anything. The two boys didn't have PC's until maybe 10 or 12. My 8 yr old, learned to read, spell, do arithmetic and Art, all before PreSchool. It never occurs to her to go anywhere I would find questionable, Except those damn Scientolgist NeoPets (like KidCrack). She is in her 3rd yr of Gifted Student Program. She is very intelligent, but more importantly she knows how to find answers when she needs them. As a side effect she loves to READ, never was a chore, just came naturally to her because of so many hour of Reader Rabbit, Sam and MAX, Math Journey. She also loves the outdoors and sports and (shudder) Video Games.
The Computer is a teaching tool, just like textbooks, chalkboards, construction paper. How you use them determines their effectiveness. You "can" draw pornography on the blackboard, but most kids are taught to behave in class. My kids were taught how to behave in the Virtual World as well.
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
Suzie's about to lose her anal virginity. After that happens, her ass will be very loose.
Bobby's about to lose his button. After that happens, his collar will be very loose.
There's no real need to invoke extreme vulgarity when all that you are trying to do is make a grammar point.
Getting into the habit of being extremely and unnecessarily vulgar is easy, but it's a difficult habit to break. And it can be very costly if you misjudge the extent that it might cause offence.
Just a thought.
I've seen this pen in use for about nine months. (A friend works at LeapFrog, and I sometimes stopped by to pick her up after work.) And I have to say: It's pretty freaking cool. A few points:
* It doesn't compete (as some commenters have said) with Palm devices or general-purpose computers. Its real competitors are those "toy" computers, electronic learning tools... that is, LeapFrog's other products! It's more a grandchild of the Speak 'n' Spell than the Apple II.
* As a product, it's kind of hard to "get" until demo'd... and then you get it immediately. If I were running the company's PR department I'd launch an aggressive journalist demo program. I did something similar with Globalstar satellite phones as a client... yeah, the company tanked, but we scored some GREAT press in the targeted marine sector. It's a similar product at base: a new, untested solution in a well-established market.
* IMHO, the real application for Fly is outside children's education. For example: Real Estate appraisers and construction pros could draw a room's layout on ordinary-feeling paper and get back square footage, price per square foot, materials needed, etc.
* I can't wait for it to be hacked. Slashdotters, your kids don't need Fly: YOU do.
Tom Geller