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MIT App Inventor Back Online
mikejuk writes "If you have been missing App Inventor, you'll be relieved to learn that it is now available again — albeit still in beta. After two months, MIT has managed to open the beta program and users can once again create App Inventor Android programs. However, you still need a Google ID to sign in, and among the known issues is the problem that MIT App Inventor cannot load projects that are as large as those supported by the Google version. It also reports that some projects have loaded with missing blocks. While the world seems to be intent on making a fuss about the educational impact of cheap hardware like Raspberry Pi, really valuable tools that could produce a new generation of programmers such as App Inventor don't seem to get the headlines or the concern due when they go missing for months."
99% percent of Google's revenue is derived from its advertising programs. Their main products are fully closed source and proprietary. They provide software as a service and cloud hosting, and that is what they're always going to do. It's what most slashdotters hate, but not when it's about Google.
Is it because they offer something for "free"? Their contributions to open source are minimal at best. In fact, their contributions towards open source hurt open source and web standards. Google is by far the only company still fighting against H.264 (the better product) because they have a competing product they would like to see more use for. They are so desperate to get into the social network spying game that they actually made it required to make Google+ profile when you're creating new Google account.
Put it other way, they will continue closing services that didn't turn into immediate profit. They will continue to buy out firms just to close them down the line. Sometimes they buy them because the idea might be good or for some business reason (like Google Earth, Android and YouTube), but many times they also buy out competitors because they would be a good competitor to Google and they don't want that to happen.
Remember that Google's "low, shitty guidelines and standards" advertising side arm is called DoubleClick, which certainly has a "funny" history.
You need a google ID to sign in. Scroogle.
I'm tired of hearing about Raspberry Pi. Really sick of it. It was of mild note when it was new, but now that it's on sale I'm being bombarded by a dozen stories on various news portals. Yes, it's a cute piece of hardware, yes it's cheap. No, it's not revolutionary or game-changing. We've had plenty of SBCs in the past that do pretty much what it can do.
And the stupid thing is, I'm a robotics researcher and an electronics hobbiest to boot - I'm the target demographic for this product. But it's not solving any problem I really have, and I'm so sick of hearing about it I'm not going to buy one out of interest. Even the feeding frenzy over kinect was better than this, in that it truly was new and innovative in the robotics space (or at least, was a whole lot cheaper than the swiss ranger). The internet is weird in the things it collectively decides to care about. It's the corollary of the power of the internet - sometimes the mediocre gets amazing airtime, and sometimes the revolutionary and important falls by the wayside.
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
"really valuable tools that could produce a new generation of programmers such as App Inventor"
Ah, Really?
Could someone please point me at the important differences in App Inventor that makes it special
and at all innovative?
Something a "new generation of programmers" are going to take hold of and will somehow make them
better, stronger, faster (queue super slow motion running..) programmers?
Sounds like someone is missing their favourit pointy-clicky "programming" but really is there something
here of importance?
There are plenty of accessible, entry level "introduction to programs" type systems around...
I would certainly say Raspberry Pi will do more for REAL programming for than App Inventor ever could,
as it gives people a very real system, at a "toy" price.. That is a game changer (of course there are other
similar projects, but this one looks like it will be ACCESSIBLE, which makes a big difference).
App Inventor is not BAD of course, but certainly not a critical path to anywhere.
Is App Inventor really programming? It's a drag-and-drop system which produces bytecode directly. The user can't see or edit the Java code. Once you hit the limit of what App Inventor can do (it's limited to one view, for example), you can't extend your app by working on the Java code. This means that even if you become an expert with App Inventor, you're not really any closer to becoming an Android programmer.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
when can I host my own? wasn't it going floss?
way better than pi, for $50 (or 0 for my old phone) I get 500mhz, apps, WiFi, gps, accelerometers, touchscreen, battery, card slot, another $50 at sparkfun gets me all the breakout usb io I want 'cept hdmi.
The parent comment is retarded. How is it moderated insightful?
"I'm the target demographic for this product. "
No your NOT! It's target is education and "third-world" countries
"Yes, it's a cute piece of hardware, yes it's cheap. No, it's not revolutionary or game-changing."
It has potential to be "game-changing" because IT education in the UK is a joke - technical ability is shunned in favour of teaching Microsoft products instead. The Pi project is an attempt to start a similar UK computer culture as seen in the 1980s.
" We've had plenty of SBCs in the past that do pretty much what it can do."
At the current price - no, not really a 700mhz cpu AND gpu with 256mb ram, 2xusb and ethernet for $25?
"And the stupid thing is, I'm a robotics researcher and an electronics hobbiest to boot"
No the stupid thing is, you're stupid for not checking your facts first.
" I'm so sick of hearing about it I'm not going to buy one out of interest."
It's a charity and publicity is important to attract donors, sponsors and other sources of income. Producing hardware is an expensive undertaking.
As the saying goes "Ignorance is bliss" aka "twitchy slashdot commenter"
I also slay your troll-like posting with the following quotes from the Raspberry Pi "about" page: (Obviously your troll-like eyes are too tired to read the "about" page)
"..The idea behind a tiny and cheap computer for kids came in 2006, .."
" became concerned about the year-on-year decline in the numbers and skills levels of the A Level students applying to read Computer Science in each academic year."
"the 1990s where most of the kids applying were coming to interview as experienced hobbyist programmers, the landscape in the 2000s was very different;"
" David has been tireless in raising press awareness and finding us sponsorship."
"We’ve had enormous interest, support and help from the educational community, and we’ve been delighted and a little humbled by the number of enquiries from agencies and people far away from our original targets for the device."
"The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK registered charity (Registration Number 1129409)"
I thought we were still suffering from the last generation which realized you can code "Drag'n Drop"-style...our VBA/MS Access/Frontpage friends.
st[art 4 holy war
What other tools for generating Apps are out there? That would be good to publish somewhere if it hasn't been done already.
Who's the real retard? Seriously. Do you have to be condescending in your comments? Can you simply state a differing opinion without attacking the parent? I could come up with arguments against your response to support the parent (I am an EE, but not in robotics), but your post is so offensive I would prefer not too.
I don't know when this started but lately /. comments have become increasingly personal attacks. Did we get in a new wave of trolls or did everyone start to really loath each other?
And the world breathes a sigh of relief after another yet another CS professor's theoretical tool is saved from a deserved grave. App Inventor, it is to the ten's what Logo was to the seventies.
"The Logo Programming Language, a dialect of Lisp, was designed as a tool for learning."
"To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a professional developer."
Way to prove a point!
Innit.
Your head a splode
Also, how is Chrome adware? You're really grasping at straws here.
Is this close enough? Usage tracking including RLZ identifier
No your NOT! It's target is education and "third-world" countries
Right, because the most effective way to give students computers is to buy a HDMI monitor, USB keyboard, mouse, and power adapter for your $25 computer (oh wait, you want internet? $35)
Never mind that that it's an even worse idea in third world countries. As much flak as the OLPC gets, it solves far more problems than this board does - very low power consumption, a battery, mesh networking for internet, a durable case, and a complete GUI software stack with Python and Logo built in.
It has potential to be "game-changing" because IT education in the UK is a joke - technical ability is shunned in favour of teaching Microsoft products instead.
Oh, right. It's for the "third world country" that is the UK. No, actually, the UK's schools are already well equipped with computers. Why add another lower piece of hardware in just to run open source code? Why can't you do that on a Windows box? How about installing Visual Studio? It seems the real problem is not offering classes, not the lack of hardware.
The Pi project is an attempt to start a similar UK computer culture as seen in the 1980s.
An interesting proposition. By allowing the students full access to a computer, rather than a limited login environment, they can start hacking away at the hardware. However, why would students do that if they already have a fully working Linux kernel? In the 1980's, part of the attraction was working close to the bare metal. It's too bad you can't do that with the Raspberry Pi, due to its Broadcom chip. Broadcom chips are notorious for having zero documentation, and the one on the Pi is no exception. Aside from a GPIO reference document they released recently, most of the chip is shrouded in mystery and binary blobs. For example, the entire video subsection of the chip is undocumented - the only thing Broadcom provides is the area that it takes on the memory map.
At the current price - no, not really a 700mhz cpu AND gpu with 256mb ram, 2xusb and ethernet for $25?
Actually that's the $35 model. The $25 model only has one USB port and no ethernet.
No the stupid thing is, you're stupid for not checking your facts first.
...
The parent comment is retarded. How is it moderated insightful?
How do comments that start out with sentences like these get moderated insightful?
I'll briefly mention that the point about this being targeted at EE's and hobbyists is in fact somewhat true. Why else would it have a header for a bunch of GPIOs, I2C, etc, and why else would they pressure Broadcom into writing documentation for it? There is also a theory that Broadcom is subsidizing the chips (based on the total cost of components on the board), with the intention of it being a sort of evaluation / demo board / PR combo. But the rest is speculation, I'll leave it at that.