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Kano Ships 18,000 Learn-To-Code Computer Kits

Posted by samzenpus on from the good-start dept.

drkim writes Kano Computing is a startup that plays in the learn-to-code space by adding a step-by-step, hand-holding layer atop the Raspberry Pi to make learning about computational thinking child's play. Kano has now shipped all the hardware kits in its first batch of crowdfunded orders and pre-orders. That's around 18,000 kits in all, co-founder Alex Klein confirmed to TechCrunch. The lion's share of the first batch of Kano kits — almost 13,000 kits — were ordered via its Kickstarter campaign last year, with a further 5,000 pre-orders taken via its website. The kits cost $99 (plus shipping) to crowdfunder backers, or around $160 (plus shipping) if pre-ordered on the Kano website. The company plans to focus on selling mainly via its own web channel from here on in, according to Alex.

53 comments

  1. Electricity? What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Computers Shmomputers, when I was a kid this is what we used to learn programming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digi-Comp_I

    1. Re:Electricity? What? by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Computers Shmomputers, when I was a kid this is what we used to learn programming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...

      I actually received one of those as a Christmas present back in 1966! It actually was a good learning experience and fun for a nerdy kid.

    2. Re:Electricity? What? by CauseBy · · Score: 1

      You might be interested in a reproduction.

    3. Re:Electricity? What? by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

      You might be interested in a reproduction.

      Yeah, I saw that, too. However, I'm not that nostalgic! Thanks! :)

    4. Re:Electricity? What? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1, Funny

      I actually received one of those as a Christmas present back in 1966!

      I had one of those, too. Right around the same year. I seem to recall blowing it up with M-80s because it wouldn't help me with my homework. I mean, what good is a computer if it can't help you with your homework? I did like the first three experiments in the booklet that came with the Digicomp and then thought, "I wonder how this thing would blow up?" And by the way, it didn't blow up nearly as well as my Revell model of a 1966 Pontiac Tempest.

      I did better with Estes model rockets and small creatures. We had a space race to win, after all, and I wanted to do my small part. I never did learn to code. Soon after, I learned how to masturbate and that turned out to be more engaging than the Digicomp and that was that.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    5. Re:Electricity? What? by StripedCow · · Score: 1

      With this kit, kids don't even have to know the whole thing runs on electricity.
      It may as well run on water!

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
    6. Re:Electricity? What? by CauseBy · · Score: 1

      I bought one! I'm glad you and the AC mentioned it. Thank you.

  2. Good news for a change. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Interesting
    It's good to hear about a hardware crowdsourcing project that actually delivered.

    Come to think of it; it's good to hear about any crowdsourcing project that delivered.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    1. Re:Good news for a change. by diamondmagic · · Score: 1

      Failed projects are unusual enough that that's why they make the news. Do you have some data to the contrary you'd like to share?

      Contributor to three successful and delivered Kickstarter projects speaking (one late by a year, but for an awesome reason), and backer to another handful, all delivered or on schedule (so they tell me).

      --
      Wonder what the public key field is for?
    2. Re:Good news for a change. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, Kickstarter doesn't issue stats about how many projects have failed to deliver. This is a problematic area because a project can just linger on in limbo without having been declared dead for who knows how long?

      You yourself admit that one project you funded was late by a year. Where do we set the deadline? 1 year? 2 years, 5 years?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:Good news for a change. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well a lot of them do right. For example xNT implat on indiegogo

  3. What a scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    €119 for a Raspberry Pi and a colorful keyboard, and then you still have to buy a screen for it. Oh, you already have a screen for your other computer? Why not just learn to program on the computer you already have then?

    The premise that you need to buy this in order to learn how to program is nothing short of a scam, and the Raspberry Pi was sold very much on the same lie, that it was somehow easier to learn how to program on that, than on the computer you already owned.

    1. Re:What a scam by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Interesting
      This is not the market you are looking for. I think that others can take heart in some of the things they did:

      There was an HDMI cable that we were using in the kit and it was working fine but we cracked it open to see what was inside and we found that the number of cables inside the HDMI cable was like half what it should of been. So we switched that,” said Alex.

      “The other one was to do with the Kano keyboard, which has an integrated touchpad and click and the Bluetooth connectivity and USB RS as well. Pretty complicated product. And we have one main supplier for it, who was relying on a couple of sub suppliers for a few components inside. And we did a full factory audit, just before shipping — to gauge social and environmental standards, working conditions. And everyone passed with flying colors But there was one component in the keyboard, the battery, when we went to the factory of the sub supplier it wasn’t up to our ethical standards of how we’d like to manufacture.

      “This supplier was very much like China five years ago, so we ditched that supplier.”

      Attention to detail - rejecting something that works because it isn't good enough, is impressive. Would I have thought to strip the cable to see if the wire count was up to standard provided it worked? Would I have forced the sub to change battery suppliers? I don't know.

      They were two months late due to this, but this is a reasonable time/quality trade-off - especially on a launch product. This is the sort of thing that makes me want to see what they have up next, and the sort of thinking we need more of.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:What a scam by laird · · Score: 2

      The kit is for people who want a computer, keyboard, software pre-loaded on an SD card, book, etc.

      You're expected to plug it into a TV that you already own, which is why they don't include a monitor.

      You can also just use the software. It's a free download (http://www.kano.me/downloads) and all of the source code is on GitHub. Heck, they even let you download the content of the books for free.

      So the premise is that if you want the physical stuff (Pi, keyboard, books, software on SD card) it's $129, and if already own the physical stuff you can download the software and instructional content for free. Given that they invested a lot of effort into creating the instructional environment and the content, it's pretty good that the give it all away. But their goal is to educate kids, not to make a lot of money.

      So how exactly is it a rip off? You're too lazy to download the software and books they give you for free, so you want them to package everything up for cheaper than $129? Really? Do you think their work is worth nothing?

      --
      Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
    3. Re:What a scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point is that the physical stuff is a distraction. It adds exactly nothing to the experience of learning to code.

      They should have sped up the actual goal of teaching by skipping the hardware and just selling the manuals and a live CD for $29.

      Most people have a PC in the home, and most even have an obsolete one that would be more than servicable for this purpose, and probably faster than the Pi. For the hundred dollar difference you could buy a PC that is faster than a Pi from any second hard shop. Which is greener?

      As for the final argument that they are planning a hardware expansion, so? Sell a $20 USB to GPIO adapter that will do the exact same thing for a PC, especially for the trivial LEDs, sensors and motors stuff kids will be doing at that basic level. Or charge $30 and make it fully optoisolated if you are afraid the kids will blow up the family PC.

    4. Re:What a scam by laird · · Score: 1

      I think you missed the key point that the kids learn about computers, including building the computer that they then program, so the whole thing is less mysterious, and it's something that they own and control, not borrowing time on the "family PC". Note that the first part of the instructions is wiring up the Raspberry Pi, a speaker, etc., so they learn about electronics, not just computer programming. And they're targeting the Raspberry Pi, not a PC, because they're giving kids their own simple computer and teaching them all about it, and they don't want to assume anything but a TV. And the Pi is not only cheap, it's open and physically approachable, and kid sized.

      If you don't care about hardware and want to teach kids programming on an old PC, that's great. But actually do it. It's not productive to whine about people actually doing something just because you want to do something different.

      --
      Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
  4. Kano? by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 1

    Showing my age here, Kano was the name of the computer operator dude in Space: 1999.

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
    1. Re:Kano? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Computer says no.

    2. Re:Kano? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but the mortal kombat champion says yes

    3. Re:Kano? by Pepix · · Score: 1

      Great series, 'Space: 1999', season one. It shaped my taste for technology (an aesthetics!) back then.

      A bit off-topic, there is a kind of reboot in the making: http://www.space2099theseries.com/

      If it will be an epic win or an epic fail, it remains to be seen...

    4. Re:Kano? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Showing my age here, "kanoodling" was a term popular at the turn of the twentieth century.

    5. Re:Kano? by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 1

      If you mean turn from the 19th to the 20th, that's really showing your age!

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
  5. Whoa, Deja Vu! by 14erCleaner · · Score: 1

    I'm having flashbacks to the KIM-1, a 1976 single-board computer with a keyboard (hex digits) and display (6 LED digits) and 1K bytes of memory. This has a bigger keyboard, a bigger display, more memory, a bit more software, and costs less, but it's basically the same thing, right?

    --
    Have you read my blog lately?
    1. Re:Whoa, Deja Vu! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My first PC was an Ohio Scientific Instruments C-1P. Once I'd pushed BASIC to the limit I searched for a book on assembler and the only one I could get was one for the KIM-1. It was actually close enough that I was able to write all sorts of cool assembler code for my C-1P. Ah, those were the days!

    2. Re:Whoa, Deja Vu! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no instead of learning fundimentals of low level operation this thing is a full featured desktop computer that obscures all lessons learned on a kim in favor of python

    3. Re:Whoa, Deja Vu! by Ozoner · · Score: 1

      Likewise I started with a KIM-1 !

      Also a SYM-1 and then a Rockwell AIM-65.
      Then built my own version with a 6502 and a MM57109.

      Then the Apple II came along...

    4. Re:Whoa, Deja Vu! by StripedCow · · Score: 1

      The problem is: the memory is just big enough to install the facebook app on it.
      After that, all is lost.

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
  6. TV as monitor by tepples · · Score: 2

    and then you still have to buy a screen for it.

    Or reuse your existing television.

    The premise that you need to buy this in order to learn how to program is nothing short of a scam

    You do if all you have is a phone or an iPad brand tablet or both. One of my coworkers has no computer at home.

    1. Re:TV as monitor by laird · · Score: 1

      Or you can buy a Raspberry Pi and an SD card, download the software and books for free, and stop whining (parent poster).

      --
      Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
    2. Re:TV as monitor by Lennie · · Score: 1

      Pretty much all digital TV run Linux, so there already is a computer inside ! :-)

      --
      New things are always on the horizon
  7. MORTAL KOMBAAAAAAT! by tepples · · Score: 1

    Showing my age, a character from a fighting game.

  8. It's more than the H/W by sirwired · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While the price for the hardware is not awful, they have also built a whole structured environment to help kids learn to code. It's all well and good to simply sit a kid down in front of a Linux box, but unless the parents themselves know how to code, how is one supposed to know where to start the learning process? A tightly restricted H/W platform makes the S/W package tons easier to deploy.

    And the intent is that you'll use a TV as the screen, not a monitor (although you certainly could.)

    1. Re:It's more than the H/W by davester666 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Um, I bought one of these, and read through the manual about the whole 'learn to code' thing. It is "code" only in the sense that both are done on a computer.

      One is a some kind of game, with a graphical UI for "coding", where you have two blocks, one is the game, the other is using to set the color. You place one next to the other, then click on the 'color' block to select the color you want to UI.

      Others are just starting apps from the command line, and you just give different options to the command line.

      Hell, I don't understand why they didn't throw Logo from 25 years ago onto the thing.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  9. trademark confusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Somewhat ot. Doesn't happen often to me, but I was genuinely wondering if this was the same company that I bought a bunch of electronics from. Turns out, no. That was Cana Kit.

    Especially since some have been calling it kano kit, that's legit confusing.

  10. muy bueno por mijo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gonna buy my kid one of these so he'll earn mucho pesos when he grows up. Mijo will have no trouble finding a job because he's golden brown and everybody knows white men can't code.

    - Juan Pendejo

  11. a football game, that's life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kano Computing is a startup that plays in the learn-to-code space

    A startup that plays? Is this a company or a football team? My mistake! Americans are only capable of thinking in terms of football analogies. Every company is a football team.

  12. I'm all for kids learning to program(if they want) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But I won't be giving them a raspberry pi for it. There are excellent tools that work well on a laptop, which will produce much more interesting output and interactions.

  13. Yet another article that ignores global warming by NemoinSpace · · Score: 0

    You think that you can smother the debate on global warming with hundreds of irrelevant geek stories?
    We are on to you.

    1. Re:Yet another article that ignores global warming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there is no debate, either you think we are all going to die in a ball of fire in the next 3 years or you are considered ignorant

      there happy?

  14. Boycott slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Until ads that randomly play sound are removed!

    Slashdot has started adding these ads that randomly play very loud sound. It violates sensible netiquette. Accidentally leaving a slashdot window open causes your computer to make a noise randomly at night, in a meeting, etc.

    Unfortunately, this isn't going to change until it affects their revenue. Boycott slashdot until these ads are gone!!

    1. Re:Boycott slashdot by StripedCow · · Score: 1

      Also, it can be very inappropriate in the office...

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
  15. Hmmmm... by Lord+Kano · · Score: 1

    To buy or not to buy.

    That is the question...

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  16. Man, you guys were ***LUCKY*** ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1

    Computers Shmomputers, when I was a kid this is what we used to learn programming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...

    I actually received one of those as a Christmas present back in 1966! It actually was a good learning experience and fun for a nerdy kid

    You guys were sure lucky !

    I was from China, and back in the mid 1960's China was in really fucked up social turmoil, we could never ever imagine having _anything_ even approaching to what you guys got to enjoy !

    The first time I encountered a computer (and I mean electronic one) I was already in my late teen, and I had to learn everything, from bit to byte, flip from flop, register, all the computer languages, everything, from scratch

    That makes me wonder, though ... while you guys in the West have so many years of wonderfully crafted learning aids ahead of people like me, how come today the level of computer/technological comprehension in the West isn't that much difference from those in the other parts of the world?

    You guys ought to have outpaced the rest of the world by leaps and bounds , man, given that you guys were/are blessed with so many wonderful stuffs, for so many years!

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re: Man, you guys were ***LUCKY*** ! by rfengr · · Score: 1

      It isn't today since you can get the same sort of things in China, but while China was in the Cultural Revolution, the U.S. was in the Apollo Program. The U.S. had a good 30 year lead over China in terms of technology; not any more.

    2. Re: Man, you guys were ***LUCKY*** ! by laird · · Score: 2

      The US has no real industrial/education policy, just quarterly ROI targets, so we destroyed our space program, manufacturing capability, etc., because it was in the short-term ROI interests of various corporations.

      On the flip side, we accidentally made the internet, so roughly half the people on the planet have access to virtually limitless knowledge, empowering anyone to do amazing things. That's good.

      --
      Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
    3. Re:Man, you guys were ***LUCKY*** ! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      I was from China

      And you used a time machine to change that?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re: Man, you guys were ***LUCKY*** ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, NASA was useful in the context of the Cold War but was clearly retarding the development of space tech after. So it is good that we are defunding it, should be reducing it more. The future of space is now in the hands of private industry where it belongs. We are close to tipping over into enough profit in it to cause a new race. But we won't be doing PR stunts this time, we will be doing activity that can sustain itself so we will be putting more and more stuff and people out there. Too late for my generation, but the grandkids just might get to go!

    5. Re: Man, you guys were ***LUCKY*** ! by laird · · Score: 1

      There's a place for NASA as well - private industry isn't going to explore space or do research, just commercialize business opportunities. Those "PR stunts" are what enabled private industry to start commercializing space.

      It's very similar to how airlines got started. At first it was "PR stunts" that laid the groundwork, followed by airplanes being almost 100% government funded, with military and mail delivery contracts that pushed private industry to build the airplanes and infrastructure to deliver on the contracts, until decades later the airlines became self-sustaining (though heavily subsidized as they are now, with government-provided airports, control, weather, etc.). None of that magically happened, that was the result of a national policy to grow airplanes and airlines, with $billions invested.

      In space, defunding NASA and replacing it with nothing just means that it's all moving at a snail's pace. We could have had bases on the Moon and Mars long ago, and should have. We're decades behind where we should have been, not because of the existence of NASA, but the reverse - defunding NASA slowed things down. Instead, we should have done what was done with the airlines, and continued the R&D and infrastructure, while putting out huge contracts to private industry to hit real targets. Not LEO satellite launches, though those are fine, but big targets - solar power satellites, lunar base, mars base, etc., that really push humanity forwards.

      --
      Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
  17. Do you speak 'adult'? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WTF does "plays in the learn-to-code space" mean?
    Is this summary written for three year olds?

  18. Boycott slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, I have started adding slashdot to addblocks "yes, block all the shit please" selection. I used to let the adds show, just to support the site. But bloody hell, if they shoot themselves I can't help it.

  19. Why "Learn To Code" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Conspiracy theories about driving down wages aside why is the bandwagon all "learn to code?" Where is "learn to engineer" or "learn to experiment?" As if we need more code monkeys anyway.

  20. Tivoized by tepples · · Score: 2

    The Linux-based smart TV is probably locked down to run only apps chosen by the TV manufacturer, not unlike a TiVo DVR. The advantage of an external Linux computer based on a Raspberry Pi is no tivoization.

  21. Kids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great! 18,000 new immature hackers! Just what we need!