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New 'Pentop' Computer To Help Children Learn
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Wed Aug 24, 2005 05:06 AM
from the one-more-gadget-for-kids-to-lose dept.
from the one-more-gadget-for-kids-to-lose dept.
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."
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Are they mad? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Are they mad? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Are they mad? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Are they mad? (Score:2, Funny)
I have a loose tooth, but I'm determined not to lose it.
Lose: To *not* win, to misplace (forever).
Loose: Not tight.
Re:Are they mad? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Are they mad? (Score:2, Insightful)
>they don't belong to anyone...
>...pick one up when you need one
This is correct, they are. And that is a problem for people like me who happens to prefer certain pens. I find/try a pen I like; I buy one; I watch it like a hawk.
Then I put it on a table; turn around for a second; and the pen is lost again.
Finally I go out and buy a new one. Pens are common property and I am the outcast. I have stopped crying.
Re:Are they mad? (Score:2, Funny)
So they would be like music and films, you don't steal them, you're infringing on some obscure thing called 'copyright' ?
Re:Are they mad? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Are they mad? (Score:2)
Re:Are they mad? (Score:3, Funny)
Suzie's about to lose her anal virginity. After that happens, her ass will be very loose.
May I suggest? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Parent
Re:Are they mad? (Score:2)
I feel so duped! (Score:4, Informative)
No...no...no!! (Score:4, Funny)
another computer? (Score:5, Insightful)
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
Re:another computer? (Score:2)
Remember the mini-robot craze of the late 80's. I mean, most of those "robots" were no different than the bumper car toys of the early 80's. Drive forward, bump into something, pull back and to the left, drive forward again. Close inspection revealed that they were the bumper car toys of the 80's with a "robot" plastic shell on top.
Take your kids hiking. Nature provides far more than you can pack into an electronic gadget. But to appreciate nature, you'll have
Re:another computer? (Score:3, Insightful)
You can't. You have to show them. If you don't personally do these things when you have a chance rather than play with your own electronic gadgets, they're not going to be interested. If you're not going to put your money where your mouth is, don't tell your kids stuff like that. Kids are very sensitive to hypocracy, they haven't learned to
Re:another computer? (Score:5, Insightful)
How? by getting off your ass and doing it with them. my techno-girl daughter hated camping and hiking until I exposed her to geo-cache activities. I bought her a $119.99 GPS and she combines computers and hiking, camping, biking and outdoor activities. Plus we get to do these things as a family, she is learning a skill that 99.997% of the populace lack.... the ability to search for and find things that are hidden or not obvious with neon signs pointing at them.
This summer I upped the ante. we did a geo-cache locating hunt without a gps. we plotted the location on a paper map and went searching with only the map and a compass.
THAT is how you get your kids outside.
Parent
over-priced and kinda ... dumb (Score:5, Insightful)
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!
Re:over-priced and kinda ... dumb (Score:2)
My 3.5 year old son loves the notepad application on my Palm. He has 23 pages of inexpensive scribble on there.
I had to take him to a family funeral last week and when he got bored the palm was just the thing to keep him occupied. I know who is going to inherit this unit when I upgrade.
Missing something (Score:3, Interesting)
We just had a thread on the future of technology in schools [slashdot.org].
Something tells me that this is not it. Seriously.
Glorified Wacom? (Score:2)
If it didn't need this special 'paper' I would find it more interesting, that and an API/development kit for authoring my own applications for the device.
Using any flat surface (within reason) as a 'tablet'/gestural interface interests me greatly.
Re:Glorified Wacom? (Score:2)
There is no reason why it can't work like a computer mouse. They must be trying to make money off their paper.
Yeah, _THIS_ looks valuable (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Yeah, _THIS_ looks valuable (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re:Yeah, _THIS_ looks valuable (Score:2)
I mean, if I draw the first of the month in the wrong weekday column, will the pen assume I meant a different year, or will it just bomb out with some unuseful error, forcing me to get out another sheet of "special" ie. expensive paper?
I see very limited uses for this technology, because it seems to remove one of the most useful aspects of computing, the ability to quickly organize and reference pre-existing information. If
Re:Yeah, _THIS_ looks valuable (Score:2)
Leapfrog miss the possible usefullness? (Score:2, Interesting)
kids are kids... (Score:2)
yeahh... but... (Score:2, Funny)
normal paper (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:normal paper (Score:2)
Why does it need special paper at all? My optical mouse can certainly follow my hand movements just fine.
And aside from that, the concept looks interesting, but i cannot see this becoming the killer gadget of 2005. You need to draw your own interfaces before you can use them. When programmers make them they already look shitty, what happens when endusers have to
Special paper? Smells like IP licensing :) (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Special paper? Smells like IP licensing :) (Score:3, Informative)
You are correct. This is just like the Logitech IO pens here: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm?page=products/f e atures/digitalwriting&crid=1545&countryid=19&langu ageid=1 [logitech.com].
The Music application is really interesting. Have Anoto paper with the music bars, and then in writing on the paper, you can then sync and get a midi file. Also there is just something very tactilely pleasing about pen to paper. I use an IO for all my notes for work. I have a paper copy then and also an archive.
Many hospit
Terrible joke time! (Score:5, Funny)
...
I'll get my coat.Re:Terrible joke time! (Score:2)
I think it's time for another lawsuit about the misuse of a brand name registered by Intel.
I mean, there have been lawsuits (or attempts) for less than that, like "wxWindows", "lindows", "mike rowe soft"...
Well... (Score:5, Funny)
Easter Eggs (Score:2, Interesting)
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!
Shiny talking pen is cool! (Score:2, Funny)
RED RUM!!!
Spell Checker (Score:2)
why spend $99 on something (Score:2, Interesting)
The point is, techno
Kids (Score:2)
My wife is 8 months pregnant and has arranged her life and job to allow her to stay home with the child and then work part time as a nanny and bring the child with her.
Why the hell would anyone just toss a talking pen at a kid and leave them be? Why not instead sit down with them and HELP them learn. Computers don't help anyone learn anything. They are merely a delivery device.
I'm a Sys
I'm surprised (Score:2, Funny)
OMG this will fail.. I have a better idea (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
obligatory comments (Score:2, Funny)
B) Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of pens!!!
Technology Overrated (Score:3, Insightful)
with more electronic toys (Score:2, Troll)
before the advent of electronics children learned a lot more than they are learning now, all these electronic gizmos, computers included, are nothing more than a distraction. look at the quality of education in the last 20 years. teachers are using these items as a crutch, its time to go back to the basics
Yes, but what does it teach? (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
I have seen and used this pen (Score:3, Informative)
* 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 [speaknspell.co.uk] 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.
Re:Get Smart! (Score:2, Funny)
Of course, the shoe would only talk when walking over a specially marked carpet...