Hasta La Gadget!

One to 1.2 million Raspberry Pi microcomputers have shipped since the device’s launch just over a year ago but where in the world are they located? While it’s impossible to say exactly where* each Pi has ended up, the vast majority of the devices sold to-date have shipped to developed nations — including the U.S. and the U.K. But the potential of the Pi as a low cost learning-focused computing platform for developing countries remains very exciting.

Last week the U.K.-based Pi Foundation blogged about a volunteer group that had taken a suitcase-worth of Pis to a school in rural Cameroon where they are being used to power a computer class. At $35 apiece, and even $25 for the Model A Pi, the Pi does a lot to break down the affordability barrier to computing — although it still requires additional peripherals (screen, keyboard, mouse) to turn it into a fully fledged computer terminal.

Asked about the global sales distribution of the Pi, the Foundation provided TechCrunch with some “very rough”, internal estimates of Pi sales to developing/emerging nations — and the figures (listed below) suggest that the first million+ Pi sales have overwhelmingly been powered by wealthier nations.

The most Pi-populous country on the developing/emerging nations list (India) can lay claim to roughly 0.5%-0.6% of total global Pi sales to-date, according to this data. While, collectively, these listed nations make up between only 1.4% and 1.7% of total global Pi shipments. So more than 98% of the Pi pie has been sold to the world’s wealthiest countries thus far.

There are also, of course, scores of (apparently) Pi-less developing nations that do not make this list at all. One of which – the Kingdom of Bhutan — does actually have a princely one Pi sale to its name at present, according to the Foundation. “It’s a server for Khan Academy Lite in a school, whose 64GB SD card costs more than twice what the Pi cost,” the Foundation’s Liz Upton tells TechCrunch. “We’re working on getting more out there!”

It’s likely that some of the Pis shipped to developed countries have found their way to less wealthy nations – via charities and other ‘suitcase schemes’ such as the Cameroon school project mentioned above which took out 30 Pis. Or via individual buyers seeking to avoid high import tariffs that can push up the price of bulk commercial imports (such as in Brazil).

But even factoring in some extra spread, there’s no doubt the Pi is predominantly disrupting the living rooms and schools of the developed world. Which, it should be noted, was the original ambition of the Pi founders — specifically they wanted to get more U.K. kids coding, following a national slump in interest in computer science education.

But the Pi’s unexpected popularity has generated additional momentum for the project — and even grander geographical ambitions.

“We’re weighted very strongly towards the developed world,” admits Pi founder Eben Upton, when he sends the data, but he says that this spread — or rather concentration — is something the Foundation is keen to work on. “A major challenge for us this year is to find ways of making Pi more available, and more appealing, in these [developing/emerging] markets,” he says.

The Pi hardware seems to offer huge potential to the developing world — being cheaper than most mobile phones, let alone most smartphones — the other device touted as the likely first computing experience for connecting the “next billions” to the Internet. The Pi is also cheaper than another Linux-based low cost learning-focused computing project: the one laptop per child’s XO laptop. And it has an advantage over general Linux PCs or Android tablets in being conceived and supported as first and foremost a learning environment, making it well-suited to push into schools.

As for low cost PCs in general, the netbook category — still more expensive than Pi — is facing extinction by 2015, according to analyst IHS iSuppli, which has put out a forecast today predicting zero netbook shipments within two years, and just 3.97 million units globally this year.

As the traditional desktop PC declines, it’s great to see the rise of a new computing device that, unlike the slick consumer tablets du  jour, is intended to encourage hacking, tinkering and learning about hardware and software, rather than passive consumption of prepackaged apps — in the best tradition of the home computer. And a device which also, thanks to its tiny price-tag, has such huge disruptive potential.

So here’s hoping a lot more of the next million+ Pis end up very far from home indeed.

*At the time of writing, the Rastrack map, a project to get Pi-owners to report the location of their Pi and plot the owner locations on a map, was not accessible. The map is used in the feature image at the top of this post, showing a snapshot of self-reported Pi distribution in May last year

There are a lot of things you can have delivered to your home on a monthly basis: magazines, hot sauces, underwear and beer are just a few. The second place winner at the Husky Startup Challenge, genius.box, takes that basic concept but replaces the Fruit of the Looms with simple to perform science experiments. Aimed at children between the ages of eight and 12, the projects inside each package teach a basic lesson in science, technology, engineering or math through a hands-on experience. All of the materials needed for each experiment are included, along with a lesson plan, instructions and “factoid” cards with tidbits of interesting trivia, such as the number of elements on the periodic scale.

The two boxes trotted out for demo day by creators Kate Pipa and Shivangi Shah covered the science and technology portions of the STEM equation. One was a kitchen chemistry set for growing crystals and the other a simple electronics kit, based partially around parts of a Snap Circuits set, that has kids building an electromagnet and lighting up an LED. This isn’t exactly a return to hardcore chemistry sets of the past (you’ll find no radioactive materials or poisons in here), but it’s certainly a step in the right direction for an America whose love affair with science is on the rocks. Every four weeks a child would get a whole new educational playset for the target price of $20 a month. Which is quite a bit cheaper than your standard chemistry set or electronics kit. To be kept in the loop as genius.box works to get off the ground, sign up at the more coverage link.

Filed under: Misc, Science, Alt

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Wondering who has won a Google Glass? Stanford PhD student Andrej Karpathy has used Twitter’s API to compile a partial list of the so far close to 4,000 winners of Google’s Glass Explorers first adopter competition who applied to buy the high tech specs via Twitter. Google still hasn’t confirmed that the last Glass winners have been named yet so there may yet be a few more invites to go out. Update: Karpathy’s list has now been updated to 4238 people, so Glass invites are still going out today.

Big G has been busy this past week sending out notifications to winners of its #ifihadglass purchase campaign (and even rescinding a few that failed to live up to its T&Cs). Winners don’t actually win a free pair of Glass. Rather they get a VIP pass to spend $1,500 to be among the first group of folks to own a pair of the Glass Explorer Edition of Google’s high tech specs. So it’s a high stakes, high visibility marketing competition as Google seeks to both evangelise, humanise and normalise a technology that’s new, different and impossible to ignore — being as it sits right on the face.

Successful applicants on the Twitter list (whose Twitter descriptions are shown above in Word Cloud form) include famous names such as former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, who pledged “#ifihadglass i would take it on tours of zoos and museums to share the animals and fossils”, and — at the polar opposite end of the celebrity spectrum — electronica singer songwriter Imogen Heap who wants to ”hook them up w/my gloves to help me navigate music making in 3D”.

As you’d expect, the list of winners is heavy on performers and extroverts promising to livestream their gig/music/show/art/sports activity/skydive. There are also a fair few marketing types — pledging to do stuff like “learn & write how it will change marketing & brands”. But — more interesting than either of these categories — are the developers with app ideas for Glass. Earlier this month Google demoed some of its own Glass apps such as Gmail, and also showed a few third party apps from the likes of the New York Times, Evernote and Path. But Glass will fly or die based on cool new apps that likely don’t exist on other platforms yet.

I’ve collated a list (see below) of some of the app ideas that Glass winners are pledging to create — and, beyond the obvious use-cases of recording and streaming a first person perspective, themes for potential Glass apps are already emerging. Education, healthcare, accessibility and safety application ideas are plentiful among this wave of Glass early adopters (albeit, these developers likely haven’t had a chance to properly live with Glass yet).

It looks likely that Glass will be the tech arena where augmented reality can seriously take off — thanks to both the natural visual overlay and the hands-free nature of the device. On smartphones and tablets AR remains something of a gimmick, since the user has to hold the device up to create a field-of-vision overlay — limiting how they can interact with it and how long they can use it for. Neither are problems for Glass.

I would create information retrieval apps that work with the Glass #ifihadglass – like repair information, etc. [link]

we build an entirely new shopping app leveraging the power of glass+android. [link]

I’d make a http://t.co/WWcsHNbZcD app so that little “icons of trust” hover over user heads. I’d know who to trust, instantly/ [link]

I’d build an application for travelers to keep in touch with their loved ones. Show beauty is in the eye of the Glass holder. [link]

I’d develop a micro-expression detector that would enable appropriate responses to the sometimes subtle reactions in others.  [link]

I would develop innovative apps for publications [link]

I’d create an app that had real-time information about cabs when you looked at their taxi number using AR #ifihadglass [link]

Being partially blind, #ifihadglass I’d use it to augment my lack of peripheral vision, use presence apps to avoid bumping into others, etc.[link]

I’d help develop new applications for its use in health & medicine & inspire others to as well http://t.co/JKNXWI4Dyk [link]

I’d write apps for smartwatches that display tokens for the Glass to pick up and display expanded information @projectglass [link]

I’d make mashups with @LeapMotionDev for augmented reality apps like these http://t.co/JZlTdeD0rc and evangelize to devs [link]

I would develop a driving safety app to help decrease driver distraction, detect drowsiness, and display upcoming road concerns [link]

I’d create a ski app to show you speed, distance, calories. Take action pics in series. Add sensors to jacket for more safety. [link]

i’d create a skill/barter app where people could indicate skills/goods they have/need for trade. Haves/needs appear overhead.[link]

I’d create the ultimate nerd app — crosshairs. [link]

I create an app to show people how much carbon energy they were using. [link]

develop apps that can be useful for parents and children like medical [link]

I’d make an app that converts the sheet music you see into a MIDI file. =D [link]

I’d explore applications for education [link]

I would build apps for people who shop. [link]

I would create an input and recall application for just.me – an app that enables us to capture, share and remember our life. [link]

I would build an app to display key running and heart rate data to me while I run and bike/ [link]

I’d create an app called momento that allowed me to remember where things are by using playback. [link]

I would build applications for dentists, doctors, and manufacturers to empower the industrial AR dream. [link]

I would build a dating app (that would inevitably be deemed creepy). [link]

i’d create an app to help ppl with their dieting/eating habits by showing you nutrition info for things you eat. (hook me up) [link]

I will create a face recognition app to remind me the name of the people I meet and count how much time I spend with them. [link]

I would explore and write about the possible retail applications… i.e., shop my glass off [link]

I would develop a location and image recognition based augmented reality app for blind or visually impaired people. [link]

I would build a persistent knowledge AI: build an application to automatically bring search results apropos of conversation [link]

I would develop some kind of app to help children develop art skills. [link]

I would immediately start on my commute/family trip tracking assistance app, and wear glass daily on… http://t.co/T7dneqFsfN [link]

To prevent and reduce obesity, with an app that records physical activity and food intake to provide nutritional guide #ifihadglass [link]

Check out Tour, a concept guided tour app for Google Glass #ifihadglass . Making the invisible visible http://t.co/GZsFZrvVi1 [link]

I would write an app to identify lawmakers on the fly. A covert visual shazam. [link]

I’d write an app to make it easier to read nutrition facts on processed food [link]

We would use our AR to make the best ever #travel app with information about monument/landscape and boards translation overlay #ifihadglass[link]

I want to make an app that helps deaf people “see” what others are talking about. [link]

I would build a speedometer app to track my top and average speeds while luging, http://t.co/RnDFKyFw5w [link]

build an app that suggests people to meet based on who is nearby. [link]

I would write a running app that would show the @strava route names and course records of whatever streets I was running on[link]

I would use the heads-up/subject-overlay attributes to make better apps for healthcare professionals, researchers and students [link]

I would work to find applications for its use in hospitals and other healthcare settings. [link]

I would create GhostRunner. An application that enables me to run against my own best time. Visually. http://t.co/wF2loUrOqz [link]

I would create an app that uses facial recognition to reunite lost pets with their parents #ifihadglass http://t.co/zVaD80lWwv [link]

I would build an app capable of taking billboards, and replacing them with things you are trying to remember (or cat pictures).[link]

I would create an app to have the “Yellow Line” at football games in real life. http://t.co/REmY5GrX [link]

I would create a Marine Navigation application for both the casual cruiser and racing sailor #WindSpeed #BuoyLocations [link]

Customer service application that utilizes live video from callers to walk them through solutions #ifihadglass [link]

I’d build an app to identify fashion on the street and find a place to purchase it. #iloveyourdress #wheredidyougetit [link]

I’d write an app that records a minute buffer of video that will save to Google Drive on command. Document amazing things. [link]

I would make a doorbell app, so I could see who’s knocking and easily let them in. http://t.co/fL4gJ3w1DF [link]

#ifihadglass remind people of their appointments, would use Google maps to figure out when to send reminder, ie farther away, earlier ping [link]

Innovate: App 2 reduce gun violence! http://t.co/zCzxF5ESfv [link]

Hands-free teaching! No longer tethered to a laptop or Elmo, limitless creative & practical classrm applications! [link]

Hate it when your Dr. always looks down during your appointment? I’m going to change that with Glass. http://t.co/LnW8po2FfV #ifihadglass [link]

I would create an app to let general aviation pilots prep and fly their airplanes via checklists they can see in the glass. [link]

I’d build in voice-control for all of our features in our products so that customers could use our apps while on the treadmill. [link]

I will test my AR android app for climbing, suggesting improvements, and sharing this experience with the climbing community[link]

I would create an app that would make people, especially young women like myself, feel safe in their current surroundings. [link]

I will develop a driver-training app to detect improper driving behaviors and provide training feedback. [link]

I would develop an application to enable the communication with deaf people by showing a live transcription in Google Glass 1/2 [link]

develop an application for musicians, by entering into a database that would help tablature to play the instrument [link]

I would develop an app that could suggest desired recipes by simply looking into my fridge and scanning its food items [link]

i’d develop an app to help waiters keep track of tables, orders and customer preferences [link]

i would create an app measuring stress levels by the size of your pupils. Data could show stress visualised across the world [link]

I would create a gps app that gave historical information. [link]

I’d develop an app that would alert parents when their teenager isn’t paying attention to the road while driving. [link]

4 Architecture app Glasses could be conected with SketchUp so the clients could se the building proposals directlly on site. [link]

Develop app integrating BIM – construction workers build with greater speed and accuracy – designers visualize concepts in situ [link]

I’d create apps for retailers to survey merchandise, check stock and order replenishments automatically – by looking at shelves [link]

I’d build an app to help first responders get the information they need while keeping their eyes on the subject. [link]

Make an app or hardware mod that understands mood to change UX (based on pupil dilation) #ifihadglass [link]

I would construct a real-time medical history taking app that would record & upload doctor/patient interactions into an EMR! [link]

I’d make apps to control all my Internet of Things with #Android@Home.[link]

I would develop an application that makes home improvement projects easier by replacing measuring tapes and standard box levels [link]

I would develop location aware applications, like auto translate of detected text, information on objects seen etc. [link]

Program smart subtitles to reality. Hyperlink objects. Design apps for self-directed learning #edtech http://t.co/QGE49Q82uC [link]

I would design an app to notify the deaf when a loud noise identifies a hazard outside of their field of view [link]

Use it to create an app the rewards users when they throw their trash away, would take pics to validate it [link]

I would make an application that enables users to crowdsource live coverage of public events. #youtube2 [link]

Think about applications for use with kids and learning disabilities. [link]

I would make them Wi-Fi intuitive with app support so that you can use them to adjust settings on your DSLR or GoPro. [link]

I’d build tools to make quantifying the self across multiple domains easier, more transparent, and more effective than ever. [link]

I’d build info sharing tools for enriching IRL conversations. If I search for something, the friends with me should see result. [link]

Some of Lenovo’s pro customers can be very fussy: hospitals and schools want multiple computers in a small area, but without skimping on the usual features they’d expect from desktops. If any PC could resolve those contradictory demands, it might be the company’s new ThinkCentre Edge 62z. The extra-angular design purportedly fits a 18.5-inch all-in-one into a third of the space of a 20-inch display, all while carrying up to a Core i3 processor and a DVD burner. Whether or not you see the 62z as a feat of engineering, the design has some room to grow with up to 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. The price may be the real clincher for some customers — Lenovo expects this lower-tier ThinkCentre Edge to cost $549 when it reaches the US in May, which could squeeze it into a few more IT budgets.

Filed under: Desktops, Lenovo

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Via: Far East Gizmos

Source: Lenovo Singapore

Babbel’s been doing a solid job of picking up users as it attempts to help people around the world learn new tongues over their lunch breaks, but evidently, it’s not picking up steam in the US as well as it would like. The remedy? Buy the market share one so desires. Today, the company has announced the acquisition of San Francisco’s own PlaySay — a language learning company that has been tearing up every app store it approaches since launching at TechCrunch Disrupt in September of 2011. With that, however, comes some pretty unfortunate news for users. PlaySay apps are going to be yanked 45 days from now, with website visitors funneled over to Babbel’s site. Moreover, we’ve confirmed that none of PlaySay’s technologies will be integrated into Babbel’s programs, and that only PlaySay’s founder (Ryan Meinzer) will remain on staff as an “adviser.”

We’ve got nothing but love for Babbel’s software, but what this means for consumers is simple: one less player in the space, and a dead-end for the technology that was developed in order to launch PlaySay. Of course, we aren’t going to pretend that this type of thing doesn’t happen all of the time, but alas….

Filed under: Software

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Source: Babbel