DIY computer kit gives gift of coding

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

For $150, parents can buy their kids a Kano computer kit, a present that just might jumpstart techie careers.

Kano is a DIY set that lets kids (or adults) build a computer and learn basic coding skills to program it.

Last year, Kano raised $1.5 million on Kickstarter -- far surpassing its $100,000 campaign goal, which it hit in just 16 hours. And it attracted the attention of high-profile backers like Apple's (AAPL, Tech30) Steve Wozniak. Now available for the general public, Kano has shipped 20,000 kits around the world.

"The intention was to make coding and computer science -- often presented in a dry way -- feel like an expressive art form," said co-founder Alex Klein, 24, who launched the London-based startup with his cousin Saul Klein, 44, and Israeli entrepreneur Yonatan Raz-Fridman, 31.

So, how exactly does one do this?

First, the colorful Kano kit (which is manufactured in China) must be assembled. It contains twelve components, including: Raspberry Pi board (the brains of the computer, it's about as powerful as an iPhone 4), build-your-own speaker, wireless orange keyboard, transparent case, WiFi connector and two illustration books (kid-friendly manuals that read like stories -- they come in seven languages). But you'll need your own monitor, as it's not included.

Related: 6 things you need to know about STEM

Then, the computer can be connected to the Internet and users can start learning basic coding (there are six Kano Levels on the computer; more are available for download).

With code, users can build games like Pong and Snake, build servers or worlds in Minecraft, or remake projects shared on Kano World.

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DIY computer kit gives gift of coding

R&B star Usher encourages Columbus students try out computer programming

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All week, the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students at Columbus Middle School have been playing Flappy Bird, a simple computer game that combines the addictiveness of Angry Birds with the game play of Super Mario.

Teachers are encouraging this, and other games like it, because the students earned it: They programmed the games.

Their school is one of thousands around the world participating in the second annual Hour of Code. The event is sponsored by Code.org, a nonprofit organization seeking to introduce computer science to K-12 students.

As natives to a digital world, young people grow up with computers, and much of their social lives now play out online. But as with older generations, they are largely unfamiliar with the language that builds the programs because computer science still isn't taught in many schools.

When you get on a social media site, it just comes up, said Meghan Reed, a seventh-grade student.

Columbus, like most districts in Montana, doesn't have the money to offer programming elective classes. But teachers hope the Hour of Code at least exposes students to a skill required for one of the fastest-growing occupations in the United States and may inspire some to learn to program on their own.

Many of the middle school students have taken it up with zeal.

Its easier than you think, when you start doing it, said Garrick Conner, a sixth-grader.

Conner was directing a squirrel on his computer screen to travel along a path to find an acorn, giving instructions so the critter wouldn't fall off.

You sort of keep adding on until you get over here, he said, and thats coding.

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R&B star Usher encourages Columbus students try out computer programming

'Super Dell' handcuffed after interrupting federal judge

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On Thursday, Schanze was sitting in the front row of the public section of Salt Lake Citys federal courtroom waiting for his first appearance on two misdemeanor wildlife charges while a court hearing was in progress in another case.

Wells had just told a man with a lengthy arrest record on drug charges, and who was currently in court for alleged possession of stolen ammunition, that she would release him from custody pending his trial but he had to agree not to possess dangerous weapons or ammunition. If he was going to live with his father as planned, then the father also had to remove those items from his home, Wells said.

That prompted Schanze to stand up and interrupt.

"Your honor thats totally unconstitutional," he said. "How can you force his father to take his weapons from his house?"

Wells told Schanze to sit down and be quiet, but he persisted and was removed from the courtroom.

When his case was called, Schanze was brought back with his cuffed behind him. Wells asked Schanze if he wished to have a court-appointed attorney.

"I would move to dismiss the case," he said, adding that the video on which his case is based was doctored.

Wells told him that was improper at this stage of his case, and then she and Schanze went back and forth over a financial statement he provided in order to qualify for a court-appointed attorney.

Schanze said he didnt know what his total income was since his wife keeps separate accounts. After more exchanges, during which Wells warned Schanze to only answer questions and not interrupt, he finally agreed that his financial statement was an accurate accounting of his income.

That settled, an attorney was appointed and Schanze pleaded not guilty to knowingly using an aircraft to harass wildlife and pursuing a migratory bird from his paraglider near Utah Lake in 2011, incidents that showed up on videos posted on YouTube.

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'Super Dell' handcuffed after interrupting federal judge

Ignite & Align Talks: Animals & Spirituality with Denise Zaldivar – Video

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Ignite Align Talks: Animals Spirituality with Denise Zaldivar
On this episode of Ignite Align Talks I sit down with Denise Zaldivar to discuss how Spirituality and a love for animals go hand in hand. We also dive into consciousness, kindness, and study...

By: Awilda Torres

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Ignite & Align Talks: Animals & Spirituality with Denise Zaldivar - Video

OPALS project uses laser beams for Earth space communications – Video

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OPALS project uses laser beams for Earth space communications
You may know opals as fiery gemstones, but something special called OPALS is floating above us in space. On the International Space Station, the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS)...

By: Thomas Barnes

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OPALS project uses laser beams for Earth space communications - Video

Space Station Partners Hold Paris News Conference to Discuss Yearlong Mission

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NASA and its International Space Station partners will hold a news conference in Paris at 10 a.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 18, to discuss the upcoming one-year expedition on the International Space Station. NASA Television and the agency's website will carry the briefing live.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will launch to the space station in March 2015 to begin a yearlong stay aboard the orbiting laboratory -- the longest single space mission ever undertaken by an American. He will be joined by Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) on this one-year mission.

Thursdays briefing will take place at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris and will include participants from NASA, its international partner space agencies, and UNESCO. During the briefing, questions will be taken from media in attendance and on the phone from participating partner locations.

The briefing participants will be: -- Scott Kelly, NASA astronaut and one-year mission crew member -- Mikhail Kornienko, Roscosmos cosmonaut and one-year mission crew member -- Andreas Mogensen, European Space Agency astronaut and visiting crew flight engineer -- Soichi Noguchi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency chief astronaut -- Jeremy Hansen, Canadian Space Agency astronaut

For those attending in person, the deadline to request credentials is Tuesday, Dec. 16. For more information about media accreditation, contact Nicola Firth (Nicola.Firth@esa.int). Reporters attending at partner locations should contact those centers' newsrooms for specific deadlines.

U.S. media may participate at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston or by phone. Reporters must contact the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111no later than noon CST Wednesday, Dec. 17, to request approval. Approved media will be notified that afternoon and those participating by phone will need to call the Johnson newsroom at least 15 minutes before the start of the Thursday briefing. Media will not be able to connect once the briefing begins.

The public also may ask questions via social media by using the hashtag #askNASA.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

NASA TV Live

For NASA TV satellite coordinates, visit:

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Space Station Partners Hold Paris News Conference to Discuss Yearlong Mission

ESA ATV tests new docking technology

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The European Space Agency's (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Georges Lemaitre captured the International Space Station (ISS) in a new light in August, as it fired up a set of experimental sensors that may form the basis of the next generation of automated docking systems. Such tech will be vital for the increasingly-ambitious missions planned by NASA and its partners to explore the Red Planet and beyond.

Using the contemporary system, ESA's ATVs have successfully completed five automated dockings, with each attempt safely affixing the resupply vessels to the Russian Zvesda module of the ISS. With the tested system, an ATV is required to set up a communications link with the station to allow the resupply vessel to undertake precision maneuvers relative to the station using advanced GPS technology.

During this phase, the station repositions its solar panels edge-on with the ATV, in order to minimize interference with the GPS signal. At a distance of 249 m (817 ft) from the station, the spacecraft uses videometer and telegoniometer data in addition to a set of "eye-like sensors" to automatically dock with the outpost at a gentle 7 cm/s.

August's docking of the Georges Lemaitre represented the first field test of a system that could replace the current navigational sensors. The experimental Laser Infrared Imaging Sensors (LIRIS) switched on while the ATV was positioned 7 km (4.3 mi) below the station. By utilizing the device so far from the station, ESA could test the experimental equipment's long-range target acquisition capabilities. As the ATV approached the ISS, it tracked and imaged the station using its lidar component an apparatus that is like a radar that uses light instead of radio waves and operates by pulsing laser beams over a mirror in order to collect high-resolution 3D data.

Using this technique, the sensors can track the station in both sunlight and darkness, with a high degree of accuracy. Furthermore, lidar has the ability to register the amount of light reflected from the surface of the object it scans, gaining an insight into the composition of the reflecting material in the process. As LIRIS does not require a direct link to, or hardware installed aboard its target, the system is potentially capable of tracking and docking with an inert object, such as another spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit.

Data collected during the experiment was stored on hard-disk in the ATV's cargo hold and has since been returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-12M, the capsule that ferried astronauts Steve Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev back to the planet's surface in September.

Following a preliminary assessment of the data returned by LIRIS, it is clear that the sensors succeeded in tracking the station perfectly while creating a detailed 3D map of it. The system also managed to maintain the track during several 30-minute intervals of darkness, displaying high levels of reliability both at distance, and close up with the station. The potential applications of the technology, especially its ability to enable docking with an inert object, could allow spacecraft to de-orbit space junk or even dock around a distant planet.

Source: ESA

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ESA ATV tests new docking technology

UK schools to make space apps with interstellar Raspberry Pi computers

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UK Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake will take two Raspberry Picomputerson his next space mission, in the hope that UK pupils will create their own app or experiment that can be deployed on the International Space Station.

Peake will fly two Astro Pi maker-boards, which have been kitted with sensors, to the space station when he begins his six-month mission.

Primary and secondary school children will compete to develop an idea for an application, which if successful, will be developed with the help of the Astro Pi, CGI and Raspberry Pi Foundation, who will code their idea.

Peake will then load up the winning code whilst in orbit, set them running, collect the data generated and then download this to Earth where it will be distributed to the winning teams.

Business Secretary Vince Cable highlighted the importance of inspiring pupils to get involved with data science. He said: So much technology relies on big data but not enough people are being trained in this field. This challenge helps the next generation to have fun whilst learning the skills that industry need.

Peake added: "I'm really excited about this project, born out of the cooperation among UK industries and institutions. There is huge scope for fun science and useful data gathering using the Astro Pi sensors on board the International Space Station.

ESERO-UK and Raspberry Pi are developing teaching resources to link to the curriculum and assist teachers of STEM subjects in engaging their students in the competition.

As well as explaining how to use and write code for the Astro Pi and its sensors, the resources will provide a context for the Astro Pi in the curriculum and link to teaching subjects and areas.

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UK schools to make space apps with interstellar Raspberry Pi computers