I see your point, but I think it’d be a plus to be able to disassemble and upgrade. Understanding hardware by getting your hands dirty isn’t the worst way to go. It should be like Lego, easy to modify and rebuild.

Miss the point much??

Why would u need them on an iPad?

One would be useful on an iPad so as to negate the need for an adapter.

That is, I suppose, only applicable to those of us who make better use of the device than upscaled PornHub.

I don’t get the “hatred”. iPads and iPhones have a very light learning curve, and young kids have been able to use them competently with no training and very little delay, so it’s a better model for them than an old-style OS. Don’t care about the fanboy/hater flaming myself. It’s boring and pointless. Kids being creative with technology, that’s interesting.

It would be difficult to do software development on an iPad or similar device, so I don’t see how such a thing would be suitable for the stated purpose.

@random – Why would it be any more difficult? I’m not criticising, I’d be interested to know why you think this. A non-jail broken iOS device doesn’t allow the user to muck about too much, but that’s just a restriction artificially placed on the device by Apple. At the end of the day, both Android and iOS are based on UNIX, and the hardware is far faster than the PCs I was playing with in my teens. OK, plugging in a physical keyboard would help, but I don’t see any technical issues…

The main reason I would give is that the user interface paradigm is unsuitable, all big controls and swiping around and full screen menus and all that craic. You could certainly create an app that provided a basic development environment, but I can’t imagine such a thing providing the level of functionality of a desktop IDE, and therefore not being much more than a toy. I think that’s exactly what the people behind this project are trying to avoid, giving kids toys instead of tools. I’m not an educator, but I think that’s a good thing.

I was actually going to say something about writing pages and pages of code on a touchscreen keyboard as well, but it hadn’t actually occurred to me that an external keyboard could be included. Which is a bit slow of me considering I’m writing this comment on an Asus Transformer Prime, with the keyboard attached :P

It’d take a bit of intelligent planning, but I do think you could create a programming environment on a tablet-style device, and while there’s a risk of it being a “game” rather than an “toolbox”, I think a balance could be found. A few years ago I had the good fortune to be involved in a “programming skills” project for young teenagers and, even though it was badly run and ultimately failed, I did get to play with some kid-focused programming tools like Alice and Lego Mindstorms. OK, these are “educational” rather than “commercial” tools, but I was impressed with the Mindstorms environment – I think it managed to get a good balance between being “fun” and being “useful”. Again, I’m focusing on kids and hobbyists, not on professionals, but as a tool to promote programming skills, I think it’s possible. My other stupid idea is a very cheap wifi card embedded in an adaptor that sits between a lightbulb and its socket and allows you to switch on/off and dim remotely. Stupid ideas ate the most gun.

Well if somebody does implement such a thing I won’t dismiss it without taking a look, but I think I’ll remain skeptical until then.

As for programming games and “learning” languages and the like, I didn’t mean to suggest that they had no place. One of my most rewarding early programming experiences was creating little geometrical sketches in Logo. But, say that somebody does create a “learning tablet” that is somehow as ridiculously cheap as this raspberry pi, and they develop or adapt a training environment for it… What happens when the kid outgrows it and wants to move on to some real stuff? If there’s not also a fully functional tablet optimised IDE available, then they basically have to move to a different computer. With this thing, any IDE for any language that is available on linux will be available to them, without any special development work required to make them suitable for a tablet interface, not to mention database servers, web servers etc.

Oh and there are already protocols for wirelessly controlling electrical outlets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_(industry_standard)

Not a stupid idea at all, but it’s already been done.

There are two USB ports for keyboard/mouse and Hdmi for monitor as well as an SD card reader for the OS and Ethernet connection for web/network access….. Nuff said!

There’s no moving parts so the lack of case isn’t a huge issue off the bat. It could be put into a small Tupperware container and still do the business

Bit reductive. Computing and health is not an either/or choice. Being computer literate is as important as “classic literacy”. You want Ireland’s economic situation to improve in the long-term? Give children the skills they’ll need in the world they’ll live in. This is a good idea, full stop. The only issue is whether the hardware is up to the task. A cheap, robust, easily upgradable, programmable iPad clone is what’s needed.

@Oisin, Everything in moderation, they can do all you state plus computers etc, did you polay with Lego / Mechano, where you would be also sitting down, no difference.

Eh? think you might have missed the point there Citizen, its more of an educational tool to get people more interested in computer science and programming, a spiritual successor to the BBC Micro and ZX Scectrum of the 1980’s..

This wont be breaking any “american monopolies” anytime soon. Still very cool though, can’t wait to see what people come up with using this..

@Colin O’Hara: As this and soon to be similar devices can be used for robotics there is a new way thinking coming along.

Computers and embedded devices are something that’s outside of American control.

This device is about independence and the computer industry moves along at such a rapid pace things could change quicker than you think.

@ Loyalirirsh citizen. Go you really don’t have a clue hat you are talking about.

@David: Enlighten the rest us about your predictions for the future.