Silicon Valley dreamers have long visualized a world where every kid is holding a laptop. It sounds great on paper, however it’s proven stubbornly tough to manifest in truth. Not just do you need a computer system cheap adequate to sell to cash-strapped schools, but you likewise require software to engage a notoriously sidetracked audience: kids.
The education market is cluttered with smart toys, robotics, apps, and other ploys to get kids participated in STEAM-related activities. Few have had quite the success of Kano, makers of Raspberry Pi-based, DIY-friendly computers children can develop. Now, thanks in part to a new partnership with Microsoft, Kano is launching the Kano PC, a cheap, effective, and repairable Windows laptop aimed at the education market. It does all this while keeping the colorful, kid-friendly, some-assembly-required appeal of its predecessors.
Kano CEO Alex Klein tells WIRED the relocation away from Raspberry Pi computers was an useful one. “Schools are already heavily invested in Windows,” Klein says. “Kids want to play Fortnite Teachers need Microsoft Office.”
Then there’s the speed concern. The Raspberry Pi computers are inexpensive and versatile, however it’s hardly ever the most powerful processor in the room. Frequently the sites and online tools kids and their instructors need require huge quantities of JavaScript that make them pack gradually on less powerful chips l