Comments for willgrant.org

Comment on Idea dump #2 by Will Grant

Will Grant — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:01:00 +0000

Great idea.

Comment on Idea dump #2 by Nicolás Granelli

Nicolás Granelli — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:52:00 +0000

“Everyone’s iPod looks the same, regardless of what it’s playing” -> case for ipod that change color based on the music. Or even display the cd conver.

Comment on Web-snooping bill could trigger powerful new tools by Will Grant

Will Grant — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:20:00 +0000

Very true! Solicitors is a great example, accoutants too. Thanks for your comment.

Comment on Web-snooping bill could trigger powerful new tools by Philip Wattis

Philip Wattis — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:40:00 +0000

Interesting article Will. I think you are right, that the appproach being taken at the moment is not the right one, however, if the governemnt takes such action it could kickstart some technological developments that the governement’s investments in Silicon Roundabout so far appear to have failed to do.

I’ve always been susprised at the lack of a ‘broad appeal, easy to use’ email encryption solution. Even dealing with solicitors, they will happily email sensitive documents around without so much as a password being required. This area of communication is very much in its infancy.

Comment on Raspberry Pi won’t work by Mike Bradshaw

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:31:00 +0000

True, the schools have computers, but often in a lab there are small differences in the hardware, so the CD’s end up having to do detection and then start failing/causing problems (also it is harder to re-write CDs ;) )There is nothing stopping a second hand laptop helping kids, apart from the challenge of getting it working.For someone who just wants to start writing “Snakes”, having to get an OS up and running, figure out drivers etc, it can be just too much.

And yes, the problem is teaching based, so lets get the technology out of the way. Using a standardised set of components makes things easier.

Comment on Raspberry Pi won’t work by Will Grant

Will Grant — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:37:00 +0000

I like the point about teachers not having to meddle with settings, but the same thing could be achieved with a bootable CD image of an OS – and schools *already have* computers in their labs.
Interested to hear why you think a second-hand laptop running Linux wouldn’t help a child learn to program? Pi is basically old-laptop-grade hardware without the keyboard or screen.

The problem that we’re trying to solve here isn’t tools-based, it’s teaching-based.

Comment on Raspberry Pi won’t work by Mike Bradshaw

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:07:00 +0000

and also the ability to do extra study at home.
By having something this low cost, you can have the same computer at home and school, so have more time for learning. The school lessons should only be there to start you off.

Comment on Raspberry Pi won’t work by Mike Bradshaw

Mike Bradshaw — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:05:00 +0000

Thing is, the Pi is/was inspired by platforms that were popular in the 80s (Acrorn’s BBC Model B, Commodore 64, Specturm etc).
By having standard hardware and software platforms, there were a bunch of magazines with fun projects you could _do_ yourself.
*THAT* is what can inspire kids, not some course that is teaching a programming language.

As I understand the ambition of the Raspberry Pi Foundation it is to make a *complete package* to help teachers inspire students, like a generation was in the 80s
By keeping the price low, schools can have a fully equipped lab for a couple of 1000 (don’t forget screens, keyboards and mice).
The lab is virtually idiot proof (something goes wrong, pull power, new SD card and start again, so teachers do not have to spend hours trying to figure out what went wrong, and can move the lessons forward.

The low cost also means that kids can have a similar setup at home (and no, low price second hand laptops are not going to cut it!)
DO NOT underestimate the importance of this.

Comment on Raspberry Pi won’t work by Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:48:00 +0000

what’s to stop a kid heading to a library and hitting tryruby – learning the basics of a popular web language?
They don’t have a computer. Especially not in thirld world countries. That’s what Raspberry Pi is all about – giving them a chance.

Comment on Chrome 17 loses the ‘plus’ from the ‘new tab’ button by clpo13

clpo13 — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:04:00 +0000

I seriously thought something was wrong with my Chrome installation when I first noticed this. It’s not intuitive at all. The plus sign made it clear that the button added something. The position next to existing tabs suggested that the something added was a new tab. Why this had to be changed is anyone’s guess.