Startup company Kano took another step of turning kids into digital makers as it unveiled an updated version of its DIY computer.
Kano's innovative Computer Kit Touch is set to come with a 10.1-inch HD touchscreen together with a bright orange wireless keyboard and a highly functional built-in trackpad. Just last year, Kano combined a keyboard-based interaction and touch into a single device. The Computer Kit Touch is now available at Kano.me for $279.99 and other bricks-and-mortar stores.
Computer Kit Touch Is Packed With Extensive Features
Apart from its touchscreen display, the Computer Kit Touch will also come with an increase storage capacity of 16 GB as well as a bolstered support for touch controls. In addition, the Raspberry Pi-powered gadget, which is primarily aimed at the 6 to 13 age range, will likewise feature a power cable, custom Pi board, battery, speaker, and an updated display driver board.
In addition, its keyboard will also support text-based coding applications as well as exhibit a drag-and-drop block-based coding system. Other than that, the Computer Kit Touch will also let kids paint and draw, change the pitch of a loop, and generate a beat or a loop with the assistance of its touch-based digital audio workstation.
Alex Klein, the founder of Kano, said that the company has polished a myriad of components, including its speed and battery life. He reiterated that the focal point of the upgrade is enabling its Computer Kit Touch to integrate with other kits.
"On the touch kit itself there's also a set of new content that demystifies how touchscreens work and peels back the layer of the screen and shows you what's behind, and you're kind of touching the intersection of the different copper wires and seeing what's happening beneath," Klein said.
The Computer Kit Touch is also capable of running popular applications such as Wikipedia, Google Drive, YouTube, LibreOffice, and Google Chromium. It is likewise built in with a small app store, wherein users can download Filezilla, Audacity, and Wolfram.
Kano To Launch Harry Potter Wand
On a related news, Klein revealed that the company will also be distributing a co-branded Harry Potter product known as the Kano Coding Kit. The Kano Coding Kit will give kids the power to create a motion-sensitive coding wand that will teach them how to generate their own digital spells. The Kano Coding Kit will start to ship next month.
In the meantime, Kano will still continue shipping the speaker and camera kits. Aside from its computers, the up-and-coming London-based company also sells a build-it-yourself Pixel lightboard and a motion sensor kit.
