The BBC collaborates with 29 partners to send thousands of miniature computers to every grade 7 child in the UK. This is the BBC you're thinking of - the news organization - and this is not the first time they've done such a project. Micro:bit is aimed at educating the public and setting a creative fire under the feet of the UK's youth. To do this, the micro:bit pocket-sized computer is being distributed for free to students, complete with programmable innards, Bluetooth, built-in compass, and motion detection.
One big "WTF" here is web-based IDE programming tools. There's no specifics about loading programs in the article, but there is a USB port on the micro:bit which will presumably be used to transfer programs into the device - so why send the code out to the web to be programmed instead of including a compiler that runs locally? (For this kind of tiny computer, with a minuscule display, I'm sure something that runs even an a relatively underpowered tablet could be written.)
The BBC has revealed the final design of the Micro Bit, a pocket-sized computer set to be given to about one million UK-based children in October. The device - which features a programmable array of red LED lights - includes two buttons and a built-in motion sensor that were not included in a prototype shown off in March.
The BBC's director general Tony Hall said the device should help tackle the fact children were leaving school knowing how to use computers but not how to program them. "We all know there's a critical and growing digital skills gap in this country and that's why it's so important that we come together and do something about it," he said at a launch event in London.
The Micro Bit is being given away to every 11- and 12-year-old child in Year 7 or equivalent at school.
More on the BBC website.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday July 08 2015, @03:36PM
Beeb doesn't want to discriminate against those kids who don't have full access to a proper computer of their own. While your local library might not like teenagers hooking up hardware to the library's PCs and running random executables, they probably wouldn't mind them accessing a BBC website.
So the programs then just magically appear on the Micro:bit with no wires?
You still need a usb connection.
There is also an Android and IOS app in the works,
Oddly the device has a bluetooth connection which is suggested to control a dvd player. (How common it that?!!)
I think they should ship 85% of these straight to the landfill, because that's where most will be after the first month.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday July 08 2015, @04:04PM
> So the programs then just magically appear on the Micro:bit with no wires?
not like teenagers hooking up hardware to the library's PCs and running random executables
Please read that as a boolean AND
(Score: 2) by penguinoid on Thursday July 09 2015, @08:17AM
That depends on what sort of drivers are needed to communicate with the Micro:bit over usb.
RIP Slashdot. Killed by greedy bastards.