Innovation: Raspberry Pi

Back in the days before GUI’s, to do anything useful with a computer required at least a basic understanding of electronics and computer science. But now, because it’s become so easy to operate a computer, most people who use a computer don’t really know how it works (me definitly included).

One person who decided to do something about it was Eben Upton, who worked in admissions and as a lecturer at Cambridge. He noticed that applicants to the Computer Science courses just weren’t as experienced with computers as they were in the 90′s. He and his colleagues discovered that it was mostly because schools now taught computers using Word, PowerPoint, and other software that doesn’t teach how a computer works, merely what you can do with one.

So he and his colleages set to work trying to make a simple, affordable computer that would teach kids (and pretty much anyone else) the concepts behind electronics and computers. It’s made so that you can’t do much until you get your feet wet and start to program. You can use Python, C, Basic, etc. on it, and you not only learn the programming language, you also get a better understanding how what you type translates into the output on the screen. Also, as mentioned before, is you want to do something like word processing, you’ll have to make a word processing program, so you get a feel for how useful programming can be.

But perhaps the best part about the Raspberry Pi is its price. The top-of-the-range model is a princely $35, and the simpler model is $25. It was meant to be affordable, and it certainly is! Even if you have to buy an SD card and a HDMI or RCA cable, the price probably won’t go over $50. Other things you would need are a keyboard, mouse, and TV, since the Raspberry Pi is pretty much just a circuit board.

The Raspberry Pi will be available in about a week’s time from the organisation’s website, and I recommend giving their site a visit. You can ask a question on the FAQ page, provided it’s hasn’t already been asked and answered. They are really quick; I got an answer in just 40 minutes. Also on the site is a forum, a wiki, and lots of information on what you can do with a Raspberry Pi and its tech specs. There’s also a picture showing what it looks like and what each part does.

Do you think you’ll get the Raspberry Pi? What do you think about it? Tell us in the comments.

Task: Learn Java

Learning how to program is often a daunting idea. To learn by oneself would require lots of dedication, and to take a course would cost too much. But with Stanford University’s CS106A iTunes U course, it’s now quite possible to take a full Java course for free online, teacher and all.

The video lectures are great: Mehran Sahami, the professor, is very engaging. There are assignments, handouts, and even a syllabus (if you like to be really organised) online. The software is provided free. You will need a textbook which, though Prof. Sahami says needs to be bought, can be found online also. Though Stanford does not have answer keys to the Assignments, a simple Google Search for ‘CS106A answers’ will pull up a list of blogs that each have their own solutions to the problems. At the beginning, Prof. Sahami says that you don’t need any experience to start learning with CS106A, and he does start at Ground Zero, but he does burn through the subjects pretty fast, so if (like me) you have no previous experience, you’ll likely have to re-watch some of the faster paced lectures and read the textbook extremely attentively. Speaking of the textbook, it’s a good idea to follow along with the lectures with the textbook. I managed to finish Assignments 1 and 2 without the textbook, only to find myself completely confounded by Assignment 3.

But you guys are here to see the links, so without further ado:

CS106A Course Page
Karel the Robot Textbook
The Art and Science of Java Textbook 

We hope you have fun learning Java. Please comment if you have any questions about the links or the course. I’ll try to answer any others, but I don’t know much about programming, so any programming questions would be better asked elsewhere!

Review: Pokémon HeartGold (and SoulSilver) Version(s)

Note: I am only just past the seventh Gym, so this review may not include the stuff you get in Kanto and the remaining of Johto.

I have been a casual Pokémon since I got a GameBoy Advance when I was eight. Now, six years later, I still don’t think I’ve fully outgrown it. I was never really a huge fan, but I did like the games a lot. I borrowed some books and movies from the library, and I got the games starting with Pokémon FireRed (LeafGreen) though always a year or so late (as this overdue review proves). I bought them because I knew you could get 80+ hours of gameplay from it, which some games (that have almost the same price) don’t even come close to giving.  The gameplay is always amazing, easy enough for a six-year-old to understand, but with elements (like EV’s and such) that can go pretty deep.

Enough of the wordy background. On to this game. I never played Gold or Silver, so I can’t give the comparisons many people on the internet give, but I love the game. The Pokémon are cool (Johto has the coolest Pokémon, in my opinion), the new touch-screen controls are pretty intuitive (though sometimes annoying if you’ve played a lot of Diamond and Pearl), and there’s a whole lot of storyline and post-story gameplay. Besides Gold or Silver, there is no other game that has sixteen gyms and two full regions! There are cool mini-games to play in the Pokéathlon, and everywhere you go, there is always people to talk to, and get things from. The caves are pretty diabolical at times, they’ll certainly be a huge chunk out of the 80+ hours you’ll spend on this game. On the whole, I think this is the best Pokémon game to date, although I haven’t played Black or White (they don’t sound as good to me compared to the good old days).

After you’ve beaten the Elite Four, there’s still the Kanto region, which has changed quite a bit, and you can also start (or continue) EV training. (On a related but tangential note, I got PokéRus! I’m not the best EV trainer, so I think I’ve wasted all my Pokémon’s EV’s though: maybe PokéRus were a bad thing!) I’m really excited to see how Kanto looks after three years, because FireRed was my first game and it’ll be really nostalgic to walk those paths again (I’ve lost the GBA game).

OK, I think the well-thought-out topics have started to become a long and confusing rant, so I’ll just go! Tell us what you think about the game in the comments!

Files: Shorthand Manuals

OK, for people who want to learn shorthand online, sometimes looking for material can be a wild goose chase. When I first started learning Teeline, it seemed there wasn’t much online, and the courses that were online costs money. There are many free courses online, but a lot will only take you part-way through the theory. Manuals are nice because they follow a complete and strict course. I did manage to find a manual for Teeline online, along with some other shorthand systems so you can have the choice if you want to download them here. They should all be open source or public domain, but if you do own the rights to any of these manuals, contact us and I’ll gladly take the offending manual down.

Teeline Manual

Gregg Pre-Anniversary (1916) Manual

Gregg Anniversary (1929) Manual

Isaac Pitman (1852) Manual

Feel free to download any of them. This is a rather incomplete list, so if you find any better manuals (Handywrite, Speedwriting, Gregg Simplified, etc.) that can legally be put on here, let us know!

News: Giant Panda Eats Meat

A giant panda was recently caught on camera eating the carcass of a takin (Himalayan goat-antelope). Scientists say that this is not all that uncommon, as pandas evolved from carnivorous animals. That being said, a photo of one eating meat is still quite rare. This particular picture, shared by The Nature Conservancy, was captured by a motion-sensing camera in what will be the Montianling County Land Trust Reserve in northern Sichuan, China.

Source: TreeHugger

Review: Diamine Meadow Ink

While purchasing my brand new Lamy Safari Fountain Pen, I bought a bottle of Diamine Meadow ink. I am very satisfied with this ink so far, so without further ado, here’s the review!

The paper used was regular Staples 20 lb copy paper. The ink was swabbed 3 times in the “Swab” section and the water was smeared 3 times in the “Water” section. Thanks for reading!

Review: Aurora Blue Ink

After seeing good reviews on Fountain Pen Network and deciding that I needed a change from Waterman Black, I decided to get this as my next bottle of ink. It’s a good dark blue, though it looks really purple in the image below (maybe it’s just my monitor). 

The translation for the scrawl you see in the Notes sections is ‘Though a little expensive, it’s a nice blue for work and school. It’s not at all waterproof, but it’s nice because it goes on wet and purple, then dries to a nice dark blue. Definitely one of my favourite inks!’ The paper used is regular 20 lb copy paper. The swab is three layers of ink, and the water test is three smears with water on completely dried ink. Thanks for reading!