Thousands of Pounds

Sometimes a cheap idea works just as well as an expensive one. This idea needs 20 sheets of A4 paper, a ping pong ball and some drawing pins.

These students had a limited time to build something that would slow the ball down as it moved from the top of the 'wall' to the bottom. This design took 6 seconds for a ping pong ball to travel through it. I reckon times in excess of 30 seconds should be achievable with just paper tubes fixed at shallow angles.

The tubes are pieces of paper rolled and pins used to hold the overlapping edges together and pin these through to the pinboard backing

I have suggested to a primary school they build a giant version covering a whole wall, with ramps and tubes, hoppers and swivelling parts, all from thin card and paper with maybe a few swivelling self adhesive bits

Augment Reality Toasters and Budget Catapults

My next project is going to be a 1950's inspired Toaster design 3D Graphics 1 day student event incorporating augmented reality for displaying the final designs.

It is going to be mega... and I will post details of it as it develops.

In the meantime, here is a 4 metre release height catapult you can build for £30 that throws a can of coke 60 metres easily. I designed and built these for a client to run a Science event on forces. Here is the catapult in use throwing a cricket ball (All the coke exploded after one throw!) about 45 metres easily. Unfortunately the moving speck which was the cricket ball doesn't show up well in the uploaded version but it reached half way up the bank at the end of the field they are on.

180mph in a 30 zone

I am typing this on my new laptop. A Dell XPS 15. In fact you will have to move fast if you want one because this model will be unavailable in about a month as this is the OLD model. The SLOW model with the OUTDATED graphics and LOW amounts of memory that I have just spent good money on.

In real life use though, it is absolutely fine. I typically run 7 graphically intensive programs simultaneously using the laptop to power 2 x full HD monitors and it rarely slows down. I COULD have bought something three times as fast for twice the money (This XPS cost me £440 shipped and inc VAT, after 11 hectoring calls from Dells call centres over 48 hours to negotiate the price down bit by bit.... they are advertising the identical same computer right now for £580 online!)

But this is not a brag, just pointing out that 10 years ago my computer cost £1650, 6 years ago my first laptop cost me £1540, 2.5 years ago the old laptop cost £700. My next laptop after this one... may not be a traditional laptop at all, and that's because No-One I personally know, needs the power of the modern laptops typically selling now for £800+. Its like owning a Ferrari in a country with a blanket 30mph speed limit.

In the next month, Google will launch, partnered with various laptop manufacturers, Chrome OS Laptops. This will be a game changer for education. The OS stands for operating system. These are not Mac or windows computers, they are their own separate, standalone computing platform.

Chrome OS laptops don't store any user data on them, and typically they have installed only the very basic office software. Everything is stored, and increasingly computed, on the Internet. If you want to edit photos, you will use an online editing program to do this. Printing will be via wifi of any document you have. Though this sounds fabulous, there are a couple of caveats... First you need to have a permanent reliable fast internet connection otherwise all you have is a doorstop. Secondly the range of programs and their power is limited so though 95% of tasks students and staff do in schools could be handled by Chrome OS laptops, you will still (As will I) need some traditional computers for CAD, Music, Video Editing etc.

So why should schools consider Chrome OS laptops in the future (Not now, give them a year to iron the bugs out and bring out some killer applications, like the iPad took to get really useful)? Because of cost savings. No heavy infrastructures, no huge servers, no hyper expensive network fixers. Probably no viruses. Also any student and teacher can use any Chrome laptop and it configures, when they log in, to their security level and chosen settings. Finally, they are going to be very cheap... Probably £200 in 2 years time... Because they are just a screen, an internet connection and a very big and rapidly strengthening idea.

The traditional ICT system that supplies schools is going to fight this very hard. The basis of their business model is that you HAVE to get the latest software, update, hardware, system management utility otherwise all that nasty spyware will kill your school, but I have started to wonder whether all the mega computing power schools wield is actually there to keep these behomoth systems working. A new version of windows needs a new bigger browser so a new bigger network system so a bigger server, but look hard at what 95% of your students actually do.... Most of it is writing reports, making basic spreadsheets and producing presentations. I know Microsoft charge very little for Office to schools, but that is because you use very little of it apart from the basic tools that Office had 20 years ago (Go Look at Word 6.0 for Windows 3.1 if you don't believe me. It ran slow, but it had similar functionality for students needs to Office 2010)

And why do I think this will happen? Because of the iPad. It showed me that most things we USE a computer for now are basic, already internet based and don't need a massive infrastructure to work.

Chrome OS.... Keep an eye out for it!