Build Your Own Computer From Scratch

If like us, you grew up building all sort of things from Lego through to den’s made of sheets, then you can probably appreciate what a company called Kano has created.

Kano, a Kickstarter team, is a computer kit designed to help people of any age to assemble their own computer from scratch, as well as helping them to learn basic coding skills too. The project was originally launched through Kickstarter with the intention of raising $100,000 in funding, but the project has already managed to destroy this target by securing more than $808,000.

Tools and building skills are very important in a child’s early development, so this is a great chance for them to showcase their intelligence at such a young age. Kano has provided people with a kit which they can build instruction-by-instruction, in order to create a fully functioning, good-looking computer.

The kit itself, consists of two instruction manuals, a custom case, a keyboard, a speaker, an 8GB SD card, a power plug, and HMDI and mini-USB cables. The computing module is powered by Raspberry PI and actually began life as a book just last year.

The build-it-yourself computer kit has been designed to be easy to follow for people of any age and is expected to be available for shipping next year. The kit is moderately inexpensive too, and at just $119, it is a great chance for children to learn some really important skills.

Making the computer doesn’t mean that is the end to the building process though, once you fire it up and start exploring its features you will find that you can build games too. You can make games like Pong and Snake and you can edit the rules too, this is where the newly learnt coding skills might come into play.

Even though buyers are going to have to wait until 2014 until they can get their hands on this kit, you can reserve your kit now. Over 7,200 people have already backed the project, but you can still fund the project all the way until the 19th of December if you’re interested.

Find funding for Apps

There are a lot of people with brilliant ideas, but they just don’t have enough money to fund them. This is the same with creating apps.

Hours and hours can be put into the development and the promotion of the idea, or app in this instance, with virtually no return on investment. This is why finding funding can be a great way to reduce the risk of any loses of time and money.

If you have launched an app before then you know exactly what happens from idea to final product, but for those people who only have an idea, where do you start? Funding!

Funding an app does not directly mean that you need every single penny to both develop and promote your app, but you may need to get some help financially to fund a part of it. By funding your app you can even get early feedback and gauge interest from people who have knowledge about apps. They may even be able to tell you about an app that already exists and is virtually your idea, so you don’t put all of your time into an app that already exists.

With this, the more people you know or have in your network, the more people you will be able to reach out to. There are a number of places, perfect for those people who have an idea, to find other people interested in funding their app. These platforms work in a similar way but all go about it in a different way. For example, KickStarter helps to fund creative ideas by simply setting a goal to reach and it is all or nothing.

A similar platform to KickStarter is Indiegogo. The only difference is you get to choose the way it is funded in the sense that there are two ways, flexible funding and fixed funding. Flexible funding means that you get to keep any funds you raise by a certain date, whereas fixed funding means it is all or nothing, similar to KickStarter.

There are other platforms too including AppBackr, AppStori (US Residents only) and AppsFunder. These also have their own differences but ultimately, they all help you to get your idea on its way to becoming a fully functional app; which is perfect for people who can’t afford to put the time and money into it themselves.