Kano—a computer and coding kit brought to the masses after a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013—has expanded its offerings to include DIY camera, lightboard, and speaker kits. A new Kickstarter is up to fund all three products, with a goal of raising $500,000 in the next 24 days. The idea behind Kano is to provide people of all ages with a kit and instructions to build their own tech products, which they can also code to their specific preferences. As Alex Klein, CEO and co-founder of Kano, puts it, "Tiny computers and sensors power the pervasive machines that surround us – and yet, only a fraction of us know how to do much more than swipe their surface screens."
With the camera kit, users can build five megapixels using a step-by-step storybook, code their own photo filters and colorful flashes, and add a tripwire sensor to trigger camera snaps. The pixel kit, which is used to build a lightboard, allows you to code lights, games, and art in millions of colors, add buttons, a joystick, and a tilt sensor, and also visualize things like sound, stocks and sports scores. Finally, the speaker kit allows you to build you own sound synthesizer, connecting code, samples, and a drumpad or adding a "gesture sensor" to stream and bend music, loops and beats.
All Kano kits run on Kano Code, a coding tool that lets everyone, from beginners to advanced users, create interactive apps to power the new kits. DIYers also have access to Kano World, an online community platform where more than 19 million lines of code have been shared with other users.
The one-month-long Kickstarter is aimed to fund the manufacturing and launch of the new system. Back in 2013, the Kano computer kit gained 13,000 backers in 86 countries who funded over $1.5 million. The first shipment of the computer kit went out in 2014; you can now buy it for $149.99. The price for each camera, lightboard and speaker kit is expected to be $129.99. Through Kickstarter, you could nab one kit if you fund $99 or more, or secure all three if you pledge $249 or more.
- Simple kits, to code the world [Kickstarter]