Piper: The Perfect Gift for a 7-Year Old?
Seven months ago, I had the opportunity to explore a new kind of gift by posing the question in writing: Are Cryptocurrencies Great Gifts? I still remain with my conclusions in that post. But this time around, I found myself hunting for something rather different for someone special. My dear nephew. Finally he's old enough for me to give something other than Play-doh and Lego. Check this out!
Meet Piper - A Computer Kit
Definitely one of the coolest stuff I've seen in a while. Even I want to play around with it. Piper is a fun and well-engineered product for kids to learn all about building their own computer, preparing them for a lifetime of building technology. It also comes with Minecraft and the PiperNet software which encourages circuit-building, music-making, coding, and most importantly, developing an understanding of basic computing while having fun being creative in a game-like setting.
I really like the fact that Piper Inc is focused on bridging software and hardware in a way that's a sure-hit with the kids. It comes complete with a 7" LCD screen, Raspberry Pi, Mini-stereo speaker, and all those electronic circuit stuff. Software-wise, included are game missions with varying levels of complexity so I hope this "toy" will have a long enough shelf-life for my nephew. There are also downloadable content, so I'm pretty sure Piper will stay interesting.
In all seriousness, this really looks like a super comprehensive product so I've just got it ordered on https://www.buildpiper.com/ for a discounted price of $229.99. Personally, I've never given anyone a Christmas gift before as I never celebrate it, but I guess it's a good occasion as any to give him something different to play around with. Kids of today will adapt so well with technology and they'll use it in ways that we can't even begin to imagine at this point in time. Perhaps I'll expose him to cryptocurrencies in a year or two. But for now, this will do wonders!
Maybe I'll get one for myself as well..
https://www.buildpiper.com/
Just reading some of your posts and I found this. Day. Made. I have a smart 7 year old nephew who is going to love this. Bloody useful post! Cheers buddy!
I think that Piper will be a cool Xmas gift for your nephew. He will learn a lot while having fun at the same time.
Im new to steemit and am very happy content like this is being posted. Im actually replying to you using a raspberry pi 3. The whole concept of single board computers is awesome and the next generation of kids have access to technology we never did. I think everyone should have a minimum of three Pi's or other types such as Odroid.
Hey welcome to Steemit! I personally don't have any Pis, but why a minimum of 3?
Once you use a pi you will be hooked. A screen and mouse and keyboard is all you need and the computer is up. Operating system is much like windows and its pretty fast for internet browsing and streaming. Having a tv in a room that can access internet content without a bulky computer or box next to it is invaluable. Plus it can handle 720 HD streaming which is impressive for such a small box. every room with a tv should have a pi nearby.
I wish I had one as a kid.
The 100 in 1 electronics projects from Radio Shack was great but this.........................too cool.......
I know right, I've always wanted to get my hands on those lego electronics, but never got to until now lol. Tempting to muck around with this toy..
This is awesome if only I had the spare funds my eight-year-old would love this thing I got him a solar-powered robot kit though so that should be cool
What? That sounds awesome, any links to that solar powered bot?!
I got it from hobby lobby Ill take a picture of it when Im home.
That is awesome! I manage Computing for the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at a major University, and We use RPi's a lot. Great little platform. In fact we have a cluster of 45 of them for our decentralized linux computing environments as well!
I really need to get one as I've never tinkered around with it before. Any good starter guide to recommend?
This is an awesome gift! I wish this kind of stuff was around when I was a kid. I just picked up a couple of pi zero's a few weeks ago to hack around with, but so far all I've really done is play snes on it, I feel like I may be wasting its potential.
SNES you say? If the emulation is good on that I'm gonna get it right away. Couldn't find a proper SNES console anymore. I've seen some guys making music with those before.. have you tried?
The emulation is fine, but I would suggest getting a pi3, sometimes the zero can hang / overheat. As far as music goes, I haven't really messed with it yet, still just getting comfortable with linux. Its probably simple to solder on a midi-out port.
Circuitbending is an art, proabbly too experimental though. Thanks man, gonna check out the pi3 :)
Oh my this is so great I'm gonna get one for myself (hope they deliver to Europe)! :) My nephew is only 3.. so he will need to wait for it :) And I see your point, because he is quite young the only thing I could get him for Xmasswas a plastic car.. I need to send this post to my father, my nephew's grandfather - he will love it.
Lol exactly, too difficult get something different when they’re babies. Why get it now? bet there will be something more awesome in 4 years..
Why? For me to play :D
When I was a kid I used to disintegrate phones and calculators just to reassemble. Should have had these back then.
Haha that sounds way more adventurous :)
This looks like one of my first computers from the 1980's without the mouse lol
You had to build your own if you wanted a computer. Even to the casing.
This is a great present. He will be mining his own coins in days.
Ah I totally missed that stage, which is why I'm kinda happy seeing such a thing and want the nephew to experience the joy of dealing with both hardware and soft.