Show HN: Blot – code, art, robots and open source education
6 by apexedison | 3 comments on Hacker News. For the last few years, I've been working at a non-profit called Hack Club developing tools to support self-motivated teens to learn about technology and build community with other like-minded peers while doing so. This has resulted in the development of a model called "you ship, we ship." We build open source creative coding environments, and when teenagers share the projects they make with these tools, we send them materials to dive deeper into the subject and related technologies. Our approach is predicated on the constructionist idea that people learn best by building things they care about and sharing them with others. The vision we have is to create a public collection of creative learning tools that offer people projects they can do right away and communities of practice to engage with. Blot is our next installment in the series. It's designed to be a gateway to CNC robotics through digital art. If you'd like to see some of the projects people have made so far, you can check out: https://ift.tt/6B4bMt2 You can also find projects from our first "you ship, we ship" called Sprig. It's a game console you get by building a game for it. https://ift.tt/gUM3A5N I'd love people's thoughts on the model and ideas for other subjects in technology we could build projects around.
Show HN: Wunderbar – Learn language while working on your Mac
15 by mertbio | 9 comments on Hacker News. Hey everyone, I've been living in Germany for a while now and struggling to pick up German. Even though I finished a B1 level language course, remembering all the common German words has been tough. I've tried a bunch of apps, but couldn't stick to any of them. Last month, I had an idea. I thought, what if I could see a German word and its meaning on the Menu Bar of my Mac? That way, I could learn new words while working without needing to set aside dedicated time. The app uses a spaced-repetition algorithm, so you'll see the same word multiple times until you've got it down. And even after you've learned it, you'll still see it again to make sure you don't forget. After making the app, lots of people asked me to include other languages, therefore I’ve added languages like Spanish, French, Dutch, Swedish, Japanese, and Italian. You can download the app here ($3.99): https://ift.tt/h9k83Rn There's no subscription or anything like that. You pay once and it's yours forever. Let me know what you think!