Two new products have been announced recently which could really help bring young people into the world of technology at a younger age and in a more substantial and meaningful way. For the very young (toddlers and younger) there's the Ily, a voice, video and messaging device from tech start-up Insensi and Barber and Osgerby design consultancy Map, which aims to bring together family members of all ages and different levels of tech competency. Intended as an alternative to a smartphone or tablet for those too young (or technologically illiterate) to use them, Ily features an eight-inch touch-screen, connects to wifi and plugs into a standard telephone cable. Crucially, there is no conventional browser, which means children can use it unsupervised by tapping on a family member’s photo. They can also send photos from the device or drawings they’ve created on its touchscreen.
Other Ily features include personalising the device with photos and drawings, creating notes like shopping lists and reminders and playing music. The “family feed” function, meanwhile, is a handy daily record showing which family members are interacting with each other. It can also connect with other Ily’s or the Ily app on iOS and Android. This also means parents can stay in touch if they have the app by dialling in to the home Ily.
The Ily is a voice, video and messaging device that brings together family members of all ages and different levels of tech competency
Insensi chief executive and founder Ilan Abehassera aid that despite families often having several smartphones and tablets the youngest and oldest family members struggle to talk regularly and hardly ever use video or share pictures. He said: “We struggled with this in our own house. Our children were too young to have unsupervised access to a smartphone and the grandparents were simply less technical. That’s why we created Ily. It makes everyday connections effortless, regardless or age, location or tech savviness.”
For the older children, meanwhile, the New York-based electronic components company LittleBits, has designed a new Smart Home Kit that adventurous children can snap together to create everything from toy robots to lightweight industrial products. The project raised $44.2 million in a recent round of funding, which is a big vote of confidence for the small (90-person) company, which previously only managed to raise just $15.6 million in four previous rounds.
A new Smart Home Kit from LittleBits lets children snap together parts to create everything from toy robots to lightweight industrial products
LittleBits is hoping that these kits become widely used at schools, where it says so far, more than 8,000 educators in 70 countries have introduced the kits to students. Indeed, sales to schools currently represent 30% of the company's sales. LittleBits (which began life selling its kits directly to consumers) is also looking beyond the educational market though, with an array of products ranging from a $100 starter set to a $149 space kit to a $159 “Synth” kit that enables customers to create their own modular synthesisers. To this end, the company has already struck an agreement with Barnes & Noble, which, along with Amazon and LittleBits’s own commerce site, will begin selling LittleBits kits later this year.
