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Posts Tagged ‘Pilot Program’

School kids can design video games on PCs with Microsoft’s latest Kodu tool

Microsoft is launching its Kodu video game design tools to the PC in the hopes of igniting interest in computer programming among children ages nine and up.

Developed by Microsoft Research, Kodu launched last spring on the Xbox 360 as a learning tool that taught the basics of game development. Kids could use it to build game characters and the worlds where they live. They can easily morph the terrain of a game level and create logic loops that show the consequences of what happens after a trigger event. Matt MacLaurin, a director of the Redmond FUSE (Future Social Experiences) Lab and creator of Kodu, said in an interview that Kodu has been downloaded more than 200,000 times for use with the Xbox 360.

Now the PC version has been launched in a beta test. MacLaurin is more optimistic that schools will be able to adopt the PC version on a larger scale, since they don’t need an Xbox 360 anymore and because they can now export their data to share it with anyone. The PC version can be used with a mouse and keyboard, while the original version worked with a game controller.

MacLaurin said the tools introduce kids to programming, design, and math skills. And it does so in a way that doesn’t put kids to sleep. Anyone can create a game within minutes of trying it out.

Kodu users have been able to share their creations on Xbox Live Community Games Channel. MacLarin got the idea for Kodu from his daughter. When she was three years old, she watched MacLaurin’s wife browse her Facebook page. He realized that most kids interacted passively with computer content, not knowing they can create their own worlds. It took a couple of years to create Kodu. Almost a year after its release, 60 educational institutions are using it to introduce children to programming.

In Victoria, Australia, Kodu has been introduced in a pilot program at 26 schools. MacLarin estimates kids have created hundreds of thousands of games with Kodu. Fan sites such as Kodux.com share information among creators.

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BART Promos on Foursquare: Free Tickets for Check-Ins

For once the Bay Area Rapid Transit service has more to brag about than its endless supply of used under-the-seat bubble gum and noxious mystery smells. According to its site, Bay Area Rapid Transit will be the first transit agency to partner with location-based game sensation Foursquare.

Sponsor

ReadWriteWeb first covered the point-based check-in service in March, and since then Foursquare has spread like wildfire across the US and to the UK. As of next month, users from Dublin to Milbrae will have a chance to win the coveted title of Mayor of one of the most utilized transit services in the Bay Area. From November onward, the transit authority will award $25 promotional tickets to random users who check-in at one of 34 BART stations. During the three month pilot program, the agency will also look for new ways to reward Foursquare mayors and incorporate local discounts from mybart.org venue partners.

Said BART website manager Timothy Moore,”We hope this partnership will encourage users to check out different stations and neighborhoods, and will show people who aren’t already BART riders some of the great things to do that are easy to get to on transit.”

Despite the fact that a number of BART-related Foursquare tips are going to document urine stains and public drunkenness, the reality is that absolutely anything beats driving the US-101 during rush hour traffic. BART check-ins are likely to encourage tired drivers to get out of their car and into a greener and less frustrating alternative. Those interested in official BART tips can visit the transit authority’s profile page at foursquare.com/user/SFBART.

Discuss

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Payvment Enables Retail Storefronts On Facebook Via PayPal’s Adaptive Payments API

In an effort to compete with Amazon’s Flexible Payments API, PayPal recently announced its version of the API, called Adaptive Payments (which we scooped over the summer). PayPal’s API gives developers full access to PayPal’s features, allowing them a lot more freedom in building applications, which includes the ability to accept and distribute payments. Over the course of the past few month, PayPal has been working with several startups as part of a pilot program to show the capabilities of the API in anticipation of a broader rollout in November. Payvment, which powers online shopping cart technologies and uses PayPal as a payment mechanism, is launching a potentially revolutionary new Facebook app that would let anyone set up a retail storefront on Facebook.

Payvment was originally developed as a web service that would allow any site owner to integrate a shopping cart into their e-commerce offering. You can add the technology to your site by simply adding one line of code to the site. Payvment’s Facebook App is more comprehensive and lets anyone create a retail store on Facebook. The app lets you set up products, categories of products (i.e. shoes, T-shirts, sweaters), import photos, list terms of service and shipping options and more. Once you set up your online shop on Facebook, it will show up in a separate tab on your profile or page under “storefront”.

Once the shop is set up, potential buyers can interact with the storefront like they would a -commerce site. You can add desired products to your cart and remove them easily. Payvment also lets buyers conduct searches within the store. When a user adds a product to their shopping cart on Facebook and clicks to follow-through on buying the product, Payvment takes the user to a separate page outside of Facebook, where the user can use PayPal to buy the object. Payvment’s CEO and founder, Christian Taylor, tells me that it is necessary to conduct the transaction on a separate site because Facebook doesn’t yet offer e-commerce security options. And any purchases made will not be made pubic to your friends.

Payvment’s shopping cart is also integrated with any other shop using its application. So if you put a shirt from store “x” in your cart and also placed a shirt from store “y” in the cart, both would show up on either retail site. Basically, Payvment creates a unified shopping cart across Facebook for buyers. Retailers with standalone sites who want to use Payvment’s shopping cart experience can also implement Facebook Connect, to let consumers access their personal shopping cart from Facebook. And retailers can customize their carts within their sites to fit into their UI.

Of course, there are ways to sell virtual goods on Facebook, including Facebook’s own payment system, and a few storefronts have already been popping up on Facebook, including apps for 1-800-Flowers and Sears. With these retailers, transactions are completed outside of Facebook, on the retailers page. Payvment adds to this functionality to by letting anyone set up a retail storefront for free. Taylor adds that this app will eventually be made available on other social networks. One of the draws of Payvment is that its code and Facebook app are free for the moment. So retailers don’t have to put any money up to set up their shopping cart and storefront.

Payvment, which will be launched in private beta on Nov. 3 and PayPal’s Innovate Conference, seems like a innovative way to integrate social e-commerce on Facebook. It seems like a no-brainer for smaller retailers which don’t have well-established sites to create a revenue stream through Facebook. In fact, even larger retailers who have established e-commerce sites can feature and sell a select group of products within Facebook. And retailers, both big and small, are flocking to Facebook for marketing purposes, why not add the ability to buy as well? Personally, I’d love to see a virtual mall on Facebook with multitudes of retailers.

PayPal is smart to engage developers in the early stages of releasing this new API. The company also partnered with TechCrunch50 demopit startups FundRazr and Lottay to build off the adaptive payments API. In fact, PayPal’sPayPal X Innovate 2009 conference in November is designed to attract more developers to the platform. The API will only be released to those developers that attend the conference. Although, we scooped the news of the new Adapative Payments API, PayPal says that additional APIs will be announced at the conference. It should be interesting to see what these APIs enable developers to build, considering the impressive vision PayPal has for the future.

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Federal courts now offer hearings online as MP3 files

US federal courts are in the midst of a fascinating pilot program that could eventually bring MP3 digital audio recordings of court proceedings in a Montana federal building to an investigative journalist working in Boca Raton.

The courts already run the PACER system, which offers Public Access to Court Electronic Records. Theses are generally PDF copies of all documents (except those under seal) filed in federal courts across the country. As a tool, it’s an amazing time and money saver for lawyers, journalists, and the public, despite the 8¢ per page charge for most documents which has proved controversial.

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