81–90 of 173 posts
Anyone who is active in the NYC JS scene knows Sara Chipps, the CEO of Jewelbots. She has given a couple talks about what it takes to run a hardware startup, and has been a wonderful member of the community. I only wish her and co. the best of success with everything they have put together, the new version looks great!
She also started GirlDevelopIt and has been a staple in the NYC community for a while. Happy to see her on here!
Holy moly that website does a bad job of describing what they actually do. Apparently you can program the lights and vibrations? I looked up a YouTube video, apparently they can be programmed for notifications from your phone? Marketing team really dropped the ball on this one.
Thanks so much for your feedback! Sounds like we have some things to add to the FAQ! Jewelbots can be programmed just like an Arduino using C++. Real code! Because we believe that kids are super smart (Also, I starting writing C++ at 11).
But is C++ really the first/best/only programming experience? Why would what be the right choice? UX absolutely just as important for developers as is is for ordinary users.
I imagine the user experience unfolding for my 11 year old daughter, ideally there is as little friction as possible from brcelet in hand to making code run. We want to minimize frustrations in order to maximize time spent doing and creating.
I’m not afraid 11 year olds will lack the ability to use C++, I’m afraid of it not being the way that’s most fun and engaging. And I certainly don’t mean dumbed down. Engineers at any age get more enjoyment from having the best tool for the job.
Unfortunately, we don't live in that world yet (and it could be a while off) In the meantime, I can now buy a product that:
1. Encourages my girls to get into STEM. 2. Is not a hard sell.
My girls are socialized to like girly stuff. I am only partly responsible for this - the outside pressures and influences on my children are huge and very hard to resist.
So you could argue that this product is a compromise, but it's one I'll gladly make.
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Hi! That grade school teacher needs a few more science lessons. We have lots of users that identify as male. Boys love Jewelbots, two weeks ago at an event a boy came up to me after to tell me "this was more fun than coding Minecraft". Best compliment in a while.
Identify as or are boys biologically?
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Goldieblox does the same thing. Everything is stereotypically girly. You have to assume they did some research and that's what girls want.
What do girls want? (after being socialized for their entire young lives to only express and develop interests in traditionally "feminine" pursuits) might turn out to be a quite different question from What's the best way to encourage girls to see themselves as being equally capable as boys in technical areas?"
There seems to be a popular notion that "feminine" traits are innate and universal to people with a "feminine identity", rather than the product of culture with socialization that treats female people consistently differently than male people from birth. However if you think about things that prepare someone for technical success, so-called "feminine" traits like caring about your appearance more than is actually necessary (makeup and jewelry serve no real purpose and take time and money) or being uncomfortable with conflict (bias for cooperation vs competition, people seeing assertive women as aggressive) are not good things that will help you be equal to or surpass your male peers in technical pursuits.
I can understand why it's uncomfortable to imply that the concept of "femininity" is not a positive one when it comes to tech (the creator of this probably disagrees with my assesment). But I hope we can continue to question the validity of "feminine" social constructs while also creating products like this, which bridge the gap after socialization has taken its toll.
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Thanks for sharing your reasoning. I can't say I'm on the same page when it comes to femininity, though there's no reason to get into that here. I do see where you're coming from and appreciate the time and effort you're putting towards making it a reality. It is a pretty cool product to boot. If you ever do a programmable digital pet, I'll be all over that.
Thank you! I respect your opinion as well, it's great to hear it. We all have our own version of feminism, and everyone is working towards similar goals. Man, making the next Tamagotchi would be amazing, I wonder if anyone has started?
Imagine if it evolved differently based on how you programmed it and other virtual pets you encountered.
Could be really fun, but I understand if you have too much on your plate as is!
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Goldieblox does the same thing. Everything is stereotypically girly. You have to assume they did some research and that's what girls want.
What do girls want? (after being socialized for their entire young lives to only express and develop interests in traditionally "feminine" pursuits) might turn out to be a quite different question from What's the best way to encourage girls to see themselves as being equally capable as boys in technical areas?"
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I actually like the idea that the gadget is positioned for "women in tech" without being about "women in tech". Last thing we need is another one of those panels, in lieu of what the individuals actually built or did.
lol, women in tech panels are the WORST.
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Hi! Our patent covers the ability to communicate from wearable to wearable using BLE. I hope that he fact that we're completely open source, from hardware to firmware to software, encourages others to share. As far as advertising, I get that. Feedback received. Thanks.
While I second the first commenter in hoping that you succeed, I also really hope you never get that patent. That's almost as bad as Apple patenting rounded rectangles.
It's worse. The rounded rectangle patent was a design patent, by the wording used above I'm guessing they're after a utility patent.