On day 3 of our 30-day skill challenge, we'll be teaching Chatterbox how to understand all the ways people ask for weather, then look up the latest weather information from the internet. Before we get started, let's think about how we say things. If you were to ask a friend about the weather, how would […]
This is day 2 of our 30-day skill challenge! Now that you understand the basics of listening and speaking, it's time to learn how to interact with your Chatterbox. Repeat after me Yesterday, we learned how to make Chatterbox listen for a key phrase. That key phrase or whatever else the user says is called […]
Welcome to day 1 of our 30 day skill challenge! We thought we'd start this challenge off with the basics of teaching Chatterbox: Listening and Speaking! We'll be building on these basic skills to create all kinds of amazing skills in the days to come. Challenge: How do we teach Chatterbox how to 'Listen' and […]
We are excited to announce that we are doing a 30 skills in 30 days challenge during the month of April. What does this mean? Well, everyday we will post a new tutorial here on the Chatterbox Blog. What kinds of skills will we make? All kinds of skills! We'll be teaching Chatterbox how to […]
The coronavirus is affecting everyone, including kids. Schools are closing across the nation and around the world. The closures could remain in effect for months. While kids are unable to attend classes, they also may be prevented from going outside and spending time with friends. Naturally these curious minds will gravitate to TV screens, video […]
We built Chatterbox so kids can experience how technology works -- with as many senses as possible. After using their hands and eyes to assemble the box and electronics, they use their ears to listen to Chatterbox connecting to WiFi. Wait, what? Chatterbox uses a wonderful technology called Chirp to enable kids to privately, securely, […]
Smartphones have taken over as the main consumer electronics device that everyone uses. And this is true of children, too. Recent research has found that some 63% of American kids spend more than two hours a day on “recreational” smartphone screen time. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limits on screen-based media for children 6 […]
Smart speakers are great. But they can’t do everything. And people tend to be very specific and exacting about what they want their smart speakers to do. The Verge news editor Chaim Gartenberg, for example, recently lamented the inability of smart home assistants Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri to control home appliances on a timer […]
My name is Kevin Elgan. I’ve been focusing on education technology (or technology education) for children my entire career, first at Tynker (which teaches kids to code), then Piper (which is a build-it-yourself computer for children). Since then I’ve had a daughter of my own which has led me to reevaluate the role of technology […]
