Expand NY was a BLAST!

This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Engadget Expand NY event at the Jacob Javits Center.  I was joined by my long-time friend, Veronica L.  We had a blast walking around and speaking with the presenters.  There were so many interesting little gadgets, both from a consumer perspective and from an educator perspective.  Here are a few of the notables:

1.  One of the favorites of mine was the Equil Smartpen 2.  I hate trying to write notes in my tablet -- the way I hold my pen places my palm on the screen which adds stray marks in my notes (I'm a self-diagnosed, slightly OCDer, so that kind of stuff kills me).  With the Smartpen 2, you take notes in a paper notebook, and the notes are transferred to an electronic device.  It will even turn your writing into editable text.  I hope to try one in the future and use during Professional Development courses in my new Model Teacher position.  I also think this has a LOT of potential for helping struggling writers in my classes.  I hope to try out this product and get bigger ideas about all of its possible uses.  (Picture borrowed from myequil.com)

2.  The best conversation I had was talking with Amie Baron of BloomSky about using their product in my classroom to be part of a weather network that can use data from around the country as the basis for secondary research long-term science investigations.  (Picture borrowed from Bloomsky.com)

3.  The coolest device I saw caught me by surprise.  I walked into a dark tent and found a sandbox with LED devices on it.  I instantly fell in love with the Sand Noise Device.  Awesome concept.  It had me entranced for more than a few minutes while I learned about it from Matt Roads, a jazz musician from California.  Their videos are a must-see to truly understand this contraption.

4.  Jack Grannan of Aldebaran in Boston, MA was kind enough to share information about the NAO robot.  This humanoid-style 'bot was fun to watch.  I will be in touch with them about looking for grant money to get a robot to use as a learning tool.  They are already in schools around Boston.  Hopefully, they will arrive in New York City soon!

5.  I was impressed with the DIY Lab kits available from The Public Laboratory.  This is citizen science using inexpensive DIY techniques to collect data about environmental issues.  What a great way to learn science and contribute data to help out communities!


6.  Lastly, I want to mention Nomiku.  They make a WiFi enabled sous vide immersion device that can be programmed from anywhere.  You can have wonderful food waiting for you at home by connecting wirelessly to the device.  I enjoy cooking, and this really made me happy.  I really enjoyed meeting the crew at Expand NY and I hope to try this one really soon.