Supercool School

We didn't have the money - so we had to think

When Ernest Rutherford, known today as the father of nuclear physics, split the atom in 1917, an American journalist asked him how he -- someone from a South Pacific backwater -- did what so many Europeans and Americans could not. 

He famously replied: "We didn't have the money, so we had to think."

Iphone Dev Camp For Kids - A 16 Week Free Learning Program for Kids Who Want To Code An Iphone App

Attention young techies and entrepreneurs!!! 

 

Got an idea for a cool iPhone app, but not sure how to get started?  

Supercool School has just the thing to help you get started, and it's called Kid Dev School.  

Kid Dev School is a free online 16-week iPhone app school that helps kids build iPhone apps and become successful entrepreneurs. Apply today for our spring class starting February 2010. Complete this form to apply.

When should you apply?

- You are below 18 - the younger the better.

- A team of 1-5 people

- At least one team member is familiar with object oriented programming

Program/Schedule:

All the sessions will be at nights during the week every Wednesday.

It will start on February 10th 2010 and end on June 16th

Three Cycles:

1. Preparation Cycle

2. App Building Cycle

3. App Selling & Iteration Cycle

What will we teach you:

How to build & sell a great Iphone App

1. Teach how development process in team works

   --> Create: prototype your concept in a non-technical way and get feedback

   --> Enroll: recruit a team of individuals who are passionate about your project

   --> Execute: development phase, do what it takes to make your app happen

   --> Acknowledge: celebrate your accomplishment, evaluate your finished product

2. Teach how to publish and market

   --> Becoming familiar with iTunes Connect

   --> Marketing strategies: PR, ads, website, contests, etc.

   --> Updates: new features, in-app purchases, push notification

3. Support & Council evolving the app

   --> Finding a local development support system

   --> Metrics: how to know if you've made a hit

   --> Just Do It: testing other apps, leaving reviews, immersion in app culture

Who will teach you:

Brandon Middleton attended the University of Illinois (Urbana Champaign) and has a passion for creatively engaging students in education. In the last couple of years he has worked for Cisco Systems and consulted for educational nonprofit organizations. He is from the southside of the South side of Chicago, but currently lives on the south side of San Jose, CA. When he grows up he wants to be a rock star and a teacher, but for now he's focused on making mobile phone applications (Tic Tac Toe Ten), making good music and making friends.

Bjoern Lasse Herrmann is very passionate about entrepreneurship. He programmed small games many years ago in School and sometimes wishing the Iphone would have existed at these times. Maybe thousands of people would be playing his games today. Bjoern is originally from Germany and studied economics. He spent a lot of time in Russia, Bangladesh & other countries all over the world. Now he is in San Francisco working on Supercool School. 

  

Steli Efti is a high school dropout who became a serial entrepreneur in Europe and recently founded Supercool School in San Francisco to turn education on its head. He is the author of ebooks such as  "7 Lessons You Learned In School That Could Ruin Your Life" as well as "Hip Hop Millionaires Success Secrets".  As an expert in marketing, communication and entrepreneurship he enjoys supporting great project with profound impact on a global scale.

Interested?

Apply now

If you love something - give it away!

Incredible! :)

via amir khella at http://www.fictiv.net/blog/

What happens when you give 16,000 kids $20 to turn a profit and make a difference?

Recently Tim Ferris twittered this:

What happens when you give 16,000 kids $20 to turn a profit and make a difference? This: http://ping.fm/0sReH

I suggest you check it out, it's pretty cool. One kid turned £10 into £736.77 in a pretty funny way.
The average profit in one month was £42, compared with a return of just 2p from a savings account.

Amazing what kids can do if we give them a chance!

Cheers,

Ramin

The Starfish Parable

On a recent trip through Thailand with a bunch of friends, we had the opportunity to visit Baan Unrak in Sangklaburi again. Baan Unrak is a school & shelter for refugees from Burma.

It started almost 3 decades ago with nothing more than one woman who decided to take care for one child.

Now, more than 200 kids get a great (second) start in life there.

They are feeding these kids, giving them a place to sleep, a community of friends, medical care and an education that - from what I've seen - exceeds that in many public and private schools here in Thailand. These are kids that otherwise would have very little chances in life - almost certainly going down a path of crime, drugs and sexual abuse.

I'll eat my own Panama-hat if these kids won't rock the future - not only for their own, but for the greater good.

So, in supercool spirit, I wanted to throw the starfish parable out there:

One morning an elderly man was walking on a nearly deserted beach. He came upon a boy surrounded by thousands and thousands of starfish. As eagerly as he could, the youngster was picking them up and throwing them back into the ocean.

Puzzled, the older man looked at the young boy and asked, "Little boy, what are you doing?"

The youth responded without looking up, "I'm trying to save these starfish, sir."

The old man chuckled aloud, and queried, "Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?"

Holding a starfish in his hand, the boy turned to the man and, gently tossing the starfish into the water, said, "It will make a difference to that one!"

Supercool School is all about making a difference - and we love to hear from and connect with others who make a difference. So if you're up to something, please let us know.

Ramin

The Art of Possibility - An Amazing Teacher in Action!

@ Yahoo! Video

Dr. Randy Pausch, Carnegie Mellon CS professor, Dead at 47

Noted Computer Science professor Randy Pausch passed away today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Dr. Pausch was a founder of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University and worked on the Alice program, an animated educational system for high school and college students.

It’s not difficult to find educators in CS who are as personable as Dr. Pausch was but it is definitely rare to find one filled with such kindness and an undeniable love for life.

His last lecture was and continues to be quite a youtube phenomenon. If you haven't seen it yet, it's about time...

Happy 90th Birthday To Nelson Mandela!

A Ebook For Kids Who Love Hip Hop

Ok, I haven't posted in a long time on this blog but you know what that means...we're getting ALOT of things done at Supercool School ;)

In the meanwhile...I decided to publish an ebook online that I had written a long time ago called "Hip Hop Millionaires Success Secrets".

My motivation to write this book came from seeing all the kids who love Hip Hop music and worship their rap stars. I though...hmm...there must be a way to use that motivation and admiration from kids to teach them some valuable things in life.

So I did some research on the TOP personas in the hip hop biz and tried to extract some valuable and common sense business and success strategies from them. Things that you could find in an Donald Trump book but that are based around celebrities that the kids really care about.

So if you have or know children (or anyone else for that matter) who loves hip hop...you might want to give them this ebook to read. I promise they're going to learn some really valuable things for their lives.

Enjoy!

Be Bold And Let Go

Sometimes parents love their child so much, that they are overly careful to shield it from every potential threat in life. What they often miss to realize is the fact that they're weakening the child more then they are strengthen it.

Parents can't always be around - kids need to grow their own shields in life to be safe and happy. It's the same thing with companies.

I love Supercool School like a child - and I want to protect it from all potential threads.

I realize that this is not helpful in the long run...I realize that being more bold is the medicine I have to take now...

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Wolfgang Goethe.