8. Setting Up And Running Some Applications

As the Fly breaks with a number of computing traditions, I need to break with some web publishing traditions to show you the computer in action. Instead of bombarding you with a large number of images and endless paragraphs describing a few of the Fly's applications, I'm just going to show you the device in action in a series of videos.

I'll cover two built-in applications: the calculator and the musical keyboard. I'll also show you the expansion cartridge-based Spanish Pocket Translator application. After the videos I'll show you the three pieces of paper I used to set up and run the applications.

The Fly Applications Videos

Just click on the links below to download the videos. They are in WMV format.

Download the Fly Calculator Video (6 MB+)

Download the Fly Musical Keyboard Video (6 MB+)

Download the Fly Spanish Pocket Translator Video (approximately 5 MB)

The Pieces Of Paper Used In The Videos

These are the actual pieces of LeapFrog Fly Paper used to set up and run the applications in the videos. As mentioned earlier, the paper is imprinted with patterns developed by Anoto. Optical pattern recognition and location hardware and software in the Fly were used to read and interpret what I wrote on the paper.

The little blue dots you see on the paper have nothing to do with the Anoto pattern. One dot was produced each time I tapped the point of the Fly pen's ink cartridge on the paper.

The Fly Calculator Page

The piece of paper used to set up and run the Fly calculator application

The Fly Musical Keyboard Page

The piece of paper used to set up and run the Fly musical keyboard application

The Fly Spanish Pocket Translator Page

The piece of paper used to set up and run the Fly Spanish Pocket Translator application