Learn German: Ich bin hier.

No. While ich means 'I', it is only capitalized here because it is the first word of the sentence. If it appears in the middle of a sentence, it is written in lowercase.

Why doesn't bin end in an '-e' like normal verbs used with ich?

bin means 'am'. It comes from the verb sein (to be). Just like the English verb 'to be', sein is highly irregular and doesn't follow the normal pattern where the ich form gets an '-e' ending. You just have to memorize that 'I am' is ich bin.

Is hier exactly the same as the English word 'here'?

Yes! hier means 'here' and they are used in the exact same way to talk about a location. They are historical twins (cognates), which makes hier a very easy word to remember and use.