Coding
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Apple expands its free coding curriculum to schools outside of the US
Apple's free coding curriculum, which launched for high schools and community colleges in May, has been growing in popularity over the last few months. It had six community college systems on board at launch and in August, the company announced that over 30 had worked the curriculum into their course offerings for the 2017-2018 school year. Now, Apple has gone global with its coding instruction and over 20 colleges and universities outside of the US have now adopted the App Development with Swift Curriculum.
Snoopy is your latest coding teacher
Snoopy is taking a break from lying on his doghouse and staring at the sky to help kids learn about computers and coding. As part of Computer Science Education Week (December 4-10), codeSpark Academy and the Peanuts brand are teaming up to release holiday-themed Snoopy Snow Brawl, a cute multi-player coding game that encourages kids to use problem-solving, strategy and algorithms in a snowball fight between Woodstock and his bird buddies, refereed by Snoopy.
The best learning apps
By Courtney Schley This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. We spent over 25 hours researching and testing more than 35 educational and learning apps recommended by educators, experts, parents, and kids. We also studied research from child developmental psychologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics about children's app use and the pedagogical principles for creating learning apps. If your family has a tablet and you want it to be more than a game-playing and video-watching device, or if you're trying to find apps for your smartphone that will do more than keep your kids occupied in a pinch, we have some great suggestions.
Raspberry Pi laptop teaches code with modular innards
The power and affordability of the Raspberry Pi has given rise to a new type of computer. One that goes beyond the credit-sized board, with colorful shells and displays that make it feel like a normal laptop or PC. The latest is the all-new Pi-Top, a modular laptop with a unique sliding keyboard. Pull it toward you and a large tray is revealed underneath with a Raspberry Pi 3 board and space for additional parts. The idea is to tweak and upgrade its innards for different coding projects designed by the Pi-Top team, thereby learning about code and electronics simultaneously.
Sphero's Mini app-powered robot is its smallest one yet
Over the past year, Sphero has been busy teaming up with Disney on connected toys for film franchises like Star Wars, Spider-Man and Cars. But today the company is launching a product that takes it back to its roots: a mini version of its original app-controlled robot. The new rolling ball, aptly named Sphero Mini, is about the same size as a golf ball and comes with a removable shell, which you can get in white, blue, green, orange or pink colors. As is to be expected given the different frame, it does come with a few tradeoffs compared to models like the SPRK+. Mini isn't waterproof and connection range is limited to 10 meters, as opposed to 30 on its higher-end sibling.
Kano combines its coding kits for a DIY 'laptop'
Kano, the company behind a variety of build-it-yourself computer and coding kits, has unveiled a "laptop" today. A portable computer is probably more accurate. Whereas most laptops have a clamshell design, the new "Computer Kit Complete" keeps the screen and keyboard separate. All of the components are kept inside the display unit, and like a box of LEGO, there's an instruction booklet that teaches you how to put everything together. One of the parts is a Raspberry Pi 3 board, which runs custom software called Kano OS. It's packed with child-friendly programming activities and some basic apps including YouTube and WhatsApp.
US allies accuse NSA of manipulating encryption standards
The US National Security Agency (NSA) is in the global bad books again after allegations surfaced suggesting it was trying to manipulate international encryption standards. Reuters reports that it has seen interviews and emails from experts in countries including Germany, Japan and Israel expressing concern that the NSA has been pushing two particular encryption techniques not because they are secure, but because the agency knows how to break them.
Cue the CleverBot is a coding robot for older kids
Kids' robotics company Wonder Workshop is launching two new robots designed to introduce children to coding in a fun, hands-on way. First up is Cue, the slightly older sibling of the company's 2014 robot offering Dash (or at the very least it's Dash with a pre-teen makeover, as the bright primary colors have been replaced with a sleeker, cooler palette, a bit more fitting for its 11+ audience). Cue comes with a new AI engine that lets code-curious kids actively engage with the robot (and its four different avatars) via a text-based chat function that includes a vocabulary of more than 170,000 words. Via Cue's companion app -- available on iOS, Android and Kindle -- kids can use a simple block program or JavaScript text mode to take the reins in a freestyle coding environment, playing with all kinds of cool features such as proximity sensors, encoders, a gyro, an accelerometer and a microphone. And in November, Cue will support Apple's Swift programming language through a new Swift Playgrounds Playbook.
Apple’s Swift coding course heads to 30 community colleges
In May, Apple launched a free app development curriculum that includes around 180 hours of training as well as lesson plans, exercises and instruction guides. Today, the company has announced that over 30 community colleges across the US have incorporated the App Development with Swift curriculum into their course offerings for the upcoming school year.
Kano’s latest DIY kit turns motion into code
DIY computer company Kano has released another brightly-coloured addition to its learn-to-code arsenal: a motion sensor kit. The standalone product comes with the Kano App to teach would-be coders how to translate movement into data which can be applied to games, apps and music. The kit, which is available for $30/£30, includes a USB motion sensor which can connect to any Windows or Mac computer -- or the original Kano Computer kit -- and comes with an easy-to-follow storybook featuring beginner's coding challenges. Learn to code a hand-controlled version of the classic game Pong, for example, or make noise and mix tunes by "scratching" a DJ turntable.
Kids can learn to code Xbox and PC games at Microsoft stores
There are a ton of initiatives to help kids (and adults) learn to code these days. Google has lessons for teens to code animates scenes starring Wonder Woman, Apple has the kid-friendly Swift Playgrounds and a partnership with Tynker, and even Facebook has a program that suggests learning gadgets and other resources to help encourage the next generation of coders. Microsoft has now launched a series of free Xbox and PC game development classes, held at its "flagship" stores in New York and Sydney. The classes will begin on August 20th and September 25th, respectively.
Google is spending $50 million to modernize the job hunt
Google.org is investing $50 million to alter how we think about work. From throwing money at training in in-demand fields like coding, to simply making life easier for people in low-wage positions, Mountain View is looking to the future. For example, the internet juggernaut knows that college isn't for everyone, so it's working on a tool so people can easily compare vocational and technical training programs. Google hasn't specified how such a system will work, or how many training providers will be included, but in theory it'd put tech-ed programs alongside one another so you could find out which would suit your needs or offer the skills needed to land a job in your current city.
Algobrix teaches coding with Lego-like bricks
Legos have been a beloved for decades as toys that teach constructive aesthetics and foster DIY creativity. Then the company started releasing Mindstorm kits to turn static models into moving robots with a little programming magic -- but these were always aimed at older kids with some tinkering prowess. Algobrix, a brick-based system going live on Kickstarter today, aims to teach block-loving children the elements of coding without having to touch a computer.
'Fuze Code Studio' will help you design games on Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch had a strong showing its first E3 (Metroid Prime 4!, three new Mario games!), for sure, but nothing quite like what Fuze Technologies is showing off. The company has announced Fuze Code Studio, which looks like a simple way to code your own games for the console on the Switch itself. You can use a USB keyboard or Joycons to enter code, audio and graphics will be packed in, you can make 2D and 3D games and Fuze's language is supposedly simple enough to pick up that you don't need any previous coding experience.
Sony taps crowdfunding to deliver its kid-friendly coding kit
Sony's answer to Lego Mindstorms is a robot-building kit called Koov. It's the first product from Sony's Global Education division, and it's meant to help kids learn to code while they have fun building robots. The company has put the design kit on Indiegogo to gather some $100,000 in crowd-sourced funding while getting valuable feedback on the kits, which include more than 30 hours of kid-friendly coding instruction and multi-colored blocks with sensors and actuators. The project currently sits at almost $5,000 in funding; kits are set to ship out to backers in November.
Google teaches kids to code with scenes from 'Wonder Woman'
Google has an interest in teaching kids how to code. After all, they're going to be the next generation of engineers and developers inventing and supporting Google's products. Yesterday, the tech giant announced that they'd teamed with Wonder Woman to inspire teen girls to learn coding. Made with Code, a Google initiative that encourages teen girls to pursue coding, has released a new Wonder Woman-based coding project. With this system, users can code three different scenes from the Wonder Woman film, which arrives in theaters today, utilizing introductory programming techniques.
Lego Boost coding blocks arrive during summer vacation
In January, Lego announced a new line of products called Boost aimed at teaching kids aged seven and up how to code. Now, Lego Boost is available for preorder at a price of $160. Units will begin shipping in late July.
Raspberry Pi is merging with a coding foundation
Raspberry Pi's credit card-sized computers have helped kickstart a coding revolution. Thanks to their low cost, major companies like Google and VMWare have distributed thousands of the DIY boards to children all over the world in the hope that it'll inspire the next generation of computer scientists. The Raspberry Pi Foundation routinely works with educational partners to get its computers in the right hands, and its latest announcement is set to boost that outreach even more. Today, the foundation confirmed that it is to merge with CoderDojo to form what it believes will be the biggest code-promoting organization on the planet.
Apple launches free courses for the next generation of app coders
Apple has unveiled a free curriculum designed to teach high school and community college students app coding skills. The Swift language course has already been adopted by six US community college systems that will distribute it to half a million students this fall. While it's generous on Apple's part, Tim Cook acknowledged that it needs to address an industry-wide shortage of coders, especially for enterprise apps. "That's really in its infancy, in terms of explosion, and so there's just a ton of opportunity here," he told USA Today.
'Coding Jam' uses musical blocks to teach kids programming concepts
Last year, Osmo expanded its iPad-based children's learning system with a program that teaches kids to code by linking tangible tiles with on-screen commands. Now the company's expanded its platform with Coding Jam, an add-on that assigns musical tones to a new set of blocks, allowing young learners to tap out tunes in a sequence just like a series of code elements.
