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Introducing Engadget's 2021 graduation gift guide
Here's Engadget's graduation gift guide for 2021, filled with dozens of tech gift ideas for the new college graduate in your life.
The Obamas will headline YouTube's graduation ceremony
Both YouTube and Facebook will host virtual graduation ceremonies to honor students from the class of 2020.
Microsoft offers virtual graduations with up to 20,000 attendees
Microsoft is doubling the Teams Live Event audience limit for schools until July 1st.
Oprah and Facebook team up to host a virtual graduation ceremony
It's not much, but Facebook plans to host a virtual graduation ceremony with Oprah to celebrate the grads of 2020.
Chicago's mayor wants every American high school grad to know how to code
Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff for the Obama administration and current mayor of Chicago, has called on the president to institute computer coding competency as a national requirement to graduate high school. "Just make it a requirement," Emanuel said during a recent Washington Post-sponsored policy event. "I am fine with Common Core. We adopted it in the city, one of the first cities to do it. I'm great. [But] you need this skill — national policy. Make it a high-school graduation requirement."
Cornell student's graduation cap sports super-bright LEDs that attendees control from the web
At university graduations, students often deck out their academic regalia with glittery text and other shiny objects to help family members identify them among the crowd. As you might expect, the design sophistication can vary depending on the youngster's major, but at Cornell this year, one scholar clearly stole the show. Jeremy Blum, the proud new owner of a master's degree in electrical engineering, one-upped his classmates with Control my Cap, a WiFi-connected headpiece that packs 16 350mA high-brightness LEDs. Blum installed four red, green, blue and white LEDs in a clear light diffuser attached to his stock grad cap using a 3D-printed holder. He then embedded a Raspberry Pi computer and a $20 Adafruit LCD module with keypad within a wrist-mounted holder he printed with a MakerBot Replicator. Finally, a simple mobile site served as an interface for attendees, who could submit colors for the cap to display. We bet his professors are very proud.
Five apps for High School and College graduates
It's that time of the year when graduating students proudly receive their diploma and move onto the next phase of their life. Many high school graduates have college on their mind, while college grads are preparing to enter the workforce. Here are five apps that'll help these grads as they move onward and upward. I've included five for high school and another five for college graduates. If you have your own suggestions, please share them in the comments. High school graduates on their way to college will appreciate the following apps to help them get organized and stay in touch with old friends. Path (Free) Path is a social network that provides a more personal alternative to Facebook. Users have tight control over their friends list and share what they want, with the people they want. The Path app for the iPhone has a pleasing UI that makes using the social network an enjoyable experience. It's perfect for high school grads who want to stay in touch with their high school friends. Waze (Free) Waze is a social GPS and navigation app that'll help you get to your destination. It might not be as accurate as Navigon, but the UI and social features are outstanding. The app uses community-sourced information to get traffic data and road reports like the location of speed traps and road hazards. You can also share your location and destination information with friends via text or email. Weather 2X ($0.99) If you're looking for a simple, yet elegant way to view the weather, look no further than Weather 2X. The app shows you the current weather and the forecast with a beautiful backdrop. It's perfect for those mornings when you're getting ready to head out for the next class and need to know whether you should grab that umbrella. It lacks a radar view, but that's not needed when you want a quick snapshot of the weather. Wake N Shake Alarm Clock Pro ($0.99) If you have a hard time waking up for that early morning lecture, then you need Wake N Shake Alarm Clock Pro. The app drops the conventional snooze button and makes it a challenge for you to turn the alarm off by shaking your iPhone. By the time you've turned off the alarm, the shaking motion has woken you up. Don't worry if you sleep like a log, Pro version owners can use the "Merciless" level to ensure the shaking wakes them up. iStudiez Pro ($2.99) and Paper Desk ($3.99) iStudiez Pro is a productivity tool designed specifically for students who want to track their classes, professor's contact info and assignments. The scheduling and PIM app works on the iPhone, iPad and Mac, so you always have your data at your finger tips. There's also Paper Desk, a note-taking app with recording that'll sync the audio to your words. It's great for taking notes and reviewing them before the next exam. College grads looking to move from the classroom to the conference room could benefit from these apps below: Monster Jobs for iPad (Free) Once your done with your studies, you will need to find a job and one of the best places to look is Monster Jobs. The job board has an iPad and iPhone app that is a portal into your Monster account. You can search, view and apply for jobs as well, as view you resume and edit cover letters. It's a great resource for on-the-go job hunters. LinkedIn (Free) One of the best ways to get a new job is by networking and one of the best places to network is LinkedIn. The business social network is filled with professionals in your field of interest who can help you find a job. The iOS app is a basic version of the website. It doesn't let you edit your profile, but you can see your connections and find new ones. Despite this drawback, it's still an excellent way to stay in touch with your colleagues. Mint.com (Free) Though you might not be rolling in the dough quite yet, you'll still need an app to help manage your finances. Mint.com is an excellent online app that makes it easy to keep track of your money from a web browser or your iOS device. The latest iOS version adds support for budgeting and split transactions, making Mint one the best online financial managers. Zillow (Free) Say goodbye to frat houses and dorms. Now that you're out of school, you'll need to find a decent place to live. One of the best resources for finding real estate for sale or rent is Zillow. The iOS app has an extensive listing of homes and apartments that are searchable based on location and property details. You can view property listings, get driving directions and even send an email off to a real estate agent if you're interested in a property. Though its geared toward real estate for sale, Zillow does include rentals. If you want a rental only service, you should check the Rent.com or Trulia Apartment rental app. There's also a decent number of listings on Craigslist which you can find using the +Craigslist+ app. Pocket Resume ($2.99) Before you submit your resume to the Monster job board, you should spend some time tweaking your credentials so you can make yourself stand out from the crowd. To help you effectively present your skills, experience and ambition, you should check out Pocket Resume. The app will help you format your resume and save it as a PDF. You can also upload it to Dropbox for sharing with others and for your own safe-keeping. If you already have a LinkedIn profile, you can easily fill out your resume by importing your information directly from LinkedIn's website.
Paralyzed student uses robotic exoskeleton to walk at college graduation (video)
Austin Whitney hasn't been able to walk since a 2007 car crash left him paralyzed, but on Saturday the 22-year-old triumphantly strode across the stage to accept his degree from UC Berkeley. He had a little help, in the form of a specially crafted robotic exoskeleton developed by Berkeley engineering professor Homayoon Kazerooni. Kazerooni and his team designed the exoskeleton with lightness and affordability in mind, resisting the urge to load it up with expensive hardware and tethering the mechanized walker to a backpack that houses a computer and a rechargeable, eight-hour battery. As a result, the Austin walker won't enable the kind of acrobatic leaps that would make Lt. Rasczak proud, but its reduced mobility comes at a reduced cost of just $15,000. That's certainly not an impulse buy, though it's a welcomed alternative to other exoskeletons that retail for $100,000 or more. Walk past the break for a video of Whitney's momentous steps, along with a clip of Kazerooni describing his creation.
Graduation cap modded with LED array, steals show (video)
Yomo Gaocho, an enterprising young man about to graduate from Northwestern University, has put together pretty much the coolest grad cap mod we've seen. Not that we're experts on the subject or anything, but the array of 256 LED lights adorning his cap surely makes for one of the geekiest ways to bid adieu to one's undergraduate studies. He's taking it one step further too, by programming animation patterns into the white LED arrangement and offering advertising space -- we're not kidding -- for any unorthodox companies that may wish to have him as a walking billboard. See Yomo's creation on video after the break, or hit the source for a guide on how to make your own light-fantastic grad cap.
Nokia sits us down and tells us where Beta Labs apps go when they die
Now that Nokia's Beta Labs has had some time to stew and develop, the fruits of its labor have started to ripen -- and, in some cases, over-ripen. So what exactly happens when the beta process is complete? The best-case scenario is "graduation," meaning that an app has gone through a full beta phase -- possibly comprised of multiple update and feedback cycles -- and go on to become production offerings. Otherwise, they're "archived," in which case they'll either be embalmed and offered as-is for posterity's sake or disappear quietly into the ether, never to be heard from again. Nokia says that it usually won't be able to disclose exactly why certain projects get archived, other than that they've served their official purpose to the company -- but for what it's worth, Beta Labs chief Tommi Vilkamo figures that roughly half of the Labs' apps will graduate and half will head to archival purgatory. Here's hoping Maps 2.0 doesn't head toward the latter category, eh?
