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Google and Snapchat team up on geofilter coding contest for teens
Snapchat is teaming up with Google's Made With Code initiative to try and encourage teenagers to get into computer science. Teens aged 13 - 18 can build a Snapchat geofilter with Google's Blockly coding system for kids, then submit it to win a trip to the TEDWomen conference in New Orleans and mentoring sessions from Google and Snapchat engineers to create a Lens, an augmented reality filter for your photos. The five finalists' Lenses will be judged at the conference for a chance to go live in the Snapchat app, along with a trip to Los Angeles for a private tour of the Snap, Inc. and Google offices.
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.
Google uses Pixar's 'Inside Out' to teach girls programming
If you've ever toyed with the idea of learning to code, the process can be a little daunting: there a dozens of languages, thousands of variables and few newbie-friendly places to get started. Google's Made with Code project is one of many organizations dedicated to changing that -- and the group's latest effort to make programming fun leans heavily on the appeal of Disney magic: specifically, Pixar's Inside Out.
Kids can program the White House's Christmas tree lights this year
The National Park Service's annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony dates back to 1923, but this year it's getting a software update. Google's Made with Code Holiday Lights project will let any kid (or adult for that matter) animate the trees at the White House's President's Park location. Programming is simple enough that almost anybody can do it (even me, see below), thanks to the Blockly visual language. But the goal is to encourage kids to play with code, especially girls -- since only one percent of female students aspire to be programmers after high school. But as Google engineer Pavni Diwanji put it, coding isn't just nerdy, it's also creative -- so if you want to encourage your kids to make their own fancy Christmas light show for the nation to see, head to Made With Code.
Google's Made with Code encourages girls to embrace computer science
Less than one percent of high school girls are interested in computer science, but Google wants to alter that script with a new initiative called Made with Code. Created in conjunction with heavy hitters like the MIT Media Lab, Chelsea Clinton and the Girl Scouts of the USA, the campaign connects girls with coding resources, inspirational videos and more. The effort sprung from Google's own research showing that kids are more likely to get excited about computer science if they try it at an early age and are shown how it can benefit their careers. It hopes the effort will help girls to not just consume technology, but also use it as a creation tool in whichever profession they choose.
