Coding
Latest
NASA needs your help to turbocharge its supercomputer
It's not exactly a secret that parts of the US government run on painfully antiquated hardware that can cost billions to maintain. Decades-old code might do the trick for generating a tax return, but it isn't exactly ideal when you're a NASA research lab tasked with modeling complex fluid dynamics and designing the next generation of experimental aircraft. That's why the space agency recently announced the High Performance Fast Computing Challenge (HPFCC) which hopes to find a few talented coders who can make the agency's design software run ten to 10,000 times faster on its Pleiades supercomputer without sacrificing accuracy.
Tynker app teaches kids Apple Swift with coding games
Coding is as essential to our kids' education as math and history lessons, with tech leaders, presidents and coding organizations touting the importance of the skill. Learning how to create the stuff on which our modern society runs will ready future generations to make the things that the rest of us will use. Tynker, a company that creates self-paced and school-based coding lessons for kids, has partnered up with Apple's Everyone Can Code program to provide two new courses for students in Kindergarten to 5th grade. The free curriculum -- available via the free iTynker iPad app -- is also integrated across two new curriculum modules for teachers in iBooks.
Building your own chatbot is a lot easier than you'd expect
Three of the undisputed kings of technology -- Microsoft, Facebook and Google -- all bet big on bots in 2016. It's too early to say whether that was a good move, but if nothing else it's clear that bots haven't seen mainstream adoption yet. If you're a believer in the technology and want to start building your own bots before everyone is doing the same, the just-launched Dexter platform might be worth checking out. I'm no coder, but a quick demo had me building some very simple and pointless bots -- but nonetheless, I was building within minutes.
littleBits' new kit teaches kids to build and code electronic games
Thanks to a bigger push toward computer science education, there's been an influx of coding toys for kids in recent years. Even tech companies like Apple and Google have joined in with tools to get younger minds to embrace code. Now littleBits, the toy company behind magnetic build-your-own circuits, is getting in on the fun with a new product called littleBits Code Kit. The premise: build games, have fun and, hopefully, learn to code in the process. It will retail for $300 and hit store shelves by June.
Hasbro's cute new robo-dog teaches coding on the sly
Toy makers are coming up with more and more ways to encourage children to learn STEM skills, and Hasbro is trying to do that in a somewhat futuristic way. The company is releasing a $120 robotic dog toy called Proto Max as part of its FurReal Friends line of animatronic pets that children can customize via an app. To be clear, you'll be tweaking this robo-dog's behavior and character, not the colors of its eyes or fur or the shape of its nose or face. That initially sounded a bit too much like pet Westworld to me, but after a brief demonstration, I was persuaded to quiet my internal ethics police.
The BBC Micro:bit is going global
After a bit of a slow start, the BBC's mini computer, the Micro:bit, has now made its way to more than one million children across the UK. Designed to help bridge the computing skills gap and inspire more children to take up coding, the credit card-sized board has enjoyed support from some of the biggest names in technology including Samsung, Microsoft and ARM. With their help, the BBC confirmed today that the Micro:bit is going on a worldwide tour, thanks to the formation of a new non-profit called the Micro:bit Educational Foundation.
TI's educational coding tool plugs into your calculator
Despite all the phones and tablets out there, Texas Instruments' graphing calculators continue to survive. The company's latest classroom tool even turns them into a device that can teach kids coding and engineering. TI-Innovator Hub plugs into the company's graphing calculators a lot of middle- and high-school students already have. It's a palm-sized board with a microcontroller that gives kids a way to build simple engineering projects. They could make LEDs light up, play notes or make small toys move by plugging the components into the hub and writing a program on the calculator.
Apple's kid-friendly iPad coding app arrives tomorrow
There are lots of initiatives to teach kids how to code, including ventures from Google, Minecraft and even the Star Wars franchise. However, with Swift Playground, Apple is actually prepping kids for a potential career at, well, Apple. The company has announced that the app, based on the Swift language used for iOS, OS X, WatchOS, tvOS and Linux, will arrive alongside iOS 10 tomorrow (September 13th).
Financial aid will soon be offered to attend coding bootcamps
It can be pretty expensive to attend coding bootcamps even if you make a decently comfortable living. The U.S. Department of Education is looking to change this, launching a new initiative that'll help eligible low-income students pay for them using federal financial aid.
This popular Japanese snack can teach you how to code
Glico, that Japanese company that makes a bunch of popular snacks like Pocky, has created what's probably the most delicious way to learn basic coding. It has launched a new app called Glicode, which features a character you can control by taking photos of your noms. Seriously. You know how Pocky's basically a biscuit stick covered in chocolate, strawberry and all sorts of yummy flavors? Well, you have to position and arrange them in a way that the app can translate into digital commands, and then take a photo. If you do things right, your character can move through obstacles.
Kids' bot breaks into a dance to teach them how to code
DIY robots are becoming the gateway to coding. Over the last couple of years, a new wave of cute-faced bots has taken shape to make programming languages fun for kids. Instead of dense textbooks and complex online tutorials that are designed for a more mature audience, programmable toys are built to introduce young kids to the world of code. The latest entrant on the educational bot scene is the JIMU robot, a build-your-own-bot kit from UBTECH Robotics that snaps together to form a little dancing humanoid called MeeBot, or a more elaborate elephant that flips forward on its trunk for some awkward yoga asanas.
Google UK's 'Summer Squad' offers kids free coding lessons
As a parent, nothing brings more joy than the start of the summer holidays. Time spent at the park, visits to the local swimming pool and trips to the zoo often figure on many family's six-week agenda, but activities laid on by Google are probably the last thing any mum, dad or grandparent expects to budget for. In a bid to help kids learn how to code, the search giant has launched "Summer Squad," a free eight-week series of tech-focused classes for kids aged between 8 and 13.
Code.org brings 'Frozen' and 'Star Wars' to its regular courses
If you have a few tots in your life who might be inclined to learn computer programming if their favorite Disney characters were involved, you might want to introduce them to Code.org. Both Star Wars and Frozen characters are now being integrated into the organization's full computer science campaign aiming to get kids into coding.
Google's Project Bloks tinker toys teach coding to kids
There has been a big push in computer-science education in the last few years. The UK has made it part of its national curriculum, President Obama has pledged $4 billion toward a national computer-science initiative and a slew of toys and games designed to teach kids how to code have come to market. Even Apple got into the spirit with the introduction of Swift Playgrounds, an iPad app that instructs kids on the basics of the company's Swift programming language. Today, Google detailed its own big investment in computer-science education. It's called Project Bloks, an open hardware platform that anyone can use to create physical coding experiences for kids.
BBC Micro:bit computer now available to all for £13
After a couple of unforeseen delays, the BBC finally began delivering Micro:bit computers to Year 7 students across the UK in March. With the objective of distributing free microcomputers to an entire year group nearing completion -- around 80 percent of schools have received theirs to date -- it's time to let anyone else with an interest in coding loose on the little device. Pre-orders open today at element14, which manufactures the palm-sized 'puters, Microsoft's online store and many other resellers, with the first shipments expected in July.
Osmo's blocks are like Lego for coding
There's a growing sense among educators and parents that learning to code is a valuable life skill. The UK has implemented programming in its computing curriculum, and several companies have cropped up with toys and games designed to teach young 'uns how to code. Today a startup called Osmo has come up with its own solution: an iPad game that teaches kids to code with physical blocks. Think of it as Lego for coding.
France's free coding school is coming to Silicon Valley
For 3 years, Paris residents wanting to learn programming have had access to 42, a school that offers a radical approach to technical education: there are no teachers, no lesson plans... and no tuition fees. As long as you're between 18 and 30 and thrive in a 4-week coding challenge, you can spend 3 to 5 years mastering software development at no cost and on very flexible terms. Sound good? Well, you won't have to move to France to give it a shot. The 42 team has announced that it's opening a 200,000 square foot Silicon Valley-area campus (in Fremont, to be exact), with applications beginning immediately. The first class starts in November.
Harvard-made robot can teach kids how to code
If you want to get kids' full undivided attention, you'll have to think of a fun way to do things. That's why a group of roboticists from Harvard's Wyss Institute created Root: a small hexagonal robot designed to ignite their interest in coding. Root was designed to crawl on a white board, using the markers and erasers it carries on command. Kids can control it by moving icons around in its accompanying app called Square (get it?). They simply have to make if-then statements using the icons, so even very young children can make the robot draw doodles and erase them afterwards. Older kids (and adults), however, can easily switch to the app's more advanced, text-based interface.
Students finally get their hands on the BBC's Micro:bit computer
The BBC has begun delivering its tiny Micro:bit programmable computers to students today, with every Year 7 in the UK due to receive theirs over the next few weeks. The spiritual successor to the BBC Micro, which introduced a whole generation to computing back in the early eighties, was originally due to reach classrooms last October, just in time for the start of the new school year. Power supply problems and then "fine-tuning" issues manifested in significant delays, but after overcoming these setbacks to get the first batch to teachers in early February, it's finally time for kids to get coding with Micro:bits of their own.
Koov is Sony's answer to Lego Mindstorms
Governments and educators around the world want to teach kids coding at an early age, so many corporations are eager to help -- for a price. The latest company jumping into the trend is Sony, which just launched Koov "digital native blocks." It's the first product for Sony's new Global Education division and a big part of its STEM101 (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) endeavor. Sony describes Koov as a "robot building educational kit made up of [translucent] blocks and a microcontroller," much like Lego's Mindstorm and WeDo 2.0 kits.
