Google is helping MIT update its programming language for kids
MIT is teaming up with Google to create the next generation of its popular visual programming language “Scratch.” The partners are working on an open source version of the language called “Scratch Blocks” based on Blockly, Google’s own visual programming code. It will teach kids how to code by using blocks that snap together either horizontally or vertically like Lego. Scratch for older kids only used vertical blocks on the past, but MIT found that horizontal orientation suits mobile devices much better. The partners released a developer preview of the horizontal version at Google I/O this year.
Since this new project is open source, the partners plan to make Scratch Blocks available to other developers, who can use it to make their own apps, games and toys for kids. MIT itself is also creating Scratch 3.0 based on the Blocks it develops with Google, making the newest iteration more suitable for mobile devices.
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.
Via: CNET
Source: Scratch
Reddit threads are now embeddable on other websites
You’ll soon see Reddit discussions all across the internet as the company announced Thursday that it has enabled the embedding of its discussion threads. The new feature will work much the same way that Tweets and YouTube videos are currently embedded in web pages. What’s more, readers will be able to click through the embed to Reddit itself if they want to peruse the conversation more deeply.
“The great thing about Reddit content is that it’s usually longer, it’s more insightful, more in-depth than you’ll see on other social platforms,” Reddit’s head of journalism and media, Mark Luckie, told TechCrunch. “You’re going to get a more robust conversation.”
This move comes as the company attempts to revamp its community after a firestorm of criticism over its numerous racist, sexist and xenophobic channels (which have since been banned). Users have since been empowered with stronger protections, better blocking tools and even a news service that delivers Reddit news without the Reddit community.
Source: TechCrunch
‘Gran Turismo Sport’ races to PS4 on November 15th
The Gran Turismo series has always been about two things: speed and realism. Now, it’s coming back to PlayStation 4 with a very important update: native PlayStation VR support. Oh, and a ton of absolutely gorgeous cars. The latest entry in the series is Gran Turismo Sport, and it’s speeding to you on November 15th.
During a special event in London from Polyphony Digital and Sony, Gran Turismo Sport came packing a chunk of gameplay footage to soak up. While the game was originally released as far back as last October, this is the first official set of additional details beyond the game’s online sanctioned races and storied PSVR support.
Sony notes Gran Turismo Sport will be the “first racing experience” to be built for real online competitions sanctioned by the FIA (Federation International Automobile.) Not only can you go online and test your mettle against other players, but you can do it for real, representing your home country or even just your favorite car manufacturer with others around the globe. You can build your own racing career from the ground up as you make a name for yourself online.
The game will feature over 140 high-performance cars from the real world, with what looks to be amazingly detailed races both on and offline. There are 27 different tracks scaling 19 real-world locales to look forward to as well, such as the Northern Isle Speedway and Tokyo Expressway.
Whether you race online with others or offline, you can alter your vehicle’s livery with different logos and other personalization options, and there are plenty of new locales to take photos in as well.
The most recent Gran Turismo hit store shelves a lot longer than you may realize, back in 2013 for PlayStation 3 with Gran Turismo 6. While this is a separate spinoff entry that isn’t considered a numbered entry in the series, it’s been a long while since players have been able to put the pedal with Sony’s long-running series. An official beta has yet to be announced just yet, but one is likely on the way.
Source: PlayStation Blog
Apple’s First Store in Brooklyn Confirmed by Job Listings
Apple has posted a series of job listings today and earlier in May for retail positions in Brooklyn, confirming that the company plans to open its first store in New York City’s most populous borough in the near future.
Apple’s jobs website lists typical retail store positions, including Creatives, Experts, Geniuses, Specialists, Business Leaders, and management, while recent LinkedIn postings seek a Retail Manager and Senior Manager specifically in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn’s population is estimated to be over 2.6 million, which as a city would be the fourth largest in the U.S. behind the rest of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, yet there remains no official Apple Store in the borough.
Rumors point towards Apple opening a retail store in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in the second half of 2016. Apple reportedly signed a long-term lease for a 20,000-square-foot space at 247 Bedford Avenue, at the corner of North 3rd Street, and construction has been ongoing since 2015.
247 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn undergoing renovations
Apple has opened six retail stores in the neighboring borough of Manhattan, including Fifth Avenue, Grand Central, SoHo, Upper East Side, Upper West Side, and West 14th Street locations, alongside one store in both Queens and Staten Island.
Apple is also expected to open a retail store inside the Westfield shopping complex at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan later this year.
Today marks the 15th anniversary of the grand openings of Apple’s first two retail stores in Tysons Corner, Virginia and Glendale, California, and the company marked the occasion by inviting media for a preview of its new flagship Union Square location opening in downtown San Francisco on Saturday.
Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts outlined all of the new features in the store, some of which will be adopted at other locations worldwide.
– The Avenue: Interactive themed “windows” showcasing Apple products and services, alongside a curated selection of “Only at Apple” third-party accessories. New “Creative Pros” will be available to offer “advice and expertise” about each of the displays.
– Genius Grove: A section at the center of the store designated for customers to receive support side-by-side with Geniuses under the canopy of local trees. This area is able to accommodate more customers than a traditional Genius Bar commonly found in other stores.
– The Forum: Apple describes this area as a “vibrant gathering place” next to the large 6K Video Wall, where “Today at Apple” sessions and other daily and monthly events will be hosted related to education, creative arts, music, games, and more.
– The Plaza: Apple has connected its Union Square store with the surrounding community with The Plaza, an outdoor area open 24/7 and featuring a 50-foot green wall, public Wi-Fi, seating for 200 people, and a fountain created by sculpture artists Ruth Asawa. Apple says the space will feature live acoustic performances.
– The Boardroom: A room with tables and chairs at the back of the store where Apple’s Business Team can offer hands-on advice and training to entrepreneurs, developers, and other small and medium business customers.
Keep track of Apple’s retail store developments by reading our Apple Stores roundup.
Related Roundup: Apple Stores
Tag: New York City
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Tim Cook and Lisa Jackson’s India Trips Continue With Cricket Games, Bollywood Stars and ‘Solar Mamas’
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Lisa P. Jackson, vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, are currently in India on a multi-day trip meeting various business leaders, politicians, developers and more. Yesterday, Cook visited the famous Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai before proceeding to a series of meetings. Meanwhile, Jackson made her way to the Indian state of Rajasthan to meet the “Solar Mamas” at The Barefoot College.
The Barefoot College trains rural women to assemble and manufacture solar lamps, earning the nickname “Solar Mamas”, according to Yahoo India. The College connects rural communities to solar power and water. The college also uses iPads to teach the women, with Apple India having donated 20 iPads and 10 Macs earlier this year, reports The Better India.
Powerful: Visiting amazing solar mamas in Rajastan and visiting a school using iPads to teach.. @BarefootCollege pic.twitter.com/3yJjIP8nsx
— Lisa P. Jackson (@lisapjackson) May 19, 2016
Cook went to his first cricket game, a match from the country’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Cook was interviewed on the sideline alongside IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, with Shukla noting that the league, from professional to junior levels, uses iPads to organize matches. After noting how excited he was to be at his first cricket match, Cook once again called India “a great marketplace,” saying that he’s optimistic for the future of the country because of how talented its people are.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukj Khan invited Cook to a private dinner at his home, which was attended by other big Bollywood stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai and filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, according to The India Times. Before the dinner, Cook was escorted around the movie sets of the upcoming Raaz 4 by Mukesh Bhatt, president of India’s Film and TV Producers Guild. Bhatt said Cook was “keen to see how Apple could partner with the [Indian film industry].”
Thk u all for coming & making @tim_cook & his wonderful team feel the warmth & love of India.Mr.Cook u r a rockstar! pic.twitter.com/e7HdJUZ0Hp
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) May 18, 2016
Cook’s five-day India trip is set to wrap up shortly after he meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. Cook’s conversation with Modi may include several subjects, including Apple’s recent announcement of a maps development center in Hyderabad, plans to establish an iOS app and design accelerator in the country and the Indian government’s decision to approve single-branded Apple Stores.
India has increasingly become important to Apple’s business, with the company’s revenue growing 56 percent in the last quarter and passing the $1 billion mark for the first time.
Tags: Tim Cook, Lisa Jackson, India
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How to de-ice your chest freezer in minutes – CNET
This freezer needs to be defrosted.
Alina Bradford/CNET
While most refrigerator freezers and upright freezers can self-defrost, most chest freezers don’t come with this option, especially if you have an older model.
Normally, when the time comes to clear the ice from the inside of your freezer, you unplug it, wait for the ice to melt and sop up the mess with bath towels. While you’re doing all of this your food is also defrosting.
There’s an easier way.
Instead of unplugging, remove the food from the freezer and scrape off patches of ice with a putty knife. You can get putty knives at most home improvement stores. They are inexpensive and will scrape off ice in large chunks so that the ice can easily be removed and plopped in a bucket.
The trick is to hold the putty knife at a 45-degree angle while you scrape to avoid gouging the inside of your freezer.
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Use Goodreads to find good deals on e-books – CNET
So you’re a “Game of Thrones” fan, and you know this guy David Benioff is one of the executive producers, and someone mentioned he wrote this great novel, “City of Thieves,” which sounds like your cup of World War II-era adventure tea. But, dang it, the Kindle edition costs $11.99, and you used up your spare cash subscribing to HBO Now so you could watch “Game of Thrones.”
Of course, sometimes e-books go on sale, but how can you keep tabs on the price of “City of Thieves” — or, for that matter, any book you want to read?
Use Goodreads. The Amazon-owned book-management and -recommendation tool just added a new feature: Goodreads Deals. (Thankfully, and to Amazon’s credit, the deals aren’t limited to Kindle-store offerings; Goodreads supports Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Play Books and Kobo as well.)
Goodreads was already super-handy for book lovers; now it’s a money-saver as well.
Goodreads
You can leverage Goodreads Deals a couple different ways. If you head to your account settings page and click the Deals tab, you’ll see three options:
- Deals from my Want to Read shelf
- Deals for my authors
- Deals by genre
If you’re already a Goodreads user, you’ve probably already added some books to your Want to Read shelf (the aforementioned “City of Thieves,” for example). With that option enabled, Goodreads will notify you whenever there’s a discount available for any of those titles.
Likewise, if you follow authors on Goodreads, you’ll get notified of sales on any of those authors’ books.
Finally, the genre option lets you choose from four — bestsellers, romance, mystery & thrillers, fantasy & science fiction — and receive a daily email with deals on any or all of them.
You can also specify which of the aforementioned retailers to include in the notifications. No sense receiving deals from, say, Kobo if you’re primarily a Kindle person. But here’s a pro tip: Don’t limit yourself to just one e-book store. It’s easy enough to keep multiple apps on your phone or tablet, and different stores often have different deals. Why not leverage them all?
And that’s all there is to it. If you’re already a Goodreads user, it definitely makes sense to take advantage of these deal notifications. Not a user? It’s worth signing up! I find the service immensely helpful, if only to keep tabs on books I’ve already read (sometimes I forget!) and especially those I want to read.
LG LFXS30786S Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
That’s a Bluetooth speaker built into to the top of this refrigerator’s frame.
LG
Manufacturers are always looking for new ways to tempt you into upgrading your appliances. Most of the time, that means fancy, new designs and bold claims of better performance.
And sometimes, it means we get refrigerators with built-in Bluetooth speakers.
Specifically, I’m referring to the LFXS30786S, a new fridge available now from LG. It’s a pretty typical-looking, large-capacity French door model that slaps a Bluetooth speaker up along the top rim. Price? Four grand.
Now, in fairness, that’s the same price that LG charged last year for a very similar fridge that had no speaker to speak of. In other words, this fridge is expensive because it was an expensive design to begin with, not because LG added in a Bluetooth speaker this year. The speaker is just an extra incentive to get you to splurge.
It’s not the worst idea. Plenty of us listen to a kitchen radio as we eat our morning oatmeal, or stream a favorite playlist as we cook something up for supper. Packing a Bluetooth speaker into an always-powered appliance seems like a perfectly reasonable use of real estate, and potentially a good means of clearing some clutter off of your countertop.
It’s also not an idea that’s all that new. Whirlpool introduced its CoolVox fridge speakers at CES 2014, and was selling a French door fridge with built-in audio hardware as recently as last year. And let’s not forget the Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator, which has its own Wi-Fi radio and 21.5-inch touchscreen (and, you know, a set of speakers).
LG
As for LG’s fridge, it’s a 30 cubic-foot model with LG’s “Door-in-Door” feature, so if you press that button on the right door handle, the front panel of the door will open rather than the door itself, giving you quick access to the in-door shelves without actually opening the fridge. That’s a pretty popular gimmick at this point, so if you want it, there it is.
As for me, I’m more a fan of the “Slim SpacePlus” ice maker, which simply means that LG packs the entire ice maker into the left door. Other models place it in the upper corner of the fridge, and since the ice needs to tumble down through the door into your glass, you end up with an unsightly hump in the inside of the door that blocks off the shelves. No such problem with LG models like these — although the trade-off is that they make a little less ice.
The LG LFXS30786S is available now from select retailers. We’ll try and test one out here at CNET Appliances HQ — keep an ear out for a full review at that time.
Adobe Spark review – CNET
The Good Adobe Spark smartly unifies the company’s set of social-graphics creation tools for nonprofessionals.
The Bad Adobe annoyingly tags the ends of your videos and scrolling pages with ads for Spark, and there’s still no easy way to apply consistent designs across each module.
The Bottom Line A useful set of tools for creating graphics and visual stories for social media, Adobe Spark delivers nice results pretty easily.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
A nod to its nonprofessional users, Adobe Spark merges the company’s individual Adobe Post, Adobe Voice and Adobe Slate iOS apps into powerful, easy to use — and still free — Web-based tool for folks that need to produce visually intensive content for social sharing that Marketers call it visual storytelling. As part of the rebranding, they’ve been renamed Spark Post, Spark Video and Spark Page, respectively.
On iPhones and iPads they remain standalone apps; Android continues to get no love. Sadly, the Web app won’t run on small screens, so that’s not even a workaround. The Web app has a unified interface for the three, with My Projects displaying each apps’ projects. From there you launch into them. The projects are stored in the cloud and automatically sync between the computer and your Apple devices. The modules are pretty similar to the apps when we reviewed them, albeit with some additional features that Adobe added as time went on.
Spark Post lets you create single-image graphics with text overlays. It’s easy to use and you can change type style, colors, layouts and page size, through presets or manually. It’s real advantage is automation. You can cycles through styles and palettes and change themes, layouts and filters and the program intelligently adapts the design.
Spark Page generates single-page scrolling Web pages. It also handles automatic formatting quite well, and allows for some sophisticated effects like embedding a video in a picture.
Google and IMAX are making a cinema-quality Jump VR camera
Google wants to make a 360-degree rig that can capture virtual-reality video in a good enough quality to be acceptable at cinemas.
At last year’s Google I/O developer conference, Google launched the Jump ecosystem for virtual reality filmmaking as well as a 360-degree camera array made from 16 GoPro action cameras. The VR footage shot by the rig is compiled from the individual cameras using Jump’s back-end, cloud-based processing software. Now, Google is working with IMAX to make a cinema-grade version of that Jump VR camera.
According to both The Verge and Engadget, Google’s head of VR, Clay Bavor, revealed at Google I/O 2016 that Hollywood is interested in Jump. Google has partnered with IMAX on a cinema-quality 3D camera rig. IMAX is known for immersive video and audio, so it makes since IMAX would want to pair its experience in camera design, optics, and sensors with the Jump ecosystem.
Bavor didn’t elaborate on how far along the project is and what the end result could mean, though he did suggest the partnership should boost mobile VR experiences, meaning we might one day be able to watch IMAX VR films on our smartphones.
Apart from the IMAX deal, Google announced it partnered with Chinese digital camera maker Yi Technologies to create a Jump action camera.
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