Google’s Project Bloks teaches kids to code with physical hardware modules

Google’s Project Bloks teaches kids to code with physical hardware modules

There are a lot of projects designed to help kids learn to code… so that instead of just using games and apps developed by others, they learn the basics of creating their own software at an early age.

Google’s Project Bloks takes a different approach to most, because it focuses on tangible programming. In other words, kids learn to code not by typing characters onto a screen, but by snapping a series of physical blocks together.

Continue reading Google’s Project Bloks teaches kids to code with physical hardware modules at Liliputing.

Google’s Project Bloks teaches kids to code with physical hardware modules

There are a lot of projects designed to help kids learn to code… so that instead of just using games and apps developed by others, they learn the basics of creating their own software at an early age.

Google’s Project Bloks takes a different approach to most, because it focuses on tangible programming. In other words, kids learn to code not by typing characters onto a screen, but by snapping a series of physical blocks together.

Continue reading Google’s Project Bloks teaches kids to code with physical hardware modules at Liliputing.

.NET Core 1.0 released, now officially supported by Red Hat

And Samsung is joining the .NET Foundation.

Version 1.0 of .NET Core, the open source, cross-platform .NET runtime platform that was first announced in 2014, has been released today. .NET Core is arriving alongside ASP.NET Core 1.0, the open source, cross-platform version of Microsoft's Web development stack.

Microsoft picked an unusual venue to announce the release: the Red Hat Summit. One of the purposes of .NET Core was to make Linux and OS X into first-class supported platforms, with .NET developers able to reach Windows, OS X, Linux, and (with Xamarin) iOS and Android, too. At the summit today, Red Hat announced that this release would be actively supported by the company on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

After many years of non-cooperation between Microsoft and the largest of the open source commercial Linux companies, Microsoft and Red Hat announced a new partnership in November 2015. This union heralded official support for Red Hat virtual machines in Azure and closer cooperation on .NET. Full support for .NET Core 1.0 marks the next step in that partnership.

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Kurzstreckenflüge: Lufthansa bietet 15 MBit/s für jeden an Bord

Der neue Onboard-Internet-Dienst der Lufthansa ist zugelassen worden. Voraussichtlich ab Oktober werden Fluggäste das Angebot nutzen können, auf Kurz- und Mittelstreckenflügen. (Internet im Flugzeug, WLAN)

Der neue Onboard-Internet-Dienst der Lufthansa ist zugelassen worden. Voraussichtlich ab Oktober werden Fluggäste das Angebot nutzen können, auf Kurz- und Mittelstreckenflügen. (Internet im Flugzeug, WLAN)

Anonymisierungsprojekt: Darf ein Ex-Geheimdienstler für Tor arbeiten?

Wie umgehen mit Ex-Geheimdienstmitarbeitern in Open-Source-Projekten? Darüber mussten sich Mitarbeiter des Tor-Projektes klarwerden, nachdem ein Ex-CIA-Mitarbeiter eingestellt wurde. Ein Mitarbeiter schrieb in der Diskussion, er habe den Irakkrieg beendet. (TOR-Netzwerk, Wikileaks)

Wie umgehen mit Ex-Geheimdienstmitarbeitern in Open-Source-Projekten? Darüber mussten sich Mitarbeiter des Tor-Projektes klarwerden, nachdem ein Ex-CIA-Mitarbeiter eingestellt wurde. Ein Mitarbeiter schrieb in der Diskussion, er habe den Irakkrieg beendet. (TOR-Netzwerk, Wikileaks)

Do you want Google to make its own phones?

Do you want Google to make its own phones?

Google has been working with phone makers to launch a line of Google Nexus phones, tablets, and other hardware since 2010. But while Google had a hand in designing all of those devices, so far they’ve all been manufactured by other companies.

Recently Google announced that it would begin building a phone in-house: the modular Google Project Ara phone will be designed, manufactured, and sold by Google when it launches in 2017.

Continue reading Do you want Google to make its own phones? at Liliputing.

Do you want Google to make its own phones?

Google has been working with phone makers to launch a line of Google Nexus phones, tablets, and other hardware since 2010. But while Google had a hand in designing all of those devices, so far they’ve all been manufactured by other companies.

Recently Google announced that it would begin building a phone in-house: the modular Google Project Ara phone will be designed, manufactured, and sold by Google when it launches in 2017.

Continue reading Do you want Google to make its own phones? at Liliputing.

Schalke 04: Erst League of Legends und nun Fifa

Schalke 04 verstärkt sein Engagement in Sachen E-Sport: Kurz nach der Verpflichtung eines League-of-Legends-Teams hat der Verein eine weißblaue Fifa-Mannschaft vorgestellt. Für dessen Aufbau ist ein erfahrener Profi verantwortlich. (Fifa, Games)

Schalke 04 verstärkt sein Engagement in Sachen E-Sport: Kurz nach der Verpflichtung eines League-of-Legends-Teams hat der Verein eine weißblaue Fifa-Mannschaft vorgestellt. Für dessen Aufbau ist ein erfahrener Profi verantwortlich. (Fifa, Games)

Patentverletzungen: Qualcomm verklagt Meizu

Der chinesische Hersteller Meizu hat bei seinen Smartphones Technologien von Qualcomm verwendet – ohne diese zu lizenzieren. Eine außergerichtliche Einigung scheiterte offenbar, jetzt hat der Chiphersteller Klage vor einem chinesischen Gericht eingereicht. (Qualcomm, Smartphone)

Der chinesische Hersteller Meizu hat bei seinen Smartphones Technologien von Qualcomm verwendet - ohne diese zu lizenzieren. Eine außergerichtliche Einigung scheiterte offenbar, jetzt hat der Chiphersteller Klage vor einem chinesischen Gericht eingereicht. (Qualcomm, Smartphone)

Deep Learning: Algorithmus sagt menschliche Verhaltensweisen voraus

Umarmung oder high-five? Kuss oder Handschlag? Ein Algorithmus soll anhand eines Bildes erkennen, was darauf abgebildete Menschen als Nächstes machen. Er lernte das durch Fernsehgucken. (Deep Learning, KI)

Umarmung oder high-five? Kuss oder Handschlag? Ein Algorithmus soll anhand eines Bildes erkennen, was darauf abgebildete Menschen als Nächstes machen. Er lernte das durch Fernsehgucken. (Deep Learning, KI)

HP launches Chromebook 11 G5 with Android app support (eventally)

HP launches Chromebook 11 G5 with Android app support (eventally)

HP is updating its line of Chromebooks with a new model featuring a starting price of $189, support for up to 12.5 hours of battery life and an optional touchscreen display.

The new HP Chromebook 11 G5 is the first Chromebook from the company to be available with a touchscreen, which HP says will come in handy when Android apps for Chrome OS become more widely available later this year.

As expected, the HP Chromebook 11 G5 features an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display and an Intel Celeron N3060 Braswell processor.

Continue reading HP launches Chromebook 11 G5 with Android app support (eventally) at Liliputing.

HP launches Chromebook 11 G5 with Android app support (eventally)

HP is updating its line of Chromebooks with a new model featuring a starting price of $189, support for up to 12.5 hours of battery life and an optional touchscreen display.

The new HP Chromebook 11 G5 is the first Chromebook from the company to be available with a touchscreen, which HP says will come in handy when Android apps for Chrome OS become more widely available later this year.

As expected, the HP Chromebook 11 G5 features an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display and an Intel Celeron N3060 Braswell processor.

Continue reading HP launches Chromebook 11 G5 with Android app support (eventally) at Liliputing.

Game of Thrones Piracy Peaks After Season Finale

The season finale of Game of Thrones is the highlight of the year for many TV fans. At the same time, it also generates a lot of traffic on various torrent trackers. Like previous years, Game of Thrones piracy peaked after the season ending, but not enough to set a new all-time record.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

got6Traditionally, the Game of Thrones season finale is among the most viewed episodes of the season, also on pirate sites.

With the Internet abuzz over the latest plot twists and turns, many people turned to torrent sites to grab a pirated copy of the show.

The first episodes appeared online shortly after the official broadcast ended and at the time of writing more than 350,000 people are actively sharing a copy. This is the highest number we’ve seen this year.

Data gathered by TorrentFreak estimates that after just eight hours, well over a million people have already downloaded the final episode of this season via BitTorrent. Millions more are expected to follow during the days to come.

The most popular release is currently an HD version of little over a gigabyte. This is different from previous years, when SD copies were consistently the most downloaded of all.

While the demand is significant, there is no all time “swarm record” to report. Also, the overall download numbers appear to be roughly on par with previous years, perhaps a bit lower.

Although it’s too early to jump to conclusions, there are a few explanations why Game of Thrones piracy might no longer be growing, via torrents at least.

For one, the number of legal alternatives have been growing steadily in recent years. Also, the same is true for “unauthorized” streaming sites where people can view pirated copies of Game of Thrones episodes instantly.

Another factor may be that HBO significantly cranked up its enforcement efforts this year. As a result, it is quite hard, or impossible, to find recent Game of Thrones episodes on some popular torrent sites.

The “disappearing” torrents also lead to scattered swarms, making it harder to break the previous record. Time will tell how this apparent trend develops during the years to come.

That said, it is worth keeping in mind that interest in the show still dwarfs the competition. This means that there is little doubt that it will be crowned the most downloaded TV show for the fifth year in a row.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.