A 16-year-old programmer named Ash Bhat is attending Apple’s WWDC next week for free. How? He created an iOS app that earned him one of 150 scholarships, CNET reports. Tickets to Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference sold out within two minutes after going on sale in April. But the company held out hope for student developers, promising scholarships for 150 of those able to create an app that would knock Apple’s socks off…
…Read MorePodcast Series: Innovations in Education
Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
The 18 gadgets 2013 hasn’t brought us yet
From the iPad Mini with Retina Display to the iWatch to the next best television, these are the tech objects we’re still waiting for this year, CNET reports…
…Read MoreGoogle’s conversational search arrives with new Chrome
Google is enabling a more naturally spoken question-and-answer interface to its search service for people with a new version of Chrome, CNET reports. Google demonstrated conversational search at Google I/O a week ago, a style of search designed to be more like natural human speech than the technically constructed search queries that people often use today to retrieve information from a search engine…
…Read MoreSchoolgirl tries science experiment, arrested for felony
Who among us hasn’t — just once in our lives — put a couple of things in a test tube, a bottle, or our mouths and wondered what might happen? Occasionally, this might have difficult consequences. But rarely does someone try to arrest us for it, CNET reports. 16-year-old Kiera Wilmot wasn’t so lucky. This student at Bartow High School in Florida allegedly thought she’d put a couple of household chemicals in an 8-ounce water bottle, just to see the reaction…
…Read MoreIntel’s next CEO: Manufacturing chief Brian Krzanich
Intel has named Chief Operating Officer Brian Krzanich as its next CEO to succeed Paul Otellini as head of the chip giant in a couple weeks, CNET reports. In addition, Intel appointed Renee James to the role of president. She previously served as the executive vice president overseeing Intel’s software and services group. Krzanich joined the Santa Clara, Calif., company in 1982 and has worked in many different technical areas since that time. He now runs the company’s manufacturing operations and also oversees supply chain, human resources, and information technology operations following his appointment as chief operating officer in January of last year…
…Read MoreSamsung reveals 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3
Samsung revealed the Galaxy Tab 3, a 7-inch tablet, a slim mobile device which may be able to directly compete with the smaller tablet ranges offered by rivals Apple, Amazon, and Google, CNET reports. The South Korean electronics maker’s latest tablet offering sports a 1024×600 pixel screen — although perhaps underwhelming at today’s standards — but is able to support full 1080p HD playback. The Galaxy Tab 3 is powered by a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor, and is available with either 8GB or 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM…
…Read MoreGoogle’s Earth Day doodle reflects planet’s complexity
Google is marking Earth Day 2013 on Monday with what might be its busiest yet more subtle animated doodles. In fact, its level of involvement has led Google to provide a checklist to make sure you don’t miss anything, CNET reports. Highlighting the Earth’s complexity on the 43rd Earth Day, the doodle offers a snapshot of the four seasons our fragile planet experiences, as well as some of its flora and fauna. “Today we are celebrating Earth Day with an interactive doodle that captures a slice of nature’s subtle wonders,” Doodler Leon Hong wrote. “We hope you enjoy discovering animals, controlling the weather, and observing the seasons. Use the sightseeing checklist below to make sure you do not miss anything!”
…Read MoreSocial media as breaking-news feed: Worse information, faster
If speed is the currency of the modern information era, misinformation is the increasingly high cost, CNET reports. Some argue that journalism is made better by multiple sources. And certainly, high profile mistakes (and occasionally laughable coverage) by the likes of CNN, and downright irresponsible journalism by the New York Post, might seem to suggest that’s true. It’s not. We have more information, but it’s a morass of truths, half-truths, and what we used to call libel. It’s fast, but it’s bad. And bad information is a cancer that just keeps growing. I’d argue the opposite of Ingram: that the hyperintense pressure of real-time reporting from Twitter, crowdsourcing from Reddit, and constant mockery from an online community that is empirically skewed toward negativity and criticism is actually hurting journalism. It’s making all the news worse…
…Read MoreConstruction of world’s largest optical telescope approved
If you love eye-popping images of space, here’s welcome news: the Hawaiian Board of Land and Natural Resources has backed building what’s to be the world’s largest, most powerful optical telescope above the clouds atop the volcano Mauna Kea, CNET reports. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will have a primary mirror of 492 segments measuring some 100 feet across, giving it the power to image objects 13 billion light years away, near the beginning of the universe. It may also photograph planets outside our solar system with unprecedented detail…
…Read MoreApple could unveil ‘killer app’ this summer, says analyst
Apple may shake up the next version of iOS with the introduction of a mobile wallet, forecasts Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, CNET reports. Dubbed a “killer app” by the analyst, the mobile wallet feature would surface as part of iOS 7, which Apple is expected to preview at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Huberty’s prediction echoes that of fellow Apple analyst Gene Munster, who also thinks a digital wallet is in Apple’s future. However, Munster believes the technology won’t surface on iOS devices for another year or two…
…Read More