Google Bloks Will Offer Kids Hands-On, Collaborative Programming Concepts

Google announced a new “research project” called Bloks, a wonderful concept that brings programming to very young kids with real-world block-like components. It’s an ongoing project that Google is opening up to the world, but the company is starting with electronic boards and programmable pucks. Brain Boards are built from Raspberry Pi Zero boards and can be used to power anything you could power from that device, like robots or switches for real-world devices. The pucks are essentially instructions, including on-off switches, directions, or volume controls. When used in sequence, they can send instructions to the Brain Boards. And it’s all hands-on for young kids. They can collaborate in ways they never could with any programming thing based on a screen and/or keyboard. I love it. It’s an entirely different approach from Apple’s Swift Playground, and I think they’re very complementary.

PRE-SALE: The Complete iOS 10 Developer Course at $29

Our friends at Stack Commerce have been putting their collective noggins to work with this deal. It’s a pre-sale onĀ The Complete iOS 10 Developer Course with 80 hours of content on coding for Apple’s next generation iOS. It’s discounted to $29, and you’ll be notified when the course is ready to access—but in the meanwhile you also getĀ The Complete iOS 9 Hacker Training immediately, included for the same price. Check out the details on the deal listing.

iPhone 7 Sans Headphone Jack: The Debate Continues

Reliable sources are suggesting that Apple really will remove the 3.5 mm audio headphone jack from the iPhone 7 this fall. The community seems evenly split about the prospect, with some shrugging and one notable author declaring that this is a hostile and stupid idea. The notion that this isn’t really a worthwhile technical advance seems balanced with the prospect of better and enabling digital technology moving forward. Plus: a more waterproof iPhone. Particle Debris page 2 asks the question: has Apple gone too far?

TMO Background Mode: Interview With Symply Co-founder and President Alex Grossman

Alex Grossman is the co-founder and president of Symply, Inc. His new company makes high-performance storage devices for content creators. I asked Alex about his start in storage technology, and it goes back to his EE degree in college and his first job with the Digital Equipment Corp (DEC). Early on, he developed a passion to build great hardware and understand how data got stored. Years later, Alex ended up at Apple focusing on the small and medium business needs for easy to manage mass storage. He tells a great story about Apple giving him the go ahead to change the world with Xserve RAID. Today, Alex carries his years of experience with elegant, easy to manage storage into his new company, Symply, Inc. Alex told me one amazing story after another.

Apple gets its Rainbow on for SF Pride Parade

Apple helped celebrate the LGBTQ community over the weekend by marching in San Fransisco’s annual Pride parade. Company CEO Tim Cook’s photo on Twitter shows what looks like hundreds of Apple employees marching and waving rainbow flags—and wearing the special limited edition Apple Watch rainbow watch bands the company gave to participants.