programming

Announcements from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference

On 06/14/2016, in Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, computer science, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, human-computer interaction (HCI), mobile learning, platforms, programming, tools, trends, by Daniel Christian

Keynote address:

From Apple:

Apple previews iOS 10, the biggest iOS release ever
Introduces Massive Update to Messages, New Home App, All-New Photos, Music and News & Opens Siri, Maps, Phone and Messages to Developers
Apple previews major update with macOS Sierra
Use Siri on the Mac, Access Your Desktop from Anywhere, Copy and Paste Between Devices & Rediscover Favorite Memories in Photos
Powerful new Siri capabilities and single sign-on are coming to Apple TV
Apple previews watchOS 3; faster, simpler with breakthrough health features
Swift Playgrounds app makes learning to code easy and fun
New iPad App Teaches Coding Concepts & Encourages Creative Experimentation

These are Apple’s big announcements from WWDC 2016 — from imore.com by Joseph Keller

Excerpt:

Apple made several interesting announcements today during its WWDC 2016 keynote. Here are the major announcements from the event.

iOS 10 — the big focus with this release is on Siri.
macOS Sierra — The next version of Apple’s operating system for desktops and laptops is dropping the ‘X’, opting instead for the new ‘macOS’ branding. With macOS, Siri makes its debut on Apple’s traditional computers for the first time.
watchOS
tvOS — The next major version of the Apple TV’s software will offer single sign-on for cable logins, along with its own dark mode. There will also be a number of Siri enhancements, as well as improvements for watching live TV.

Highlights from Apple’s WWDC 2016 Keynote — from fastcompany.com
From Messages to Music, and Siri to Apple Pay on the web, here are the most important announcements from Apple’s event today.

Apple launches Swift Playgrounds for iPad to teach kids to code — from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois

Excerpt:

Apple today announced Swift Playgrounds for the iPad, a new project that aims to teach kids to code in Swift.

When you first open it, Swift Playground presents you with a number of basic coding lessons, as well as challenges. The interface looks somewhat akin to Codecademy, but it’s far more graphical and playful, which makes sense, given that the target audience is kids. Most of the projects seem to involve games and fun little animations to keep kids motivated.

To make coding on the iPad a bit easier, Apple is using a special keyboard with a number of shortcuts and other features that will make it easier to enter code.

Also see:

What’s new in iOS 10: Siri and Maps open to developers, machine learning and more — from arc.applause.com

Excerpts:

The biggest news for Siri from the WWDC keynote: Apple’s assistant is now open to third party developers.
…
Apple is now opening Siri to all of those potential interactions for developers through SiriKit. Siri will be able to access messaging, photos, search, ride booking through Uber or Lyft etc., payments, health and fitness and so forth. Siri will also be incorporated into Apple CarPlay apps to make it easier to interact with the assistant while driving.

Photos is getting a machine learning boost and automatic ‘Memories’ albums — from imore.com by Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Excerpt:

Speaking at WWDC 2016, Apple announced that it is bringing the power of machine learning to the Photos app in iOS 10. With machine learning, the Photos app will include object and scene recognition thanks to what Apple calls “Advanced Computer Vision.” For example, the app will be able to automatically pick out specific animal, features and more. Facial recognition is also available, all done locally on the iPhone with automatic people albums.

Home is a new way to control all of your HomeKit-enabled accessories — from imore.com by Jared DiPane

Excerpt:

Apple has announced its newest and easiest way to control any and all HomeKit accessories that you may have in your house: Home. With Home, you’ll be able to control all of your accessories, including Air Conditioners, cameras, door locks and other new categories. 3D Touch will be able to give you deeper controls at just a press, and notifications from these will also have 3D Touch functionality as well.

Here’s what Apple is bringing to the Apple TV — from fastcompany.com
tvOS is taking a step forward with updates to Siri, and new features such as single sign on, dark mode, and more.

Excerpt:

Less than nine months after the first version of tvOS, there are now over 6,000 native apps for the Apple TV. Of those apps, 1,300 are for streaming video. Popular over-the-top Internet television service Sling TV arrives on the Apple TV today. Live Fox Sports Go streaming will come this summer. Speaking of apps: Apple is introducing a new Apple TV Remote app for iOS that allows people to navigate tvOS using Siri from their iPhone and iPad.
…
Download apps on iPhone and get them on Apple TV
Now when you download an app on your iPad or iPhone, if there is an Apple TV version of the app, it will download to your Apple TV automatically.

tvOS 10 FAQ: Everything you need to know! — from imore.com by Lory Gil Mo

Apple iOS 10 “Memories” turns old photos into editable mini-movies — from techcrunch.com by Josh Constine
Using local, on-device facial recognition and AI detection of what’s in your images, it can combine photos and videos into themed mini-movies complete with transitions and a soundtrack.

Apple announces iOS 10 — from techcrunch.com

Apple launches iMessage Apps so third-party devs can join your convos — from techcrunch.com by Jordan Crook

Don’t brick your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch by installing developer betas — from imore.com by Serenity Caldwell

Excerpt:

As a reminder: You shouldn’t install developer betas on your primary devices if you want them to work.

This is our yearly reminder, folks: Unless you’re a developer with a secondary iPhone or Mac, we strongly, strongly urge you to consider not installing developer betas on your devices.

It’s not because we don’t want you to have fun: iOS 10, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS have some phenomenal features coming this Fall. But they’re beta seeds for a reason: These features are not fully baked, may crash at will, and probably will slow down or crash your third-party applications.

You already have the ultimate Apple TV remote, and it’s in your pocket — from techradar.com by Jon Porter

Apple quietly outs ‘next-generation’ file system destined for full product lineup — from imore.com by Dan Thorp-Lancaster

watchOS 3 FAQ: Everything you need to know — from imore.com by Mikah Sargent

Addendum on 6/15/16:

Apple’s 7 Most Immediately Useful New OS Features — from fastcompany.com
Apple announced a boatload of new mobile and desktop OS features at WWDC on Monday. These are the ones that stood out.

If there were 100 Developers in the world [visionmobile.com]

On 06/09/2016, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Canada, computer science, Europe, global / globalization, India, Microsoft, platforms, programming, student-related, tools, UK, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Also from visionmobile.com’s Developer Economics newsletter:

Amazon Alexa now has over 1,000 Skills, up from 135 in January — from techcrunch.com by Sarah Perez
Microsoft launches a project management app called Planner — from theverge.com by Nick Statt
To compete with Trello and Asana
Excerpt:
Microsoft wants to help businesses and small teams collaborate and track work with a new app called Planner. Released [on 6/6/16] for free as part of the Office 365 suite, Planner is a project management service similar to products like Asana and Trello. Microsoft isn’t doing anything particularly groundbreaking here. It uses the established concept of a digital whiteboard plastered with note cards, which you can use to track projects, communicate progress, and attach files. It also integrates with other Microsoft products like OneNote and Outlook.
This app builder is letting students turn their ideas into apps for free — from techcrunch.com by Fitz Tepper

The SIIA CODiE Awards for 2016

On 06/06/2016, in analytics, Bring your own device (BYOD), business, career development, CMS/LMS, collaboration, communications, competency-based learning/education, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, data related items, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, instructional design, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning, mathematics, mobile learning, mobile technologies, neurodivergent/special needs, programming, reading, science, teaching & learning, tools, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, web-based collaboration, workplace, writing, by Daniel Christian

The SIIA CODiE Awards for 2016 — with thanks to Neha Jaiswal from uCertify for this resource; uCertify, as you will see, did quite well

Since 1986, the SIIA CODiE Awards have recognized more than 1,000 software and information companies for achieving excellence. The CODiE Awards remain the only peer-recognized program in the content, education, and software industries so each CODiE Award win serves as incredible market validation for a product’s innovation, vision, and overall industry impact.

Amazon now lets you test drive Echo’s Alexa in your browser — from by Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Excerpt:

If you’ve ever wanted to try out the Amazon Echo before shelling out for one, you can now do just that right from your browser. Amazon has launched a dedicated website where you can try out an Echo simulation and put Alexa’s myriad of skills to the test.

From DSC:
The use of the voice and gesture to communicate to some type of computing device or software program represent growing types of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). With the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), personal assistants, and bots, we should expect to see more voice recognition services/capabilities baked into an increasing amount of products and solutions in the future.

Given these trends, personnel working within K-12 and higher ed need to start building their knowledgebases now so that we can begin offering more courses in the near future to help students build their skillsets. Current user experience designers, interface designers, programmers, graphic designers, and others will also need to augment their skillsets.

Now you can build your own Amazon Echo at home—and Amazon couldn’t be happier — from qz.com by Michael Coren

Excerpt:

Amazon’s $180 Echo and the new Google Home (due out later this year) promise voice-activated assistants that order groceries, check calendars and perform sundry tasks of your everyday life. Now, with a little initiative and some online instructions, you can build the devices yourself for a fraction of the cost. And that’s just fine with the tech giants.

At this weekend’s Bay Area Maker Faire, Arduino, an open-source electronics manufacturer, announced new hardware “boards”—bundles of microprocessors, sensors, and ports—that will ship with voice and gesture capabilities, along with wifi and bluetooth connectivity. By plugging them into the free voice-recognition services offered by Google’s Cloud Speech API and Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service, anyone can access world-class natural language processing power, and tap into the benefits those companies are touting. Amazon has even released its own blueprint and code repository to build a $60 version of its Echo using Raspberry Pi, another piece of open-source hardware.

From DSC:
Perhaps this type of endeavor could find its way into some project-based learning out there, as well as in:

Some Computer Science-related courses
Some Engineering-related courses
User Experience Design bootcamps
Makerspaces
Programs targeted at gifted students
Other…??

TechCrunch Disrupt 2016 – 7 edtech startups that are changing the education industry [Wiley]

On 05/11/2016, in analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, computer science, data related items, digital learning, education technology, engineering, history, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, platforms, programming, robotics, vendors, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

TechCrunch Disrupt 2016 – 7 edtech startups that are changing the education industry — from goodcall.com by Carrie Wiley

Excerpt:

…find out how the EdTech startups we met at TechCrunch Disrupt 2016 are transforming the education landscape and how three education technology startups are already changing education as we know it.

Future League
Byteknack
Classtag
Time Machine Tours
Treehouse
Udacity
LearnSprout

Microsoft Build: the 10 most important announcements — from theverge.com by Ben Popper and Dieter Bohn
Here come the bots!

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Every year, Microsoft holds a developer event called “Build.” And recently, those events have gone from snoozers to exciting showcases. Microsoft has a winner with Windows 10 (as long as you ignore the phones), a robust personal assistant in Cortana (that works just fine on a laptop), and a wild holographic future to plan with HoloLens. It’s a lot to take in, and at this year’s Build Microsoft we got updates on all of it. And a few surprises.

Going in, we weren’t totally sure what would be coming next for Windows 10, but it turns out there’s a lot that Microsoft has planned. It’s not just that there are new apps, there are also new bots, which will help people handle all sorts of small tasks. In fact, those bots and Microsoft’s vision of how they should work stole the entire show. Windows, Xbox: you’re cool, but the future is bots.

Why Microsoft wants to help developers build bots — from pcworld.com by Blair Hanley Frank
Conversations are cross-platform and mobile, even when Windows 10 Mobile isn’t winning

Excerpt:

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is pushing developers to create virtual assistants and intelligent chatbots to help users do everything from managing their calendars to booking hotel reservations.

To that end, Microsoft has published a new Bot Framework, which makes it easier to build chatbots using either C# or Node.js. Working with the tools isn’t so easy that anyone could do it, but they can help reduce some of the difficulties of conversing with a computer.

It was one of the main announcements from Nadella’s keynote address at Microsoft’s Build developer conference Wednesday.

Also see:

Microsoft’s Build 2016 message: ‘we love Cortana’ (but should users?) — from thenextweb.com by Nate Swanner
Excerpt:
Build 2016 has one clear takeaway: Cortana is what matters, at least for now. At almost every product or service announcement at this morning’s keynote, Microsoft made a point to mention that it would also work with Cortana. At a deep dive event for press later in the day, Microsoft further highlighted its commitment to the digital assistant.
.
Microsoft’s new Bot Framework will let anyone build assistants for their apps — thenextweb.com by Napier Lopez

From DSC:
Questions/relevance for those working higher ed:

Are Computer Science programs able to keep up with the pace of these Human Computer Interaction (HCI)-related changes? The changes in AI/cognitive computing? Are courses being created to address these new skills? These developments also impact those teaching about user experience design, application/product design, and more.
.
How will such personal assistants be used by the students? By faculty members?

4 items re: AI, machine learning, & cognitive computing

On 03/30/2016, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, computer science, Google, IBM, innovation, open courseware and systems, programming, robotics, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Now anyone can use Google’s deep learning techniques — from futurism.com by Sarah Marquart

In Brief:

Google announced a new machine learning platform for developers. The company is also open-sourcing tools such as Tensorflow to allow the community to take its internal tools, adapt them for their own uses, and improve them.
…
Google has announced a new machine learning platform for developers at its NEXT Google Cloud Platform user conference. Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman, explained that Google believes machine learning is “what’s next.”

Using artificial intelligence in the classroom — from educationdive.com by Erin McIntyre

Dive Brief:

After Google’s artificially intelligent (AI) computer system beat world champion “Go” player Lee Sedol of South Korea, some are wondering if man-made neural networks can be applied in educational settings to benefit learning.
Companies like Pearson have begun to examine the subject; the company recently released a pamphlet called Intelligence Unleashed: An argument for AI in Education that argues software may soon be able to provide instant and deeper feedback regarding student progress, eliminating traditional standardized testing.
Pearson also conceptualized something called a “lifelong learning companion” for students, which essentially could be seen as an interactive cloud that asked questions, provided encouragement, offered suggestions and connected learners to resources.

Excerpts:

ALGORITHM
A defined list of steps for solving a problem. A computer program can be viewed as an elaborate algorithm. In AI, an algorithm is usually a small procedure that solves a recurrent problem.

MACHINE LEARNING
Computer systems that learn from data, enabling them to make increasingly better predictions.

DECISION THEORY
The mathematical study of strategies for optimal decision-making between options involving different risks or expectations of gain or loss depending on the outcome.

It can be difficult to define artificial intelligence (AI), even for experts. One reason is that what AI includes is constantly shifting. As Nick Bostrom, a leading AI expert from Oxford University, explains: “[a] lot of cutting edge AI has filtered into general applications, often without being called AI because once something becomes useful enough and common enough it is not labeled AI anymore.” Instead, it is considered a computer program, or an algorithm, or an app, but not AI.

Another reason for the difficulty in defining AI is the interdisciplinary nature of the field. Anthropologists, biologists, computer scientists, linguists, philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists all contribute to the field of AI, and each group brings their own perspective and terminology.

For our purposes, we define AI as computer systems that have been designed to interact with the world through capabilities (for example, visual perception and speech recognition) and intelligent behaviours (for example, assessing the available information and then taking the most sensible action to achieve a stated goal) that we would think of as essentially human.

IBM’s Rometty wants you to know they’re a ‘cognitive solutions cloud platform company’ — from barrons.com by Tiernan Ray

Excerpt:

Rometty says she is the first IBM chief to ever offer a keynote at the show [CES]. Her framework for everything this evening is that the “future is cognitive,” and we’re headed to a “cognitive IoT.”
…
What happens when everyone becomes digital, she asks. What will differentiate people is understanding all that data. That is the “cognitive era.” “Cognitive is an era of business and an era of technology,” she says. 80% of data out here is “black, invisible,” and “that’s what’s changing,” she says.

Rometty clarifies cognitive is not synonymous with A.I. It is not about systems you program. It is about systems that learn.
…
Her point is that all that “vast IoT data is going to do nothing for you unless you can bring cognitive to it.”

Her big point: “IBM is no longer a hardware, software company,” but a “cognitive solutions cloud platform company.”

SoftBank’s Pepper robot to get even brainier with IBM’s Watson technology — from thenextweb.com by Natt Garun

Excerpt:

When it launched last year, SoftBank’s emotion-reading robot Pepper sold out in just one minute despite its limited utility. Now, Pepper’s about to get smarter thanks to a partnership with IBM to integrate Watson cognitive system into its brains.

With Watson, developers hope to help Pepper understand human emotions more thoroughly to appropriately respond and engage with its users. IBM and SoftBank say the collaboration will also allow Pepper to gather new information from social media to learn how people interact with brands so it knows how to personally reach out to people.

Big Data in 2016: Cloudy, with a chance of disappointment, disillusionment, and disruption — from insidebigdata.com by Daniel Gutierrez

Excerpt:

Expect to see many organizations become deeply disillusioned by Big Data in 2016 because they had hoped to get different results from their business, without using Big Data to actually change how they operated. Those who used Big Data to make substantive changes to how they operate will dramatically out-compete those who used Big Data to produce merely-more-detailed reports, but little actual change.

Young entrepreneurs are applying the power of big data to the real world — from entrepreneur.com by John Pilmer

Excerpt:

Two 15-year-old students from Business Technology Early College High School (BTECH) in Queens, New York dazzled me with big-picture thinking about the social implications of harnessing big data while protecting our future. The teens shared very entrepreneurial thoughts of how to deliver genomic big data solutions without diminishing individual self-worth.

One young man used the example of applying genomic big data to people to create a “Superman” in the future. Yet, he noted that if everyone were Superman, no one would be. In other words, no one would be unique, stand out from the crowd. Wow! That’s big picture thinking that reminds me of a science fiction novel.

The data science industry: a look at the key roles — from dataconomy.com by Darya Niknamian

Here is the infographic from that article:

The art of data science: The skills you need and how to get them — from kdnuggets.com by Joseph Blue
Learn, how to turn the deluge of data into the gold by algorithms, feature engineering, reasoning out business value and ultimately building a data driven organization.

The 22 skills of a Data Scientist… — from dataconomy.com by Matt Reaney

From DSC:
The items above made me think of trying to excerpt meaning from big data…which made me think of programming…which lead me to think of algorithms…which lead me to think of artificial intelligence (AI). Then, when I was thinking about AI, I wondered…

How might AI and algorithms play into the future of MOOCs — especially in regards to providing automated assessments, scoring, and grading…?

Hmmm….could be helpful…though knowledgeable experts/humans will likely still be needed. But such technologies could help with some of the heavy (and often time-consuming) lifting here.

Google is sharing its powerful AI with everyone in its cloud; HP announces new machine learning as a service offering

On 03/24/2016, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, computer science, human-computer interaction (HCI), platforms, programming, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Google is sharing its powerful AI with everyone in its cloud — from wired.com by Cade Metz

Excerpt:

Google is once again sharing its state-of-art artificial intelligence with the rest of the world.

[On 3/323/16] at an event in San Francisco, the company unveiled a new family of cloud computing services that allow any developer or business to use the machine learning technologies that power some of Google’s most powerful services.

HP announces new machine learning as a service offering — from business-standard.com by
The products were unveiled at the HPE Advanced Analytics World Tour 2016

Excerpt:

Technology major Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) today announced the commercial launch of Haven OnDemand, a cloud platform that provides advanced machine learning application programme interfaces and services that enable developers, startups and enterprises to build data-rich mobile and enterprise applications.

The company also announced a new version of Idol analytics platform, which applies data analytics and machine learning for organisations to automate and supplement a vast array of manual-based tasks such as trend analysis and video surveillance.

#DesignInTech Report 2016 [KPCB]

On 03/16/2016, in business, career development, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, curriculum, design, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, K-12 related, MBA, microlearning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, online learning, platforms, professional development, programming, real-world assignments, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, technology (general), training / L&D, trends, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, by Daniel Christian

#DesignInTech Report 2016 — from kpcb.com

Some excerpted slides:

Introducing first ever experiences for the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition — from blogs.windows.com by Kudo Tsunoda

Excerpt:

I am super excited about today’s announcement that the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition is available for pre-order. We set out on a mission to deliver the world’s first untethered holographic computer and it is amazing to finally be at this point in time where developers will be receiving the very first versions so they can start building their own holographic experiences.
…
With HoloLens, we are committed to providing the development community with the best experience possible. In order to help get developers started creating experiences for HoloLens, we’ve provided a number of great resources. First of all, there is a complete set of documentation provided to developers both by the people who have created the platform and by the people who have been building holographic experiences. We want to share all of our holographic knowledge with developers so they can start bringing their holographic dreams to reality as easily as possible. We have also provided a host of tutorial videos to help people along. All of the documentation and videos can be found at dev.windows.com/holographic.

Don’t rule out tvOS for some powerful learning experiences / new affordances [Christian]

On 02/26/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communities of practice, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, flipping -- inverted learning, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, multimedia, online learning, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, programming, second screen apps, training / L&D, universities, usability, user experience (UX), using teams, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Don’t rule out tvOS for some powerful learning experiences / new affordances. The convergence of the television, the telephone, and the computer continues…and is now coming into your home. Trainers, faculty members, teachers, developers, and others will want to keep an eye on this space. The opportunities are enormous, especially as second screen-based apps and new forms of human computer interfaces (HCI) unfold.

The following items come to my mind:

Online-based communities of practice. Virtual reality, virtual tutoring. Intelligent systems. Artificial intelligence. Global learning. 24×7, lifelong learning. Career development. Flipping the classroom. Homeschooling. Learning hubs. Online learning. Virtual schools. Webinars on steroids.

With the reach of these powerful technologies (that continue to develop), I would recommend trying to stay informed on what’s happening in the world of tvOS-based apps in the future. Towards that end, below are some items that might help.

Apple releases Apple TV Tech Talks video series for building better tvOS apps — by AppleInsider Staff

Excerpt:

Apple on Wednesday released to developers a series of videos focusing on Apple TV and its tvOS operating system, offering a detailed look at the underlying SDK, resources and best practices associated with coding for the platform.

Also see:

Apple publishes Apple TV Tech Talk videos for developers — from todaysiphone.com

Addendum on 2/26/16:

Apple Adds Multiple New App Categories to tvOS App Store — from macrumors.com by Juli Clover
Excerpt:
[On 2/25/16] Apple updated the tvOS App Store to add several new app categories to make it easier for Apple TV 4 owners to find content on their devices. As outlined by AfterPad, a site that showcases Apple TV apps, the new categories are rolling out to Apple TV users and may not be available to everyone just yet. Some users may only see the new categories under Purchased Apps until the rollout is complete.

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