Apple Offers New Swift Learning Tools and Free Hour of Code

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Apple brings free hour of code sessions from Dec 1- Dec 14 at all Apple Store Locations

Apple revealed new resources to help students learning coding in their Everyone Can Code program, first launched in 2016. Apple customers can register for a free Hour of Code session, available from December 1 through 14 at all Apple Store locations around the world. More than 5,000 schools, community colleges and technical colleges worldwide are using Everyone Can Code curriculum today.

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To help students learn coding outside of a classroom, Apple also introduced Swift Coding Club kit materials for kids aged 8 and up to accompany learning Swift, Apple’s programming language by collaborating, prototyping apps and exploring how coding can make a difference with fun activities. In addition, Apple also has offered an Advanced Placement curriculum and App Development program with Swift certification for older students.

The Hour of Code program is in its sixth year and part of the Today at Apple series. There are a variety of sessions available, with Kids Hour sessions for kids aged six to 12 to explore coding with robots. Kids aged 12 and older can attend sessions with Swift Playgrounds and iPad to learn coding concepts.

Apple also is offering a new Hour of Code Facilitator Guide to help educators host sessions for Swift playgrounds and iPad apps, as part of Computer Science Education Week. Swift Playgrounds is available as a free download in the App Store in 15 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Japanese.

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Preparing Students Today for the Workforce of Tomorrow

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By the start of the next school year, Apple will release a free AP Computer Science Principles course syllabus and curriculum, giving high school students the opportunity to earn Advanced Placement (AP) credit for learning App Development with Swift. The App Development with Swift Level 1 certification exams are offered through Certiport Authorized Testing Centers worldwide.

Apple Music Launching on Amazon's Echo Devices Dec 17th Week

Apple and Amazon announced that Apple Music will launch on Echo devices starting the week of December 17. Apple Music subscribers will be able to ask Alexa to play favorite songs, artists, playlists, albums using Echo speakers.

“Music is one of the most popular features on Alexa—since we launched Alexa four years ago, customers are listening to more music in their homes than ever before.”

— Dave Limp, Senior VP, Amazon Devices

Alexa app users can link their accounts to listen to Apple Music on Echo speakers. Apple Music will join existing music streaming services available on Alexa such as Spotify, Pandora and iHeartRadio.

“We are committed to offering great music providers to our customers and since launching the Music Skill API to developers just last month, we’ve expanded the music selection on Alexa to include even more top tier services. We’re thrilled to bring Apple Music – one of the most popular music services in the US – to Echo customers this holiday.”

— Dave Limp, Senior VP, Amazon Devices

Image via Apple

Apple Music currently has 56 million subscribers, including free trial members. Apple has been looking at different ways to grow its audiences such as acquiring iHeartMedia and expanding HomePod capabilities for immersive home audio experiences. Earlier this week, Apple revealed its list of the top apps, games, music, podcasts, movies, tv shows and books shaping entertainment and popular culture.

Lego Makes AR instantly Accessible

After a demo at WWDC earlier this year, LEGO launched the LEGO AR Playgrounds app for iPhone and iPad. 

The app uses ARKit to put digital LEGO characters into real-world environments and to interact with physical LEGO sets. It is a great way to introduce AR. A kid playing with the LEGO app can select various physical characters such as Ninjago Dragon Hunters and then interact with pre-selected sets in augmented reality. The two sets currently available that work well with AR include the LEGO Ninjago Dieselnaut (70654) and the Lego Ninjago Dragon's Pit (70655). 

ARKit enables multiple users so two people can play using the same playground. Two players can team up to battle against Dragon Hunters and figure out their attacks and how to win.

"Children today are mastering the art of finding new moments and forms of play and LEGO Playgrounds will provide a 'live' opportunity to test and learn directly with them. It's truly a unique way to engage with them in a fun and experimental way and bring them close to our innovation process. Having this direct-link to users creates a win for everybody – sharing the latest play experiences is great fun for children and highly useful for our LEGO design and development teams who can take their feedback and use it to make launch experiences even better and more engaging."

Augmented reality demo from Lego, Tech Crunch interview with Lego’s director of innovation, Martin Sanders about how they're building AR into the company strategy.

You can play up to five levels without a physical set. You will just nee a flat surface to play on. The app is free to use and free of ads, marketing messages and in-app purchases. To use the AR features, you will need at least an iPhone 6s with the latest iOS version. More information is available at Lego.