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NEWS HIGHLIGHTS:
• LEGO® Education WeDo 2.0 is a hands-on, elementary science solution that develops science practices in the classroom through a robot-based learning system.
• Correlated to standards-based projects, the solution engages and motivates students to solve real-world science problems by working with engineering, technology and coding through the LEGO® brick,
classroom-friendly software and 40+ hours of hands-on projects.
• LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 strengthens students’ understanding and develops competencies across key science topics including physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences and engineering.

CES – LAS VEGAS – NEWS RELEASE – January 5, 2016 – Today, LEGO® Education announced LEGO Education WeDo 2.0, a hands-on science solution designed for elementary classrooms using a robot-based learning system. The unique solution combines the LEGO® brick, classroom-friendly software and engaging, standards-based projects to teach elementary students essential science practices and skills . With WeDo 2.0, students explore, create and share their scientific discoveries as they build, program and modify projects. Through a series of collaborative challenges, they deeply engage with science, engineering, technology, and coding, sparking a love for experimentation and investigation. Teachers receive support through training, curriculum and built -in assessment. The result – a resource that builds students’ confidence to ask questions, define problems, and design their own solutions by putting scientific discovery in their hands.

Featuring curriculum that contains 40+ hours of lessons and activities built on key science standards for 2nd-4th grades, WeDo 2.0 enables students to engage with the science practices and engineering habits of mind by testing multiple designs through eight guided and eight open-ended projects. For example, in the “Drop and Rescue” project, students are challenged to design a device to reduce the impacts on humans, animals and the environment after an area has been damaged by a weather-related hazard. Students can prototype solutions to a challenge where there is no single right answer helping teach creativity and problem-solving skills. This also enables educators to tailor lessons to meet all students’ needs, no matter their abilities.

“Teachers know that science and technology skills are crucial for today’s elementary school students, but providing engaging projects that mean something in the real world is a challenge,” said Jeffrey Marlow, a Geobiologist at Harvard University and founder of The Mars Academy education and development program. “WeDo 2.0 offers projects that let students discover the surface of Mars with a model rover, or explore the Amazon rainforest thro ugh frog metamorphosis. These science lessons do more than just teach students facts to memorize – they represent an immersive experience that instills a deeper understanding of the scientific method and evidence -based reasoning. Not only are these skills central to science- and technology-based fields but providing a platform for our students to spark that one idea that could change the world is something they can build on for the rest of their lives.”

The wireless platform includes a Bluetooth low-energy Smarthub element; an electronic based building brick that is part of the LEGO Power Functions (LPF); a new technology platform for LEGO Education; one motor; one tilt and one motion sensor. The WeDo 2.0 Core software is an essential and easy-to-use component that is colorful, age- appropriate and has a drag-n-drop interface that is graphical in nature. It also contains a documentation tool that enables students to document their problem solving process and provides an assessment opportunity for teachers.

LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 is available today on iPad, Android, PC, and Macs. Chrome Book support will be available in the second half of 2016. A Scratch interface for WeDo 2.0 (both web-based and stand-alone) will be available for Macs in February 2016 and for PC/Windows in June 2016. For information on how to implement

LEGO WeDo 2.0 in your school, or how to transition to WeDo 2.0 from WeDo, visit www.LEGOeducation.us/WeDo

About LEGO® Educati on:
LEGO® Education offers playful learning experiences and teaching solutions based on the LEGO® system of bricks,
curriculum-relevant material, and physical and digital resources to preschool, elementary, middle school, and after school. In partnership with educators for more than 35 years, we support teaching in an inspiring, engaging, and effective way. Our educational solutions, which range from humanities to science, enable every student to succeed by encouraging them to become active, collaborative learners, build skills for future challenges, and establish a positive mind-set toward learning.

LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of the LEGO Group. ©2016 The LEGO Group.

The post LEGO® Education Brings Science to Life for Elementary Students with WeDo 2.0 appeared first on Good News!.

I thought it would be fitting to start with some news involving Project Runway, since that’s a show we all know and many of us enjoy. As you know, there have been two spinoffs: Project Runway All-Stars, and the brand new Project Runway Threads. Brother is the exclusive sewing & Embroidery licensee of the show and provides all the machines used on the show….and this month, Brother is launching its new “Brother Loves Fashion” campaign, “celebrating the designer in you.”

If you haven’t paid much attention to sewing machines lately, you’ll probably be shocked at the high-tech advances in their latest machines . At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Brother introduced its latest top of the line DREAM MACHINE which embroiders, sews, quilts and does craft work.

How is this machine different from any that came before?

It includes My Design Center which has been enhanced to integrate industry first InnovEye® technology (it’s like having a built-in camera!), offering new design capabilities at your fingertips, all without a PC! You can scan in a design and turn it into embroidery that you can stitch out! That also means you don’t need a PC to help you create your runway designs.Now, if you can draw it or scan it, you can stitch it.

THE DREAM MACHINE also has the largest built-in LCD screen you can get on a sewing machine—yes, sewing machines have LCD screens now— so you can create all your embroidery designs on that ten-inch screen —and you can also watch 40 pre-loaded tutorial videos, or plug in your own videos or music…

The most newsworthy thing about this new machine is the fact that Consumers Digest has declared THE DREAM MACHINE a Best Buy, and as you know that is a very big achievement. We think everyone who has ever tried to sew or EMBROIDER anything will want to know about how Brother has advanced the industry.

(if asked):

This dream machine will set you back about $14 thousand dollars, and that is indeed a best buy for a machine that can do so many things.

SEGMENT TWO: PHORUS (YOU CAN MOVE THESE SEGMENTS AROUND AS NEEDED IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE ORDER):

One thing you’ll notice at all the Fashion Week events is the importance of music. Music adds life to any event, to any space.

And that’s why you’ll find a company called Phorus here this week—they have created a way for all of us to do something that used to only be possible for a very few, and that is to have streaming music throughout our homes and workplaces– always synchronized, perfectly lossless — music.

And not just the music you own… but the online music you love, like Pandora, and, very soon, Spotify. And thousands of other online music services from around the world!

And you don’t have to buy a new stereo system. You can just plug in this sleek black receiver, which turns your current stereo system into an unlimited music streaming machine. It works with Bluetooth, Apple’s AirPlay, and the technology called DTS Play-Fi.

When you see the Play Fi logo, you know you’ll be getting a perfect lossless audio stream. And because there are thousands of Play-Fi sites, that’s pretty much an unlimited supply of music.

Phorus can make things even easier for you with their own wireless speakers, which work with your existing wi-fi network —and stream music from your smartphone—whatever it is!—or your tablet or your PC or even your Kindle. These are where the party really gets started—plenty of punch and plenty of bass—wireless… and very stylish…and super-easy setup. — the only hard part is deciding which of your thousands of music options you want to tune into.

You can follow them on Twitter—see the two hashtags here—or learn more about their speakers….their receivers that let you use your own WiFi to stream music through your existing stereo….and also about Play Fi, and what it does—

—by visiting their website at Phorus-dot-com. That’s Phorus with a PH.

SEGMENT THREE: OKU

Here’s some news that I know will be of interest to ALL of us who are TRYING TO KEEP OUR SKIN LOOKING ITS BEST—

IT’S A SENSOR CALLED THE OKU, WHICH IS SPELLED O-K-U— YOU CAN SEE THEY’RE AT “AT GET-OKU” ON TWITTER—

IT’S AN IPHONE-CONNECTED SENSOR THAT SCANS YOUR SKIN LOOKING FOR ALL KINDS OF CONDITIONS AND POTENTIAL PROBLEMS, IT TELLS YOU ABOUT MOISTURE, TEXTURE, WRINKLES—YES, EVEN WRINKLES—AND IT GIVES YOUR SKIN A SCORE BASED ON ITS OVERALL CONDITION.

BEST OF ALL, IT CAN THEN GIVE YOU ADVICE ABOUT WHAT TO DO TO MAKE YOUR SKIN LOOK AND FEEL BETTER. IT COMES WITH ITS OWN DOCKING STATION AND YOU CAN PRE-ORDER IT NOW FOR TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS; THEY ARE EXPECTING TO SHIP THE FIRST UNITS THIS SPRING, AND HOPE TO ADD AN ANDROID VERSION BY LATE THIS YEAR.

SEGMENT FOUR: PARENT TECH

Our next news items are all about parents and children—and health.

You are your child’s primary caregiver — and that starts even before birth. Intel is supporting the technology behind BabyGuard, which is a wearable belly wrap that can monitor the health of unborn babies. Because sometimes as an expectant mom you don’t want to have to wait until the next sonogram or checkup to know how things are going. It’s just a working prototype now, but could become a real product soon.

Taking the temperature of a restless, squirming child has always been a challenge, but the Kinsa smartphone thermometer makes it easier. It plugs into the headphone jack of your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy Android phone, and you can track the child’s temperature—or a grown-up’s temperature—over time to see if they’re getting better. It’s about thirty dollars and you can buy it online on Amazon dot com.

AND LOOK, we all know people who are really into Instagram and want to have a snapshot for every important moment. This is the perfect wearable for those folks—it’s called the Narrative Clip Two, and it’s a camera that is constantly taking pictures of whatever you’re seeing. Just clip it onto anything and it takes high-definition photos and sends them wirelessly to your smartphone — or to the cloud. It’s about 150-dollars online.

(tag): It might seem a bit weird now to have a camera on your shirt-button— your friends might think you’ve got them under surveillance— but if you want to capture a special moment and keep your hands free, it starts to make more sense.

SEGMENT FIVE: BATTLE OF THE SMARTWATCHES:

2015 is going to be a historic year as we see the return of the wrist-watch as a fashion statement, only it will be much more than that, of course—these new smartwatches will keep track of our health, our schedules– and our every move!

(TAKE VO)

The G-Watch is Android-powered, it has an always-on display but still goes a full day on a battery charge. It’s water and dust resistant, and can learn to anticipate what you need to know— weather reports, flight information, and that sort of thing. You also can ask it questions by voice, simply by starting with the words “OK Google…” as in, OK Google, what time does the Michael Kors runway show start?

Meanwhile, Samsung has also entered the fray with two different models, the Gear S and the Gear Fit. The Gear S has a huge 2-inch display which means you can scroll through your messages and facebook notifications more easily; you can also make calls and send texts directly from this watch, without your phone nearby!

The Gear Fit is aimed at the exercise market, with lots of fitness tracking functions. You can read your notifications but you still need a companion Android phone to make calls. Millions of people are not in the iPhone biosphere, so, for them, it’s Android to the rescue—BUT WHETHER YOU ARE IN THE APPLE UNIVERSE OR THE ANDROID UNIVERSE…THINK ABOUT THIS: how many wrists that are bare today will still be sporting some kind of smartwatch by the end of this year?

SEGMENT SIX: KNOW YOUR BODY

You see where all this is headed—we want to know more and more about our bodies and our health—

TAKE VO:

So much so, that we are now seeing “ingestibles,” which is what a company called Proteus is calling its sensors. You swallow the sensor in a pill—THE SENSOR IS so small that they have to put it inside a pill so you can actually know you’re swallowing it.

The sensor is powered by acid in your stomach and sends info to a patch on your skin which then communicates with your smartphone. In the future, this may be how DOCTORS MONITOR OUR HEALTH— BY HAVING US SWALLOW A DIAGNOSTIC GADGET—AS SMALL AS A GRAIN OF SAND.

Next is something Google is working on; a contact lens that can measure the sugar in your blood and tell you when it’s too high or too low. Google says about 400-million diabetics could benefit from this kind of lens, which THEY SAY WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO BE MADE IN COLORS, AND MADE TO YOUR EYEGLASS PRESCRIPTION. Sure beats having to prick your finger all the time!

And some of you may have heard the buzz about this at CES—it’s the MUSE, a headband that measures brain activity. It reportedly is very accurate at measuring focus and concentration, and the group behind THIS WEARABLE says it can be used to train us to avoid distractions and be more productive. So if you’re a boss you are probably thinking, wow! And if you’ve GOT a boss, you’re probably thinking, uh-oh….

SEGMENT SEVEN: VELODYNE

Now let’s get back to fashion:

(take vo):

walk down the streets of New York and it seems that everyone is listening to their phones. So why not make your headphones into a fashion statement? That is the idea behind the VERY popular line of “headphone skins” from Velodyne—real art from real artists, translated into different materials and textures. You can swap them out to suit your mood; and their high-end wireless bluetooth headphones are comparable in price to others like the popular Beats headphones—all of them are around 300-dollars, and a new set of skins is under 20-dollars.

SEGMENT EIGHT: FITNESS WEARABLES

Let’s talk about the new wave of fitness clothing that has tracking sensors literally sewn right into the fabric. These are the hot trendright now with hard-core workout fanatics…

Two of the leading smart-workout companies, Athos and Hexoskin, are here in this video-ATHOS is a sensor that fits into a pouch, whereas Hexoskin is literally a skin, the sensors are sewn right into the fabric. Both can track everything you want to know about your workout.

And if you want to keep it stylish while still keeping track of everything, a French company has come out with the Activite (Act-i-vi-TEE) watch, which is actually an analog-face watch with some very high-tech sensors that you never see.

The watch feeds all your activity data to a smartphone, so you can be super-nerdy without looking even the least bit nerdy. It comes in a big range of colors….

Some companies don’t just make sensors, they create entire eco-systems. iFit showed us what that means at the recent CES show in Las Vegas: In the future, YOU’LL HAVE SENSORS IN YOUR BED, YOUR SHOES, EVEN YOUR BLENDER…. all these devices will be MEASURING AND MONITORING YOUR FITNESS, YOUR DIET, EVEN YOUR SLEEP PATTERNS.

These sensors will communicate with other machines, and that will make it possible for you to have workouts tailored to your body.

SO–AS YOU KNOW, EVERBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THE INTERNET OF THINGS. WELL, THE LATEST MACHINE TO BE ADDED TO THE INTERNET OF THINGS CAN NOW BE YOU—YOUR BODY.

SEGMENT NINE: KICKER/FUTURIFFIC

And that brings me to a wearable that REALLY makes your body part of the Internet of Things, and that is the Nymi band (NIM-ee). It memorizes your heartbeat which is unique to you no matter what you’re doing. Most people don’t know that their heartbeat is unique just like a fingerprint. But because it is, the Nymi can send the “ok” signal to things you want to unlock, whether it’s a car door or a computer password or a hotel room or anything at all that needs a password or needs to be locked.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been running around or drinking coffee—and your heartrate is up— it still knows you are you.

So if you have trouble remembering all your passwords, take heart—no pun intended—because in the near future, your heart may unlock all those things for you. And what better way to end this week than with a story about heart.

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Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd., India’s leading entertainment and Education Company for young audiences, announced the worldwide launch of “ACK Comics’, Amar Chitra Katha’s official digital comic store app. The ‘ACK Comics’ app will give users from all over the world access to the entire range of Amar Chitra Katha titles including the latest blockbusters.

 ​ Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd. has partnered with Ninestars Information Technologies Pvt. Ltd (www.ninestars.in) on this product. As a digital partner to Amar Chitra Katha, Ninestars has designed and developed apps for all three platforms – iOS, Android and Windows 8. The app draws its strength from great content, its intuitiveuser experience and is a full-fledged digital comic store.

“Amar Chitra Katha is one of India’s most cherished icons that has created and preserved values and belief systems for generations of Indians. Through its digital presence we would be able to cater to the new generation of Indians. It will also be a perfect vehicle to globalize Indian values and beliefs, that make Indian culture so unique and so fascinating”, said Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group.

 “Amar Chitra Katha is known to be one of the biggest storytellers and is one of the most popular comic book series amongst Indians and NRIs. We are very excited about the launch of ACK Comics, Amar Chitra Katha’s first digital comic store app. Digitalization of Amar Chitra Katha was the next step towards making our comics available to the net savvy Gen Z. With the launch of the ACK Comics App, we can now reach out to millions of readers who can access the vast treasure of Indian storytelling on their fingertips. Every title has been painstakingly renewed to provide a super digital reading experience” said Mr. Manas Mohan CEO, Publishing Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd.

 The “ACK COMICS” app is a gateway to India’s most favourite and timeless stories. The app makes the entire Amar Chitra Katha catalogue of digital comics accessible on most tablets and PCs, and hence to millions of homes worldwide. The app has been designed to give users a great reading experience with newly re-coloured and digitally re-mastered comics that look great on digital devices. The app also connects the readers with the ACK editorial team and the larger ACK community”, said Mr. Shubhadeep Bhattacharya, Business Head – Digital, Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd.

The ACK Comics app is a one-stop destination for the entire range of Amar Chitra Katha digital comics.  Users can download and read their comics on multiple devices using a single useraccount. The digital comic can be read in flipbook mode, which is the standard format of reading page-by-page or panel-by-panel mode for easy reading on smaller devices.

To download the Amar Chitra Katha App for Windows 8, users can visit:

http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/app/ack-comics/d35b8045-7f57-4d58-a746-7c6598e22d36

To download the Amar Chitra Katha App for Android, users can visit:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ns.ack

To download the Amar Chitra Katha App for Apple, users can visit:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ack-comics/id633372668?ls=1&mt=8

To know more about ACK Comics app, please visit:

http://digital.amarchitrakatha.com/

The post India’s Iconic Story-Teller Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) goes Digital appeared first on Good News!.

Save 50% on books for Grandparents Day  

SeniorNet Members, Volunteers, and Supporters,

This Sunday, September 8th, marks the 25th annual celebration of Grandparents Day, a day intended to honor grandparents and seniors and recognize their contributions to our community. Celebrate Grandparents Day with SeniorNet with a 50% off discount on computer and technology-related books from Que Publishing.

Find books on a wide variety of technology-related subjects. Topics include:

• Operating systems: Windows 7, Windows 8, Mac OSX
• Software: Office 2010 and 2013, Adobe software, and much more
• Smartphones and tablets: iPads, iPhones, Windows Phone, Android, etc.
• Websites: Facebook, LinkedIn, eBay, etc.

Click on the image below to visit the Que website and choose your books.

Happy Grandparents Day from SeniorNet!

Sincerely,

Leslie M. Smith

Chairman

The post SeniorNet Grandparents Day Book Sale appeared first on Good News!.

EarthCam Celebrates Their 16th Anniversary with the Premiere of New Times Square Webcam Locations

WHAT: Sixteen years ago, EarthCam, Inc. was founded in New York, NY. Thursday, August 30th marks this innovative technology company’s anniversary and we are celebrating by sharing fresh, exciting webcam locations in Times Square, the Crossroads of the World! Tourists, natives and street performers can wave to viewers around the globe in front of our new StreetCam on the west side of 47th and Broadway. High above the Great White Way, the CrossroadsCam streams the bustling sounds and colorful lights of 7th Avenue.

WHY: The world’s most popular tourist destination, Times Square, is always evolving and EarthCam is ahead of the curve, replacing the world-famous 46th Street webcam locations with a new perspective. As they say on Broadway, “The show must go on!”

The live views and sounds of Times Square are available 24/7 at no cost to everyone, just click here: http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/

The new Times Square cameras can also be viewed on-the-go with EarthCam’s exclusive mobile device application. Take an instant snapshot and share with friends on Facebook and Twitter. To download the EarthCam mobile app, visit: http://www.earthcam.com/mobile/applications/timessquare/

Connect with EarthCam!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/EarthCam/378827966436

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/earthcam

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/earthcam

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/earthcam

The post Lisa Kelly, EarthCam.com appeared first on Good News!.

EarthCam Celebrates Their 16th Anniversary with the Premiere of New Times Square Webcam Locations

WHAT: Sixteen years ago, EarthCam, Inc. was founded in New York, NY. Thursday, August 30th marks this innovative technology company’s anniversary and we are celebrating by sharing fresh, exciting webcam locations in Times Square, the Crossroads of the World! Tourists, natives and street performers can wave to viewers around the globe in front of our new StreetCam on the west side of 47th and Broadway. High above the Great White Way, the CrossroadsCam streams the bustling sounds and colorful lights of 7th Avenue.

WHY: The world’s most popular tourist destination, Times Square, is always evolving and EarthCam is ahead of the curve, replacing the world-famous 46th Street webcam locations with a new perspective. As they say on Broadway, “The show must go on!”

The live views and sounds of Times Square are available 24/7 at no cost to everyone, just click here: http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/

The new Times Square cameras can also be viewed on-the-go with EarthCam’s exclusive mobile device application. Take an instant snapshot and share with friends on Facebook and Twitter. To download the EarthCam mobile app, visit: http://www.earthcam.com/mobile/applications/timessquare/

Connect with EarthCam!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/EarthCam/378827966436

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/earthcam

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/earthcam

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/earthcam

The post Lisa Kelly, EarthCam appeared first on Good News!.