PM Justin Trudeau joins Canada Learning Code and Code.org for global launch of Hour of Code

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joinedHadi Partovi of C ode.org and Melissa Sariffodeen of Canada Learning Code for the global launch of the 2016 Computer Science Education Week and the international Hour of Code campaign.

Hour of Code aims to introduce every student in the world to computing and broaden awareness and participation in computer science education. During the December 5th event, over 40 students from DA Moodie and Collège Catholique Samuel Genest, local schools, visited the Shopify offices to learn about technology careers and then took a 1-hour introductory coding workshop alongside Prime Minister Trudeau.

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Netflix announces Christmas special and season premiere for ‘Sense8’

For fans of the Netflix sci-fi drama Sense8, the latest news is sure to be a great Christmas gift. The show will be streaming a special on December 23 and will come back for a second season on May 5, 2017. It might seem like such a long wait since the 12-episode season was released back in June 2015. But perhaps the Christmas special could tide some of you over until the new season airs.

Sense8 is an Emmy-nominated show from Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski and The Matrix creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski. Lilly Wachowski will supposedly be stepping back from the series, though. The story focuses on eight strangers from around the world that they are “sensates” or humans who are mentally and emotionally linked.

Source: CNET

Virgin Galactic completes glide test of VSS Unity

Following a tragic crash back in 2014, Virgin Galactic tries again with the “new SpaceShipTwo” and completes the first glide test for VSS Unity. The aircraft was up in the air for 10 minutes and didn’t travel faster than Mach 0.6 but it showed how the Unity behaves in an actual flight. There will be more tests in the future and it won’t be until sometime in 2017 when rocket-powered flights will be made (perhaps even later). This all depends on how quickly Virgin Galactic gets the information before actual spaceflight happens.

Today, VSS Unity flew free for the first time. Here's a glimpse into our successful test flight this morning #SpaceShipTwo pic.twitter.com/m05UGYy7nq

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 3, 2016

Source: Engadget

Apple looks to be working on an autonomous system for cars

Apple has been rumoured to have put a halt to its secret autonomous vehicle initiative. But it seems it hasn’t abandoned the idea after all. A new regulatory filing uncovered by VentureBeat shows Apple’s intent for working in said industry. In a letter to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Apple urges the government to not restrict testing of self-driving vehicles so that there will be safe deployment of “highly automated vehicles.” Apple says in the letter that they use machine learning in different aspects, including transportation industry.

The tech giant also hopes that both existing manufacturers and “new entrants” be treated equally to make the most of the safety benefits of the technology. This can be interpreted as Apple hoping it gets the same treatment as other more established manufacturers working in the autonomous vehicle space. According to a statement released to Financial Times, Apple says the letter is the company’s way to make sure that the NHTSA defines the best practices for the “machine learning and autonomous systems.” Apple won’t outright discuss its efforts in the field yet but this hints at the possibility that Apple is still working on at the very least a self-driving platform.

Source: 9to5Mac