Third annual National Girls Learning Code Day happening on Nov 12

​Ladies Learning Code -- a national not-for-profit offering beginner-friendly tech education -- is proud to announce the third-annual ​National Girls Learning Code Day​. On November 12, 400+ girls ages 8-13 and their parent or guardian will attend simultaneous in-person workshops in more than 25 communities across the country. The full list of participating cities is available at girlslearningcodeday.com 

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Microsoft taking MacBook trade-ins for discounts on Surface models

Microsoft will be happy to take old notebooks including Apple MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros as trade-in fodder for new Surface Pro or Surface Book models in Canada. The promo runs from November 8^th – 22^nd, Microsoft is offering up to $750 toward a new Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book when you trade in a used device.

As Microsoft's fine-print states, "customers must trade-in qualifying Apple MacBook  device (Air or Pro) subject to these terms. Excludes Ipad, newly released Surface Book, Studio devices, and Performance Base models. Any appraised value will be determined at trade-in and provided as a Microsoft online store redemption code and is valid online only." Read more about the promo here.

Some Pixel users experiencing voice and data network disconnection issues

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Google's Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones have been in the market for a number of weeks now but some users are encountering a serious issue where the device disconnects from the LTE network. I have first-hand experience with this issue as my Pixel XL started intermittently disconnecting from the TELUS network in Canada. I noticed this when messages would not be sent and when streaming podcasts or news from the NPR One app would cease to play.

Various attempts to fix this on my part, including restarting the device, removing and re-inserting the SIM card, and even restoring the device after a hard reset, failed to fix the issue which has affected various users who are chiming in on a Reddit post.

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What to expect from Windows 10 Creators Update

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Formerly codenamed 'Redstone 2,' Microsoft's next update to Windows 10, coming in early 2017, is called the 'Creators Update,' and this says a lot about the direction the company is trying to go to. The PC market continues to shrink, yet Microsoft expanded its Surface Pro and Surface Book lines while introducing what they believe is a creator's dream machine, the groundbreaking Surface Studio desktop.

There's a lot to discuss regarding Microsoft's entry into the PC desktop game and I'll reserve that discussion until I've had an opportunity to see the hardware for myself and judge what it can do. Grabbing a key slice of the creative market and moving users to Microsoft hardware looks like a good gamble, specially since Microsoft is unique in offering a fully fleshed out multi-touch and pen-input capable OS which it introduced over four years ago with Windows 8 and the first Surface devices.

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