Apple to offer free coding and fun challenges in stores for Hour of Code

Apple today opened registration for thousands of free Hour of Code sessions available at all Apple Stores from December 4 through 10. The company also introduced a new educational challenge in Swift Playgrounds and added new teacher resources to the Everyone Can Code curriculum to help teach Swift, Apple’s easy-to-learn programming language that anyone can use to create world-class apps.

For the fifth year, Apple Stores will participate in Hour of Code with daily coding sessions in celebration of Computer Science Education Week. Young aspiring coders can learn coding basics during a Kids Hour session, while those age 12 and above can use Swift Playgrounds on iPad to learn coding concepts and even program robots. A new Teacher Tuesdays session helps educators learn how to teach code to students using new resources and discussion topics.

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Apple buys AR startup for $30 Million to bolster its own AR headset

Apple has bought Vrvana for $30 million. The AR development company has likely caught Apple's eye for its work on AR headsets which can help the company in its own efforts to create their AR headset. Apple is famously pushing AR as a future interface and its ARKit framework has fueled various apps used on iPhones and iPads and which will likely translate to a headset provided the right components and input mechanisms are available.

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Apple delaying HomePod release until 2018

Apple is postponing the release of its HomePod smart speaker until 2018. The company, which showcased the HomePod along with the iMac Pro during this year's WWDC (World Wide Developer's Conference) is the company's answer to Amazon's Echo and Google Home, speakers that integrate smart assistant technology.

“We can't wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple's breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it's ready for our customers,” an Apple spokesperson said. “We'll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018.

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Review: Apple iPhone X

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

While the original iPhone had no viable competitor (the LG Prada was close, but no cigar), it managed to rewrite the rules of what modern smartphones should be.

2007's iPhone brought multi-touch, it brought real web browsing, actual web-experiences and apps.  These are features we can all take for granted today and which are abundantly available, even on the cheapest smartphone. Hit jump for our review of Apple's all glass flagship.

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