Google recently announced the availability of its 'Code with Google' utility - a new tool for teaching school-age children the basics of computer coding.  It works with a combination of Google's own curriculum and other resources, and is free.  The resource was created to make coding learning tools available in a educational environment where tech skills are stressed, but rarely taught.  It is often the more affluent school districts that have the resources to create coding courses - and the talent in less well off districts is left behind.  Google hopes to bridge this gap, especially with

Riviera Beach, a city of 6 million on Florida's eastern coast, recently found itself in the grip of hackers who brought down its 911 and email system.  Their attack started with a simple email to the police department in May, whose attachment contained a virus that quickly infected computers on the network.  However, what the city did next is what's newsworthy - they paid the $600,000 ransom to the hackers to get their system back.  At this time, it's unknown if the hackers held up their end of the deal.  The city is also in the process of replacing computers and working with security exper

Take a look at just about any new car these days and it'll be filled with tech - lane departure warning systems, cameras everywhere, and even self-driving cars.  But new concern is developing about the infotainment systems now found in cars, their integration with owners' mobile phones, and what happens with the data generated.

Those of us who've had the opportunity to know the deaf or blind/visually impaired have had a small glimpse into an entirely new world where connectively tools must work differently.  The deaf "hear" with their eyes and the blind "see" with their ears.  As a consequence, mobile phones that rely on both audio and visual functions rarely serve their needs straight out of the box.  To address this a variety of helpful mobile apps have entered the market and are revolutionizing communications for the deaf and blind.

Recently, a human kidney took its own way to the hospital - by way of drone.  The organ, destined for transplant in an ill 44 year old from Baltimore, found itself as part of a larger project organized by doctors, researchers, aviation experts, and engineers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.  The project has also been supported by The Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland, a nonprofit that helps to enable organ and tissue donation and their needed transportation steps.

Ask any American about their last trip to a government office and it's nearly guaranteed that you'd hear about long waits, inefficient processes, slow computers, and unpleasant staff.  These issues are so prevalent that they're often satirized in our media.  While some individual states have made strides by investing in better training and moving some services online, the problem is far from solved.  Now, California senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris wants to improve government tech system-wide with her new Digital Service Act bill.  This bill is aimed to provide funding for s

This year at CES 2019, Segway announced its new Loomo Delivery product, a robot developed to handle deliveries in buildings and malls.  Fully autonomous, Loomo Delivery can navigate around obstacles and through crowds and handle tasks such as mail delivery (straight from the mail carrier) and moving documents through an office environment.  It could even bring you a snack.  They're smart enough to figure out where deliveries need to go, and feature interactive screens, and can even work an elevator.  Its cloud or 4G connectivity also handles dispatch, updates, scheduling, and monitoring.

In a humorous twist, this week it's the robots that have lost their jobs to humans.  The Henn-na Hotel in Japan was opened with bright hopes of a fully robotic operation, but was recently forced to shelve half of its 243 robots.

Among the layoffs:

Samsung, the popular electronics manufacturer, has announced headway into their work to develop technologies that allow televisions to be controlled with brain waves alone.  This technology is being developed with the disabled in mind - such as quadriplegics or people with other conditions that affect the use of their hands.  Samsung's goal is to create the ability for these people to change channels and adjust sound volume with their mind.

Saint Louis University (SLU) recently introduced 2,300 Amazon Echo Dot assistants to its student living spaces in an effort to make information more readily available on demand.  These devices have been customized to be able to answer specific questions about the university, such as library hours, and there are plans to expand their implementation into classrooms, offices, and meeting rooms.