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Microsoft wants to teach blind kids to code.

I know i will seam like an Ahol  for saying this, but seriously Microsoft, you haven’t found any thing simpler to teach blind kids? or is this just a PR stunt ?

Yes there is a big demand for programmers, but programming is very hard to learn, much much more for blind kids!!! And i am sure blind kids would need much more important life skills than coding.

There might be some good intentions there, but still, i think it’s just a PR stunt!

here’s the announcement on Microsoft blog These days, most kids get their first introduction to coding through simplified tools that let them drag and drop blocks of commands, creating programs that can do things like navigate mazes or speed through space.A team of Microsoft researchers and designers in the company’s Cambridge, UK, lab is taking that concept one step further. The team has created what they are calling a physical programming language. It’s a way for kids to physically create code by connecting pods together to build programs.The system, called Project Torino, is designed to make sure that kids who have visual impairments or other challenges can participate in coding classes along with all their classmates. But Cecily Morrison, one of the researchers working on the project, is hoping the system also will be appealing and useful for all learners, regardless of whether they have visual impairments or other challenges.

Color can convey a mood or elicit a particular emotion and, in terms of web design, color can influence attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors. However, many websites demonstrate inaccessible color choices. Numerous online color palette design tools only focus on assisting designers with either the aesthetics or accessibility of colors.

This paper in ACM TACCESS presents the Accessible Color Evaluator (ACE, daprlab.com/ace) which enhances web developers’ and designers’ ability to balance aesthetic and accessibility constraints.

Courtesy: ACM

Hi-tech wonders such as robots and other artificial intelligence (AI) gadgets are highlighting the 2017 World Intelligence Congress (WIC), which kicked off Thursday in north China's Tianjin Municipality. James Valles reporting. (BNO News)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_i5r0aBkeuw?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque

5 Multi Tools You Have To Check Out in 2017

Making AI systems that see the world as humans do

A Northwestern University team developed a new computational model that performs at human levels on a standard intelligence test. This work is an important step toward making artificial intelligence systems that see and understand the world as humans do.

“The model performs in the 75th percentile for American adults, making it better than average,” said Northwestern Engineering’s Ken Forbus. “The problems that are hard for people are also hard for the model, providing additional evidence that its operation is capturing some important properties of human cognition.”

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