We believe that the key to getting students excited about computer science is to give them opportunities at ever younger ages to explore their creativity with computer science. That’s why we’re running the Google Code-in contest again this year, and today’s the day students can go to the contest site, register and start looking for tasks that interest them.

Ignacio Rodriguez was just 10 years old when he became curious about Sugar, the open source learning platform introduced nationally to students in Uruguay when he was in elementary school. With the encouragement of his teacher, Ignacio started asking questions of the developers writing and maintaining the code and he started playing around with things, a great way to learn to code. When he turned 14 he entered the Google Code-in contest completing tasks that included writing two new web services for Sugar and he created four new Sugar activities. He even continued to mentor other students throughout the contest period.  His enthusiasm for coding and making the software even better for future users earned him a spot as a 2013 Grand Prize Winner.

Ignacio is one of the 1,575 students from 78 countries that have participated in Google Code-in since 2010. We are encouraging 13-17 year old students to explore the many varied ways they can contribute to open source software development through the Google Code-in contest. Because open source is a collaborative effort, the contest is designed as a streamlined entry point for students into software development by having mentors assigned to each task that a student works on during the contest. Students don’t have to be coders to participate; as with any software project, there are many ways to contribute to the project.  Students will be able to choose from documentation, outreach, research, training, user interface and quality assurance tasks in addition to coding tasks.

This year, students can choose tasks created by 12 open source organizations working on

disaster relief, content management, desktop environments, gaming, medical record systems for developing countries, 3D solid modeling computer-aided design and operating systems to name a few.  

For more information on the contest, please visit the contest site where you can find the timeline, Frequently Asked Questions and information on each of the open source projects students can work with during the seven week contest.

Good luck students!

By Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs

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Posted by Vidya Nagarajan, Product Manager, Chrome for Work

(Cross-posted on the Google for Education Blog.)

Editors note: Chromeboxes help businesses and schools update employees and students with timely information and create a sense of community. To learn more about using Chromebox for digital signage and how it can help your business or school work smarter, join Chrome Live on April 22.

Schools and universities across the country use digital signage to share announcements, news and schedules. Chromeboxes give students waiting in dorm lobbies for friends or standing in the cafeteria line for lunch the opportunity to learn about campus events on the go. And digital signage apps for Chrome built by Rise Vision, one of our content partners, power many of these digital experiences that go beyond traditional campus fliers.

Here are three ways academic institutions are using Chromeboxes for digital signage to better engage and inform students:

Personalizing content at Siena College

Siena College, a private liberal arts college in Loudonville, New York, prizes its close-knit community of 3,000 students. In this intimate class setting, individual departments manage their own content featured on Chromeboxes for display. IT and display managers don’t have to be involved in day-to-day content updates, and each department is nimble and flexible with their content. For example, the Student Senate features content from the athletics and academic departments on several of its screens and those departments directly update their content to ensure it’s relevant and timely.

Cutting IT costs and time at University of Toronto Mississauga

The University of Toronto Mississauga uses its 25 digital signage displays to profile professors, highlight research projects and market events to their more than 12,600 undergraduate students. Their previous display technology required extensive IT time to configure and update. Since Chromeboxes automatically update with new features and security fixes, IT can spend time on other tasks. Chromeboxes have also freed up the University’s budget, since they’re much more affordable than their previous display equipment, which cost $1,300.

Reducing power use at Manor Independent School District

The 20 digital signage displays in the Manor Independent School District notify the 8,000 K-12 students about announcements, lunchroom menus, upcoming events and recent posts from a live Twitter feed. Previously, the schools relied on netbooks to power their screens, which consumed a lot of power, were noisy and crashed often. Chromeboxes, which don’t have fans or spinning hard drives, were a natural fit as the district sought more eco-friendly display solutions.

As universities and school districts continue improving their digital display technology, they’re finding better ways to deliver informative and entertaining content to teachers and current and prospective students. Join Chrome Live to learn how to use Chromebox for digital signage at your school.

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Yesterday I bought second tablet in my Android carrier - Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (N8000). Internet is full of different reviews about this device, so I wont be writing essay about it. What I want to do, is to write about 3 current high-end tablets you can find on the market and why non of them are worth to buy. This concerns: Galaxy Nexus 10, Galaxy Note 10.1 and Asus Transformer Infinity. I will mostly write short pros and cons of each.

Every of these three devices presents different approach of using a tablet:

1. Galaxy Nexus 10 ---> hand only
2. Galaxy Note 10.1 --> hand & active pen
3. Asus Transformer Infinity ---> hand & keyboard dock

Galaxy Nexus 10

The build quality of Nexus 10 is superb. Screen is actually the best on the market. Hardware (CPU, GPU) are top components as well. However, using N10 with only a hand makes this device nothing more then a overgrown phone. You can browse internet, zoom in or zoom out 100 times the same pictures, watch a movie (if you have some battery bank with you), chat with friends etc. You can do all these amazing things... Oh wait... no, you cant! There is no 3G connectivity. So if you are not close to some Wi-Fi hot-spot (you can make one yourself if you have enough mobile data-plan in your smartphone) you can only watch photos, read some e-book or listen to the music. Or you can browse the Internet on your tablet sitting home on the couch with your notebook next to you. I dont know whats so cool in browsing Internet on 10" screen, if you can do it on 15"4 screen as well, with full keyboard and mouse. Lets get back to that hot-spot. Why it sucks? Because now you need 2 battery banks. One for your tablet, and one for your mobile phone.

You might say there are many advanced active pens on the market you can buy and use with your Nexus 10. Sure, you can. Try to make a note having your hand lying on the screen. Its not possible to write anything (at least nothing readable) if there is no software protection against random hand touch (like Samsung has in Note 10.1). So forget about using pen with Nexus 10. Pure Android is not ready yet for active pens.

Pros:

1. Great screen (2560 x 1600)
2. Great hardware
3. Great design

Cons:

1. No 3G connectivity
2. Not ready for active pens, so using this device is limited just to entertainment.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

Now... lets be honest. Im not disappointed with this device. But Im also not that excited as I was when I bought my first tablet - Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101. So whats wrong about it? Its Samsung design, so it feels plastic. And no matter how great and innovatory this plastic will be, it still feels like plastic. Other tablets are plastic too, but when you hold Samsung you feel like holding a cheap plastic. Sorry, its they way I feel. But what is worse, its creaking here and there. Samsung, please! For that price you give us cheap, noisy plastic? Im not saying its creaking a lot. But it shouldnt be creaking at all. Another things is the screen. 1280 x 800 is embarrassing resolution for 101 tablet. This should not happen. Screen quality is just bad. And there is no Gorilla Glass. By the way - S-Pen feels cheap too.

When it comes to connectivity, its one of not many tablets on the market with 3G connection. So if you have a SIM card with at least 2 GB mobile data plan, its a perfect solution to have your tablet connected all the time.

The best thing about this tablet is not S-Pen. Its Samsung software. And trust me - Im a HTC fan so its not easy for me to say that I like anything about Samsung software. But when it comes to using a pen, this is the only tablet on the market with such advanced software for handwriting. There is also great multitasking - you can have active applications on the desktop and work without closing each other. It would take too long to write about all amazing things you can find using this tablet together with S-Pen. If youre looking for a tablet that you can use not only for fun - Note 10.1 its the only right choice.

Pros:

1. Great active pen (S-Pen)
2. Amazing software for handwriting and great multitasking features
3. 3G connectivity

Cons:

1. Plastic design
2. Low resolution (1280 x 800)
3. No Gorilla Glas protection
4. Cracking body

Asus Transformer Infinity

The last one from the TOP 3. Asus tablets are well known from their keyboard dock stations. What is so great about it? In my opinion - nothing. But lets start from the beginning. Screen in this model is somewhere in between Nexus 10 and Galaxy Note 10.1. It has 1920 x 1200 resolution. Not as good as Nexus 10, but decisively much better than Galaxy Note 10.1. It also has IPS+ panel instead of TFT (guess which one have TFT...?). Also there is 3G connectivity. Of course if you find TF700TG version. So far 3G variant seems to be a ghost version, almost like Nexus 10 in some countries. Build quality is very good, I like the design as well. Again, its between Nexus 10 and Samsung. Not that good as N10, but much better then Note 10.1.

When it comes to software I must say I pretty like it. GUI is not as expanded as HTC Sense or Samsung TouchWiz, but it gives you some more widgets and applications than pure Android (Galaxy Nexus 10).

Now the best part - keyboard. This is the approach I find the most ridiculous. And the useless touchpad is lovely too! Just one question - if you need to write fast on your portable device - why using limited Android with quasi-keyboard is better then using ultrabook with Windows (or Linux) Intel CPU, big SSD drive, HD graphic and 4 GB RAM? If you want to carry 101 tablet with external keyboard, you can get Asus or Samsung ultrabook for the same price. With much more features and power under the hood.

Of course you can buy an active pen. But like I mentioned before in Nexus 10 part, using an active pen without a special software is pointless. It just wont work as you could expect.

Pros:

1. Good screen (IPS+ 1920 x 1200)
2. Nice design
3. Good build quality

Cons:

1. Almost not possible to find model with 3G
2. Not ready for active pens, so using this device is limited just to entertainment (if you dont have keyboard dock)
3. If you actually have keyboard dock, think about functionality of such combo against e.g. HP Envy ultrabook.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is no perfect tablet on the market. At least not for me. Some of them are missing 3G, some of them are not yet ready for handwriting. And if there is a tablet with 3G and great handwriting software, it doesnt look as good as it could. Maybe its time for HTC to show some tablet? We havent seen from HTC anything new with 101 screen since a long time.

So what the best tablet should be and look like?

1. Galaxy Nexus 10 build quality and design
2. Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity (additionally variant with LTE instead of 3G)
3. Samsung handwriting software & S-Pen
4. IPS+ panel with 2560 x 1600 resolution, covered with Gorilla Glass
5. Top CPU, GPU and sufficient amount of RAM memory
6. MicoSD card slot

For such tablet I will pay every price.

At the end, here is some thought - do you think tablets have a chance to survive in a world where more and more ultrabooks and notebooks have touch screens or even rotating screens (like Dell XPS 12, Lenovo ThinkPad Twist) or dual-screen like Asus Taichi.

Do you have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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CheckBox:

The check box has two states: Checked and UnChecked. It inherits from TextView so it has all of its properties:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout 
 android_orientation="vertical"
 android_layout_width="fill_parent"
 android_layout_height="fill_parent"
 >
 <TextView
 android_layout_width="fill_parent" 
 android_layout_height="wrap_content"
 android_id="@+id/txt"
 />
 <CheckBox
 android_layout_width="fill_parent" 
 android_layout_height="wrap_content"
 android_id="@+id/Chk"
 android_text="This is a check box"
 android_checked="false"
 
 />
</LinearLayout>

and to handle the check/uncheck event:

CheckBox chk=(CheckBox)findViewById(R.id.Chk);
 chk.setOnCheckedChangeListener(new OnCheckedChangeListener()
 {

 public void onCheckedChanged(CompoundButton arg0, boolean arg1) {
 TextView txt=(TextView)findViewById(R.id.txt);
 if (arg1)
 txt.setText("checked");
 else
 txt.setText("Unchecked");
 
 }
 
 }
 );

RadioButton:
Android provides Radio button control. You create a RadioGroup and add RadioButtons inside it.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout 
 android_orientation="vertical"
 android_layout_width="fill_parent"
 android_layout_height="fill_parent"
 >
 <TextView
 android_id="@+id/txt"
 android_layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
 />
 <RadioGroup
 android_id="@+id/group"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:text="Radio Group"
>
<RadioButton android_id="@+id/item1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Item1"
android:checked="true"
 />
<RadioButton android_id="@+id/item2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Item2" />
<RadioButton android_id="@+id/item3"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Item3" />
</RadioGroup>
</LinearLayout>

You can get the checked item from code like this:

RadioGroup rg=(RadioGroup)findViewById(R.id.group);
 rg.setOnCheckedChangeListener(new android.widget.RadioGroup.OnCheckedChangeListener()
 {

 public void onCheckedChanged(RadioGroup arg0, int arg1) {
 // TODO Auto-generated method stub
 TextView txt=(TextView)findViewById(R.id.txt);
 RadioButton rb=(RadioButton)findViewById(arg1);
 txt.setText("You selected "+rb.getText());
 
 }
 
 }
 );

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