Daily Archives: May 26, 2017

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Campers at CodeREV Kids can learn different skills, including robotics, game design and engineering.

Campers at CodeREV Kids can learn different skills, including robotics, game design and engineering.

Activities at CodeREV Kids are project based so students are able to engage with the lessons and explore their own creativity.

Activities at CodeREV Kids are project based so students are able to engage with the lessons and explore their own creativity.

Courses for summer 2017 are organized into four tracks game design, programming, engineering and creative.

Courses for summer 2017 are organized into four tracks game design, programming, engineering and creative.

Bay Area locations include two in San Francisco, one in Mountain View and another in San Jose

Bay Area locations include two in San Francisco, one in Mountain View and another in San Jose

Discovering technology, engineering at camp

For the past three years, CodeREV Kids, a summer camp dedicated to teaching youth about coding and other technology fields, has grown to more than 10 locations. The rapid growth is a direct result of an increase in demand for these skills, said Bryan Curran, director of operations.

The CodeREV Kids curriculum, developed with the help of professors at Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, is project based so students are able to engage with the lessons and explore their own creativity, Curran said. Campers are able to take home their work via email or Google Drive to share with family and friends or continue working on projects at home.

He added that no prior tech experience is necessary and students can pick and choose what they study if they attend multiple weeks.

Even if they just have a passive interest in technology, this is a great way for them to jump in and get their feet wet, Curran said. And with a lot to choose from, they can decide what subsection peaks their interest most.

CodeREV Kids was founded by Evan Boorman, a STEM teacher with more than 14 years of experience teaching students who both excel and struggle with STEM concepts. By learning coding, technology and robotics, students will begin to see how math and engineering can be used to build fun and useful things.

Camp groups have a 8-1 student-teacher ratio, but Curran said most are smaller, which allows campers to go more in-depth with what theyre learning. And the curriculum changes each week, so if campers only want to do the code-focused camp, they wont be repeating material.

Most kids do a bunch of different courses, but weve also had some kids do one the entire summer but there are different challenges and options each week, Curran said.

In addition to classroom work, campers will spend some of the day outdoors participating in games designed to exercise the body and mind while building social-emotional skills. Games include reverse tag, obstacle courses, capture the flag and freeze dance.

Courses for summer 2017 are organized into four tracks game design, programming, engineering and creative. Within those categories are several weeklong classes, including video game development, adventures in programming, REV robotics and 3D modeling among others.

These are all skills students will need as they enter the workforce, Curran said. Staff and instructors are experts in the fields they are teaching and Curran said many of them lead spring break and after school classes so they are equipped to teach tech concepts to children using easily digestible but relevant curriculum.

Tech is the fastest growing job sector on the market right now and with parents thinking about the future of their children's careers, even those who arent tech focused, are going to need these skills, he said. Theyre going to need to morph and adopt as technology changes [so] its really important for children to get their hands on these experiences from a young age.

But more than anything, Curran said he hopes students enjoy camp.

I want them to know theyre going to have a super awesome time this summer. We have a blast, he said.

The camps for ages 6 to 16 and they run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. They start at $545 per week. Partial scholarships are available to students who qualify for free and reduced lunch and are awarded on a first come, first served basis.

CodeREV Kids

Bay Area locations include two in San Francisco, one in Mountain View and another in San Jose. To register or for more information visit coderevkids.com.

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Discovering technology, engineering at camp - SFGate

Forbes

There Will Be 30 Technology Companies In 2030, 10 in 2050, And Then There Will Be None Forbes Two things are happening simultaneously. First, the old technology industry hardware, software, communications and services companies is rapidly consolidating. Second, technology companies and other vertical companies are morphing into entities ...

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There Will Be 30 Technology Companies In 2030, 10 in 2050, And Then There Will Be None - Forbes

Edwards Air Force Base has tested billions of dollars in defense-related technology over the course of its history, from the sound barrier-busting Bell X-1 to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

But this week, researchers at the base in eastern Kern County tested an innovative use of already existing technology cobbled together for a whopping 1,600 bucks.

On Tuesday, two teams at Edwards collaborated for the first flight test of what they described as a remotely piloted parachute system that could save thousands of dollars in operational testing costs, said Chris Klug, a technical advisor from the bases XCITE innovation team who sponsored the project from start to finish.

Its really similar to the hydraulics on a tractor, but its electrical rather than hydraulics, Klug said of the inexpensive system.

The 412th Operations Support Squadron Airdrop Research and Development Parachute Test Team now you know why the military uses acronyms and the innovation team worked together to develop the low-cost, locally built guidance system.

Theres been a renewed focus, Klug said, on harnessing the innovative minds of people throughout our organization. And this project, designed and built by team member Trever Bush, is just one example.

Before a new parachute is ever used by humans, it is dropped using mannequins, or dummies, specifically designed for parachute testing. Once clear of the aircraft, the mannequins are typically at the mercy of the winds as they obviously cannot control the toggles the parachute's control handles.

The remote system is designed to manipulate the toggles, Bush said, much the same way a live jumper would, allowing some control over the descent of the parachute and its cargo.

And on Tuesday, they tried it out for the first time, as seen in the video accompanying this story. An operator on the ground remotely controlled the toggles.

According to the team, this added control could save money by minimizing damage to the mannequins which cost $3,000 each and by cutting the time required to recover them after tests.

Also, when the parachutes fly off course theres more chance of incurring damage to the chutes themselves. At $15,000 a pop, thats not insignificant.

The quality of the test data is also improved.

The data becomes more valuable, Bush said. We are able to test the limits more without risking lives.

Bush thinks the technology could also be valuable in parachute cargo drops, and hopes to eventually begin testing for those heavier payloads.

Solutions to problems don't always have to be million-dollar ideas, Klug said. Sometimes they come from the minds of civilian employees at $1,600 a pop.

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Unmanned parachute test proves not every technology at Edwards Air Force Base in eastern Kern is a billion-dollar ... - The Bakersfield Californian

Forbes

Fracking, Now The Dominant Technology, Will Keep Oil Price Around $55: Goldman Sachs Forbes Oil prices may rise or fall in the short-term, but they will return to a range of $55 to $65 in the long term because that's the price of oil from fracking shale wells, the Goldman Sachs head of research said in Chicago Wednesday. Oil prices today were ...

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Fracking, Now The Dominant Technology, Will Keep Oil Price Around $55: Goldman Sachs - Forbes

A Goldman Sachs analyst thinks that Micron Technology's (NASDAQ:MU) terrific run on the stock market in the past year will hit a roadblock very soon. Mark Delaney earlier this month cut the high-flying memory specialist's rating from buy to neutral and reduced the price target to $30, indicating that the stock can't deliver any more upside.

Still, investors seem unfazed by the analyst's action and the stock is up slightly since the downgrade was reported May 8. Delaney believes that a potential weakness in DRAM memory prices is going to derail the chipmaker's growth, but the demand dynamics indicate otherwise.

Image source: Micron Technology.

Goldman Sachs' DRAM supply chain checks indicate that a 46% jump in capital spending in DRAM equipment over the past two quarters is leading to a slowdown in pricing. However, the DRAM market is traditionally weak during April and May as demand remains weak until the back-to-school season kicks in, according to DRAMeXchange.

The back half of the year is a seasonally strong one for DRAM demand as OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) start preparing for the holiday season, stocking up more inventory. Therefore, the recent spot price weakness seems seasonal.

Additionally, DRAM demand is set to hit a higher gear in 2017, thanks to an estimated 33% jump in average memory content in smartphones, per research from market intelligence firm TrendForce. Meanwhile, the average selling price of server DRAM used in data centers is rising as demand is exceeding supply.

The DRAM market is witnessing short supply at the moment as the likes of Samsung and SK Hynix are still using older processes to manufacture chips. This is great news for Micron as the chipmaker is already moving to the more advanced 18nm node, while Samsung and SK Hynix will start making the move later in the year.

This gives Micron a competitive advantage that should help it corner more of the DRAM market and take advantage of the tight supply. More importantly, DRAM prices should witness secular growth as their use in specialty applications such as graphics cards increases.

For instance, NVIDIA is using Micron's GDDR5X DRAM in its latest flagship graphics card. This could be a big deal for Micron as graphic card shipments are expected to boom in the next few years, and NVIDIA leads this space. IC Insights forecasts that the various catalysts will boost memory shipments at an annual pace of 5.6% until 2021.

Micron currently trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 45 but potentially strong earnings growth over the next year puts its forward P/E multiple at just 5.6. This isn't surprising as analysts see Micron's earnings jumping from just $0.06 per share in fiscal year 2016 to $4.28 per share in fiscal 2017, which ends in September. What's more, Wall Street expects the bottom-line momentum to continue in FY 2018, with earnings predicted to grow to $5.13 per share.

Micron shouldn't find it too difficult to achieve the earnings estimates set by Wall Street as stronger DRAM prices and lower bit costs should push margins higher. For instance, Micron's second-quarter DRAM gross margin jumped 16 percentage points sequentially to 44%, taking its overall non-GAAP gross margin to 38.5%.

The massive jump was a result of a 6% drop in DRAM bit costs, and the good news is that Micron's bit costs should keep declining as the transition to the 18nm process continues. In fact, investment research firm Susquehanna forecasts that the new process could help Micron cut DRAM costs by 20% per gigabyte.

Investors haven't paid much heed to the recent downgrade, as you can see from the chart below.

MU data by YCharts

And that makes sense. There is still room for memory prices to grow, while Micron seems well-placed to reduce costs thanks to an advanced manufacturing process that will create a positive impact on its earnings and help drive more upside.

Harsh Chauhan has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Why Micron Technology Investors Are Ignoring This Downgrade - Motley Fool