Secret Coders by Gene Luen Yang & Mike Holmes

New graphic novel series teaches young readers the magic of computer coding.



Secret Coders, the latest book from award-winning graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang with artist Mike Holmes, imagines an adventure story for middle schoolers that's kind of like Harry Potter, only instead of magic wands, the young students use computers and learn the magic of computer coding.

The series is set at Stately Academy, where the walls and buildings are crawling with mysteries. The founder of the school programmed clues and puzzles into its very stones to challenge his enterprising students. A seventh grader named Hopper and her friend Eni are determined to get to the bottom of it. Using their wits and their growing prowess with coding, they set out to solve the mystery of Stately Academy no matter what it takes.

Here's a preview of Secret Coders:

Memoji Keyboard allows you to emojify yourself

Create and send personalized animated emojis. No yellow skin necessary.



So a lot of people were less than enthused by the weird yellow skin emoji that Apple recently unveiled. Johnny Lin, an ex-Apple engineer, was pretty disappointed and decided to do something about it. He created an app called Memoji Keyboard -- a better, more personalized way to send emojis.

Instead of pre-defined (and rather unsightly) skin colors, you use your own skin. In fact, it's your own face, emotions and expressions. The Memoji Keyboard allows you to create and send custom animated emojis of yourself doing the smiley face, sad face, thumbs up, and other emoji classics.

No, seriously. What is up with the yellow skin emoji?

Apple introduces new "racially diverse" emoji, including a gross shade of yellow.


In a new beta version of its operating system, Apple recently revealed a new set of "racial diverse" emoji, featuring faces in a variety of skin tones. So I join the chorus and ask: what is up with that awful sickly shade of yellow? Is that supposed to be an Asian face? Because those faces do not look healthy.

These are Apple's new, diverse emoji

There's been a demand for more inclusive emoji that reflects the diversity of the world's skin tones. Or at least some options other than the limited set of lily-white icons currently featured in iOS. So I applaud the effort.

But dude. That yellow is gross.

George Takei's Next Step in World Domination: YouTube

Takei's Take teaches tech to an older generation.



In recent years, George Takei has pretty much solidified his status as an elder statesman for the Asian American community. Who would have thought that the guy best known for playing Sulu on Star Trek -- an iconic identity in its own right -- would go on to become the most famous, most active senior American on social media?

But that's why Takei's Take, his new webseries in partnership with AARP, make so much sense.

On Takei's Take, the 76-year-old social media superstar explores the world of technology, trends, current events and pop culture. Of course, he's hoping his entire legion of fans will watch it, but the YouTube show is definitely aimed to encourage the over-50 set to embrace next generation technology. And Uncle George, with his sweet, sweet voice, can be the guy who will help guide them there.

Here's the trailer for Takei's Take:

Nicole Wong officially joins White House as deputy chief technology officer

Almost overlooked this significant bit of news... Last week, the White House officially announced that Twitter executive Nicole Wong has joined the Obama administration as its new deputy U.S. chief technology officer: Twitter's Nicole Wong joins White House as deputy chief technology officer.

Wong, who has been Twitter's legal director since last year, will work as adviser on issues of internet privacy and technology for the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy. News of her appointment broke weeks ago, but this makes it official. She will basically be responsible for helping the White House make up the rules of the internets.