Are You Ready to Change The Game?

https://play.google.com/about/changethegame/#challenge

Change The Game’s mission is to make mobile gaming truly for everyone by celebrating and empowering women as creators and players. We’re calling on the next generation of game-makers to share their mobile game design ideas and what they want to see for the future of gaming.

We’ve joined forces with Girls Make Games and ESA Foundation to challenge teens to use their creativity and skills to develop a game idea, and to take their first step towards change.

The top 5 finalists will win a VIP trip to an exclusive experience at E3 in Los Angeles. There, they can showcase their game ideas and join a celebration of women in gaming. The Grand Prize Winner will also receive a $10,000 college scholarship, a $15,000 technology contribution to their school, and more.

On The Bench: Google AIY Voice & Raspberry Pi

Setup my recently arrived Google AIY/Voice Project and am busy going about customizing the interface.  Short a MicroSD card but Amazon will fix that soon enough.

https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/

Note:  Enjoying the Linux nature of Raspberry Pi as well as all the Python tools and use.  Clearly a Confluence Project.

Google Spell Up, the latest Chrome Experiment

Speak and learn with Spell Up, our latest Chrome Experiment

Posted: Tuesday, May 13, 2014

As a student growing up in France, I was always looking for ways to improve my English, often with a heavy French-to-English dictionary in tow. Since then, technology has opened up a world of new educational opportunities, from simple searches to Google Translate (and our backpacks have gotten a lot lighter). But it can be hard to find time and the means to practice a new language. So when the Web Speech API made it possible to speak to our phones, tablets and computers, I got curious about whether this technology could help people learn a language more easily.

That’s the idea behind Spell Up, a new word game and Chrome Experiment that helps you improve your English using your voice—and a modern browser, of course. It’s like a virtual spelling bee, with a twist.

We worked with game designers and teachers to make Spell Up both fun and educational. The goal of the game is to correctly spell the words you hear and stack them to build the highest word tower you can—letter by letter, word by word. The higher the tower gets, the more difficult the word challenges: You’ll be asked to pronounce words correctly, solve word jumbles and guess mystery words. You can earn bonuses and coins to level up faster.

Spell Up works best in Chrome on your computer and on Android phones and tablets. (It also works on iPhones and iPads, but you’ll need to type rather than talk.) Whether you’re just learning English or you’re already a pro,check it out! And if you’re a teacher, we encourage you to try it out in your classroom.

Posted by Xavier Barrade, Creative Lead and Polyglot, Creative Lab London