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"Sometimes the best way to escape from a productive rut is to switch up your tools. Whether it's a simple word processor, a smarter to-do list, or a more efficient way to transcribe interviews, downloading some new apps can help manage your time and produce better work. Here are some of the best productivity apps for phones, tablets, and computers that launched in the last year or got a substantial upgrade."

"With March being National Reading Month, I thought it would be the perfect time to immerse ourselves in STEM-infused literature! Books are so important to growing a STEM mindset, especially with the earliest of learners. Books open doors and windows to worlds and experiences which many students may never have the opportunity to enjoy in person; they give students examples of critical thinking, innovation, persistence, and creativity - all skills needed throughout a student's education and into their future careers. This month, instead of sharing my favorite STEM resources, I reached out to our STEMtastic Discovery Education STEM Community for help, and the response was overwhelming! Asking educators about their favorite books is like asking a chef about their favorite foods; you receive incredibly extensive lists that stretch your thinking to places you never imagined. What started as a list with three categories grew organically to encompass the breadth of literature supporting a STEM mindset in students, educators, and the everyday population."

"Pad has tons of awesome features that can help you make the best of this versatile tool in both your professional and personal life. In today's post we are sharing this collection of iPad tips we curated from Apple's Tips App for iPad. Our purpose is to provide you with a handy visual aide to use in class, in your office at home, or take anywhere you go. We have included what we think are important functionalities to boost your productivity and enhance your overall 'iPadding' experience. "

"FEBRUARY 22, 2018 -From the instant replay that decides a game to the bodycam footage that clinches a conviction, people tend to trust video evidence as an arbiter of truth. But that faith could soon become quaint, as machine learning is enabling ordinary users to create fabricated videos of just about anyone doing just about anything. Earlier this month, the popular online forum Reddit shut down r/deepfakes, a subreddit discussion board devoted to using open-source machine-learning tools to insert famous faces into pornographic videos. Observers say this episode represents just one of the many ways that the this technology could fuel social problems, particularly in an age of political polarization. Combating the negative effects of fabricated video will require a shift among both news outlets and news consumers, say experts.  "Misinformation has been prevalent in our politics historically," says Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., who specializes in political misperceptions. "But it is true that technology can facilitate new forms of rumors and other kinds of misinformation and help them spread more rapidly than ever before." So-called fake news has been around long before Macedonian teenagers began enriching themselves by feeding false stories to social media users. In 1782, Benjamin Franklin printed a falsified supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle maligning Seneca Indians in an attempt to influence public opinion during peace negotiations with Britain."

"Until recently, Facebook had dominated the social media landscape among America's youth - but it is no longer the most popular online platform among teens, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Today, roughly half (51%) of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 say they use Facebook, notably lower than the shares who use YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat. This shift in teens' social media use is just one example of how the technology landscape for young people has evolved since the Center's last survey of teens and technology use in 2014-2015. Most notably, smartphone ownership has become a nearly ubiquitous element of teen life: 95% of teens now report they have a smartphone or access to one. These mobile connections are in turn fueling more-persistent online activities: 45% of teens now say they are online on a near-constant basis."

"In a recent piece here in TIME, I wrote about seven areas of explosive growth in tech that will drive our world and economy over the next 10-15 years. There, I said that for us to achieve this level of growth, we'll need millions of new workers skilled in STEM. At the moment, we just don't have enough of these skilled tech workers to make my vision of a connected world a reality. In fact, when I talk to big companies like Boeing, Intel, Qualcomm and so on, they fear that, as they grow, they will not have enough tech-educated staff to meet their engineering needs. One estimate says there will be 2.4 million STEM-based job vacancies in 2018 alone."

"According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment in occupations related to STEM is projected to grow to more than 9 million between 2012 and 2022. And the Global Stem Alliance estimates that 75% of all jobs will require STEM expertise by 2018. SEE ALSO: 6 awesome ways to bring your kids' ideas to life with 3D printing Certainly that's a clear indication that STEM should be an integral part of school curriculums. Introducing these topics in an approachable way that both engages and educates kids, is possible without having to implement complex coding classes and HTML 101 in elementary school. Thanks to a slew of wildly innovative and imaginative toys out there - like the 11 below - kids can start developing the skills necessary for an increasingly digital world"

""More than half of 8-12 year olds are exposed to cyber-risks," according to a 2018 report. These risks can include cyber-bullying, online sexual behaviors and video game addition. The threat is easy to see. Kids today spend hours a day online on computers and phones, much of it unmonitored. To protect your students from online threats you need to raise their Digital IQ. What is Digital IQ? According to the DQ Institute, an international think tank that aims to ensure every child acquires the skills they need to be informed users of digital media, "Digital Intelligence is the sum of technical, mental and social competencies essential to digital life." It's not only skills at coding and working with technology, but also avoiding the risks that technology exposes children to."

"Welcome to our Libraries Ready to Code Collection Beta Release! Everything on this site is a test run and we want your feedback. That way, when we launch the full site (in fall 2018) it will meet the needs of library staff working for and with youth and families."

"There ought to be a law limiting people to one use of the term "life-changing" to describe a life event. Had a life-changing cup of coffee this morning? Well, hope it was good because that's the one use you get! If this legislation came to pass, then I would use my allotment on my decision to write about data science. This writing has led directly to 2 data science jobs, altered my career plans, moved me across the country, and ultimately made me more satisfied than when I was a miserable mechanical engineering university student. In 2018, I made a commitment to write on data science and published at least one article per week for a total of 98 posts. It was a year of change for me: a college graduation, 4 jobs, 5 different cities, but the one constant was data science writing. As a culture, we are obsessed by streaks and convinced those who complete them must have gained profound knowledge. Unlike other infatuations, this one may make sense: to do something consistently for an extended period of time, whether that is coding, writing, or staying married, requires impressive commitment. Doing a new thing is easy because our brains crave novelty, but doing the same task over and over once the newness has worn off requires a different level of devotion. Now, to continue the grand tradition of streak completers writing about the wisdom they gained, I'll describe the lessons learned in "The Year of Data Science Writing.""

"Every year since 2001 we've picked what we call the 10 Breakthrough Technologies. People often ask, what exactly do you mean by "breakthrough"? It's a reasonable question-some of our picks haven't yet reached widespread use, while others may be on the cusp of becoming commercially available. What we're really looking for is a technology, or perhaps even a collection of technologies, that will have a profound effect on our lives. For this year, a new technique in artificial intelligence called GANs is giving machines imagination; artificial embryos, despite some thorny ethical constraints, are redefining how life can be created and are opening a research window into the early moments of a human life; and a pilot plant in the heart of Texas's petrochemical industry is attempting to create completely clean power from natural gas-probably a major energy source for the foreseeable future. These and the rest of our list will be worth keeping an eye on. -The Editors"

"This basketball, simple machine, and mechanism-filled Rube Goldberg Machine is powered by the work of students from Georgia Tech's colleges of Industrial Design and Music, and some signature Globetrotters magic courtesy of 'Buckets' Blakes. The Trick Shot Machine, also scored by the Tech students, is a promo project for the legendary Harlem Globetrotters, filmed before their Atlanta, Georgia games on March 3 and 10, 2018."

"Teaching through projects, interrogating the value of grades, attempting to make learning more meaningful and connected to young people's lives and interests, thoughtful ways of using technology to amplify and share student work. These are just some of the ways teaching and learning are changing. But moving to these kinds of learning environments is a big shift for many teachers, schools, and districts; it's hard to sustain change once the shiny newness wears off. That's when people tend to slip back into old habits, relying on what they know best. The transformation requires a leader who understands how to manage the change process. "Sustained modes of change can be incredibly meaningful and yield for your community in huge ways, but you have to be incredibly intentional in order to make space for these things to happen," said Diana Laufenberg at an EduCon 2018 session about how to lead through change. Laufenberg is the executive director of Inquiry Schools, a nonprofit working with schools around the country to make these shifts. She has come to the conclusion that there are five pillars to sustaining change: permission, support, community engagement, accountability and staying the course."