Warning: This blog post contains a science experience, remember any science experiment should be performed under adult supervision. You’re an adult? Great, then consider yourself already supervised! Not an adult? Then go get one, this experiment is really cool! It’s time to…

MAKE YOUR OWN VOLCANO
To complete this experiment you’ll need the items pictured below…

• Step One: Combine of 6 cups of flour, 2 cups of salt, 4 tablespoons cooking oil, and 2 cups of water. Set that aside.
• Step Two: Place an empty soda or water bottle in the middle of a plate or baking pan.
• Step Three: Use the ingredients you combined in Step One to build a volcano shaped base around the soda bottle – but be careful not to cover the hole on top.
• Step Four: Fill the empty soda or water bottle about 3/4 full with warm water and a few drops of red food coloring.
• Step Five: Now add 6 drops of detergent and 2 tablespoons to the bottle.
• Step Six: Pour vinegar into the bottle and step back, it’s time for a volcanic eruption!!!

Baking Soda, Flour, Oil, Vinegar, Salt, Dish Detergent a plate and empty bottle, they look innocent enough by themselves, but when combined…

The steps above will create one of the coolest Science Fair projects you’ve ever seen… in 1987. Ok, it’s still pretty cool in 2011 too, but these days we have Smart Phones and even smarter 7th Graders. The bar has been raised, to say the least and although fake volcanos and in general harmless small explosions are fun for all those involved, they aren’t gonna be winning any Science Fairs in 2011. Especially when the company that’s holding the fair and handing out the prize goes by the name of… Google.

This past week Google announced it will be hosting a Science Fair, but instead of fake volcanos and gold ribbons they’re looking for robot algorithms with $50,000.00 cash prizes. That’s right, $50,000 smackers and yes, for robot algorithms. The online Science Fair is open to students 13-18 worldwide with the only requirements being access to an internet connection and a Google account. It is billed as the “First Global Online Science Competition” with a deadline set for April 4th. The winners of the competition will be flown out to California with an opportunity that may prove to be worth more than the $50,000 prize –an opportunity to pitch their idea to the big wigs and the Silicon Valley Einstein’s that fill the halls of Google.

Google hopes their Science Fair will provide a platform for the youth to share their ideas that otherwise may not had opportunity to do so. Want to enter? Learn more about Google’s Science Fair on the homepage here. Or watch a video about it here.

Now before you run off to the garage with your baking soda volcano dreams, consider this. Google posted an example of the caliber of work they are looking to see and it consisted of High School Senior’s algorithm that would enable a robot to navigate the halls of hospital carrying fresh linens. Now I’m not saying your project shouldn’t have baking soda or even any exploding elements in it, I’m just saying you might want to at least take a calculator out to the garage with you.

If you’re looking for a way to tune up your robot algorithms or maybe just general programming you should check out Digital Media Academy’s Robotics + Programming Summer Camps & Courses for teens. Digital Media Academy is the #1 Summer Computer Camp destination for teens.

You won’t find Google on the floor of the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, yet Google dominates the show. Like Blu-Ray players and other technologies have dominated CES in years past, this year, Google’s Android operating system owns the show after having infiltrated every new 4G smartphone and tablet.

Let Android take over your desktop with this cool wallpaper.

Released in September of 2008 and based on Linux, the Android OS has caught on like wildfire and now holds 44% of the smartphone market. If CES is any indication, that marketshare is about to get even bigger.

All four major cellular carriers introduced new smartphones. Verizon showed four of their mobile devices – HTC’s Thunderbolt, LG’s Revolution, the Motorola Droid Bionic and an unnamed device from Samsung. But that wasn’t all, Verzion also showed off touch-screen tablets, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and Motorola’s Zoom – all running Android. Rival AT&T introduced three smartphones, the HTC Inspire, Samsung’s Infuse and Motorola’s Atrix, were all 4G and all powered by Android. There were tablets too, like LG’s G Slate and Dell’s Streak 7 and you guessed it, they were running the Android OS too.

One of the most impressive smartphone’s running Google’s Android OS was Motorola’s Atrix, a phone that’s being called “the world most powerful smartphone.” It showcased features that makes it seem more like a iPhone/tablet combo – but smaller than the iPad.

Why the popularity of Android? Well, besides being just an alternative to Apple’s iOS, Google is making it incredibly easy to use the operating system on a variety of devices by offering loads of developer support and Android is provided for free to gadget makers. Google has also offered developer’s incentives like prize money for the best Android app in 2009. That combined with its Linux heritage and that it’s also cheaper to make apps for Android (for example licensing fees and cost of the SDK) its a win-win-win.

For those that want to get in on the future of programming, learning the Android OS is the way to do it. Programmers have lots of great options to learn how to develop for the Android OS. Our advice? Android is only going to get bigger and there’s no time like the present to start learning a new programming language.

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