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Levelling up with Python: Create with data
Learning Python often starts with the same building blocks: variables, functions, and loops. However, once young people have learnt these essential foundations, they may be eager to grow their skills and start using Python to explore data and create something meaningful to them.
Our free ‘More Python’ project path helps learners move beyond the basics and use data to create impactful projects of their own.
Python as a tool for exploring the world
Python is the most widely used programming language in the world, not just because it’s accessible, but because it’s powerful. It is used to analyse data, build models, create data visualisations, and explore important questions.
For young learners, this means learning Python can become more than a coding exercise. It can be a way to investigate topics they care about, analyse and understand information, and tell powerful stories about real-world issues.
Working with data helps learners see how coding connects to the world around them — and builds confidence along the way.
Why learning with data matters
In our day-to-day lives, data is everywhere: in sports results, maps, and scientific research, to name only a few examples. Learning how to work with data helps young people develop skills that go far beyond programming, including:
- Thinking logically and solving problems
- Interpreting and questioning information
- Making decisions based on evidence
Data also underpins many of the AI systems people use today. For example, large language models, used to build tools such as ChatGPT, are trained on vast amounts of data. Therefore, understanding how data is collected, organised, and used is an important part of AI literacy.
In Python, structures like lists and dictionaries make it possible to organise, analyse, and explore data in creative ways. Using these tools to build projects can help abstract computing concepts start to feel more concrete and meaningful.
What learners create in the ‘More Python’ project path
The ‘More Python’ project path supports learners through three stages: Explore, Design, and Invent. Each stage builds skills while giving learners more ownership over what they create.
In the Explore stage, young people learn new concepts and build confidence in using data and core Python structures, such as lists and dictionaries. Projects include:
- Making an interactive chart of Olympic medals
- Building a model of the solar system
- Creating a frequency graph that learners can analyse to crack a code
These projects help learners develop new skills, while exploring how Python can be used to analyse and explain real-world information.
As learners progress to the Design stage, they start making creative choices about how their projects look and behave. In this stage, they:
- Create a project that produces encoded art based on a user’s name
- Build an interactive world map that helps users learn interesting facts
Here, Python becomes a creative medium. As well as putting their new skills into practice, learners think about audience, interaction, and presentation to make their projects their own.
In the Invent stage, learners bring everything together. Using the skills they have built, they design and create a data visualisation on a topic they are passionate about. This final project gives learners the freedom to choose their data, shape their idea, and tell a story that matters to them.
By this point, learners are planning and creating their own projects, growing in confidence and independence.
Take the next step with Python
If the young people you support have already learned the basics of Python, ‘More Python’ offers a clear and creative next step. The projects are designed to be accessible, and young people can work through them at their own pace, whether they are learning independently, at a Code Club, or in the classroom.
By working with data, getting creative, and making their own original projects, learners can build confidence and start to see what they can achieve with Python.
Alongside the ‘More Python’ project path, you can access hundreds of free coding projects on our Code Club Projects site. Find more projects to suit your learners’ interests, and support them to build their digital skills through creativity and making.
The post Levelling up with Python: Create with data appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
New report highlights Met Police’s inaction on bike thefts in London as an estimated 40,000 bicycles stolen annually
The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) has launched a new report, titled Broken Locks, Broken Promises. It excoriates the Metropolitan Police for its lack of action on stolen bicycles in London.
LCC surveyed 1,924 London cyclists, to gauge their experience and attitudes to bike theft. It estimates that a total of 40,000 bikes are stolen annually in London, with 74% of respondents to its latest survey reporting that a member of their family had had a bike stolen. 51% of thefts occurred on-street.
79% of those reporting loss of a bike said the Met Police had taken no action and 69% considered the police response inadequate. Only 2% of stolen bikes are recovered, according to the LCC, one of the lowest percentages of any UK police force.
Earlier this year, we reported that the British Transport Police had reversed its policy in which it stated that it would not investigate theft of cycles left outside a train station for more than two hours. There’s been a call from the Liberal Democrats for the setting of “bait bikes” fitted with a concealed tracker to help identify bike thieves and bring them to justice.
The new report quotes one respondent to the LCC’s survey, who said: “Reported, have the person on CCTV, yet the police did nothing. Not important to them, but it meant the world to me.”
Another respondent reported: “I received a letter from the police that was dated the same day as the theft saying they were closing the investigation due to a lack of evidence. They hadn’t even requested CCTV.”
Then there was the respondent who told the LCC: “I found someone riding my stolen bike, followed them, watched them lock up the bike and leave. Called the police. Two policemen came.
“I had frame number and photo of the bike with distinctive customisations. Even when standing next to my stolen bike they would do nothing. They said we should leave a note for the guy who was riding it to contact the police when he came back.”
LCC claims that many cycle thefts aren’t reported because the police’s response is so poor. Perversely, this enables the police to claim rates of cycle theft are falling in the capital.
Another effect cited by LCC is that victims of theft reduce or abandon their cycling, potentially adding to traffic, pollution and the risk of road traffic accidents.
What to do?
Rather than just hand-wringing and finger-pointing, LCC makes a range of recommendations for action by the Met Police and the Mayor of London.
Its top three recommendations are:
- That the mayor reinstates the cycle theft task force and commits to a 10% annual reduction in cycle theft.
- That the Met Police tracks bicycle theft properly and enforces effectively both on the street and online.
- That the government makes bike marking and logging with a bike register mandatory, as it is in France.
Other recommendations from the LCC’s report are:
- That councils, TfL and Network Rail install secure cycle parking at stations and elsewhere.
- That bike retailers and online marketplaces teach people about bike security via online and in-shop campaigns.
A petition has been launched to accompany the new report, which calls on the deputy major for policing and crime, and the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to implement its recommendations. You can sign the petition here.
EU Parliament Blocks AI Features Over Cyber, Privacy Fears
An anonymous reader shares a report: The European Parliament has disabled AI features on the work devices of lawmakers and their staff over cybersecurity and data protection concerns, according to an internal email seen by POLITICO. The chamber emailed its members on Monday to say it had disabled “built-in artificial intelligence features” on corporate tablets after its IT department assessed it couldn’t guarantee the security of the tools’ data.
“Some of these features use cloud services to carry out tasks that could be handled locally, sending data off the device,” the Parliament’s e-MEP tech support desk said in the email. “As these features continue to evolve and become available on more devices, the full extent of data shared with service providers is still being assessed. Until this is fully clarified, it is considered safer to keep such features disabled.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Continental goes wide with 35mm GP5000 S TR tyre just in time for Paris-Roubaix
Continental has added a 35mm width to its Grand Prix 5000 S TR tyre range, riding the trend for ever-wider tyres for road use.
The new tyre joins the existing range, which offered 25mm, 28mm, 30mm and 32mm widths with black or transparent sidewalls.
Conti isn’t the only tyre brand to go wider. In 2024, Pirelli launched a 40mm width for its P Zero Race TLR range, which also includes a 35mm option. It is pitching the increased widths at cobbled races such as Paris-Roubaix, as well as the burgeoning all-road market.
Switch to Pirelli’s Cinturato tyre and there is a 40mm, 50mm and even a 55mm width.
Other brands with extra-wide road-oriented tyres include WTB, which sells the Exposure tyre in 38mm width and René Herse, whose semi-slick tyres span the all-road/gravel boundary with widths up to 55mm.
Tyres continue to get wider
As Simon von Bromley discussed in his post-Roubaix wrap-up on tyre widths last year, road tyres will continue to expand in width for the foreseeable future, both for the pros and for general users.
Mathieu van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix on 32mm tyres in 2024 and 2025, while Tadej Pogačar, who was runner-up in last year’s race, also on 32mm rubber, regularly rides 30mm-width tyres in non-cobbled races.
Simon reckons most amateurs should be riding wider tyres. The issue isn’t the availability of wide tyres, though, as the examples above show. It’s bikes’ tyre clearance. Although this has increased significantly with the switch from rim to disc brakes, it still lags behind the capability of tyre makers to produce ever-wider tyres.
This is particularly true for road race bikes, where the extra length to the chainstays needed to accommodate wider/taller tyres and the associated increased wheelbase can potentially dull the bike’s handling.
Nevertheless, when we asked Glen Leven, team support manager at Lidl-Trek if the team wanted more clearance, he told us space for tyres up to 38mm or 40mm was on its wish list from Trek for the next-generation Madone.
The appetite for wider tyres was more mixed among 13 pros we polled at last year’s Paris-Roubaix, with many reckoning around 32mm was the sweetspot and one team even switching from 32s to 30s. Many suggested they’d go narrower for non-cobbled races.
The UCI also gets in on the act, with its wheel-plus-tyre diameter regulations, which would be contravened by a 40mm tyre on a 700c rim.
Plus, there’s the additional weight of a wider tyre, which is often beefed up by the tyre maker, with a thicker tread adding to the extra material from the additional width. The increased frontal profile potentially affects the bike’s aerodynamics as well.
Plus new 30mm Continental time trial tyre width
In addition, Continental has added a 30mm width to its lightweight Grand Prix 5000 TT TR tyre range, which was previously offered only in 25mm and 28mm widths. Again, that’s likely to be a response to the increased clearance offered by the latest generation of time trial/triathlon bike frames.
But pros including Pogačar have used time trial tyres in road races, rather than the slightly heavier road tyres, so the increased width for the TT TR offers a lighter-weight alternative for road racing too, helping to offset the added weight of a wider tyre.
KDE Responds to FUD Over Alleged systemd Mandate
KDE addresses misinformation about systemd requirements, stating Plasma remains usable on non-systemd systems.
Secondhand Laptop Market Goes ‘Mainstream’ Amid Memory Crunch
Sales of refurbished PCs are on the up amid shortages of key components, including memory chips, that are making brand new devices more expensive. From a report: Stats compiled by market watcher Context show sales of refurbished PCs via distribution climbed 7 percent in calendar Q4 across five of the biggest European markets — Italy, the UK, Germany, Spain, and France.
Affordability is the primary driver in the secondhand segment, the analyst says, with around 40 percent of sales driven by budget-conscious users shopping in the $235 to $355 price band for laptops. The $355 to $475 tier is also expanding — representing 23 percent of the refurbished market, up from 15 percent a year earlier — indicating some buyers are prepared to spend a bit more for improved specifications.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Lutris 0.5.20 Game Manager Adds Support for Importing Commodore 64 ROMs
Lutris founder Mathieu Comandon released Lutris 0.5.20 today as the latest stable version of this popular and open-source game management software for GNU/Linux distributions.
The Music Industry Enters Its Less-Is-More Era
The music industry’s long romance with an ever-expanding catalog of songs appears to be souring, as streaming platforms and rights holders confront a daily deluge that now includes 60,000 wholly AI-generated tracks uploaded to Deezer alone — roughly 39% of the French service’s daily intake, a statistic the company shared during Grammys week last month.
Streaming services now host 253 million songs, according to Luminate’s most recent annual report, after adding 51 million tracks over the course of 2025 at an average pace of 106,000 uploads a day. Spotify has already responded by requiring songs to hit at least 1,000 plays in the previous 12 months to qualify for royalties, and Luminate reported that 88% of tracks received 1,000 or fewer plays in 2025.
The distribution layer is in flux too: Universal Music Group is trying to acquire Downtown Music, owner of DIY distributor CD Baby, TuneCore’s head recently stepped down without a planned replacement, and DistroKid is reportedly up for sale.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Gentoo Linux Begins Codeberg Migration In Moving Away From GitHub, Avoiding Copilot
The Gentoo Linux project last year announced plans to move their code hosting to Codeberg rather than GitHub. Gentoo’s desire to move away from GitHub was motivated by Microsoft’s Copilot training on GitHub repositories. Those plans are turning into action now with the main Gentoo project up on Codeberg and honoring pull requests…
MAAP and P.A.M’s latest kit drop pushes beyond the familiar with “alien vitality”
MAAP and fashion label Perks and Mini (P.A.M) has released its fourth capsule collection, which encourages you to “push beyond the familiar until the earth morphs with alien vitality”.
The ‘Outer Terrestrial Space Travel’ collection is said to bring P.A.M’s “signature psy-activated graphic language and free-wheeling aesthetic” to MAAP’s high-performance cycling kit and “alt-cycling ethos”.
MAAP and P.A.M first collaborated in 2021, with a more casual collection released in early 2022. That was followed later in the year by the trippy Club Ciclistico Amatiorale capsule, which was said to be “at the intersection of earth meets urban sunshine sonnets”.
The fourth PAAM collection is for “those in pursuit of cosmic elevation” and “outer terrestrial” adventures. But here on the earth, you can buy a range of on- and off-bike clothing.
MAAP’s Pro Air Jersey 3.0 is available in Violet Cosmos or Black and Glow Lime, while its Team Bib Evo Cargo shorts are decorated with reflective MAAP x P.A.M graphics. The collection also contains MAAP’s new Wind Jacket and its Air Mesh LS Tee.
For when you’re not riding, MAAP has put out a hoodie and casual shorts, alongside two T-shirts in the same colours as the special-edition cycling jersey. There are also caps, socks, musettes and water bottles available.
Alongside P.A.M, MAAP has teamed up with other fashion and sports brands in recent years. In 2022, it released an Alt_Road collection with New York’s outerwear brand The Arrivals and last year it collaborated with Hoka.
Samsung Ad Confirms Rumors of a Useful S26 ‘Privacy Display’
Samsung has all but confirmed that its upcoming Galaxy S26 will feature a built-in privacy display, releasing an ad that demonstrates a “Zero-peeking privacy” toggle capable of blacking out on-screen content for anyone peering over the user’s shoulder.
The underlying technology is reportedly Samsung Display’s Flex Magic Pixel OLED panel, first shown at MWC 2024, which adjusts viewing angles on a pixel-by-pixel basis — and leaker Ice Universe has shared a video of the feature selectively hiding content in banking and messaging apps using AI. Samsung’s Unpacked event is scheduled for February 25th.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
There’s a dedicated channel for Formula 1 in the Apple TV app now
Apple continues to double down on its Formula 1 programming, following up on the box office success of its blockbuster movie by adding a dedicated channel for the racing league to the Apple TV app. This section of the streaming service hints at some of what may be coming when the F1 season begins with the kickoff event in Australia next month. The F1 channel has placeholders for practices, qualifying and the grand prix as well as a weekend warm-up show.
Although it announced the five-year deal to host F1 broadcasts in the US back in October, we still haven’t heard many specifics on how Apple’s presentation of the race events will work. The channel has a section labeled “Event Schedule: Sky Sports,” which suggests that Apple will show the commentary from Sky rather than providing its own hosts; ESPN took that approach during its tenure with the F1 broadcast rights. In addition to the forward-looking streams, Apple TV also has some videos with highlights from the 2025 season and a recap of the rule changes for 2026.
If you’re looking to follow Formula 1 in the 2026 season, some races will be available to watch for free. However, a F1 TV Premium streaming package is now part of an Apple TV subscription, so that’s likely to be the preferred ticket for serious fans. F1TV grants access to all the zooming around you could want as well as to behind-the-scenes content like driver cams and live team radios.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/theres-a-dedicated-channel-for-formula-1-in-the-apple-tv-app-now-230904295.html?src=rss
More Rode mics can now connect directly to iPhones and iPads
Rode is rolling out a firmware update for its Wireless Pro and Wireless Go (third-gen) microphones to add a feature called Direct Connect, which was already available for the Wireless Micro. This allows the mics to pair with iPhones and iPads via Bluetooth without the need for a receiver. All you’ll need is the Rode Capture app.
Rode said it’s able to offer Direct Connect for Wireless Pro and Wireless Go without compromising “the broadcast-quality audio both wireless systems are known for.” The feature still supports the option to record from two transmitters in either merged (whereby the audio blends into a single stereo track) or split (which keeps the recordings on separate channels to allow for more options in post-production) modes.
Not having to worry about setting up a physical receiver to link these mics to iOS devices could help streamline things quite a bit for creators. And I can always get behind companies adding handy features to existing products without pushing customers to buy new models. That’s good for the environment, your wallet — assuming you already have one of these mics — and probably the company’s reputation. An all-around positive update.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/more-rode-mics-can-now-connect-directly-to-iphones-and-ipads-230000533.html?src=rss
Linux 7.0 CXL Enables AMD Zen 5 Address Translation Feature
A long-in-development feature for AMD EPYC Zen 5 server platforms now merged for the Linux 7.0 kernel is ACPI PRMT-based address translation for the Compute Express Link (CXL) subsystem…
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile will go offline on April 17
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile will be no more this spring. According to Activision, servers will be taken offline for this mobile battle royale game on April 17, 2026. The shooter will remain available for current players until that date. This mobile port of the CoD battle royale mode has been on its way to a finale for the past year, with the game studio sharing in May 2025 that the title would be delisted and would not receive new content.
For any people who still want to play the military shooter on their phones, there a mobile version of the main game remains available. Call of Duty: Mobile even offers a battle royale experience, so you can get pretty close to having Warzone if you still want it. “Player passion and feedback continue to shape the future of the Call of Duty franchise, and we look forward to delivering meaningful seasonal content and updates to Call of Duty: Mobile,” Activision said in announcingWarzone‘s mobile shutdown. Call of Duty: Warzone is still free to play on Xbox, Battle.net, Playstation and Steam.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/call-of-duty-warzone-mobile-will-go-offline-on-april-17-222240967.html?src=rss
Western Digital is Sold Out of Hard Drives for 2026
Western Digital’s entire hard drive manufacturing capacity for calendar year 2026 is now fully spoken for, CEO Irving Tan disclosed during the company’s second-quarter earnings call, a stark sign of how aggressively hyperscalers are locking down storage supply to feed their AI infrastructure buildouts.
The company has firm purchase orders from its top seven customers and has signed long-term agreements stretching into 2027 and 2028 that cover both exabyte volumes and pricing. Cloud revenue now accounts for 89% of Western Digital’s total, according to the company’s VP of Investor Relations, while consumer revenue has shrunk to just 5%.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Sony’s PlayStation 6 Launch At Risk As Memory Crisis Deepens
Another day, another update on the RAM crisis—and now, insider statements made to Bloomberg point toward both a PlayStation 6 delay and a Nintendo Switch 2 price hike, in response to current industry supply/demand conditions. For PlayStation 6, its delay could be pushed “to 2028 or even 2029,” and the Nintendo Switch 2 price hike could kick
Evicting 550 Pound Bear Living Under A House
These are a couple videos of the ursine lovers of BEAR League helping evict a 550-pound bear that took up residence underneath a Altadena, California home. They’re pretty cavalier about the whole thing if you ask me, but that’s just me and I’m not getting in another bear fight.
After earlier removal attempts by state wildlife officials were unsuccessful, BEAR League first responders Scott and Dave traveled to the Los Angeles area to assist. Scott, one of our most experienced responders, crawled beneath the home—fully aware the bear was still there—to get behind him and encourage him to exit through the crawlspace opening.
No one was harmed in the filming of this episode, neither man nor bear. In fact no person or bear has Ever been harmed when we orchestrate an eviction.
Total pros, a very well executed eviction. And definitely beats removing a dead bear from the crawlspace beneath your house. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some hibernating to do. Did you know that depending on species and climate bears can hibernate anywhere between 2-8 months? Because I’m gonna be that bear that’s only awake for May.
First video from a stationary cam, the second is helmet-cam footage.
Bottles 62.0 Adds Dynamic Launcher Portal Support
Bottles 62.0, a Wine prefix manager for running Windows apps on Linux, introduces Dynamic Launcher portal support and adds detailed progress reporting for backups and restore operations.