Learn to Code

The superpower of the 21st century is coding, according to the Silicon Valley superstar cast in a new documentary short called What Most Schools Don't Teach. In the film, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and more tech leaders discuss how they became enamored with computing and why coding is so important in today's world.

Lesleyy Chilcott, producer of An Inconvenient Truth, directed the featurette for Code.Org, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting computer science education.

What Schools Don't Teach also features some not-so-usual suspects like Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh, who studied computer imaging at Georgia Tech, and Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas who thinks that "great coders are the real rock stars" of the world.

Get inspired to code and watch the full nine-minute Code.org film after the break.

We're taking on a new year and tackling a new challenge every week this month. Today's target? Master a new dialect. As part of our resolutionary 2013, we're setting our sights on all kinds of foreign languages. And not just Spanish — HTML, CSS, and other programming lingo, too.

Get going on your resolutions and take a look at our geeky guide to picking up a new lingo.

Foreign Language
If you're planning on traveling for business or pleasure, having the mother tongue in your back pocket is sure to come in handy. Study up on Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Mandarin, and more with these education and dictionary apps for iOS.

• Duolingo (free) — Like Rosetta Stone, this app uses pictures, sounds, text, and repetitive learning to help you master Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, or English. But, unlike other programs, it's free! Forever! Plus, gather a language support group, connect with friends, and learn languages together.
• MindSnacks Mandarin (free) — Eight fun games guide you through reading, speaking, and learning Chinese. Unlock all 50 levels with a $5 in-app upgrade.
• Languages ($1) — This is the ultimate foreign language translator with 12 complete dictionaries. It's fast and it works offline, so you can use Languages without a data connection.

American Sign Language

• Marlee Signs (free) — Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin teaches the fundamentals of ASL with HD video demonstrations. Get specialized phrases (like baby signs, or just for getting around town) with $2 in-app upgrades.

Now master the bare-bones basics of HTML and CSS, and then advance to the big web dogs after the break.

Congratulations, newbie-no-more, you've mastered the bare bones basics of HTML web development as covered in the last Teach Yourself Tech. Now what? In this resource roundup, take those coding skills to the next level by getting to know the new standards of the web — HTML5 and CSS3.

Step 1: Discover the World of HTML5
As a markup language built for a mobile world, HTML5 is the future of the Internet. Try accessing GeekSugar.com from a smartphone; the mobile version of the site, an entirely new format optimized for small touch screens, will appear — that's the power of HTML5.

• Discover why HTML5 Rocks, but don't worry if you don't understand all of the terms just yet; we'll get to that later.
• There's a lot this new HTML is capable of, like 3D graphics, offline viewing, and new audio/video tools. The Web Can Do That!? covers all the amazing features of HTML5, complete with cat memes.
• To learn what HTML5 is all about and laugh along the way, look no further than Mark Pilgrim's Dive Into HTML5.

Learn the lingo, master the markup, and take your HTML5 and CSS3 skills for a spin after the break.

School is now in session! After a lazy Summer in the sun, there's no time like the present to put your brain back into high gear. Keep those smarts sharp by taking on this new challenge: teaching yourself how to code your own webpage. We've explored the business of starting your own blog, but what about building one from the ground up? In this beginner-friendly rundown, we start with the fundamentals of the web: how it works and the technical resources to bookmark to create your own website using HTML and CSS.

Step One: Know the Basics
How does the World Wide Web work, anyway? Get a grip on how websites go from server to screen.

• Don't Fear the Internet is the ultimate web resource for non-web designers. Start with "No. 1 Not a Series of Tubes," a demystification of the Internet and its workings, and then work your way up to No. 5, "Don't Fear Starting From Scratch, Part 2: CSS."
• Still baffled by how a World Wide Web actually works in its literal sense? Watch the enlightening TED talk What Is the Internet, Really? by Andrew Blum about the underwater cables and secret switches that make up the Internet's physical infrastructure.

What's next? Find out how to learn HTML and CSS and what to do with your newfound skills after the jump.