News

Holo Theme Required for Ice Cream Sandwich   Wednesday 04 January

Google has announced that the Holo theme family is required for devices running Android 4.0 although manufacturers will also be able to build custom themes.

Windows XP Still Dominant   Wednesday 04 January

Despite all Microsoft's efforts to persuade us to upgrade to Windows 7, XP still dominates as the desktop operating system of choice.

Linux in the Azure Cloud   Wednesday 04 January

If rumours prove correct, Microsoft is planning to provide a way to let customers run Linux virtual machines on Windows Azure in a move that will also provide the means to run SQL Server or SharePoint Server in VMs.

Facebook's White Hat VISA Card   Tuesday 03 January

Facebook launched its bug bounty program over six months ago but has gone a step further by handing out White Hat Visa debit cards to those who have uncovered security flaws.

AI Can Find Long Lost Relatives   Tuesday 03 January

It might be that a combination of AI techniques and photos on the web are your best chance of finding a long lost relative. Facial recognition for kinship is a new technique.

Commemorative Stamp for Alan Turing   Tuesday 03 January

Alan Turing is included in the "Britons of Distinction" set of Royal Mail stamps that will be released in February 2012. But if you are looking for Turing's portrait on an envelope you will be disappointed.

Page Speed - for a Better Page Rank   Monday 02 January

A fast site is a popular site. Google has been using the speed that a page loads as a factor in how it rates its importance in a search. Whether or not you think that this is a reasonable thing to do, it is yet another reason to try to make your web pages load faster.

ChevronWP7 Sold Out - More WP7 Jailbreaks On the Way   Monday 02 January

The story of ChevronWP7 and the legal jailbreak of WP7 is a mystery to anyone who considers it for a few moments. Why would a company like Microsoft go to the trouble of locking down their phone and then help a separate group of programmers to provide an officially sanctioned jailbreak?

Alan Turing Year Starts Today   Sunday 01 January

2012 is the centenary of the birth of Alan Turing and many events are planned during the course of the year to celebrate this fact. To mark the start of the year, a song encapsulates the story.

Nao Plays Connect Four   Sunday 01 January

The Nao robot is a mega toy just waiting to happen. If you want proof just watch it interact while playing the game Connect Four.

Print Me If You Dare - the Rise of Printer Malware   Sunday 01 January

The recent 28th Chaos Communications Congress has produced a number of interesting ideas, but a presentation of two hacks that turned printers into rogue machines was an eye opener for both programmer and IT manager.

Join the Reddit Read Through of Godel, Escher, Bach   Saturday 31 December

If you don't know the book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid then you have missed a classic. Now there's a novel way to be guided through this tome by taking part in a Reddit read through.

PhoneGap 1.3 Released   Saturday 31 December

Full support for Windows Phone 7 is the major new feature of PhoneGap 1.3. And with the next release (1.4) the PhoneGap will become known as Apache Cordova.

Are Bugs Seasonal?   Saturday 31 December

At what time of year is the most insecure software written? And what could account for the seasonal variation?

Pokki Contest for HTML5 Apps   Friday 30 December

Pokki is running a new contest with a  top prize fund of $30,000 plus an expenses paid trip to the Game Developers Conference 2012 in San Francisco, California for creating a desktop game using HTML5.

New ISO C standard - C11   Friday 30 December

The ISO has just published the latest C language standard known previously as C1X and now that it has been published as C11. This is not to be confused with C++11, which is the recent upgrade to the C++ language.

How to Write an App   Friday 30 December

It is a common dream - write an app, make a million, found a big software company ... and so on. However, the reality might not be so much fun.

Quick action to patch ASP.NET vulnerability   Thursday 29 December

Microsoft is releasing an out-of-band security update today for an ASP.NET Security Vulnerability revealed yesterday, December 28, 2011.

Tips for Getting Hired by a Startup   Thursday 29 December

Is your New Year's Resolution to get a new job. If you are interested in joining a startup, this infographic has some helpful tips and useful links.

The Computer Science of Insecurity   Thursday 29 December

Whenever you look at the problem of software security, you quickly get the feeling of unseen forces moving in a mysterious and unfathomable way. Why is software insecure? Is there a theory that explains it all?

OpenOffice 3.4 due early 2012   Thursday 29 December

The Apache OpenOffice project is planning to release OpenOffice 3.4 in the first quarter of 2012. The new release won’t have new features, but will be the first version to be Apache IP policy compliant.

Professional Programmer

2011 - I Programmer's Review of the Year   Saturday 31 December

So much happened in 2011 but most of it focused around a few interesting centers of action. We look back at the year from a programmer's perspective.

The Core

Getting Started With WinRT JavaScript   Wednesday 04 January

The big new feature in Windows 8 is the ability to create full applications using nothing but HTML and JavaScript. The big advantage of being able to do this is that you can bring your web expertise to Windows and take your Windows apps to the web. This article shows you how to get started with HTML and JavaScript based applications.

Babbage's Bag

What is a Turing Machine?   Monday 02 January

With 2012 being designated Alan Turing Year, you may find you are asked to explain just what a Turing Machine is and why it is so important. Here is an illustrated guide.