News

Visual Studio 2013 Preview   Wednesday 03 July

One of the many announcements at Build 2013 was the preview of Visual Studio 2013 - ready for you to download and try out.

Harlan Goes Public For GPU Coding   Wednesday 03 July

A new language for GPU computing has been made available to the public, although it is currently still ‘research quality’.  As a Lisp-like language, Harlan achieves increases in computing performance by making use of the power of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

Bing As A Platform   Wednesday 03 July

The Bing Developer Center which includes new APIs and controls was announced at BUILD. This new platform for Windows 8/8.1 and Windows Phone 8 developers, provides access to tools that were previously the preserve of Microsofties.

Microsoft Kills TechNet   Tuesday 02 July

Microsoft is shutting down its TechNet subscriber service for new subscriptions, though the online TechNet blogs and customer support forums will be retained.

Firefox Phones Go On Sale, Marketplace Opens   Tuesday 02 July

Telefónica has begun selling the ZTE Open phone running Firefox OS in Spain, and plans to launch it in Colombia and Venezuala in the coming weeks. Firefox Marketplace is now open for business, which gives a new opportunity for developers.

Analytics Big Bang   Tuesday 02 July

An infographic picks out highlights from the past, present and future of predictive analytics. But is this big data or simply statistics?

Firefox 23 Makes JavaScript Obligatory   Monday 01 July

It seems that Firefox 23, currently in beta, has removed the option to disable JavaScript. Is this good for programmers and web apps?

Online Computer Science and July MOOCs   Monday 01 July

Summer time and the learning is easy ... well in the sense that with online education you can do it at your pace and in you choice of place. And there is plenty of choice on offer.

RoboCup 2013 Underway   Sunday 30 June

RoboCup 2013 is taking place in Eindhoven, Netherlands and  BotSport TV has posted a "teaser video" that shows a great deal of human enthusiasm - and more Nao robots together in one place than ever before.

Cannibal Animal Games   Sunday 30 June

If you are looking for a new 2D game to implement on a mobile device, then you might like to know about Cannibal Animals. It also has its serious side in that it reveals something about 2D geometry and its complexity. 

Online Auction Of Iconic Apple Technology   Sunday 30 June

An Apple I that is expected to fetch half a million dollars is currently on sale by Christies in an online-only auction. Some interesting Mac prototypes are also included in the auction, which ends on 9th July.

Rodney Brooks And Why Robots Will Be Essential   Saturday 29 June

You can't ignore Rodney Brooks' views on robotics and his latest Ted talk makes it easy for you to find out why he thinks that in the future we will rely on robots.

EDSAC Reconstruction Demoed To Celebrate Wilkes Centenary   Saturday 29 June

The centenary of the birth of Sir Maurice Wilkes, widely regarded as the father of British computing, was celebrated by a demonstration of the first working parts of the replica of EDSAC, the machine he pioneered in the 1940s.

Oracle 12c Available   Friday 28 June

Oracle’s new cloud-ready multi-tenant database is now available for download on the Oracle Technology Network. The download has been made available without an official announcement from Oracle, although the product was referred to by Larry Ellison in a telephone briefing about Oracle’s sales figures.

Firefox 22 Released and 23 in Beta   Friday 28 June

Full WebRTC support and improved JavaScript performance amount to significant enhancements in Firefox 22. Firefox 23 will introduce a share button, additional security, a network monitor and a less shiny new logo.

Windows 8.1 - 5000 New APIs!   Friday 28 June

Microsoft has claimed that the new Windows 8.1 has 5000 additional APIs. Is this good? 

Eclipse Kepler - The New Eclipse   Thursday 27 June

The annual ‘release train’ of the Eclipse Foundation is now available. This year’s collection of simultaneous releases of dozen of open source tools has been named Eclipse Kepler.

The Kinect 2 Revolution   Thursday 27 June

There's some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that Windows Kinect 2 won't be around until 2014; the good news is that a select few might be allowed to play with it early for $399. As it is almost as much a revolution as the Kinect 1, it might be worth it. 

Intel XDK Relaunched   Thursday 27 June

Intel has released a new version of its XDK HTML development tool. Can the hardware company manage to convince programmers that it has the best way to create platform independent applications? The tools are good but is the communication up to it? Intel is not a name you associate with software. 

The Core

Getting Started with NetAdvantage Ignite UI jQuery Controls   Wednesday 03 July

jQuery is a great library, but jQuery UI is a bit underpopulated for many applications. The Ignite UI is a professional set of UI controls fully integrated with jQuery and compatible with jQuery UI.

What Is Asynchronous Programming?   Friday 28 June

Asynchronous programming has become very important in the last few years, but many programmers find out about it by doing it. So what exactly is asynchronous programming, why is it necessary and why is it growing in importance?

Projects

QuickSort Exposed   Monday 01 July

The QuickSort is the most elegant of algorithms and every programmer should study it. It is not only elegant, it is subtle and this often means it is incorrectly implemented and incorrectly explained. Let's find out how it works and how to get it right.