News

An Envy-Free Algorithm   Wednesday 12 February

If you want to find a way of dividing up some indivisible items between entities then here is a way to do it that eliminates envy as the outcome. The suggestion is that this could be a good way to divide up possessions during a divorce - algorithms get into everything.

Google Gets Hot   Wednesday 12 February

You can now check temperature records anywhere in the world using Google Earth.

NAG Library For Java Updated   Tuesday 11 February

The Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) has released an updated version of its NAG Library For Java with over 100 additional routines and improved error checking.

In-Memory OLTP In Depth   Tuesday 11 February

This month's issue of SQL Server Pro magazine takes a look at  SQL Server 2014’s revolutionary performance technology, the In-Memory OLTP Engine.

CoffeeScript Gets Regrind   Monday 10 February

CoffeeScript 1.7 has been released with new features requested by developers.

DevArt - Art Made With Code   Monday 10 February

The search has begun for a large-scale work of digital art to be part of a major exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London.  Google has already commissioned three artists to create innovative installations and to be judges of submissions made to its DevArt website between now and March 28th to select the fourth and final one.

Firefox Launcher For Android - Why?   Monday 10 February

Mozilla has an operating system for mobile devices but seemingly not content with this, it plans to build an app launcher for Android. The question is why exactly?

An Equation For Intelligence   Sunday 09 February

 It is something like the philosopher's stone. A single equation for intelligence. A sort of E=mc²  that would put intelligence, and more particularly artificial intelligence, on a sound theoretical footing. But could it be as simple as this TED talk video suggests?

Dismantle That 3D Printer - Build An Air Hockey Robot Instead!   Saturday 08 February

This is a nice project, nice to watch and nice to contemplate. Take the parts needed to build a 3D printer and convert them into an air hockey playing robot complete with clever software to make it a challenging opponent.

Fear And Loathing In The App Store - Apple Drops Bitcoin App   Friday 07 February

We have come to accept the fact that the sale of our code is controlled by third parties and we try to get into the walled gardens because of the potential rewards. But what happens when the gate keepers decide that your app isn't in their interest? That's what has happened to the leading Bitcoin app in the Apple App Store. 

KitKat on Fewer Than 2 Percent Of Androids   Friday 07 February

Since its launch over three months ago KitKat hasn't made much of an impact. It has now overtaken Froyo is terms of the number of devices using it - but only by half a percent.

DARPA Opens Treasure Trove Of Data And Software   Friday 07 February

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has created an open catalog containing results of its sponsored research in computer science.

Microsoft Drops InfoPath   Thursday 06 February

Microsoft is discontinuing work on InfoPath, its electronic forms creator, though so far no news of a successor.

Kivy 1.8 Now With Python 3.x Support   Thursday 06 February

Kivy 1,8 is the first version of a popular open source Python  framework to support Python 3.x.

Professional Programmer

Catalyst And More - An Interview With Matt Trout   Thursday 06 February

Nikos Vaggalis set out to find out about the Catalyst web framework from its co-maintainer Matt S. Trout. Their discussion turned out not to be just about Catalyst, however. While discussing the virtues of the framework, Matt divulged in his own colorful language, what makes other popular web frameworks tick. He also shared invaluable thoughts on architecting software as well as on the possibility of Perl 6 someday replacing Perl 5 for web development.

Babbage's Bag

Confronting The Unprovable - Gödel And All That   Tuesday 11 February

Given infinite computing power surely there cannot be any problem or puzzle that is incapable of solution? The famous or infamous incompletenes theory of Kurt Gödel says different.