News

Google Introduces Analytics for Maps   Wednesday 18 April

If you’re creating an app that includes location information, Google has a new API for you to try.

Coursera Raises $16M and Plans Wide Range of Courses   Wednesday 18 April

After months of maintaining a low profile, Coursera, the online course site, has been awarded $16M in funding and has revamped its website to reveal the extent of its ambitious plans.

Larry Ellison: I don't know if Java is free   Wednesday 18 April

On day two of the Oracle v Google trial to determine the state of Android, we have a shocking admission. If you think about the motivation for the answer that Larry Ellison gave the court, things become even more worrying.

Three Windows 8 Editions Clarify the WinRT Position   Tuesday 17 April

Microsoft has been keeping the important fine detail of Windows 8 to itself. Now we have a definitive outline of what will be in the three main editions of Windows 8 and it confirms some long held speculations - and they are not good.

Mozilla Open Badges API in Beta   Tuesday 17 April

The Mozilla Open Badges project has passed an important milestone, going from an invitation-only pre-beta phase to a full public Beta.

Preview of MySQL 5.6.5   Tuesday 17 April

Oracle has released a preview version of MySQL to coincide with this year’s MySQL Conference and Expo.

Light Table - a Realization of a New Way to Code   Monday 16 April

If you watched the video in "A Better Way to Program" then you might have been itching to get your hands on tools that work in the way described. Now there is an open source project to create them - Light Table.

UPDATE: Light Table is now a KickStarter project.

PhoneGap 1.6 Released   Monday 16 April

Just five weeks after the last release of PhoneGap, there's a new version. PhoneGap 1.6 brings a unified JavaScript layer to the project, making it more consistent and streamlined.

A Browser For Work and Another For Play   Monday 16 April

People appear to switch browsers according to when, where and how they surf the web. What are the implications of this behavior?

A Dozen Free Online Computer Science Courses   Sunday 15 April

Anyone wanting to plug the gaps in their computer science education is either going to be very busy for the next two months or has some difficult choices to make as a dozen free online courses all become available at once.

A Crab-Based Computer   Sunday 15 April

You can build a computer out of all sorts of things - mechanical components, vacuum tubes, transistors, fluids and ... crabs. Researchers have discovered that soldier crabs have behaviors suitable for implementing simple logic and hence - with enough crabs - you can achieve a complete computer.

The Real Geeks of Silicon Valley - Cartoon   Saturday 14 April

Bravo is planning a reality TV show based on Silicon Valley and its people. Can they be serious? The Joy of Tech has the reality distilled into a cartoon.

Oracle v Google - Are Computer Languages Copyrightable?   Saturday 14 April

Oracle's case against Google now appears to be more about copyright than about patents and as such raises a fundamental issue that could have much wider ramifications than just this case. Can a programming language be copyrighted?

E-Book Trends Revealed   Saturday 14 April

Data from several sources provides insights into the state of the e-book market and the reasons why consumers choose e-books rather than print books.

ChevronWP7 Closes - The End of the Jailbreak   Friday 13 April

The legalized Jailbreak that was organized by Microsoft and a group of hackers called ChevronWP7 is over. There are no more unlock tokens to be had and one of the strangest incidents you could imagine is over.

Microsoft Plans to Charge For Bing Search API   Friday 13 April

Microsoft has revealed it intends to begin charging for using the Bing Search API. Developers are already voicing their discontent. So will Microsoft change its plans?

How the Music Flows from Place to Place   Friday 13 April

Is music a world phenomenon or is it spilt into regions with specific preferences? Are there cities that lead the way in finding new popular music while others follow? And what has a flock of pigeons got to do with it?

SQLServer and SharePoint Connections   Thursday 12 April

A conference on the twin topics of SQLServer and SharePoint is taking place on Tuesday  May 8th and Wednesday May 9th 2012 at Berchtesgaden in Germany.

AWS Announces CloudSearch   Thursday 12 April

Amazon is making a fully-managed search service available that you can include in your applications to give your users a scaleable search mechanism without you having to manage the search engine.

Schedule for Java 8   Thursday 12 April

The schedule for Java 8, which is expected to be released in September 2013, has been announced. This may only be a list of milestone dates - but it is an indication that Java is moving forward.

Professional Programmer

How Microsoft Could Have Done Metro   Friday 13 April

Much has been written about the moves that Microsoft is making to turn Windows into an operating system that can work on tablets as well as desktops. There seems to be a clear split into the programmers who have too much to lose to even consider that the new might replace the old, and those who are simply fascinated watching the slow-motion train wreck.

The Core

FlexGrid - A Lightweight Data Grid   Wednesday 18 April

There are more data grids available than the standard one that comes with WPF. In this article we take a look at FlexGrid for WPF and discover how easy it is to use.

Babbage's Bag

Computer Memory and Pigeonholes   Monday 16 April

We discover why computer memory can be likened to pigeonholes and even include instructions for you to build your own memory device.