News

Flaw In Bitcoin Algorithm   Wednesday 06 November

Most security analysts don't regard the Bitcoin algorithm as particularly sophisticated, but until a new paper was published there was no explicit flaw. However, the problem that has been uncovered is more to do with game theory than cryptography. 

Google Helpouts   Wednesday 06 November

Google has launched Helpouts, a new website that allows users to get in touch with experts and pay them for one-to-one services over live interactive video chat. There are already people offering computer and programming help. Is this a promising way to monetize your expertise?

AWS SDK for Javascript Released   Tuesday 05 November

Amazon has released a developer preview of an AWS SDK for JavaScript that lets you write browser-based apps that make direct calls to AWS services.

Google Play 4.0 with New Ads SDK   Tuesday 05 November

The major enhancement in the latest version of Google Play Services is the inclusion of the Mobile Ads SDK and there are also to improvements to geofencing, Google+, and Google Wallet Instant Buy APIs. It also marks the end of an era with discontinuation of Froyo support.

New High School Challenge, Extra Prizes   Tuesday 05 November

CreateHS, the website that provides monthly challenges to high school students, has launched its second competition - to build a high school website.

New MOOC On Reactive Programming   Monday 04 November

Reactive programming is a buzz phrase that seems to be growing in popularity and now you can sign up to a course on it taught by, among others, Martin Odersky of Scala fame.

Bribe Devs To Improve Open Source Software   Monday 04 November

A startup has had the bright idea of monetary exchange between those who want bug fixes and additional features in open source projects and has called the fledgling website bribe.io .

Native MySQL on Google Cloud   Monday 04 November

Google is adding support for native MySQL connections to its Cloud SQL managed MySQL database, opening the possibility of using your own apps with it.

Windows 1.01, 3.0 and Mac 7 - In A Browser   Sunday 03 November

Following on from recent news of Turbo Pascal and some classic games all running in a browser, we thought you might like some classic operating systems - Windows 1.01, Windows 3.0 and Mac System 7. Ah, just smell the nostalgia!

GimBall - a Crash-Happy Robot   Saturday 02 November

GimBall is a robot that is isn't deterred by bumping into obstacles. After any collision it just carries on flying. This gives it a useful role in complex and chaotic environments. See it in action flying through a forest.

Halloween Patents Threaten Google And Android   Friday 01 November

Android 4.4 KitKat The Programmers Take   Friday 01 November

Google just released the latest version of the Android operating system and a new phone, the Nexus 5, to run it. While the rest of us wait for updates to become available, let's take a look at what's new that might be important to the programmer.

SharePoint Connections Amsterdam 2013   Friday 01 November

The European SharePoint Connections conference is coming up soon with an added day of deep-dive workshops.

November Computing MOOC Picks   Thursday 31 October

After a couple of busy months for Computer Science related MOOCs , November sees fewer starts - something you may find a relief if you are already busy studying.There are, however, some intriguing options.

Win Pizza - But Only If You’re Quick   Thursday 31 October

Microsoft is running a challenge for developers where you can win pizza if you can improve the page load performance of your website.

Nominations Invited For Free Software Awards   Thursday 31 October

The deadline for nominations for the 16th Annual Free Software Awards has been extended to November 6. So if you know of a pioneer or project that deserves recognition there's still time.

The Core

Getting Started With Snap.svg   Thursday 31 October

Adobe's new open source graphics library makes working with SVG in code easy as long as you know your way around. Let's see what it can do.

Babbage's Bag

The Lost Art Of The Storage Mapping Function   Tuesday 05 November

You may not have heard of SMFs, Storage Mapping Functions, but you are likely to have used them. They tend to be overlooked because there are more exciting methods of implementing storage, such as hashing schemes, but really it all started right here with an SMF.