News

Times They Are A Changing   Wednesday 01 January

As 2013 morphs into 2014 we wish our readers Happy New Year and hope that it develops in just the way you want it to. 

Windows XP - 96 Days Left And Counting   Wednesday 01 January

At the turn of the year the countdown to the end of XP support is particularly relevant. 2014 is the year that Windows XP dies. And on January 1st it has 96 days left...

New Year's Eve With Nao   Tuesday 31 December

Aldebaran Robotics is inviting you to spend New Year's Eve with its cute boy-sized robot with the charming French accent. In this video you decide how you and Nao will while away the time.

New and Old in Unicode 7   Tuesday 31 December

Unicode already contains over 110,000 characters but when the next major version is released next year it will be expanded by a further 2,833, including some that are as yet undeciphered - and nobody knows what they are supposed to mean.

Microsoft's New Language - M#   Monday 30 December

For reasons that aren't fathomable, Microsoft has decided to lift some of the covers from its systems programming language based on C#, which seems to be called M#.

Mozilla's End of Year Fundraising   Monday 30 December

Intel's XDK Free Web App Dev System Updated   Monday 30 December

Intel has made important improvements to its second generation XDK HTML development tool, including multi-page support in its App Designer.

Cubli - A Reaction Wheel Drive Robot   Sunday 29 December

This is such a nice mechanism that you just have to watch as it uses rotating wheels under computer control to convert angular to linear momentum - more simply it can jump up on command and balance.

Play Early Console Games In The Browser   Saturday 28 December

The Internet Archive allows you to turn the clock back to the 1970s and 80s when to play a game with your family or friends meant gathering around the TV set and playing low res games using a special purpose "console". 

The Reason For The Weird PHP Function Names   Friday 27 December

This could just as well be in the humour section. Do you know why PHP has such strange legacy function names? You might be more than surprised when you find out...

CSI Style Zoom Sees Faces Reflected In The Eye   Friday 27 December

You must have seen TV programs where the CSI person is asked to zoom in on face or worse the reflection of a face in the victim's eye. This is clearly impossible - or is it?

Charles Babbage Born This Day In 1791   Thursday 26 December

Today we celebrate the birth of Charles Babbage, the man who invented calculating machines that, although they were never realised in his lifetime, are rightly see as the forerunners of modern programmable computers.

Professional Programmer

Review Of The Programming Year 2013   Tuesday 31 December

What to make of 2013? What do you remember most? How did things change - for the better or for the worse?

History

Charles Babbage - The First Computer Visionary   Thursday 26 December

Born in 1791, Charles Babbage was the man who invented calculating machines that, although they were never realised in his lifetime,  are rightly seen as the forerunners of modern programmable computers. This is the story of his life, his Difference Engine and Analytical Engine.