News

Microsoft Finally Decides What To Call Metro Apps   Wednesday 25 March

At last it does seem that Microsoft has decided what the proper naming for its new non-Win32 apps should be. Why has it taken so long and what does it tell us?

GNU Manifesto Published Thirty Years Ago   Wednesday 25 March

It was in March 1985 that Richard Stallman first set out his belief in the ideal of Free Software with the publication of the GNU Manifesto.

Apple Buys And Closes FoundationDB   Wednesday 25 March

Industry watchers say Apple has bought FoundationDB, though neither company is saying anything official about the acquisition.

GitHub Introduces Licenses API   Tuesday 24 March

GitHub recently introduced its Licences API, available in Preview. It also presented some statistics about license usage over its history.

Windows 10 SDK Now Available   Tuesday 24 March

In a surprise move Microsoft has made an early version of the Windows 10 SDK available to download and test. Now we really find out what the new "universal apps" are all about.

Mozilla Developer Network Fellowship Program   Monday 23 March

Mozilla has launched its MDN Fellowship program with the aim of developing apps, API descriptions and curriculum on the Mozilla Developer Network. Apply by April 1st if you are interested.

Largest Payout Ever At Pwn2Own 2015   Monday 23 March

Finalists in last week's Pwn2Own contest amassed a total of $557,500 in bounty by revealing 21 security vulnerabilities. Mozilla has already updated Firefox 36 to fix three critical bugs.

dotnetConf 2015   Monday 23 March

If you missed the online dotnetConf earlier in the month then don't worry because all of the videos are now available for you to watch at your leisure.

Byrun Walks With Ease   Sunday 22 March

Byrun is a full-sized humanoid robot under development at Engineered Arts, Byrun's special feature is that is designed to reproduce human movement. This video shows Byrun walking in a convincingly human way.

Magic Leap's New Game Changer?   Saturday 21 March

Magic Leap is a secretive company promising to deliver Virtual Reality that will change everything. Of course, companies like Microsoft and Occulus Rift think the same. Take a look at this new video that gives you an idea of what Magic Leap might be working on.

True Asteroids On A Torus   Friday 20 March

There may be life in old games done right. Asteroids is a classic, but have we been implementing it wrong all these years? 

MSBuild Engine Now Open Source   Friday 20 March

 Microsoft has announced that MSBuild is being contributed to the .NET Foundation. It is now available on GitHub and is being ported to Linux and Mac.

Google Places API Now On Android   Friday 20 March

Google has launched the Google Maps Places API for Android and iOS devs can sign up for the public beta which is coming shortly.

DuoCode Cross Compiler   Thursday 19 March

DuoCode lets you cross compile C# code into JavaScript. Although it will be a commercial product developers are invited to apply for beta invitations and a public beta version is expected shortly.

Masters Level Computer Science From Udacity   Thursday 19 March

Applications for the Fall 2015 admission to Georgia Tech's Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMS CS) are due before April 17, 2015. But if you don't want to wait you can follow along for free with Udacity

The Core

Android Adventures - Working With Layouts   Thursday 19 March

Choice of Layout is vital to an Android UI. The Layout. is what allows you to position and generally arrange other components. A good understanding of what the different Layouts do for you can make the difference between an easy and a difficult UI. 

History

AI and Games Pioneer, A L Samuel   Tuesday 24 March

One landmark that stands out in programming history, is the first computer game. It wasn't space invaders and it wasn't anything to do with Mario. It was written by a man whose work dated from the dawn of the computing era, Arthur Lee Samuel.