News

Android Data Binding - Say Goodbye To FindViewById   Wednesday 03 June

Something new that comes with Android M that has almost gone unnoticed is the Data Binding library. It could mark the biggest change in Android programming since the introduction of the Fragment.

Amazon Robot Picking Contest Results   Wednesday 03 June

A team from the Robotics and Biology Laboratory (RBO) at the Technische Universität Berlin won $20,000 by outperforming all other competitors in the Amazon Picking Challenge held at ICRA 2015. The real result is that robots are far from ready to replace humans in the role.

Windows 10 To Be Released On July 29   Tuesday 02 June

So soon! The real question is not are we ready for it but is it ready for us? The phone version certainly isn't ready and neither are the developer tools we needed weeks ago.

Understand HTML5 With WC3 & edX   Tuesday 02 June

Over 60,000 students have enrolled on an new course on HTML5 that has been devised in collaboration with experts from the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C).

Upsource 2.0 Released   Tuesday 02 June

JetBrains has released version 2 of its browser-based code viewer, along with a new code review plug-in for IntelliJ IDEA.

GNU Octave 4   Monday 01 June

Octave 4.0 is a major new release of a high-level interpreted language, primarily intended for numerical computations. It now uses a GUI by default, includes support for classdef object-oriented programming, has better compatibility with MATLAB, and many new and improved functions.

Polymer 1.0 Released   Monday 01 June

Google has released Version 1.0 of the Polymer library which makes it easy to create interoperable custom elements and create app-like experiences on the web. 

Android M And A New Android Studio   Monday 01 June

From the developer's point of view the biggest news from Google I/O is the new version of Android and Android Studio.

Woz To Be Immortalized In Wax   Sunday 31 May

As the result of a public vote, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will be the next tech pioneer to be cast as a waxwork by Madame Tussauds. Once his statue is complete Steve Wozniak will be on display next to Steve Jobs in San Francisco.

Google's Project Jacquard - Make Your Clothes The UI   Sunday 31 May

There has been a buzz about wearables for a while now, but Google joining the club is probably an indication that it is hotter than you might think.

MIT's Robot Cheetah Jumps Over Things In Realtime   Saturday 30 May

I have to admit that this news item is all about seeing the robot actually do the jumping. So if you are in a hurry watch the video and then read about how and why its important. 

Android Nanodegree From Google & Udacity   Friday 29 May

Among his announcements at Google I/O Sundar Pichai (SVP, Android, Chrome and Apps at Google) signalled the launch of the Android Nanodegree, built by Google and Udacity. It is now open for enrollment so if you want to be in the first cohort sign up before June 8.

White House Advises That APIs ARE Copyrightable   Thursday 28 May

The argument between Google and Oracle about Java just goes on. Now we have a brief from the White House that affirms that APIs are copyrightable - which is very good for some and very bad for a much larger group.

MOOC On Apache Spark   Thursday 28 May

If you are want to apply data science techniques using parallel programming, in Apache Spark, you'll be interested in an edX course starting Monday June 1st that prepares you for the Spark Certified Developer exam.

Professional Programmer

C# on EdX - A Programmer's Review   Friday 29 May

If you want to get started with  C# and .NET you'll be interested in a course about Microsoft technologies that is available free of charge on the edX platform .

The Core

Exploring Edison - Meet Edison   Tuesday 02 June

The Intel Edison is a very attractive single board computer for IoT projects. It has WiFi and Bluetooth as standard and it's cheap. The only minor downside is the it doesn't seem quite as easy to use as an Arduino, but when you understand it a little better you'll find it is both flexible and powerful.