In the News: 2012-02-22

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: Microsoft joins Apple in FRAND patent fight against Motorola
Microsoft has joined Apple in filing an antitrust suit against Motorola Mobility in the European Union for allegedly abusing its standard-essential patents. Microsoft’s formal competition complaint was filed this week and revealed by the company on Wednesday. It asserts that Motorola Mobility is attempting to illegally block sales of Windows PCs, Xbox game consoles and other products by leveraging patents that are obligated to be offered with fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing.
Read full story => AppleInsider

Technology News: Under the hood: HTML5 or native? A guide
The mobile technology landscape is incredibly confusing. There are numerous choices, ranging from new HTML5 technologies, native app development methods, and all sorts of content management systems. At CBS Interactive, we have numerous mobile solutions, including native apps for CBS.com, CNET, and “60 Minutes,” along with mobile-optimized Web sites for GameFaqs and global properties like ZDnet.
Read full story => Cnet News

Programming News: Play! 2.0: A First Impression
Play! is a web framework for Java and Scala. Play promises to bring the developer productivity of web frameworks like Ruby on Rails to the Java and Scala languages. Of course, it wouldn’t make much sense just to copy Rails. So Play adds its own spin: Play 2.0 is fully statically type checked, giving the developer quick feedback when something doesn’t make any sense.
Read full story => Zilverline

Web News: Cookie law: the gnarly truth
The law requiring websites to gain explicit consent before storing cookies on users’ computers was passed in May 2011 but the ICO granted firms a year to comply before prosecuting any cases. Put simply, the law requires you to gain consent before you start dropping cookies on your users’ devices. There are one or two exemptions but they’re quite narrow, so don’t go thinking you’re off the hook.
Read full story => .net

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In the News: 2012-02-21

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: Mountain Lion to deprecate X11, some Carbon APIs
Apple’s next major version of OS X will continue Apple’s recent moves to deprecate built-in support for alternative platforms and its own Carbon APIs. Users who want to keep X11 will continue to be able to get it directly via an Apple Knowledge Base page, but like Java last year Apple will no longer bundle it but rather contribute to open source development outside the company via XQuartz.
Read full story => macnn

Technology News: Apple planning America’s largest solar panel farm
Apple is planning on building America’s largest solar panel farm — taking up a whopping 100 acres. The company aims to use the site in North Carolina to power its online operations, including iTunes, the Evening Standard reports. Once built, the 100-acre, 20-megawatt facility will provide 42 million kWh of clean, renewable energy every year. We knew it was big back when we first heard about the facility, but not quite this big.
Read full story => cnet crave

Programming News: Sandboxing and Clipstart
I wrote a draft of this post a few weeks ago, before Mac OS X Mountain Lion was announced. It was pretty critical of Apple’s aggressive approach to sandboxing, and I’ve kept most of that, but the new Gatekeeper feature for Mountain Lion at least gives me a way out. I don’t think Apple would have created Gatekeeper if they planned to abandon apps sold outside of the Mac App Store.
Read full story => Manton Reece

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In the News: 2012-02-20

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: Apple releases guide to help you write your first App
Have you always wanted to write your own App? If you’d like to see if developing is something for you then Apple has posted a new walkthrough called “Start Developing iOS Apps Today.”
Read full story => Mobile Orchard

Technology News: Turning Ireland’s water and wind into energy exports
Advances in wind power have made well-sited turbines a very cost-effective method of generating power – when they’re working. The variability of wind in even the best of sites, however, can cause wind farms to go from nothing to producing a power output that exceeds demand. This variability has made figuring out how to smooth out the energy produced with wind a major topic of research.
Read full story => ars technica

Programming News: Traditional Programming Language Job Trends: February 2012
Once again, it is time for the job trends for traditional programming languages. Just like the most recent trends updates, we are only looking at Java, C++, C#, Objective C, Perl and Visual Basic. This list has stayed fairly stable during the past few updates and I am always looking to see if something else should be added.
Read full story => Dzone

Standards News: Demystifying Twitter: Do’s and Don’ts of Twitter
Simply put, the basic concept behind Twitter can be identified as a modem version of short messaging service (SMS) channel with some added features. Your followers on Twitter are the people, who choose to be updated with the tweets (the post or message displayed on your profile page) you share, when you follow someone, you decide to be updated with tweets of that person. Besides sharing information like text, videos, pictures etc, this channel can also be used for exploring relationships (business or personal) with people who you may not know otherwise.
Read full story => instantShift

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In the News: 2012-02-19

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: OS X Messages App Lets You Send Files Of Any Type To iOS Devices Via iMessage
The beta release of Apple’s new Messages app for the Mac may have a hidden secret, and it’s one that could make getting files onto an iOS device as easy as 1,2,3. Apple recently made the beta release of its new Messages app available to the public, with the beta tag offering a sign that the app isn’t quite complete just yet. While there will no doubt be visual tweaks as well as under the hood changes, we-re also expecting new features to arrive before the app ships as a part of the new release of OS X – Mountain Lion.
Read full story => Redmond Pie

Technology News: LEDs Could Lead You Right to a Discount
A startup believes combining LED technology and smart-phone apps will offer precise indoor location data. When you go to the grocery store, chances are you find yourself hunting for at least a couple of items on your list. Wouldn’t it be easier if your smart phone could just give you turn-by-turn directions to that elusive can of tomato paste or bunch of cilantro, and maybe even offer you a discount on yogurt, too?
Read full story => technology review

Programming News: Goals for software developers
Most software developers I know are really keen to improve their skills. But how do we know we’re improving? How can we tell if our efforts are effective? Without feedback on our progress, it is easy to feel swamped and demoralised by the rate at which stuff we want to learn piles up, compared with the rate at which we feel we’re improving. Setting and working towards goals can help address this.
Read full story => dave^2=-1

Other News: O’Brien: After SOPA defeat, how can we move the piracy debate forward?
The defeat last month of the odious Stop Online Piracy Act left some hard feelings between Silicon Valley and Hollywood. This obscures a far more important point: Both sides need each other. Badly. While the valley is revolutionizing the gadgets and online services that are turning our viewing and listening habits upside down, Hollywood (really just shorthand for creators of film, TV and music) is making the high-quality content that users are eager to view across these blossoming platforms.
Read full story => Mercury News

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In the News: 2012-02-18

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: Back to the iPad: What Apple should take from OS X Mountain Lion and give to iOS 6
Apple is clearly bringing the best parts of the iPad to the Mac, but how about bring iOS some of the best parts of OS X as well? Yesterday Apple released the OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion developers preview, and like OS X 10.7 Lion before it, front and center was a drive to take what worked best in iOS in general, and the iPad in specific back to the Mac. To make an Apple experience that’s more consistent across their two platforms.
Read full story => iMore

Technology News: BrailleTouch keyboard allows typing on a phone without looking
A group of researchers at Georgia Tech have created a new piece of software called BrailleTouch that allows users to type on a smartphone without looking at the screen. It takes advantage of gestures and multitouch interaction to support a chorded typing system that is modeled after Braille keyboards.
Read full story => ars technica

Programming News: MacRuby & MountainLion + what you can do to help the project
A few of you asked me privately and publicly what was going on with MacRuby releases and what was the plan now that Apple clearly said that ARC is the future and that the GC will be deprecated in MountainLion.
Read full story => macOSforge

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In the News: 2012-02-17

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: How to Use AirPlay Mirroring on a Mac with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
Apple TV owners have an extra incentive to try out OS X Mountain Lion Dev Preview; AirPlay Mirroring. With AirPlay Mirroring, you can stream the Mac desktop and whatever application is on screen to an HDTV wirelessly through the Apple TV, making it easier than ever to watch videos from a Mac or play games on a much larger TV screen from a couch. It’s a great feature that finally came to the Mac with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
Read full story => osXdaily

Technology News: Google hit with FTC complaint, says circumventing Safari privacy features accidental
The Consumer Watchdog advocacy group today asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Google violated a previous privacy agreement with the FTC by tracking cookies in a way that circumvents default privacy settings in Apple’s Safari browser.
Read full story => ars technica

Programming News: What Are Closures?
If you write any code in JavaScript then you’ve probably used closures, but do you actually understand what they are and how they work? Taking the time to understand closures and how they’re implemented can add a deeper dimension to your understanding of the JavaScript language. In this article, I’ll discuss what closures are and how they’re specified for the JavaScript language.
Read full story => LosTechies

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In the News: 2012-02-16

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: Apple unveils Mac OS X 10.8 ‘Mountain Lion’ as iOS continues its push to the desktop
Apple has today announced the successor to its popular Mac OS Lion operating system, unveiling Mountain Lion, the ninth major release of its desktop platform which will bring more of its iOS features to the desktop.
Read full story => TheNextWeb

Technology News: Good news for Google: Nevada approves self-driving car regulations
We’re one step closer to widespread availability of self-driving cars – at least, if you live in Nevada. The state passed regulations for self-driving cars today that were approved by insurance companies, car manufacturers, police, and others, reports Physorg. The biggest benefactor of the decision will be Google, which debuted its futuristic self-driving cars in late 2010 and lobbied for their use in Nevada last May.
Read full story => VentureBeat

Programming News: Open Source and Open Source Software Are Not The Same Things
It all started with an innocent tweet asking whether ASP.NET MVC 3 is “open source” or not? I jumped in with my usual answer, “of course it is!” The source code is released under the Ms-PL, a license recognized that the OSI legally reviewed to ensure it meets the Open Source Definition (OSD). The Free Software Foundation (FSF) recognizes it as a “free software license” making it not only OSS, but FOSS (Free and open source software) by that definition.
Read full story => haacked

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In the News: 2012-02-15

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: Apple CEO Tim Cook hints broad iPhone attack
Apple [AAPL] CEO, Tim Cook, came out with strong stuff during his speech at a Goldman Sachs conference yesterday, as has been widely-reported, he stoutly defended the company’s commitment to better working conditions in its factories, hinted at a share buyback for investors, and more.
Read full story => Computerworld

Technology News: Cool Tools for Recharging Your Gadgets
Portable devices connect you to the world and provide entertainment wherever you go, but when they run out of juice it can be kind of devastating. (Okay, maybe devastating is an exaggeration, but it’s definitely inconvenient.) Luckily there are some really cool tools that making recharging your gadgets easier. Whether you’re looking for a clutter-free charging station, a great charger for when you’re on the go or one charger to rule them all, this list has got you covered.
Read full story => My life scoop

Programming News: Is Ruby interpreted or compiled?
Ever since I started to work with Ruby in 2008, I’ve always assumed that it was an interpreted language like PHP or Javascript – in other words, that Ruby read in, parsed and executed my code all at runtime, at the moment my program was run. This seemed especially obvious since the default and most popular implementation of Ruby is called “MRI,” short for “Matz’s Ruby Interpreter.” I always thought it was necessary to use an interpreter to make all of the dynamic features of the language possible.
Read full story => Pat Shaughnessy

other News: AT&T, Stop Blaming Your Horrible Network And Leave Your Best Customers Alone
Once upon a time wireless carriers offered unlimited data plans. Consumers signed the contracts, got their iPhone or Droids and went on to enjoy the smartphone revolution. Along the way streaming video and music hit it big and social media exploded into new demographics. All these things require data, but no worries – the carriers said we had unlimited data. Consume all you want, they said.
Read full story => techcrunch

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In the News: 2012-02-14

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: The Next-Generation MacBook Pro 2012
Have no doubt about this: Apple is revamping their MacBook Pro line in 2012 in a radical way-not merely evolutionary. We know this not because of the usual rumors, but because there is no way this will not happen. This is what we expect.
Read full story => gizmodo

Technology News: Startup Soraa thinks it can make LEDs cheap enough to replace regular bulbs
Soraa, a startup based in Fremont, California, has developed a new type of LED that it says generates 10 times more light from the same quantity of active material used in other LEDs. (Technology Review) The company’s first product is a 12-watt bulb that uses 75 percent less energy than a similarly illuminating 50-watt halogen bulb. Company officials would not disclose the cost of the bulb, but say it will pay for itself in less than one year through energy savings.
Read full story => Next Big Future

Programming News: When warts collide: var versus with
Lexical block scope in JavaScript is broken, and though the use of with is generally considered poor form, it’s a good solution to this problem. In most curly-braced languages, blocks delineate lexical scope. For example, in C or Java: …
Read full story => matt.might.net

Standards News: Standardizers explore closer cooperation on electric vehicles
ISO, the world’s largest developer of International Standards, and the US standards development organization, SAE International, are discussing closer cooperation on standards for electromobility and the automotive industry.
Read full story => ISO

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In the News: 2012-02-13

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Klaus

Mac News: Apple snatches top corporate reputation score from rival Google

Apple earned the top spot in a new corporate reputation study by Harris Poll (via TechCrunch). It awarded Apple with a corporate reputation quotient of 85.63, which is enough to displace a second-ranked Google with a score of 82.82. Only eight companies earned an RQ score of 80 or above that denotes “excellent reputation.” Apple’s achievement is even more noteworthy knowing Google ranked as last year’s most reputable corporation. Facebook and Intel did not appear on the list this year at all.
Read full story => 9to5mac

Technology News: Preparing for a mobile-first world
When smartphones are in the hands of a billion customers, that’s not just a trend. That’s a moment that requires a huge rethink in how companies do business and build products. That’s the upshot of a new study by Forrester Research, which looks at the trends in mobile and their implications as CIOs and businesses adapt to this new form of personal engagement with users via mobile devices. Forrester forecast that one out of every three dollars spent in the tech economy will be mobile by 2016.
Read full story => gigaom

Programming News: Unfolding Code: Ruby 1.9.3 via RVM on Mac OSX Lion: Success Story
After a long time away from Rails and Ruby, I roll up my sleeves today and try to figure out what I’ve missed lately: * first, Rails 3.2 proves to be engineered to work faster in dev mode, by now incorporating the Active Reload gem by default; * then reading some more, Ruby 1.9.3 bubbles up – it’s freaking fast bro!
Read full story => Unfolding Code

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