Monday, 1 April 2013

Millimeters vs. Pixels

Hello again, A few weeks ago I was listing the top things to consider when moving from non-touch screens to touch screens. One of the things I mentioned was to ensure that the touch areas for your UI elements are big enough.

Introducing the new class at the Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure

We launched the Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure, powered by TechStars , to give early stage startups full access to Windows Azure and to help them succeed by connecting each company to leading

Have Two Arms, Will Work - (watch video)

DARPA's Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program is developing software, hardware and sensors to enable robots to semi-autonomously grasp and manipulate objects in unstructured environments (meaning, "outside of a laboratory") with human operators providing only task-level instructions.

Watch astronaut Chris Hadfield's zero-gravity workout

ISS Commander Chris Hadfield continues his entertaining video series by giving fans a glimpse of his workout routine in space. If you think your workout is reaching a plateau, don't complain to the men and women in space. They have to constantly work out to stave off the loss of muscle tissue.

Audio-based virtual gaming aims to help the blind navigate

Using only audio-based cues within the context of a video game metaphor, blind users in a study out of Harvard are able to explore a building's layout.

Skype for Windows 8 Gets an Update

We recently released an updated version of Skype for Windows 8 that gives our users higher control over who can contact them by adding the ability to block contacts, as well as other performance im

Teaching Robots to Lie



Learning to lie and deceive others is as basic to human social interaction as cooperation. Deceiving opponents and

Developing and using Adobe AIR native extensions for Android devices

Steps detailing the installation of Flash Builder 4.7 are not covered here; refer to the Flash Builder product page for information on trial versions and purchasing the software. Installation of the SDKs currently requires some additional steps in order to use the new ActionScript compiler, ASC 2.0.

ET deals: Dell U2713HM 27-inch WQHD IPS monitor for $629

Dell Ultrasharp u2713hm
Normally the U2713HM runs $799.99 and

Intel, AMD detail new video technologies, cloud gaming, and upcoming GPUs

Both Intel and AMD unveiled details on their upcoming graphics technologies at GDC last week, and we've rounded up the major announcements from both manufacturers and summarized the findings. Intel is adding additional capabilities to Haswell rather than simply boosting the number of GPU cores, while AMD is taking a major bet on cloud gaming, its "Never Settle" bundle, console sales, and an official Radeon 7990.

New Class at Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure Unveiled

Today, Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the Server & Tools Business, announced the 10 new teams in the Microsoft Acceler

What is transhumanism, or, what does it mean to be human?

<img width="300" height="165" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/android-arm-human-arm-michelangelo-300x165.jpg" alt="A transhumanist's take on Michelangelo's Cistine C

CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, April 01, 2013

Microsoft's open source project hosting web site. You can use CodePlex to find open source software or create new projects to share with the world.

How to use emulators to develop NFC features on WP8

One of the more interesting features of Windows Phone 8 is its Proximity Framework for Near-field communications (NFC). Both Nokia and Microsoft have heavily invested in this area. The Proximity AP

Smartphone powers Star Wars-inspired NASA robot

Miniature satellites resembling the flying robot that helped Luke Skywalker with his light saber training are now serving as mission control's eyes and ears aboard the International Space Station. New NASA satellites are powered by everyday items It's hard not to get freakishly excited when science fiction becomes scientific fact -- especially when the origins of that science are rooted in Star Wars.

Cross-Post: Introducing the new class at the Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure

We launched the Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure, powered by TechStars, to give early stage startups full access to Windows Azure and to help them succeed by connecting each company to leading technical and business mentors.

Webinar Replay: Extending Spring Integration for Splunk

Join David Turanski (SpringSource) and Damien Dallimore (Splunk) as they discuss and demonstrate Splunk and Spring Integration. Spring Integration provides a number of adapters out of the box to support various transports, such as JMS, File, HTTP, Web Services, and Mail.

Khan Academy Checkbook Scaling to 6 Million Users a Month on GAE

Monday, April 1, 2013 at 9:25AM Khan Academy is a non profit company started by Salman Khan with the Big Hairy Audacious Goal of providing a free, world class education to anyone, anywhere, anytime. That's a lot of knowledge. Having long been inspired and captivated by the Khan Academy, I was really curious to know how they plan to do it.

The Future of CSS: Flexbox is a Game Changer


3D printing stock scam, April Fool's joke, or both?

Sketchy-looking 3D printing "company" finds snag in fabric of reality, pulls. On today of all days, sketchy-looking would-be 3D printing company Massive Dynamics puts out a comically vague press release. Is this yet another apparent attempt to pump its penny stock, or the April Fool's prank from a master troll?

New York Auto Show: Automakers cede ground, give users more control of dashboard, entertainment apps

As kids, future automaker execs were told to play nice in the sandbox and share their toys. As grownups, this is their route to success: sharing access to the dashboard center stack and on-board data. It provides users with more choices in entertainment and keeps buyers from defecting to more forward-looking brands.

Article: Oracle WebCenter Spaces Performance Analysis and Tuning in Practice

A post-development performance tuning practice for addressing Oracle WebCenter Spaces performance issues Write for OTN Earn money and promote your technical skills by writing a technical article for Oracle Technology Network.

Spring AMQP 1.2.0.M1 Milestone is Now Available

We are pleased to announce that the first milestone release for Spring-AMQP is now available.


Project Home Page

<a href="https://jir

Kees Moeliker: How a dead duck changed my life - (watch video)

One afternoon, Kees Moeliker got a research opportunity few ornithologists would wish for: A flying duck slammed into his glass office building, died, and then ... what happened next would change his life. [Note: Contains graphic images and descriptions of sexual behavior in animals.]

Tutorial Series on Model Binding with ASP.NET Web Forms

I have written a tutorial series that shows how to use model binding with ASP.NET Web Forms. You might be familiar with the model binding concept from ASP.NET MVC, but with ASP.NET 4.5, model binding is now available in Web Forms applications. Model binding makes it very easy to create and maintain data-rich web pages.

Five Minute Guide to Streams2

Node 0.10 is the latest stable branch of Node. It?s the branch you should be using for Real Work?. The most significant API changes can be found in the <a href="http://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/st

Fast Track to Fashion

One of the best parts of my job is getting the chance to see up close and personal some of the cool things moving from idea to reality. During one of our recent " underground tours " we showed off one project that I think has huge potential, and is super relevant today.

Cloud | Welcome to the Mind-Bending World of Cloud-on-Cloud Computing

Cloud | Welcome to the Mind-Bending World of Cloud-on-Cloud Computing
John Engates is the

PS4 will launch globally this year, says GameStop Executive

Sony will launch the PS4 worldwide in 2013, according to a GameStop exec. but says the company will be unlikely to meet the initial demand.

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UCOSP Undergraduate Capstone Open Source Projects 2013 Midterm Update

Our open source projects with university students from across Canada have been going superbly this term with many excellent contributions to the BlackBerry Open Source community. This is our second post this term, the first one being about the kickoff sprint at Facebook headquarters. First let's hear what Amritpal has to say about what he's [...]

Upgrade your ears: Elective auditory implants give you cyborg hearing

Cochlear implant
Cochlear implants have successfully restored hearing to t