iRobot has unveiled a new robot designed for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Based off the company’s Roomba, Create 2 features a preassembled robot platform to give educators, students and developers an affordable source to learn the fundamentals of robotics, computer science and engineering. “As a global leader in robotics technology, iRobot believes … continue reading
Apple’s Swift programming language and the R statistical language are the two candidates for TIOBE’s programming language of the year award, according to the TIOBE index for December. In the October TIOBE programming community index, Google Dart had cracked the Top 20 languages, and Java and C++ popularity had hit all-time lows. This time around, … continue reading
Today marks the start of Code.org’s second annual Computer Science Education Week, and with it another round of the Hour of Code campaign, this time with even higher goals. This year, President Obama kicked off the festivities with a speech, also taking on the title of “Coder-in-Chief” and becoming the first president to program a … continue reading
Steve Jobs is about as iconic and complex a figure as the tech world has ever seen, so it’s no surprise his life story has been so quickly swept up into Hollywood biopic fodder. Walter Isaacson’s 2011 Jobs biography was a New York Times Bestseller, capturing a distinct cultural moment. It was hard to go … continue reading
Some tech companies manage to transcend technology. Under Steve Jobs, Apple defined itself as a purveyor of beautiful devices for artists and renegades. Under Marc Benioff, Salesforce is defining itself as a San Francisco-centric cultural force. His company’s annual Dreamforce conference, which this year hosted 140,000 attendees, celebrated SaaS, live music, philanthropic action, self-improvement, data … continue reading
Apple opens up its TestFlight Beta Testing Apple is giving developers the ability to invite up to 1,000 beta testers to try out their iOS 8 apps before releasing them to the App Store. The company has released its TestFlight Beta testing service to the public. “You can now invite up to 1,000 testers to … continue reading
Apple’s 64-bit and iOS 8 requirements for new apps Starting Feb. 1, 2015, iOS apps must include 64-bit support, according to Apple. The company introduced 64-bit computing to iPhone and iPad about a year ago, and is now telling developers their apps must include 64-bit support from Feb. 1 onward. “Starting February 1, 2015, new … continue reading
Harvard’s DIY soft robotics toolkit A Harvard University lab is making it possible for everyone to build “soft” robots. (Soft robots are modeled after biological systems and use soft, flexible materials. They can be used in jobs that interact with humans, such as helping with daily activities, according to the Harvard Biodesign Lab.) The lab … continue reading
Apple’s Touch ID vulnerable to attack Lookout security researcher Marc Rogers warned that the fingerprint reader on the iPhone 6 is vulnerable to attack, just as the iPhone 5s was. “When the iPhone 6 came out, the first thing I wanted to find out was whether or not there had been any changes to the … continue reading
The presentation of iOS 8 was dominated by Apple’s Near Field Communication (NFC) payment technology and the Apple Watch, but from a developer’s perspective, the most amazing thing about iOS 8 is its sheer size. When I started developing mobile applications just a few years ago, one of the things I liked about iOS was … continue reading
Microsoft releases WinJS 3.0 with multiplatform support, nixes developer fees Microsoft has released version 3.0 of WinJS, the Windows library for JavaScript, adding cross-platform and cross-browser support, JavaScript modularization, and improved universal control designs. The update adds support for popular Web and mobile browsers, as well as HTML-based app environments, including Apache Cordova. According to … continue reading
First Impressions of the Apple Watch: Surprised that it’s not called the iWatch. The user interface looks surprisingly cool. Distressed that the Apple Watch needs to be charged every day, but if the docking station is sufficiently easy to use, it shouldn’t be a deal breaker. The watches look like real watches, beautiful as well … continue reading
