Bill Gates gladly accepted Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s nomination to the ALS ice bucket challenge, but Gates resolved to “do it better than it’s been done.” The cofounder and former Microsoft CEO had some nerdy fun with the viral challenge to raise awareness for ALS, drawing up a detailed design and welding together his own … continue reading
Minecraft mod teaches kids how to code A new mod from Minecraft looks to teach kids how to code along with teaching them how to mod. Kids can use Blockly, JavaScript or a combination of the two to code. “Blockly is a great way to learn deep computer science concepts like if statements, loops, data … continue reading
QMUL and Nokia power mobile phones with sound Over the past year, the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and Nokia have been working together to develop a nanogenerator that could charge mobile phones with everyday background noise. “Being able to keep mobile devices working for longer or do away with batteries completely by tapping … continue reading
Cloud-based development tools are great. Wonderful. Convenient. You may access your cloud-based IDE, your cloud-based code repository, your cloud-based storage, your cloud-based test suite from anywhere, perhaps through a browser, perhaps from a thin client. Log in, choose your project, off you go. Except when it doesn’t work. I don’t know if you were affected … continue reading
The ALS ice bucket challenge has made its way to Microsoft. Former pro football player Steve Gleason, who is living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), challenged Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to pour a bucket of ice water on his head as part of the ALS awareness campaign. “For my not naked ALS #icebucketchallenge I nominate … continue reading
Microsoft rolled out several features and improvements to its F12 Developer Tools suite as part of the August Internet Explorer update. Internet Explorer program managers Sharon Meramore and Charles Morris detailed the updates in a blog post, including feature improvements to the F12 tools, WebGL renderer, IE11 support for WebDriver, and blocking out-of-date ActiveX controls, … continue reading
Microsoft announces Python Tools for Visual Studio 2.1 RC Microsoft has announced the release candidate for version 2.1 of Python Tools for Visual Studio. The open-source plug-in, which enables features such as CPython/IPython editing, IntelliSense and interactive/cross-platform debugging in Visual Studio, adds support for more Web frameworks, free Express SKUs, and improved syntax highlighting in … continue reading
The OpenGL 4.5 specification was introduced today by the Khronos Group. This version offers Direct State Access (DSA), a feature that’s long been available in Direct3D, Microsoft’s 3D API, but is now finally available for OpenGL developers. DSA was already an extension in the OpenGL world, but version 4.5 brings it into the core of … continue reading
Microsoft debuts low-cost phone Microsoft has unveiled a mobile phone that costs only 19 euros, or US$25. The Nokia 130 features a built-in video player, a music player with up to 46 hours of continuous playback on a single charge, a flashlight, FM radio, and USB charging. “With handsets like the Nokia 130, we see … continue reading
MongoDB CEO Max Schireson steps down; ex-BMC Software exec steps up MongoDB’s Max Schireson announced he will step down as CEO in less than a month, and will be replaced by former BMC Software executive Dev Ittycheria. Effective Sept. 3, Schireson will transition into the role of vice chairman and remain with the company full-time. … continue reading
Microsoft has released the final version of Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 and Team Foundation Server Update 3, with a veritable laundry list of new features and added support. The release was announced in tandem with blog posts from Microsoft Developer Division corporate vice presidents S. Somasegar and Brian Harry. One of the biggest new … continue reading
Game to sharpen developers’ security skills Application security firm Checkmarx has released a new game designed to help developers, coders and consumers improve their code security skills. Game of Hacks provides pieces of codes and challenges players to find the vulnerability as fast as possible. “We repeatedly hear security managers concerned about the secure coding … continue reading
