Although it’s probably the first thing that would-be programmers should consider, sometimes, choosing which programming language to learn or focus on is a daunting task. As a newbie, you might be looking for the perfect language that could do whatever you want. However, as you start you search for such a language, you’ll soon find that there is no such thing. Each language has it’s strengths and it’s weaknesses that makes them unique from the pack. And that in mind, your choice should coincide with how you think and what you intend to do which in turn will not only affect your productivity, but also your development habits,
Microsoft?s Stephen Lawler gives a brief tour of Google Earth’s future competitor, Virtual Earth. A short rendezvous through its hyperreal 3D cityscapes reveals a staggering amount of detail into focus. Even at the beta-stage, Virtual Earth shows incredible potential. Images look crisp and navigation seems pretty accurate. Microsoft?s visions for the product ? as a provider of real-time weather and traffic data, or a realistic backdrop for game developers and IM conversations, or virtual ad space ? all seem well within the limits of possibility.
Ars Technica seems to have inside information on this possibility and is suggesting that rather than just make the phones re-locked, Apple are planning to “brick” unlocked iPhones as a lesson to hackers with their next update. The article points to the announcement done by Steve Jobs, stating that Apple has decided to work actively against any SIM unlocks for the iPhone. The unlocks or break-ins that Jobs had referred to are :
- The first full SIM unlocks involved using a Turbo SIM card,
- iPhoneSIMfree, the first (commercial) software unlock of the iPhone
- iUnlock, a free unlock from the iPhone Dev Team
A 250 GB hard drive is more than enough capacity for any normal PC enthusiast. That’s quite a bit of storage to hold your installed programs, music, pictures, videos etc. If you do manage to fill it up, there’s the option of optical storage to shave off a bit of files from the hard drive. At the moment, DVD writers are the best option with 4.7 GB and 8.4 GB discs. In the near future, HD DVD and Blu-ray writers become available, you can opt to replace your aging DVD drive to be able to store much more information on a disc. Is it enough?
Still getting eaten by a writer’s block and is your blog becoming stale and sour? Fortunately for you, Chris Brogan has posted a list of 100 interesting topics for YOU to blog about. Here’s a snippet of the first 10 on the list
1 How I Use Facebook
2 Ways I Embrace My Audience
3 Should My Town Use Social Media?
4 A Community I Love
5 Technology That Empowers Me
6 How Flickr Did it Right
7 How Best to Comment on a Corporate Blog
8 Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference
9 How I Find Blogging Ideas
10 Somebody Has to Say It
APC Magazine was able to get a copy and install service pack 1 beta for Windows Vista. Not unlike the usually patch which are standalone, the update comes fully integrated with a 3.2 DVD ISO. I seriously doubt though that it will be the release medium when goes live.
Not to be confused with the two enhancement packs which were leaked to the public a few weeks ago, and then officially released by Microsoft, these updates address compatibility and performance features in Vista. SP1 adds a new maintenance application called ?Create a Recovery Disc?. This isn?t the same thing as creating a backup of the system to DVD ? instead this process creates a recovery DVD which you can use with system recovery options if you don?t have an original Windows DVD or you can?t access OEM recovery tools. APC claims that the performance of Vista SP1 has substantial advantages of non-SP1.
Google Apps just celebrated it’s Suite completion with the release of it’s presentation application. At a quick glance, Google Presentation looks and feels like a bare bones of an online presentation tool and there’s a bit of disappointment on the features available.
Intel and several other big names plan to release a new version of the Universal Serial Bus technology in the early half of 2008. Intel said a revamp of the current technology will yield 10 times faster transfer rates by adding fiber-optic links alongside the traditional copper wires.
Intel is working fellow USB 3.0 Promoters Group members Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, NEC and NXP to release the USB 3.0 specification in the first half of 2008, said Pat Gelsinger, general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group, in a speech here at the Intel Developer Forum.
The top speed that current USB 2.0 technology could go is 480 megabits per second, the projected transfer rate for USB 3.0 at 10x faster is 4.8 gigabits per second. Storage devices like portable HDDs, flash drives and future optical drives like Blu-ray and HD-DVD are at the receiving end of benefits from the larger bandwidth available. The fastest flash card readers today use IEEE 1394 “Firewire” connections that top out at 800 megabits per second today.
In addition, USB 3.0 will offer greater energy efficiency, Gelsinger said. It will be backward compatible, so current USB 2.0 devices will be able to plug into USB 3.0 ports.
Weekends are always the slowest days for me because there’s little to do and all my problems seem to popup at said time. Good thing I stumbled into Everyday Weekender. I found his topics about, well weekends, were just what I needed to kick off and have fun those boring interludes. He also provides PR 5 link backs for reviews of his blog (like this one),
Yahoo! has just launch it’s new web 2.0 social networking utility called Yahoo Mash.
Mash accounts are only available through Invites and viewing of profiles require that you login to an existing Yahoo! account. The whole interface looks and feels like friendster and Myspace. Your profile page can be edited by your mash’s friends also so they can always spice things up for you. Like facebook yahoo mash’s welcome page greets you with the latest updates and changes done by your friends. Like on MySpace, Yahoo Mash offers profile page customization features.
If you need a Yahoo Mash invitation, post a comment on this thread or contact me.
