Monday, April 26, 2010

Google Earth Tab in Google Maps

Google Maps replaced the terrain tab with a tab for Google Earth. When you click on the Earth tab, Google asks you to install a plug-in for Windows or Mac. If you have a recent version of Google Earth, you already have the plug-in.

'Five years ago, shortly after Google's acquisition of Keyhole, we introduced the first integration of Keyhole technology into Google Maps -- Satellite view. Suddenly, you could see what places actually looked like from the air, and easily switch between this view and the map view. Mapping has never been the same. A few months later, the desktop Google Earth application was released, and now we have over 600 million downloads. Today we are proud to announce the next major step in the marriage between Google Earth and Google Maps -- Earth view,' says Peter Birch, from Google.

Even though the new view makes it easier to use Google Earth, since you no longer have to open a new application, I think it's a bad idea to add it to Google Maps. Google Earth plug-in uses a lot of resources, it slows down your browser and it continues to run in the background even if you switch to the Map tab. What's more, if you open Google Maps in another window and switch to the Earth tab, a new instance of the Google Earth plug-in will load.




link to : http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2010/04/google-earth-tab-in-google-maps.html

Writing Programs that Write Programs

Have you ever wished you could write a program that would write programs for you? A program that writes other programs is called a metaprogram. Both C and C++ actually do include the ability to do certain forms of metaprogramming!

You've already seen some forms of metaprogramming in C++, using
templates to generate data structures that can handle any type.

A nifty feature called template specialization allows you to specify a different implementation of a template for a special type:
And in both C and C++, the macro processor allows you to do some basic metaprogramming (like conditionally compiling code):

Happy meta-programming!

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source :
cProgramming Mail List

Alex

49 Dover St. #37, Somerville, MA 02144, USA

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Android on an iPhone

A member of the iPhone Dev Team, a group of hacker that develop software for jailbreaking iPhone, managed to install Android on a first-generation iPhone. David Wong replaced Apple's bootloader with the open-source OpeniBoot so that he could install a different operating system. He also used a version of the Linux kernel ported to the iPhone in 2008.

'It should be pretty simple to port forward to the iPhone 3G. The 3GS will take more work. Hopefully with all this groundwork laid out, we can make Android a real alternative or supplement for iPhone users. Maybe we can finally get Flash,' says David.

This is one of the many benefits of an open-source software: people can modify it and use it in new, interesting ways. You can install Android on a Windows Mobile phone, on an iPhone, on a notebook and on many other devices.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Dots No Longer Required When You Log in to Gmail

Until recently, if your Gmail username included one or more dots, you had to add them to your username when logging in. Now it's no longer required to include the dots, so you can type johndoe instead of john.doe.


It's important to keep in mind that Gmail ignores the dots from your username when receiving a message, so you'll get all the messages sent to johndoe@gmail.com, john.doe@gmail.com, john.d.o.e@gmail.com and other similar addresses. The requirement to enter the same username you used when you created the Gmail account might have helped you keep the account secure, but it was really annoying.

There's an interesting urban legend about the dots from Gmail usernames: some people claim that Gmail initially allowed users to create different accounts using usernames that were identical if you ignored the dots. That's why you'll hear many users complaining that they receive someone else's mail. Google even created a page which debunks the myth, but that doesn't stop users from talking about the 'dot problem'.