Thursday, July 28, 2011

The History of Programming Languages [Infographic]

Rackspace recently published a nice infographic on the evolution of programming languages. It starts with FORTRAN and COBOL and runs through Ruby on Rails (which, yes, is a framework and not a language).

Unfortunately, it omits such influential languages as Lisp, ALGOL 60 and Smalltalk. But including every important language ever would make for a pretty long infographic.

programming languages


The popularity stats at the end are apparently sourced from the oft criticized TIOBE. You can find the full sized graphic and bibliography here.

src: http://rww.to/qXzYH2

Monday, June 13, 2011

This Morning’s Top 3 Stories in Tech, Business & Social Media

This Morning’s Top 3 Stories in Tech, Business & Social Media: "

Social Media News

Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.

Facebook Traffic Dropping in U.S. and Canada?

According to reports, Facebook traffic is dropping in the U.S. and Canada as the service nears 700 million users; however, we believe this is merely an adjustment of previous inaccuracies.

Anonymous’s Operation India Accounts Removed From Facebook & Twitter

The Facebook and Twitter accounts of Operation India, the arm of hacktivist group Anonymous that has recently begun protesting censorship practices in India by attacking government websites, have been removed.

Toshiba Thrive Now Available for Pre-Order

Toshiba’s tablet, the Thrive, is now available for pre-order directly from Toshiba, as well as from Amazon and Office Depot.

Further News

  • Leon Panetta, the Central Intelligence Agency director, has warned senators that “the next Pearl Harbor that we confront could very well be a cyberattack that cripples” U.S.’s electrical grid as well as its security and financial systems.
  • In an interview at a conference in Manchester, Bruce Daisley, sales director at YouTube and Google, disclosed that users skip only 30% of YouTube ads.
  • Custom fashion and gifts site CafePress has filed for an IPO, through which the 12-year-old company hopes to raise $80 million.
  • The first pictures of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords since she suffered a gunshot wound to the head five months ago have been released on Facebook



"

Saturday, April 23, 2011

President Obama Visits Facebook Headquarters [PHOTOS]

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President Barack Obama discussed the economy, technology, innovation and more during a packed town hall Wednesday at Facebook headquarters.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg‘s first question to Obama focused on the economy and how the U.S. will turn things around while bringing down the deficit. He discussed rolling back tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and cutting the budget to reduce the deficit. “We have a long-term problem with Medicare and Medicaid,” Obama noted, stating that “20% of the patients account for 80% of the cost” of most hospitals.

Most of the time though, Obama addressed questions from the audience, as well as user-submitted questions collected via the web. During this line of questioning, Obama addressed the housing crisis, clean energy research, immigration policy, Medicare and education reform.

Many of the questions came from Facebook employees. One asked Obama about a recent budget proposal from Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan. The employee asked Obama if his budget plan was bold enough. “The Republican budget put forward is fairly radical,” Obama responded. “I wouldn’t call it particuarly courageous,” he added, before continuing with criticism of the viability of Ryan’s plan.

Another question focused on how the government would slow the rise of health care costs. Obama said the government should provide incentives to invest in new IT technology that would reduce costs.

At the end of the town hall meeting, Zuckerberg, who was uncharacteristically wearing a suit coat and tie, presented Obama with a uniform he’s more familiar with: a Facebook hoodie.

Here are photos from Obama’s visit to Facebook headquarters:


Protesters Outside Facebook HQ





Protesters Outside Facebook HQ





Protesters Outside Facebook HQ





Protesters Outside Facebook HQ





Protesters Outside Facebook HQ





Protesters Outside Facebook HQ





Protesters Outside Facebook HQ





Facebook Live Town Hall





Facebook Live Town Hall





Facebook Live Town Hall





Daniel Brusilovsky & Joey Primiani at Facebook HQ





Facebook Live Town Hall





Facebook Live Town Hall





Facebook Live Town Hall





Facebook Live Town Hall





Nancy Pelosi at Facebook HQ





Mark Zuckerberg Takes the Stage





President Obama & Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg





President Obama & Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg





President Obama at Facebook HQ





President Obama at Facebook HQ




source: Mashable

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Now You Can Select Your Own Image As a Background in Gmail


Ever since Google let us choose our own colors in the Gmail interface, we’ve been rocking a garish crimson motif, but there was something missing. Why couldn’t we choose our own photos as backgrounds? Now we can.

Our wish was granted on Thursday, when an announcement on the Gmail Blog said you can personalize the Gmail interface with your own photos, coming from either Google’s Picasa or your own hard drive.

Here’s how you can make it happen when you’re in Gmaill:

  • Go to the Settings menu
  • Click the Themes tab
  • On the bottom left, select “create your own theme”
  • Click on the link that invites you to select your own background image
  • Choose an image, either from Picasa or from your own hard disk
  • Enjoy your new look

source: Mashable

Monday, March 28, 2011

Now accepting student applications for Google Summer of Code

Starting today, we’re accepting applications from students for the 2011 Google Summer of Code. In this global program, now in its seventh year, university students receive a stipend to write code for open source projects, gaining experience in real-world software development and creating more source code which benefits everyone on the web.







To apply, visit the program website, where you can review this year’s 175 accepted projects and submit your proposal. Space in the program is limited, so be sure to consult the Google Summer of Code student manual and read over some tips on crafting the best proposal and suggested dos and don’ts for participating in the program.



You can find more information on the Open Source blog. Applications are due Friday, April 8 at 12pm PDT. Good luck!



Posted by Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs Office

Java Creator Joins Google; Will Android Benefit?


James Gosling, the man who created the programming language, Java, has just joined Google.

The hire was quite the win for Google, which is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Java’s owner, Oracle, over some uses of Java in the Android stack.

Gosling said in a blog post on the move, “I don’t know what I’ll be working on. I expect it’ll be a bit of everything, seasoned with a large dose of grumpy curmudgeon.” Call us psychic, but we’re willing to bet Gosling will be working on the Android platform.

Gosling developed Java while he was an employee at Sun Microsystems. The project began in 1991, and the language was released in 1995.

But when Sun was acquired by Oracle in a deal that closed in January 2010, Gosling left the company a few months later. At the time, he said, “Just about anything I could say [about Oracle] that would be accurate and honest would do more harm than good.” He’s since been notably cynical about Oracle’s treatment of the Java language and community, even going so far as to call Oracle CEO Larry Ellison “Larry, Prince of Darkness.”

Gosling said he had turned down several “excellent” opportunities prior to signing with Google. He wrote that the new job, whatever it may entail from day to day, “looks like interesting fun with huge leverage.”

source: Mashable

Monday, March 7, 2011

Firefox 4 also crashing due to outdated graphics drivers

Firefox 4 also crashing due to outdated graphics drivers: "firefox 4 video crashAfter reading a new post from Mozilla, it appears as though Google isn't the only browser maker having a hard time with outdated graphics drivers. As Mozilla inches closer and closer to the final release of Firefox 4 -- which, of course, packs hardware accelerated rendering kung fu -- the company's Benoit Jacob has posted a plea to its users.



Please update your graphics drivers.



Like Google, Mozilla has noticed higher volumes of crash reports from Firefox 4 users who were running stale drivers. In addition to offering a general reminder to update your drivers, Mozilla has also posted a listing of the video card drivers which have been added to the Firefox 4 blocklist. If your driver is listed, it's imperative you update if you want to get the best performance out of Firefox 4.
Firefox 4 also crashing due to outdated graphics drivers originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.