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50 Killer Apps for your USB

By Daniel Taylor on August 25, 2011

These free apps don't require any installation. With portable applications, all you have to do is plug in your USB and run the program without the hassle of installing the program or leaving traces behind. If you like these portable apps, many of them also have an installer allowing you to install the program on your computer for more speed and accessibility.

Firefox 5 Features

By Daniel Taylor on June 21, 2011

Mozilla just released Firefox 5, the first version following their new rapid release development cycle. Most of the new features in this release are geared towards web standards and other under the hood features. But there are a few notable features.

This new version comes with a major update in support for HTML 5 and MathML. It also has increased support for Canvas and support for CSS animation has also been added. Security has been given a facelift as well with a new feature called "Do Not Track." Checking this new option allows users to automatically tell websites that they wish to opt out of behavioral tracking.

Phi: A Magical Number

By Daniel Taylor on June 19, 2011

Have you ever heard of phi? No, I am not talking about fee-fi-fo-fum from Jack and the Beanstalk. The phi (pronounced fi like "fly") I'm talking about the mathematical constant with properties just as magical as the beans in Jack and the Beanstalk. This constant is referred to by many names including the Golden Ratio, Golden Number, Golden Section, Golden Mean, and Devine Number, but is normally referred to as the Golden ratio because of how the number is derived mathematically.

Qualities of Good Code

By Daniel Taylor on June 14, 2011

Although knowing how to program is obviously the most important quality of being a comptuer scientist, code architecture follows closely behind. The quality of underlying code will have a great impact on the reliability, scalability, security, extensibility, and maintainability of your program. Basically, without good code architecture, you will run into many problems down the road.

Lingodroids

By Daniel Taylor on June 14, 2011

Its one thing for a robot to be programmed to understand Japanese or English or any other language that already exists. But it quite a feat for two robots to develop their own language and be able to communicate with each other like these two have.

Created by Ruth Shultz and her colleagues at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, each of these Lingodroids have developed a specialized language for the sole purpose of navigating their way around obstacles and recognizing where they are.