Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: computer programming

computer programming stories: 14 news summaries

 Hidden Sex 
 Scenes Cost 
 Grand Theft 
 Auto $20M 

Take-Two settles suit over x-rated 'Hot Coffee' uproar

Sep 3, 09 5:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - The makers of Grand Theft Auto are shelling out $20 million to settle a lawsuit over hidden sex scenes in a version of the popular video game, reports Gawker. The suit by investors claims Take-Two Interactive Software officials knew about the x-rated "Hot Coffee" minigame inserted by programmers before... More »

MORE ABOUT:
computer programming • lawsuit • settlement • Take-Two Interactive Software • Grand Theft Auto • sexually explicit • Hot Coffee • minigame • x-rated • sex scenes

 Algorithm Can 'Fill in the 
 Blanks' of Ancient Texts 

Algorithm could also be basis of search engine for old docs

Sep 2, 09 1:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - A new computer algorithm could soon take some of the guesswork out of deciphering ancient texts, Reuters reports. The program, developed in Israel and currently used with ancient Hebrew, works with digital copies of unreadable texts and uses pattern recognition to “fill in the blanks,” says one of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
technology • computer programming • academia • search engine • algorithms • pattern recognition • Hebrew • ancient writings • documents • ancient texts

(Newser) - If you think blogs are useless, think again: Scientists have developed a “hedonometer,” or happiness gauge, that analyzes personal online statements to pinpoint the overall contentment of the US population on a given day, the Discovery Channel reports. The program looks at sentences beginning with “I feel”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
blogosphere • Internet • computer programming • blogging • blog • scientific study • happiness • Twitter

 Google Launches 
 Web-Based OS, 
 Takes Aim at Windows 

Fast-booting Chrome may push Vista out of the market

Jul 8, 09 6:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Google has doubled down in its battle with Microsoft. The search giant announced it is bringing out an open-source operating system, named Google Chrome OS, that looks to go head-to-head with long-dominant Windows. Chrome OS is Google's biggest push yet onto traditional Microsoft turf, reports the Financial Times, following free... More »

MORE ABOUT:
technology • Google • Microsoft • computer programming • Windows • Microsoft Vista • operating system • computer • Google Chrome • Google Chrome OS

 'Hardware
 Hackers' 
 Get Handy 

Programmers leave screens for soldering irons

May 19, 09 2:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - Seeking an escape from the confined world of their computer screens, programmers are applying their technological know-how to the physical world, building and tweaking an array of devices with their hands, the Boston Globe reports. “My normal job is way up in the clouds,” said a programmer at... More »

MORE ABOUT:
technology • computer programming • software • programmers • software developers • hacking • invention • gadget

 Single App Nets $600K in Month 

The gold rush continues in Apple's App Store

Feb 13, 09 10:42 AM CST
(Newser) - With more than 20,000 iPhone apps available, it seems inevitable that most would make peanuts. But Ethan Nicholas’ tank artillery game, iShoot, raked in $600,000 in one month——$37,000 on its best day—proving the gold rush is on in the App Store, Wired reports. The... More »

MORE ABOUT:
iPhone • computer programming • Apple • iPhone applications • video games • Wired • App Store

(Newser) - A 9-year-old Singapore boy has created a drawing application for the iPhone that is popular around the world, the Electric New Paper reports. Lim Ding Wen reworked one of his existing 20 programs for the touchscreen gadget. “I wrote the program for my younger sisters, who like to draw,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
computer programming • Singapore • game • iTunes Store • iPhone applications • child • drawing • Lim Ding Wen

 Teary Farewell for Gates 

Microsoft CEO salutes founder, leaving after 33 years, for 'enormous opportunity'

Jun 27, 08 4:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Microsoft celebrated Bill Gates’ last day as a full-time employee today, the Seattle Times reports. More than 800 employees, family members and friends shared memories at the company’s corporate conference center in Redmond, Wash. CEO Steve Ballmer bid a tearful farewell to his longtime friend: "We've been given... More »

MORE ABOUT:
philanthropy • technology • Microsoft • Bill Gates • computer programming • Steve Ballmer • Redmond • computer science

Intel, Microsoft
Fund Multicore
Research

Future products call for chips with many more microprocessors

Mar 17, 08 12:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Intel and Microsoft will fund researchers at two universities working on new programming techniques for multicore chips, sources told the Wall Street Journal. The companies will reportedly provide $2 million annually for five years, to speed the development of chips that can contain dozens—or even hundreds—of microprocessors... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Microsoft • Intel • computer programming • UC Berkeley • computer chip • microprocessors • computer science • multicore chips

Want to Vote, O'Connor? Think Again

Apostrophes, hyphens, and spaces in names confuse computers

Feb 22, 08 4:00 PM CST
(Newser) - The Information Age has been bad news for O'Connors, D'Angelos, Al-Husseins, and Van Kemps everywhere. Apostrophes in Irish, French, Italian, and African last names; hyphens in Arab names; and spaces in Dutch ones cause their owners endless headaches when computer systems reject or mis-record them, reports the AP, blocking them... More »

MORE ABOUT:
computer programming • software • surnames • electronic voting • spelling • data entry

Programmers Take on Rock Star Status

Competitions, money power coder boom

Jan 23, 08 12:45 PM CST
(Newser) - A growing number of computer programmers aren’t content to be anonymous code monkeys: Today’s most talented tech nerds are paid exorbitantly well to turn out brilliant code, and can even earn a small amount of fame doing it, ComputerWorld reports. “Some developers base their careers around... More »

MORE ABOUT:
computer programming • software • programmers • coding contests • Tomek

Building a Computer That Learns What You Want

PC 'assistant' could prioritize, even decide

Dec 1, 07 6:26 AM CST
(Newser) - Wouldn't it be nice if your computer could figure out what you wanted it to do? That dream just might be approaching reality, thanks to a project called CALO that aims to teach computers to understand users' intentions, according to the MIT Technology Review. "If CALO succeeds, it'll be... More »

MORE ABOUT:
artificial intelligence • computer programming • DARPA • CALO • SRI International • computer

Web Mogul Controls $300 Million in URLs

Meet Kevin Ham, the Donald
Trump of virtual real estate

May 23, 07 6:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - Kevin Ham rules the shadowy Internet domain name market, having amassed an online real estate empire worth over $300 million, Business 2.0 reports. The doctor-turned-tech tycoon began buying and selling URLs in the nascent days of the web; today he trades hundreds of addresses a day, sometimes for as... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • web surfing • computer programming • domain names • web • Kevin Ham • computer

MIT Makes Programming Child's Play

Computer science goes kid-friendly with a new language, Scratch

May 15, 07 5:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - The latest programming language to come out of MIT's cutting-edge labs has an unusual audience: sixth-graders. “Scratch” replaces the technobabble of Java and C++ with simplified, jigsaw-shaped pieces of code, which budding programmers can arrange into customized sequences. A test group of 12-year-olds in Massachusetts is already at work... More »

MORE ABOUT:
MIT • computer programming • Scratch • programming • computer

14 Stories


from our news partners