Computers

http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/chip-hall-of-fame The stories of the greatest and most influential microchips in history—and the people who built them. →

https://opensource.com/article/17/2/hidden-costs-free-software?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY We’re used to hearing of software being described as “free as in freedom” and “free as in beer.” But there’s another kind of “free” that doesn’t get talked about as much: “free as in puppy.” This concept is based around the idea that when someone gives you a free puppy, that puppy isn’t really free. There’s →

http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/how-i-built-an-ai-to-sort-2-tons-of-lego-pieces This is an interesting story that combines AI and LEGO. Even second-hand Lego isn’t cheap. Bulk unsorted Lego sells for roughly €10 per kilogram (about US $11/kg), boxed sets go for €40/kg, and collections of rare parts and Lego Technic pieces much more. Consequently, there exists a cottage industry of people who buy new sets and →

http://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-owns-supercomputing/ In the latest Top500 supercomputer race, only two — count ‘em, two — of the world’s fastest computers aren’t running Linux. →

https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/23/watch-this-guy-play-super-mario-bros-irl-in-central-park-using-hololens/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook Super Mario Bros. is iconic, so it’s a natural target for augmented reality development, where everything nostalgic is new again. This demo, created by Abhishek Singh, really is amazing, however. Singh recreated the first level of Super Mario Bros. as an augmented reality game on Microsoft HoloLens. →

https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/20/arduino-developers-get-extra-support-as-codeanywhere-acquires-codebender/?ncid=mobilenavtrend Codeanywhere, a cross platform cloud IDE for creating web apps and sites has acquired Codebender, another cloud IDE that enables users to develop for Arduino devices.  Codebender and its additional services edu.cobebender.cc and blocks.cobebender.cc will continue to operate and be supported by Codeanywhere. Codebender has attracted about 100,000 users and more than 300,000 projects are →

https://opensource.com/open-organization/17/5/5-devops-laws “A good engineer is a lazy engineer,” some will say. And to a certain extent, it’s true: Laziness is a great quality if you’re automating repetitive tasks.” Banish the phrase, “I don’t know” . But saying, “I’ll have to do some research,” or “I know someone that might be able to point me in the →

https://opensource.com/business/16/6/10-tips-new-github-projects?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY GitHub has become a fairly central part of many open source projects. Although many people focus on the code-hosting aspect of GitHub, the platform also includes comprehensive features for issue management, code review, and integration with many other tools and platforms. For new open source projects, however, getting started and ensuring that GitHub repos are →

https://techcrunch.com/gallery/worst-volume-controls/ Fed up with those sensitive volume sliders? It could be A LOT worse. Redditors dreamed up the most absurd possible interfaces for controlling the sound on a video.  →

Artificial intelligence (AI) applied to drawing starts to create interesting image manipulation applications. I I have earlier written about an interesting AutoDraw tool in my Google’s New Program ‘AutoDraw’ Will Help Your Drawings Suck Less posting. Now there is some other well worth to check out experiments. Create your own hellish monsters with this sketch-based →