December 19, 2012

Shipping software at 20% completion
DeNA first puts out its games on browsers rather than applications, which allows for “tweaking and tuning” in real time, says Mr Moriyasu. A Japanese game may be only 20% completed when it is made available to gamers. Its developers believe this enables them to finesse it, so that it stays popular for longer.


Microsoft plugs Outlook.com, knocks Google after Sync death notice
Last week, Google announced it would phase out synchronization via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), which companies like Apple and Google license from their Redmond, Wash. rival to push email to smartphones and tablets, and sync calendar entries and contacts on multiple devices.


.NET Framework 4.5 Multi-Threaded Globalization
The .NET Framework 4.5 includes a simplified way of setting the default culture and UI culture for an application domain. In .NET Framework 4 and earlier frameworks, if you wanted to set the Culture and UI Culture for an application, you’d typically set the culture settings on the current Thread.


How to trick Siri into using Google Maps
All you do ask for directions like you normally would, but tack on "via transit." So, for example, to find the nearest Starbucks, you'd say, "Take me to the nearest Starbucks via transit." What happens next is that Siri pulls up a list of any installed "routing apps" -- including Google Maps


Instagram says it now has the right to sell your photos
The new intellectual property policy, which takes effect on January 16, comes three months after Facebook completed its acquisition of the popular photo-sharing site. Unless Instagram users delete their accounts before the January deadline, they cannot opt out.
Update: Instagram apologizes to users: We won't sell your photos


The Year Ahead: Disposable Storage Infrastructure
Employees, including upper-level managers, love these devices so much that they won't wait for the enterprise to issue one; they'll bring their own and expect IT to support it (BYOD). These new mobile devices change the relationship between data and devices. The data is virtualized and made available via Web services from giant providers such as Amazon AWS. This is the consumer cloud. Expect a rapid demand for similar corporate data services to support a new breed of mobile applications.



Social Science Pushing Data Frontiers
Addressing the pressing need to recruit suitable university graduates for careers in data science, the Nokia mother-daughter data science team of Amy O’Connor and Danielle Dean made the case at Strata-Hadoop World 2012 for college grads with math/stats, bioengineering and social science educational backgrounds.


Five Qualities of Successful Leaders
In his book, The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed, Bryant shares what he has learned from Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, Ford CEO Alan R. Mulally, Yum Brands CEO David C. Novak, Teach for America CEO Wendy Kopp, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, and other leaders.


Ovum: SDN architecture is the way to go for future networks
In a new report, researchers at Ovum have revealed that the three-tier hierarchy (access, aggregation, and core) of network architecture is going away in favour of flatter architectures, virtualized application software is replacing network appliances, and network infrastructure is becoming much more programmable.


But, You Are Infected
Before you write your plan to make next year rock, take a few minutes (or longer, if you’re serious about your goals), and decide what you need to unlearn. Over the course of your life, you’ve been infected by some beliefs that you now hold as truths. You’ve learned to take some actions based on those beliefs, and to avoid other actions—some of which would help you to produce much greater results.


How Do We Read Code?
The goal is to figure out some way of measuring what features in programming systems help programmers understand wht they are doing, and how this can be used to make systems that lead to higher quality software. Mike is currently running an experiment where he shows people several short Python programs and asks them to tell the output of the program.


Derivative-free nonlinear optimization for .NET and Java
There are several more or less time-efficient ways of solving (constrained) non-linear optimization problems, including simulated annealing, genetic algorithms and direct search methods such as the Nelder-Mead method (a good overview of mathematical optimization with several links is provided here.)



Quote for the day:

"If you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances." -- Julia Sorel

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