ILikeBikes - Slashdot User

Comment Latin (Score 1) 3

by ILikeBikes on Monday November 28, 2011 @06:34AM (#38188448) Attached to: Coding - the new Latin

I agree with your comments about the analogy - Latin is pretty useless where coding (and general computer skills) will almost certainly help you get a job. I've got a BSc in Computer Science and I've found it much easier to get jobs than my friends that got equivalent and better degrees in other subjects (real subjects like Maths/Physics/Biology)

Submission + - Coding - the new Latin (bbc.co.uk) 3

Submitted by FBeans on Monday November 28, 2011 @06:15AM

FBeans writes: The BBC Reports: "The campaign to boost the teaching of computer skills — particularly coding — in schools is gathering force.

Today the likes of Google, Microsoft and other leading technology names will lend their support to the case made to the government earlier this year in a report called Next Gen. It argued that the UK could be a global hub for the video games and special effects industries — but only if its education system got its act together."

The report says that the 16,500 students studying a computer science degree in 2003 fell to just 10,600 by 2007. "although it's recovered a little to 13,600 last year, that's at a time in major growth in overall applications, so the percentage of students looking to study the subject has fallen from 5% to 3%."

Personally, I don't see how the "Latin" analogy this story uses works. Although the point is clear:

Computer Science is becoming niche and "un-cool" and is not taught well enough in schools. This needs to change and it seems the cogs are starting to turn.

Submission + - Coding Under the Influence? 2

Submitted by theodp on Sunday November 27, 2011 @09:34PM

theodp writes: I've tried coding drunk,' writes Alex Muir in Code Sober, Get Things Done Drunk. 'It was a disaster — even a couple of beers had me really struggling to produce anything worthwhile. I decided coding was like driving — you need all your faculties to work.' But back in the heyday of three-martini-lunches, coding under the influence at work — at least occasionally — was the rule, not the exception that it is today in big corporations. However, a CUI while working on personal projects is still no crime — have you found that downing a few beers or other libations while programming helps or hinders you?

Submission + - Worldwide support for nuclear power drops (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by ProbablyJoe on Friday November 25, 2011 @10:34AM

ProbablyJoe writes: A poll for the BBC shows that worldwide support for nuclear power has dropped significantly in the past 6 years.

However, while support has dropped in most countries, the UK has defied the trend, where 37% of the public support building new reactors. Unsurprisingly, support in Japan has dropped significantly, with only 6% supporting new reactors. The USA remains the country with the highest public opinion of nuclear power, though support has dropped slightly.

Much of the decline in opinion has been attributed to the events in Fukushima earlier in the year, although a recent Slashdot poll indicated that many readers opinions had not been affected by the events, and an even split between those who found the technology more or less safe since the events.

With reports on the long lasting effects in Fukushima still conflicted, is nuclear power still a viable solution to the world's energy problems?

Submission + - Engineers developing 'Bionic contact lens' (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by ProbablyJoe on Tuesday November 22, 2011 @09:04AM

ProbablyJoe writes: The BBC reports that researchers at Washington University have made a breakthrough in developing a contact lens that will be able to overlay text and images on top human vision.

The research is still in early stages, so far just being able to light one LED on the lens, and requiring a battery no more than 1cm away. But researchers claim the main problem has already been overcome — getting the human eye to focus on an image generated on its surface.

While a long way from completion, the team hopes to soon increase the display to hundreds of pixels, and overlay text on the lens. The technology could eventually be used in future augmented reality applications, allowing futuristic 'Terminator' style vision.

Submission + - 1M people stop playing WoW (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by FBeans on Thursday November 10, 2011 @07:55AM

FBeans writes: “Almost a million people have stopped paying for World of Warcraft in the last three months.”

“World of Warcraft's subscriber numbers have been on a steady decline from the peak of 12 million they hit in 2010.”

The recent decline in numbers could be put down to a string of top titles that have hit the shelves recently: Arkham City, Skyrim, Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 to name a few.

But now WoW is 7 years old, are gamers looking for something fresh? Or is WoW set for another 7 years at the top??

Submission + - Google Street View Spreads to the Amazon. (sky.com) 4

Submitted by FBeans on Thursday November 10, 2011 @06:37AM

FBeans writes: “Google has used a pedal-powered tricycle to start photographing the vast Amazon rainforest as part of its global Street View facility.”

“Although the pictures will only show a small slice of the gigantic forest, members of the Sustainable Amazon Foundation (FAS) which helped Google carry out the project, hope it will help spread environmental awareness.”

Now we can all go on rain-forest tours or travel down the Rio Negro river, “a boat with the tricycle on top took thousands of shots of the jungle and its residents.”

With Google spreading it’s street-view to businesses, geothermal mapping of the US and now the Amazon. Is there anything that Google won’t point a camera at? And what’s next?

Submission + - ARM claims PS3-like graphics on mobile GPU (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by

l_bratch

on Thursday November 10, 2011 @05:46AM

l_bratch writes: ""British computer chip designer ARM has unveiled its latest graphics processing unit (GPU) for mobile devices.

The Mali-T658 offers up to ten times the performance of its predecessor."

ARM claims that its latest GPU, which will be ready in around two years, will have graphics performance akin to the PlayStation 3. If this has acceptable power consumption for a mobile device, could we be seeing ultra-low power hardware in high-end PCs and consoles soon?"

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