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Submission + - Beating the wrong amateur balloon record (hackaday.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Friday, we covered a little project that attempted to beat the UK altitude record for an amateur balloon launch. Things don’t always go as planned, but the APEX team did manage to beat the several other UK records, including ones for the longest distance and flight duration for a latex balloon.

Submission + - The Kindleis getting support for HTML5 (the-digital-reader.com) 4

Submitted by Nate the greatest
Nate the greatest writes: It looks like Amazon won't be adopting Epub after all. Today Amazon released some some technical details on the new Kindle ebook format, which they are calling Kindle 8. There are a lot of interesting changes to the file, including new formatting and SVG images. The new tags are going to open up a whole lot of new possibilities for making Kindle ebooks.

Submission + - An eye opening look on how conflict photography is (petapixel.com)

Submitted by benro03
benro03 writes: Airing photojournalism's dirty secret, Italian photographer Ruben Salvadori (photogrademonstrates how conflict photography is often staged by the photographers themselves. He spent a significant amount of time in East Jerusalem studying the role of photo journalists play in what the world sees.
Ruben is about to graduate with dual majors for a BA in International Relations and Anthropology/Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Cloud

Submission + - Apple sued over used of iCloud name (tekgoblin.com) 1

Submitted by
tekgoblin
tekgoblin writes: "I can’t say that I didn’t see this one coming. Apple keeps naming products very simple names like Phone, and Cloud simply with an i in front of them. With that kind of naming convention they are bound to run into some sort of trademark or copyright infringement."

Comment Re:Simple (Score 1) 2

by summerbreeze (#36415982) Attached to: Why Doesn't 'Google Kids' Exist?
Remember the Katy Perry Elmo video? In my opinion the original Sesame Street video wasn't bad, but since some parents felt it was inappropriate, it never aired. The related videos in YouTube are clearly not suitable for kids, but what can you do? They are clearly related. I would like to see some sort of filtering options, even if it is no guarantee of kid friendly content.
NASA

Submission + - Aquarius 'salt mapper' hits orbit

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: NASA launched a satellite featuring an brand-new instrument which will be able to measure the saltiness of Earth's oceans. Data from the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft will help scientists understand better the processes that drive ocean circulation and the movement of freshwater around the planet.
Google

Submission + - Why Doesn't 'Google Kids' Exist? 2

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Slate's Michael Agger wishes there was a website his 6-year-old son could visit on his own to watch amateur Star Wars Lego movies and other stuff he's curious about. 'But I don't leave him alone on YouTube,' he laments, 'because I never know if some strange-ass video will appear in the 'Related Videos' section.' The now defunct TotLoL was one such site, offering handpicked child-appropriate YouTube videos, at least until it was done in by a change in YouTube's Terms of Service. Agger suggests that Google should create Google Kids, a search engine that filters the Web for children. 'Think back to when you were a kid and your parents dropped you off at the library,' explains Agger. 'In the children's section, the only 'inappropriate' stuff to be found was Judy Blume's Forever, which someone's older sister had usually already checked out anyway. Similarly, Google Kids would be a sort of children's section of the Web, focused on providing high-quality results based on age.' In the meantime, Agger can always have his kids spend a little quality time with Michael Jackson over at AOL Kids.

Submission + - The Internet is killing local news, says the FCC (google.com)

Submitted by Art3x
Art3x writes: The rise of the Internet has led to a 'shortage of local, professional, accountability reporting' says a a 475-page report by the FCC, and the consequences could be 'more government waste, more local corruption,' 'less effective schools' and other problems. Even though there are more media choices today than ever, newspapers have been laying off reporters, leaving a gap that is yet to be filled.
Book Reviews

Submission + - Book Review: The Clean Coder 1

Submitted by
CoryFoy
CoryFoy writes: "As someone who has been closely involved in both the "agile software" movement as well as the "Software Craftsmanship" movement, I have been following the work of Robert Martin for some time. So I was quite interested when I got my copy of his latest book "Clean Coder" where he "introduces the disciplines, techniques, tools and practices of true software craftsmanship". Would his book live up to being a guide for the next generation of developers, or would it go on my shelf as another interesting book that I had read, once?

Before even getting into the book, it is good to know the style of Robert Martin, affectionately known as "Uncle Bob" to many people. Bob is a former preacher who comes at life — and topics he teaches — with a no-holds-bar approach. So when he approaches topics such as "Professionalism" and the software industry, I come expecting passionate discussion and serious assertions. The Clean Coder is no exception.

The book starts off with an overview of the Challenger space shuttle disaster. As a native Floridian who could see shuttle launches from my house (and, in fact, saw the Challenger explode just as it crested the trees from where we lived) this really resonated with me. The accident was a result of engineers saying no, but management overriding the decision. With this introduction, Bob makes it quite clear that when we choose not to stand up for that which we believe, it can have dire consequences.

We then dive right in, starting with the topic of Professionalism. The assertion is made that the key to professionalism is responsibility — "You can’t take pride and honor is something you can’t be held accountable for". But how do we take and achieve responsibility? Chapter one lays out two ways. To start, it looks at the Hippocratic Oath, specifically the rule of "First, Do No Harm". The book maps this to software by saying to do no harm to function or structure, ensure that QA doesn’t find anything, know that your software works, and have automated QA. In fact, when I work with teams, I teach them that if your testing "phase" finds bugs, it’s a problem with your process that needs to be addressed immediately, so the concept of ensuing that QA doesn’t find anything is a great concept to bring out.

Then we move on to Work Ethic — specifically around knowing your field. This means continuous learning, practice (through things like Katas and Dojos), collaboration, mentoring, identifying with your employer/customer, and practicing humility. To help with that, Chapters 2 and 3 talk specifically about saying "No" and "Yes". When we say no, and when we want to say no, we should mean it. Saying, "We’ll try" means that you, or your team, isn’t already giving it their best, and that through some extraordinary effort you’ll pull it off. Say no and stick to it. But, when you say Yes, mean it. People are counting on you to be truthful with them.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 begin to talk about the specific practices of coding. Chapter 4 talks about the coding process itself. One of the hardest statements the book makes here is to stay out of "the zone" when coding. Bob asserts that you lose parts of the big picture when you go down to that level. While I may struggle with that assertion, I do agree with his next statement that debugging time is expensive, so you should avoid having to do debugger-driven development whenever possible. He finishes the chapter with examples of pacing yourself (walking away, taking a shower) and how to deal with being late on your projects (remembering that hope is not a plan, and being clear about the impact of overtime) along with a reminder that it is good to both give and receive help, whether it be small questions or mentoring others.

Chapters 5 and 6 cover Test-Driven Development and Practicing. The long and short is that TDD is becoming a wide-spread adopted practice, in that you don’t get as many funny looks from people when you mention TDD as you once did. And that coding at work doesn’t equal practicing your tools and techniques — instead you should set aside specific time to become better through coding exercises, reading and researching other areas (languages, tools, approaches), and attending events and conferences.

Chapters 7 and 8 cover testing practices. In Chapter 7 the book looks at Acceptance Tests and the cycle of writing them — specifically at what point the customer is involved (hint: continuously) and how to ensure they stay involved. Chapter 8 goes to more of the unit testing level, and defines some strategies and models for looking at unit testing, including an interesting "Test Automation Pyramid"

Now that we’ve covered the developer herself, coding and testing, the book moves on to discussing time. Chapter 9 covers Time Management strategies — staying out of "bogs" and "blind alleys", using techniques like the "Pomodoro" technique to create focus, and the law of two-feet — if you are in a meeting and aren’t getting value out of it, you should feel free to (respectively) leave, or otherwise modify the meeting to get value from it.

Chapter 10 covers several different methods of estimation. In the teams I work with, estimation is perhaps one of the hardest things — not because estimating can be hard (which it can be) but because either they are held so tightly to the estimates that they are afraid to make them, or, worse, they are told what the estimates are going to be. The book really only skims the surface here, covering several techniques from Planning Poker, to PERT, to "Flying Fingers", but gives a decent overview of how to do those techniques.

Rounding out the discussions of time comes Chapter 11 and talking about Pressure. The key of this chapter is that because you have committed to your principles, practices and disciplines, you should be able to stay calm under pressure. I can certainly say from experience that the worst experiences in my career are when people weren’t able to stay calm, and the way the book is laid out, if you are following the practices outlines so far, you should be able to be the voice of reason and calmness.

The last three chapters cover teams and collaboration. Chapter 12 talks about important practices such as shared code ownership, pairing, and respect for other team members. Chapter 13 covers teams and the importance of having teams that gel together. The book finishes with Chapter 14 and discussions of the importance of apprenticeship, mentorship and craftsmanship.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been involved in the "agile" movement for quite some time, and have spoken with Bob on many occasions, so many of the practices in the book weren’t new. I did quite appreciate the stories he had to tell about his experiences. However, I think that some people may be turned off by the hard line around "professionalism". Sometimes you do need to say no, and I think it is good to have encouragement from a book to do that. But sometimes things are more complex, and I think that you would have a harder time looking to this particular book for help with the edge cases.

In conclusion, I think this is a book which provides worthwhile information and an interesting look at how people are looking at software development as a profession. If you read between some of the hard lines made, there are some great nuggets to be gleaned from the book for software developers of any level."

Submission + - researchers find wood-digesting enzyme in bacteria (physorg.com)

Submitted by AffidavitDonda
AffidavitDonda writes: University of Warwick researchers have identified an enzyme in bacteria which could be used to make biofuel production more efficient by making sustainable sources of biofuels, such as woody plants and the inedible parts of crops, more economically viable.

The researchers identified the gene for breaking down lignin in a soil-living bacterium called Rhodococcus jostii. Although such enzymes have been found before in fungi, this is the first time that they have been identified in bacteria. The bacterium’s genome has already been sequenced which means that it could be modified more easily to produce large amounts of the required enzyme. In addition, bacteria are quick and easy to grow, so this research raises the prospect of producing enzymes which can break down lignin on an industrial scale.

By making woody plants and the inedible by-products of crops economically viable the eventual hope is to be able to produce biofuels that don’t compete with food production.
Firefox

Submission + - Mozilla MemShrink Set to fix Firefox Memory (internetnews.com) 3

Submitted by darthcamaro
darthcamaro writes: If you're like a lot of Firefox 4 users out there, you've probably noticed that Firefox has a serious memory problem — it uses alot more than it really should. At long last, Mozilla developers are finally set to take this issue seriously with a dedicated team called MemShrink that are focused on the problem.

"It's pretty clear by now that this is a much bigger problem than any one person can likely tackle," Mozilla Developer, Johnny Stenback said.

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