Learn Python the Hard Way, a free e-book for beginning programmers by Zed Shaw has been updated to the 2nd edition. It’s available for free in HTML format. PDF or ePub editions cost $1, paperbacks cost $15.99 and a hardcover is available for $60. The book is still focused on Python 2.X, instead of...
TechWeb suggests that China’s biggest search engine, Baidu, is developing its own Android-based Mobile OS called Qiushi, which will be released by year-end with hopes of dominating the Chinese market by going super local. While it reinforces the rumor of Baidu’s search-focused light operating system for mobile devices that was revealed a couple of months back, the company continues...
Paper.js is an open source vector graphics scripting framework for working with the Canvas element. According to its website, it’s based on and largely compatible with the Adobe Illustrator scripting environment Scriptographer. It’s comparable to Raphael, a JavaScript library for vector imaging using SVG. According to the Paper.js FAQ “We have decided to use...
The world has been waiting for an official Facebook tablet app, and waiting, and waiting. But that app may not appear on the iPad first (although Facebook is working on an iPad app for sure). Instead, Facebook’s first tablet app will appear on the HP TouchPad, which comes out this Friday and runs the WebOS it...
Straw Man or Reality Check? Borenstein writes “Overall, there seemed to be a pervasive worldview that, if stated reductively, might be expressed thusly: Now, with so much of human behavior taking place over the web, mobile devices, and through other information-producing systems, we are collecting so much data that the only rational way of...
Facebook has come to attract a fair share of controversy on a regular basis, and this past week was no different. Indeed, with all the impressive growth Facebook has displayed — from revenues, to users, to big-name board members — it has become increasingly critical for the social networking giant to formulate a better...
We’ve confirmed the rumors of Myspace layoffs with our own inside source; From what I’m hearing the company expects to lay off at least 150 of its around 400 employees tomorrow (37.5% of its staff). According to the source, another group of around 150 employees will be put on a transition plan, where they...
After Australian bank ANZ ended a trial of contactless NFC payments in April, it has announced that it won’t be going ahead with the technology in its current form. The company cited problems with the MicroSD card approach, which involved giving users a card that enabled NFC and contained the user’s banking details. The...
Last week Om broke a big story on Facebook’s plans for music. A new dashboard will accommodate multiple third-party digital music services from companies like Spotify, enable music streaming while still in Facebook, and incorporate sharing, recommendation and syndication technologies like Connect and Like buttons. As Om describes it, Facebook’s scheme sounds cool, and music is...
Sometimes it’s not what you say but what you don’t say that matters, and in today’s release of its annual wireless competition report (PDF link), the silence of the Federal Communications Commission speaks volumes. The problem is, no one knows what that silence is saying. The agency has decided not to say that the...