Hasta La Gadget!

The official Arduino IDE is a dour piece of software designed for uploading code to the ubiquitous and super-cool micro controller. It is a standalone, non-networked app that isn’t very pretty to look at. But what if you want to share code and upload programs right from your browser? That’s where CodeBender.cc comes in.

CodeBender is a browser-based IDE that supports uploading to nearly any Arduino board. You can use the program to copy sample code, browse code uploaded by other users, and even store private snippets. Because it is collaborative you can clone bits of code and use it in your own projects and there is even a curated list of cool snippets.

Founded by Vasilis Georgitzikis and Alexandros Baltas, the site came out of LAUNCHub, a European seed fund. ” It all started by my frustration as a computer engineer who was used to advanced development tools, only to lose them when I moved to coding for Arduino, and my frustration as an Arduino instructor on various hackerspaces around the world, when I spent 2.5 hours of each 3 hour workshop just to install the damned thing,” said Georgitzikis.

“We’ve also developed a technology that allows our users to program and control a network-enabled Arduino (i.e. Arduino Ethernet) through the network, straight through the browser using pure HTML5 technologies (i.e. WebSockets), which enables remote programming of IoT devices,” he said.

The system handles compilation and error reporting and ensures that the code you upload to your Arduino won’t break your project. Unlike sites like Circuits.io, this system doesn’t just simulate projects it allows for full control of your Arduino hardware right from the browser. Maybe this system will finally enable me to dig out my Arduino boards and actually do something.

A few more of these, and it won’t even be news. Netflix is going hard into the original content business, and judging by the outstanding results with House of Cards, we’re guessing that it’ll be aiming for similar results with a different demographic here. Derek, described as something of a comedy / drama mishmash, is fronted by the affable Ricky Gervais. The show actually aired as Dramedy over on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, so while it’s not exactly a Netflix original, it’s getting “original treatment.” Per usual, the entire season will be available to stream at once on September 12th (overwhelming, we know), and if you’re looking to decide just how much time you should set aside, the trailer is embedded after the break.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Via: Variety

Source: Netflix (YouTube)

Tim Stevens, forever known as a bearded legend and a dignified gentleman in the realm of Engadget, once placed a small sum of money into a charity bet with Gene Munster. At question, as you’ll likely surmise, was whether or not Apple would reinvent television before the end of the year. The outfit’s CEO has since upgraded the Apple TV from a hobby to an “area of intense interest,” and it seems that discussions are indeed in the works. Jessica Lessin, formerly of Wall Street Journal fame, has been known to break an Apple story or two, and she’s recently published a report that puts Apple and cable companies at the table to discuss the premise of ad skipping.

Simply put, Apple wants to offer consumers the ability to watch live and on-demand programming “over an Apple set-top box or TV” at a premium, with ads being skipped over and ISPs receiving a slice of the money. That money, of course, would seemingly have to trickle down to the companies who are getting (potentially) shafted when it comes to air time, but details surrounding that notion seem to be unclear. Of course, one could say that folks are already addicted to skipping ads, and if Apple’s crafting an idea to make anything from a phenomenon that’s already happening… well, you could certainly imagine one or two executives having a listen.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple

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Source: Jessica Lessin

“All these people who’ve made it big have their own variation of the same story, where they felt lucky to be exposed to computer programming at the right age, and it bloomed into something that changed their life,” explains the organization’s co-founder, Ali Partovi, seated in the conference room of one of the many successful startups he’s helped along the way. The Iranian-born serial entrepreneur has played a role in an impressive list of companies, including the likes of Indiegogo, Zappos and Dropbox. Along with his twin brother, Hadi, he also co-founded music-sharing service iLike.

Unlike past offerings from the brothers, Code.org is a decidedly non-commercial entity, one aimed at making computer science and programming every bit as essential to early education as science or math. For the moment, the organization is assessing just how to go about changing the world. The site currently offers a number of resources for bootstrappers looking to get started in the world of coding. There are simple modules from Scratch, Codecademy, Khan Academy and others, which can help users tap into the buzz of coding their first rectangle, along with links to apps and online tutorials. The organization is also working to build a comprehensive database of schools offering computer science courses and soliciting coders interested in teaching.

Filed under: Internet, Software

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What’s in a name? A whole lot, if you’re asking yours truly. “All Your Entertainment. Input One.” Such intriguing statements were declared in a document that leaked from Redmond last summer. The slogan “All in one, input one” was on the Microsoft banners decorating the LA Convention Center for E3 this year. But this probably left many wondering: what is “input one,” exactly? It didn’t go unnoticed by those who follow the TV industry. Input one is commonly used in the biz to refer to the TV input most Americans use to access the majority of their content. This is the input that’s displayed when the TV is turned on, and it’s the input that most connect their set-top box from their cable or satellite provider to. Naturally, it’s a highly coveted position in the content industry and one that is well fortified by the incumbents.

Microsoft has had its sights on input one for a long time, and this particular go-round isn’t all that unfamiliar. The Xbox One intends to share input one in what I’d call a man-in-the-middle attack. How well it works won’t be revealed until later this year, but clicking through will reveal how I think it’ll play out, why this attempt is a direct result of industry constraints and finally, how it matches up with the competition.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft

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