Monday, January 14, 2013

The Internet Umbrella

PILEUS: The Internet Umbrella

Pileus is an umbrella connected to the Internet to make walking in rainy days fun. Pileus has a large screen on the top surface, a built-in camera, a motion sensor, GPS, and a digital compass. The current prototype has two main functions: photo-sharing and 3D map navigation.

The Illustrated Guide to Front-End Development.

The Illustrated Guide to Front-End Development. An illustration-driven e-book by Brian Franco that introduces HTML5/CSS with the newcomer in mind.


Download ch. 1 for free. It's a good companion for ch. 2 in our 111 textbook, and project 1, CodeAvengers.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Disable Java in your Browser (US-CERT)


IT News

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) tells users to disable Java in browsers.  http://bit.ly/VR5uJT

How to disable Java in your web browser:

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/disable_browser.xml



Friday, October 5, 2012

Google Search

Google 的貼牌冰箱(Google refrigerator)Improve your Google Search skills:

Google Miscellany

Google URL shortener.

Six Google Games to Keep you Entertained

Google Labs, 106 Things

Web Field Trip

Google on the Gorge: Web 2.0 Field Trip

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

CIS 110 Help Sessions Week 2

For students who missed their week 1 lab or just want extra help, you are welcome to attend one of more Help Sessions.

110 Help Sessions Week 2 (10/1 - 10/5)

4-5pm MTWRF B90CD Onyx Bridge (Science Library)

Note that if no one shows up during the first 10 minutes the session is cancelled.

Getting to B90CD Ony.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Flying Math: Bees Solve Traveling Salesman Problem

From Wired Science, 09-21-2012. Bumblebees foraging in flowers for nectar are like salesmen traveling between towns: Both seek the optimal route to minimize their travel costs.

Mathematicians call this the “traveling salesman problem,” in which scientists try to calculate the shortest possible route given a theoretical arrangement of cities. Bumblebees, however, take the brute-force approach:

For them, it’s simply a matter of experience, plus trial and error, scientists report.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Apollo Guidance Computer

This is the type of computer that went to the moon in the Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972.

There was one computer in the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) and one the mothership (CM) circling above. It was the first use of integrated circuits [chips]. It's cycle time was 1 Mhz, 11 instructions. It had 1K of 16 bit words of erasable (RAM) core memory and 12K of read-only memory (ROM). The ROM held the "Colossus 249" flight control software. There were no disks or tapes in the flight system.

How to build one in your basement, with many useful references.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Visualizing Data: The Data Journalism Handbook

The Data Journalism Handbook

"The Data Journalism Handbook is a free, open-source reference for anyone interested in the field of data journalism. It features contributions from over 70 of the leading global voices of authority and has now been released, remarkably only 6 months after its conception. It is a joint initiative between the European Journalism Centre and the Open Knowledge Foundation and is published by O’Reilly Media."

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Everything You Never Knew About CSS Floats

What do floats really do anyway? How do they affect the box model of the elements involved? How do floated elements differ from inline elements? What are the specific rules governing the position of floated elements? How does the clear property work and what is it for?

Find out in this article from Design Shack.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Internet security: Keys to the Cloud Castle

Dropbox's service is more than adequate for most purposes, but it is not an appropriate place for CIT students to store RSA keys.

Read why in this May 2011 post on a blog at The Economist.