Takeshi10

 The push to let employees bring their own devices to work has been underway for some time now — in fact, it’s a big part of what ultimately doomed enterprise-focused hardware companies like BlackBerry. Samsung’s been walking the line for a while as well, rolling out enterprise features like Knox security for its consumer handsets, along with accessories like DeX, designed… Read More

 Alto’s Adventure is still one of my favorite games to pick up and play on the commute, on the airplane or basically anywhere I have both my iPhone and a few minutes to spare. The endless snowboarding adventure is one part mobile game and one part “in the zone” chill-out experience. But now there’s going to be a follow-up, and it’ll be more than an adventure… Read More

By Dom Elliott, Google Play team

With more than 50 billion apps and games downloaded in total, Google Play is helping developers and content creators around the world build successful businesses. In fact, we paid out more than $5 billion over the last year to developers for creating incredible apps that are changing the way people communicate, live, work, and play.

Developing an app or game and distributing it on Google Play is a good start, but it’s only the first step to building a sustainable business. That’s why we’ve written “The Secrets to App Success on Google Play,” a detailed playbook on the best practices and tools you can use to maximize the reach, retention, and revenue of your new app.

The guide is separated into the following sections:

• Publishing on Google Play — using the Google Play Developer Console to distribute your app to over 1 billion Android users worldwide.
• Quality — The fundamentals of building a great app and an insight into the Google Play guidelines and policies.
• Discoverability & reach — Maximizing your app's discoverability and reaching the widest audience possible.
• Engagement & retention — Converting installations into active users and improving user retention.
• Monetization — Monetization strategies to generate ongoing, growing revenue streams.
• Measurement with Google Analytics — Understanding your users and improving your app experience, conversions, and marketing.
• Going global — Launching your app in local markets around the world.

Download the guide now in English (PDF, 11MB) or get it on Google Play. We’ll release the guide in more languages in the coming months. If you’re in the US or the UK, we also have a limited number of printed copies that we are offering to send for free. Request a printed copy here.

Once you’ve checked out the guide, we’d love to hear your feedback so we can continue to improve, let us know what you think.

 We’re announcing a new TechCrunch TV show called Built in Brooklyn, and its main goal is simple — to showcase a bunch of cool Brooklyn startups. This has been in the works for months, but I’m glad we’re announcing it today — exactly one year after I moved from San Francisco to New York City. I ended up in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, and boy, it… Read More

Public bathrooms can be pretty gross – but should you be worried about contamination? Science breaks down whether you should hover or cover the toilet seat.

[ASAPScience]

And here's 723.

Apparently I accidentally included the wrong script, go figure, so have a v2.

HD: Zippy (P1, P2), Mega, Torrent
SD: Zippy, Mega

Watch as Doctor Who’s Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman list 10 Mind Bending facts about Doctor Who.

[Nerdist & BBCAmericaTV]

In this episode of “This is Mental Floss”, show host John Green looks at some of history’s greatest hoaxes including “Balloon Boy” (the boy, by the way is now in a metal band), “Lonelygirl15″ and “War of the Worlds.”

[Mental Floss]

Those cautiously curious to see how Resident Evil: Revelations translates to bigger screens can try out a demo on May 14 from the Xbox Live Marketplace, Wii U eShop, Steam, and PlayStation Network. On the Wii U, that translation includes touchscreen integration, off-TV play, and some Miiverse extras too.

Resident Evil: Revelations demo dated for May 14 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 May 2013 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Olha só pessoal! Quem acompanha o blog já viu a Tsubasa por aqui, sempre fazendo seus covers de música brasileira com um toque oriental, e como ela conquistou muitos fãs brasileiros, resolveu agradecer de uma maneira SENSACIONAL!

Se você curte o som da Tsubasa e sempre sonhou em conhecer o Japão, AGORA É A SUA OPORTUNIDADE de conseguir fazer isso grátis, pois ela está sorteando uma viagem de 5 dias com TUDO PAGO, confira ai.

O ganhador desta promoção ganhará uma viagem de 5 dias para o Japão, incluindo passeios pela cidade de Tóquio,
um dia nos parques da Tokyo Disneyland e ainda conhecerá a cidade natal da Tsubasa, em dois dias de passeios pela província de Ishikawa, tudo isso na compania da Tsubasa.

Esta promoção inclui as passagens aéreas ída e volta da sua cidade até o Japão, todos os traslados e ingressos para todas as atrações inclusas nesta promoção.

Para concorrer é fácil:
1- Curta a página oficial da Tsubasa Imamura Brasil no Facebook.
2- Compartilhe o flyer da promoção que se encontra no topo da página.
3- Agora é só cruzar os dedos e arrumar suas malas para essa aventura inesquecível!

Datas:
9 de junho de 2013 – Sorteio do grande ganhador
27 de junho – Saída do Brasil
29 de junho – Chegada no Japão
30 de junho e 1 de julho – Passeios em Tokyo (Tokyo Sky Tree, Harajuku Street, Akihabara, Asakusa, entre outros)
2 de julho – Passeio nos parques da Disneyland
3 e 4 de julho – Passeios pela província de Ishikawa (cidade natal da Tsubasa)
5 de julho – Saída do Japão
6 de julho – Chegada no Brasil

? Menores de 18 anos só poderão viajar com autorização do responsável

? A emissão do passaporte é de responsabilidade do ganhador.

I was talking with author Dori Smith recently, and it turns out we both experienced a similar phenomenon: angry email and online posts about how we were making it too easy to learn Java. But is that really such a terrible thing? I know there's a lot of on- and off-line grumbling about whether it's a good idea to "teach the unteachable" or try to encourage "people who have no business programming in the first place."

Yes, this is an old debate (I like what Simon Phipps had to say after JavaOne), but my being on the receiving end of some of the anger is still kind of new to me, so I'd like to hear more about what's driving this mini-backlash against the new wave of books and developer tools intended to bring the not-quite-C++-gurus into the Java fold.

Is this in fact "dumbing down" and de-valuing the Java language and/or de-valuing Java programmers? Should we (Dori and I, and all other folks who try to teach Java to others or who build tools like Project RAVE) deliberately impose artificial barriers to entry to help guarantee that only the best and brightest can ever write Java code?

Is it really true, as some claim, that managers everywhere are going to snap up these one-step-beyond-supersizing-it programmers and toss out all the ones with real knowledge and skills? Is it true that if one needs a gentle introduction (or at least a different *kind* of introduction) to, say, the world of OO development, that it means he has no hope of ever becoming good at it?

Is there no way a Java developer can be any good without a CS degree? (Although there's always a certain amount of snobbery on both sides -- the CS grads (who may not have had real world experience) vs. the hard-core real-world vet who doesn't need no stinkin' degree.) Is there only one True Path by which a human can become a good Java programmer? And if there is, WHO decided what that path was supposed to look like? Is it possible that the path looks like that simply because... well, simply because it always HAS looked like that?

I might be kidding myself, but I like to think that *anyone* who is capable of learning to do this, and has the passion and interest in working at it and growing and improving, deserves the chance. Just because someone needs (or maybe just WANTS) an easier, brain-friendlier way to get started doesn't automatically mean that person is an idiot/dummy. And it doesn't mean that this person is doomed to write terrible code for life, bring large-scale projects to their knees, and signal the final dealth blow to the careers of seasoned developers.

OK, it sounds like I'm being melodramatic, but these are almost verbatim statements I've heard. But the weirdest thing for me is that some of the more vocal complainers I've heard from act as though they themselves were *born* with their knowledge and skills. But once upon a time, they too were absolute beginners. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Roger Schank, one of my favorite AI professors (founder of the Cognitive Science Society, former director of the Yale Artificial Intelligence Project), claims that the whole approach to teaching (and especially technical subjects) in higher ed in the US is almost completely contrary to everything we know about how the brain works. He claims (and the learning theories certainly seem to back this up) that students learn *in spite of* the ways in which complex subjects are taught in school, rather than *because of*. So, why do these methods still persist in universities? He believes there is a certain amount of, "Well, *I* had to suffer through it like that, and by god, SO WILL MY STUDENTS." And the whole thing just propogates forever, including extending into corporate training.

I guess I'm really bringing in multiple arguments here, so I'll try to summarize the main questions I have:

* Is it wrong to make it easy for those without a formal CS background or years of programming experience to learn Java and/or OO?

* Is it wrong to make learning a complex (and serious) technical topic *fun*? Does it degrade the topic? Does it degrade/insult those who worked hard to become expert at that topic?

* Now that just about all C/C++ programmers already know Java, who are these next 7 million going to be?

* Assuming there *is* at least *some* danger (and I believe there is) that some will come in to programming jobs lacking the understanding and appreciation we know they need, is there something we can do?

* In other words, rather than complaining that these next 7 million are going to be our downfall, can we take steps to help the new folks learn and appreciate more of the art and craft of OO development?

These new folks are going to need not just some "how-to" skills, but also "what-to" and "why-to" and "when-to" understanding. I'm not buying the whole sky-is-falling idea, but still, the concerns aren't completely without a basis. So, what can we do to help?