A funny thing happened on the way to the twenty-first century. Computers became more human. By “human,” I don’t mean “humanoid.” I only mean that the computer has evolved from being a stodgy office tool to a revolutionary home appliance and entertainment system, a device designed to help us manage and enjoy our...

OpenGL is a powerful software interface for graphics hardware that allows graphics programmers to produce high-quality color images of 3D objects. The functions in the OpenGL library enable programmers to build geometric models, view models interactively in 3D space, control color and lighting, manipulate pixels, and perform such tasks as alpha...

The origin of energy-conserving organelles, the mitochondria of all aerobic eukaryotes and the plastids of plants and algae, is commonly thought to be the result of endosymbiosis, where a  primitive eukaryote engulfed a respiring α-proteobacterium or a phototrophic cyanobacterium, respectively. While present-day heterotrophic...

Movable Type, that amazingly powerful personal publishing application, is the superhero of the Internet age. But when you push, poke, stretch, and otherwise coax it into producing even more, the possibilities for your Web content are simply superlative. Roll up your sleeves and get moving—here's the...

You may know When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth as a goofy humans-coexisting-withdinosaurs movie from the 1970s. However, in technology circles, “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth” refers to a grim humans-coexisting-with-mainframes story from the 1970s. I refer, of course, to IBM and its brontosaurus-size computers (called...