Given Apple’s advertising budget and ubiquitous ads, plus an enormous amount of media attention, it’s still difficult to determine just what an iPad is. Is it a media player or a business machine? Does it replace a laptop? There are other tablet computers on the market, as well as “netbooks” that act like...

Maybe you've heard the story—or probably urban legend—about the university that didn't lay any grass or pour any concrete when it first opened, leaving the campus grounds as solid dirt. Then, as students began to traverse the campus from one class to the next, campus planners mapped the common paths they took, and then...

With the advent of version 2 of the iPhone system, Apple proved they could do a remarkable thing — adapt their existing Cocoa computer application programming framework to make applications for a touch-based device with limited memory and speed and a dauntingly tiny display. The resulting Cocoa Touch framework, in fact, turned...

Welcome to Java. This chapter launches you on a tour of this technology by focusing on fundamentals. First, you receive an answer to the “What is Java?” question. If you have not previously encountered Java, the answer might surprise you. Next, you are introduced to some basic tools that will help you start developing Java...

You will be taken on a journey from simple stop motion animations...

Which of these fields are involved in robotics? You may choose from the following: engineering, electronics, psychology, sociology, biology, physics, artificial intelligence, math, art, mechanical design, mechanical construction, computer programming, sound synthesis, vision, ultrasonics, linguistics, microelectronics, process control,...

Did you ever imagine yourself writing a computer game and being able to make money selling it? With Apple’s iTunes App Store and the accompanying mobile devices iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, it’s now easier than ever. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy— there’s still a lot to learn about game...

Ever since I spotted and started reading my first computer book in 1981, I knew Information Technology (IT) was going to be an important part of my life. I feel privileged to have been able to make a career out of something I enjoy, and the fact that it changes on what seems to be a monthly basis means it never gets boring. It still...

Apple announced the original iPad on January 27, 2010, and the technology world hasn’t been the same since. Customers rushed to buy the tablet, snapping up more than 300,000 the day it went on sale. Competitors rushed to copy it, with Samsung, Motorola, Amazon, and others creating their own variations on the app-friendly...

In 1985 I brought home a new shiny Commodore Amiga 1000, about one week after they were released. Coming with a whopping 512K of memory, programmable colormaps, a Motorola 68K CPU, and a modern multitasking operating system, it had “awesome” writ all over it. Metaphorically speaking, of course. I thought it might make a...