Don t Count Cobol Out: related news

Don't Count Cobol Out

Hugh Pickens writes "Although Turing Award-winning computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra once said, 'the use of Cobol cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense,' Michael Swaine has an interesting entry to Dr. Dobb's Journal asserting that Cobol is the most widely used language in the 21st century, critical to some of the hottest areas of software development today, and may be the next language you'll be learning. In 1997, the Gartner Group estimated that there were 240 billion lines of Cobol code in active apps, and billions of lines of new Cobol code are being written every year. Cobol is a key element in the realization of modern distributed business software architecture concepts — XML/metadata, Web Services, Service Oriented Architecture — and e-business.

Cobol Job Market Heating Up

snydeq writes "Developers seeking job security in the years ahead could find an unlikely edge in Cobol. According to an InfoWorld report, demand for Cobol skills is surging, with salaries on the rise. More importantly, the short supply of offshore Cobol programmers and the fact that mainframes aren't going away anytime soon are spurring longevity for big-iron skills, with many companies looking to hire in-house Cobol pros to bridge mainframe Cobol apps to the rest of the enterprise. The report provides further evidence that Cobol may indeed be primed for a comeback, with new kinds of Cobol integration jobs emerging to prove old-guard skills are critical to some of the hottest areas of software development today."

Australian Internet Filters Have No Real Opt-Out; Only Opt-In To Fewer Filters

We've covered the long history of Australian politicians looking to set up their own censored internet "to protect the children" (of course). The plans have changed over time, but the end goal has always been the same: to force ISPs to block a list of sites provided by the government. In the latest incarnation, the plan supposedly included an "opt-out" option, where a web surfer could specifically ask to opt-out of the filters (effectively asking someone to sign up for a "porn-surfing license"). That, on its own, might scare some people off, but now it turns out that the opt-out isn't really an opt-out. Instead, it's just opting you in to a somewhat less restrictive blacklist. Once again, this idea of mandatory filtering out of "bad" sites on the internet sets a dangerous precedent.

MTV Bleeps Filesharing Software Names In Weird Al Video

An anonymous reader writes "We've all heard Weird Al Yankovic's 'Don't Download This Song,' which came out a couple years ago, but did you know that MTV is apparently so afraid that kids listening to the song will discover for the first time that file sharing offerings exist that in its video of the song, MTV bleeps out their names? There's a line in the song that lists out Morpheus, Grokster, Kazaa and Limewire (most of whom don't really exist any more), but for some reason MTV considers those names to be bleep worthy." Unless this is all one grand inside joke from Weird Al.

Google phone: It's nifty, but ...: REVIEW: As a smart phone, the T-Mobile G1 with Google software gets the job done. But don't expect it to stand out in a crowd.

TMCNet: Google phone: It's nifty, but ...: REVIEW: As a smart phone, the T-Mobile G1 with Google software gets the job done. But don't expect it to stand out in a crowd.

HourDoc SMS Clock-In System Aimed at Control Freak Bosses

Web-based employee tracking company HourDoc.com has just released a new service that will enable employees working on remote projects to clock-in and out by sending a simple text message. The system consists of four commands: “in”, “out”, “bin” or “bout” meaning “clocking in”, “clocking out”, “taking a break/clock in” or “taking a break/clock out.” Obviously, this SMS system is reserved only for the most anal retentive and overbearing of bosses, but I don't see how it would be effective in the first place. Couldn't you just clock back in from lunch while sitting at the bar? [HourDoc via Textually via New Launches]

Four Out Of Five Do Not Trust Companies With Personal Data

Four Out Of Five Do Not Trust Companies With Personal Data - Four Out Of Five Do Not Trust Companies With Personal Data. Low levels of consumer trust in how businesses manage and secure customer data could put companies at risk, according to a study by Symantec. Nearly four out of five people in Britain believe their personal information is insecure in the hands of the companies that hold the data, according to a recent survey by Symantec Corp (Nasdaq: SYMC) and Moneysupermarket.com, the online price comparison site.� The research was commissioned by Symantec to assess attitudes towards online risks from both a consumer and business perspective.

10 do's and don'ts for borrowing money

The world is full of don'ts. Don't run with scissors, don't wear seersucker after Labor Day -- and please, do not feed the bears.

Financial Services Providers Missing Out on Online Sales Conversions

Financial Services Providers Missing Out on Online Sales Conversions - A new financial service benchmark report shows the industry is missing out on online sales opportunities by failing to provide online visitors with easy access to human contact. The mystery shopper research, commissioned by Rostrvm Solutions, reveals that while 92% of financial services clearly display a telephone number, just 14% provide a Call Me Back facility and a tiny 3% offer a Live Chat instant messenger option. The mystery shopper looked at the web sites of more than 100 financial services providers spanning mortgages, personal pensions, insurance and loan products. It investigated out how easy it is for consumers to instigate a telephone or live chat conversation with brands while they are online; in particular the research focused on the availability and reli

Hey Dummy, Don't Microwave The DSi (And Other Nintendo Tips)

Hands down, Nintendo Co., Ltd. has the best instruction manuals on this spinning blue orb we call Earth. The DSi manual is no exception. It politely advises things like don't drive and play DSi, don't stab the DSi with a screwdriver and don't throw the DSi away with burnable trash. Better take notes, this is all very, very important stuff.

Teams share trophy as rain washes out final

The Nairobi Tri-Series turned out to be a nightmare for the organisers as rain washed out the final between the hosts Kenya and Zimbabwe. Poor weather marred the second half of the tournament and this was the fourth consecutive game to be washed out without a ball being bowled, thereby reducing the tournament to a farce.

Chandrayaan-1 Tests Out Camera; Target: Earth

While the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft wends its way to the Moon with gradually longer elliptical loops around the Earth, mission scientists decided to test out the main camera on board, the Terrain Mapping camera (TMC). The camera snapped this picture of Earth on October 29, 2008, at a distance of 70,000 km, showing Australia. If you're having a hard time making out the image, it might be because the image is flipped, as though looking at it in a mirror. Emily Lakdawalla over at the Planetary Society blog figured this out and has flipped the image for us (see below). Why is the original image backwards? Emily explains, "Data doesn't come down from spacecraft in familiar formats like JPEG or TIFF; it's a stream of ones and zeroes, with a format unique to the science instrument, and scientists and engineers write their own software for transla

10 of the Greatest Phrases to Ever Come Out of a Video Game

Top 10 Greatest Phrases To Ever Come Out Of A Video Game Character’s Mouth I’ve said it time and time again, video game storylines suck. But that doesn’t mean that the character’s in those horrible storylines can’t come up with pearls of wisdom (Or is it just comic gold?) when they open up their mouths. Below are, in my opinion, the ten greatest phrases to ever come out of a video game character’s mouth. I’m sure I’m missing a few here, but that’s what comment boards are for. So here they are, the top ten phrases ever. See if you can close your eyes and remember just how they sounded the first time you first heard them. Just don’t do it while you’re driving or operating heavy machinery. You should usually keep your eyes open for stuff like that.

Blogonomics: Is it the End of Micropublishing?

I don't fully understand Nick Denton's decision to fold Valleywag into Gawker. Gawker's readers don't care about Silicon Valley gossip, and Valleywag's readers don't care who was spotted having lunch at Michael's yesterday. What's more, Gawker's clearly having difficulty selling out its inventory already -- hence the end of pay-per-pageview. So readers won't benefit, and although Gawker.com will get a traffic boost from this, it's not going to be easy to monetize that.

What is the deal with HTML email?

I don't have a strong opinion either way about receiving HTML email. Sometimes it's annoying, especially when there are tons of huge images cluttering up what amounts to a message about nothing. And sometimes they are just hard to read when the marketing style of the email gets in the way of the content. And most of the time I don't notice them either way as I have HTML turned off in my email client for security reasons. What I don't understand is why I'm constantly getting requests to teach people how to write HTML email. I have two forms of email that I send out regularly - email from my email client (Gmail, Thunderbird, Yahoo!, or Outlook - whatever) and email from my newsletter. The first I have control over the output, and I can send it as HTML email and format it however I wish using the email client.

Blogonomics: The End of Micropublishing?

I don't fully understand Nick Denton's decision to fold Valleywag into Gawker. Gawker's readers don't care about Silicon Valley gossip, and Valleywag's readers don't care who was spotted having lunch at Michael's yesterday. What's more, Gawker's clearly having difficulty selling out its inventory already -- hence the end of pay-per-pageview. So readers won't benefit, and although Gawker.com will get a traffic boost from this, it's not going to be easy to monetize that.

Fancy footwork isn't enough to save Don Warrington The actor Don Warrington became the fifth celebrity to be voted off Strictly Come Dancing

Rising Damp actor Don Warrington became the fifth celebrity to be voted off Strictly Come Dancing tonight.

SEO Reports - I don't care about meta data and search engines don't either

Meta data really doesn't matter to search engines. And yet a lot of the pages I've been looking at appear to have almost more meta data tags in them than they do content on the page. This is a waste of time, from an SEO perspective. Search engines learned long ago that meta keywords were usually used to spam. And other meta data is considered just as suspect. So, unless you have another need for items like a tag, leave them out. Search engines ignore them. Spend your time getting your keywords into the content of the page that your readers will see.

Press Not Buying Google Street View As A Threat To Children

A few months back, we pointed out how ridiculous it was that a child advocacy group had put out a scary press release claiming that child predators could use Google Street View to prey on children. They could also, you know, walk up and down the street. It's nice to see that the mainstream press is at least calling the group, Stop Internet Predators, out on how ridiculous this is. Nationally syndicated columnist Larry Magid sarcastically slams the group for such pointless fearmongering, not only pointing out that it's easier for predators to just walk up and down the street, but also making the following point:

Learn Your Digital Camera

Even though you can use your digital camera right out of the box, you should spend a little time looking through the included handbook. There are likely more features on your camera than you know about, and learning about them can open the door to countless photo-shooting opportunities you might otherwise miss. Commit to learning at least one or two features per week, including ISO settings, exposure settings, and other less-familiar features. If you don�t know what a setting does to alter a picture, do some research and find out. The more you know about your camera (and photography in general), the better your photos will turn out because you can effectively adjust your camera�s settings for the situation.

"Learn Your Digital Camera"

Even though you can use your digital camera right out of the box, you should spend a little time looking through the included handbook. There are likely more features on your camera than you know about, and learning about them can open the door to countless photo-shooting opportunities you might otherwise miss. Commit to learning at least one or two features per week, including ISO settings, exposure settings, and other less-familiar features. If you don�t know what a setting does to alter a picture, do some research and find out. The more you know about your camera (and photography in general), the better your photos will turn out because you can effectively adjust your camera�s settings for the situation.

Lazy Linux: 11 Secrets forLazy Cluster Admins

IconCluster means different things to different people. In the context of this article, cluster is best defined as scale-out -- scale-out clusters generally have a lot of the same type of components like Web farms, render farms, and high performance computing (HPC) systems. Administrators will tell you that with scale-out clusters any change, no matter how small, must be repeated up to hundreds of thousands of times; the laziest of admins have mastered techniques of scale-out management so that regardless of the number of nodes, the effort is the same. In this article, the authors peer into the minds of the laziest Linux® admins on Earth and divulge their secrets.

I?m A Celebrity is going to be extra exciting tonight!

So, thanks to the bizarre powers of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, Timmy Mallett and David Van Day are famous again – but how are they settling in to life in hell? Well, we’ll find out on tonight’s show (ITV1, 8pm – for two whole hours! It’s like a feature film!) but, even more excitingly, this ain’t no normal I’m A Celeb… – there’s a surprise live task on tonight’s show. As anything can happen in the jungle, we don’t know if Nicola will be forced to suck on a large snake, or if Kilroy (we just can’t get used to calling him Robert, can you?) will be buried alive in a pit of flesh-eating monkeys, but we’re sure going to tune in to find out. Have a look at our preview of some of the pre-recorded action too – specifically, Timmy and David’s dramatic arrival in the jungle.

Why Microsoft is running scared of Linux

The title is very encouraging -- but I think perhaps the author is a little too optimistic. The author said 3 out of every 10 netbooks sold are running Linux. That's great, but they are only netbooks, and those little netbooks with their tiny screens, snail processors, and crunched keyboards don't really present Linux in its best light. And don't think that Microsoft doesn't have plenty of marketing schemes that they will be willing to pull out once the release of 7 draws near.

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