Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011: Computer scientist, Unix co-creator, C programming language designer 0

Computer scientist Dennis Ritchie isreported to have died at his home this past weekend, after a long battle against an unspecified illness. No further details are available at the time of this blog post.

Wikipedia biography here.

He was the designer and original developer of the C programming language, and a central figure in the development of Unix. He spent much of his career at Bell Labs. He was awarded the Turing Award in 1983, and the National Medal of Technology in 1999.

"Ritchie's influence rivals Jobs's; it's just less visible," James Grimmelman observed on Twitter. "His pointer has been cast to void *; his process has terminated with exit code 0."

The news of Ritchie's death was first made public by way of Rob Pike's Google+. 

Photo, below: Candlelight vigil for Dennis M. Ritchie. (thanks, Kevin)

Google going to launch it's Chromebook in 2012 0

Internet giant Google's Chromebook, a laptop-like device or a netbook tailor-made for Web browsing and running on its Chrome Operating System, is likely to be shipped in India by early 2012.


Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice-President, Chrome and Apps for Google, said: “we are very excited about chrome books we have taken our 1st step in the long journey. so we have exceeded the market in many countries to gain mindshare. In 2012 we will be expanding in more countries and it's my hope that we will be India also.”


Chromebook was launched earlier this year and runs on Google's cloud-based operating system and its Web browser Chrome. Priced between $349 to $499 in the international markets, only Samsung and Acer currently sell Chromebooks through online stores.


“Chrome, is very popular on laptops, where most of the time is spent browsing and, it was natural for us to take the next step: build an OS to bring the full power of the Web to users. In October 2011, Chrome overtook Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the most popular browser in India,” Pichai said.


Analysts say Google needs to address issues of pricing and features to make it a success in India.


Google says as of now Chrome will be only for the laptop market, while the popular android operation system will be for Smartphone's and tablets.

Honda Micro Commuter : Compact Futuristic Electric City Commuter with Joystick Steering System 0

Honda has announced its new concept automobiles for the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show 2011 and one of them isHonda Micro Commuter concept. This vehicle is a micro-sized futuristic electric city commuter to provide high accessible form of mobility in the future. Honda booth at this motor show will boast the conceptof “What makes people feel good?”. Through their phenomenal transportation designs, they’ll propose an exciting and fun personal mobility life to people all around the world.

From : Honda

Honda Micro Commuter has been designed to offer the joy of driving and communication between people and mobility. The exterior is equipped with advanced technology to enable each user to enjoy customizing more casually by changing the body panels of this car with cool variety of graphics and colors.

For the interior, say goodbye to steering wheel as Honda replaces the conventional steering wheel with two joysticks. The aquamarine blue light theme provides bright and futuristic atmosphere inside this green vehicle. What we love the most about Honda Micro Commuter concept is the compatibility to load Motor Compo, a two-wheel electric scooter, in the space between the driver’s seat and the side door. Thank you to a great collaboration between Honda’s motorcycle and automobile R&D centers. The detachable battery of this compact scooter can also be used as a power-source for USB-powered gadget.