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Jun 2, 2009 | 1
Tetris, one of the most renowned and addictive creations in the brief history of video games, turns 25 this week.
Creator Alexey Pajitnov at the Moscow Academy of Science programmed the iconic falling-block game in June 1984 for a Soviet computer system called Electronika, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Reuters news agency cites June 6 as the date that the first playable version of the game was born.
"The program wasn't complicated," Pajitnov told the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper. "There was no scoring, no levels. But I started playing and I couldn't stop. That was it."
Mar 18, 2009 | 5
Some heartening news on the tech front: Enrollment in undergraduate computer science and engineering programs is up in the U.S. and Canada for the first time since the dot-com bust.
The number of students majoring in computer science was up 8 percent in the 2007-2008 academic year over the previous one, according to data collected by the Computing Research Association (CRA) from departments at 192 universities. The trend marks the first time total enrollment increased in six years.
"The upward surge of student interest is real and bigger than anyone expected" Peter Lee, the industry group’s incoming chair, told the association's Computing Research Policy Blog. "The fact that computer science graduates usually find themselves in high-paying jobs accounts for part of the reversal. Increasingly students also are attracted to the intellectual depth and societal benefits of computing technology."
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DNLee5 “@DrEscotet: Dreaming of animals and other warning signs of neurodegeneration @Guardian – http://t.co/HjQ9oBhpjH” I have ALL OF THESE issues
BoraZ Not sure why people like to be negative about @Amtrak, I think allowing pets will be great: http://t.co/p73ILDVIoo
dcastelvecchi "Essentially what they were saying is that for committing an act of journalism you could be deemed a criminal." http://t.co/aSy2m7pFGh
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