The UMBC ACM student chapter is glad to announce the first meetup of Baltimore Software Craftsmanship User Group. This meetup is for the students and software developers in the Baltimore, MD area that care about the quality of their work and want to practice and improve their programming skills, share what they know and learn new things from others.

Please RSVP for the event by completing the form. More details can be read on the form or below.

Note: Registration for this initial meetup is limited to only twelve people from the UMBC community. If you are UMBC Student or Faculty please don't RSVP on the meetup site. Use the above form only.

Event Details

This is a HANDS-ON coding user group with no presentations. Each meeting will be a dojo where we will go through a challenging software craftsmanship exercise that focuses on clean code, test-driven development, design patterns, and refactoring. We will pair up and practice on a kata in order to learn and apply the values, principles, and disciplines of software craftsmanship. Come with your LAPTOP equipped with your favorite programming and automated unit testing environment. If you don't have a laptop COME ANYWAY, we will need only one laptop for every two people. Be prepared to pair up, learn, share and have fun!

The event is open to all UMBC students, however programming ability is REQUIRED. Interested Faculty members can join in too! This can also be a good opportunity to network with professionals from various companies and get yourself noticed for any job opportunities that exist.

Questions or Suggestions? Send email to Primal Pappachan (primal1 at umbc.edu) or Vladimir Korolev (vkorol1 at umbc.edu).

Leaked documents suggest that American spies can decrypt much of the data they collect by tapping into Internet service providers and telecommunications cables.

A series of leaks this summer revealed that the National Security Agency uses novel interpretations of U.S. law to gather data in bulk from the world’s largest Internet companies. Now new reports on the NSA’s technical capabilities suggest that the agency can actually read most online communications without going directly to service providers at all.

Leaked documents suggest that American spies can decrypt much of the data they collect by tapping into Internet service providers and telecommunications cables.

A series of leaks this summer revealed that the National Security Agency uses novel interpretations of U.S. law to gather data in bulk from the world’s largest Internet companies. Now new reports on the NSA’s technical capabilities suggest that the agency can actually read most online communications without going directly to service providers at all.

The RDF Working Group has published two Last Call Working Drafts:

• N-Triples. N-Triples is a line-based, plain text format for encoding an RDF graph. Comments are welcome through 14 October.
• N-Quads. N-Quads is a line-based, plain text format for encoding an RDF dataset. Comments are welcome through 14 October.

Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.

In one form or another, public service announcements (or advertisements) have been with us for well over a hundred years. They have as their chief objective the goal of educating the general public in order to raise awareness on a multitude of social issues; from cancer and global warming to domestic violence and drug abuse. PSAs seek to cause action and change opinion.

It’s little wonder, then, that to capture society’s attention in an age of visual inundation, the creators of public service campaigns have had to step up. The likes of such major ad players as Ogilvy, Grey, and McCann-Erickson — along with the creative minds of boutique agencies — have risen to the occasion, producing a new generation of printed public interest ads. Some are edgy and envelope-pushing, using imagery that makes the viewer uneasy. Others go for power through simplicity, employing striking illustrations to move an audience.

One thing that all of these ads have in common is their striking visual impact: Photoshop work isn’t just effective, it’s epic; illustrations aren’t just employed, they’re integral.

Below is a collection of 25 standout public interest ads whose creativity, art direction, and emotion-evoking properties work together to deliver a poignant message. They are a good reminder that delicate subject matter is oftentimes most successfully delivered when the inclination for gentleness is abandoned and instead is confronted head on. These are ads that make a statement…quite literally.

WWF: Tree

Heart and Stroke Foundation: Future

Salvation Army: Politician

Surfrider Foundation: Plastic Invasion

World for All: Train

Dutch Heart Foundation: QR Bystanders

Amnesty International: Tsunami

Ecuadorian Red Cross: Life Inside Life

Department of State Health Services: Share Air

World for All: Building

WWF Desertification: Elephant

Amnesty International: Pencil

Operation Smile: Charlie Dot

Safe Kids: Football

OndAzul NGO: Sardine

Operation Smile: Sally Monkey

TAC: Confusion, Overpass

Samusocial: Stop the Nightmare

Fight for Peace: Favela

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression: Tara

Pedestrian Council of Australia: Man

Stivoro: Open Road

GirlHub: Amina

Global Warming

Utah Department of Highway Safety: Alcohol Cuffs

Greenpeace: Become David

So Acao Solidarity Movement: Much More than Trees

Which ads resonated most with you? What tactics do you think work best in public service ads? Let us know in the comments.

Ultimatum 2.5: The Ultimate WordPress Theme Builder – $35!

Wonder Idea Technology Limited, a Hong Kong based software developer announces the launch of Hi Slider, a free jQuery slideshow plugin creator.