Visual Studio Code only succeeded because a failed online editor was pivoted to become a desktop product, according to Microsoft Distinguished Engineer Erich Gamma. Gamma spoke at the virtual VS Code Day yesterday on how the world’s favourite programmer’s editor (or is it an IDE?) came about. Introduced at the Build event in April 2015, the VS Code open-source editor is nearly six years old. Microsoft already had a…

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IT helpdesk vendor ServiceNow has beat its own forecasts for calendar Q4 revenue and posted 2020 growth of 31 per cent. Led by Bill McDermott, the ebullient former SAP boss, the workflow software biz reported revenue for Q4 of $1.25bn, representing a 31 per rise year-on-year. The vast majority of this was based on subscriptions sales. Gross profit for the quarter hit $971m – yes, that’s a margin of…

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Bork!Bork!Bork! While New Zealand might have cut itself off from much of the outside world in a physical sense, we were surprised to find its isolation extends to the occasional internet connection. Spotted by a Register reader at Auckland’s Milford shopping centre (or “mall” as some might have it), today’s example of the curse of bork has appeared on a screen at the Auckland Savings Bank (ASB.) An august…

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Review The Samsung Galaxy S21 is not a particularly ambitious phone. There’s nothing novel or provocative about it. It’s a flagship, yes. But it’s also a fairly conservative one, faithfully sticking to the paths trodden by its predecessors. That sounds like a complaint, but believe me, it isn’t. Although Samsung repressed its playful side when designing the S21, we’re left with a phone that’s got more polish than a…

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Browser maker Vivaldi is tackling the issue of tab overload by adding a second row of the things via two-level tab stacks. Tab stacks have long been a feature of the Vivaldi browser. Indeed, the company’s CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, was at the helm of veteran browser maker Opera when tabbed browsing became commonplace. The stacking concept is no longer a such distinctive feature. Chrome will cheerfully permit the…

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Google on Wednesday warned iOS developers who use Google ad technology that they may see less revenue as Apple implements its privacy clampdown. Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, said Christophe Combette, group product manager for Google Ads, in a blog post, “will reduce visibility into key metrics that show how ads drive conversions (like app installs and sales) and will affect how advertisers value and bid on ad…

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Cisco reckons it has invented “a whole new category of switches” called “micro-switches”. Switchzilla suggested fibre-to-the-desk makes these devices sensible because it means you can run a connection all the way from one really big aggregation switch to a desktop or other device, instead of needing to put intermediary switches and distribution frames in different spots around your office. Cisco also reckoned that if you’re going to put a…

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Facebook has allowed misinformation to circulate, pandered to bigots, and generally turned a blind eye to all manner of horrible behaviour that has spilled out into real-world consequences including attempted genocide. But now The Social Network™ has found something so scary it has decided the world needs to know that Bad Things Are About To Happen. That bad thing is Apple. Especially Apple’s new privacy controls that make it…

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India appears to have permanently banned the 59 Chinese apps it first barred from local use in June 2020. Numerous media outlets in the nation report that India’s Ministry of Electronics & IT late last week wrote to the apps’ makers and gave them the bad news they won’t be back. China’s embassy in India gave the news enough credence to issue a statement decrying India’s actions. “These moves…

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Analysis So it seems 2021 is going to be the year that internet culture finally reaches the deepest and most protected pockets of society. The past day has seen the kind of demented activity on the stock market that normally comes with an era-defining crash – except in this case it was Reddit readers who are, um, having a laugh while trying to make a point at the same…

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