"Small Basic has been designed specifically for novice developers. The easy to use programming language allows beginners to get a clear understanding of the fundamentals of programming and have lots of fun on the way."

Well, that's the Microsoft blurb out of the way -- what they have done (besides releasing a product named after an existing one), is create a small subset version of a VB.net like language, that uses a very interesting "intellisense" IDE.


As an example, here's what you would type for a Hello World example:-

TextWindow.WriteLine("Hello World")

Small Basic is just that, a very simple language you could use to teach people to get into programming or to write small, simple applications. I thought it was very cool, that it comes with a Turtle object, so you can perform Logo-like operations.

Click here for the official blog and/or here for the forums.

Watch as Newstopia gives us the lowdown on the Reserve Bank -- I guess we've got no choice but to laugh.

Check out the trailer for the next upcoming paintball computer game called Championship Paintball 2009. It smells of GHTP though, I did noticed they've announced a Wii version, so maybe it'll be worth checking out.

RemoteBuddy has been updated to version 1.11.2.

Quite a few updates and enhancements in this release. It includes a behaviour for Boxee ... I just wrote one myself last night :( ...

"Tired of your iPod running out of power?

A Japanese company says it has found a way to charge portable gadgets just by walking. The shoes have a small generator attached to water-filled soles. Each step puts pressure on the soles, causing the water to spin a small turbine and generate power, NTT said.

The futuristic shoes currently generate 1.2 watts of electricity, "a level sufficient to run an iPod mobile music player forever, as long as the wearer keeps walking," said spokesman Hideomi Tenma.

Click here for more information.