Once, Arthur C. Clarke, the author of the famous science fiction novel “2001 – A Space Odyssey”, stated:

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic .”

Each day, we are amazed by new and new wonders of science and technique which are becoming part of our everyday life. Things such as the Internet of Things, tablets, smart phones, mobile applications, drones, analytics software, online tracking tools and geolocation tools, self-driving cars, storage in the cloud,

“Well, finally…” Misu respired with ease seeing the name and especially Gogu’s face on the screen of his smartphone. But he hardly managed to say anything since the outpour of Gogu’s words broke out through the little device, as if the dam had given way:
“What has happened, goodman, to make you call like crazy?! Do you think I am blind and can’t see you called the first time? Who died? Has something exploded? ‘Cause I can’t possibly have a quiet day! Just one day, pal, that’s what I allowed myself to take off. On good grounds. One day! And you are calling me five times in one hour. Five! May thunder and lightning come over your phone anytime you reach for it again!. Or is it that you are suicidal and you want me to fix this problem for you, which would make me extremely happy right now…”

2014 meant a period of maturation for our magazine, by the increase in the number and the quality of the published articles. In numbers, this was reflected in the increasing number of online loggings which has reached 7000 sessions per month and participants in the release events, which has gone up to an average of 70-80 attendants. The peak was reached in September, when the release event registered over 120 participants, and online during the IT Days period, when there were over 10,000 sessions per month.

Tudor is a researcher and software consultant. He has recently become known for winning the Junior category annual award offered by AITO (Association Internationale pour les Technologies Objets), organization which supports research in the object oriented technologies area. He was present on December 13th in Cluj, in the event called Be Fast and Curious organized by 3Pillar Global company.

This article is the second related to Sun Tzu’s Art of War, and adds more arguments to my personal belief that the 2500 year military treatise is a guidebook for the nowadays role of Product Owner.

Michael Bolton was in Cluj between 17-20 November as instructor for RST (Rapid Software Testing) and Critical Thinking courses. Before he continued his journey, Altom team stopped him for an interview to find out what some of his perspectives are on software testing and education in software testing, the link between testing and the scientific discovery process, as well as his opinion about testing communities and their role in potential revolutions in testing.

In the apartment where I grew up, we had no pets, though my sister and I would ask our parents from time to time to keep a dog or a cat. This thing made me long even more for the summers spent at my grandma’s. And it was well known: when the summer holiday started, both my sister and I would get off our parents’ back and we would move to our grandparents’. Over there, our cousins would join us during day time and the fun was guaranteed.

By the courtesy of Ovidiu (Matan, of course), I was invited to deliver a presentation on IT DAYS 2014. As I did not manage to go through everything during the time allotted to my presentation, the writing of this article gives me the opportunity to complete my presentation. This is what I wanted to say by all means! Entrepreneurship can no longer put technology aside nowadays, no matter the domain. We can imagine any business activity you like and, without much effort, we can attach a technological function to serve that activity. Moreover, technology has become in time a differentiating element, which can ensure the competitive advantage necessary to success.

We have recently got through the second edition of Cluj IT Days, the annual event of Today Software Magazine. We believe we have succeeded in offering those over 200 participants present this year the opportunity to get a clearer overview on the IT in Cluj and on the latest trends in the local industry. A novelty of the event was the release of a book entitled How to build a product? , signed by nineteen authors, who have also participated as speakers to the event. This book will actually be available online on the site of the magazine and that of the event.

Peter Lawrey is a Java expert who appeared on the third position in the StackOverflow chart. We have the pleasure to have him as special guest to Cluj IT Days 2014, where he will deliver a technical presentation on “Hot topics in Java Performance Tuning”, as well as a presentation on his experience as an independent consultant: “What I have learnt by becoming an independent consultant”. Moreover, Peter is having a one day workshop on Java Performance