August 2009
100 posts
The Paper Data Storage Option →
As programmers, we regularly work with text encodings. But there’s another sort of encoding at work here, one we process so often and so rapidly that it’s invisible to us, and we forget about it. I’m talking about visual encoding — translating the visual glyphs of the alphabet you’re reading right now. The alphabet is no different than any other optical machine...
10th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day →
“Let’s face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe will be showered with large piles of cash and expensive sports cars in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgment. It’s the least you could do.”
Does closing roads cut delays? →
But the price of anarchy drops if you close a few roads, because individual drivers are less able to selfishly optimize their routes. In their analysis, the authors identified six streets in Boston and Cambridge: By closing those streets, they say, the optimal collective travel time would decrease between the two points. At first blush, this study seems dissonant with findings that traffic flows...
July 2009
54 posts
“One day, I did a mistake which cost me the first place: getting the blue shell...”
– FrenchyStarFox (via Mario Kart 64 Music - Beach)
“Indifference, indecisiveness, and flexibility are entirely different things....”
Calluna — a text typeface with flow →
During the design process, I frequently flipped the font preview vertically to have a better look at the flow — the one-way direction leading to the upper right corner of each glyph — that I wanted Calluna to have. Where possible, I created or adapted shapes and serifs to fit this flow idea. Of course I didn’t restrict myself 100% to this idea. When things didn’t work in words or sentences I did...
Kindle and the Future of Reading →
jingc:
Here’s what you buy when you buy a Kindle book. You buy the right to display a grouping of words in front of your eyes for your private use with the aid of an electronic display device approved by Amazon. You can’t read a Kindle book on a Sony machine, or on the Ectaco jetBook, the BeBook, the iRex iLiad, the Cybook, the Hanlin V2, or the Foxit eSlick. Kindle books aren’t transferrable....
Software Engineering →
I work for a small company, and like most small companies everyone has very broad responsibilities. If I worked at a big company, a lot of my duties would be split between senior and junior members. The size of your company will have a bigger impact on your job than just about anything else. Microsoft and Apple might have a very different corporate culture, but they’re very similar compared to...
“Never give an order that can’t be obeyed.”
– Gen. Douglas MacArthur (via 1001 rules for my unborn son)
Hoshi no Koe — Mikako Kara no Tayori
Brings back...
How to Be a Regular
2. Make a good exit Restaurants may be the only place on earth where the last impression is the most important. Admit it: Your opinion can be swayed, or at least rescued, by excellent desserts. Similarly, it’s true for the house, and if you make a strong exit, they’ll remember you next time on the way in. So, in addition to the aforementioned good tip, this means a few things: When you...
WatchFormula 1 is wicked fast, yet in super slow motion at 1500 fps, it can be almost as fun to watch. After the jump are two videos that are definitely worth your time. The first video shows the massive amounts of stress exerted on the F1 cars as they barrel around corners. At 1500 fps, they almost look as if they could come apart at any moment.
The second video demonstrates the importance of...
I Love Egg →
An unbelievably cute animation. The Korean version is better, but you can sing along to the English one.
“Palm fixing iTunes sync is kind of like trying to make out with someone who...”
– Brian Lam (via Ars Technica)
“Facebook is basically designed like a lobster trap with your friends as bait.”
– Michael C. Gilbert (via kottke)
Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition out on... →
I am so excited about this game!
Spyware as a 3G "update" →
Etisalat is a service provider in the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, a major international finance center. Earlier this month, Blackberry users on its network received texts from Etisalat, saying that an update was available that would improve the handoff between 2G and 3G networks. Not surprisingly, many users installed the software. A number of users, however, began to have...
China eagerly prepares for a rare total solar... →
When the eclipse hits Chengdu, Sichuan province, passengers on five specially chartered Sichuan Airlines flights will chase the moon’s shadow on its trajectory across the southern part of the country, enveloped in darkness for more than half an hour before landing in Shanghai. The price is $200, and few spaces remain.
So jealous.
Microsoft: Linux kernel code offering →
Microsoft is contributing approximately 20,000 lines of source code to the Linux kernel with the aim of improving support for running the Linux operating system in virtualized environments on Windows servers. The move is part of a broader trend at Microsoft towards collaboration with the open source software community.
Prominent Linux kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the code...
Scratch →
In Scratch, you build your programs out of interlocking puzzle pieces. There are loops and conditionals, which contain a little opening (which expands as needed) to hold other pieces. It basically encapsulates the idea of curly braces. Conditional statements have a hexagonal hole, into which only a conditional test can be fitted. Conditional tests are hexagon-shaped pieces which have oval holes,...
Round Rects Are Everywhere! →
Bill fired up his demo and it quickly filled the Lisa screen with randomly-sized ovals, faster than you thought was possible. But something was bothering Steve Jobs. “Well, circles and ovals are good, but how about drawing rectangles with rounded corners? Can we do that now, too?”
“No, there’s no way to do that. In fact it would be really hard to do, and I don’t...
Credit card: 3.45% cash back at restaurants →
5x Rewards at Restaurants Again, at 1 penny per point with gift cards, getting 5x points is like getting 5% back when eating out. Even if you convert to straight cash, that’s still 3.45% cash back at restaurants (5/1.45). Or 3.57% back if you are okay with prepaid Visa card, which I am since they are usable anywhere that takes credit cards.
I have gotten my 5x rewards at fast food restaurants...
“When you are listening to someone, are you hearing them or waiting for a chance...”
Feynman "Messenger" lectures online →
A set of seven talks by legendary, Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman are now available online, free of charge–and through a much more versatile application than YouTube.
Microsoft Research has made videos of the famous Messenger Series lectures available through an interactive video application called Project Tuva.
I’m looking forward to watching them.