I wouldn’t actually call it a site redesign, since I just selected a canned template supplied by MT. There are many things I love about the interface, and there are many things that annoy me to no end. I’d like to give people the option of filling out a CAPTCHA and publishing a comment right…
SOMETIMES there is a huge disconnect between the people who make a product and the people who use it. The creator of a Web site may assume too much knowledge on the part of users, leading to confusion. Software designers may not anticipate user behavior that can unintentionally destroy an entire database. Manufacturers can make…
James Hays and Alexei Efros from Carnegie Mellon University have developed an algorithm to help people who want to remove bits of photographs. The parts being removed could be unsightly lorries in the snaps of the rural idyll where they took a holiday or even an old boyfriend or girlfriend they want to rub out…
To demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid quickly written, shallow postings. Instead, invest your time in thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers. —Jakob Nielsen —Write Articles, Not Blog Postings (Alertbox) It’s been a while since I checked out Nielsen’s site. His overall point against blogs — which we can sum up in the old saying “nobody buys…
Interactive media are highly complex and at high risk for loss as technologies rapidly become obsolete. The Preserving Virtual Worlds project will explore methods for preserving digital games and interactive fiction. Major activities will include developing basic standards for metadata and content representation and conducting a series of archiving case studies for early video games,…
—Text to Speech (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Over the summer when I spend little time in the office and a lot of time outdoors, I often fall behind in my reading. The past few weeks I have been using TextAloud, a fairly simple but interesting program that converts text files to MP3s. I then put the MP3s…
What is it for? Why is it there? Did whoever put it up realize that if there were no sign, there would be no need to warn about it? Is this a joke from the developers? Is it a lesson in recursiveness? Is it a philosophical prop? —Bizarre Sign (Lushlush) Does it mean “Don’t forget to…
I designed this site to enable those of us who are having difficulty in solving Adventure / Colossal Cave to work together to solve the game. This is not a hints site, and there is no spoiler space. Information is presented as fully as I can, though the information in the walk through tends to…
When the steam train roared into history, hissing smoke and howling into the night, it was an awesome beast, adorned in the finest woods, ivory, gold, and intricate inlays, like some Serpent King on a sacred tapestry. The automobiles of the 20’s to 60’s, each was a work of art. The television and radio affected…
—How NOT To Use Powerpoint By Comedian Don McMillan (YouTube) Thanks for the suggestion, Josh. I generally ask my students to post their presentation notes on their blog, and rather than read through their blog entry word-for-word just take the class through the links and talk us through their main points. Similar:Woman comments on man's looks.…
Mr. Singhal is the master of what Google calls its “ranking algorithm” — the formulas that decide which Web pages best answer each user’s question. It is a crucial part of Google’s inner sanctum, a department called “search quality” that the company treats like a state secret. Google rarely allows outsiders to visit the unit,…
For the functions that people use most often, the 1986 vintage Mac Plus beats the 2007 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+: 9 tests to 8! Out of the 17 tests, the antique Mac won 53% of the time! Including a jaw-dropping 52 second whipping of the AMD from the time the Power button is pushed…
Don Woods is acknowledged to have the Right Stuff. With long, stringy black hair and a bearish grin, he looks somewhat older than his twenty-nine years. He works at Xerox and wears a dark GAMES T-shirt that contrasts with his almost chalk-colored skin. Pinned next to the Xerox employee badge on his shirt is a…
God forbid we manage to think about the phone as a learning device. I guarantee you that none of the sponsors of the bill have ever typed “define insipid” (or any other word, for that matter) into a text message on their phone and sent it to 46645? (Try it sometime.) I know I mention…
Tools for Teaching Basic Programming Concepts Alice and Scratch. Filing for future reference. Similar:Boston Herald Guild Members Boycotting Twitter After Reporter SuspendedMembers of the Herald’s editorial guild …Current_EventsEducated, uplifted, boosted, and fed. Block party celebrating August Wilson continues thro…Culture5 myths about Facebook’s Messenger appReal journalism takes a look at that Huf…BusinessHealing the WebThe lessons I learned…
Will you, won’t you… Blackwell’s Quadrille (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) “Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?” — Lewis Carroll’s “Lobster Quadrille” I just tried to order an examination copy of a book from Blackwell Publishing, and when I got what looked like an error message on the final screen (or…
—The civil war in four minutes (YouTube) Similar:Short Stories: Developing Ideas for Short FictionI just supervised a teaching demonstrati…EducationHere are some real statements from Pope Leo that many people who have been sharing fake me…Pope Leo XIV, who has made peace and uni…CultureHospice/Honeymoon “Hospice.” Once the word is uttered a…CultureOn Her One Free Day Between Two…
Open source software makes podcasting easy — too easy. Listening to a playlist of first-timer podcasts can leave your ears ringing from sudden changes in playback volume. The problem is audio mastering. Recording sound is simple, but mastering that sound — compressing volume differences, maintaining a decibel ceiling, and similar operations — is anything but.…
—Atari Candleholder (Wonderland | Mixko) Wonderland credits a designer called Mixko, but I couldn’t find it on that site. (And even I did find it there, I couldn’t link to it, because the site uses Flash in a horribly user-hostile way.) Similar:The Cover Letter That Led to Awesome InterviewsWhen I do a career planning unit, I…
Olympus DS-50 Voice Recorder (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Two brand-new Olympus DS-50 voice recorders just arrived at SHU. I’ve ordered two DS-40s as well. My students have been learning podcasting basics with some older voice recorders, but the virtue of that older equipment is that it’s very easy to understand. The DS-50s are state-of-the art, but I…