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2011-09-12T21:08:00.003-04:00

Android and Droid

2010-02-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

About two weeks ago I replaced my previous phone, a Motorola Q9m, with the new Motorla Droid. Its an improvement, but the entire ecosystem isn't as strong as the iPhone's, at least not yet. The phone is pretty nice, even straight out of the box. The high-res screen is bright, colorful, and clear, although some apps are a big flummoxed by the change from the standard resolution.

My issues are that the little user interface elements just aren't there. For example, the contacts list is hard-coded to be sorted only by first name, and there's no way to set specific contacts to always or never use Google Voice.

The other issue is that the Market, the App Store equivalent for Android, is still a little thin. I'm a firm follower of the Getting Things Done (GTD) method, and Astrid is a functional, if not equivalent, reproduction of the OS X & iPhone pair of Things.app, but is still the best available. The Market itself is a cluttered mess, with no ability to really browse for an app except by name.

Android 2.1 has since been released with the launch of the Nexus One, and adds some relatively insubstantial features. A news post earlier today said that Google pushed an update out that includes native multitouch apps, so I'm not going to comment on the multitouch issue until I get a chance to play with them myself (or if Verizon takes too long launching this update, just like its taken nearly a month to roll out the update from 2.0 to 2.1).

I'm looking closely at the functionality of Things.app for iPhone, with the intent of porting it to Android. The Cultured Code forums have a lengthy thread advocating for an Android client, but what I'd like to deliver is a client with identical functionality, but native to Android (something I don't think the Cultured Code folks would do, since the default Android UI elements are pretty ugly in comparison to the iPhone's).

Making a side-scroller

2009-12-17T01:18:00.000-05:00

At least in the US, the ideas and concepts presented in side-scrollers usually center around Super Mario Bros. However, one of my favorite games of 2009 is a dead-simple side scroller called Canabalt, which strips the game down to a single button: press space to jump. Inspired by Canabalt's retro graphics and simple gameplay, I decided to create my own.

I don't have much of it done, but development is proceeding relatively quickly thanks to the Allegro library. Its a pretty simple library that handles a lot of the typical game stuff (loading sprites, blitting, etc.) I'm considering just repurposing one of the examples that already has the loading & rendering code written, but I would rather not at this point since I want to have that learning experience.

The general game plan is to have the player start in the city, where everything is dark and grey, and as they gain speed, color enters back into the world as they start to move into the countryside. As with Canabalt, it only needs one button (forward movement is automatic, the only thing you need to do is jump).

Hopefully it'll be done by the end of my upcoming break.

DIRT 2, or, Why Games Come Out on PC 3 Months Late

2009-12-01T14:23:00.005-05:00

Back in September, Codemasters' Racing Studio released their game for the year: DIRT 2. Since I'm a sucker for racing games (especially the Codemasters RS series, Race Driver/GRID and Colin McRae/DIRT), I decided to check out the PC demo when it was released this morning.

First impression: the game is slick and sexy. Everything from the menus to the in-game HUD has been redone, and has been given an extra splash of style. Gone are the minimalist white menus of CMR04/05 and the first DIRT, and in their place is a trailer, festival grounds, and other real-life areas. The only disappointment here is the festival grounds, which are just skybox swaps for each location.

As for the actual racing, its the same gorgeous visuals mixed with the same twitchy, yet floaty, handling from the first game. A new added bonus is that the rally stages are now staggered starts, as opposed to individual journeys, so other racers come into play in a much more direct manner. Doing poorly will have the next driver pull up behind you, and doing well could lead to a pass (or two, if you're lucky). The other mode offered in the demo was a motocross-style race, on a closed arena circuit, against 7 other drivers. AI was better than in the previous game, and would yell at you if you made contact, and typically stayed out of your way unless it was attempting to run you off.

The in-car view is back, and its still good. This view is harder, more realistic, and looks awesome. I have no idea if multiplayer matches can lock to this view, like in GRID, but I'm hopeful.

The graphics are a step above anything I've seen this year, and actually come close to Crysis. The amount of small detail in the game is just crazy. Heavy vehicles like trucks hunker down and their wheels bulge under the weight, while lighter cars keep their wheel walls straight. Brushing up against a stone wall knocks rocks off the top, creating hazards for anyone close behind. The sun reflects off of the corner of a shiny bumper, or the crest of the roof, and creates distortions and halos around the screen. Driving through a big puddle completely occludes the screen for a few crucial seconds while your wiper blades whisk the water off. Since everything is so good, its disappointing to have a female driver get voiced by a man, a boneheaded mistake to make.

To top it off, here's a video capture from a replay, at 720p.

My sordid past

2009-11-07T14:01:00.000-05:00

My sordid past isn't what the average person thinks as sordid. But, it is sordid for a developer. I've spent two summers working as *gasp* a Visual Basic for Applications programmer. I hate the language, I hate the developer tools (a knockoff of Visual Studio 5 or 6 embedded in Microsoft Office), and I hate some of the overdone verbosity of the language. While the language has a good API behind it, and the structure of the language is something along the lines of GTK+'s "just keep typing til you get something you want done" development, it was missing a few critical, common chunks.

One of these chunks is the bog-standard stack. There's no stack object built into the API, and Microsoft's "here's how to make a stack" guide is a bit complex for everyday use (they go into some weird ByRef memory management stuff, and an item linked from a stack isn't a true stack, per se).

I rolled my own, but added a few tweaks that are outside the normal stack. I added a "peek" function that either checks the top of the stack without popping, or can look up a value at a specific index. Also added was a depth function, to check how big the stack is, and the ability to look up if a value is already in the stack. I created this block for a project that needed to analyze the full contents of the stack on a repeating basis, and it worked out very well. There are still a few tweaks that could be made, such as peek returning a null if the index is outside of the scope of the stack head, or maybe adding in more substantial error checking.

Rather than posting the file here, I'll let PasteBin handle the beautification here: http://pastebin.com/f3f11da41

Nethack: A Microcosm of Reality

2009-10-28T00:36:00.001-04:00

A quick view at the date of my last post says that I've been neglecting my posting duties. I blame a small app that's been sucking up every last bit of free time from me. Normally, I'd call that app "The Stute," and I've been very busy with that. Instead, the culprit is far simpler: Nethack.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, Nethack is a "rougealike": the game is played entirely in text-mode (although there is a version with tiles available), the dungeons are generated randomly on each playthrough, and the game is ridiculously difficult.

Its the last bit that leads me to how Nethack is a microcosm of the modern world. When you begin, just about everything hates you. Your only friend is a loyal pet, and if you're not careful, they can turn on you, or worse, die on you. In the early game, just like a child, you are vulnerable. A single misstep to the "DYWYPI" (Do you want your possessions identified?) screen.

Something about Nethack strikes me, not only because of the difficulty, but the way in which things can work together. If a fireball happens to hit a potion, it will boil. If a rolling boulder trap hits a shopkeeper, the shopkeeper will perish, and any valuables will be squished in the process. Everything just "clicks."

Like in the real world, when everything works together, its a sight to behold. That nice big meal means you can travel farther without having to scrounge for food, both in-game and out. If you're lucky (and skillful enough) to charm an enemy, they can quickly become a friend.

Image source

So, Nethack. For a game that uses glyphs, its more realistic than anything on the market today.

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Broken Windows Economy...

2009-02-18T21:00:00.002-05:00

In my "inaugural thoughts" post a few weeks ago, I came up with this gem:

Pound-wise and Penny-foolish - The maxim states that one must not be "penny-wise and pound-foolish," and Obama must be the opposite of that maxim. He must be willing to not only cut wasteful projects, but also start new projects that create jobs and replace aging, crumbling infrastructure. The 2007 bridge collapse in Minnesota and the 2003 blackout on the East Coast show that this country's infrastructure, most of which was built between 1930 and 1960, is in dire need of repair. As with FDR's "New Deal" during the Great Depression, funding must be directed toward replacing this infrastructure to keep citizens safe and bring America into the 21st Century properly. As an added bonus, such government spending can help stimulate the economy by providing jobs for the working classes, rather than simple handouts.

I was recently pointed to a Wikipedia entry on the Parable of the Broken Window:

Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son happened to break a pane of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation—"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?"
Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our economical institutions.
Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier's trade—that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs—I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.
But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."
It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented.

My argument for creating jobs based on replacing crumbling infrastructure is not a broken window philosophy. Money spent replacing the infrastructure is necessary spending. It is the equivalent of the shopkeeper taking poor care of his shop, and then having to spend money on replacing the roof when it is revealed to be on the verge of collapse.

The state our country's infrastructure is in is absolutely shocking, and that's what led me to make that statement. And this is the end of political/socioeconomic commentary I'm going to make on this blog.

My Messy Desk

2009-02-17T21:00:00.002-05:00

As prompted by a friend (Gene, a studying architect at the New Jersey's Institute of Technology's NJ School of Architecture), I decided to pick apart my workspace. It's nowhere near as nice, but it's got some good points.

Last year was miserable. This photo comes from about October 2008, right around when I started this blog.

What the heck was I thinking? No organization whatsoever, stuff piled on top of my keyboard, an Xbox controller and PSP within an arm's reach, and a generaly messy desk. This did eventually get cleaned up, though, and I was able to fly through my classes.

This is the upgraded, 2009 model. New room, new dorm, new desk, new laptop.

My trusty old desktop, a custom-built PC I inherited from a friend, gave up the ghost when it failed to output any video (not even a BIOS screen), so its been replaced with my old Dell Precision M60 laptop for any Windows tasks. It also serves as a desktop, since I never move it.

A whiteboard, even a small one, is great for managing tasks. Keep one in a highly visible location, like right over your monitor, and you'll constantly reference it. It can be quickly and cleanly erased as tasks change.

My desktop may have died, but running the MacBook with a second monitor is absolutely awesome. Mini-DVI to DVI adapters cost $20, a but much for a dongle, but well worth the expense.

I'm considering getting a new desktop, either an iMac or MacPro. I love OS X too much to go back to Windows, and a Mac Mini is just too little hardware for what I need.

A coffee mug for drinks both hot and cold is a great tool to have around. My room is excessively dry, so not drinking something for an hour usually leads to either dry mouth or a nosebleed. The stack of papers and notebooks next to it is my to-do pile, sorted by priority. The black Moleskine datebook on top is my main planner.

Not the greatest photo, but this is an alarm clock with radio. Sometimes headphones aren't comfortable anymore, and sometimes there's something happening you want to hear live, like a sports event. Also functions as my morning wakeup.

Keyboard and mouse. Necessary tools for any computer. The keyboard is a Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000, coming highly recommended from blogs like Coding Horror. There's no major learning curve to get used to it, and its damned comfortable to type on. The mouse is a Logitech TrackMan Wheel, which is currently on special from NewEgg.

Finally, my headphones: SteelSeries 4G. I got the pair off woot at the end of 2006 at a dirt-cheap price, and they've served me well for two solid years and a little more. They cost ~$15 without shipping, so they've paid for themselves several times over. As an added bonus, they have a mic that can be hidden inside one of the coconut halves. I didn't get them specifically for the mic, but Skype conversations with it are a thousand times easier to set up (even if my friends say it makes me look like a "WoW nerd").

Not the greatest post, but a quick rundown of what's around my desk at the moment.

Postbox (beta 7)

2009-02-12T21:00:00.000-05:00

Recently, the DownloadSquad blog made a posting about a mail app called Postbox. Its idea is to tie into social media, with the ability to pull in Tweets, Facebook status updates, and FriendFeed postings, as well as support for POP3, IMAP, and MobileMe email.

As an email client, its perfectly acceptable. To be blunt, it's Mozilla Thunderbird with a new skin. It is based on Thunderbird, so any quirks or favorite elements you had will still be there. The notable exception, though, is that extensions are unavailable. A nice addition is the ability to view GMail messages in a threaded style similar to the web interface, but this may have been recently added to Thunderbird, which I haven't used in several years. Also nice is the ability to Google search from the interface, and a listing of all the links and embedded media in the current message.

The social media aspect, however, is terrible. You can make updates, but not receive them. Making updates is done through an arcane (and oddly-named) "Promote" dropdown button. For other features, like To-Do tasks, there is no interface for easy viewing. To-Dos can be created from emails, and then pinned to the top of the email list, but there is no central store for them.

The threaded GMail messages is an awesome feature, and one I've been waiting for in a desktop client since GMail first added them. But the half-finished social networking features are so bad to be nearly worthless.

One suggestion: A split sidebar, like on the left side, added to the right. One section should be social media updates (Facebook/Twitter/FriendFeed messages), and another to-dos. Better yet, these panes could be added to the left sidebar. Such services work best at-a-glance.

Adventures in Terminal.app coding (Part I)

2009-02-11T21:00:00.001-05:00

In June of '08, I decided to get myself a MacBook. As a CS student going into my second year, and most of my assignments requiring UNIX compatibility (well, NetBSD to be totally accurate), I wanted a system that would last a while, have some pretty hot hardware, be somewhat reasonably priced, and have strong support for *NIX OS's. Granted, the MacBook isn't the cheapest laptop in the market, but for what you get, its a decent value.

One great feature is how there's an awesome terminal built right in. It runs bash by default, and has a lot of the GNU tools (and I'm a HUGE GNU screen fan) installed either by default or with the dev tools. Most important is its support for a SSH connection and X forwarding running on top of that. Previous semesters saw projects that ran entirely in console mode, or were (mostly) cross-platform Java apps, while now I'm writing GLUT apps that need a screen to display on, so I'm moving outside of simple terminal use.

My preference, so far, has been vim in an SSH login. It's easy enough to learn, and I haven't really had the time or desire to learn emacs to date. My only issue is having to jump into pico for a Makefile, since I have vim set up to use 2 spaces instead of a tab. Aside from some of the usual *NIX grumbles (specifically, constant use of the command line), this is a great experience. Running inside screen, a utility I discovered only a few months ago, has seen my productivity double or triple, and allows me to do work from anywhere for either a few minutes or a few hours. The only issue is that a wireless connection is a bit much for a SSH session, with the lag ruining the otherwise native speed of access.

As a bonus, here are my .vimrc and .screenrc files:

.vimrc:

set background=dark
syntax on
set softtabstop=2
set shiftwidth=2
set tabstop=4
set expandtab
set nowrap
set ruler
set number
set numberwidth=4
set cursorline

.screenrc:

hardstatus alwayslastline
hardstatus alwayslastline "%{+b kw}[ %H ] %{yK} (%n). %t %-=%{kk} %{gk}%c.%s %{yk}%d.%m.%Y"
startup_message off
screen -t screen1 1
screen -t screen2 2
screen -t screen3 3
screen -t screen4 4

Fresh Prince of Bug Aire

2009-01-31T23:59:00.004-05:00

A friend sent me this Craigslist Listing: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/zip/1015979135.html

And I came up with this:

iiiin east philadelphia
born 'n raised
in the lab is where i spent most of my days
chillin out relaxin and maxin all cool
all sellin some grubs outside of the school

when a couple of larvae
they were up to no good
started makin trouble in my chemical hood
i got in one little booboo
and my mommy got scared

she said you're moving with your aunt and uncle to bel air

Inaugural Thoughts

2009-01-20T16:34:00.000-05:00

Possibly the worst part of seeing what is widely considered a notable event is that everyone has a reaction. After some gestation and discussion, I think that now-President Obama needs to do something to define himself.
President Obama's campaign was run on the concept of "Yes We Can!" an uplifting and empowering motto. However, just spewing this motto forth like the queen of a hundred worker bees accomplishes little. Obama needs to define himself in a few ways in order to be an effective commander-in-cheif.

Organizer - The President has far too many responsibilities to do everything himself. He must choose wisely and delegate carefully, something that he has not yet done properly. Hillary Clinton is on the surface an experienced choice for Secretary of State, but has had very little real experience in both sculpting policy and overseeing negotiations in her positions as First Lady and Senator.
Pound-wise and Penny-foolish - The maxim states that one must not be "penny-wise and pound-foolish," and Obama must be the opposite of that maxim. He must be willing to not only cut wasteful projects, but also start new projects that create jobs and replace aging, crumbling infrastructure. The 2007 bridge collapse in Minnesota and the 2003 blackout on the East Coast show that this country's infrastructure, most of which was built between 1930 and 1960, is in dire need of repair. As with FDR's "New Deal" during the Great Depression, funding must be directed toward replacing this infrastructure to keep citizens safe and bring America into the 21st Century properly. As an added bonus, such government spending can help stimulate the economy by providing jobs for the working classes, rather than simple handouts.
Wise on Technology - Although Obama seemed to understand technology better than any other candidate, and in fact used technology far more and to far greater effect than any other candidate, his opinion concerning important points like Net Neutrality and Telecom Immunity are either lacking or pro-business. Connectivity, in its many forms, is no longer a luxury but should be an expected utility in the 21st Century, much like water and electricity. The United States has some of the highest broadband rates in the world, limited availability, and limited speed. Beyond this, many Internet Providers choose to limit what customers may do on general-access accounts, limiting features such as the ability to host servers to higher-end, and more expensive, business accounts. The Internet is a great democraticizing force since it is a two-way medium; limiting this bidirectional connectivity to those who pay is no better than existing radio, print, and television connectivity.

These are just three things that have been bugging me. Now let's see Obama get to work fixing these things.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman

2009-01-17T03:03:00.002-05:00

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is little more than what its name presents it as: A Low Culture Manifesto. SD&CP constantly challenges the reader to completely re-evaluate how they look at modern culture, since modern culture is usually consumed and discarded with out much of a second glance. Although it is an entertaining read, Klosterman never comes to a final crescendo, and so on completion there is an empty feeling created by a sense of unfulfilled greater importance or meaning.

View all my reviews.

Looking up...

2008-11-11T00:53:00.001-05:00

I really don't post on this blog as often as I should. Life is looking up, and things seem to be falling into alignment. Huzzah.

LyX: LaTeX made easy

2008-09-22T10:46:00.003-04:00

I have to admit, that when it comes down to it, I'm pretty lazy. I hate having to do work that I don't really need to do, and will take the easy way out. Unfortunately, that doesn't quite merge with LaTeX (for the uninformed, that's pronounced "Lay-Tech," not like the plastic-y stuff).
One day I stumbled upon a very nice application that merges the lazy approach of a typical word processor with the good-looking output of a LaTeX document: LyX (which is pronounced "licks"). Its a classic example of a program that does one thing and does it great.

Main window (and this blog post!)

That said, it isn't perfect. Some common actions require some pretty arcane key shortcuts (Command-M puts you into math mode). Math mode still uses standard LaTeX "\" macros, so new users of LyX should have such a document nearby (I'll post a few at a later time). The given interface for some of the common symbols is pretty awful, as well. Just take a peek:

Ugly toolbars

Also, it looks like it uses the GTK+ toolkit, which is pretty renowned for giving pretty poor results across all platforms. It also rigidly enforces structured document formatting, as the back-end processor will handle everything. Then again, this last point is one of the appeals of LaTeX.

That said, even with these issues, LyX is a great entry point for technical papers. I've been using it for all my notes this semester, and it has performed admirably. It provides a good range of export options, from plain-text to PDF, that make distributing/sharing documents easier. "Easier," not easy, since collaboration is impossible without everyone using LyX, as its save files are plain-text and very similar to TeX source files. It also has some pretty awesome-looking output:

LaTeX output

LyX, ultimately, is a great program for math and science documents, but enforces too many restrictions for casual users.

Oof

2008-09-02T12:29:00.000-04:00

Oof. Yet again, I've waited too long to add a new post. I am writing one, and it is coming along quite nicely.

I lied. I'm writing two. One on LyX, an excellent LaTeX based word processor, and another on the dorm room workspace and some changes I've made (no new materials!).

It's gotten worse...

2008-08-15T10:34:00.001-04:00

...China may have cheated at gymnastics by using underage competitors.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/gymnastics/news/story?id=3534544

China's Opening Ceremony Gaffes

2008-08-12T13:31:00.000-04:00

Faked singer: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7556058.stm
Faked footsteps: http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/11/1541249
BSoD: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/08/12/olympics_experienced_blue_screen_of_death.html

More to come, with some commentary later.

Website Redesigns

2008-07-26T14:44:00.001-04:00

Facebook and Google recently announced major overhauls of their interactive homepages, and Google's page comes out with the better result.

Facebook's new site is available to the general public at http://www.new.facebook.com/, and once you visit the link the entire site overhaul is available, along with a link to revert back to the previous version of the site. The redesign doesn't add much in terms of raw features, but I did notice a "Comment" link available for a status change. Facebook Chat is still integrated, and continues to maintain any current chats between tabs and while navigating around the site. Unfortunately, my sidebar Facebook Chat bookmark broke, and I haven't yet found a way to fix it.

While the reorganization is nice, and the AJAX-ification makes life easier for navigating the site. Applications, which quickly crowded profiles and made navigation messy, are now on their own "tab" of the profile page, and the rarely used "About Me" information also receives its own tab. While the re-organization is nice, I did have a few issues switching between tabs.

The worst, though, is that there is a large amount of wasted space on larger monitors. With the new wider layout, Facbeook is no longer limited to the center of the screen, but the wider layout doesn't contract as the window is narrowed. As a result, there's a gap in the middle that makes the site unweildy.

Google's interactive homepage, iGoogle, was also throughly redone, and now features a more intelligent integration of Google's technologies. Chat is available both in a tab and in a bar along the bottom, so quick conversations are always at hand. Also, GTalk is still accessible from Google's own desktop client and third party clients, so the chat interface is redundant if you choose to make it so. The tabs also now list all their content, and when the title is clicked on in the left navigation bar, it brings up the box with expanded information and filling the full screen. As an example, GMail lists only a few messages from the inbox while on the page view, but when in fullscreen view the standard GMail is available inside of iGoogle. RSS feeds come up in a view very similar to Google Reader, and the Weather view goes on steroids.

iGoogle is a great update, but its not fully available to the public, and still has a few issues. Some RSS feeds don't come up properly (missing some links, feed titles, etc.), and sometimes are handled by the box view instead of the Google Reader view when in full page view. Also, a few issues exist when moving boxes between columns.

The new Facebook and the new iGoogle are both welcome redesigns, but neither is quite ready for prime time. iGoogle has some bigger issues, but is still in a closed beta (a signup is required, and is really designed for developers). Also, its the better redesign. Facebook is in open beta, and only has a few niggling issues until everything is ready for public release.

My Home Workspace

2008-07-12T13:13:00.001-04:00

After my last post (and the significant gap between it and now) on a home dorm room workspace, I thought a good start would be to evaulate my home workspace.

For starters, here's my (admittedly messy) desk at home.

To be honest, it's not even a very good picture. I have a nice, high-back desk chair, a widescreen LCD at hte center of my desk, a full keyboard, and my Mac to the right, on top of my unused printer. Out of frame to the left is my tower desktop, for when I need Windows or blow off some steam (and take out some Team Fortress 2 punks). The desk itself is rather small, and the room is in pretty good shape beyond the desk area.

I'm comfortable with this style and layout, although it is a little cramped, but it provides a good basis for a dorm room layout because it is compact and because I can't make any permanent changes without angering my parents during my summers at home.

Keeping the tower to the left of the desk keeps it both out of the way and easily accessible. As a bonus, its flat top is a nice place to keep blank CDs, headphones, and the power adapter for the Mac. Here's a photo:

Tower, with some stuff on top of it.

The laptop can't stay where it is. I don't use the printer over the summer, but for school I'll be generating a decent amount of paper with all the fun papers and source code I'll be writing.

The plastic drawer and cabinet come through once again. I don't know where I'd be without those two bits of storage. They're dirt cheap, reasonably durable, and easy to find. Staples has a good collection of plastic storage boxes here, in their online store.

So there's my starting point. Next I'll start to finalize a plan, followed by a suggested parts list.

The Ideal Dorm Room Workspace

2008-07-02T21:29:00.000-04:00

When it comes to getting organized and taking control of the myriad day-to-day tasks everyone has to deal with, Lifehacker is one of the best resources around. Recently, this blog ran an article on completely revamping your workspace, starting with clearing everything out, building/repurposing furniture, getting everything organized, and finally installing the finishing touches.

Reading over this article kicked my mind into gear. As a student, I face a number of challenges that make setting up an ideal workspace even harder.

No changes can be permanent. Since it's just a dorm room, I'll need to clear out come the end of the year.
I can't cause any damage. Anything that involves an irreversible change is considered damage. So bolting something to the side of my desk is out, because there's no way to repair the screw hole.
Speaking of desk, I can't choose most of my own furniture. My bed, desk, and dresser are all chosen for me by the school, and are the same as everyone else's. I can, however, bring my own desk chair.

With these challenges in mind, I can start planning everything out and creating a good workspace.

Here's a few of my initial ideas:

I have two computers, a desktop and a laptop. The desktop requires an external keyboard & mouse, but something like a door-mounted letter tray attached with stick-on hooks would work as a place to keep them off my desk.
Depending on the shelving that's put over my desk, and any rotation software on the laptop, I can velcro the laptop to the underside of the shelving and save desk space.

This is just an introduction. I hope to add ideas, and maybe remix old ones, for the rest of the summer.

Dyson Vacuums vs. *NIX Operating Systems

2008-06-29T00:13:00.002-04:00

After seeing a commercial for a Dyson-brand vacuum cleaner, my mind was kicked into gear as to why the uptake in *NIX operating systems on the desktop (specifically, all flavors of Linux and Apple's OS X) has been so slow when compared to Microsoft Windows.

In some ways, *NIX currently stands as the Dyson vacuums of the computer world. Currently, the only mainstream desktop *NIX system is Mac OS X. Apple only sells OS X bundled with a new PC, effectively making the hardware a giant dongle key for an otherwise awesome operating system. Linux is another great *NIX system, but fails at the mainstream because it simply requires too much effort for the average computer user, and this failure is its higher cost.

I feel the need to pause and define what I mean as the average computer user. This is the person who gets their technology news from mainstream media. This is the person who doesn't realize that Internet Explorer is just a web browser, or even what a web browser is. It's just “the Internet” to them. This is the person who thinks that if they get a Mac, the computer will be near-worthless. This is the person who, rather than upgrading hardware or software, just goes out and buys a whole new computer.

With the idea of the average computer user defined, I can continue. Since Windows has a critical mass of both software and hardware support, it stands as a de facto standard, but not in the standards-compliant sense. It is the most easily available thing, and therefore many will opt to purchase it, despite its flaws. *NIX systems fix these flaws, but do so in a way that leaves it incompatible with existing Windows software. This ultimately means that the user must decide between a system with a higher cost and less compatibility and a system with high compatibility and low cost.

This is where the parallel to Dyson comes in. Dyson, especially the new "Ball" model, fixes perceived design flaws in existing vacuum cleaners. However, you're then stuck in a mess where the only manufacturer of equipment for the vacuum is Dyson, and the only way you can be serviced is via Dyson. Additionally, the vacuum is more expensive than other manufacturers' models.

Just like with computers, the design flaws get fixed, but only with a higher cost. For *NIX to get greater traction on the desktop, the cost has to be alleviated.

One interesting aside I'd like to address in a future blog post is the challenges Microsoft faces in getting away from their previous errors. Another is that I've written this blog post on a new MacBook system, and I'm impressed with the features found in the basic OS X text editor, which include fonts, decent page layout, spell checking, and even kerning.

Goodreads

2008-06-23T18:24:00.004-04:00

I've been reading more frequently lately due to the 2 1/2 or so hours I have commuting, so I decided to check out Goodreads to get ideas for books to read. Seems like it's pretty good stuff so far. I've written one review, for A Scanner Darkly, the last book I finished. I'm currently at the beginning of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Here's my review: A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars "A Scanner Darkly" is a mind-bending alarmist tale about America in the 1960s. The story is vaguely auto-biographical, based loosely off Philip K. Dick's own experiences in the turbulent decade. The story documents the life of Bob Arctor, an undercover narcotics agent in the future-1990s. At work, Arctor responds to "Hank" as "Fred," an endlessly shifting coagulation of thousands of people. Through his drug use with housemates Jim Barris and Ernie Luckman, he rapidly devolves into just a borderline junkie. Fred, however, is tasked with monitoring the house, as the police believe that it is at the center of a drug-running operation. Specifically, Fred must focus on Arctor and his relationship with Donna Hawthorne, who is Arctor's main provider of Substance D, nicknamed "Substance Death" or "Slow Death." While in the course of monitoring Arctor, Fred becomes disjointed through heavy use of S.D., and is eventually removed from the case. Donna steps out of her role as "Hank" to bring Arctor/Fred to a New Path clinic, where he is to receive treatment for his fractured mind. At the very close of the book, however, Fred/Arctor discovers a series of small blue flowers, and his instincts kick in to deliver one of these flowers to Donna at the next yearly visit. The flowers are the source of Substance D, and New Path is the creator of the horrid drug they claim to rehabilitate from. The twists at the end create a unique literary view, especially as the "crosstalk" between Arctor/Fred takes stronger and stronger hold. In mid-sentence, German and Latin quotations will appear suddenly in the text, and the total confusion of character as Arctor/Fred rapidly degenerates, and finally is renamed "Bruce" by New Path, puts the reader in the position of having to struggle along with Arctor/Fred as to who he really is. As complex as the book is, it is not Dick's most complicated work. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a far more complex novel, and explores less the human psyche and more the very definition of humanity and empathy. View all my reviews.

The Fratellis in Concert

2008-06-16T23:05:00.002-04:00

Ahh, another concert. First one I've been to since December, when I caught Cake at Terminal 5. As always, going to a show and seeing the band live on stage, with the energy of the crowd washing over you, is a completely different experience than simply listening to music on your own.

The opener, Airborne Toxic Event, were great too. Their sound wasn't too far-off from the typical trendy indie-rock group, but they just seemed on when they played.

Have some pictures up on PicasaWeb, but some interesting ones are below.

Classes are over

2008-05-03T18:58:00.002-04:00

Classes are over, and finals have begun. No real free time to speak of. Went into NYC for some stuff yesterday morning, worked all afternoon, and went out for a bit at night, and came back and crashed at about 11pm. Early night, for a college student.

As far as the exams go, nothing really out of the ordinary. Two were in class, and I think I did well on both. My final Data Structures project, MrLiquor, was completed and submitted Thursday for a Friday noon deadline. Paper for Computers in Society (7pg) due Tuesday, 11:59p, and I'm working at a pace of 2-a-day. My last two finals are normal finals, Thursday and Friday, in the afternoon sessions. I have been and will be going at a decent page (1 chapter/day) to make sure I'm all prepped and happy by the time the finals start.

I've already decided I won't be going crazy tonight (thanks, pinkeye!), but I've gone beyond that and decided to sequester myself in either my room or the library until Friday night so I can prep like mad. I don't want any distractions, but I do want A's and B's (although at this point I'd take a C in Probability and Statistics, those tests are grueling). Plus, everyone will be free Friday, and that's always better for relaxing. Free from classes, that is ;)

My Campus Done Gone Nuts

2008-04-25T12:47:00.002-04:00

Well, this week has definitely been interesting. I posted 3 alerts from Wednesday's arson incident, since they're all public.

That said, it's not over yet. A fourth unposted alert was sent Thursday morning as an "all clear," and then earlier today (Friday) there was a second incident and now all the freshmen are in the Schaeffer Arena getting interrogated. Should be fun.

Some lucky ones get out of finals today. Oh, well. Sucks for them if they can't make it up.

And now that my study break is over, time to run and take a final. Science Fiction. Fun.

Stevens Arson #2

2008-04-24T00:41:00.003-04:00

To: Stevens Community
From: Maureen Weatherall

Stevens Campus Police in cooperation with the Hoboken Police Department, Hudson County Sheriff's Office and the NJ State Police, as well as other jurisdictions, has activated our campus emergency plan.

As a precaution, all access to Residence Halls is being monitored by Stevens personnel. Students will only be allowed into their own Residence Hall after showing ID. There may also be bag searches prior to entry. Please cooperate in helping us maintain the safety of our community.

As an additional precaution, canine units are canvassing the Residence Halls.

All visitors to campus are being required to show ID prior to entering the grounds.

These safety procedures will be in effect until further notice. We will be following the directions of law enforcement experts and will issue a further update early this evening.

Again, please call Dean Ken Nilsen if you have any information about this incident. His number is [redacted].

We are fortunate to have an outstanding campus Police Department and strong cooperation and support from Hoboken, Hudson County and the State of New Jersey. Our primary concern is the safety of every member of our community. We are taking and will continue to take every appropriate action. We thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Stevens Arson #3

2008-04-24T00:41:00.002-04:00

To: Stevens Community
From: Maureen Weatherall

As of 6:00 pm on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, all on campus residence halls have been swept and secured. We are continuing the security measures currently in place through out the night. Stevens personnel or a Hoboken police officer will be stationed at each residence hall entry.

Students must have campus ID. Only the residents of each dormitory will be allowed into their building. Visitors are not permitted into the residence halls at this time.

We are now able to provide more information regarding the note left this morning in Davis Hall. The note specified the April 23rd/April 24th overnight period. If there are residents of Davis that are uncomfortable sleeping in their building, Jacobus and Canavan Arena will be open. Please bring your own blankets and pillows.

If observe any suspicious behavior, please call the Center Desk 24hrs a day at (201) 216-5105. Please call Dean Ken Nilsen if you have any information about this incident. His number is (201)745-8216.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and support.

Stevens Arson #1

2008-04-24T00:40:00.000-04:00

To: Stevens Community

From: Maureen Weatherall

Date: April 23, 2008

On Tuesday, April 22, 2008, there was a case of arson on the fourth floor of Davis Hall, the Hoboken Fire Department responded and there were no injuries or serious damage. An arson investigation is underway. In addition, a threatening note was found in the fourth floor bathroom on Wednesday, April 23rd at approximately 8:30 a.m.

Effective immediately campus police officers will be posted at the main entry way of Davis Hall and all bags will be checked. The side doors will be closed for entry. Only Davis residents with valid IDs will be permitted in the building.

All members of the campus community are asked to have their Stevens ID available on their person.

Any members of the Stevens community with information about this incident are encouraged to contact Dean Ken Nilsen, 201-745-8216.

An email update will be distributed by 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, April 23, 2008. Please contact Maureen Weatherall, 201-216-5190 with any questions about this advisory.

2008-04-23T02:24:00.000-04:00

CAM Club Updates

2008-04-23T02:10:00.001-04:00

Now that I'm Vice President of the Climbing and Mountaineering Club officially (I think), I'm trying to get a trip together for the reading day, April 30^th, 2008, to The Gravity Vault in Upper Saddle River. If we can't get it together to go to a rock gym, then the Stevens rock gym will have to do in a pinch.

With finals making everyone go absolutely nuts, this should be a nice respite for those who can go. Even better, some people that were interested but couldn't go before might be able to make it for this trip.

Op-Ed Vent Coming

2008-04-23T01:55:00.001-04:00

For "The Stute" this week I just had to rant about the Stevens student body. I'm tired of seeing people shortchange themselves and other students when they cheat and duck their way through school getting grades instead of learning.

When the online edition goes up over the weekend, I'm going to post the full Op-Ed.

Test Post, and other stuff

2008-04-15T18:17:00.001-04:00

Just testing to see if I can post stuff with MS Word 2007 in Blogger, and I guess I can if this can be read.

My NCAA pick was… off. Still, all four #1 teams made it to the final four, so that was interesting to watch.

School is getting crazy, Stute is getting crazy, and MAC is getting crazy.

NCAA Tournament

2008-03-21T10:54:00.001-04:00

Wisconsin.

The Gravity Vault

2008-02-28T19:08:00.000-05:00

Rock climbing is tons of fun.
Go ask anyone.

Cake

2007-12-14T15:10:00.000-05:00

Went to see Cake last night on the "Unlimited Sunshine Tour."

Here's a sample off YouTube of "Stickshifts and Safetybelts:"

and here's "The Distance," which they closed with:

Text Messaging

2007-11-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

Something has really bothered me recently, and that's about how the connected world leads us to be unconnected.

As people, we only have a limited attention span. We can deal with only a limited number of elements, but with the Internet, and especially cell phones, we are constantly connected to everything. Thus, we can't devote full attention to the 'here and now.'

This came to my attention after going out with a few friends. One was so focussed on her cell phone, specifically on texting someone who wasn't even there, that she was not able to enjoy herself, and instead became overly absorbed in something else.

While you can argue that this might be a good thing, or it might be important, it is definitely rude and most certainly a questionable action.

Leave the world to be, and focus on what presents difficulty or opportunity to you in the present.

Running the Gauntlet

2007-11-01T12:26:00.000-04:00

I should be writing more. And I will be, with a paper to correct and a paper to write for next Wednesday. But I've been drained, and now I'm stuck between two exams, one incredibly difficult and one that should be incredibly easy.

Skip a meeting

2007-10-30T01:59:00.000-04:00

It's okay to skip a meeting when skipping for higher purposes, especially when the meeting releases minutes. However, when there are no minutes it causes confusion and disarray.

Five and one-half hours. The amount of time I spent in reviews with little to no break time today. Working with such a schedule is impossible and leaves me drained and without energy for the coming day.

Unmanageable

2007-10-29T12:44:00.000-04:00

Today in the course of two hours my workload increased exponentially. I went from one exam and one homework to two exams, three homeworks, and a paper.

Today I'll be skipping a meeting for a pair of reviews. That should be a fair exchange.

The Weekend

2007-10-28T14:21:00.001-04:00

Things went well for a weekend. It's Sunday afternoon, and like any Sunday afternoon I got up too late to do anything with my day. Today, that's perfectly fine because I really need to work on my Discrete Math, before that comes up and kills me.

Only four more days to that test.

Sleep

2007-10-25T13:01:00.000-04:00

For the past week or so now, it's been incredibly difficult for me to sleep. It's not to the point of clinical insomnia, and I have been able to get some amount of sleep, but nevertheless it is still a huge problem for me.

It started last Thursday when the temperature was 75F, and since any air conditioning was turned off the previous Friday, the feeling indoors was worse than 75F. It reached an extreme on Tuesday, when I was unable to sleep at all. Other nights had seen me sleeping at 5:30AM, 6:45AM, and even 7:30AM.

I have no idea what's making me stay awake, but I need to figure it out. And quickly.

I find it hard

2007-10-25T00:15:00.001-04:00

I find it hard to put my thoughts and feelings into words lately.

An Opening

2007-10-24T21:22:00.000-04:00

Henry Rollins: What's your latest obsession?
Hank Moody: Just the fact that people seem to be getting dumber and dumber. You know, I mean we have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned into basically four figure wank machines. The internet was supposed to set us free, democratize us, but all it's really given us is Howard Dean's aborted candidacy and 24 hour a day access to kiddie porn. People...they don't write anymore - they blog. Instead of talking, they text, no punctuation, no grammar: LOL this and LMFAO that. You know, it just seems to me it's just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people in a proto-language that resembles more what cavemen used to speak than the King's English.
Henry Rollins: Yet you're part of the problem, I mean you're out there blogging with the best of them.
Hank Moody: Hence my self-loathing.

I'd say that's a good start.