deeply moving vocal art

Lux Aurumque

Take a look at this virtual choir. It brings 185 voices, all recorded independently at home, and then combined into a virtual choir. Each voice (available on the side of the video) is expert, each face unique; combined they are heavenly. -- Kevin Kelly

Many thanks to Kevin Kelly for sharing this discovery.

technology castes

I have been wondering if the day would come when "normal" computers are just as closed as game consoles and developers would need a sponsor, license, registered "dev kit" and all that just to write a computer app. ...or the computers aren't locked down but if you want to connect to the "safe* internet" you would have to follow the above types of restrictions and develop to the approved list of closed "safe internet" platforms.

(* "safe" meaning DRM, etc. implemented at the hardware level)

We're heading toward two classes of computers: one for people like me, and one for people like my Mom.

[...] Computers, by and large, are still designed for geeks. This is why we all buy T-shirts that say "No, I will not fix your computer". The genius of the iPad is that it cannot get things like viruses. It is a closed platform. You can't put apps on it. You can't write and distribute software for it without Apple's permission. This is why geeks hate it and normal people will love it.
-- Eric Sink

Twitter! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! (ignore the title)

Gee Dee Cee 2010 !!1!

Back from GDC! This year was extra special: while I love doing my game tools round-tables (7th year!) this is the first year I have had the honor of presenting (as part of the AI Summit). A special thanks to the AIGPG for the privilege.

Most talks are really good, a few are less good, and a select few are indescribably awesome. I have returned riding a wave of euphoria, inspiration, enthusiasm. I also carry nostalgia and longing for the company of the friends I see there.

The game industry itself has plenty of good and bad, but the people who populate it are amazing, wonderful, and thought provoking. This is the real reason I attend: to mingle with these real-world fae-folk from a magical world of imagination.

Bing 'n Wave

Mike Elgan's article on all the "attention" surrounding the demos of Microsoft Bing! and Google's Wave. There have been many articles where press/blog folks fawn over how cool they are, but I like Mike's views.

Bashing Bing, whacking Wave [Computer World]

Have you noticed that every massively popular new way to communicate in the past few years has shared the attribute of perfect linearity? First e-mail, then chat, then blogs, then Twitter -- all provided the benefit of strict, top-to-bottom, most-recent-first organization. Linearity imposes clarity on information, and puts the user's mind at ease. All attempts to "improve" these media with non-linear views have failed. People love linearity.

But this is exactly how both Microsoft and Google are trying to improve search and communication, respectively: by introducing non-linearity. In the case of Bing, Microsoft displays results in order down the middle of the page. But there are alternative results on the left as well. It's not a big deal, and Google has introduced similar non-linearity in recent years. But Google got rich and famous by providing a single search box, followed by a single ordered list of results.

(His article isn't all negative, despite the title and quotes I picked.)

So long, old friend...

We lost our dear friend, Odin, on 6 May. Odin is a Burnese Mountain Dog we "adopted" from Swissmyth (Cindy and Fred Stauch in Ann Arbor, MI).

Odin was beloved of the entire family, but the strongest bond was with my wife Theresa. Before we had the girls when I was more aggressive with my "so called career" (and had to travel or work long hours), it was Odin who was there to help the time pass and keep the lonelies at bay.

We sure do miss you buddy. You go on ahead, we'll be along shortly.

bad mojo

Whenever one party controls the executive, senate, and house... bad things happen.

the new gig

Some of you may know that I have left my friends at High Voltage Software to join a relatively new company: Priority 5 Holdings.

It was a tough choice, and it was very hard to leave all the good friends I have at the 'volt; but the time had come for me to strike off in a new direction. The Flame-Sim project is looking great; and the future looks bright for HVS.

So far I am drinking from the fire-hose of knowledge trying to learn Python, SQL, DBs (PostgreSQL), OpenSG, GIS, SQLAlchemy, scrum and TDD, etc. etc. etc. I am also adapting to working from home (technically from my sister's guest room) in Illinois since the engineering for the company is based out of Ames, IA.

A better use for $700 B

$700B for a war? In hindsight, we should have bought cars...

A Prius in Every Garage: Bob's $700 billion Christmas wish list

The biggest hand-waving statement of Bob's is to give them to the "biggest users", but that would probably be difficult to determine. I would alternatively use the vehicle it would be replacing as a guide; start with the older and larger vehicles. This would have the nice side effect of helping out more folks who couldn't otherwise afford a new vehicle and may have trouble maintaining the one they have.

what's wrong with folders with dates?

Answer: everything.

Eric Sink's version control book: (in progress)

Source Control HOWTO

the business of software

Eric Sink's The Buisness of Software.

Like Marketing for Geeks, this is a collection of articles Eric has written over the years for MSDN. In Eric's own words:
"The following articles originally appeared on the MSDN website. From October 2003 to April 2005, I wrote a column there called "The Business of Software"."

the ideal programmer

Bruce Eckel has tackled an elusive subject: The Ideal Programmer

"I think that a large part of the problem is that the concept of programming is diametrically opposed to the patience and effort necessary to produce good code. The concept is that we wave our magic paintbrush and the perfect picture paints itself in no time at all. Admittedly, we're a lot further along that path than we used to be, and I spend a fair portion of my own time pursuing tools to increase productivity. But regardless of how far along the path we get, one glaring fact remains:

Programming is about communication between humans.

I think most of us fall into the easy trap of thinking that all we have to do is successfully communicate with the machine – learn the necessary rules, no matter how arcane (and I know there is a group for whom "the more arcane, the better") – follow them, and get the end result, which is the working program (the code is only a step on the way to this)."

ruby and python compared

A common topic of discussion at work is the comparison and contrast of Ruby and Python. Python is more popular, but Ruby use is growing and it seems to be favored by the OO and patterns crowd.

Ruby and Python Compared is a nice informal analysis comparing the differences between these two popular languages.

the magic below decks

Joel Spolsky has put up yet another splendid article on the business of software: The Development Abstraction Layer

"Management's primary responsibility to create the illusion that a software company can be run by writing code, because that's what programmers do. And while it would be great to have programmers who are also great at sales, graphic design, system administration, and cooking, it's unrealistic. Like teaching a pig to sing, it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."