August 2010 – Screenshot

Start of the Semester Inspiration

“When I talk to young designers, and I talk to people who want to be designers, I tell them, “Here is the truth: The truth is, you are never going to make your dream game, so get over it. Okay? You are going to work really, really hard, you are going to go to school, you are going to spend time learning, you are going to write papers, you are going to intern someplace where you work very hard, and when you finally get your first job, it’s going to be designing levels for Hello Kitty.” And what I look … Continue reading Start of the Semester Inspiration

Merge sort is my favorite

By AMH

Making a note of this so I don’t lose it before the next time I teach Data Structures – a couple of videos not just visualizing but also translating the intermediate states of sorting algorithms into audio, it appears by playing a note corresponding to the magnitude of each data item in the collection being touched as the sort proceeds. We use visualizations like this in class already, but the audio adds a fun wrinkle.

Back to school – spend some money, make some money

By AMH

It is time for back to school sales, services and advice to start flowing, and a few things have caught my eye recently. There is always interest in saving money on textbooks, and the Lifehacker guide to saving money on textbooks isn’t a bad start, though the comments do rake them over the coals a bit for suggesting photocopying as a valid option. But you get the standard list of sources for new and used books and a wonderful reminder at the bottom to make sure that you are getting the correct book. If at all possible – remember to … Continue reading Back to school – spend some money, make some money

Heat Maps on Demand

By AMH

My attention was caught by this description of a company that provides cheap eyetracking for websites on contract. As the article says, full eyetracking studies, whether you do them yourself or contract a consultant, are quite expensive. The title suggests that they keep the costs down because they are using webcams – but I suspect the real savings aren’t the cheap hardware, it is that they have developed a bank of testers who can use their own computers at home and get paid for viewing websites and sending back the data. The way the GazeHawk system then works is that … Continue reading Heat Maps on Demand

Bolo! Review

By AMH

On a friend’s recommendation, I just read David Weber’s Bolo! this weekend, and from early in I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was reading a modern variation on Asimov’s I, Robot (the short story collection, which has little relation to the movie by the same name), and I enjoyed it almost as much. Some of the similarities are apparent on the surface. Both are a collection of stories about a particular universe, and focusing on the development of a particular technology within that universe over centuries. In both cases the technology is robotic – for Asimov, classic robots, and … Continue reading Bolo! Review