Technology

I’ve been learning some Octave recently and have refreshing my Python on my summer to-do list for a course I’ll be teaching in the fall, plus I’ve been running into a ton of articles about R (particularly for data visualization) that are making me think I ought to give it a look as well. So this comparison of the three from Slashdot was a nice overview from one person’s experience of which tool to turn to when: R, Octave, and Python: Which Suits Your Analysis Needs?. The comments (as always) offer some interesting input as well, including suggestions for other … Continue reading Choosing an Analysis Tool

An interesting but common discussion over on Slashdot of how to get started working on open source projects, particularly if you’re fairly novice, evolved into some even more interesting discussion of the merits of getting started by helping with documentation, what that even means, and some firsthand accounts of people’s problems with trying to get a foot in by volunteering to do documentation. Some chat about the same issue but with UI design as well. A pretty good read for students who want to build up more of a portfolio than just their coursework but want some practical advice on … Continue reading Conversation on Non-Coding Contributions to Open Source

My first reaction is that I need one of these wristbands that lets me control the temperature as I walk around a building. Oh yeah, and you can do other gesture controls with it too, but mostly it lets you not be freezing cold all the time. Except, it requires working in a smart building, not to mention a building with a more functional HVAC than I currently have. I am then struck by the fact that this sounds great until hit with the reality that different people have radically different temperature comfort zones. As the only person in the … Continue reading Personal Thermostats

There’s been discussion about the changes to Google Reader (some of which was – wow, people are still using Google Reader…) and how it was going to have its social sharing features moved to Google+. I honestly didn’t have a strong opinion, because I have never used the social features of Google Reader and so long as I would still be able to keep my RSS feeds organized. In fact, I was fairly puzzled that Google+ and Google Reader played so poorly with each other so figured the move would be positive. However, now I am seeing comments about how … Continue reading Google Reader design frustration

I absolutely love these hacking tricks where you snoop passwords from information leakage – this one from Georgia Tech using a smartphone’s accelerometer is an awesome addition. Short version: if your smartphone has malicious software on it, and you put it on the same desk as your keyboard, the phone can deduce what you’re typing from the vibrations. Yes, even if you don’t type as vigorously as I do (though only at close range – no need to panic). The press release notes that using the accelerometer is an improvement over using the microphone because, even though it is less … Continue reading Smartphones, Statistics and Spying