Y. Karp? Why Not!

Despite an almost overwhelming desire to buy one of these shiny new geeky toys, I don't think I am going to get one. The following is a conversation I had with myself today. I want a tablet computer. But they are too expensive. But you can read books on them. Buy a novel. But tablets are the future of computing. If they are the future of computing, wait until the future! But why wait? They are always coming out with new models, so that means I'll never get one. Although, in terms of bang-for-buck, you don't really get very much. But then, what do I use the home computer for, anyway - email, internet, Facebook, Twitter, internet banking and a few games - so why not? I'll tell you why not: For the same price or less you can get a netbook or low-powered notebook that will last longer, possibly even play optical media, has a better selection of ports, and supports your EWI USB electronic saxophone. Yeah, but I don't like using email, Facebook and Twitter on ...

When attempting to describe the plot of The Professor and the Madman, I find myself undecided as to where to begin. The cover of the book describes it as a novel about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. That is true, in a way. Simon Winchester, the author, spends much time on detailing the history of dictionaries and the difficulties in collating them - a far more interesting topic than one would imagine. However, the making of the OED, while an intrinsic aspect of the book, is not its focus. Most prominent in the novel is the story of the the Madman, an American Civil-War doctor who went mad, supposedly as a result of the horrors he witnessed during the war. Despite his incarceration in an assylum, the Madman becomes one of the most important contributors to the creation of the OED. The Professor, a less featured character, but by no means a lesser character, is the editor of the OED who initially doesn't realize that his most important contributor is a long-standing r...

I learned in my Technical Writing course that the words “may”, “should”, “can” and “will” are to be avoided at all costs in a requirements document, unless they are in a note or a special section called “Recommendations” or something similar. However, I had a customer who insisted that this is wrong because he has been using these [forbidden] words in documentation for eternity “and it is all over the Internet”. I asked him how the reader is supposed to know whether it is a requirement, a recommendation, or an option. His answer: At the beginning of the doc he has a table defining “shall”, “should”, and “may” (he doesn’t use “will” or “can”.) So I did a bit of Internet research and found this quote from the IEEE style manual (quoted here: http://www.ieee802.org/20/email_req/msg00102.html ) The word shall is used to indicate mandatory requirements strictly to be followed in order to conform to the standard and from which no deviation is permitted (shall equals is required ...

According to this eHow article entitled "How to Wear Gaudy Jewelry": Bright green baubles, earrings that look like rocket ships and a bracelet bigger and louder than Texas all qualify as gaudy jewelry. Gaudy jewelry is flamboyant, obnoxious and a heck of a lot of fun. Just because the jewelry is gaudy doesn’t mean you can’t wear it with flair. Some stylish tips will help you wear gaudy jewelry better than those chicks on the fashion pages. Are you kidding me? There is nothing you can do to wear rocket ship earrings stylishly. Nothing. Well, the article disagrees with me and goes on to mention five ways to wear gaudy jewelry and look good: Be selective: That's right. The first rule of wearing over-the-top fashion accessories (like big green baubles) is to be "selective". Stay minimal: Um...how much flamboyant and obnoxious jewelry is too much? Keep the rest of the outfit simple: Like anyone is going to notice that, in addition to yellow banana earrings,...

Let me just say this: I don't know much about this man as a person. I haven't done research into either his private or public lives. I don't know what his politics are and I don't know if he really is a nice guy, or if he just presents well, but I am in awe of Sir Richard Branson  who seems to look at the current state of technology and ask, "How can I take this to the next level?" He thinks big. Virgin Galactic is a perfect example. It is true that SpaceshipOne was not Branson's idea, and the original technology was not developed by Virgin (it was  Burt Rutan's  design). However, it took a person as flamboyant and visionary as Richard Branson to recognize the potential. He became one of the driving forces behind making regular, safe space flight into a reality with Virgin Galactic. True, it costs $200,000 for a space ticket  and the spacecraft are still being tested, but the price will come down (although possibly not in my lifetime!) and Virgin Ga...

It has been quite some time since my last blog post, mostly due to other extra-curricular projects I have going at the moment. It is difficult to find time to write blog posts when family commitments, work, writing a novel for pre-teens, practicing my Akai EWI and resuming an exercise routine I had laid fallow for about half a year, all seem to get in the way. Here's an interesting link to a website that describes how 25 famous people, such as Stephen King, Charles Darwin and Winston Churchill scheduled their day. The thing that strikes me about most of the daily routines described is that these people behaved as if the world revolved around them. Most of them even had a scheduled socializing hour - those friends who could not abide by it be damned! I find that one of the most important skills in my job as a Technical Writer is to manage my time properly. On any given day I could find myself working on anything from proofing 300 page hardware specifications through to creatin...

The joke goes that Bill Gates was once caught playing Windows Solitaire during work hours. When faced with raised eyebrows, Bill said, "What? Someone has to test it!" I was in a meeting the other day where four people sat around the table to discuss the implementation of a particular technology into a consumer device. The way the technology was to be implemented had a direct effect on the user experience, so it was important to get it right. It turns out that two of the four people have never actually used the device and one of the four has used it once or twice before. Only one person in the room regularly uses the technology that he develops. "Yes," he repeated, "it might seem logical from a development point of view, but that's not how a typical user would use it. So it would be a bad idea to implement it like that!" I could see the frustration building in his face. I was stunned. How is it possible to make important decisions about user exp...