As part of my Master’s program, I was able to participate on a project to create a CubeSat. A small, 10x10x30cm satellite, which in this case has a science instrument that measures energetic particles from the Sun. Throughout the project, my involvement was centered around the command and data handling subsystem., and I served various …
Read More »Git Strategies 0
It’s been a while since the last post… I came across this after a recent discussion with a new coworker and it’s one of the better Git strategies I’ve seen, and one we’re using in practice with only a few variations that fit this organization better. It still surprises me how often people struggle to …
Read More »Kinect + WebSockets + OpenCV + WebGL + GLSL = Wicked Fun 0
I recently completed a personal project the idea for which was sparked after seeing George MacKerron’s blog post here Starting from his code base, I reswizzled some things (got rid of CoffeeScript for example) and added several new bits and pieces. Specifically, I added streaming of the RGB/Video camera data and a simple 3D billboard …
Read More »Software Engineering Interviews 0
I’ve been speaking with a number of friends regarding this topic lately, and felt like sharing my opinion on the matter. A friend pointed me to Steve Yegge’s phone screen post and I agree that it’s a great list of topics and questions to weed people out over the phone. My single biggest take away …
Read More »OpenCV + OpenGL + GLSL = fast real time video processing fun 0
I’ve been writing some image/video processing shaders this week, and have some nifty post-processing effects in place that take the input from a live webcam and dynamically process the video stream and overlay the effect in real time. So far, I’ve implemented 28 different shader based filters ranging from black and white line drawing to …
Read More »iOS Framework Abstractions 0
I recently had the chance to throw together a small/simple iOS application using some of the newer frameworks I hadn’t used before. Specifically, the gesture recognizer and GLKit frameworks. I created a simple 3D Cube using GLKit and added gesture support, texturing, lighting, and dynamically changeable textures, just to get a feel for the API. …
Read More »Interesting use of Computer Vision Algorithms 0
I recently came across an application called Sikuli, and upon digging in to learn more was very interested to learn that it accomplishes its goals through computer vision algorithms in part. CV has some amazing applications, but this is one of the more practical and applicable to my daily life. Essentially, Sikuli is an automation …
Read More »Commercial ZFS on OS X 0
I’ve been keeping a close eye on the progress of the ZEVO product from ten’s complement, eagerly awaiting its official release. Well, that finally took place recently, and I picked up the only version they’re currently shipping, the silver edition. It’s a great product, but the silver edition isn’t terribly useful for me. My current …
Read More »Android ICS let down 0
My ASUS eee pad Transformer Prime finally arrived, and wow, am I ever disappointed. Not in the hardware mind you, the device itself is absolutely gorgeous. My disappointment is in Android. Prior to the TFP, the only Android device I’ve owned is my Kindle Fire. Granted, I’ve played with plenty of my friend’s Android devices, …
Read More »ASUS eee pad Transformer Prime 0
Seeing as I seem to perpetually be evolving my gear, I figured I’d give this tablet a go as my primary machine for a while. Unfortunately, they’re so hard to come by that only my keyboard dock has managed to arrive so far, but once the tablet itself actually shows up and I’ve had a …
Read More »Siri as a service 0
An earlier post commenting on the iPhone 4S and Siri mentioned the fact that most of the heavy lifting of the Siri feature is done on the server side. Well, as a result of that fact, things like this are possible It’s a nice job of turning Siri into a service. I grabbed the code …
Read More »Fire it up, Kindle that is… 0
My Kindle Fire arrived yesterday afternoon, and so far, it’s exactly what I was hoping for. Why did I sell my iPad 2 ? I sold my iPad 2 because: it was too big, the screen resolution is crappy, and I didn’t and wouldn’t use it to create content of any kind, ever. After trying …
Read More »iPhone 4S, and promising future for Siri 0
My iPhone4 went through quite the sequence of unfortunate events prompting an upgrade to a 4S, which I wasn’t originally planning on doing… My Apple devices have rarely had any concerns of loss or damage at my hands, until the ip4 that is. The original 4 went with me to, and helped me navigate Moscow …
Read More »Notational Velocity… kicks ass! 0
I’ve been using my own auto-hide drawer note thingies for years, and while they never evolved to what I’d envisioned, I never came across something that worked better for me. Until now. I recently came across Notational Velocity, and ever since it has displaced my own jpeekaboo app Syncs via DropBox, keyboard driven, brilliant! I …
Read More »software creativity vs. escaping poverty = similar psychologies ? 0
I read this article today, and saw similarities between the psychology described with that of the creative aspects in software development. Specifically, that in relation to common practices at a wide range of companies that enforce specific technologies and structure architectural review around the “how” instead of the “what, and why it’s important”, these practices …
Read More »bit.ly and 1.usa.gov, thanks bit.ly! 0
Wow. Just… Wow. Very rarely do companies surprise me in good ways anymore, but bit.ly surprised me in an amazing and positive way this week that I felt compelled to share. I recently read that bit.ly had started shortening .gov domains to 1.usa.gov/foo, and I just happened to be in the middle of attempting to …
Read More »Joli OS/Cloud => buh bye family sys admin duties 0
If you’re tired of administering a family members Windows PC, or just happen to have an old computer lying around that you’d like to do something with, JoliOS is definitely worth checking out JoliCloud In terms of building a low-maintenance-required computer for anyone, including kids or the elderly, Joli OS works a treat. As you …
Read More »JavaScript RIA frameworks. Building a GUI for the web… 0
Last fall for the annual AGU (American Geophysical Union) conference, myself and my NOAA and Russian Academy of Science (RAS) colleagues put together a web UI to show what was possible using some of our data and web services. The culmination of that effort was the Auroral Resources Toolkit (ART) The RAS folks focused on …
Read More »CubeSat nano-satellite embedded software fun 0
It’s been a while since my last post… The reason for the absence is that I’m nearing completion of my Computer Science Master’s degree, and have been buried by work between my full time job and a project I’m working on for my degree. This project is in collaboration with a number of other students …
Read More »limera1n + Cydia, get more from your iOS device. 0
It’s been quite some time since I mentioned or discussed iOS related jailbreaking. The relatively recent release of limera1n and availability of some truly useful applications on Cydia compelled me to say a few words. Cydia, for those who don’t know, is essentially an unofficial App store that you get access to by jailbreaking your …
Read More »Magic Trackpad ? Indeed… 0
One of my earlier posts was about modifying an MBP trackpad for use on the desktop, and despite going to all the trouble of creating a DIY trackpad from an MBP case top, I have to say I’m very pleased with Apple’s recent Magic Trackpad. Everything about the device is perfect for me. I’m using …
Read More »iPhone 4 antenna histeria 0
I’ll start by saying that I got my iP4 on 6/23, a day early. I’ve been using it exclusively since, and have terrible reception at home (nothing new for me). Even with the latest 4.0.1 I drop lots of calls, and have periods during almost every call where the call fades in and out but …
Read More »Gov 2.0 Expo/Conference 0
I attended the gov 2.0 expo last week, and thought that it was a great conference. There was a wide variety of keynote speakers, including Tim O’reilly, Tim Berners-Lee, Gary Vaynerchuck, and Linda Curetan. In addition to hearing from so many influential people, I was there to cherry pick the cloud and web service conferences …
Read More »“Perfect Software” 0
I just finished “Perfect Software” by Gerald Weinberg, the author of “The Psychology of Computer Programming”. It was a very short, but good read. It focuses mainly on software testing, and has a number of interesting perspectives on this all too often under represented area of the software industry. It’s a valuable book not only …
Read More »Death March ? Indeed… 0
I recently finished Edward Yourdon’s “Death March”, and felt like commenting on a few of the things that stuck with me. First, he supposes that most, if not all, software projects are death march projects to varying degrees. I absolutely agree, from the point of view that we still lack comprehensive enough means and processes …
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