What I'm Learning

I'm going to try and start posting each day about something new I learn while studying here at college. For those of you who don't know, I'm a masters student in human-computer interaction (HCI) at Carnegie Mellon. Anyways, with all the work I have coming, it's going to be hard to justify blogging if it has no value to me (or hell, you). So from now on, either once per day or once every other day, I'm going to try and post about something I learned that I find interesting.

Today let's talk about Moore's Law. For those of you who don't know, Moore's Law basically states that the number of transistors on a chip roughly doubles every two years -- i.e., faster and cheaper processors.

Now, I've known this law for a long time, but today I had it presented to me in a way I hadn't really visualized before. What you see below is a visualization of Moore's Law. The area of a particular region represents the power of that year's PCs compared to other years past and present.





What you'll immediately notice is that the PC you are on right now (if you bought it in the last 9 months) is more powerful than all the computers you've ever owned (assuming you've owned one per region) combined. Further, imagine if I could draw small enough to go all the way back to 1984 -- the year the Macintosh was released by Apple. It really is daunting.

And so what's the point? What's this have to do with HCI? Well, if you owned, or saw, the first Mac operating system interface, and then compare that to what we have today, you might think not much has changed. Sure, we have color, cool graphical effects, and the ability to run programs and games that consume much much more cpu...yet staple elements of today's interfaces were present almost 20 years ago in some form.

So the conclusion? While the power of our computers has increased drastically, our interfaces have remained the same (mostly). We've gained color, high-resolution icons, and a few new ideas at each iteration of companies' respective OS'es -- it's estimated that 80% of features remain the same between OS revisions.

So there you have it. Consider this a small history lesson. Thanks to my professor, Jason Hong, for all these really cool insights.

Blend!

Saturday Night

Fun times.

Got together for a party with a bunch of people in the HCI program here at CMU tonight. Lots of talking and a few beers can really make a night fun. I fought with keeping my contacts in my eyes the whole night though. So if I'm ever talking to you and blinking / shifting my eyes a lot, it's because of my contacts, it's not some kind of freaky twitch or rare contagious disease. I apologize, but I have an astigmatism so I have to wear these spherical lenses that aren't at all comfortable.

I also apologize for the lack of grammar...I still have a decent amount of beer in me. May all library science readers forgive me.

Snapshots in the Rain

A quiet walk through the park on what turned out to be a rainy day..

Flowers

Whirly

Umbrella Irony

Fitter. Happier. More Productive.

So...how do things look? Like the new design? Like the new functionality?

If you're confused right now then I am happy. I've moved my weblog to new hosting and have attempted to keep everything intact as it was before. You will notice, however, that comments have now been turned on! Yes, after 2 years, comments return because I'm running some kind of "eXXXtreme spam blocker" that supposedly kicks all kind of ass...and stuff.

Note that I'm not going to worry about fixing broken image links. For some reason, the blogging app I was using decided to link everything absolutely, and I'm not about to fix hundreds of links. (I may attempt messing with SQL to batch-process the links to fix them...but I doubt it).

So, feel free to leave comments. Especially if something is wrong.

Random Weblog Moving Facts
42,000 Trackbacks have been deleted that were solely spam
Copying templates from one weblog to another sucks
*Always* link stuff relatively. Absolute links make baby jesus cry.
This weblog should load a hell of a lot faster.
Weblog moving-break sponsored by Carnegie Mellon SCS provided beer

The Humane Interface

I'm currently making my way through The Humane Interface (again) by the late Jef Raskin, who many consider to be the father of Mac OS. What can I say about this book? To me it seems like a book that you either love or hate. While the first three chapters simply review basic HCI principles (locus of attention, modal interfaces, etc.), the rest of the book takes you far far away from what we're accustomed to as interface users and/or designers. I'm not going to dive into any detail, but Raskin is not afraid to break what many consider steadfast rules with any of his ideas. Backed up with logical and empirical evidence, he paints an interesting view of the future of interface design.

A recommended read to anyone curious about or currently studying human-computer interaction.

PSP American Firmware 2.0

Just a quick heads-up..

The 2.0 update for American PSPs has been released via Network Update, accessible from your PSP. This update is identical to the Japanese 2.0 firmware released in July.

Note: Upgrading to the 2.0 firmware will disable any currently known method of booting homebrew software (emulators, etc.). If you don't know what this is, then don't worry about it.

Long Time No Post

It's been awhile, friends.

Half of it has been me being busy recently. The other half has been me being lazy formerly.

So let me get you up to speed, one topic at a time..

World of Warcraft

Ah, yes...time-sink extraordinaire. I'm going to be brief, because WoW talk is boring for those not playing, and I'm not sure how many of you actually play. I've reached level 45 with my Fire/Arcane Mage and things are really starting to pick up. At 40 I got my Black Stallion mount. 40-44 also gained me even more powerful spells. Instances are also starting to become the standard rather than randomly questing around the land. Yesterday, a Staff of Jordan (crazy rare staff) dropped off a random world mob in Tanaris. I proceeded to sell it for 200g. Needless to say, I laughed all the way to the bank. I fear with the upcoming school year I will have to cut back severely in my WoW playing...not that I've been playing that much lately...why you ask?

Final Fantasy VI, VII, and IX

Ah, yes. Final Fantasy. For many, it was the series that introduced the genre known as Role-Playing Games. I still remember picking it up for $79.99 at Software Etc. And people think game prices are too high now...spoiled brats. ;) I kid. Anyways, in the last 3 weeks I've probably played over 50 hours of Final Fantasy. I'm playing through FFVI on my own, finished FFVII with Claire, and am now 14 hours into FFIX with her as well. It's been quite fun. I've played through all the games before, but it's been so long that I'd forgotten some of the amazing touches each game has. As a side note, I fired up FFVI the other day, and noticed on the title screen it said "Copyright 1994 Square." 1994. I think that was the first time I ever felt old. But even Final Fantasy must give way for some things...

Graduate School Orientation

On Monday began my orientation for my graduate studies at Carnegie Mellon in Human-Computer Interaction. So far, things are great. The people in my class are very friendly, and the orientation is "loose" enough to keep things fun (or at the very least, bearable). The one resounding thing I have heard from almost everyone involved with the program (past students, professors, etc.) is that I am about to lose my entire social life for a year. Now, I never had the most amazing social life anyways...but I assume by social life they mean "free time." And free time is something I've always had plenty of. It will be interesting to be challenged. ;) But I'm ready to learn, and hopefully someday I'll put that all to use......unless...

Heart Palpitations

Over the last month I've become aware of my heart beating irregularly regularly. That is, beating weird...often. So, calmly, I went to my physician who ordered me to wear a monitor for 24 hours to try and catch what was happening with my heart. The results? Lots of irregular beats. Also of interest is that when I sleep my heart-rate goes down to 36. The highest sustained rate was 171. Anyways, because I had so many irregular beats, he advised me to see a Cardiologist. After an echocardiogram which was extremely cool (how many people can say they've physically SEEN their heart beating?), the cardiologist declared me fine. She said everyone has irregular beats, but because I'm particularly skinny, my heart was closer to my chest wall and thus I could feel more of them than most people. Whew. Now that I'm not dead..

Nintendogs

Go buy this game. It's got dogs...and you play with them. So simple, yet, so fun. My dog is a Miniature Pinscher named Max (pictured below). So far, he knows how to sit, shake, jump, and lie down on voice command. He likes walking around the block and is starting to make friends with another dog named Maxwell (he's a pug). So far he's only met one other dog, named Elroy, but he doesn't seem to like him that much. I'm not sure why, because Elroy seems pretty cool. :) If you have a DS...buy this game. If you don't have a Nintendo DS...go buy one and Nintendogs. The DS is only $129 now and Nintendogs is $29. Much cheaper than...

Xbox 360

Ah...a hot topic everywhere these days. Whether it's because of it's next-gen titles, it's media capabilities, or it's ridiculous 2-tiered pricing scheme, the Xbox 360 has taken internet forums by storm. Lots of people have asked me if I'll be buying one. The answer? Heh, ya. Not because it deserves to be bought (really, how can any of us know at this point), but because that's just what I do. I'm a collector. I'm in it regardless. What I assume people ask me that question for, however, is to find out if it's worth them buying. So after replying "Of course..", there's a brief pause and a "but.." It's simply too early to tell. Will 360 have some awesome games? I'm sure. Will it have great media center features? Hell ya. For people who can only buy one console next-generation, is it the one to buy? No idea. Neither I, nor anyone else, knows enough about 360, Nintendo Revolution, or Playstation 3 to make that call. If anyone else is telling you otherwise, they're talking out their respective asses.

The End.

Introducing Mighty Mouse

Being that I love all things Apple, when I awoke this morning to see Apple was finally releasing a "multi-button" mouse, I called the local Apple store immediately. Unfortunately, they were already sold out of the thing. So I ordered online and it should be here tomorrow if all goes according to plan.

For those who haven't seen it yet, head to Apple's website and check it out. In total, Apple has given users 4 buttons to play with: Primary, Secondary, Ball-click, and "squeeze."

Now, I've always supported Apple's one-button decision. That is, including one-button mice as standard with all new macs was, and continues to be, a good decision. It simplifies one of the main interfaces (the mouse), and requires the on-screen interface to be functional at face value. By making contextual menus (the things that pop up when you ctrl-click) harder to access, it forces developers to place functionality at the top-level of the interface that is immediately visible to the user. I believe Apple knows this and is why it will continue to ship one-button mice with new Macs.

That being said, the multi-button mouse certainly has it's place. Contextual-menus, while intimidating to novice users, can be very useful to intermediate and advanced users. And then there is gaming, which operates with the standard rule of 'the more buttons on the mouse, the better.'

Let's talk about features that make the mouse unique, though. First, in reality, the mouse has no buttons for primary/secondary click. The face of the front of the mouse has touch sensitive pads underneath the surface that detect the lifting/placing of a finger. This worries me slightly because of the lack of tactile feedback of a button's mechanical press/release. Since I haven't tried it, I can't say though. I can't imagine the mouse making it out of Apple's R&D labs if it posed a huge problem though.

The next unique feature it has is the mini trackball. It rolls on both of its axis and can be used to scroll horizontally/vertically/diagonally, and can be clicked as a button. No innovation here, though, IBM had a mouse with a tiny ball in it years back. I never used it, but the fact that it's not around today may be evidence of something.

Finally there is the "squeeze" button. Squeezing the mouse from the sides act as a click. I can imagine this being useful, as Apple states, for exposé functions or revealing the Dashboard. All of the buttons on the mouse are programmable to system functions, so setting this up should be a breeze.

I'l be back tomorrow with some impressions of the mouse both for using Mac OS and for playing games (World of Warcraft).