gaming
Percentage of Chart Which Resembles Ms. Pac-Man
I couldn’t resist. In the innocent era of 8-bit arcades, you made characters female by adding a cute little pixelated red bow. Just like in Ms. Sawhorse Detective.
Jeff Atwood
Indoor enthusiast. Co-founder of Stack Overflow, Discourse, and RGMII. Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm talking about. Let's be kind to each other. Find me
lcd
LCD Progress
After revisiting my ongoing three monitor obsession recently, I was compelled to upgrade my current mongrel mix of varying LCD monitor brands and sizes. I settled on three 20" Samsung 204B panels. Standardizing on a single type of monitor in a multiple monitor configuration has obvious advantages in color
database management
Is Your Database Under Version Control?
When I ask development teams whether their database is under version control, I usually get blank stares. The database is a critical part of your application. If you deploy version 2.0 of your application against version 1.0 of your database, what do you get? A broken application. And
programming languages
Printer and Screen Resolution
A recurring theme in Edward Tufte’s books is the massive difference in resolution between the printed page and computer displays. Printed pages lend themselves to vastly greater information density. Sparklines are one particular technique of Tufte’s designed to exploit the greater resolution of the printed page. I was
hardware
Moore’s Law in Practical Terms
There are two popular formulations of Moore’s Law: The most popular formulation [of Moore’s Law] is the doubling of the number of transistors on integrated circuits every 18 months. At the end of the 1970s, Moore’s Law became known as the limit for the number of transistors
productivity
Joining The Prestigious Three Monitor Club
I have something in common with Bill Gates and Larry Page: Larry Page: I have a weird setup in my office. I have one computer with three monitors: one flat-screen monitor and two regular ones. I have my browser on one screen, my schedule on another and my e-mail on
data visualization
Reading with Edward Tufte
Today, a group of thirteen Vertigo folks, including myself, attended Edware Tufte’s one-day course on Presenting Data and Information in San Francisco. The course is $360 for the day, but that includes all four of Tufte’s books, which are currently going for about $141 new on Amazon. We
software development concepts
Are You an Evangelist Too?
Anil Dash and I have the same job title: evangelist. I share Anil’s reservations about his job title, too: You see, these days my business cards describe me as “Chief Evangelist.” On the plus side, it’s the first time in the history of the company that I’ve
technology trends
Cool Gifts for Geeks: 2006 Edition
As a technology enthusiast with a bad impulse purchase habit, I’m unrepentantly difficult to buy gifts for. The way I figure it, the only reason to grow up is so you can afford to buy yourself all the crap your parents wouldn’t buy you when you were a
software development
Today is Support Your Favorite Small Software Vendor Day
I’m a Windows user, and I’m out to prove Wil Shipley wrong: Mac users love their machines; Windows users put up with their machines because they don’t believe there’s anything really better. I love the Mac user base because they tend to be people who are
software development
The Project Postmortem
You may think you’ve completed a software project, but you aren’t truly finished until you’ve conducted a project post mortem. Mike Gunderloy calls the postmortem an essential tool for the savvy developer: The difference between average programmers and excellent developers is not a matter of knowing the
user experience
This Is What Happens When You Let Developers Create UI
Deep down inside every software developer, there’s a budding graphic designer waiting to get out. And if you let that happen, you’re in trouble. Or at least your users will be, anyway: Joseph Cooney calls this The Dialog: A developer needed a screen for something, one or two