video playback
Now that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are starting to enter the market in earnest, I thought I’d revisit HD video playback on the PC. I’m seriously considering buying one of the $199 Xbox 360 HD-DVD kits and retrofitting it into my Home Theater PC. I’ll
gaming
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.
lcd
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
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
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
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
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-
data visualization
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.
software development concepts
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
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
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
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