Even Computer Geniuses Need to Sleep

Danny's only 18 but his computer skills are outstanding. He's been putting together a special video for the birthday of a friend of mine. His graphic artist and editing skills are something one would normally see in someone much older. But even geniuses get tired!

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Amazing software:

Wisdom for Tech Startups

Here's some brilliant wisdom for the founders of tech startups by TechCrunch's Michael Arrington.

PhotoSynth Demo at TED

Photosynth, software, under development by Microsoft, is absolutely incredible:

It's potential for the future is even more amazing!

A Small Enhancement to my CKNW AudioVault App

On the right side of this blog is a link to the CKNW AudioVault. It's a simple web page I built to more quickly access the CKNW media archive. Now after you click 'Submit' a link appears that you can copy and paste into your blog or web page.

Note: CKNW only provides a month worth of archives so eventually all links expire.

Microsoft: Grrrrrr!

I have a love-hate relationship with Microsoft. Sometimes their products work just fine. But other times, it's just pure aggravation! Today, for example, I'm trying to reinstall Visual Studio 2005 and it's just not working. What should have taken 20 minutes is now taking 6+ hours. So while it's being installed on one computer, I'm posting photos on my blog with my other one.

Young Brilliance: You Just Never Know Where It Might Lead

This is the current image on the Microsoft home page. It reminded me of the young fellow from Somalia who my organization gave a computer to the other day. How many people thought young Bill Gates would accomplish what he did and literally change the daily activities of billions of people. No, not all on his own, but great things often come from just one or a small handful of people. Gates has proved that intelligence, perseverance, determination, and lots of hard work can accomplish great things.

Playing with Vista

My friend's new laptop came equipped with Windows Vista. I'd never had a chance to use it before so put it through its paces. Pretty cool. This 3D view of one's open windows is one of the coolest visual features.

John Backus R.I.P.

An early pioneer in my profession died recently. His name was John Backus and he lead the team that invented the FORTRAN programming language back in 1957. A great man who made a great contribution to the I.T. profession, which directly has helped out all of society. You can read more about him here.

Isn't it strange how the passing of people like Backus get very little mention whereas Anna Nicole's Smith's death consumes headlines for weeks. I don't know if that's more an indictment of the media or just a sad reflection of society as a whole.

A New Way of Programming?

A friend sent me this NY Times article about computer programming. It focuses on the efforts of Charles Simonyi, the former chief architect at Microsoft and a very accomplished programmer in his own right, to create a newer, more simpler way of building software applications - any software applications.

I am skeptical but am very interested to see if he makes any progress on this front.

Pocket Pollster is QUICKLY Taking Off

I just learned that my Pocket Pollster software is going to be test on a prominent transit project here in Vancouver. Very cool but also a little intimidating. It's a great opportunity for me though. Things are moving forward at lightning speed . . .