One of my first projects to push to GitHub was my Emacs initialization files. Emacs is precisely as powerful as Neal Stephenson suggests, but I find that people are unwilling to use it because they find it difficult to configure to do what they want. I thought that I might help by not only making [...]

I’m a big fan of distributed version control for a lot of reasons, but sites like GitHub and BitBucket really strike at the heart of the issue: real coding should be a social phenomenon, if for no other reason than code is really about sharing ideas, and code should be addressed to human beings rather [...]

The majority of this post was written before all the Facebook privacy concerns of May 2010 occurred, but those events make the whole issue much more relevant.I commented on a story about a user who loved AIM shortly after Buzz was launched, and, as I have in the past, I got reactions of confusion from [...]

This one is going to be as short as I can make it, and to the point.  Apple is getting more and more ridiculous in their anti-Flash arguments.  Anyone who knows me knows I hate Flash (because it breaks the web…especially keyboard-based control of my browser), but it should be my choice whether to use [...]

I feel like I'm cheapening the "Favorite this video" action on Youtube because I want to do it for every TED Talk I watch.  Actually, I'm probably cheapening the TED Talks; they are some of the most insightful, relevant and intelligent material I've ever watched. Larry Lessig did a talk in 2007 on the shear [...]

In computers, why is "easy to use" the metric everyone cares about?  I was listening to some Linux-inspired electro-industrial today at 5:50 AM on Jamendo (long story), and the vocal track started off with "I've found it a very very easy to use system." Forget easy to use.  No one gets into a Corvette or a [...]

My Gambit Scheme code is taking 500 times longer than the equivalent C program, and I don’t know why. So, there’s a really horrible way to spend processor time to calculate pi that involves taking the unit square and inscribing a circle inside it with radius 1/2.  You then partition the square into N partitions [...]

I've had RSI/carpal tunnel syndrome for about ten years now, and last week, I finally found a solution that didn't involve surgery. A Tiny Bit of History My freshman year I enjoyed my new-found freedom in a few different ways, but one way playing computer games whenever I felt like it. I played a lot of Quake [...]

I Love Gadgets Anyone who knows me can tell you that I’m that “gadget guy”. I have tons of little devices of all sorts lying around, from digital audio players to full fledged portable media players. Some I thought would be wonderful but never quite worked out as well as I hoped (Cowon O2), while [...]

Notice that an independent game development studio, Zero Point, is working with the community fairly closely to produce a space shooter called Interstellar Marines.  They are funded largely by pre-sales of the game, and to maintain credibility, they release video and game demo material so the community can see their progress.  Their “Bullseye” training area [...]