Every commercial piece of software we use comes with an End User License Agreement (EULA), which we all merrily accept without reading. After all, who has time to read a rambling document of barely decipherable legalese that we can’t do anything about anyway? Sometime I do glance through them, and my blood pressure shoots up … Read more
A riddle: what’s rectangular and flat, can fit in your pocket, and can calculate six-variable functions? No, not a pocket calculator; I forgot to mention – it has no electronic components whatsoever. Here, check it out in the latest addition to the HOC collection on my Possibly Interesting web site.
I discussed a while ago how Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are being designed to be more human like. Well, the reverse is also sometimes true, with human operators becoming more and more computer-like. Consider: Our car lighted up a “service required” lamp, so I called the 24×7 number provided by our garage, to ask … Read more
The wonders of the natural world are many, and the living body includes countless amazing features (and, admittedly, some not-so-amazing ones as well). Today I give due homage to a piece of truly elegant design: the perfect match of the outer ear to the iPod’s earphones! The earphones’ convenient usage stems from the presence of … Read more
I was putting in order our bookcase of Science Fiction, and noticed an interesting fact best illustrated by the two piles of books in the photo. One pile has three books, all written after 1980. The other has eight books written in the fifties, the later part of the “Golden Age” of Science Fiction. And … Read more
Greg Bear’s hyper-imaginative Sci Fi novel “Eon” brings its protagonists to a parallel reality whose highly advanced post-humans use Picting to communicate; that is, they project in mid-air sequences of holographic icons to convey their thoughts. This may work for post-humans… but can become a problem when mere mortals try it with excessive zeal. I … Read more
With the wonders of Google Maps at our service, we can get some interesting insights. Take the photo below, also viewable here. This is the older part of the Microsoft campus at Redmond, where much of the software in the computer I’m writing this on was developed. Notice how the buildings all have cross shapes … Read more
Reuse is good, right? And the notion conjures in most of us an image of linking code modules. Which is why I was astounded to run into the following case, while touring the beautiful island of Sicily. Here you see your intrepid tourist in front of the Duomo (cathedral) of Siracusa, the city where Archimedes … Read more
Technology innovation often happens serendipitously, and the kind I like best is when something from one knowledge domain triggers an analogous design in a completely different field. I mean, inventing a plane with wings because you notice that birds have wings is OK, but not a huge leap (the real leap of the early aviation … Read more
See the book on the left. It’s been around for centuries, issued by countless publishers, translated into many tongues… and no one ever doubted what it was, because it has a name: Macbeth. Now see the book on the right. This is Edison’s Eve: a magical history of the quest for mechanical life, by Gaby … Read more
