All my blog posts and articles
Apparently (not sure why yet) on Android, sound effects files using the OGG format work better than those using wav or mp3. It might be an AndEngine thing, I am not sure. Anyway, here’s my result of half hour googling and experimenting for a reliable way to convert the files. I tried a bunch of things, and I finally settled on MediaHuman AudioConverter. Use it. It really works and is nice and simple.
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick My rating: 4 of 5 stars Odd book. In the end I really liked it but at first it takes a surprising set of turns and is not at all what you would think. The writing style is almost poetic which is what I think I enjoyed the most, View all my reviews
Here’s a topic I have never written about before… Nation Building. I just want to point you to a great article I read in the Globe yesterday that puts some meat on the question of “Nation Building,” when has it happened before? How long does it take? What is really happening? How does it start and h...
Read more →I have become a total Spotify addict. I have almost totally stopped downloading MP3s and am gradually locating all my favorite music on Spotify. I posed a couple of semi-sceptical notes when I first started using Spotify and so I am due for an update, right? - [Cancelled Rhapsory, trying Spotify](/...
Read more →I’ve been looking into changing up the primary (and only) disk in my 2 year old Mac Pro to a Solid State Disk (SSD). Based on what I’ve seen on the new Mac Airs I think it will boost performance a lot more than adding more memory would. The problem is that these beasts are pretty expensive,...
Read more →I’ve been using various Groupon-ish web sites to great advantage. Whether it’s Groupon itself, or LivingSocial, OpenTable and others, I send all their offers to an email folder and scan the 10-15 offers I get a day ...
Read more →Continuing my linking to Election related news, check out this post Diebold Touch-Screen Voting Machine Hacked by Remote Control With $26 in Computer Parts from The BRAD BLOG: > "What makes this hack so troubling — and differen...
Read more →So there’s this rather cool new service that says they will find and give you special deals to the stores and merchants you use already. The way they do it is to examine your credit card bills and help you find deals. They say: > With Swipely, you can earn automatic cash back rewards at the best ...
Read more →Andrew Appelis one of the best known academics studying and commenting on elections and computer science and technology related to elections. He wrote a really interesting report, “[New Jersey Elections Coverup](http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~appel/voting/nj-ele...
Read more →Pricing software is a perennial challenge. I came across this ebook, “Don’t just roll the dice” by Neil Davidson. It’s a very nice introduction to a tricky topic. I am considering a major revamp of the BlogBridge web site, with pricing and feature changes and this guide helps me think through those questions.
Some people are starting to wonder whether Google+will continue to grow and become a major social network. Even for Google, it will be quite an achievement to penetrate the already relatively crowded world of social networks and become a major player. Indeed they have had an excellent sta...
Read more →Check this post How To Build a Web Startup – Lean LaunchPad Edition from Steve Blank. Of course you know that Steve Blank is one of the gurus of the Lean Startup. This blog post is m...
Read more →I got some of this list from Lee Sheldon’s course syllabus. I have not read all these books but I want to: - Designing Virtual Worlds. Richard Bartle. - Character Development and Storytelling for Games. Lee Sheldon. - Developing Online Games. M...
Read more →If you watched (or didn’t) the preceding video by Jesse Schellyou might have caught one throw away idea mentioned that really intrigued me: Eliminate grades and instead adopt a system modeled more like experience points in a game. The idea he mentions I believe ca...
Read more →If you are interested in Game Design you have probably seen this video… I finally watched it and thought it was really worth sharing. I definitely recommend it. Jesse Schell is funny and engaging to listen to and has great insights to offer. The last 7 or so minutes is a fantastic riff on how gaming might / will invade our everyday life in the future. Very plausible. http://www.g4tv.com/lv3/44277 Xbox 360 Games – E3 2012 – Guitar Hero 5
I read about Quirky.com in the paper the other day. From my perusal it’s a site where people (you and me) can submit ideas for manufactured products. For example, let’s say...
Read more →Check this post One More Thing… from TechCrunch: > "So instead I read what everyone else had to say. Some articles were excellent, many were very good, others read far too much like obituaries. Mor...
Read more →This news saddens me: > “Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs resigned today as chief executive officer from Apple. His place at the top of the company will be taken by Tim Cook, previously Apple’s chief operating officer.” (from CNET) I hope he’s doing alright and is with us for many many years to come.
Marc Andreeson has a really good, optimistic article in the Wall Street Journal about the future foundational role of Software in all industries of the world’s economy: > “[…snip]Finally, the new companies need to p...
Read more →Check this post With Skillshare, everyone can be a teacher > "The New York City-based startup launched its service in April, offering a platform for users to offer real-world classes of any kind to interested students. The service, which roll...
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