yonkeltron

A recent blog post on TechCrunch discusses their plans to try for the construction of a $200 tablet for light browsing with a modified Firefox 3 (in a special kiosk mode) and VOIP thanks to Skype. Now, we’ve heard rumblings of low-cost, touch-based computing devices before. Remember concept stuff from the XO-2 which was supposed to be the second OLPC? The idea was to have it be an ebook-style device with dual touchscreens and a sub-$100 price tag. Shortly following the announcement by the OLPC guys, some researchers from Maryland and Berkeley showed of a prototype ebook reader that responded to hand-generated movement like opening and closing the leaves to advance the displayed pages.

While the dream of a lightweight, $200 tablet seems a little far-fetched, the blog post does show that some serious thought went into this. They are very insistent that the proposed device run a stripped down version of Linux that will boot right into Firefox instead of a traditional desktop. From there, the plan is to have a special start page with “large buttons for bookmarked services” linking to sites of great interest and/or utility.

With this in mind, it stands to reason that SproutCore would be an excellent way to build this start page. By designing the startup page as a SproutCore application, the whole experience can be constructed in a completely customized way while still maintaining whatever parts of the traditional application experience are desired. Furthermore, SproutCore apps can be cached can be automagically and transparently upgraded as well as cached on the client so that basic functionality can be maintained even in the absence of a WiFi link.

After a little bit of thought, I think that the main interface (with the big buttons) should be a draggable grid of icons so that a user may reposition applications according to their preferences and usage patterns. Additionally, there should be a basic configuration interface allowing users to add or remove sites from the startup page. After that, anything else seems like an added complication even if it’s really, really interesting.

My family loves to read and recently, my mother has discovered the joy of audiobooks while commuting to and from work. She currently subscribes to one of the many for-pay services (Simply Audiobooks, in her case) which Netflix style, mails her a set of CDs for her to play before sending them back. For awhile now, she’s been after me to figure out if there is a source of decent, free audiobooks online because the CDs aren’t always in the best condition and the subscription fees are sort of annoying.

Obviously, a little Googling did the trick and I found out about Project Gutenberg’s audiobook collection which is constantly being expanded. Basically, they rigged a text-to-speech engine to automatically read the texts and generate sound files. The page describes it as a bit buggy but it’s a cool concept all the same.

The more promising project seems to be LibriVox, which uses an ever-growing group of volunteers to read and record for them. The collection is pretty impressive and features texts in multiple languages. All works are public domain and most seem to be from the Guternberg Collection, though I wouldn’t be so surprised if they had some random stuff from places like the Aozora Bunko (Wikipedia article which I just recently heard about from someone who is really into Japanese literature) or Project Runeberg.

I’m very lucky that my girlfriend, Sarah, likes my cooking. So, it’s no surprise that we like to cook together and explore new foods. There is something very satisfying about preparing a meal with someone you love in order to serve it to people you care about. In addition, those meals provide an excellent captive audience with whom to try out new recipes.

Given how much we like to explore new foods, Sarah sent me a link to this great food blog called 101 Cookbooks which features some really awesome recipes. I made this rockin’ quinoa recipe for my mother and can’t wait to try these banana cookies with Sarah. Furthermore, the blog has numerous categories and even features a whole section on gluten-free dishes! Also of note, the garam masala tofu scramble and skinny omelletes.

After much tweaking and messing around, Planet Plug has finally gone live! It doesn’t have many active subscriptions right now but that should change as more people sign up. If you’re a member of the Philadelphia Linux community, you should get onto the #plug IRC channel on irc.freenode.net and ask to have your feed added. Hooray!

Link to it with this button:

One of the more in-depth papers that I’ve recently encountered is a really cool paper on the many things that go into figuring out and improving upon technology-enhanced learning. It’s really a very good discussion not just on learning, but about educational thought in the context of design, technology and the sciences. The paper, Design approaches in technology enhanced learning is available from the arXiv as well as from Telearn. It was written by Yishay Mor (blog) and Niall Winters who seem to be two very intelligent scholars from the London Knowledge Lab (which has some really cool stuff going on).

The entire piece left me feeling really intrigued by the challenges of effectively integrating technology and education. The paper is very well researched and although I can’t articulate it,  I reached the last page of this paper feeling really good. Maybe it had to do with the enlightened view taken by the authors. Their writing is crisp and their outlook seems appropriately upbeat given the richness of the material and subject matter covered in the paper. The document bursts with elegant and thought-provoking stanzas:

Design based research is a methodology for the study of function. Often referred to as design research or design experiments, it is concerned with the design of learning processes, taking account of the involved complexities, multiple levels and contexts of educational settings. The primary aim is to develop domain-specific theories in order to understand the learning process.

Such succulent gems of insight are plentiful in the opening sections as Mor and Winters set the stage for a comprehensive reflection on the essences of design, science and learning. They are realistic about how “The complexity of classroom situations does not lend itself to the procedures of laboratory research” as they ask “To what extent are we driven by a pure quest for knowledge, and to what extent are we committed to influencing educational practice?”.

The paper continues into a very stimulating overview of design patterns and their application in the many areas of education. Though I have always liked the idea of design patterns in software, I have never been so enthralled by a discussion about the essential elements of design patterns. Also, this is the first time that I’ve heard of design patterns being used as a tool for analysis instead of construction and planning:

An important characteristic of a design pattern is that it has three facets: descriptive, normative, and collaborative. It is an analytic form, used to describe design situations and solutions, a meta-design tool, used to highlight key issues and dictate a valuable method of resolving them, and a communicative tool enabling different communities to discuss design issues and solutions.

The esteemed writers are careful to explain their thought processes without letting their comprehensive coverage become tangential. They expertly work in a mentioning of the political agendas of design pattern construction for city planning and network routing protocols to help illustrate their observations of how values influence design.

This paper is awash in fascinating pointers to further exploration and while I fully intend to follow up on some of their citations, something of immediate interest is a link to a very cool site called the Pedagogical Patterns Project which established a repository of educational design patterns. I need more time to explore but what they have seems to be very cool. It’s clear that I’ll refer back to this paper frequently as I strive to better understand the interactions of education and computing.

I read a very interesting essay on OSnews regarding the improvement of GUI layout with separators and containers. Essentially, the whole premise is that visual elements in most interfaces are needlessly cluttered and it is precisely this congestion which decreases the usability and aesthetic appeal of applications. In response to this problem, the author demonstrates how good layout conventions employing containers and separators can improve visual definition and arrangement. He goes on to elaborate on the potential benefits of using open standards like XML and SVG to aid in GUI creation and puts a considerable amount of emphasis on inheritance among GUI components.

Now, while the examples in the essay are extremely enlightening, I still feel that certain, poorly-thought-out interfaces are beyond help. At the very least, it made me think twice about the importance of the margin and padding properties in CSS while giving me a whole new outlook on the apps I use every day.

I’ve messed about with Processing a couple of years ago but haven’t done much with it since. I saw this post from Lambda the Ultimate detailing how the gentleman behind the jQuery JavaScript toolkit ported almost all of Processing from Java to JavaScript. Now, the whole thing will run directly in your browser thanks to the canvas element. The demos (ported from the original Processing examples page) are very impressive.

I just got done watching Ben-Hur with my girlfriend Sarah and it was the first time I had seen it in several years. Naturally, we were prompted to check the Leprosy article on Wikipedia. Much to my surprise, it would seem that there is a difference between true Leprosy and the biblical plague known as Tza’arat (צערת). While the former is a legitimate disease, the latter is actually a condition comprised of a number of illnesses, afflictions and maladies capable of affliction people, clothes and houses. Basically, don’t get Leprosy because it’s a horrible disease which will ruin your body and don’t piss off God because Tza’arat is worse and will consume both you and your stuff.

Over the past 8 months, I have been trying to eat healthy and be more active. Between rekindling my love for vegetables, subduing my desire for pastry and doing my nightly routine of old-man floor exercises, I’ve lost over 10 kilos. Since getting home, I’m walking to synagogue every morning (someday, I hope to be accepted by the Minyanaires) and bringing my book to the track near my house so that I can read and walk at the same time. While not fanatical, I am certainly pleased with the level of activity in my new routine and it’s my hope that such efforts will please my physician. Though I was never a hulking behemoth of a man, I have certainly noticed the improvement in my body muscle and reduction in my waistline. In fact, I need to find some new clothes…Anyway, though I will never be a body builder and my large frame will always retain some heft, I do feel noticeably better both physically and mentally.

Having said that, imagine my shock when Wired Magazine’s most recent Jargon Watch featured the term “Fatosphere”. I was caught off guard by the number of pro-fat blogs and websites which seem to be part of a developing fat acceptance movement. In addition to the links on the NAAFA website (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance), blogs like Fatosphere, Fat Fu and Big Fat Blog offer a fascinating glimpse into America’s underbelly as activists seek to combat what is perceived to be fat discrimination.

Does my shrinking paunch make me un-trendy?

This one comes from my beloved brother, Ari, who always likes to remind me that I don’t have a life and miss all the good stuff.

Imagine being an iguana living in a Tokyo pet store when Godzilla attacked. You’d probably feel something like an ordinary kitchen appliance who’s just seen the Blendtec Total Blender. Basically, it’s this professional strength blender than seems able to reduce just about anything to slurry, powder and mush.

In an exceptionally entertaining example of viral marketing, Tom Dickson, the founder of Blendtec, opened this fantastic website called Will It Blend? which showcases videos of the Total Blender deconstructing various objects. There is some seriously Mr. Wizard-stlye feel good flavor to the videos as Tom conducts each demonstration with a vanilla charm and matching lab coat inside the Blendtec test kitchen. Appropriately enough, Tom has a genuinely-amused smile on his face as he destroys everything from whole cans of Coke to garden hoses and glow sticks.

Though the overwhelming majority of videos are in the “Don’t Try This @ Home” category, you can still find some neat (and safer) demos in the “Try This @ Home” category. The coolest part? You can even submit ideas and suggestions for what sort of things they should try blending in the future.