Comment Feed for Rory

Re: Hanselminutes on 9 - Spolsky, Atwood, Blyth, Hanselman = Crazy-Delicious || Content-Free?

Rory — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:19:22 GMT

I'm actually blotting the excess oil from my face.

I'm vain and insecure, and Scott had a camera (as the photo indicates).

It's a really bad habit I picked up. I blot my face in traffic. While I'm sitting at the counter in cafes. While I'm talking to people in mid-conversation. Whipped a blotter paper out once when hitting on a girl at a VC party and removed about a gallon of oil and sweat from my face while we talked (and it didn't seem to make a difference - which was awesome - anybody who doesn't walk away from you while you do that is someone worth, I don't know, probably marrying).

I use the Clean and Clear brand, by the by. Just in case any of you want to blot your faces just like I do. It's easily the best vanity blotter paper on the market. Also some of the only vanity blotter paper on the market.

You won't be sorry. And you'll take care of that pesky sheen.

posted by Rory

Re: Ping: Episode 8

Rory — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:01:15 GMT

Why because?

Because why.

Here's why.

(Because.)

I don't like choice. I think choice is overwhelming and stupid. In every case, except those that really matter to me (boxers vs. briefs (boxer-briefs), etc.), I want a proxy of some kind. I want someone else to do the thinking.

You should want that, too. Every second my brain is occupied with things like whether or not a retinal-scan protection mechanism is really all that important to me is another second taken away from my potentially making the world a better place. I'd emphasize "potentially" with italics, but I'm using Safari (on my mavcintosishf computer), and I'm scared that the italics button is going to reject me. Not that it's going to ruin what I've typed, but that it's going to tell me that I need to "upgrade" to the latest version of Internet Explorer to be able to make my text all slanty (actually, I trust my people to have done a good job on the latest version of the channel-whatever code - my real beef is with things like Live Mail (or whvrvr it's called) that just don't work with Safari - it's bogus, man - it's way bogus - it's a plate of bogus covered in bogus sauce with grated bogus over the top and a side of minced bogus atop a steaming pile of bogus marinated in bogus juice).

My dad just called and I lost my train of thought. I don't want to reread what I just wrote because I'm self-aware enough to know that it's probably tedious and pompous and other -ous words. I'll just pick up where I think I left off, and I'm pretty sure I was talking about computers.

So, I like them. Basically.

But I have a Apple computer because, you see, here's the deal, Ok, I write iPhone software now. That's one of the things I do. I do other things, and I'm going to start doing other other things soon, but before doing those other things, I've had to familiarize myself with iPhone development. You can't talk to people about it if you isn't done learned it. You following me? Right on.

So, here's the deal, Ok, if you're ready.

iPhone development is the abusive lover - the one you called the cops on who's being driven away from your home in a car by a POLICE OFFICER OF THE LAW while you throw shoes at the car and scream, "I loooove you, honey... I looooooove you..." with that accent that you develop when you live in a home that can be towed and where everything smells like old ketchup and you inexplicably have a hot-tub AND a big screen TV even though your kids eat rats they cooked over an oil-drum fire and that they put old ketchup on and that they eat while watching "the wheel" as they squint while trying to figure out what a "vowel" is and whether they should save up to buy one, too.

Still with me? Awesome.

iPhone development is, I've recently propounded, the leading cause of Stockholm Syndrome among IT professionals. It's the batterer you love more with each passing closed-fisted pop to the kisser.

Do you laugh? Do you cry?

You do both. That's what you do. That's the only way to cope.

Is it becoming clear to you now? The answer? Do you see it? It lies before you, waiting for at least a nod - something that says, "Yeah - I see you over there - you're all right." An acknowledgment. A sign of acceptance.

It waits. But it is impatient.

It comes now.

It bursts forth from my soul like a cirrhotic liver sploded in a microwave.

The answer can wait no more.

The answer is this: when my brain is shutting down because I've been practicing the dark art of Objective-C on the iPhone with the oppressive rules and do's and don'ts spouted forth by the power-hungry keepers of the code at Apple, it (my brain) is in absolutely no state to select this computer or that computer.

Alls I know... alls I know is this. I'm going to tell you now what it is that is that which is alls I know.

Perpend.

If I have a two-thousand-dollar bill, and I go to the store with computers, I want to give it to someone who will then give me something good in exchange.

There are too many of the Dell. There are too many of the Toshiba. There are too many of the many brands out there that are too numerous to list to list here. Let us accept for now that I am correct in the matter of there being, I say, many-too-many kitchens turning out fresh, warm laptops every new morn across the land and sea.

When one enters into the Apple Store, one is set at ease because they frisk you at the door, pat you down, find your uncertainties, and store them behind the counter until you're ready to leave. After that, they do the same thing with your self-respect by out-cooling you with their hipster ways and tricks (except that, unlike your uncertainties, they don't store your self-respect behind the counter for retrieval upon exit, as there is nothing left to store).

Thusly primed, mind-narrowed and heart suddenly beset with a yearning to win the approval of the bespectacled hipster youth who "will be your Genius today," choice is made irrelevant. You are subhuman and unqualified to restore unto yourself those qualities which separate us from maggots and alarm clocks and other trivial bric-a-brac not commonly held in high-esteem (and for GOOD REASON, I say - yes I do - I say that - often).

Fortunately, there are oftentimes naught but three - perhaps four - choices for the laptop-seeking shell-of-a-former-human to decide among. Fortunatelier, you aren't doing the choosing. Your Genius - your Virgil, guiding you through this particularly uncomfortable level of hell - will simply tell you that, based on your one two-thousand-dollar bill, the Apple laptop computer you can afford to own is "this one."

What's inside it?

Who knows! Who cares!

You rest your hands on what people simply cannot stop referring to as the "sleek industrial design" of the Apple's hard exterior. Heat rises from its packed innards, and you breathe in the scent of holier-than-thou. This flirtation is a down-payment - a promise - on redemption. Oh, to be cool again... oh, to have that self-esteem, lost so many minutes ago, returned to this poor, forsaken shadow of a shadow...

You hand over your two-thousand-dollar bill. The Genius fidgets with a handheld Symbol-powered device that looks like it arrived in this century by way of a Delorean whose flux-capacitor heart tore a window in time that way Deloreans do when a heavy foot on the gas pedal increases the machine's heart rate to 88 miles per hour, resulting in two parallel lines of flames, about yea wide, mysteriously disappearing into a brick wall - a brick wall that was 1985 on one side, and 2009 on the other.

You're informed that your receipt will be emailed to the false email address you provided earlier, thinking you just wanted a computer and not a subscription to the Steve Jobs "Chief Visioneer Newsletter". You debate with yourself about correcting this information, as there is a great likelihood that, because Apples are boutique computers, yours probably has at least six- or seven-thousand dead pixels in its sleek industrially designed screen, and you might like to try to return it later for a properly manufactured specimen that more closely resembles the floor model you were shown earlier.

But you don't want to blow it. You got your computer. You got your box of cool. You got the respect of the hipster who now flashes you the secret sign of the Apple insider (a sign I will not describe here, lest some of your more unscrupulous readers flash this sign in public for to make monkey-business and for to make light of the holiest sanctum of the nerd).

This is why.

This is the because.

I'm a Mac.

I'm a Mac because I'm stupefied by the range of choices I have among orange-juice now. I can have pulp-free, low-pulp, normal-pulp, slightly-more-than-usual-pulp, and nothing-but-pulp-basically-just-pulverized-oranges-in-a-carton. To complicate the matter, various sellers of orange-juice offer in these confusing times similarly labeled products.

And I NEED orange-juice to survive. Perhaps you have heard of the condition known as "scurvy"? Of course you have. My question was ironic. What brazen idiot fool risks developing this "silent killer" simply because he is too proud to ensure he's consuming the proper amount of vitamin-C every day? Oh, no! No! He has NO idea! Oh, he is SO cool. Oh, I wish I could be reckless and James Dean and Joe Camel and Johnny Cash like that, but, alas, I value my life, and so I spend a great deal of time on a weekly basis frozen before the enormity of choices extended to me by the state of Florida between juices of varying pulpage.

I do not NEED a computer to survive.

Ergo.

The choice is simple.

1 + 1 = mfjcnactintosh computer company is good.

I have spoken.

I did spake here.

Spaken have I.

Go well. May the wind be at your sails, and may your sails be attached to some apparatus that connects them to the vessel you pilot through the tempestuous, cyclonic waters of the oceans of life.

I think I've made my point.

posted by Rory

Re: This Week on Channel 9: Feb 8, 2008 Episode

Rory — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:38:51 GMT

briankel wrote:

esoteric wrote:
The audio is a bit obnoxious ("walkie-talkie sound"), but otherwise I like these videos. I don't mind long videos, as long as they're not artificially drawn out.

10-4, esoteric. I don't notice the same quality on any of my machines when I play it back but if anybody has ideas for what might be causing the walkie-talkie sound qualities please let me know. As I mentioned I do all of the editing myself so maybe there's a trick I can apply in post-production, or while filming, to improve the sound quality.

Thanks for the feedback and the kind words; over and out!

Brian

For the "walkie-talkie" sound, it sounds like you guys are just peaking - it's distortion.

I don't know what kind of lapel mics you're using, but there ought to be two settings on the things. One is probably the channel your wireless transmitter is operating on, and the other should be the gain.

Just turn the gain down. You can always boost the audio when editing - just use a Normalize effect - but you cant undo the distortion if it's part of the recording. Best to be safe and record at a lower lever than crank up the gain.

For the aspect ratio problem - I did that a few times. But you can save the video by rendering it in a letterbox mode. I don't know what you guys are using for editing, but if I remember, we had a chat about Premiere Elements. I haven't used that package in a while, but I'd be really surprised if there weren't a way to render in 4:3 with a letterbox mode turned on. If you don't see it among the rendering config, it might be an effect you can drag onto the entire timeline.

Yeah. I've been there on both of these things. Hope this helps...

posted by Rory

Re: BlueHat - #1: Robert Hansen on Phishing, the Bad Guys, and the Online Mafia

Rory — Thu, 17 May 2007 21:32:03 GMT

Massif wrote:

Fascinating stuff, marred slightly by the audio (perhaps a microphone of some description would be handy... not the kind you have to point at people to hear them though... that would interrupt the conversation.)

Workin' on it. Gonna go online after writing this and check out my options.

Massif wrote:

Plus why was the third person (who's name , I'm sorry to say, has eluded me already) off camera? (aside from hiding from the mafia) It was a bit odd to watch everyone listening intently off camera. If you're going to have an audio presence you need a video one too, no hiding!"

The conference people insisted on having someone from their own team present. They were nice about, but it shouldn't have happened - it's not the 9 Way.

The problem is that it's really hard to get more than two people in frame with this camera without having back way up. That would have made the audio even worse.

Massif wrote:

Good stuff though, hope you met plenty more fascinating people and videod them. (isn't videod an odd word, is it video'd or videoed...)

I've been struggling over the proper verb. "Videoed" keeps entering my head, but it sounds too weird. I've started to say "film," which make no sense, but at least I don't feel awkward

posted by Rory

Re: BlueHat - #1: Robert Hansen on Phishing, the Bad Guys, and the Online Mafia

Rory — Thu, 17 May 2007 21:25:03 GMT

raymond wrote:

MrFile wrote:
I must say i love the concept and the people seem great and all but this video is the worst video i have ever seen posted on channel 9. (Granted i visit a few times a month only)

The audio was very low (At least with my computer at max volume), one person was off screen and lots of background chatter.

Rory, I love you in front of the camera, but the audio on this video could be better.

Yeah. The audio sucked. I know that. Wrote about it in the post for the video.

The people who invited me to cover the event didn't have a room, or even a space, set aside for doing the interviews, so we had to do them right out in the lobby of the building we were in, and there were people all over the place.

"PS

Read the chapter on audio in the book cited in this post:

Passionate About Digital Video

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=283930[/quote]

I've done enough recording to get the whole audio thing - just don't have the equipment. There's a trade-off here - the camera I'm using is compact and records straight to hard drive, which shaves a lot of time during production.

I'm going to look into what I can do to get better audio. I'd to get some wireless lapel mics, but I don't know if they'll work with the camera.

If I can't find anything, I've already gotten permission from the boss to get new equipment.

We'll see what happens...

posted by Rory

Re: Jesse Lewin on knowing Steve Jobs, working at Apple, and posing with Bono

Rory — Thu, 17 May 2007 21:20:35 GMT

pspidey wrote:

Wow. Apparently honest feedback is not allowed on this site, and is replaced with 'troll, troll, troll'.

You were just whining. There's enough whining in this thread from other people. You didn't add anything. Maybe you didn't bother to look, but your sentiments had already been expressed repeatedly by one person.

Didn't need any more crap like that.

This was NOT a troll. For crying out loud. It was an honest opinion.

pspidey wrote:

You are only confirming a juvenile nature when you petulantly delete criticism.

I'm totally emotionally immature. I know it.

I am not, for example, anywhere near sophisticated enough to be able to use a word like "petulantly" in a sentence.

pspidey wrote:

If you are a professional, you should be able to take criticism.

Take a hike, yo. What you left wasn't criticism - it was just garbage. It was another very negative comments, and, as I've already said, it added nothing to the discussion.

Criticism is welcome - I'm always interested in learning what I can to get better at this job, but if someone like you comes along and just complains without suggesting a solution (you were really vague), then I'm naturally going to get pissed.

"It frankly amazes me, that you treat your viewers like this. It's also not a good way to treat people who might potentially be customers / partners (which I am)."

I've been in customer facing jobs for years now, and one thing I've learned is that there's a huge difference between someone insulting me and someone providing me with useful criticism.

I'm a human being - what "frankly amazes me" is the huge number of customers who think that they can insult us without repurcussions.

Yeah, it might get me fired one day, but I'll quit before I stop being myself. Partner, customer, whatever - that "the customer is always right" thing is a bunch of bull. I'm not your punching bag. If you treat me with disrespect, then I'll treat you in kind.

I think that's more than fair.

[quote user="pspidey"]If you think this is an anonymous troll. Think again. I'm fully willing to put contact details to this posting (not publicly obviously).[quote user="pspidey"]

I believe you. I just don't care.

Nobody talks to or about me like that. I've been on the receiving end of enough crap that I no longer have any tolerance for it.

If you want to provide some useful feedback that isn't phrased in an insulting way, I'm happy to hear it.

Otherwise, don't bother.

posted by Rory

Re: Jesse Lewin on knowing Steve Jobs, working at Apple, and posing with Bono

Rory — Tue, 15 May 2007 22:00:40 GMT

CRPietschmann wrote:

Cool interview! I look forward to more interviews with the team.

One thing I would like to know is how did Jesse end up at Microsoft?

Jesse has yet to share with me the story of how he wound up here. There's been so much other stuff to talk about that we haven't gotten to it yet.

It's a good question, though, given his very non-MS background.

That's probably part of it - I think we go for people with varied backgrounds in the evangelism department. Kind of hard to talk about MS in relation to the competition if you don't know what the competition is.

He's a smart guy. We just had a good hour long discussion/argument about MS/Apple stuff - particularly in relation to Microsoft's efforts around reaching difficult audiences. He has a lot of good ideas. Some of the stuff just wouldn't fly here, but that's a Microsoft issue and not a Jesse Lewin issue. It'd be nice if we had more like him - then some of those ideas of his might actually get implemented.

posted by Rory

Re: Jesse Lewin on knowing Steve Jobs, working at Apple, and posing with Bono

Rory — Fri, 11 May 2007 19:51:08 GMT

Massif wrote:

Well, you can't please everyone. I found it interesting, although (obviously) not related in any way to programming.

Exactly, yo.

If all we ever did around here was post interviews with coders, it'd be little more than a watered-down tutorial site.

The point here is to get the human stories behind tech.

I love Jesse - he's a funny, intelligent guy. The conversations are great. His stories are great.

He has a lot of fantastic non-geek goodness about him, too, but I thought we did a good job of keeping it geek related.

It was also fun to talk about Apple. I dig Apple. I work for Microsoft, but I use tech from all over the place. I like to be able to chat about it.

So... thanks for not being a puddinghead.

posted by Rory

Re: Jesse Lewin on knowing Steve Jobs, working at Apple, and posing with Bono

Rory — Fri, 11 May 2007 19:47:58 GMT

crappy wrote:

Well... The interview guy basically sounds to me similar to this:

"So I'm like you know, shucks, whatever, like, you know? Like, yea, and he's like wow, and you know?"

It's quite annoying, as if listening to a 13 year old girl on a caffeine overdose.

You know what's really cool?

It's that the above comment was left by the same person as the one below:

buggy123 wrote:

I think you lost the adult audience with this interviewing guy, but I'm sure kids 2-6 will enjoy his antics. It's great you're thinking about the children as well.

OMG he met Steve Jobs! He met Steve Jobs! He was his best buddy, OMG OMG!!!

Right...

The IP address for both was 83.228.56.[last number removed by Rory to protect this asshat].

If you're going to create multiple accounts with which to attack us, the least you could do is come in from different addresses.

Anyway, he didn't just meet Steve Jobs - he grew up around him. If I seemed surprised and excited, it's because I was surprised and excited.

Not that you wouldn't agree - you were just attacking to attack. Just wanted to make sure my feelings on the matter were clear.

Also, I didn't join Channel 9 to make you happy. I did it because it's a fun job. If it turns out that we're losing our audience because of these interviews, I'll step down without argument.

However, we've been posting record traffic for the past several months straight, so I'm not too worried

posted by Rory

Re: MSDN Wiki Projects - #1 - Saying Hello

Rory — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:25:19 GMT

abkrino wrote:

RoyalSchrubber wrote:

Rory wrote: So what am I here about...

Video stopped at 6:24 with Rory trying to say something, looks like we missed something. Is this really the end of the interview or error in video editing?

We want happy ending

This short video is the first of a four part series in which I sat down with Fabrice Fonck and Molly Bostic to talk about the MSDN DevWiki project.

Media Length: 00:06:25

Yup - that's right.

When I edited it, I thought I had cut off that last part. My guess is that the work area of the clip was smaller than the size of the clip itself, so I accidentally left in about a second from the next video in the series.

It won't happen again (now that I know what to look for)

posted by Rory

Re: HanselMinutes on 9 - #2 - Weapons and Debugging the .NET Runtime

Rory — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:49:48 GMT

rhm wrote:

I hope I'm not the only one that finds that pile of patent cubes disturbing.

No. You're probably not the only one. I think it's cool, as it tells me right off the bat that the guy probably knows his stuff.

But, the main reason I'm replying is that I realized I could have three comments in a row that ended with smileys

posted by Rory

Re: HanselMinutes on 9 - #2 - Weapons and Debugging the .NET Runtime

Rory — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:48:49 GMT

littleguru wrote:

Nice video, guys!

Word.

More coming, littledawgg

posted by Rory

Re: HanselMinutes on 9 - #2 - Weapons and Debugging the .NET Runtime

Rory — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:48:12 GMT

Bas wrote:

Is that a sterling engine on his monitor?

Who knows.

I mean, the guy has a frikkin' trebuchet on his desk. Who knows what else is in that room or on his machines

posted by Rory

Re: HanselMinutes on 9 - #1 -

Rory — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:23:16 GMT

waltal wrote:

Rory,

Please accept my apology for posting before seeing the video. I got the idea that Scott was a "silent partner" (so to speak) from the text. My bad...

No harm done - no apology necessary

I just wanted to make sure Scott got the credit he deserves.

posted by Rory

Re: HanselMinutes on 9 - #1 -

Rory — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 05:43:27 GMT

DenvilleSteve wrote:

If it is true that MSFT is patenting the software methods used in the .NET framework, I will be very upset.

I don't know why you'd be upset, but it's really up to you how you'd like to react to the news (not really news, actually - like any other corporation, we take out patents on a regular basis and have been doing so for a long time).

DenvilleSteve wrote:

The thing I enjoy most about programming is that so often after coding applications, working out the problems, writing reuseable code, .... I feel like I have invented something new. I am under no illusion that what I have created is unique or cant be duplicated. But I do feel that I own what I have created and I can use it without having to get the permission of someone else who came up with the same idea and was able to obtain a software patent.

Uh-huh.

How many times have we stopped you from writing code?

DenvilleSteve wrote:

Do I have to submit the software that I create to MSFT to find out if I am entitled to use my own code?

I'm not a lawyer. I'm not going to play lawyer.

Just as it's your choice to be upset about the news, my guess is that it's also up to you to make this choice. If you really think we're going to try and bust you, then my recommendation would be to submit your code to the legal department of the company you work for (if you work for yourself, then hand the code over to your own lawyer).

Next, your legal team can contact ours. It'll probably be really expensive to do this, and it'll probably take a really long time, so be prepared for a hit to the wallet and a long unpaid vacation.

I haven't heard of any other individuals submitting their code for review, but if it's what you want, then you can give it a try.

DenvilleSteve wrote:

Does channel 9 have any independence within MSFT? How can you be celebrating developers and then turn around and tell them they cant use the code methods they create independent of others?

Those are great questions. If I should ever find myself in the position of "celebrating developers" and then turning around to "tell them they can't use the code methods they create," I'll let you know what I think.

However, since that hasn't happened yet (not sure how you even got on the subject), I'm afraid I have no further comment. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

This is another case where you should consult your legal representatives.

posted by Rory

Re: HanselMinutes on 9 - #1 -

Rory — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:23:39 GMT

cbilson wrote:

One observation: I am a little suprised that developer's at Microsoft aren't more familliar with the larger universe of .NET (i.e., Monorail, Hanselminutes, Scott's book, etc.)

I used to feel the same way. What I've learned from getting to spend a lot of time walking around the halls here is that most devs are too busy to get that involved.

It's my job to know about what's going on Out There and In Here. It's a dev's job to create the stuff we put on 9.

Looking at it another way, I don't have time to code anymore. I can do little projects on the side, but nothing big, and it's because I spend so much time writing posts/comments/etc..

Something else we forget is that the "community" is actually quite small when measured against the number of devs in the world (MS or otherwise). I meet tons of people who don't know what 9 is, who don't know anything about certain blogs, who don't know what Scoble does (or did when he was here), and so on. They show up, do their jobs, and then go home.

Not too surprising, either, when you think about it. The dev stereotype is someone who lives in a basement, has never seen the sun, and is only passingly familiar with the concept of Other People.

The type of geek who hangs out here is probably someone who is much more social than the geek norm. We're all much more likely to know what's going on.

Just my opinion...

posted by Rory

Re: HanselMinutes on 9 - #1 -

Rory — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:10:27 GMT

waltal wrote:

This is a great idea, and I look forward to more stuff along this line.

Given the comments so far, it's safe to say we'll definitely be doing more of these.

I'm rendering the others right now. Don't know how many there'll be total (some of the stuff can't be released until Mix), but we'll hopefully be able to post enough to make you people happy

waltal wrote:

One suggestion: Call it RoryMinutes or whatever, just modify that branding! Scott's podcasts are highly individual and so are yours. And I think the objectives are different as well...

The video was pretty much all Scott. I was behind the camera, and I added some comments here and there, but he drove the interviews, and did a fantastic job.

For that reason, I'm keeping the HanselMinutes brand. The guy deserves as much credit and attention as we can give him.

On a slightly different subject, I'm hoping this'll start a trend around here of inviting various personalities to be guest hosts on 9. I like what happened by involving Scott.

I'm a pretty technical guy, but my interest in the videos lies mostly in the human angle. Scott is interested in that, too, but he's much more likely to dive into the subject than I am.

I think of myself as being halfway between a Scoble and a Torre.

Scott is closer to a Torre, but with his own thing going on.

Wow. I'm rambling

Point being, Scott rocks, and I want this series to reflect that.

posted by Rory

Re: Microsoft Research TechFest - XNA, a depth-sensing camera, an LCD projector, and some genius

Rory — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:52:27 GMT

Bas wrote:

That... is.. awesome.

Next step: combine this with robotics studio and have one player control the virtual car, while another player tries to destroy it with a real robot.

I love that idea.

As cool as all the tech was, I have to admit that the best part was getting to reach in, pick up the car, and toss it.

Over and over.

There's something odd about the experience. I don't know why - maybe because it's what my brain expected - but I had the impression that I could feel what I was seeing.

All I was doing was lifting my arm, but I felt like there was resistance on it, as though the terrain was heavy.

It's just fun.

Even without an objective, it's fun.

Adding the car-killing-robot would give the activity that objective, and I imagine it would become even more fun.

'Course, a decade from now, Andy's probably going to hack something together that'll make this look like pong, but... well, pong was fun when it came out, too.

OK. I don't know what I'm talking about now.

It's hot in here (the office). I think it's making me crazy.

I think my point was that I agree with you.

posted by Rory

Re: Microsoft Research TechFest - Using P2P to speed up multiplayer gaming (and other things)

Rory — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 05:47:28 GMT

Argh.

It was working before I left Redmond (in Portland now).

Argh, argh, argh...

Is it working for anyone?

HEY - EVNET GUYS - MAKE TEH INTARWEBS WORK!!!!1111!!

posted by Rory

Re: Microsoft Research TechFest - Intro, DynaVis, and FastDash

Rory — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 18:04:54 GMT

Bas wrote:

That was pretty neat. At first I was wondering what practical use DynaVis had, but then I realised that it's exactly what I need: whenever I watch different types of charts, I'm always spending a lot of time figuring out how it relates to the other type of chart I just saw. This helps a great deal.
What I'm wondering about is what all that hammering early on in the video is. Especially after all those error-message sounds started sounding. It made me switch to the desktop from full-screen view twice to see what had failed in the background, before I realised the sounds came from the video.

I was talking to Chris Sells a couple years ago about data visualizations. He speaks beautifully, and paces himself well, but it was still a little tough to understand him that day...

He was talking about WPF and DirectX. Having been the de-facto Windows Forms guru, he had spent a lot of time with the APIs. Nice as they are, they were for the most part a v1.0 design for a managed abstraction of Win32 calls.

I'm not sure if he was more frustrated with Windows Forms or more excited about WPF and DirectX, but the net of the conversation was that he saw the potential in both technologies for cool new ways to perform data visualization.

Honestly, I'm not the kind of dev who gets excited about stuff like that, so I had a hard time sharing his enthusiasm. Through my life as a contractor, I avoided doing reporting work. I got hit with it occasionally, but on those occasions, I kept myself busy and had some fun by writing my own charting stuff instead of using some other baked product (Crystal, etc.). For me, reporting was an obstacle I had to get past so that I could do the coding I wanted to do, and the only way to tolerate it was to make it fun for myself.

With the stuff I saw while conducting this interview, I finally started to see what Chris was so excited about.

I think I hated reporting because I didn't find it very useful. I don't have a lot of patience (if that isn't already obvious with my reactions to criticism as of late), and I get frustrated as numbers about things I don't really care about sail past my face.

Chris was absolutely right about needed improvements in the area. This DynaVis stuff is nicely representative of that.

It reminds me of the first time I saw a relevance aware tag cloud. I thought it was hideously ugly, but what it lacked in appearances it made up for in functionality. Being able to see what the most talked about subjects were for the site (I forget where I first saw one) without even having to read the tags was pretty cool.

I get frustrated easily by having to sift through large quantities of information. We need new tools and new ways of displaying data or else the me's of the world are going to go nuts...

What I liked so much about DynaVis was that it was such a tasteful application of technology to an old problem. It wasn't flashy. A lot of devs have problems with either going overboard (let's port this chart to the Unreal engine!) or doing next to nothing (here's your text file dump of the database contents - feel free to sort through the 800,000 records manually).

DynaVis was right in the middle. It's clear (to me at least) that a lot of care went into making it. It can be hard to code something cool without indulging oneself and adding all the fireworks available, but it can also be hard to come up with the motivation to do the thing in the first place. It strikes me as the product of a real coder. Someone who derives pleasure from elegance.

I wish more of this stuff bubbled up to the top and made its way into the world. My understanding is that Microsoft Research is all about testing and planning for the future. My experience is that the future's already been pretty well constructed. It'd be nice if it all made its way into the wild.

But that's another subject entirely, and one I'm going to write about soon.

I'll just end this comment by saying that getting to meet all these MSR people was a real eye-opener. I'm still collecting my thoughts and making sense of how MSR fits into the big picture.

It's all so bloody cool...

posted by Rory

Re: Microsoft Research TechFest - Intro, DynaVis, and FastDash

Rory — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:43:39 GMT

Massif wrote:

Y'know, there comes a point when you need to be less paranoid (not really the correct word, but close) about criticism and Beer.

I can kinda see Bazul's point, because you've used the line "I'm new to this thing" or variants, a fair bit. It probably only makes an impact if you watch a bunch of your videos one after another. Aside from that you're seeing criticism where there isn't any! We all like your content, but you'll see a disproportionate amount of criticism because that's the way forums work.

Oh, and you don't need an account to watch videos, so there's no reason to doubt the claim that they've watched a stack before deciding to comment.

I said I'd "file it" under Beer28 - I can tell a genuine Beer post from a non Beer post. He does have a certain style that gives him away (not just talking about content).

The reason I saw it as a troll was that we've been hit by someone who's creating accounts with which to troll. It's hard not to be suspicious when I find negative comments posted with brand new accounts.

As for the annoying stuff... I've been public speaking/blogging/podcasting/whatevering for so long now that none of this stuff requires any kind of conscious effort. I have to watch these videos as I'm editing them, and I have no idea what Bazul was talking about.

Again, if someone's going to provide any kind of feedback about something specific (and it sounds like there's a specific complaint here), it helps to point me to what is offending rather than just telling me that I've got a "shtick" and that it's irritating.

When I critique something (or flat out complain), I do the object of my critiques the favor of specifying exactly what it is I'm talking about. I don't just say "You stink" and then walk off. That's not helpful.

There's also been so much negativity around here in recent months that it's getting harder and harder to tolerate. I hope to have a "breakthrough moment" when I suddently decide to stop caring about it, but it hasn't happened yet because I'm still in the stage of caring about my job and how well I do it.

In my last job, I read thousands of comments from customers. The vast majority were extremely positive.

The few negative comments usually fell into one of these categories:

- Personal Preference: These were the people who didn't like my style and kept the comment simple, down to a few general adjectives and adverbs from which I could learn absolutely nothing

- Insane: Some people would leave a few comments in Klingon amid grease stains left by their unwashed hands - I didn't pay a lot of attention to these

- Experience: You'd be shocked at the number of times I got rated down because someone didn't like the muffins

- Ignorance: Some people just didn't know any better and left scathing complaints to make it look like it was somehow my fault their IQs were in the low double-digits

- Valuable: These were the rarest complaints, but I dd get them every now and then - From them, I was able to improve what I did, and avoid making certain common mistakes, but it required the effort on behalf of the audience member to come up with something specific to say - Without specifics, it was right back to the "Personal Preference" flavor of complaints...

After getting so many insulting comments, I got a little tired of it.

But those interactions were one way. I collected the comment sheets, read them, and couldn't respond.

Now I can respond, and I think that what I initially said to Bazul was entirely valid:

If you have a problem with how I do my job, then your comments will get a lot more attention and respect if they're specific and respectful - I don't respond well when someone calls my personality "shtick" - it may prove that this is the case and that I'm the wrong guy for this job, but I know absolutely nothing more about how to do my job well after having read Bazul's comment than before.

That, and with all the mud-slinging I've been seeing here (there's a reason I stopped frequenting the Coffeehouse), it's hard to tell the real comments (yours) from the bait.

posted by Rory

Re: Microsoft Research TechFest - Intro, DynaVis, and FastDash

Rory — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:59:43 GMT

Bazul wrote:

A general Rory video comment (there may be a better place to post this), I may be the only one but I'd like to see him lighten up on the shtick. Not really "new to this thing" anymore and it's approaching Bevis and Butthead level.

I like the videos, like Rory and like the friendly banter but it's getting a little old. I guess the reason I post this is due to the fact I watch a lot and over many videos it gets annoying. If this is Rory in real life I'd suggest spending time watching the videos and trying to polish on-air presentation skills.

P.S. Love the content!

Never mind.

I just saw that you only joined today, so I'm assuming "Bazul" is just another alias for someone who's already had accounts here (you claim to watch a lot of these videos - even over and over - so I'm guessing you already had an account).

I'll just file this away under "Beer28".

posted by Rory

Re: Microsoft Research TechFest - Intro, DynaVis, and FastDash

Rory — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:57:22 GMT

Bazul wrote:

A general Rory video comment (there may be a better place to post this), I may be the only one but I'd like to see him lighten up on the shtick. Not really "new to this thing" anymore and it's approaching Bevis and Butthead level.

I like the videos, like Rory and like the friendly banter but it's getting a little old. I guess the reason I post this is due to the fact I watch a lot and over many videos it gets annoying. If this is Rory in real life I'd suggest spending time watching the videos and trying to polish on-air presentation skills.

P.S. Love the content!

It's not a "shtick" - I'm just being myself.

If you don't like it, you're at the wrong place.

I don't even know what you mean by "shtick" - I've seen so many critiques this week from so many people who don't even bother to explain what they're talking about.

As for polishing my "on-air presentation skills" - do you have a site I can visit? A book to describe how? A set of motivational DVDs I can buy? An informative pamphlet?

I'm assuming that you know a thing or two since you're questioning my skills.

posted by Rory

Re: Microsoft Research TechFest - Technology on the Wall

Rory — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:53:19 GMT

NETallica wrote:

Actually, this is my personal request and it's not related to the topic. I understand that C9 is the site with tech resources for the developers around the world. Some of us might not catch all the words from the videos here.

Yeah.

Thanks.

I give you a 1/9 for tact.

(What is it with people lately?)

posted by Rory

Re: Microsoft Research TechFest - Technology on the Wall

Rory — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:52:18 GMT

Massif wrote:

While these are all cool ideas, it seems unlikely that people will want to buy into them.

Yeah... but that's one of the points of TechFest and MSR.

Bits and pieces of the research will make its way into projects. I don't know if any MSR stuff goes straight from project to product.

It's kind of like going to a car show and seeing all the concept cars. Nobody's ever going to buy them as they are (except as collector's items). They're just examples of what the future might hold.

There'll be a time when installing a picture frame like the one shown will be just as easy as hanging a regular mirror.

Actually, that particular bit of tech would be just as easy to hang. It takes its own photos, so all you'd have to do is hang it and plug it in.

Not too hard.

As for the other things... it's true that digital picture frames are mostly only popular among geeks right now, but the same can be said of the PC in the 80s, of the internet in the 90s, and so on.

Every tech has its early adopters.

TechFest exists to exhibit what even the early adopters can't buy (yet). It's just supposed to make you feel happy and warm inside...

posted by Rory