TylerHorton.com

Here we have another lame non-post claiming that I’ve been to busy to write about anything exciting.  Wasn’t last week (eventually) cool, though?  Didn’t you like the fractal program?

No…you didn’t?

:(

Fine.  I’ll optimize it.  Provide source code.  Add more features.  Improve rendering.  Support deeper searching.  Will that make you happy?  You think I’ll never do it!  You’re probably right but there’s no reason to say it out loud.  That’s how people’s feelings get hurt.

That and having no one actually read their blogs.

I’m feeling a lot better than I was last week, but I’m running behind schedule making up for lost productivity.  I’ll try and post something exciting tomorrow or the next day.  If all else fails, next week there will be a double post.

I promised way back when that I would provide all of my nonexistent loyal readers with a link to the thesis I submitted “in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” You can click the previous link for direct access to the PDF document (requires Adobe Reader) or you can use DSpace from MIT Libraries. Here’s part of the summary just to wet your whistle:

SKINNI: The Smart Kiosk Information Navigation and Note-posting Interface

SKINNI is an application that allows users to access, annotate, and share contextually relevant information from smart digital kiosks in public spaces. These platforms will not only enable information exchange from public spaces, but will also support more complex tasks like enterprise integration, informal collaboration, and public need servicing. To test the effectiveness of our system, we deployed SKINNI on four kiosks throughout MIT CSAIL. Usage statistics that we have gathered suggest that SKINNI has been well-received by both lab members and visitors. In short, SKINNI has contributed to the utility of ubiquitous computing in transitional spaces like elevator lobbies, hallways, and lounges.

…about the weather. I am typing with my office window open because the weather is too good to pass up. So why am I ranting? Look carefully at the date of this post and realize that I do not live in Death Valley, but it is still almost 60 °F (15 °C) in winter. Yes, I know that winter doesn’t technically begin for a few more days, but with only 14 days left in 2006, my Massachusetts home has not seen any snow.  This is highly unusual, as I have lived outside of Boston long enough to know that you should start carrying rocksalt and a snowbrush in the trunk of your car starting in late October.

I’ve been meaning to post about this pattern of high temperatures for a while now, but I’ve been too lazy and busy (yes, I can be both) that I figured I’d miss the window of opportunity.  I didn’t want to write in a couple of weeks when we probably will get a blizzard, “Hey, remember back in December when it was warm still?”  However, the local news meteorologists think that this will really be the end of our Indian summer, so I decided not to put off ranting any longer.

Now the flipside of my rant—I hate cold weather.  I know I just spent the last two paragraphs explaining that it is unseasonably warm in MA, but this is New England and it should be cold here now.  That doesn’t mean I have to like it.  I have come to accept that I live somewhere that frequently receives many feet of snow accumulation over the course of the winter (which is normally October-April here) and that’s the way it should be.  I’d probably rather live in some place like California where the weather is supposedly idyllic at all times.  Maybe some other day I’ll go into a rant on why I don’t live in CA (though I was born there).

Anyway, isn’t the weather something people talk about when they have nothing to say?  Oh right…it’s a blog.  Well, I’m sure I’ll continue to not say anything here for a while longer.  Maybe I’d post some more rants (or other content) if I thought anyone was actually reading this.  There is currently 1 registered user for my blog (besides me) and it isn’t even anyone I know.  I think it is just someone else named Tyler Horton who was googling his name and found my site.  Good for him, shame on the rest of you.  Mom, don’t you even read my blog?  It’s a sad day on the interblag when a lonely geek can’t even get his mom to read his inconsequential rants.

Happy Halloween everybody! I’ve been lax with posting recently (only one other this month), but at least I’ll make up for it with some cool pictures. These are the jack o’ lanterns that I carved last year (geek-ghost) and this year (meta-pumpkin). Any blurriness is clearly the fault of my camera, not from me having a case of the shakes

I’m not looking for handouts or anything (though I’d probably take them), but I’ve been working really hard recently on fine-tuning the Konphormity website. It would mean a lot if you would visit it and buy a HexaCheckers board. Even if you don’t want to buy anything, I still appreciate comments on what I’ve done. Drop me a line (tyler@tylerhorton.com) and let me know what you think.

I’m writing this entry as I sit in my family room. I guess the name is appropriate, since my family (well, the parental units at least) are visiting this weekend. My mom is currently feeding half of her roast beef sandwhich to my cats. I should probably yell at her to stop.

She gave me a dirty look

Anyway…if you want to get a better idea of my sense of humor, you should watch the Ultimate Showdown music video. I forced my parents to watch it but they didn’t appreciate it. I probably should’ve known. If you watch the video from this link, post a comment letting me know what you think. I didn’t have anything to do with the creation of the animation or the music, but it’s the kind of thing that I really dig. Maybe I should add a page with links to some other funny/interesting things I’ve run across online…

Yesterday, I was on campus representing my employer (Oracle) at the MIT Career Fair. I’m pretty sure that it’s our corporate policy not to blog about any specifics, so I won’t. What I can say (because it’s publicly accessible knowledge) is that we were Platinum sponsors this year, along with Microsoft and Vecna.

All in all, the event went well. It was nice to have room to spread out at our booth rather than crowding into the gym like previous times. I saw a lot of former classmates at the fair. Mostly, they were members of AIRE (a.k.a. The Intelligent Room project) that have either graduated and were representing other companies or current students working on their PhDs. I also ran into a few friends from NJGSS.

After the carer fair I went back to my old lab to chat with my M.Eng. Thesis advisor, Howie Shrobe. Speaking of my thesis, I’ll include a link to it here in the near future. I can’t imagine there are many people who want to read about my interactive kiosk network, but if you are you’ll have your chance soon.

OK, so after visiting lab I stopped by the COOP to talk to the General Manger about stocking HexaCheckers there. Kind of a whim, but it turned out to be a good one since they are going to purchase 20 boards to sell there. I know it’s small, but I think it is a very encouraging start!

Actually, today marks the 5-year anniversary of my addiction to CNN. Ever since the day after 9.11.01, I have been unable to start my day without checking CNN to get the latest news. My addiction is so bad that I refuse to switch to cheaper cable packages if they don’t carry the Cable News Network. Well, I also wouldn’t want to lose Comedy Central, my source for fake news (The Daily Show and The Colbert Report).

Of course, CNN (and Comedy Central) aren’t my only sources for news. For local news, I turn to Fox25, a good place to get weather, traffic, etc. My geek news mainly comes from Slashdot (which I’m also addicted to). Finally, my Nine Inch Nails news comes from the only place on the NINternet worth visiting on a regular basis, The NIN Hotline. Oh yeah, I occassionally check out places like BBC, digg, and Google News too.

Speaking of news…I’ve got nothing.

Well, there is one thing, but it’s rough right now. I uploaded a pre-release (so why am I telling you about it?) version of HexaCheckers to a “secret” temporary location. All you have to do is click this link and it should automatically launch. If you have any trouble with the link, leave a post here letting my know what’s wrong and I’ll try to fix it. Currently, there are two main flaws:

1. No rules are provided. You already have to know how to play or figure it out as you go.
2. The automatic launching won’t work on a Mac. If you have a Mac, you’ll have to wait until I make available another “secret” link that works for you. Sorry.

Like I said, it’s rough. It’s only version 0.8 right now. By the time it is 1.0 (hopefully by the end of this month) it’ll have some more features…like rules. As always, feedback is appreciated.

I promised some content and now you’ve got it. The “About” page now includes a brief autobiography. The “Resumé” page has been added with three different formats available. I added links to some of my side projects, Konphormity and A HiDDEN voIce. I also fiddled with the layout/theme a bit more, but I guess that doesn’t count as content. Anyway, there’s more to come. Stay tuned.