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Archive for June, 2010

funhouse and the big top

Jun 11

Posted by kiki in programming | Comments off

As I type this I’m over at FUNHouse central with Dimos. It’s been a while since we were able to work on things together, in person. Usually we work a lot over email and lunchtime talks; it’ll be good to sit and jam together.

It’s been an interesting week. I’ve been tasked with doing research on cloth simming, or rather not simming, which is about all I can say. However, I can say that it’s been an interesting challenge and has helped me to better understand some of the more esoteric corners of Maya Dynamics.

Work aside, the G20 meet up has the entire city by the balls. The trains are shutting down due to bomb threats, and a number of people at the office have been ID’d on the way in by the some of the hundreds of cops patrolling the downtown core. The whole thing is a mess. Lots of downtown businesses are losing money because of forced shutdowns. Even my office is shutting for friday because the building is getting boarded up.

It’s strange to me… I can’t quite follow the logic on violent protests for something like this. Regardless of what’s being discussed, I can’t imagine any topics are worthy of that kind of response.

Anyway, to work with us!

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iPad madness

Jun 9

Posted by kiki in iphone, life | Comments off

Well, I went and did it. Today at lunch I bought the 32GB wifi iPad.

I initially meant to ignore the iPad entirely, then only gave it passing thoughts as a possible development target for games and products. (I have a really great app idea for photography that I may still attempt seeing as nobody else on the app store has released anything in the category of note!) But I didn’t see myself using one, or even really wanting one. I already have an iPhone; why would I need a bigger one?

What changed is that one of the other gear heads at work, Jordan, not only had the audacity to go out and buy one, but also let me touch it. You hear a lot of talk about how once you’ve held the iPad things are different, but you really can’t appreciate that fact until you’ve held one for yourself. Jobs said that the development of the iPhone was just a stepping stone on the way to this, and seeing the differences between the two platforms I completely understand why this was the end game and not the phone.

For starters, even knowing the dimensions I was surprised at how small it is. I’d been expecting something much more massive; the ads on busses and billboards make it look like its the size of a fat magazine, so regardless of knowing that it has a ten inch screen I still thought it would be too large to be useful. Boy was I wrong. Maybe it’s that I have big hands, but I don’t think I’ve ever owned another device that was so comfortable. Even typing on it is great in landscape mode (this post coming to you from the WordPress iPad app). It took me a minute to find the right spot for it to sit (which seems to be balanced on my lap despite the perfectly good desk in front of me), but because the keyboard and system are just an extension of the iOS and since I’ve been an iPhone user for nearly two years, there was almost no learning curve. Although, I do like that there’s an actual undo key. I will admit I shook the pad a few times before I found it.

Right now the only thing I’m missing is WriteRoom. I hope that iPad app comes out soon. The prices on a lot of the “HD” versions of apps I use are pretty up there (Cultured Code must be insane if they think I’m giving them another $20 on top of what I’ve already paid them for Things and Things iPhone), but enough of my backup apps have become universal that I don’t think I’ll miss them all that much.

Maybe I’ll do another writeup in a month or so, but as of this minute, a few hours in, I have to say I am absolutely in love with this piece of kit. Next stop: Ableton Live + Touch OSC?

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