I've been toying witht he FreeTrack program and I must say it is very good. Considering that TrackIRs cost almost $200US with a headset clip is really outrageous. I went and picked up a $40 webcam and some parts to build one for myself. My goal was to see how fast I can put one together so that I can get my friends to use it at merely the cost of a webcam.So far I found these IR LEDs from Marlin P Jones Online work better than any others I tried (including RadioShacks)http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16798+OPI paired them in combo with a 1/4A 47Ohm resistor and they work awesome. Now if I could only get my camera FOV increased....Anyways, I documented my construction technique and I wish I would have taken a photo of the LED assembly before it w ... Read More »
I've been toying witht he FreeTrack program and I must say it is very good. Considering that TrackIRs cost almost $200US with a headset clip is really outrageous. I went and picked up a $40 webcam and some parts to build one for myself. My goal was to see how fast I can put one together so that I can get my friends to use it at merely the cost of a webcam.
So far I found these IR LEDs from Marlin P Jones Online work better than any others I tried (including RadioShacks)
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16798+OP
I paired them in combo with a 1/4A 47Ohm resistor and they work awesome. Now if I could only get my camera FOV increased....
Anyways, I documented my construction technique and I wish I would have taken a photo of the LED assembly before it w ...
I remember the days of line-by-line programming in BASIC. So for me, the introduction to Visual Studio as an IDE when I started work in C# was like going from horse carriages to spaceships.Now, I am tasking myself in creating a full-blown IDE for a game (sim) called Armed Assault. Usually, games only seriously interest me when they have one of two (or both) qualities: A) good editing capability to extend the entertainment beyond the original program's design B) good simulation of real-life problems. Now, the latter sounds very broad and very “realistic”, but that is not my intention. Not many games/simulations properly reflect a decision system which mimics the dynamics of real life. I could dive into a huge pit of discussion about how ineffectual I think realistic strategy games (like chess or modern day computer strategy games) can be, but I won’t! ;)No, the focus was a ... Read More »
I remember the days of line-by-line programming in BASIC. So for me, the introduction to Visual Studio as an IDE when I started work in C# was like going from horse carriages to spaceships.
Now, I am tasking myself in creating a full-blown IDE for a game (sim) called Armed Assault. Usually, games only seriously interest me when they have one of two (or both) qualities: A) good editing capability to extend the entertainment beyond the original program's design B) good simulation of real-life problems. Now, the latter sounds very broad and very “realistic”, but that is not my intention. Not many games/simulations properly reflect a decision system which mimics the dynamics of real life. I could dive into a huge pit of discussion about how ineffectual I think realistic strategy games (like chess or modern day computer strategy games) can be, but I won’t! ;)
No, the focus was a ...
I've been currently working on getting one database syncronized with another. The task is hard to maintain two databases, so I thought about another way to approach the problem. Since everything eventually gets down to business logic, why maintain two databases? For reference purposes, one database is MS SQL and contains everything important for our main application. The other one is provided by a third-party via a Linux box running MySQL. Well, I would connect via ODBC and Read/Write data to the MS SQL Database for ease of programming (less ODBC drivers to handle on 30+ PCs). You may ask why I did such a thing? Well, the ODBC drivers are unreliable and as I found out, don't even work with Vista. So our client PCs would have been screwed if they relied on those drivers. Our one server, however, managed just fine so it did all the work for the clients.Enter Web Services and XML.The server, rather than updating a client database, now retrieves rows and ... Read More »
I've been currently working on getting one database syncronized with another. The task is hard to maintain two databases, so I thought about another way to approach the problem. Since everything eventually gets down to business logic, why maintain two databases? For reference purposes, one database is MS SQL and contains everything important for our main application. The other one is provided by a third-party via a Linux box running MySQL. Well, I would connect via ODBC and Read/Write data to the MS SQL Database for ease of programming (less ODBC drivers to handle on 30+ PCs). You may ask why I did such a thing? Well, the ODBC drivers are unreliable and as I found out, don't even work with Vista. So our client PCs would have been screwed if they relied on those drivers. Our one server, however, managed just fine so it did all the work for the clients.
Enter Web Services and XML.
The server, rather than updating a client database, now retrieves rows and ...
I hate to be so blatant and cruel, but it's the little things that hurt. MS Office 2007 (like previous versions) is full of them. They spent 4 years between Office 2003 and Office 2007 and you STILL cannot print a label or envelope without going through 14 billion clicks. Even so, making one label versus a dozen or so labels is an entirely different process???I am TRYING very hard to convince our sales department that Business Contact Manager is Good, Act is bad, and MS CRM is too expensive. The whole time it is blowing up in my face. The only real problem here is that even if I bailed and went with current version of Act!, it would STILL blow up in my face. I just figure Office is easier to control. Seriously, how can you develop a Business contact manager software package and NOT include the ability to write a contact a letter.... seriously... it's beyond stupid.And if you are thinking of proclaiming "Go to Open Office, it is better a ... Read More »
I hate to be so blatant and cruel, but it's the little things that hurt. MS Office 2007 (like previous versions) is full of them. They spent 4 years between Office 2003 and Office 2007 and you STILL cannot print a label or envelope without going through 14 billion clicks. Even so, making one label versus a dozen or so labels is an entirely different process???
I am TRYING very hard to convince our sales department that Business Contact Manager is Good, Act is bad, and MS CRM is too expensive. The whole time it is blowing up in my face. The only real problem here is that even if I bailed and went with current version of Act!, it would STILL blow up in my face. I just figure Office is easier to control. Seriously, how can you develop a Business contact manager software package and NOT include the ability to write a contact a letter.... seriously... it's beyond stupid.
And if you are thinking of proclaiming "Go to Open Office, it is better a ...
I just finished reading several studies done in regards to individuality versus collectivism of Chinese natives, Chinese immigrants, and European non-immigrants. There was an emerging pattern of difference between immigrants and Chinese natives. The hypothesis stated that Chinese natives were more collectivistic than immigrants and that non-immigrants were the least collectivistic. It was revealed the hypothesis was completely false and there were very interesting patterns. One pattern which I noted was that immigrants were typically more collectivistic than Chinese natives and that a possible reason might be the lack of friends and family in a strange country might induce more collectivistic behavior. Alot of stereotypes are usually based on immigrant perception. This is mostly due to the fact that immigrants are like a first impression for most people. It is not like an entire nation can visit the native areas to deduce stereot ... Read More »
I just finished reading several studies done in regards to individuality versus collectivism of Chinese natives, Chinese immigrants, and European non-immigrants. There was an emerging pattern of difference between immigrants and Chinese natives. The hypothesis stated that Chinese natives were more collectivistic than immigrants and that non-immigrants were the least collectivistic. It was revealed the hypothesis was completely false and there were very interesting patterns. One pattern which I noted was that immigrants were typically more collectivistic than Chinese natives and that a possible reason might be the lack of friends and family in a strange country might induce more collectivistic behavior. Alot of stereotypes are usually based on immigrant perception. This is mostly due to the fact that immigrants are like a first impression for most people. It is not like an entire nation can visit the native areas to deduce stereot ...
This is partially a rant and partially a duck. It's like that odd animal with a duck-bill and looks like a beaver... what was that again? oh yeah.. Dana Carvey.Ok back to my rant.... as a software programmer, I get alot of UI questions. The most horrendous and annoying questions ever asked of me usually involve typing. For some reason, somewhere along the line, the idea of "typing" words into the computer became standardized somehow to include the following:ONLY CAPITAL LETTERSOccasional Missing VowlsExcessive - uses of the - dash instead of - oh I don't know - using perhaps a paranthesis - or a colon - or some other punctuation markIt might be that every person who works for my company types with two fingers. It might be the fact they have never heard that one can change a font size, shape, color, etc. Whatever the reason might be, it gives me great pain in my head reg ... Read More »
This is partially a rant and partially a duck. It's like that odd animal with a duck-bill and looks like a beaver... what was that again? oh yeah.. Dana Carvey.
Ok back to my rant.... as a software programmer, I get alot of UI questions. The most horrendous and annoying questions ever asked of me usually involve typing. For some reason, somewhere along the line, the idea of "typing" words into the computer became standardized somehow to include the following:
It might be that every person who works for my company types with two fingers. It might be the fact they have never heard that one can change a font size, shape, color, etc. Whatever the reason might be, it gives me great pain in my head reg ...