I love being able to check my e-mail on my smartphone. It is very handy and useful when I am out and about. I can instantly check to see if there are any important messages that need attention while at the grocery store or even at Disneyland. However I much prefer to do e-mail on my laptop or desktop computer. There is something nice about being able to type on a full-size keyboard.
My day was spent in a very important meeting with other parts of my company and it was nice to have my laptop that I could pull out to read e-mail. Sure I could have used my phone but since I had my laptop, I used it. One of my colleagues from New York wasn't so lucky. Her Windows laptop inexplicably died and so she was stuck using her phone. At lunch she turned her laptop into our IT department and they started working on it. At the end of the day I found her wandering around trying to find our IT department so she could pick it back up. I walked with her to their lab and we found the guys still trying to bring her computer back from the dead. Unfortunately they were not done.
My colleague was happy that they were helping her and she told them that she would just try and use her phone to deal with the 225 or so unread e-mail messages. They worked some magic and gave her a loaner laptop complete with her e-mail loaded onto it. She was so happy not to be relegated to her tiny on-screen keyboard for the evening. I have to say I was happy our IT department could set her up with a loaner laptop so quickly. After all, 10 e-mail messages is about my limit on a phone, then I run the risk of destroying it out of frustration.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Friday, March 13, 2015
An App for Disneyland
I just got back from a two-day vacation in Disneyland. My youngest daughter who is now 20 wanted to spend a couple of days there and so my wife and I joined her. Our oldest daughter didn't want to miss out on the fun and joined us with her husband. It was the first time for him and so we wanted to make it a memorable experience. Memorable in a happy way, I might add.
Normally I am not a fan of smartphone usage while on vacation. However my wife had the Disneyland Magic Guide on her phone and we used it throughout our stay. This past week must have been maintenance time at the park because several of the key rides were out of service and a number of others kept breaking down. We could quickly look at the app and see if our next intended destination was working, had a short line, or should be avoided.
Disneyland is notorious for overestimating wait times and so we always waited less than the app reported. It only took a few times to figure that out and we were able to have a pleasantly memorable experience in the Happiest Place on Earth.
For some reason my wife was able to get the app for free. I think it is because she installed it several years ago before they started charging for it. When I went to put it on my phone, they wanted $3.99 for it. If you don't mind wandering aimlessly around, then don't spend the money. If you enjoy working hard to plan a spontaneous vacation, then four bucks will be well spent. It will also be the cheapest part of your Disneyland trip.
Normally I am not a fan of smartphone usage while on vacation. However my wife had the Disneyland Magic Guide on her phone and we used it throughout our stay. This past week must have been maintenance time at the park because several of the key rides were out of service and a number of others kept breaking down. We could quickly look at the app and see if our next intended destination was working, had a short line, or should be avoided.
Disneyland is notorious for overestimating wait times and so we always waited less than the app reported. It only took a few times to figure that out and we were able to have a pleasantly memorable experience in the Happiest Place on Earth.
For some reason my wife was able to get the app for free. I think it is because she installed it several years ago before they started charging for it. When I went to put it on my phone, they wanted $3.99 for it. If you don't mind wandering aimlessly around, then don't spend the money. If you enjoy working hard to plan a spontaneous vacation, then four bucks will be well spent. It will also be the cheapest part of your Disneyland trip.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Video Game Algorithms
Recently I have felt the need to do a bit more software development and so this evening I pulled out the code for a game I have been writing. Yes it is taking me a long time to write this game but it is the journey I am more interested in than the destination. I need to create an algorithm that allows a bad guy to hunt down the player. It looks so easy to do graphically but is much more difficult as I try to think out the steps so I can translate them into computer code.
I threw together something simple and then discovered that it doesn't work very well. When the player gets close to the edge of the screen, the program gets stuck in an infinite loop. I know the cause and so I am having to create a more complex algorithm. Not only do I have to check if the bad guy is close enough to the player to see him, I also have to check to make sure I don't try to run off the board or through an object on that is supposed to be a barrier.
When I learned how to write computer programs in high school, my teacher taught me to pull out a scratch sheet of paper and step through the algorithm development process. So that is what I find myself doing this evening. I have a notepad with X's (the player) and O's (the bad guy). Then there are arrows showing player movement with the bad guy chasing him down. I am making progress but not nearly as quickly as I had hoped. I do have to admit it is an interesting algorithm I am trying to develop though. One that can be used for a number of video game situations. Unfortunately I had to wake up too early this morning to catch my flight from home to the Bay Area and so I am finding it hard to concentrate. Perhaps I will have more luck tomorrow.
I threw together something simple and then discovered that it doesn't work very well. When the player gets close to the edge of the screen, the program gets stuck in an infinite loop. I know the cause and so I am having to create a more complex algorithm. Not only do I have to check if the bad guy is close enough to the player to see him, I also have to check to make sure I don't try to run off the board or through an object on that is supposed to be a barrier.
When I learned how to write computer programs in high school, my teacher taught me to pull out a scratch sheet of paper and step through the algorithm development process. So that is what I find myself doing this evening. I have a notepad with X's (the player) and O's (the bad guy). Then there are arrows showing player movement with the bad guy chasing him down. I am making progress but not nearly as quickly as I had hoped. I do have to admit it is an interesting algorithm I am trying to develop though. One that can be used for a number of video game situations. Unfortunately I had to wake up too early this morning to catch my flight from home to the Bay Area and so I am finding it hard to concentrate. Perhaps I will have more luck tomorrow.
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