waving android

I am currently a software engineer at Google, where as a member of the Android platform team I build frameworks and user interfaces.

The blog here at is mostly historical; you can find more recent posts on .

Archive for July, 2006

“Be Amazed.”

July 31st, 2006

At MacWorld San Francisco, you can hear about Aperture from one of the guys who designed it!

Vancouver.

July 29th, 2006

I’ll be in Vancouver all next week for USENIX Security. No, I don’t have a paper or a demo; the first Electronic Voting Technology workshop is contiguous and co-located, so my advisor and I are attending the whole week. The ACCURATE group will also be getting together to share ideas and WIP.

Of course, you gentle readers won’t really notice, since my writing here has been so erratic and sparse of late. Even E has been better about updating over the last few weeks.

I don’t think I’ll bring a proper camera (as my advisor will most certainly have his vastly superior photographic equipment on hand), but I’ll have my phone, so you may see some photos appear over here from time to time.

I’ll leave you with this excellent little exchange from last night, as Glenn and I discuss the prospect of catching a midnight screening of The Wrath of Khan at the Drafthouse.

Glenn: OK, here, let me set the stage. [pauses, gathering strength.] I’ve done far worse than kill you. I’ve hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me…as you left her: marooned for all eternity…at the center of a dead planet. Buried alive…buried alive.

Dan: Uh, wow. That’s really impressive.

Glenn: Well, I’ve watched the movie since I was four!

Dan: Well, yeah, me too. Just…not continuously.

Human Computation

July 28th, 2006

Prof. Luis von Ahn’s Google TechTalk, 7/26/06, on harnessing the computational power of humans.

Cuckoo.

July 19th, 2006

There’s a new toastycode product out today: Cuckoo brings customizable hourly chimes to your Mac. Mac OS X supports speaking the time on the hour using text-to-speech, but there’s no way to just play a simple sound on the hour. Cuckoo will play your choice of sound on the hour, or at any five-minute mark (:05, :10, etc.). You can decrease the volume of the chime relative to your other system sounds, allowing a little subtlety (should you want it).

Basic usage (an hourly chime from the built-in sound set) is free; advanced features cost a measly $6. As usual, please send in your suggestions and bug reports.

The Prestige

July 18th, 2006


Naturally, I am conflicted about about The Prestige (for which there is now a trailer for your viewing enjoyment). On the one hand, the cast and director simply cannot be beat. On the other hand, does this mean there won’t be any interest in a film version of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell?

Brenda

July 17th, 2006

You may have noticed that we had a cute kitten living in our parking area.

Well, no more. She’s moved in with our cool neighbors!

NYC rediscovers the boarding house

July 13th, 2006

NYT: Out of College, but Now Living in Urban Dorms.

This month, Ms. Cook is moving in. The woman on the phone, Karen Falcon (not a mass murderer), calls the building “a dorm for adults.??? It is a community of the overeducated and underpaid.

There is nothing new about having roommates in New York City. What Ms. Falcon has invented is a full-service dorm, full of strangers she has brought together to share big apartments as a way to keep housing costs down. Her approach is a homegrown response to the soaring rents bedeviling desirable cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

How is this different from a 19th-century London boarding house?

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