Wired tells us all about WiFi 6, soon to be seen on a network near you!

Wired tells us all about WiFi 6, soon to be seen on a network near you!

This is an interesting article from Wired magazine, and it is interesting that Wired thinks it will be here soon.

https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-wi-fi-6/

Audio Podcast of Ross Finman of Niantic Labs, the creators of Pokémon Go.

Audio Podcast of Ross Finman of Niantic Labs, the creators of Pokémon Go.

The VR/AR Association Podcast staff interviews Ross Finman regarding the most successful AR game.

https://www.thevrara.com/podcast-posts/rossfinman

He was a good at destroying, as he was at creating. Here are 5 projects Steve Job shut down.

He was a good at destroying, as he was at creating. Here are 5 projects Steve Job shut down.

He never let failures stop his quest for better products. And Apple definite killed some strange products over the years.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/08/five-apple-products-steve-jobs-killed-for-the-good-of-the-company/

DCVR in VA is starting up after the Summer Hiatus by Showcasing a couple local developers.

DCVR in VA is starting up after the Summer Hiatus by Showcasing a couple local developers.

Reed Seal-Foss of Infinite Monkey will show off his first published Oculus Quest game, while Bruce Wyman of 3D Me will demo full body 3D scanners.

https://www.meetup.com/DCimmersive/events/264354531/

Excellent comparison of Combine (Apple’s declarative Swift API) vs RxSwift (existing mature reactive programming library for iOS).

Excellent comparison of Combine (Apple’s declarative Swift API) vs RxSwift (existing mature reactive programming library for iOS).

Stefan Kofler of QuickBird Studio breaks it down, with some interesting conclusions.

https://quickbirdstudios.com/blog/combine-vs-rxswift/

If you know Swift &. iOS, should you learn Kotlin & Android? You might be surprise of the reason is Yes.

If you know Swift &. iOS, should you learn Kotlin & Android? You might be surprise of the reason is Yes.

What I like about this article by Mike Apostolakis is that he comes at it, not from a technical standpoint, but also from a business one.

https://medium.com/essential-developer-ios/should-ios-devs-learn-kotlin-or-other-programming-languages-f19ecb28033a

BCI, Brain Computer Interfaces, are not long exclusively the domain of SciFi. People are really creating them

BCI, Brain Computer Interfaces, are not long exclusively the domain of SciFi. People are really creating them.

Alexandre Gonfalonieri breaks down the real research being done in connecting your mind to the computer directly.

https://towardsdatascience.com/a-beginners-guide-to-brain-computer-interface-and-convolutional-neural-networks-9f35bd4af948

Simple videos library showing the Evolution of the Strategy computer games over the years.

Simple videos library showing the Evolution of the Strategy computer games over the years.

Thanks to SergiuHellDragoonHQ for showing us the past. I especially like the Evolution of REAL TIME STRATEGY Games (1979 - 2020).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWrIqGszZr5lkTBhd-6vKp8uY8rQDZPpD

Direct linke to Evolution of REAL TIME STRATEGY Games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEXKZ-dzZJI

You would think that something as simple as Time would have been done well. It is not simple when you add Timezones!

You would think that something as simple as Time would have been done well. It is not simple when you add Timezones!

Tom Scott has become a champion of explaining computer concepts well. I recommend his twitter and YouTube channels!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wpm-gesOY

Tom Scott’s own YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBa659QWEk1AI4Tg--mrJ2A

Tom Scott's twitter: https://twitter.com/tomscott

In 1990, Author Douglas Adams dreamed what the future of computers would be, the result was the BBC film “Hyperland”.

In 1990, Author Douglas Adams dreamed what the future of computers would be, the result was the BBC film “Hyperland”.

Pre WWW, pre modern VR, it is still interesting what he got right, and what he got wrong.

https://archive.org/details/DouglasAdams-Hyperland

ps. Yes, that is the 4th Doctor.  

More Details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperland

Can we admit that Core Data has not been a success, and ask Apple to given us a better solution?

Can we admit that Core Data has not been a success, and ask Apple to given us a better solution?

Another of my “Dear Apple” articles on Medium, intended to point out area for Cupertino to improve in the Apple ecosystem.

https://medium.com/@magesteve/dear-apple-we-need-a-replacement-for-core-data-320df019487e

DC Regions conference for Gov, Corporate & Startup Leaders in VR/AR/Mixed Reality on Sept 17-18.

DC Regions conference for Gov, Corporate & Startup Leaders in VR/AR/Mixed Reality on Sept 17-18.

Organized by University of MD (among others), this gathering has impressive lineup of speakers.

https://mavricconference.umd.edu

My friends at Capital Interactive explain how well suited VR is for Education.

My friends at Capital Interactive explain how well suited VR is for Education.

“interactive experience takes passive information and brings it to life”. The line explains it all!

http://www.capitol-interactive.com/blog/2019/8/13/abeginnersguidetovrandeducation

The overly successful iPhone was not Apple first mobile device, enter the equally unsuccessful Newton.

The overly successful iPhone was not Apple first mobile device, enter the equally unsuccessful Newton.

Pen Computing Magazine presents a detailed biopsy of Apples 1st PDA.

http://www.pencomputing.com/frames/newton_obituary.html

ps. I have one, if you ever want to see it.

According to Michael Long, SwiftUI announcement at WWDC show the future, but it invalidates your past knowledge.

According to Michael Long, SwiftUI announcement at WWDC show the future, but it invalidates your past knowledge.

This is not new.  If you are not constantly learning new tech, you are falling badly behind. Anyone still programming in Fortran?

https://medium.com/swlh/are-you-an-ios-x-expert-81eb9da3623a

Absolute best description of how a Machine Learning algorithm (in this case, t-SNE) can be used.

Absolute best description of how a Machine Learning algorithm (in this case, t-SNE) can be used.

From the Big Picture group at Google, you can see with enough data, you can make associations and calculations, without programming exact details.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsE8jm1GzE

Author Stephen Bungay would have us explore well known myths about strategic thinking. When they are true, and why they usually aren’t.

Author Stephen Bungay would have us explore well known myths about strategic thinking. When they are true, and why they usually aren’t.

Not exactly a techie subject, but it definitely can apply to the tech industry and tech development.  Question the myths!

https://hbr.org/2019/04/5-myths-about-strategy

We are back full circle. The company Filemaker, original an Apple spinoff called Claris, has rebranded themselves back to Claris.

We are back full circle. The company Filemaker, original an Apple spinoff called Claris, has rebranded themselves back to Claris.

At their annual DevCon, Filemaker (developer of Filemaker) made several announcements, including an odd name change.

https://appdevelopermagazine.com/apple-subsidiary-filemaker-rebrands-as-claris/

One question, why?!?!

Git, the source repository of choice, keeps getting better.

Git, the source repository of choice, keeps getting better.

People should learn more than just basic Commit/Push commands, this article helps.

https://increment.com/open-source/more-productive-git/

Manish Patel of DZone discusses the 7 major Kotlin libraries, and how to choose the right one.

Manish Patel of DZone discusses the 7 major Kotlin libraries, and how to choose the right one.

Kotlin has replace Java as the preferred Java language, so these libraries help a lot.

https://dzone.com/articles/7-kotlin-libraries-that-will-help-android-develope

A bit of history, sometimes you can learn more from failures than success. Case in point, Microsoft Kin.

A bit of history, sometimes you can learn more from failures than success. Case in point, Microsoft Kin.

$1 Billion R&D cost, on the market for 2 months, and a UI even the design team thought was terrible, few MS projects were bigger failures.

https://www.engadget.com/2010/07/02/life-and-death-of-microsoft-kin-the-inside-story/

Why do telephones go 123/456/789 while keypads go 789/456/123?

Why do telephones go 123/456/789 while keypads go 789/456/123?

Francesco Bertelli gives us some history on this, along with some thoughts on why UI designs happen.

https://uxdesign.cc/a-brief-history-of-the-numeric-keypad-59112cbf4c49

Something a bit different for Friday's Tech Blog: “Iteration 1”.

Something a bit different for Friday's Tech Blog: “Iteration 1”. 

A short SciFi film on the Dust Youtube Channel. Half way through (SPOILER), I realized the women was experience a live action version of a metaheuristic, genetic algorithm, with the woman representing a computer solution. I will never code another one again, without thinking about the codes point of view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c53fGdK84rc

Running PushKit VoIP API in the background has become a security issue, that Apple will patch in iOS 13.

Running PushKit VoIP API in the background has become a security issue, that Apple will patch in iOS 13.

Apps using these APIs (ex. Facebook) will have to change their code, and possible limit their features.

https://www.macobserver.com/news/ios-13-voip-rules/

Eye Tracking VR/AR may soon be here, at least at Oculus.

Eye Tracking VR/AR may soon be here, at least at Oculus.

Recent job posting by Facebook indicates this non-mainstream feature may soon be here.  There has been a lot of talk on the futuristic possibilities for UI, when it is readily available.

https://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-job-listing-eye-tracking-ar-vr/amp/

Future iPhone may support Apple Pen, according to Citi Research.

Future iPhone may support Apple Pen, according to Citi Research.

I agree with Steve Job’s sentiment that using your fingers is better than requiring a stylus for a PDA, however for some uses, Pen is much better.

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-11-will-support-apple-pencil-says-analyst

Swift Combine, introduced at WWDC, may turn out to be the most important technology from Apple this year.

Swift Combine, introduced at WWDC, may turn out to be the most important technology from Apple this year.

Antoine Van Der Lee offers hands on instruction on getting started with this declarative Swift API for processing values over time.

https://www.avanderlee.com/swift/combine/

Wayback VR is creating VR experience explicitly for designed for those living with dementia, to bring back memories of their lives.

Wayback VR is creating VR experience explicitly for designed for those living with dementia, to bring back memories of their lives.

So far, they have created VR experience for 1953 Queen’s Coronation, and have plans for 1966 World Cup & Apollo landing.

https://thewaybackvr.com

We do have someone trying to track Game Design Patterns, Robert Nystrom, author of “Game Programming Patterns”

We do have someone trying to track Game Design Patterns, Robert Nystrom, author of “Game Programming Patterns”

A few weeks back, I stated we need to compile list of design patterns for games.  Robert writing are a start for this!

https://gameprogrammingpatterns.com

ps. Be sure to check out his fee online web version.

Most of my friends know I was at AOL in the very early days. This video on the history of AOL, rise and falls, is fairly accurate.

Most of my friends know I was at AOL in the very early days. This video on the history of AOL, rise and falls, is fairly accurate.

It leaves out some of the specific details, that had major impacts, but does hit the major ups and downs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjwVim_EuDo

Excellent article by Michal Langmajer describing the 10 general principles for interaction design.

Excellent article by Michal Langmajer describing the 10 general principles for interaction design.

I especially like how Michal applies the principles, set forth by Jakob Nielsen 25 years ago, toward modern mobile UIs.

https://uxdesign.cc/10-usability-heuristics-every-designer-should-know-129b9779ac53