It has been a hell of a year for inventions, here is the best we saw.

It has been a hell of a year for inventions, here is the best we saw.

Popular Sciences is a great way of keeping up to date with What’s New in Tech.

https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/best-of-whats-new-2019/

Ps. Happy New Years

Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry is using Microsoft AR Tech.

Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry is using Microsoft AR Tech.

“The exhibition ‘Mont-Saint-Michel: Digital Perspectives on the Model’’ is an immersive, mixed-reality experience of the titular UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/microsoft-ar-vr-art-museum-1737159

How do you create a video of someone within a VR Game? Use LIV!

How do you create a video of someone within a VR Game? Use LIV!

This is a great tool to demo your VR game, by recording the experience, as well as video of a player within the virtual world. 

https://liv.tv

Webstore: https://store.steampowered.com/app/755540/LIV/

Tutorial Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAJSd12-VYQ

Another dwell into the past, prior to the Internet, we had Bulletin Board Systems.

Another dwell into the past, prior to the Internet, we had Bulletin Board Systems.

Benj Edwards and the Atlantic magazine reminds me of the days of acoustic modems and BBS’s,

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/11/the-lost-civilization-of-dial-up-bulletin-board-systems/506465/

It is not just year's end, it is the end of a decade, a very creative tech decade!

It is not just year's end, it is the end of a decade, a very creative tech decade!

Wired shows ten products that we didn’t have before, but can not live without now.

https://www.wired.com/story/top-10-tech-products-of-the-decade/

Continuing with the Tech & Christmas theme, Spacedock provides classified details on the “Kringle” Class Christmas Sleigh.

Continuing with the Tech & Christmas theme, Spacedock provides classified details on the “Kringle” Class Christmas Sleigh.

I have been a Patron of Spacedock for a while, they are an entertaining Youtube channel for all genres of Scifi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQJcM7KSJoU

ps. Happy Boxing Day!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

(No posting today, so I am heading back to play with my new tech toys…)

Combine Tech & Christmas Eve, and you get a Holiday Light Show. Here are the best for Northern Virginia.

Combine Tech & Christmas Eve, and you get a Holiday Light Show. Here are the best for Northern Virginia.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

https://patch.com/virginia/delray/guide-best-christmas-lights-northern-virginia-2019

Best in Maryland: https://patch.com/maryland/belair/best-maryland-holiday-lights-2019-maryland

A fair article from CNN discussing Apple’s legacy of pushing new Technologies, and User, before they are common.

A fair article from CNN discussing Apple’s legacy of pushing new Technologies, and User, before they are common.

Some failures, and a lot of successes. We will see which one Apple push for Wireless charging becomes.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/23/tech/apple-tech-history/index.html

Before Social Media, the Internet, & even AOL, there were BBS. All those thanks to Randy Suess.

Before Social Media, the Internet, & even AOL, there were BBS. All those thanks to Randy Suess.

Rand and Ward Christensen created the first dial-up (modem-based) system to log onto to leave messages for others to read and reply to.

It all started here!

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/technology/randy-suess-dead.html

As this article from Fast Company explains, before Slack, Facebook Messenger and iChat, the Internet had AIM.

As this article from Fast Company explains, before Slack, Facebook Messenger and iChat, the Internet had AIM.

The original America online Instant Messenger was designed to be open for all, something that not everyone wanted.

https://medium.com/fast-company/aim-was-the-killer-app-of-1997-its-still-shaping-the-internet-today-6c74e4111f90

I was closely involved with the original AOL client, which had messaging, so I have some disagreement with this article, but in general, I enjoyed the stroll through memory lane. 

In this day of iOS interface, we should look back to the Palm pilot, the former dominant PDA.

In this day of iOS interface, we should look back to the Palm pilot, the former dominant PDA.

The hardware abilities, and limitations at the time, forces a functionality-focused design, that is worth studying.

https://medium.com/fast-company/what-the-palmpilot-can-teach-us-about-designing-products-people-love-7212b3e60500

Create your own Swift Literals for your custom Class using the ExpressibleBy protocols.

Create your own Swift Literals for your custom Class using the ExpressibleBy protocols.

Bruno Rocha explains this amazing powerful extension to swift.

https://medium.com/swlh/swift-expressibleby-protocols-what-they-are-and-how-they-work-internally-in-the-compiler-41367e415a4c

UX Collective explains what the User Flow is.

UX Collective explains what the User Flow is.

Subtlety different from User Story or Sample Cases, describing UX as a Flow makes for better UI.

https://uxdesign.cc/the-biggest-wtf-in-design-right-now-87139f367d66

ps. What did you think WTF meant?

Virtual Reality Oasis takes Quest user through how to load Hand Tracking, the Apps that use it & conclusions.

Virtual Reality Oasis takes Quest user through how to load Hand Tracking, the Apps that use it & conclusions.

Hand Tracking was originally not planned until 2020, but it has come out early.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNZSv-9GgVY

My personal review: absolutely fantastic hand tracking, and fairly poor gesture recognition.

Nathan Gitter took a WWDC 2018 talk “Designing Fluid Interfaces”, and showed how to implement the UI.

Nathan Gitter took a WWDC 2018 talk “Designing Fluid Interfaces”, and showed how to implement the UI.

Fluid interfaces are “responsive, interruptible, and redirectable”, and something very iOS-like.

https://medium.com/@nathangitter/building-fluid-interfaces-ios-swift-9732bb934bf5

25 years ago, PS1 was introduced, and gaming artwork was never the same.

25 years ago, PS1 was introduced, and gaming artwork was never the same.

As Richmond Lee reminds us, the PS1’s hardware was designed for 3D graphics, but it was the 2D games that became famous.

https://onezero.medium.com/the-forgotten-pixel-art-masterpieces-of-the-playstation-1-era-8b453dfe00bf

A superior article by Martin Fowler on the different types of software testing.

A superior article by Martin Fowler on the different types of software testing.

With the stated goal of making software self-testing.

https://martinfowler.com/testing

Declarative Programming, like Swift UI, is well suited for animation sequences, as this article shows.

Declarative Programming, like Swift UI, is well suited for animation sequences, as this article shows.

Enthusiast Mobile developer Fernando Moya de Rivas gives a good breakdown on how to add cute animation to Apple’s new tools.

https://medium.com/better-programming/how-to-create-fun-animations-in-swiftui-1c08adcb93ce

Oculus has released new Hand Tracking for the Quest! The feature is available immediately, with a Developer SDK next week.

Oculus has released new Hand Tracking for the Quest! The feature is available immediately, with a Developer SDK next week.

By using the Quest camera, users can control apps with gestures, instead of having to hold the controllers.

https://www.oculus.com/blog/thumbs-up-hand-tracking-now-available-on-oculus-quest/

Video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/xsZ3ai8uZks

Video using a browser: https://youtu.be/4YnvU-U3OK4

“Defy Reality”, a cute commercial for Virtual Reality from Oculus.

“Defy Reality”, a cute commercial for Virtual Reality from Oculus.

It reminds me of the classic “I am a Mac, I am a PC” commercials.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgbajspGr4

A great idea, using Unit Tests as a way to teach a computer language, in this case, Kotlin

A great idea, using Unit Tests as a way to teach a computer language, in this case, Kotlin

David Herman of Google’s Android Studio provides a tutorial for newcomers to Android new favorite language but in an unusual manner.

https://medium.com/androiddevelopers/learn-kotlin-through-unit-tests-914106d2d8c5

Popular Science magazine list of most innovative gadgets (11 items)

Popular Science magazine list of most innovative gadgets (11 items)

The Oculus Quest & the VIVE Pro Eye are on it, while Apple has their Pro Display XDR & the H1 chip.

https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/best-gadget-innovations-2019/

A short piece from Refactoring UI on why labels are being overused in most User Interfaces.

A short piece from Refactoring UI on why labels are being overused in most User Interfaces.

There are better ways to provide information than the old “Label:Data” design patterns.

https://refactoringui.com/previews/labels-are-a-last-resort/

Jacopo Mangiavacchi suggests the term Swift++ which is using Swift to invoke C to invoke C++ to invoke C++'s Standard Libraries.

Jacopo Mangiavacchi suggests the term Swift++ which is using Swift to invoke C to invoke C++ to invoke C++'s Standard Libraries.

An excellent tutorial to use Wrappers to so Swift works with STL List templates.

https://medium.com/@JMangia/swift-swift-c-c-stl-9e620e471145

In a maze of twisted passages, someone found the original Zork source code.

In a maze of twisted passages, someone found the original Zork source code.

Computer historian Jason Scott has post Zork one of the earliest interactive fiction computer games on GitHub. Along with many other old games (most Infocom).

https://kryptonradio.com/2019/04/18/zork-source-code-presumed-lost-forever-has-been-uploaded-to-github/

ps. Yes, I know the twisted passages is a Colossal Caves (Adventure) reference.

More evidence of the popularity of VR, Trendhunter has an entire category on Virtual Reality holiday gifts.

More evidence of the popularity of VR, Trendhunter has an entire category on Virtual Reality holiday gifts.

Some are general categories, others are specific products. I enjoyed the list.

https://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/vr-gifts

An article by Dzianis Pomazau on what he thinks the 3rd generation of user interface will bring.

An article by Dzianis Pomazau on what he thinks the 3rd generation of user interface will bring.

I do not think we will leave the old interfaces behind, but I like where he is heading to with these ideas.

https://www.interfaces3.com

I want to mix Swift & C++ code. Objective-C++ is the solution.

I want to mix Swift & C++ code. Objective-C++ is the solution.

Hussian Ali Al-Amri article on Medium is a good start to compiling 3 languages together.

https://medium.com/@husain.amri/objective-c-deliver-us-from-swift-3a44d3ac00e7

Apple original explanation (since archived) on using Objective-C++: https://web.archive.org/web/20101203170217/http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#/web/20101204020949/http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/ObjectiveC/Articles/ocCPlusPlus.html

NY Times declares that tech sales company Amazon is the most influential company of all time.

NY Times declares that tech sales company Amazon is the most influential company of all time.

Amazon, and their online sales, has had more impact on how people live than anyone before.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/30/business/amazon-baltimore.html

This Recruiting Blog from Strategic Search suggests finding AR/VR engineers will be hard, due to Apple entering the field.

This Recruiting Blog from Strategic Search suggests finding AR/VR engineers will be hard, due to Apple entering the field.

Interesting parallel they suggest to the intro of Apple Watch.

https://strategicsearch.com/technical-recruiting-blog/recruiting-virtual-reality-engineers-hard-with-apple-plans/