Blog

  • Timeline

    July 8, 2005

    Visit Site I stumbled upon this collection of timekeeping Flash movies. This one I particularly liked for its rectilinear presentation.
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    DSri Seah
  • A Visit to TechSpace

    July 7, 2005

    Today we had a special meeting of our New Media Group at David Kelleher’s office. He has space at TechSpace Boston, a kind of high-tech office incubator oriented toward startups and small business:

    Located in the South End, this handsome brick and beam facility consists of 20,000 square feet of office space, onsite parking, café, copy center, administrative support and concierge service available to all clients.

    It’s pretty easy to get to from I-93…we got off at exit 20 onto Albany St, and drove along Harrison Ave through the SoWa district. The building itself is located at 580 Harrison Ave, though this is actually a vanity address (the real one is 715 Albany Street). As you’re driving along Harrison, look for the sign that says “580 Harrison Street Parking” if you have an access code, or park on one of the side streets / Washington St. The closest bus is the Silver Line on Washington St. The building has a big “580” on the roof so you can’t miss it. Just look up!

    It’s a pretty nice space, funky in that Dot-Com way but somehow still humble. DaveK’s office was small but furnished with Internet and phone service. Apparently you can rent just a couple days a week to keep costs down (you basically timeshare an office) and visitors have access to free WiFi. There’s a pool table too. The only bad thing is that the whole facility (like Boston) seems to shut down at 5PM. What’s up with this town?

    After our meeting, we ate at a place called Morse Fish Co. on Washington Street. I had some misgivings going in, but it was very good: fresh and crispy. I just had fried haddock and fries (fish and chips, basically), but you can choose from a wider variety of seafood. The fries were particularly notable: seasoned, crispy, and golden-brown. It may have been the best fish-and-chips experience I’ve had in this area, beating out a couple clam shacks and one fancy restaurant, but admittedly it’s not usually the sort of thing I eat. Definitely good, though. And CHEAP! They serve lunch all day (basically, a smaller portion than dinner) for about 6-7 bucks.

    The New Media Group meeting was good too…did some debugging of one of David Cort’s projects, talked about a bunch of interesting data-vis applications using real-time capture, and touched on some 3D tools (gMax, Celestia). A couple new faces at the meeting. The non-networking network grows!

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    DSri Seah
  • Their Circular Life

    July 7, 2005

    Visit Site Stumbled upon Their Circular Life, which is a nice bit of experiential Flash media out of Italy. The creators captured photos and audio over a 24-hour period in such locations as the train station in Modena and stitched it together in a nice Flash-based GUI. I particularly like the circular slider and pleasant cross-fading effect.

    My only complaint is that there aren’t a whole lot of images to fade through, but from an editorial perspective it makes sense: all the photos can’t have been interesting, and there is enough time passing between each frame so you get a sense that things are changing without getting hung up on small details. The idea is still very cool no matter how you look at it. The feel of it reminds me of QuickTimeVR, except the property you are controlling is time, not space. Worth checking out.

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    DSri Seah
  • Sleep

    July 6, 2005

    I came across this article on a newsgroup about the mechanics and benefits of sleep…it’s really fascinating. Some highlights:

    • Just about everyone does better with 8 hours of sleep. Statistically you live longer, make fewer mistakes, and have healthier immune systems.
    • Thinking about doing an all-nighter to cram for that exam? If it’s a simple “recall the facts” test, the all-nighter will help. If you have to do any kind of critical thinking, though, the sleep deprivation will do a number on you.

    • Sleep seems to improve motor skills. Learn something in the evening, sleep on it, and you’ll do better the next day.

    <

    p>There’s also an interesting description of the mechanisms of sleep, and how caffeine plays a role in disrupting that mechanism. I found the discussion on circadian rhythms particularly interesting. They’re periodic cycles in our body that, evolutionarily speaking, are possibly older than sleep. The idea that our body is running on a bunch of different periodic cycles is immensely cool and perhaps hackable :-)

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    DSri Seah
  • A Mantra for Productivity

    July 5, 2005

    I’ve printed out the following and stuck it on my wall:

    • Commit
    • Focus

    • Momentum

    • Small Steps

    • Start Anywhere

    • Just Ask

    <

    p>It seems to work for me, when I catch myself spinning my wheels.

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    DSri Seah