Articles
Lost Recordings of _why’s Last Lecture
Of all of the presenters at art&&code, there was one who perfectly captured the spirit of it all. His name was _why. He wore a blue flower on his lapel, and carried an autoharp around with him. He was and remains a hero and source of inspiration for me, and I was lucky enough to be his student (at least for a few hours).
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Philosophy
Achievement Unlocked! Human Morality When Life Becomes A Videogame
Loved by some and derided by others, achievement systems are nonetheless as essential to the fabric of videogaming today as power-ups were from the days of Contra, Super Mario Bros., and MegaMan. It is a trend unlikely to go away anytime soon, given not only its commercial viability, but—perhaps more importantly—its grounding in human nature.
It’s not just fun and games, though. I believe that this is a matter of immense significance to the role of technology in our daily lives, with far-reaching implications into human morality in this brave new century.
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Aesthetics
Game Over: Learning From Failure In Videogames
Thinking through the contingencies of failure for an interaction is an exercise of empathy with the user. Whether in videogames or more traditional UIs, framing development in a mindset of failure allows you to get in the head of the typical user and design accordingly.
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Programming
さようなら 日本、G’Day Austin
Today, I officially joined the Gowalla team. I’ll be leaving the Land of the Rising Sun for the Lone Star State; trading ramen for ribs, karaoke for concerts, and utter linguistic befuddlement for…well, maybe I’ll hold onto that one.
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Linguistics
Designing an IPA keyboard for the iPad
With the iPhone, iPad, and similar devices, we are seeing a transition into a new paradigm of touch screen interfaces, wherein the physical interface becomes virtual, able to dynamically adapt as needed to fit any context. Imagine what that could do for a classically difficult problem of Linguistics: typing IPA
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