I live in Silicon Valley. Around 3 p.m., I took a break and headed for the nearest Baskin-Robbins. The proprietor had put up a sign saying they no longer honored the coupon. Why? It turns out that the offer is good for only the first 300 customers at any store. Then I realized, Yahoo's corporate offices are maybe 3 miles from here.
It took me half an hour, driving around in almost-rush-hour traffic, to find another Baskin-Robbins, another 15 minutes in line.
Crème brûlée ice cream. It was pretty good. Victory is sweet.
I beg to differ. I have been diagnosed as being 43 percent "partially permanently disabled" in both hands from tendinitis, and I could not use a computer at all if it were not for voice-recognition software (I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking). What's more, voice-recognition software is not and cannot be the whole story--it is best suited for typing English sentences and does not do well with non-English text (control keys and source code, for example), moving the cursor, or pressing mouse buttons.
For people who are struggling with such issues, here is a short list of additional products that I find useful (most of them, alas, for the Windows platform only):
I have a TouchStream keyboard in front of me right now, and it's an integral part of my computer. I have extreme tendinitis in both hands, and a variety of adaptive technologies make it possible for me to use a computer on a daily basis. For dictating English sentences, nothing beats Dragon NaturallySpeaking. However, it's very tedious to use voice-recognition software for the occasional keystroke or for non-English character sequences (Java, anyone?). This is where the TouchStream keyboard is a godsend--I can't see touch-typing with it, but it is a keyboard that I can use (in moderation) without hurting my hands. Also, the ability to use the keyboard's surface as a touchpad to move the mouse is also very helpful.
-- InfoML.org: an XML language for capturing and sharing general information
Wow! This article--and everyone's posts--brings back the memories I have of M.U.L.E. and of its creator. I met Dan Bunten long before M.U.L.E., after he was gracious (and trusting) enough to send me an un-copy-protected version of Cytron Masters when my commercial copy of it refused to boot on my Apple II+. Of course, I was a big M.U.L.E. fan and spent many hours playing it with several friends on the Atari 800 computer. Years later, I bought a Commodore 64 emulator for my Macintosh just so I could play M.U.L.E. again.
Dan/Dani *was* ahead of her time, largely because of the lack of any technology that facilitated simultaneous multiplayer gaming. Not only did Dani have to invent the game, she also had to find some way to make the day's computers facilitate both input and output for multiple players simultaneously. Think about that! Networking in any form was unheard of, so the multiplayer output had to take place on *one* computer screen. And back then, the entire screen's resolution was minuscule. She did some very clever things to keep multiple players involved in the game at all times, which was quite a feat. In particular, I remember Dani complaining about how flaky the Commodore 64 was and how, after a certain amount of use, when a C64 started crapping out, the only solution was to go to the store and buy another one.
In the end, I think it was the limitations of the day's home-computer technology that kept multiplayer gaming from working for most people. The graphics of the day were just too blocky to entice the average person to sit in front of a computer screen for any length of time, and it didn't help that the programmer had *less than* 64 K of memory for both the program and its data. (M.U.L.E. ran in 32K on the Atari 800!)
As for Dani's gender change, she always remained a mystery to me on that. I only met her two or three times as Dani, and the awkwardness was just too great. I remember asking her (delicately) about her motivations for making the change, and her answer was so cryptic that I have never puzzled out what she meant by it. Still, she seemed to be settling into the role quite comfortably, although she felt that her gender change (plus its public nature within the games community) was hampering her search for a job in the industry.
I wish I knew more, and I would have, had it not been for her illness. I feel deeply that she didn't really get a chance to make her second "life" work, that the cancer overshadowed her new gender role just as she was getting started with it. I'm sorry she didn't get that second chance. I think the world is a lesser place because it didn't get a chance to find out who she would have become.
FYI, Jef Raskin is not the "developer of the MacOS," or anything close to it. The only correct statement, carefully phrased so as to connote the most prestige, is the one that he always uses in biographical paragraphs, which usually says something to the effect that he was the creator of the Macintosh project. It is true that he started a project named Macintosh while at Apple, but the goal of this project was to create a very simple "information appliance," much like the Cannon Cat later became. At some point, Steve Jobs took over the project and changed it completely; the end result was what we now know as the first Macintosh computer.
As for my credentials in saying this, I was a senior editor at BYTE magazine during this time period and was told these facts by someone on the original Macintosh team. I later worked at Apple for ten years and never heard anyone there associate Raskin's name with the Macintosh computer.
It's a shame so many people are making fun of Dasher, because this is a promising technology. Believe me, I know--after 20 years as a computer magazine writer and editor (see my bio), I got tendinitis in both hands and can't type, use a mouse, or pickup moderately heavy objects. (Even driving a car sometimes causes my wrists to ache.)
However, thanks to the use of various adaptive technologies, I can use a computer pretty well, and I am always interested in technologies that might help me to even better. In case you're interested, here's what I use:
* Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 6.0 * SmartNav no-hands mouse movement device (http://www.naturalpoint.com/, highly recommended) * a homemade switch for pressing the mouse button (foot pedals don't work for me)
The SmartNav device allows me to move the mouse cursor by moving my head about 2 inches off center in each of the compass point directions. Using it and my homemade switch, I can move and select down to a single-character level, which is a real lifesaver--you can't do it all with voice recognition, believe me!
Please contact me personally if you're interested in the subject of adaptive technologies or if you hear of something new. I particularly interested in technologies that would make it easier to program (I know about the Programming by Voice extensions to Emacs--which I can't get to work reliably). Thanks.
Slashdot Mirror
I live in Silicon Valley. Around 3 p.m., I took a break and headed for the nearest Baskin-Robbins. The proprietor had put up a sign saying they no longer honored the coupon. Why? It turns out that the offer is good for only the first 300 customers at any store. Then I realized, Yahoo's corporate offices are maybe 3 miles from here.
It took me half an hour, driving around in almost-rush-hour traffic, to find another Baskin-Robbins, another 15 minutes in line.
Crème brûlée ice cream. It was pretty good. Victory is sweet.
I beg to differ. I have been diagnosed as being 43 percent "partially permanently disabled" in both hands from tendinitis, and I could not use a computer at all if it were not for voice-recognition software (I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking). What's more, voice-recognition software is not and cannot be the whole story--it is best suited for typing English sentences and does not do well with non-English text (control keys and source code, for example), moving the cursor, or pressing mouse buttons.
For people who are struggling with such issues, here is a short list of additional products that I find useful (most of them, alas, for the Windows platform only):
http://www.naturalpoint.com/ (SmartNav no-hands pointing device)
http://www.fingerworks.com/ (TouchStream keyboard)
http://www.xrayz.co.uk/ (ClipCache)
http://www.cesoft.com/ (QuicKeys)
http://www.cirque.com/products/cons-prod.html (Cirque Cruise Cat touchpad)
http://www.wacom.com/graphire/index.cfm (Graphire3 graphics tablet)
I hope this information helps someone who needs it.
I have a TouchStream keyboard in front of me right now, and it's an integral part of my computer. I have extreme tendinitis in both hands, and a variety of adaptive technologies make it possible for me to use a computer on a daily basis. For dictating English sentences, nothing beats Dragon NaturallySpeaking. However, it's very tedious to use voice-recognition software for the occasional keystroke or for non-English character sequences (Java, anyone?). This is where the TouchStream keyboard is a godsend--I can't see touch-typing with it, but it is a keyboard that I can use (in moderation) without hurting my hands. Also, the ability to use the keyboard's surface as a touchpad to move the mouse is also very helpful.
--
InfoML.org: an XML language for capturing and sharing general information
Wow! This article--and everyone's posts--brings back the memories I have of M.U.L.E. and of its creator. I met Dan Bunten long before M.U.L.E., after he was gracious (and trusting) enough to send me an un-copy-protected version of Cytron Masters when my commercial copy of it refused to boot on my Apple II+. Of course, I was a big M.U.L.E. fan and spent many hours playing it with several friends on the Atari 800 computer. Years later, I bought a Commodore 64 emulator for my Macintosh just so I could play M.U.L.E. again.
Dan/Dani *was* ahead of her time, largely because of the lack of any technology that facilitated simultaneous multiplayer gaming. Not only did Dani have to invent the game, she also had to find some way to make the day's computers facilitate both input and output for multiple players simultaneously. Think about that! Networking in any form was unheard of, so the multiplayer output had to take place on *one* computer screen. And back then, the entire screen's resolution was minuscule. She did some very clever things to keep multiple players involved in the game at all times, which was quite a feat. In particular, I remember Dani complaining about how flaky the Commodore 64 was and how, after a certain amount of use, when a C64 started crapping out, the only solution was to go to the store and buy another one.
In the end, I think it was the limitations of the day's home-computer technology that kept multiplayer gaming from working for most people. The graphics of the day were just too blocky to entice the average person to sit in front of a computer screen for any length of time, and it didn't help that the programmer had *less than* 64 K of memory for both the program and its data. (M.U.L.E. ran in 32K on the Atari 800!)
As for Dani's gender change, she always remained a mystery to me on that. I only met her two or three times as Dani, and the awkwardness was just too great. I remember asking her (delicately) about her motivations for making the change, and her answer was so cryptic that I have never puzzled out what she meant by it. Still, she seemed to be settling into the role quite comfortably, although she felt that her gender change (plus its public nature within the games community) was hampering her search for a job in the industry.
I wish I knew more, and I would have, had it not been for her illness. I feel deeply that she didn't really get a chance to make her second "life" work, that the cancer overshadowed her new gender role just as she was getting started with it. I'm sorry she didn't get that second chance. I think the world is a lesser place because it didn't get a chance to find out who she would have become.
FYI, Jef Raskin is not the "developer of the MacOS," or anything close to it. The only correct statement, carefully phrased so as to connote the most prestige, is the one that he always uses in biographical paragraphs, which usually says something to the effect that he was the creator of the Macintosh project. It is true that he started a project named Macintosh while at Apple, but the goal of this project was to create a very simple "information appliance," much like the Cannon Cat later became. At some point, Steve Jobs took over the project and changed it completely; the end result was what we now know as the first Macintosh computer.
As for my credentials in saying this, I was a senior editor at BYTE magazine during this time period and was told these facts by someone on the original Macintosh team. I later worked at Apple for ten years and never heard anyone there associate Raskin's name with the Macintosh computer.
It's a shame so many people are making fun of Dasher, because this is a promising technology. Believe me, I know--after 20 years as a computer magazine writer and editor (see my bio), I got tendinitis in both hands and can't type, use a mouse, or pickup moderately heavy objects. (Even driving a car sometimes causes my wrists to ache.)
However, thanks to the use of various adaptive technologies, I can use a computer pretty well, and I am always interested in technologies that might help me to even better. In case you're interested, here's what I use:
* Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 6.0
* SmartNav no-hands mouse movement device (http://www.naturalpoint.com/, highly recommended)
* a homemade switch for pressing the mouse button (foot pedals don't work for me)
The SmartNav device allows me to move the mouse cursor by moving my head about 2 inches off center in each of the compass point directions. Using it and my homemade switch, I can move and select down to a single-character level, which is a real lifesaver--you can't do it all with voice recognition, believe me!
Please contact me personally if you're interested in the subject of adaptive technologies or if you hear of something new. I particularly interested in technologies that would make it easier to program (I know about the Programming by Voice extensions to Emacs--which I can't get to work reliably). Thanks.