Windows Version of Kinect Features 'Near Mode' | TeamXbox

Windows Version of Kinect Features 'Near Mode'

A firmware update allows the Windows version of Kinect to sense subjects as close as 40 centimeters from the sensor.

Juicy Bits | Daring Fireball

Juicy Bits

Fun story by Mike Swanson, on how he left his job as a developer evangelist at Microsoft to be a full-time iOS app developer.

Software Design - Step 1: In which we figure out what our software is going to do | Green Door Games

Step 1: In which we figure out what our software is going to do

So, in case you haven’t visited before I’m writing a small game using a simple and very effective methodology. I’m also taking you, dear reader, along for the ride!
Today, we’re figuring out what our features will be. If you continually find yourself at odds with clients or end up with crazy marketing people who say one thing before you write a project and expect another when you’re done – a good set of features can make all the difference.

Tough Tests Flunk Good Programming Job Candidates | Slashdot

Tough Tests Flunk Good Programming Job Candidates - Slashdot

"Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister discusses the use of quizzes and brain-teasers in evaluating potential software development hires, a practice that seems to be on the rise. 'The company best known for this is Google. Past applicants tell tales of a head-spinning battery of coding problems, riddles, and brain teasers, many of which seem only tangential to the task of software development. Other large companies have similar practices — Facebook and Microsoft being two examples,' McAllister writes. 'You'll need to assess an applicant's skill in one way or another, but it's also possible to take the whole interview-testing concept too far. Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind when crafting your test questions, to avoid slamming the door on candidates unnecessarily.'"

Agile – Specialisations Still Matter | #AltDevBlogADay

Agile – Specialisations Still Matter « #AltDevBlogADay

Now I’m concerning myself with only the technical side of an agile team but I’ve seen this raised in a number of different agile circles. In those cases there seems to be the impression that swapping a database, physics or audio developer with any other specialization like UI, animation or graphics and an agile team should be able to roll up their sleeves and perform the different roles to the same level with the same level of outcome.

But we have specialist developers for a reason. They are great at what they do, they understand the area in which they work and they know how to get the best results in the shortest amount of time. They have a passion for the area they are focusing in which usually means they’ll go a step further to research their area and keep up with developments which other developers may not have the time or the understanding to do.
By spreading your talent thin and assuming that people can fill each others shoes leads to the following issues

• You are not respecting the knowledge, skill, experience and passion that a specialist can bring to their work and as a result not respecting the developer themselves
• You’re reducing the impact these people can have on a team and it’s often the experienced specialists that inspire younger members of the team into an area they are interested in
• The ability of those specialists to learn more about their area and pass that onto others is drastically reduced.
• The ability for the team to push their development boundaries will be indirectly reduced as everyone on the team aims for the ‘generalist’ role to fit in

Developers and Professionalism | Girl Developer

Developers and Professionalism - Girl Developer

Clients trust me to take care of things they don't know how to do. In order to do that, they need to feel I am competent and capable. Disappearing in the zone for a few days, while it may be best for the project, isn't comforting for the client. Up until then I had a dim view of client hand holding, and thought "they just need to trust that I am working on it." However, I have realized that a good working relationship, constant updates, and accountability are just as important as clean code and passing tests.

Have you done your 10,000 hours? | #AltDevBlogADay

Have you done your 10,000 hours? « #AltDevBlogADay

I’m not a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell​’s books, but one of the things I read about after seeing a review of his book Outliers got me thinking about my own students.
His book Outliers is based on the research of Anders Ericsson in which he studies the commonalities of “experts” and how they came to be that way. The upshot of which is that it is all about “practice”. Notionally, the book suggests that you become an expert at something by fulfilling a regimen of practice for “10,000 hours”. You can read the research yourself to see how far Gladwell has stretched that notion. The thing is, 10,000 hours works out to rougly 3.5 years of full time 8 hours-a-day work!

Siri Gives Apple Two Year Advantage Over Android - Slashdot

Siri Gives Apple Two Year Advantage Over Android - Slashdot

Hugh Pickens writes "Gary Morgenthaler, a recognized expert in artificial intelligence and a Siri board member, says that Apple now has at least a two-year advantage over Google in the war for best smartphone platform. 'What Siri has done is changed people's expectations about what's possible,' says Morgenthaler. 'Apple has crossed a threshold; people now expect that you should be able to expect to speak ordinary English — and be understood. Siri has cracked the code.' The threshold, from mere speech recognition to natural language input and understanding, is one that Google cannot cross by replicating the technology or making an acquisition adds Morgenthaler. 'There's no company out there they can go buy.' Morgenthaler's comments echo the recent article in Forbes Magazine, 'Why Siri Is a Google Killer' that says that Apple's biggest advantage over any other voice application out there today is the massive data Siri will collect in the next 2 years — all being stored in Apple's massive North Carolina data center — that will allow Siri to get better and better. 'Siri is a new interface for customers wanting to get information,' writes Eric Jackson. 'At the moment, most of us still rely on Google for getting at the info we want. But Siri has a foot in the door and it's trusting that it will win your confidence over time to do basic info gathering.'"

The 10 Minute Test Plan | Google Testing Blog

Google Testing Blog: The 10 Minute Test Plan

Some test plans document simple truths that likely didn’t really need documenting at all or provide detailed information that isn’t relevant to the day to day job of a software tester. In all these cases we are wasting effort. Let’s face facts here: there is a problem with the process and content of test plans.

To combat this, I came up with a simple task for my teams: write a test plan in 10 minutes. The idea is simple, if test plans have any value at all then let’s get to that value as quickly as possible.

Given ten minutes, there is clearly no room for fluff. It is a time period so compressed that every second must be spent doing something useful or any hope you have of actually finishing the task is gone. This was the entire intent behind the exercise from my point of view: boil test planning down to only the essentials and cut all fat and fluff. Do only what is absolutely necessary and leave the details to the test executors as opposed to the test planners.