Dal Water Polo Chocolate Lake

these weekend the Dalhousie Water Polo team borrowed some water from the ducks as we had a BBQ and game in Chocolate Lake (in Halifax). I've posted many photos on my live space.


- warm-up has a whole new meaning...


- game on!


- why are three people checking me? I hope we scored on this play.


- out of Chocolate Lake towards the hot chocolate


- here's your new facebook pic John


- good day...

listen to O'Reilly blogs

O'Reilly has added a cool feature to their blog pages. for example, you can listen to this blog post of mine about Halo 2 modding.

the site is powered by ReadSpeaker, which is an app that will read the text on website pages.

I'd be upset that the app can't pronounce my last name, except that it can't pronounce 'Xbox' either.

Dalhousie Water Polo web monkey

it looks like I'll be taking over as the web monkey for the Dalhousie Water Polo team. if anyone out there wants to send me their 2c regarding possible improvements, please feel free.



this is also a good excuse to use my jenn animation again...


- I really should create another one like this. I have shots of her doing the same thing

Metalogix SharePoint migration

during my days with the Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS) team, I worked with a Microsoft partner called Metalogix Software. at the time, they were the best option for customers who wanted to migrate any sort of website to MCMS.

since then, MCMS has been discontinued as a separate product, but some of the functionality of MCMS has been added to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). with this change, Metalogix adjusted their focus. today, their primary business is sophisticated SharePoint migration solutions.

my latest gig is going to be some contract work for Metalogix. I'll be helping them build up their product documentation and FAQ resources.


- Metalogix Software's SharePoint Site Migration Manager

XNA book download and forum

the sample code and other files that go along with Microsoft® XNA Game Studio Creators Guide can be found at: http://www.mhprofessional.com/product.php?isbn=007149071x (look for the "code" link on the left side, just under the cover image)

thanks to Pat, the forum for the book is here: http://www.gamedeveloperonline.com/

if you have any questions about the examples, go to the forums and ask away.

resumé

I was visiting the office of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia today and they reminded me that I don't have any sort of online CV. so here goes...

Stephen Cawood B.A.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Published Books


Augmented Reality at Home
Author 2008 - Pending
ISPN: 1-934356-03-4
The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC


Microsoft XNA Game Studio Creators Guide
Author - 2007
ISPN: 007149071X
McGraw-Hill


The Black Art of Halo Mods
Author - 2006
ISBN: 0672328046
Sams Publishing


Halo 2 Hacks
Author - 2005
ISBN: 0596100590
O’Reilly and Associates


The Unauthorized Halo 2 Battle Guide: Advanced Combat Techniques
Author - 2004
ISBN: 1592007007
Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade


Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide
Author – 2003
ISBN: 0321194446
Addison Wesley Publishing Company

Recent Articles

E3 2005: War of the Consoles ... Almost
March, 23, 2005 - The O’Reilly Network

Career Experience

Program Manager - March 2002 to October 2004
Microsoft Corporation, Office Server Team
- Managed feature teams through the software development cycle.
- Designed and wrote specifications for various Microsoft Office server features.
- Founder and co-author of the Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS) FAQ. The MCMS FAQ is published on Microsoft.com (HTML and CHM formats) and contains thousands of developer-focused questions and answers about MCMS.

Web Developer – October 2001 to March 2002
Microsoft Corporation, E-Business Server Group
- Program Manager/Lead Developer for the MCMS sample applications project. Managed, developed and shipped MCMS sample applications.

Team Lead - August 2001 to October 2001
Microsoft Corporation, Product Support Services
- Helped customers, partners and Microsoft Consulting Services personal with MCMS issues.

Team Lead – October 1999 to April 2001
NCompass Labs, Product Support Team
- Researched and resolved technical issues related to the use and development of web sites running NCompass Resolution content management software.
- Developed sample applications using the Resolution Publishing Application Programming Interface. These applications included a bulletin board, a version of John Conway’s ‘Game of Life,’ and a dynamic image gallery.

Patents

Awarded these Microsoft patent awards:
- Dynamic Link Control Object (MS#309976.1/M&G#60001.0437US01)
- Version Availability (10/997391)
- Unified Navigation (MS#309421.01/M&G#50037.290US01)

Education

Bachelor of Arts – English Literature - University of British Columbia - 1998
Creative Writing Diploma – Humber School of Creative and Performing Arts – 2007

where do you buy books?

until recently, I have to admit that I didn't put much thought into where I bought books, but now that I'm more involved with the publishing industry, I have a better understanding of what's at stake.

if you want to support your favourite small press, or your favourite author, you should try to buy their book directly from the publisher. for example, if you were to buy my Augmented Reality book from the Pragmatic Bookshelf site, both the publisher and the authors would get a larger percentage of the sale than they would if you had purchased the book from a large online retailer. this isn't always the case, but quite often it makes a huge difference to the publisher.

now, I'm not suggesting that anyone should stop buying from the big retailers. I'm sure that most of my books will still come from sites such as Chapters and Amazon. however, when I'm not looking for a bestseller, I'll make more of an effort to see if I can help support a small press or a promising author.

Kejimkujik Park, NS

last weekend, I finally made it to Nova Scotia's Kejimkujik Park. while camping at Thomas Raddall park, we made the short drive to the "Keji" seaside adjunct and did some walking.


- a friendly creature on the trail


- "feed me Seymour!" -- it's Nova Scotia's carnivorous pitcher plant



- a great beach that we'll have to visit next time


- a white sandy... and Canadian... beach


- inviting but chilly


- great visibility

X-Canada Newfoundland

to complete my journey across all of the Canadian provinces, I made it to Newfoundland this summer. here are some highlight reel shots...



- the Bonavista lighthouse. you have to take a picture of a lighthouse or you're not allowed to leave "the rock."


- some great "flower pot" scenery


-hmm, what was this formation called again?


- this is what puffins look like when your telephoto lens is broken. as it turns out, they're quite small.


- Cape Spear, the easternmost point in Canada. it's closer to Europe from this point than Vancouver.


- there aren't any any snakes or skunks on the rock, but there are spiders.


- the village of Quidi Vidi


- the legend goes that Newfoundland fishermen received cheap paint from the government to paint their boats. some wily soul decided that he would save some money by using the brightly coloured paint on his home and the practise caught on.


- looking down at the Atlantic Ocean from Signal Hill in St John's

Augmented Reality at Home cover

an excellent draft cover has been created for my latest book: Augmented Reality at Home.

UFC 74 Las Vegas

I'm currently in Las Vegas for UFC 74.

update: seeing the UFC live was great. if you're a fan, I recommend that you go. however, as you may expect, you can't see as much as you would on TV. as with most sports, the TV coverage includes angles and close-ups that you can't get when you're at the live show. but there are a number of benefits that outweigh this issue. for example, when you're at the live show, you see the undercard fights, and you experience the crowd reactions. for example, after Babalu admitted to ignoring the ref's command to release a choke, the crowd was not impressed. as Babalu left the ring he threw his hat into the crowd and the guy who caught it threw it back. another benefit is that you can talk to fighters who aren't competing in the event. without even trying to find anyone, my friends and I saw Andrew Arlovski, David Loiseau, Matt Lindland, Forrest Griffin and some others -- I also had a brief talk with Dana White.

of course, the best part was seeing GSP demolish Koscheck and Randy slam down Gonzaga. since I put some money on Randy, I left Vegas with more money than I arrived with.

here are some quick shots...


- former UFC Heavyweight champ Andre Arlovski


- UFC Heavyweight champ Randy Couture weighs in


- the Mandalay Bay Event Centre and hotel


- sunrise over the vegas mountains


- Ballys hotel and the Paris hotel's famous Eiffel tower replica

Halo 2 bloodless?

I recieved an interesting question via e-mail that I thought I'd share. it demonstrates just how much modding can aid this world of ours.

"I am writing to you because I need help changing the color of the blood in Halo 2. Our Church just invested $50,000 in videogame equipment to allow teenagers a place they can hang out and be in a safe environment. We are OK with the war shooter games but the blood upsets some people. I want to know if there is a way to hack the game to stop the blood or change the color. If so would you please tell me or direct me in the right direction."

this was my response...

unless you're talking about PC's, you're probably going to run into some trouble getting approval for modding. although it is possible to buy pre-modded Xboxs with third-party warrantees, modding Xboxs means voiding the Microsoft warranty. if you have PCs then you won't have to worry about any hardware modding and Halo 2 mods are supported.

once you have modded systems, changing the blood to another colour (or even transparent) would be an option.

for questions about modding an Xbox, go to http://www.xbox-scene.com
for questions about modding Halo, the place to go is http://www.halomods.com

ARTag FAQ

I'm currently working on a book about Augmented Reality (AR) for Pragmatic Publishing. the AR technology the book uses is called ARTag. it was invented by my co-author, Dr. Mark Fiala, at the National Research Council of Canada.

BTW -- you can see ARTag videos on YouTube (search for "ARTag").


- ARTag Tank Wars demo (click for full size image)


- another view showing a real hand in the frame (click for full size image)

this post is a pro-active attempt to answer some questions before the book is shipped.


General Non-Technical Questions
-----------------------------------------------------------
Q: I have a question about ARTag. who do I ask?
A: http://www.artag.net/

Q: What is ARTag?
A: It's a fiducial marker system for visual Augmented Reality. Based on numerous metrics, ARTag is widely considered to be the best AR marker system available. Refer to http://www.artag.net/ for more details.

Q: Can I use ARTag for a commercial product?
A: ARTag is provided (time bombed) for academic purposes. to use ARTag in a commercial product, you will need to get a license from the National Research Council of Canada.

Q: Do I have to use OpenGL with ARTag?
A: The current library only supports OpenGL, but other graphics systems may be supported in the future.

ARTag Technical Questions
-------------------------------------------------------
Q: How do I get at the data coming from artag_set_object_opengl_matrix()? I want to use it in my own graphics system.
A: It isn't possible to get the information from artag_set_object_opengl_matrix(). It sets the matrix internally and the data is used for subsequent rendering. In other words, the only way to get the result is to use them by supplying ARTag an image and something to augmented to it. The current library only supports OpenGL, but other graphics systems may be supported in the future.

Questions about the ARTag C# Wrapper or C# sample
-------------------------------------------------------
Q: Why does the "OpenGL only" C# sample require the ARTag library?
A: The library is only required to read the test texture (PPM format).

revenge of the kittens

here's a little bit of the damage that my kittens have inflicted lately. one of them isn't put off at all by the "bitter apple" sort of sprays that are meant to protect cords.

the funniest one was the power cord for the vonage modem. she chewed through that and when I replaced it, she chewed through the phone cord -- effectively killing the phone twice in one week.

Xbox 360: red light green light

sadly, I've run into a major issue with my beloved Xbox 360. I have been afflicted by the deadly "three red lights" error (read: must send machine to MS). no bejeweled 2 for 4-6 weeks .

although the support person was helpful, they have a computerized voice response layer at the front end. it was pretty frustrating to try and get an actual person... even with them trying to make the computer voice sound hip and using surfer band hold music.

this problem has affected a lot of people. of course, there's no telling who's to blame. it could be a third-party component failure. but it's a black eye for the green box.


- three red flashing lights is the worst-case scenario

the XNA book is here

FedEx brought me a box of the XNA game studio creators guide today. I think that McGraw-Hill did a great job on the presentation.

it should be in stores, and available on Amazon, any time now.

Goblin XNA Augmented Reality

Goblin XNA is a project at Columbia University that aims to create a platform for developing Augmented Reality (AR), or Virtual Reality, applications with Microsoft's new XNA game development platform.

this project is particularly interesting to me because I've just finished books on XNA (XNA Game Studio Creators Guide) and AR. Goblin XNA uses the ARTag marker system, which was developed by my AR co-author Dr. Mark Fiala.

XNA book about to be released

I just received this timely question from Ziggy...

"Do you know if your [XNA] book is still set to be released on the first? I know that in the past Amazon has incorrect dates posted and I do not want to misinform the community."

Thanks,Ziggy
Ziggyware XNA News and Tutorials

I've been meaning to post a message about this, and it seems that this is the perfect time. although I can't promise that the book will be out on a specific day, it is complete and printed. It should be out any day now :)

Frogger HD update

thank goodness! I discovered yesterday that there has been an update to the Xbox 360's version of Frogger.

when I first tried the game, it was virutally unplayable because the screen was squished on a high definition TV.

now I can happily enjoy the acrade classic -- and I'll even pay the two or three bucks for the full version.



- classic Frogger

favourite SCUBA dives

here is a list of my favourite diving experiences. this is a comparison, and obviously, it is subjective. I really haven't done that many dives (~50), so I'm sure that lost of people would disagree with this list. if you disagree, please feel free to post a comment. also, if there is a dive that you think should be in the list, you should definitely post a comment -- I'm always looking for new ones to try.


1. Belize, Tobacco Caye, 2004

the diversity of marine life, the clear water, the lack of crowds... what an amazing place to dive. as you can see in the picture below, you can walk right off the tiny island of Tobacco Caye and onto the Belize barrier reef.

- Tobacco Caye is tiny and beautiful

2. Egypt, Red Sea, Sharm El Sheikh, 1994

I did my Open Water dive course in the Red Sea, so I'm a little biased towards these dives, but having said that I still believe that they are incredible. I should mention that this was many years ago -- when I arrived in Dahab, they had only had electricity for six months. I'm sure a lot has changed since then.

3. Australia's Great Barrier Reef (outer reef), 1999 and 2003

I've actually done more dives on the reef than anywhere else (about 25). while widely considered to be the best diving in the world, I found that the dives were too overused and crowded to be considered the best in the world. however, having said that I absolutely love Australia and I would strongly recommend the Great Barrier Reef to any diver. if you are going to dive the reef, get as far out as your schedule allows. if you can, hop on a multi-day SCUBA/sailing trip headed to the outer reef. you can pack a lot of dives in and you have the option of doing night dives which can be great.

note: I expected to take some heat about ranking the reef third, but I just spoke to another diver who also believes that Belize is more impressive.

4. Malaysia, Grand Perhentian, 2004

Perhentian Island is actually two islands -- don't ask me how that happened. the islands are about half and hour off the Malaysian coast (by bumpy wooden speed boat). the islands themselves were worth the trip, but the great diving didn't hurt either.

I went on a number of different types of dives, including my first wreck dive and another into a cave that sharks sleep in.

5. USA, Catalina Island, 2004

this dive was interesting because it was completely different from the other dives that I've done. the water was much cooler and instead of coral, kelp is the main marine life.

- a Catalina fish

6. Dominican Republic, Punta Cana, 2007

I can't give the Dominican a proper review because I didn't dive on the Carribean Sea side. rather than take a day trip, we took advantage of a dive on the Atlantic side which came free with our package. it was worth doing, but not particularly awe inspiring. if you are serious about your diving, dive on the warm side.

7. Cook Islands, Rarotonga, 1999

the water was warm, there was a decent amount of coral, but there really wasn't much to see. despite this, I did see a few black tip reef sharks -- my first shark sitings.