more about work at microsoft

this article about working at microsoft was a top story on slashdot yesterday. it was written by Michael Brundage, who works as a dev for the Xbox team. in general, I agree with Brundage. however, I think that he should acknowledge that his experience is atypical - even within the company itself.

note: I also posted about working at ms last year.

Brundage divided his article into a number of sections and assigned each a rank of good, bad or in-between.

Focus (good)
in this section, Brundage talks about the benefits of working as a software engineer at a software company. I don't think that Brundage is offering much of a complement here. I would expect people at a software company to be more interested in software than employees of some other industry. however, I would also add that - unlike some 'tech' companies - ms is a 'real' tech company. at ms, they practice what they preach. pretty much everything at ms has been put online as uses up-to-date technology. another example is that ms also forces beta versions on its employees. before a new version of windows or office ships, ten of thousands of ms employees have been running the software for months.

Unreality (in-between)
I have to agree with Brundage on this point: "Some employees forget that most of the world doesn't have broadband wireless networking, high-end consumer electronics, luxury vehicles, and enough money that they don't need to live on a budget. Some employees spend so much time using Microsoft products, that they forget about the competition and/or lose touch with typical customers' needs." one common example that I would always throw out during ms conversations was south africa (where I was born and most of my family lives); in SA, broadband is rare. ms needs to pay more attention to customers. a bug fix or a feature tweak is often more important to a customer than a new feature, but few devs at ms want to work on existing code. the 'code-on-code' mindset is horrible for the customer.

Personal Freedom (good)
yes, it's true that ms offers its software devs a truckload of freedom and benefits, but this isn't the case for a large portion of ms employees. many ms people have to work set hours, don't get their own office and have to account for their time (sometimes down to 15-min intervals). people on the redmond campus don't generally appreciate how lucky they are. for example, when I first moved to the redmond campus, they were still offering friday massage sessions. that benefit (and many others) have gone away, but the inequality between redmond/red west and other campuses is still obvious.

Company Leadership (good)
I think that this is one of the points where there is a large gap between the experience of the microsoft employees and those who rely upon news and rumours for their opinions. I also have had positive experiences with ms execs, but this isn't the general impression that makes its way outside of the company. despite his extensive work with the bill and melinda gates foundation, gates still raises the ire of a large portion of people - especially the zealots of the 'anything-but-microsoft' religion. ballmer doesn't fare much better. how many times will the media report that he threw a chair and vowed to 'kill google.' the leadership at ms is carrying a lot of baggage and it may be best to let some new blood take over.

Managers (bad)
"Microsoft also suffers from a phenomenon that I've seen at other companies. I describe this as the "personality cult," wherein one mid-level manager accumulates a handful of loyal "fans" and moves with them from project to project." I don't feel that the criticism in this section is unique to ms. everywhere I've worked, I've come across issues with managers. the issue is that there really isn't a system of '360 degree performance.' lower-ranking employees are powerless to do anything about a crappy manager. there is a highly-structured performance review at ms, but as Brundage writes, it only works for individual contributions - not management skills. it's almost as if there needs to be a 'manager audit' where someone completely removed from the team (read: its politics) goes around and assesses the performance of the managers. managers who score poorly should be demoted.

Source Code (good)
this is sort of a silly point. at ms, you get access to what you need. since Brundage has worked on various teams, he has had access to various source trees. if he wasn't a dev, or a 'CPR' support engineer, he wouldn't have access.

Benefits/Compensation (in-between)
I agree with Brundage on this point, new employees are probably enjoying the above-average benefits at ms. however, those who have been around for a few years have seen their benefits steadily decrease.

Work/Life Balance (bad)
I agree that work/life balance is an issue at ms and it was one of the points in my fist post about working at ms. before I started at ms, I expected there to be a huge setup for company sports teams and the like - after all, they do have their own fields. but this is not the case at all. people work long hours and many people take pride in the fact that they don't do anything else.

Microsoft's (sic) Not Evil (good)
I agree with what Brundage is saying here. people outside the company don't appreciate that the microsoft of today is usually ethical. when mistakes are made, it's usually because of the same reason as any other company: someone was incompetent. however, Brundage should acknowledge that microsoft's issues with this perception stem from its own actions. ms has been convicted of various infractions and therefore is partly to blame for the ill will that still exists.

having said that, ms is a 300 pound gorilla (to use a common ms expression) and the gorilla likes to throw its weight around. ms may not be breaking the law anymore, but it's obvious that it can have its way with many companies. but one could argue that this isn't evil, it's business and any other company would do the same thing.

Influence (good)
I understand what Brundage is saying here, and I have commented about it in the past. but, again, Brundage only has this viewpoint because he is amongst a small group of people at ms that have the opportunity to work on cutting edge stuff. the vast majority of employees at ms don't have the same experience.

pragmatic augmented reality book

after having completed my third Halo book (the black art of Halo mods for Sams), I've moved onto my next project. it's a book called Augmented Reality: A Practical Guide for the pragmatic programmers. it's a cool project and I'm excited to be working with the pragmatic folks --- if you're not familiar with them, they are responsible for the highly respected book the pragmatic programmer.

Update: the code download for the book is available on the Pragmatic book page


- draft cover for Augmented Reality @ Home (now... Augmented Reality: A Practical Guide)

Augmented Reality is the process of adding virtual objects to the real world. so unlike 'virtual reality' most of what you see is usually real.

in our book, we'll be explaining (and providing) all of the source code for an Augmented Reality "Tank Wars" game (see screenshots below). the book's download includes samples for Windows, Linux and MacOS. the applications are written in C/C++ and C#.


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


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

here's a quick example that I just shot on my dining room table. the piece of paper with the augmented reality tags is real and the 3D objects (e.g., the fish and car) are artificial. in order to see the virtual portion, you obviously must be looking at the scene through some sort of interface that allows the augmentation. for example, a computer monitor or a head-mounted display.


- click for full size image

and here's a 3D fish coming out of my 1939 Remington Model 5...


- click for full size image

for a better example, take a peek at this cool video of an augmented reality demonstration. you can also see ARTag videos on YouTube (search for "ARTag").

Update: I've added an ARTag FAQ post for all your ARTag questions.

view Halo 2 Hacks videos online

if you would like to see some examples of the cool stuff in Halo 2 Hacks, check out these video samples.

there are 100 hacks in the book. some are simple and will take you minutes to complete; others are complex and will take you hours. this is just a little taste:

Halo 2 Hacks: Fly Like a Bird - sword flying
Halo 2 Hacks: Beaver Creek - getting the rocket launcher by chucking a grenade
Halo 2 Hacks: Warthog Trampoline - using the warthog to get some serious air
Halo 2 Hacks: Out of Foundation - get above the foundation
Halo 2 Hacks: Up, Up, and Away - nade jumping
Halo 2 Hacks: Play Football - the soccer ball easter egg
Halo 2 Hacks: A Long Jump - slide jumping

OOP dreaming

Have you ever heard someone say he knew he was becoming immersed in a new language when he started to dream in the new language? I remember a friend of mine saying this to me when he was learning to speak Hebrew. I had one of these dreams during my time at Microsoft. I was learning C#, but the dream wasn’t really about the language. It was a dream about chaos, security, and the potential of object oriented programming (OOP).

OOP is a programming model that involves grouping together related code into manageable and reusable pieces. Each of these pieces is called an ‘object’ and all objects have to comply with certain rules. It is not – as you may have interpreted from a Douglas Coupland novel – a system for putting together Lego blocks.

For example, a banking program may include some code that stores account information and other code that runs reports on account activity. This system might include an object called 'BankAccount' that encapsulates all of the code necessary to maintain account information. The BankAccount object would have properties such as 'Balance' and it would have routines (or functions) that perform operations such as ‘Withdrawal’ or ‘Deposit.’ Each of these routines would contain the code necessary to alter the client’s information in the Bank’s database. When another portion of the banking software, such as the daily report, needs information about an account, it simply asks the BankAccount object for its properties. The daily report program doesn't need to know anything about what's going on under the hood of the BankAccount object. For example, it doesn't need to know that the account information is actually being stored in a database at the bank's data centre. All the daily report program needs to do is talk to the BankAccount object.

The benefits of this model are plentiful. As you can imagine, that there may be numerous pieces of banking software that require account information. All of these pieces can access the same BankAccount object code when they need the Balance property. Since the code is nicely packaged and reused, it’s much easier to debug the program.

OOP is certainly not a new concept. It has been around for over 30 years; however, there is still plenty of unrealized potential. A great portion of code written today is not object oriented. It is – obviously - possible to write banking software without using OOP. However, since the introduction of OOP, programmers find that it is must easier to unlock the potential of their code. One example of this is web site programming. Until recently, very little web site code was object oriented. However, since technologies such as Microsoft's .Net initiative have brought OOP to the web, things have changed considerably. This is where my dream enters the discussion. What would the world be like if everything around us was using the potential of OOP?

My dream started with me checking into a hotel on a business trip. I arrived late at night and I was exhausted - all I wanted to do was get a glass of water and go to sleep. My hotel suite has a kitchen (I may dream like a geek, but I also dream like a big spender) so I go to the fridge and while I’m getting some water, I use an LCD fridge display to set my wake up call for the next morning. As I leave the kitchen area, I turn off the lights in the suite. What I don't know is that my ex-girlfriend is staying in the adjacent room.

We hadn't dated for ten years, but while we were dating, we gave one another security rights to our OOP enabled worlds. When we broke up, we forgot to go through the motions of a relationship security lockdown (let’s call that RSL :). This has no effect on our lives until ten years later when we happen to be staying in these adjacent hotel rooms.

Right around the time that my head hits the pillow, my ex goes to her fridge and hits the 'All Lights On' button. She has a big meeting the next day and needs to get some late work done. Unfortunately, because she has rights to my lights, so ‘all lights' now includes the lights in my room. While I am trying to fall asleep, the lights suddenly turn on. Confused, I get up and press the ‘All Lights Off’ button. This has the effect of turning off the lights in my ex's room. This goes back and forth for a while until we both curse Microsoft for messing up the lighting and call the front desk.

The truly interesting part of all of this is the cascading effect. Seemingly unrelated events are enmeshed because of technology. How well will we be able to keep up with the complexity? When I woke up, this was the question on my mind, and I couldn’t help but wonder how ‘chaotic’ things could get. Meteorologist Edward Lorenz - the first experimenter in the field of chaos theory - argued that many seemingly random events are linked through relationships so complex that we simply do not have the skill to identify the connections. In my dream, security is the example. The last few years have clearly shown that software security is already extremely difficult. Imagine a future where security permissions exist in everything around you - when object oriented programming is inside every object. Will the future of programming move us towards greater harmony of will it lead to more chaos?

black art of halo mods update

I am thrilled to say that The Black Art of Halo Mods (Sams publishing) has passed a major milestone. it won't be long before the book will be hitting a shelf near you.

also, Nick has posted a little bit on information on the HaloDev site about the chapter introducing Prometheus.

"For a very long time now we’ve been working with Stephen Cawood, author of O'Reilly’s ‘Halo 2 Hacks’, on his new book ‘The Black Art of Halo Mods’. The book is focused on creating new maps with the H.E.K. JamesD and Grenadiac, along side many other modders, spent an awful lot of time helping out with the H.E.K. section of the book." full article

if you're not familar with the Prometheus project, take a look at their site. I commonly refer to Prometheus at the "the future of halo modding."

Halo 3 an RTS?

there have been a few rumours flying around that Halo 3 will go back to the original vision of Halo and come out as an real-time strategy game (RTS). I first read about this in a post written by someone claiming to work for bungie. most people dismissed his comments as ludicrous. however, the rumour has resurfaced on xbox360news.com. for now, I'm going to focus on the RTS rumour and I'll ignore the comments about Halo 3 being a role-playing game or a massivaly multiplayer online game.

first of all, I'm a big fan of RTS games. ever since Command and Conquer, I've enjoyed playing these time-sucking games. therefore, I would love to see bungie create an RTS. however, if Halo 3 is an RTS then it isn't Halo 3.

as every Halo fan knows, Halo 2 did not finish in a satisfying fashion. the only way to properly wrap-up the story is to create another first-person shooter (FPS). so the real question is whether bungie is hoping to jump the shark by creating some sort of FPS/RTS hybrid.

I don't believe that this would be a good use of their talents and resources. no matter how well they adapted Halo, the fan base will not be satisfied until they can properly finish the series. many people objected to the Halo 2 switch between the Master Chief character and the Arbiter. imagine the objections if Halo 3 isn't an FPS.

I'd like to think that these sorts of rumours are just a marketing trick that bungie has pulled out to keep people talking about Halo 3 during development delays. if bungie produces anything other than an improved FPS, they will be doing it for their own interests - not in the interest of Halo fans.

Halo 3 fix wish list

here is my personal wish list of Halo 3 fixes. even though Halo 2 is my favourite game, I can understand why it took plenty of flack from diehard Halo fans. this is what I think bungie can do to expand the Halo franchise and also win back some of the Halo 1 purists.

these aren't meant to be my creative ideas for new features. sure I'd love to fight the covenant on a snowboard, but I'd first like to see the fundamental problems addressed. it isn't the typical microsoft way to update software (i.e. it's not the "code on code" mentality), but bungie isn't a typical microsoft group.

1. go back to a strategic philosophy
I believe that this point is the key to growing the Halo user base and keeping the 133t (read: elite) players. the fact is that Halo 1 (H1) was more strategic than Halo 2 (H2). for example, during an H1 game, a player could check his health and react accordingly. if he had lots of health, he would fight; if he was low on health, he could play a survival strategy until he was able to pick up a health pack. in H2, there are no health packs and the health bar no longer appears in the heads-up display (HUD). this is good news for a newbie, but it's terrible for a seasoned player - the experts knew exactly how long it would take the health packs to reappear and would plan their movement accordingly.

another related issue is the fact that a number of the H2 weapons can be used in the infamous "spray and pray" technique. in other words, the player simply picks up a weapon in each hand and holds down both triggers in the hope that they can spray down an enemy. obviously, fighting with two weapons is a key feature of H2 and there's nothing wrong with the theory. however, in practice, the technique is far too effective. what should be limited to a short range strategy can often win mid-range showdowns. there is nothing more frustrating to an expert than trying to use a precision mid-range weapon against someone who is cutting him up with bullet hoses. it is an issue of weapon balance, but it's also another example of H2 catering to the amateur player.

2. tune down the plasma sword
now... if you want to talk about a pure weapon balance issue, the plasma sword is obviously overpowered. how bungie failed to balance out the sword range during their H2 live update is beyond me. the concept of the sword is cool and all, but man... the range is sick. anyone who plays H2 online knows that there are plenty of 'sword whores' out there just waiting for lockout to come up in the rumble pit playlist rotation. no other weapon can raise the ire of a Halo fan as quickly as the sword.

3. faster still!
I still remember when a friend first showed me the original Halo. the first thing that I did... actually, the first thing was to giggle like a school girl while I used the melee attack to knock down my buddy (thanks dkal :). but right after that... I asked where the run button was. much to my dismay, there was no run button - H1 was way too slow. H2 is faster than H1, and I'd like to see the trend continue. I don't need it unreal tournament fast, but I would like to actually be able to dodge something every once in a while.

of course, extra speed has to be balanced against potential new features that could use the same processing power. ya, ya... I know. but surely there's some juice in the Xbox 360 that can be set aside for the run button.

4. more maps
H2 maps are works of art. that's great and all, but it also means that there aren't enough of them. if bungie were to take a poll, I'm sure that players would be happy to settle for simpler design if it meant that they could have a regular stream of new maps. how about releasing a new map every month?

BTW - what about the H1 maps? many of those maps have not been released for H2. I've read on bungie.net that they decided that the maps didn't work with the H2 weapons. I find that to be an unacceptable argument. let the gamers decide what weapons they want to use.

5. 90 degree FOV
H2 uses a 70 degree field of view (FOV). but many shooters use a 90 degree FOV. seeing more of the battle field uses more resources, but once again, the move to the Xbox 360 should allow for performance improvements.

6. make vehicles part of the game
the rocket locking feature for vehicles is cool and a lot of fun if you're the one with the launcher, but the end result of this feature is that vehicles are rarely used. perhaps the players in the vehicles could have some warning that a rocket has locked onto their vehicle. combine this with faster bailing out and maybe more players would go for a ride.

I'm sure that bungie has grand plans for H3. however, I hope that they seriously consider fixing the issues with H2 before they spend all of their cycles working on that snowboarding level.

microsoft helps nab child abusers

after receiving a request from a canadian police agency, microsoft worked directly with the police to develop software to help catch child pornographers.

the work paid off this week when an international child pornography ring was shut down.

illness sucks

no big rant here... just sick of being sick :(

writing resources

grammar
---------------------

http://www.bartleby.com - "Great Books Online"
from the site: "The preeminent internet publisher of literature, reference and verse, providing students and researchers and the intellectually curious with unlimited access to books and information on the web, free of charge." this tag line sounds like a run-on sentence to me :P anyway, they have lots of great material including quotes and grammar.

Guide to Grammar and Writing (sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation)

Dictionary Of Literary Terms

World Wide Words

http://en.wikipedia.org/ - "The Free Encyclopedia" is the fastest growing online resource.

general
---------------------
www.dictionary.com - a great online dictionary that returns results from more than one source. the only issue with this site is that it references so many words that it's not going to settle any "that's not a real word" debates.

Webster's Online Dictionary with Multilingual Thesaurus Translation

ClicheSite.com - "Cliches, Euphimisms and Figures of Speech."

Yahoo! Directory Communications Writing for the Web

crazy olympic video

take a look at this unbelievable video, it shows canadian olympic aerial skier jeff bean losing both skis during a training jump at the 2006 winter games in torino, italy.


- the green circle shows jeff, the red circle shows his skis

fortunately, jeff walked away from the freak accident and was able to compete. probably the most incredible aspect of this crash is the fact that he completed his maneuvers knowing that he didn't have his skis.

stephen cawood's bio

Stephen Cawood is a Canadian writer. Before becoming a full-time writer, Stephen worked as a Program Manager in the Microsoft Office Server group (see full resumé).

While working in the Content Management Server (MCMS) development group, Stephen's duties included writing specifications and sample code for MCMS. He also received three patent awards for his work on web-based content management, and had the good fortune to speak at various technical conferences. These trips included Microsoft TechEd conferences in New Zealand, Australia, and Stephen's home country--South Africa.

During his time at Microsoft, Stephen co-wrote Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide (Addison-Wesley). After Stephen got married, he moved back to Canada and continued his writing career.

As a Beta tester for Halo 2, Stephen was so impressed with the game that his first solo book was a detailed exploration of real-world military strategy applied to Halo 2 multiplayer games. The book is entitled The Unauthorized Halo 2 Battle Guide: Advanced Combat Techniques (Thompson Course Technology) and it sold 10,000 copies in its first three weeks on the shelf. Stephen's other books include The Black Art of Halo Mods (Sams), and Halo 2 Hacks (O'Reilly and Associates).

In his free time, Stephen enjoys playing water polo, squash and snowboarding. He also trains with a local Jujitsu and grappling club.

grammatical grey area

anyone who has tried to learn english knows that the language is notoriously weak when it comes to its adherence to its own rules. add to this the fact that there are many flavours of english around the world, and it all adds up to notable 'grey areas' in the definition of correct grammar. this post lists some examples where opinion and style often determine what is 'correct.'

the oxford comma
when you list a number of items, it can be correct to include of exclude the comma before the 'and.' this final comma is known as the oxford comma (a.k.a. serial comma or harvard comma).
for example:
I like water polo, snowboarding and grappling. (no comma)
I like water polo, snowboarding, and grappling. (with the oxford comma)

sometimes the comma is added or removed for clarity rather than style.
for example:
her favourite cartoons are the powerpuff girls, samurai jack and ren and stimpy. (ambiguous)
her favourite cartoons are the powerpuff girls, samurai jack, and ren and stimpy. (clear)
the second sentence is less ambiguous since it's clear that 'ren and stimpy' is one item in the list. in the version without the oxford comma, it's possible that 'samurai jack and ren' could be a cartoon.

possessive apostrophe
most people omit the final 's' when they write the possessive form of a name that ends with an 's.' however, according to Fowler's Modern English Usage, the final 's' should be added when the possessive form of the name is pronounced differently than the non-possessive.
for example:
that is Charles' bike. (common but incorrect)
that is Charles's bike. (correct)
exceptions to this rule include "names from the ancient world" (e.g. Achilles'), names that end with an "iz" (e.g. Moses') sound and Jesus' (source: Eats, Shoots and Leaves).

the split infinitive
the most commonly cited example of this error is from the famous introduction to Star Trek: "to boldly go where no man has gone before." many people argue that "to boldly go" is grammatically incorrect because 'to' should be next to 'go.' however, there is plenty of debate about the split infinitive rule.

vocabulary
-------------------------------------------------
over time, the meaning of words can change. this can prompt a writer's choice between the vernacular and the traditional meaning of a word.

ambivalent
today this word is commonly used to mean that one doesn't hold an opinion about something. however, the actual meaning of the word is "coexistence in one person of opposite feelings towards same [sic] person or thing" (source: Oxford Dictionary). so what do you do? do you use the word to mean what people expect, or do you use the traditional meaning?

father vs. further
from http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/76-451/watts.html
"the Little, Brown Handbook ... says that "farther refers to additional distance . . . and further to additional time, amount, or other abstract matters" (p. 800). Again, this is a simple guideline, but one that Merriam-Webster does not agree with:

Farther and further have been used more or less interchangeably throughout most of their history, but currently they are showing signs of diverging. As adverbs they continue to be used interchangeably whenever spatial, temporal, or metaphorical distance is involved. But where there is no notion of distance, further is used . Further is also used as a sentence modifier , but farther is not. A polarizing process appears to be taking place in their adjective use. Farther is taking over the meaning of distance and further the meaning of addition .

Merriam-Webster clearly states that the two words are fundamentally interchangeable, with only partial specialization. The Handbook makes the case that the words are already distinct, though not in quite the manner Merriam-Webster predicts. However, ... neither guideline is an accurate reflection of usage, in the United States, Great Britain, or Australia."

top game controller laziness

I used to work with a guy who loved the expression "willing to die on that hill." I'd say something like, "man this coffee is terrible, we should get some better coffee in here," and he'd reflexively throw out, "ya? you willing to die on that hill?" I think about what his reaction would be as I take time out of my day to defend a video game controller.

I'm talking about the original 'fatty' xbox controller. the poor thing endured endless mockery from sources such as penny arcade, and it was thrown into a lot of closets when the smaller 'S' controller was released. I understand that some people found the controller too big and others didn't like the slanted arrangement of the buttons, but I was still surprised to see IGN rank the controller and #2 in the Top 10 Worst Game Controllers. that's just downright silly.

I had no issues with the controller. in fact, I find it more comfortable than the 'S' and I only switched because it was tough to find a fat controller at LAN parties. so now you're wondering if I'm some kind of rock-biter (that's stolen from the article BTW). no, that's not the case - I doubt I could even palm a basketball. but let's set aside my personal preference and just go with the facts. why would IGN rank the xbox controller in the top ten when there are so many other choices. I mean, honestly... can they really argue that the xbox controller was worse than the Colecovision controller? I doubt it. in fact, the Colecovision used the same style of Intellivision controller overlays that are disparaged in the IGN top ten article.

I've seen this sort of top ten laziness before, and I don't like it. it's like putting The French Connection in a list of the 10 Best Car Chases. now where did I see that cop-out being used? oh... look at that... it was errr... IGN. I'm sure that the 1971 list of best car chases could have included The French Connection, but have you actually watched that chase recently?

including The French Connection and the xbox controller were easy things to do - hip things to do - but they weren't at all accurate. clearly, the car chase writer realized his error because he published a second version. so good on ya, Steven Horn, for responding to feedback. as for the rest of you top ten writers out there, are you willing to die on that hill?

BTW - there's another great penny arcade where they show the designer of the fat controller and he has hands like a homunculus. leave me a comment if you have that link. cheers

this blog ain't spam

my blog has been incorrectly tagged as a 'spam blog.' I received this nice message...

"Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive."

according to blogger, spam blogs have "a large number of links, usually all pointing to a single site." I believe that this is why I've been tagged. in an effort to make my blog more accessible, you may have noticed that I added a "Posts By Categories" section on the right. unfortunately, blogger doesn't offer a metatag based taxonomy system, so I had to do this by hand. I'm betting that these posts - which include many links to blogspot - caused the false positive. I would think that blogger.com would be aware that bloggers link to their own posts.

update: it took their human checkers less than 24 hours to reverse this error. I wonder how many people have to check these things?

unsolvable sudoku

for you sudoku fans out there, this puzzle can't be solved without using 'Ariadne's Thread' - which basically means that you have to guess at some point. it can be done, but not with pure 'logic.' with the "Allow guess-and-check" option enabled, the sudoku solver will find the solution.

frankly, I was disappointed to find that I had to guess. in my opinion, the sudoku creation people shouldn't use puzzles that require guessing.

_ 5 _ _ 2 _ 8 _ 6
_ _ _ _ _ 6 _ _ 3
_ 6 _ _ 1 3 2 _ _
-------------------
_ 7 _ _ _ _ 9 6 _
4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1
_ 1 6 _ _ _ _ 3 _
-------------------
_ _ 7 2 3 _ _ 8 _
6 _ _ 7 _ _ _ _ _
2 _ 4 _ 9 _ _ 7 _

if you don't believe me, try running it through the sudoku solver.

note: here's the string for the solver (make it all one line):
_5__2_8_6+_____6__3+_6__132__+_7____96_+4____
___1+_16____3_+__723__8_+6__7_____+2_4_9__7_

update: a generous modder has provided the solution for anyone who wants it. those 133t modders just love to teach :P

technology

update: now that blogger has a taxonomy system, I will not be maintaining these manual lists. please use the labels instead. e.g., tech

geeklit posts about technology:

August 2006:
XNA Game Studio Express
McAfee virus view
xbox creators' club
faster right-click menus
dell batteries are hot
ipod thinks it's japanese

July 2006:
apple reneges on lawsuit settlement
purge your temp files

June 2006:
faster downloads... no, really

March 2006:
OOP dreaming

February 2006:
top game controller laziness

December 2005:
25 years of darling tech companies
prometheus - the future of modding
game testers need cheaper TVs

November 2005:
xbox 360 launch fake comic
modding Halo considered harmful?

September 2005:
exits from microsoft article
next gen revolution

July 2005:
GTA hoolpa - mods maligned again
modding is good

May 2005:
O'Reilly network article about E3
E3 wrap-up
E3 exhibit highlights
about Content Management Server

February 2005:
xbox 2 hard drive?
working at microsoft

writing

update: now that blogger has a taxonomy system, I will not be maintaining these manual lists. please use the labels instead. e.g., writing or books

geeklits posts about writing and my projects:

June 2006:
black art of Halo mods is out!

April 2006:
new project: pragmatic augmented reality book

March 2006:
writing resources

February 2006:
grammatical grey area

January 2006:
favourite english errors

June 2005:
print publishing

March 2005:
favourite fiction books
MCMS: a complete guide

February 2005:
Halo book for Sams
favourite geek books
Halo 2 Hacks for O'Reilly
the Halo 2 battle guide

gaming/modding

update: now that blogger has a taxonomy system, I will not be maintaining these manual lists. please use the labels instead. e.g., gaming or modding

geeklit posts about video games and modding:

August 2006:
XNA Game Studio Express
robotron 2084 strategy
xbox creators' club

July 2006:
halo2ce deserves credit

June 2006:
black art book on bungie.net
buzz about halo black art book
violent games debate explodes
black art of Halo mods is out!

May 2006:
Halo 3 E3 trailer

March 2006:
Halo 3 an RTS?
Halo 3 fix wish list

February 2006:
top game controller laziness
Halo 2 PC announced

January 2006:
Marathon on your PC
maxconsole.net news

December 2005:
prometheus - the future of modding
game testers need cheaper TVs
video game awards for actors 2005
Northy's Grim Hearse mod

November 2005:
xbox 360 launch fake comic
halo 2 hacks on bungie.org
halo on Xbox 360... nice
halo 2 hacks - errata
modding Halo considered harmful?
black art of Halo mods status
mod chips legal down under

October 2005:
Insolence - funny error message
interview with Xbox 360 Force

September 2005:
next gen revolution
halo 2 hacks is out!

August 2005:
black art of halo mods - credits

July 2005:
GTA hoolpa - mods maligned again
modding is good

May 2005:
O'Reilly network article about E3
E3 wrap-up
E3 exhibit highlights
live from L.A. - the Sony PS3
Xbox 360 revealed
next generation games
Xbox 360 leaked images
video game law blog

April 2005:
Doom III - mini review
new maps for Halo 2
Halo 2 ver. 1.1
hacked game variants and profiles
Halo 2 Hacks - full credits

March 2005:
halo 2 battle guide sold out
leaked info about Halo 2 ex-pack
injecting Doom texture into Halo 2
best Halo 2 mods
frustrating Halo strategies
best halo resource sites
Doom "1" on my Xbox
Xbox 2 - specs from GameSpy
cool article: Halo's Pillar of Autumn
halo 2 battle guide - addendum

February 2005:
xbox 2 hard drive?
covering E3 conference for o'reilly
modded xbox sting
Halo book for Sams
hx of video games
halo 2 battle guide - errata
Halo 2 Hacks for O'Reilly
halo 2.5 and xbox 2?
the Halo 2 battle guide
xbox burn - the power cord recall

travel/SCUBA

update: now that blogger has a taxonomy system, I will not be maintaining these manual lists. please use the labels instead. e.g., travel or SCUBA

geeklit posts about travel destinations and SCUBA diving:

June 2005:
X-Canada trip wrap-up

May 2005:
LA and Catalina Island