My colleague Leonel Nóbrega just released the first working beta version of metaSketch which is the outcome of several years of work on extending and using the UML and MOF in many domains in particular to support agile interactive application development with essential use-cases, wisdom architecture, canonical abstract prototypes, activity modeling, etc. You can also use metaSketch to create any language the editor is completely reflexive, meaning you can use it to create the extensions and then load then to create the models.
All of these “languages” are currently supported in metaSketch in a comprehensive usageCD extension on MOF. metaSketch works on Windows with the .NET 2.0 framework, you should be able to run it on Mac and Unix using virtualization. Let us know about this project and don’t hesitate to give feedback and suggest improvements.
After almost a year decided to upgrade the website and start writing again hopefully more frequently than before.
Following the somewhat surprisingly popular “Stuff I’m enjoying” posts, here is a list for this summer…
Music
Sigur Ros - Meo Suo I Eyrum Vio Splium Endalaust - the unpronounceable Icelandic wizards are back with a more accessible but still complex record. It makes you wonder why some portuguese bands still think that singing in english is the way to go… they should listen to Sigur and understand the beauty of singing in your own language…
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup - a friend offered me this record and I must confess I’ve never heard about Beirut before, the best I can say is that if Tom Waits was living in 20s he would probably sound as sophisticated and elegant as Zach Condon.
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes - I must confess I was never a great fan of Wilson’s Beach Boys music and the fuzz about this debut album from Fleet Foxes that describe themselves as “baroque pop, music from fantasy movies, Motown, block harmonies … not much of a rock band”, is working it’s way…
Tindersticks - the Hungry Saw - a beautiful album from one of the most solid alternative bands out there…
I’ve been busy setting up the joint CMU Professional Master program and failed to update the blog. Of course the lack of time meant less reading and more music…
Music
The National – Boxer – simply one of the best albums in the last 5 years, these guys have passed Richmond Fontaine and are getting to the status of Bowie and Reed on my preference list.
Robert Wyatt – Comicopera – the old crazy drunk man did it again, a great album from one of the most interesting voices of pop/rock, even at 62 years old.
Bruce Springsteen – Magic – I must confess I’m not a fan os Springsteen but a friend pointed out his new album which I must confess surprised me with a god set of very nice songs.
Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam – This one is not up to the level (or should I say craziness) of the previous two albums but nevertheless it’s still a great album of one of the most innovative bands out there (those of you that don’t know Panda Bear actually moved from New York to Lisbon Portugal so I might bump into him someday.
Radiohead – In Rainbows – this one got a lot of attention because it was of the first albums from a major band that you could actually download from their website and pay as much as you wanted… anyway it’s a great album, probably more accessible for those that think that OK Computer and Kid A are too much of android paranoia.
Movies
Zodiac – probably one of the great movies of 2007, a movie about a real life serial killer that terrorized San Francisco in 1960s. David Fincher who is known for directing lots of videoclips comes back after se7en (and what a comeback!).
Next – this is not a great movie and it’s here simply because it’s another screenplay from a novel by Philip K. Dick (The Golden Man). The movie looses much of the great story-line of the original novel but nevertheless it’s an entertaining 90mn.
Knocked Up – this is and absolutely hilarious movie, which is already something worth pursuing these days.
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix – had to take the kids to the movies for yet another Harry Potter movie, not that it takes a lot of pushing to get somebody like me to the watch a story about wizards, but I must confess next time I’ll drop the kids and do something else with my time.
Away from Her – an absolutely touching movie about love, the importance of memory (or loss of it) and the treatment of time.
Books
Thomas Friedman – The World is Flat – I tried not to read this book, never bought the original english version (which is already a bad sign) then bumped into the portuguese translation and well bought it. The book is not bad, I guess it should be useful for somebody who is not already immersed in software engineering, international research, etc. It’s also important to read the book that everybody is talking about, even if it just makes you wonder where the hell were those people living for the past 10 years???
Richard Dawkins – The Selfish Gene – I read this book some years ago and again bumped into the portuguese translation next to the recent edition of “A desilusão de Deus” (please click the link and go and buy this book). It is impressive how great books and even greater ideas are timeless.
Games
Bungie – Halo 3 – well millions bought this one and having played both the original and the sequel I couldn’t miss the last episode of the saga. Great game!
Sierra – World in Conflict – this is one of the best strategy games I’ve ever played, and I’ve just got passed the first initial levels simply because I would compromise my professional life if I gave this one more than a couple of hours… an impressive technical achievement!
I was surprised my recommendations got so much attention, I’ve added a section on Movies and another one on Games.
Here it goes just a couple of days before Spring:
Music:
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible – the much antecipated second album for the canadian band. I’m still listening to this one but on a first look it’s not as good as the debut Funeral, anyway not many bands out there are capable of doing powerful stuff like this with David Bowie.
Joanna Newsom – Ys – a beautiful indie folk album from a great artist. It is perhaps overconsidered by the critic but nevertheless it’s a great album.
Richard Dawkins – The God Delusion – A great book from Oxford ethologist and evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins. Thought provoking, brilliantly written with some great British humor.
Babel – there is something disturbing about this movie I can’t explain, following the scripting style of Crash (another great movie) it is a brilliant novel about modern times and globalization. I wonder how an american would look at this story… By the way the music in Babel is great, the end theme Bibo No Aozora was the reason I revisited Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Pan’s Labyrinth (Labirinto del Fauno) – a great (horror) fairytale in fascist Spain (1944), one of the best movies of 2006 which makes Guillermo del Toro reach the standard of one of my favorite directors Tim Burton.
The Good Shepherd – a brilliant film about the early story of the CIA from the perspective of a man’s life (Edward Wilson) – there is a magnificent quote in this movie:
Joseph Palmi: Let me ask you something… we Italians, we got our families, and we got the chuch; the Irish they have the homeland, jews their tradition; even the niggas, they got their music. What about you people, Mr. Wilson, what do you have? Edward Wilson: The United States of America, and the rest of you are just visiting.
Deja Vu – an interesting sci-fi movie, it’s not a great movie but I particularly liked the storyline.
Games:
Microsoft Game Studios – Viva Pinata – if you own an XBOX 360 (yes I own one but I wont admit provocative commentary in class) and you have kids age 7 and above go out and buy this game, it’s a marvelous piece of creactivity that will make the time they spend playing well worth it. This made our home a magnet for the kids at school and the neighborhood.
Microsoft Game Studios (by Epics Games) – Gears of War – yes I also like to shoot some guys out there, but Gears of War is also an outstanding technical achievement which is use in my classes to show the students how game technology evolved. It’s also the only way I could send the kids to bed while playing Viva Pinata.
EIDOS Interactive – Battlestations MidWay – I bought this one to see if it was this time they could solve the problem of playing strategy games in a console, meanwhile the console crashed and it’s up for repair. Anyway the game is combination of strategy, tactics and action – very interesting and quite challenging even for a longstanding strategy gamer like myself.
A mindblowing presentation by statistitian Hans Rosling, this is part of his work teaching international health, a great example of how dogma can/must/should be demolished in education.
Rosling is professor of international health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, and founder of Gapminder, a nonprofit that brings vital global data to life. Give it a try here. A version of Gapminder is currently part of the Google labs stuff.
TED is “an event like no other”… more than 1000 thought-leader together once a year to discuss Technology, Entertainment and Design… Altought I’ve never attended one of the conferences (they are by invitation only and I would need one )!
Anyway, recently they started posting TEDTalks online, some are simply brilliant unmissable pieces, what could you expect from Dan Gilbert, Barry Schwartz, Malcom Gladwell, Steven Levitt, Richard Dawkins, Dan Dennett, Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling and Al Gore.
This is already a shortlist of some of my favorite talks, I’ll start with Ken Robinson’s talk about the role of creativity in our education system. An entertaining, brilliant talk from one of the thought leader in education, anybody working on this field should watch. Enjoy!
Well Steve Jobs did it again, Apple just launched the iPhone and AppleTV – two products that clearly make Apple jump into the information appliance arena after the major success of the iPod.
And the fact that “Apple Computer Inc.” is now “Apple Inc.” a confirmation of what HCI research as long predicted with the Invisible Computer and and Disappearing Computer.
A couple of things stand out of this trend, partly why I’m blogging on it (the other part is because I’m a long time MacUser):
the iPhone includes at least a couple of highly innovative underlying technologies that might go into the right direction. And it’s impressive how Apple takes an edge waiting for the right technology to be there (big high-pres touchscreen with a new technology called “multi-touch, smart sensors that help control the device behavior);
but it’s not simply hardware, it’s about the integration between HW and SW, that together are capable of creating a new killer product at least for the early adopter that will dominate the market and make room for the stylish trend up to come;
My guess is that those BIG details will make the difference in the long run. Of course quad-band, Gb of storage and all the other features will be important for early adoption, also the styleness and coolness of simply carrying one of this devices… but in the long run if multi touch doesn’t for the user, the iPhone is dead!
So it’s time to revisit Don Norman’s “The Invisible Computer”, there is a chapter available online: Growing Up: Moving from Technology-Centered to Human-Centered Products.
I will have more to say about this on the technical side of things with a paper I’m currently working on.
This is a photo of the New Year’s evening with some of DME’s students… which obviously know how to enjoy one of the most celebrated New Year’s Eve in all the world – the amazing Funchal fireworks which got listed in the Guinness book of records.
A great book from Oxford ethologist and evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins. Thought provoking, brilliantly written with some great British humor. A great book and a must read wether you are a theist, atheist, an agnostic or simply believe in the flying spaghetti monster.
Be advised thought that Richard aims to make each reader a proud atheist after reading the book…
As an appetizer check this great small interview about the book.
to show the students how game technology evolved. It’s also the only way I could send the kids to bed while playing Viva Pinata.
