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…
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.
A brilliant talk from Yale Patt – The future of “Computer * ” (Are we in serious trouble?) – about computer education avaliable from the Computer Society. Funny, insightful and discussing something which is particularly important these days in western european countries – the reduced number of students enrolling engineering degrees.
In his recent article Walter Mossberg discusses that Apple’s business model is taking an advantage over Microsoft’s component model. He goes on to say that Apple end-to-end business model is proving to be more suitable to the post-PC era. I guess that’s what Don Norman was thinking about when he wrote the invisible computer. Marketing, usability and convenience are dominating technology.
Search
About
You are currently browsing the Nuno Jardim Nunes weblog archives for the News category.
)!
