Mar 12
16
iPad 2 vs. the New iPad
I just wanted to publish these pictures I took of the difference in quality of the standard iPad 2 screen and the new iPad’s Retina display. The difference is staggering, and simply awesome.
Left: The new iPad, Right: iPad 2. Click for bigger images.
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Today’s typing tests are seriously flawed.
Now, before you go grab your pitchfork, let me explain why. Your typing speed, at its most basic form, is how fast you type on a daily basis when you’re typing things like e-mails, reports, instant message conversations, that sort of thing (assuming you don’t use any of that horrible shorthand like “l8r”). So why should you be graded on words you never type? I don’t care what my WPM score is when I’m typing Moby Dick, because I never actually type the text of Moby Dick, so it’s not a fair or accurate representation of my WPM score.
Now, there are two basic forms of typing tests, from what I’ve seen. You either write an excerpt from a paragraph of text, or you type out a series of “common” words, one after another. Both of these test types are flawed. The random-word approach is flawed for two reasons, first, because as I said, the words may not be what you type on a daily basis. It’s great that sufficiently is a “common English word”, but if it’s not in my daily vocabulary I’m not going to type it very often, so I shouldn’t be graded on trying to type it. This random-word system is also flawed because when you type, your hands “flow” through a sentence as it’s typed, anticipating the next word and moving accordingly (and often, fluidly). By typing random words in rapid succession, your brain “trips up” because the words don’t form anything coherent, so you end up stumbling through the test, second-guessing what you’re typing and fumbling with the “flow” between words.
The “Copy-a-Paragraph” tests are definitely a step up from the random-word approach, but they’re still flawed. Unless your job consists of nothing but data entry, chances are that 99% of what you type comes from your brain, specifically, your conscious thought stream (or whatever you’d like to call it). When you transcribe/rewrite something that’s already on the screen, your brain is forced to read (and often comprehend) what it sees, and then at the same time that it’s reading, it’s also trying to tell your fingers and hands where to move and how to type the words that you’re seeing on the screen. So, in essence, it’s actually doing two things at once, which isn’t exactly ideal for a “test”. The good thing about these tests, at least, is that you’re typing coherent sentences, so your fingers don’t get tripped up as much. And, of course, the quality of the text to be transcribed plays a major factor in the test, as well. For example, someone who can type technical information very fast isn’t going to be very good at retyping a classic work of fiction.
So, what’s the solution? To put it simply, it’s a freeform typing test. All you get is a box to type in whatever you like. Just start typing, and after 1 minute, the text area is locked out, and your WPM is displayed. Simple.
Feel free to type whatever you want. Think of it like a “brain dump”. Anything that comes to mind, just form it into a complete sentence and type it out as fast as you can. Talk about your favorite food, your horrible day at work, your ugly neighbors, anything will do. The more common the words are to you, the quicker you’ll type, and the more accurate the test will be. If you make a mistake, backspace and fix it as fast as you can.
Some people may not be able to type for a solid minute with only their imagination to go on, which is fine. If you’re more comfortable typing an excerpt from an e-mail you wrote, or a paper you wrote, or a book, feel free to do that instead, because you aren’t scored on what the contents are, you’re only graded on how fast you can type it in.
Freeform WPM Test
If you’ve ever wanted to programmatically change the default audio playback device on the fly using code, a good friend of mine wrote a great article and subsequent code example (in Win32 C++) that compiles down to a very handy console-based executable (download link at the very bottom of the article) which, if left parameterless, will output all playback devices with an ID number, or, if an ID number is provided as a parameter, will set the device of that ID number to be the default playback device, immediately.
Now, a console application is all well and good, but the real power lies in the ability to wrap this handy utility in a .NET program. Here’s a small code snippet that will let you execute the utility EXE from within a C# program. Just make sure you have the utility EXE in the current working directory (add it to your project and set it to copy to the output folder), or place it in some other folder in your PATH environment variable.
int newDeviceID;
// Set newDeviceID here, by some means. A common scenario
// is to save the value using the registry so it can be toggled.
Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo("EndPointController.exe", newDeviceID.ToString())
{
UseShellExecute = false,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
CreateNoWindow = true
});
Simply populate the “newDeviceID” integer with a new value (either store a toggle in the registry or through some other means), ensure that you’ve included the utility EXE (default name is “EndPointController.exe”) and copied it to the output directory, then run this code. The Process options set in the example prevent a console window from appearing, which makes this code completely silent.
So there you have it. A simple, easy way to change your default audio device on the fly, almost instantaneously, through .NET.
Nov 10
21
AeroWeather Updated
AeroWeather has been updated. New changes include:
- Fixed Celsius ranges not validating correctly (Negative values are now okay).
- Fixed settings page not hiding properly when the application is launched not for the first time.
Simply run the application and run the updater when prompted.
Nov 10
17
AeroWeather Updated
AeroWeather has been updated. New changes include:
- Changed the location validation. It now accepts a city, [state/country] or a zip code (for users outside the US).
- Added support for Celsius.
- Fixed a bug where AeroWeather wouldn’t remember the city name when you closed and re-opened it.
Simply run the application and run the updater when prompted.
Jul 10
27
AeroWeather Updated
AeroWeather has been updated. New changes include:
- Fixed instances where Aero would get disabled and then re-enabled, and AeroWeather would not update the glass color.
Simply run the application and run the updater when prompted.
Apr 10
17
StatFortress Updated
A new version of StatFortress has been published. New Changes include:
- StatFortress is now localized. All weapon names have been translated from their entity names into human-readable names.
Simply run the application and run the updater when prompted.
If anyone would like to translate StatFortress into their native language, please contact me and I can give you the localization information.
Apr 10
14
DupeList Updated
DupeList has been updated. New changes include:
- Added progress bar for actions that may take a long time.
- Added context menu to results list, with ability to select items, and then delete selected items. This is different from the “Checked” property.
Simply run the application and run the updater when prompted.
Edit: Horray for LifeHacker front page, thanks, guys! I’ve updated the app to add support for international locations, as well as Celsius.
Here’s a fun utility I run all the time on my main machine… it’s called AeroWeather. It sits in the background and retrieves the temperature or current conditions for your location, and will then set the Windows Aero color based on the temperature.
This is a really neat utility if you’re the kind of person that wants to know what the temperature is just by looking at the Windows UI, or… if you’re like me, and you can’t decide on which Aero color to use, and would prefer it if it changed during the course of the day.
AeroWeather features include:
- Temperature-based color changes
- Minimum and Maximum values let you define your own range of colors
- Maximum temperature (or higher) is always red
- Minimum temperature (or lower) is always purple
- Color is calculated based on minimum and maximum values
- For example, given a minimum of zero, and a maximum of 100, if the temperature is 50 degrees, the calculated color would be a shade of green
- Fahrenheit or Celsius can be selected.
- UI is grey if it’s cloudy, blue if it’s sunny, white if it’s snowing, dark grey if it’s raining, etc
- Dims the Aero colors when the sun sets (retrieves sunset time from weather server). Colors appear dimmer and less vibrant
- Brightens them when the sun rises the next day
AeroWeather is freeware.
AeroWeather requires Windows Vista or Windows 7 with Windows Aero enabled. This software is designed to work with the “glass” effect in Windows Vista and Windows 7, and it will not work unless Windows Aero is enabled.
Download AeroWeather (ClickOnce installer)
Note: AeroWeather requires the .NET Framework 3.5 to be installed. If you do not have it, you will be prompted to install it.
Apr 10
10
DupeList: Duplicate File Scanner
DupeList is a small program that will let you scan a folder on your computer for duplicate files. It will return a list of files that are duplicates, and can also delete the files in question for you.
It is recommended that you only scan folders that you organize yourself (such as My Pictures, for example). Often times application and data folders will purposefully contain duplicate files, so if you scan those types of folders, you may see a lot of duplicate files in your results.
DupeList is freeware.
Download DupeList (ClickOnce Installer)
Note: DupeList requires the .NET Framework 3.5 to be installed. If you do not have it, you will be prompted to install it.