Getting lucky with free mobile WiFi

Like lots of people in tech, I have a Blackberry with WiFi.  Regardless of how good Rogers has been with their 3G network, WiFi is faster to browse with, and free-er. With that in mind, I’ve added my home and work WiFi networks to my connections (Manage Connections -> Set Up WiFi Network), and just …

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December 18, 2009 – 12:51 | By dariusz | Posted in Software Development | Tagged , | Comments (0)

TorCHI Presentation: Sprint Zero and Agile Design

My co-workers Khan and Brian and myself went to the University of Toronto for a presentation at TorCHI.  It was by Lynn Miller, a  Senior Manager at AutoDesk (Maya, 3DSMax, AutoCAD, etc.) The presentation was about Sprint Zero: the lead-up work that is required before a team embarks on an Agile project, or any project …

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December 9, 2009 – 15:23 | By dariusz | Posted in Software Development | Comments (5)

Blue Beanie Day 2009 @ Desire2Learn

blue beanie day. Originally uploaded by jclhicks. So some of the design and standards people at work wore blue toques today in celebration/encouragement of designing with web standards: Doug Vos’ Writeup on Blue Beanie Day 2009 If you’re interested in showing some web-standards solidarity, take a look at the Facebook group.  We’ve been really struggling …

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November 30, 2009 – 10:42 | By dariusz | Posted in User Experience | Comments (0)

… or why being Polish is tough.

The team at Vice, recently put out this great, short little documentary-style film about the origins of vodka.   As the writers allude, many countries lay claim to being vodka originators the way the Russians do, but none with so much difficulty (and legitimacy) as Poland. Despite starting off a little slowly, and not doing the …

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October 29, 2009 – 00:43 | By dariusz | Posted in Personal Stuff | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

The birth of the Microsoft Office “Ribbon”

New ideas for user interface components don’t come by very often.  For example, the pointer, icons, and toolbars have been around since the late 1970′s courtesy of the work done at Xerox PARC.  It’s safe to say that the computing environment in the late 70′s was quite a bit different than it is today, so …

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August 4, 2009 – 14:47 | By dariusz | Posted in User Experience | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

My new Dell Mini 10v: The First Day

Since I haven’t bought a laptop in over 3 years, I decided to follow the trend and pick up one of the ultra-portable notebooks / netbooks.   After reading some reviews, I picked up this Dell Mini 10v.  It arrived today, only seven days after I placed the order via a Dell Chat. Rather than …

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July 22, 2009 – 13:58 | By dariusz | Posted in Software Development | Tagged , , , | Comments (7)

Internet Literacy in Education

Wanted to share a pretty great video about internet media literacy, and higher education. For someone finishing up a Masters, some of the points he makes ring very loudly. From the YouTube video: Recently Dr. Wesch spoke at the University of Manitoba where he explained the the basis of this video in a talk entitled, …

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May 8, 2009 – 12:31 | By dariusz | Posted in User Experience | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

An actually useful poster from the UPA

This has to be one of the most functional and relevant posters I’ve ever put up on a wall.  It’s from the UPA (Usability Professionals Association) and it briefly goes over and organises the process of designing software for the user. I got one mailed to me when I joined the UPA as a free …

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May 7, 2009 – 13:31 | By dariusz | Posted in User Experience | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Lost in Transition

A lot of stuff has been happening in the last couple of weeks. For those in the know, I started a new job:  Product Designer with Desire2Learn in Kitchener.  I complain about the commute from Toronto, but really I’m just fighting the idea of embracing something new.  So far, the office has been great: receptive, …

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May 7, 2009 – 12:11 | By dariusz | Posted in Personal Stuff | Comments (4)

First draft of my thesis, done! Kinda.

So as many of you know, I’ve been trying to get my Master’s thesis done soon so I can graduate this May.  Today I reached a bit of a milestone:  the first draft.   It’s not all I want it to be: it’s still missing a few figures, mostly screenshots to explain what’s going on.  That’s …

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April 16, 2009 – 14:03 | By dariusz | Posted in User Experience | Tagged , | Comments (2)