Heh… I’ve just completed NIH certification to administer human test protocols. I feel like that’s got to be worth a few mad scientist points.

So, I’m working on this project at work involving research into new forms of computer interface peripherals. (No, not that one.) As part of the project, we are required to test these interface concepts with ( Read more... )

Title: Virtual Dialogue Application for Families of Deployed Service Members

Objective: To develop a highly interactive PC or web-based application to allow family members to verbally interact with “virtual” renditions of deployed Service Members.

This RFP from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD09-H03) floated across my desk the ( Read more... )

This is an update to a previous rant about the mysterious Windows XP “Dee-Dunk” error (and the novel concept of presenting an “error message” when an error condition exists), possibly in conjunction with broken or intermittent USB functionality. This post is mainly for Googlers - my friends are more than welcome to skip it.

I haz solved the mystery ( Read more... )

Error messages, people. Error messages. When an “error” occurs, it should be accompanied by an “error message”, which informs the user a) that an error did occur; b) what that error was. It does not even necessarily have to be understandable to mere mortals (although this would be really nice), because understanding it is the job of your IT Guy and ( Read more... )

(and we’re out of beta, we’re releasing on time… Err… deliverable code freeze will happen monday morning, or wednesday afternoon (due date), or before 50% of the devices are sealed up for delivery with the code already on them, whichever comes before the last bug is found. [Especially if the bugs are discovered in hardware, third-party hardware or ( Read more... )

So yeah, that particular work project just keeps getting better. Today I got this in my email from the manufacturer of a critical component, reaffirming my personal “If it’s not in-stock on Digikey, I do not specify it in my design” policy.

[...] The is on
hold. There are no technical reasons but it has been decided that it will be turned
on again ( Read more... )

So, I got an email back today from a contractee, whereupon I learned:
1) A technology I created, which I envisioned as having significant pro-consumer subversive uses, will instead be used as a carrier for evil (”hey, can it collect usage data to sell to credit-card companies every time they use it? That would be gr-rrreat!”)
2) It’s going to have a ( Read more... )

Ok, so, apparently in certain circles of defense parlance, you do not blow up people. Well, you do, but the correct euphemism is "soft targets" (as opposed to "hard targets", such as tanks, buildings, etc.). Referring to soft targets as people is rather frowned upon. I managed to inadvertently silence a getting-out-of-hand meeting yesterday as ( Read more... )

1) Dude. Seriously. The display we'll be designing into our gadget won't be ready for 6 more months? You said it was ready a week ago, and that was two months ago. Our customer is crawling up my ass for the prototype we promised them in December. So you gave me this other one and said "prototype with this, it's exactly the same." After three days' ( Read more... )

Today was one of those little icky days where, after the fun and mildly arty process of designing a set of boards, the next step was to spend all day in Excel sourcing parts and getting all their prices filled in (and ripping up parts of the design where the part had gone non-stock, etc.). As a fitting punctuation to this experience, I had a ( Read more... )