Thursday, March 31, 2016

Xamarin free with Visual Studio

Xamarin for Everyone | Xamarin Blog
"Xamarin will be in every edition of Visual Studio, including the widely-available Visual Studio Community Edition, which is free for individual developers, open source projects, academic research, education, and small professional teams. Develop and publish native apps for iOS and Android with C# or F# from directly within Visual Studio with no limits on app size.

For developers on the Mac, Xamarin Studio is now available as a benefit of your Visual Studio Professional or Enterprise subscription. Developers can use the newly-created Xamarin Studio Community Edition for free.
To begin developing iOS and Android apps with the full power of Xamarin and C#, download Xamarin Studio or Xamarin for Visual Studio today."

“I was really surprised, to be honest,” he said. “Even already having this optimistic viewpoint that lead me to doing the acquisition, I wasn’t expecting the level of talent, passion, optimism, cooperation, and enthusiasm that I saw among Satya’s and Scott’s top team.” He also noted that he doesn’t think “the public reputation of Microsoft, even though it has improved, has caught up to the reality of what’s going on inside Microsoft.”

Top Tech Cars

Cars That Think - IEEE Spectrum

2016’s Top Ten Tech Cars - IEEE Spectrum

Google Self-Driving Car Will Be Ready Soon for Some, in Decades for Others - IEEE Spectrum

Tesla Model 3 event: how to watch (Wired UK)

S&P Cuts China Outlook and Tesla's Model 3—5 Things to Know Today - Fortune

Tesla Model 3: What to Expect from Elon Musk's Mass-Market Electric Car

The Model 3 is a huge deal for Tesla, here's why - Fortune
"Anyone on the Internet can reserve online starting at 8:30 PM pacific time on Thursday night.
Model 3 reservations cost $1,000."


2017 Toyota Prius Prime Plug-In Hybrid Photos and Info – News – Car and Driver
This is not a Tesla, but Toyota Prius "Prime"


The Scary Efficiency of Autonomous Intersections - IEEE Spectrum

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Microsoft Build 2016: AI Bots are new Apps

Microsoft Build Developer Conference | March 30 – April 1, 2016

Channel 9: Videos about the people building Microsoft Products & Services

Keynote Presentation | Build 2016 | Channel 9
"Conversations as a platform": leverage power of human language,  an intersection of
  • create more personal computing
  • build the intelligent cloud platfrom
  • reinvent productivity & business process
"Infuse intelligence about context", a next wave after GUI, Web, Mobile/Touch => Voice

Microsoft’s ambitions are huge and surprising, because they have to be | The Verge


BOTS ARE GOING TO BE THE NEW APPS


Ubuntu Linux user mode directly on Windows Kernel, not a VM.

Everything Microsoft announced at Build 2016: Day 2


ASP.NET Core & Docker







free tutorials on YouTube

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Short GUID string

Short GUID

C#

Guid.NewGuid().ToString();  
32 characters

AAD5E2E7-AD78-487A-9B37-458B9F1EE897

Convert.ToBase64String(Guid.NewGuid().ToByteArray())
.Substring(0, 22).Replace("/", "_").Replace("+", "-");
22 characters

b14I850fIE6cuyv7VnP6WA

Base64 code encoding is convenient but not optimal, since it is using only 64 codes out of 95 view-able available in ASCII, and is using '/' and '+' that are not URL friendly.
It is using 6 out of 8 bits in a byte, so overhead compared to binary is 22/16 (37%). 
It is still better than typical hex format that takes 32 bytes instead of binary 16 (100% overhead). 

Since whole bytes are used, 22 final bytes can hold 132 bits, 
and GUID is 16 bytes = 128 bits, so there is a 4 extra bits that could be used for checksum. 

Habits 101

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
- Aristotle at BrainyQuote


free class: Habits 101 | Brian Johnson





Arete (moral virtue) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Monday, March 28, 2016

ideas, gadget, app: "Time Timer"

interesting idea, a "minutes countdown timer";
could also be useful for "pomodoro technique"

Effective branding, with a premium price; similar fun clocks are available for much less.

All Products – Time Timer
Time Timer® 8" - Time Timer - 1Time Timer® Android App - Time Timer
from $30

Time Timer In Education
"The Time Timer helps students of all ages and abilities see and understand the passage of time."
Time Timer at Work

How a Time Timer Works - YouTube

included in "bonus pack" of "The Sprint Book"

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Learn More, Study Less (MIT in 1 year)

Learn More, Study Less by Scott H Young @ TED



MIT Challenge

He has studied complete MIT undergrad curriculum in computer science available online for free, that includes videos of lectures, tests and exercises, and then tested himself on real exams that are also available with solutions on MIT, and in less than a year. The "trick?": online can speed up or skip lectures, and focus only on effective materials and labs.

If You Had 15 Days to Learn Calculus, How Would You Do It?
"...the most effective method is intensive practice combined with trying to form deep intuitions about the principles involved, then this matters a great deal. Because this is also the foundation you can learn anything from"
Scott Young - YouTube

Optional Interview with Scott Young, a "Marco Polo" of Learning - University of California, San Diego | Coursera

One Simple Method to Learn Any Language | Scott Young & Vat Jaiswal | TEDxEastsidePrep - YouTube

He also traveled with a friend in 4 countries for 3 months each, to learn language.
Apparently that worked well also, since they used immersive, "no English" learning.



Saturday, March 26, 2016

"Holoportation" by Microsoft Research

'Holoportation' demo makes live-video holograms look easy


Walking on Mars: NASA, Microsoft Explore Red Planet with Wearable HoloLens



Alex Kipman: A futuristic vision of the age of holograms | TED Talk | TED.com

Dropbox: Public 2 Private Cloud

unusual move by Dropbox... with a good reason

Dropbox Develops Magic Pocket, Moves Away From AWS @ InfoQ

"Dropbox discussed their migration away from Amazon Web Services (AWS) on their blog. The blog post recounts all of the activities that have allowed them to achieve their goal of serving 90% of all user data exclusively from their own data centers. The project, named “Magic Pocket”, called for in-house developed software and hardware to be built to support their customer needs.

Dropbox has seen 12x growth since 2012. During this timeframe, the amount of storage required for customer data has increased from 40 petabytes to 500 petabytes in order to serve their 500 million users.

“There were a couple reasons behind this decision. First, one of our key product differentiators is performance. Bringing storage in-house allows us to customize the entire stack end-to-end and improve performance for our particular use case. Second, as one of the world’s leading providers of cloud services, our use case for block storage is unique. We can leverage our scale and particular use case to customize both the hardware and software, resulting in better unit economics.”


Dropbox Intro Video - Magic Pocket - YouTube


visual word: ikigai (purpose)

Ikigai - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Ikigai (生き甲斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept meaning "a reason for being". Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self. Such a search is regarded as being very important, since it is believed that discovery of one's ikigai brings satisfaction andmeaning to life.[1] Examples include work, hobbies and raising children.[2]

The term ikigai is composed of two Japanese words: iki (生き?), referring to life, and kai (甲斐?), which roughly means "the realisation of what one expects and hopes for".

In the culture of Okinawa, ikigai is thought of as "a reason to get up in the morning"; that is, a reason to enjoy life. In a TED Talk, Dan Buettner suggested ikigai as one of the reasons people in the area had such long lives.[3]"


PNG (pixels, 80 KB) vs SVG (vectors, 17 KB)
File:Ikigai-EN-optimized-PNG.png   


Friday, March 25, 2016

Template 10 for Windows 10 platform (UWP)


After a very rigid and prescriptive Windows 8 SDK for apps development,
Windows 10 SDK came with not templates or guidance at all.  
To fill in the gap there is a new open-source toolkit and library: 


"A rich library of helpers, services, and base classes for new and existing Windows UWP apps to maximize awesomeness and minimize boilerplate garbage.
A community-built, set of Windows XAML/.NET app templates with basic design patterns. It leverages the Template 10 library (in NuGet) to maximize awesomeness and minimize boilerplate garbage. This extension adds two new project templates for Windows apps: Template 10 (Blank) and Template 10 (Minimal)."

A series of videos:

A Developer's Guide to Windows 10 | Channel 9
"Want an in-depth look at the Universal Windows Platform (UWP)? Engaging experts Jerry Nixon and Andy Wigley, of the Developer's Guide to Windows 10 Preview, return to show you how Windows capabilities and social integration can help you create amazing experiences on devices running Windows 10, including phones, tablets, PCs, and even (coming soon) Xbox"

Podcast interview with authors: Template 10 - MS Dev Show Podcast

Thursday, March 24, 2016

15TB SSD from Samsung, 2,000,000 IOPS


Samsung’s monstrous 15TB SSD is now shipping | Ars Technica

"Samsung has announced that it is now shipping its PM1633a SSD...isn't just the biggest SSD around, it's straight-up the biggest drive around. At 15.36TB, it dwarfs other SSDs and surpasses the capacity even of the very latest magnetic spinning disks. Remarkably, it packs all this storage into a conventional 2.5-inch package."

Samsung unveils 2.5-inch 16TB SSD: The world’s largest hard drive | Ars Technica

"At the Flash Memory Summit, as reported by Golem.de, Samsung showed off a server with 48 of these new SSDs, with a total storage capacity of 768 terabytes and performance rated at 2,000,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second). By comparison, the consumer-grade SSD that you have in your PC is probably capable of around 10,000-90,000 IOPS, depending on the workload.
...
Today, an enterprise-grade 1TB SSD will cost you about £600 or $1,000; an enterprise-grade helium-filled 8TB hard drive from HGST costs about £400 or $700."



IOPS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
7,200 rpm SATA drivesHDD~75-100 IOPS[2]SATA 3 Gbit/s
Samsung SSD 850 PROSSD100,000 read IOPS
90,000 write IOPS[19]
SATA 6 Gbit/s
Fusion-io ioDrive2SSDUp to 9,608,000 IOPS[48]PCIe
EMC DSSD D5FlashUp to 10 million IOPS [50]PCIe Out of Box, up to 48 clients with high availability.

ScottGu's Blog - Announcing the Biggest VM Sizes Available in the Cloud: New Azure GS-VM Series

Standard_GS5: 32 cores,  448 GB RAM,  80,000 IOPS, 2,000 MB/sec


class: Learning How to Learn

Learning how to learn | Barbara Oakley | TEDxOaklandUniversity - YouTube

Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects - University of California, San Diego | Coursera

"This course gives you easy access to the invaluable learning techniques used by experts in art, music, literature, math, science, sports, and many other disciplines. We’ll learn about the how the brain uses two very different learning modes and how it encapsulates (“chunks”) information. We’ll also cover illusions of learning, memory techniques, dealing with procrastination, and best practices shown by research to be most effective in helping you master tough subjects. Using these approaches, no matter what your skill levels in topics you would like to master, you can change your thinking and change your life."

The Most Popular Online Course Teaches You to Learn - The New York Times
"With 1,192,697 students enrolled since the course was created last year, “Learning How to Learn,” which is offered by the University of California through Coursera, an online learning company which has partnered with a number of universities, has narrowly edged out the more tightly focused course, “Machine Learning,” taught by Stanford University professor Andrew Ng, which currently has 1,122,031 students enrolled."


Dr. Barbara Oakley - University of California, San Diego | Coursera



... procrastination... studies have shown that if you look at something you
don't like, the pain centers of your brain actually activate
.
... 
And so in some sense, procrastination can actually be a little bit like an addiction.
You do it once, you do it twice-- it's not that big a deal.
You do it a lot of times, though, and it actually can be very, very detrimental for your life.

... the most effective way to help you deal with procrastination... Pomodoro Technique.
... recommends you set a timer for 25 minutes...and then you turn off everything else.
...And then you work with as careful a focused attention as you can for those 25 minutes.
... focusing on the task and the time, and not the pain of "I must complete this task," 
it somehow makes it so much easier to do... And then when you're done, you reward yourself.
And that reward is actually very important.. relax, and enjoy, and do something different.

...Because we know that some aspects of learning take place during this relaxed process"


home page: Barbara Oakley

book: BARBARA OAKLEY- A Mind For Numbers

10 Rules of Good and Bad Studying Updated By Barbara Oakley
  1. Use recall. After you read a page, look away and recall the main ideas
  2. Test yourself. On everything. All the time. 
  3. Chunk your problems. After you solve a problem, rehearse it.
  4. Space your repetition.
  5. Alternate different problem‐solving techniques during your practice
  6. Take breaks
  7. Use explanatory questioning and simple analogies.
  8. Focus. Turn off all interrupting
  9. Eat your frogs first. Do the hardest thing earliest in the day
  10. Make a mental contrast
book review: A Mind for Numbers | Brian Johnson


Interview: Learning How to Learn with Barbara Oakley - YouTube

Blast Away Procrastination with the Pomodoro Technique

"The Pomodoro Technique starts with a 25-minute interval of work...Once the 25 minutes is up, you take a 5-minute break. The break is meant to be away from the work entirely"
11


Explore the Brain and Mind - BrainFacts.org by Dr. Terrence Sejnowski

How the brain learns (many links)

Some notes from class:

Thinking modes 
"how brain works", "pinball machine analogy/metaphor".
  • Focused: 
    • familiar patterns, matching with known related 
    • blocking new patterns
  • Diffused
    • relaxed, neural resting, broad thinking, big picture perspective
    • when you need to find a new pattern
For learning, need to do a little work every day, to build "neuro-scaffold" for thinking
Brain is switching between modes, can't be in both at the same time.
Learning: creating and reinforcing synapses connections between neurons, changing structure of the brain. Sleep is essential for learning.

Chunking
  • "chunks": compact packages of information, that the mind can easily access
    it is enough to get main idea, "the chunk" 
  • "illusion of competence in learning" when just reading / viewing material without testing or recall
  • "overlearning": sometimes ineffective, spending too much time
  • "interleaving": intelligent switching between subjects
How to form a Chunk:
grasp bits o knowledge, skills, "mini chunks" that letter join to form larger chunks, more complex skills. Learning "bit by bit", starting from sample problems and workouts with solutions. It is important to focus on connections between the steps:
  1. Focus undivided attention on information trying to learn 
  2. Understand the basic idea; understanding is like a supper-glue holding memory together
    without understanding chunks are mostly useless, since they can't relate to other material
    Just understanding is not enough; need to review/test soon after learning to reinforce.
    Only doing something yourself creates neural patterns for mastery of a subject. 
  3. Gaining context, lean not just "how" but also "when" to use and not to use the chunk.
    Repeating and practicing in related and unrelated problems. 
    • bottom up learning (practice and repetition)
    • top down (big picture) learning
Avoid "illusions of competence"
Importance of recall, mini-testing, and making mistakes
  • re-reading is much less productive that recall (look away and see what you remembered) and practicing and testing. 
  • drawing concept maps is also found not to be as effective as recall and practice
    since basic chunks is not well established
  • retrieval process itself enhances deep learning, help in forming of chunks,
    building "neural hooks" 
  • 4 slots in working memory; chunks take less space
  • "you" need to practice, not to just recognize somebody else's solution 
  • highlighting and underlining must be minimized 
  • notes and words on margin and very useful 
  • testing is the best way to avoid illusion of competence 
  • mistakes are very valuable for learning, to repair thinking errors
  • useful to recall outside of the typical environment 
Bigger Picture
When you are interesting in something learning is easy. Why?
Neuro-modulators: chemicals that carry information about importance and value for the future
  • Acetylcholine: for focused learning, paying close attention,
    leading to new long term memory
  • Dopamine: controls motivation; reward learning; in basal ganglia;
    released when we receive unexpected reward; predicting future rewards;
    addictive drugs artificially increase dopamine activity, leading to craving and dependance
    lack of dopamine leads to rigidity, parkinson disease 
  • Seratonin: affects social life; alpha males have the most; prosaic drug increases it;
    lower level of seratonin leads to risk taking behavior; 
Motions are also strongly affecting learning;  "amygdala" part of the brain where motion and cognition are integrated; part of limbic system for processing memory and decision making, and regulating emotional reactions

Library of chunks
"Chunks" are pieces of information bound together through use and meaning;
essential for effective learning: a way to compress information;
experts in various fields develop a large "libraries" of chunks (neural patterns) for effective problem solving. It it necessary to practice with new "chunks" otherwise they faint and disappear.

Chunks are best developed by focused attention, understanding and practice.
"Recall" is very effective, remember the single point without looking at the page;
building "neuro-hooks" to better understand the material; help to recall in different places;
Minimize highlighting, that can fool you into illusion of learning.

"Transfer" is using chunks in understanding new concepts in a different similar domain.

Solving problems techniques:
  • Sequential reasoning: step by step, focused mode
  • Holistic intuition: creative diffused mode; good for solving difficult concepts, new ideas;
    should be carefully verified by using focused mode; "intuitive" insights are not always correct. 
Law of Serendipity: "Lady Luck favors the one who tries"
after the first concept, the second and third concept comes more easily
Just pick one tiny thing to learn, and then another, and another. Just keep trying. 
  • Overlearning: Studying oven and over again is useful for "automaticity" that can be helpful, but is a waste in single learning session; repeating what you already know
    can lead to "illusion of competence" when you have only mastered "easy stuff";
    instead, deliberately focus on what you find more difficult: "deliberate practice"
    very useful: mini-test yourself frequently, to verify you are learning the material
  • Eistellung (German word for Mindset) initial idea, thought, may prevent a better idea or solution to be found; to avoid jump to focused mode use diffused mode, to "unlearn" older wrong ideas.
  • Choking: "jumping to water before learning how to swim"
  • Interleaving: mastering a new subject requires not only creating chunks but also select and use different chunks. The best way to jump between different situations that require mixing different strategies. Learn not only "how" but also "when" to use a technique. 
Procrastination
Good learning requires long term effort by spacing. Instant cramming does not build solid memory.
So postponing is a significant issue since it reduces available time to learn of effective pace.
Procrastination is similar to addiction, feels good on short term and can be devastating on long term.
Willpower is a limited resource, so that is not an effective method to deal with procrastination.
Good habits are the best strategy to deal with procrastination.
The advantage of habits is that they do not require conscious thinking, so they save energy.
Habits can be good or bad. They include 4 parts
  1. The Cue: a trigger
  2. The Routine: "zombie mode", habitual response to the cue
  3. The Reward: immediate feeling of pleasure
  4. The Belief: habits have power because you believe in them
It is perfectly normal to have a few negative feelings about learning session.
Solution: "focus on process, not on product":
i.e. spend 20 minutes working, put the best effort for a short period, "flow of work".
Note: this is common misunderstanding with pomodoro technique:
should focus not on "task" but "interval" of 25 minutes.
Process allows you to do unpleasant things that need to be done.

Habits
are useful since it is much easier to focus on process.
Building good habits by changing reaction to a cue.
  • Cues categories: location, time, how you feel, reactions
    Avoid damaging habits by preventing cues, distractions (just let them flow away)
  • Key for re-wiring routine is to have a plan, a new ritual. 
  • Reward could be substituted by sense of accomplishing something, even small, or some desired thing, to create sense of craving: expectation that help establish new habits.
    The better you become in something the more enjoyable it becomes.  
  • Belief that you can do it is the most important. Community can help. 
Effective learning: weekly list of key tasks => daily to-do task list evening before. 
That helps subconscious mind to figure out how to accomplish them.
Task list is freeing working memory. Keep journal on what works and what does not.
Important to plan stop time also.
"Eat your frog": do most difficult task first in the morning, at least one pomodoro.

Memory
Humans have outstanding "visual-spatial" (space-related) memory system,
for retaining general info about a place. That is result of evolution and environment.
("where things are and how they look")
Images connect directly to visual-spatial centers in brain, "neural hooks"
The funnier images the better, to be registered in temporary memory.
To store in long term memory need to: be memorable, and repeated.
Repeat sporadically over several days, i.e. by index cards, write by hand, on both sides.
Anki - powerful, intelligent flashcards

There are short term (working) and long term memory.
Brain part hippocampus is related to learning and memory of facts and events.
Process of storing to cortex is called "memory consolidation" could take many years.
Memories are not fixed, they keep changing all of the time.
On every recalling of memory it changes, by "reconsolidation" (during sleep).
By this process it is even possible to implant false memories.
Reinstated memory is in a new context, and could also be saved to long term.
As we learn new things our old memories also change.
Spaced repetition reinforces memory.

The function of memory reconsolidation as a function of time | Human Frontier Science Program

Besides neurons there are supporting "glial" cells: astrocyte (supply nutrients, repairs, learning)
Einstein had more astrocytes than average.

"Tricks" to enhance memory: create meaningful groups to simplify, i.e. acronyms,
or associating numbers with memorable events, or memorable sentences.
"Memory palace" technique: i.e. visually associate layout of known house to concepts to remember unrelated items. Improves with practice. Exercise in creativity, helps learning and understanding.

Method of loci - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"memory palace or mind palace technique, it is a method of memory enhancement which uses visualization to organize and recall information"
How to Improve Your Memory with the Memory Palace Technique - YouTube

Renaissance Learning and Unlocking Your Potential
To become a better learner (based on brain scicence):
  • Exercise: new neurons are born every day, and used for learning;
    if not used for new experiences new neurons will die. 
  • "Practice makes perfect" but only when the brain is prepared;
    • "prefrontal cortex", maturing in early adulthood":
      social behavior, complex analysis, making decisions, planning
    • "visual cortex", maturing in childhood
Techniques:
  • learn using metaphor and analogy: the more visual the better; stories help;
    metaphors "glue an idea to the mind" by connecting to existing structures
  • work profitably with teammates
  • perform well on tests
Progress in learning: not linear; occasional "restructuring"; takes time to assimilate new knowledge
Using "chunks" to represent complex concepts in a simpler way.
People learn by trying to make sense of the information they perceive.
Once learned, concepts (libraries of chunks) become well trained intuition. 
Intelligence matters; larger memory helps, but it also makes it more difficult to be creative. 
"Deliberate practice" can help lift average brains to compare with "natural gifts"
"Imposter syndrome": feeling of inadequacy, common in people
Some parts of brain don't finish development at different times for different people. 
Teenage: wiring between intention and control area in brain is not completely formed. 
Practice, using brain, help strengthen and reinforce connections between brain regions.
We can make significant changes in the brain by changing how we think. 
"Perseverance": the virtue of the less brilliant, ability to admit errors. 
Learning on your own, finding fresh paths; most important: taking responsibility for own learning, unique path to mastery. Each material (book, video) is a partial version (2D) of full (3D) reality of the subject. 
Social environment: a challenge; the more you achieve, the more people feel threatened, criticize. 
Empathy is not universally beneficial; sometimes need to "tune some people out".
Not everyone is naturally compassionate,  some people don't want to help. 

Avoiding overconfidence; brain hemispheres:
  • Left ("interpret the world", try not to change): "focused mode", analytical;
    + rigidity, dogmatism, egocentricity
  • Right ("reality check", big picture): "diffused mode", creativity
    + step back and verify
Quote: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool" - Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winning physicist. 

One of best way to catch blindspots is to brainstorm, work and study with others.
While study groups can be very useful, if study sessions become socializing, all bets are off.

Testing is an extraordinary powerful learning experience, including mini-tests,
reinforcing recall, "concentrating the mind"
Testing is much more effective usage of time than just studying.

Test checklist by Richard Felder:
  • make a serious effort to understand the text
  • work with classmates on homework problems or check solutions with others
  • attempt to outline every homework problem solution
  • participate actively in homework group discussions
  • consult with the instructor
  • understand all homework problem solutions
  • ask in class for explanations of problem solutions unclear to you
  • use a study guide
  • outline lots of problem solutions quickly
  • go over study guide and quiz one another
  • attend a review session
  • reasonable night sleep before the test
Hard Start - Jump to Easy technique (for tests)
(usually wrong) idea: by the time you can tackle easy problem you will be confident in handling more difficult problems. This works for some people, but not for most people. 

Solution: start with hardest problems and quickly jump to easy ones. 
This way you initiate diffused mode for handling hard problems, avoid getting stuck. 

Efficient,  since it allows different parts of the brain to work simultaneously.


Helpful Hints for Tests
body "cortisol" chemical is reaction to stress, causing sweaty palms, racing hard, a knot of stomach.
Interpretation of stress makes all the difference: afraid (can't do it) => excited (do my best) 
Good technique: turn attention to your breathing from stomach, slow, relax,
counter "fight or flight" response that fuels anxiety. Practice breathing before the test.
Especially helpful: deliberately move to a deep breathing pattern.
  • Cover up the answers and try to recall answers on your own first
  • Try test in similar conditions as real test
  • Face your fears; have a "plan B" that can help subside the fear
  • Study hard, and then "let it go"
  • "Good worry": motivation and focus; "Bad worry": wastes energy
  • Day before the test have a quick look on material, don't push too hard. 
  • On the test, shift attention and then double-check answers from big picture perspective. 
  • Do checking in reverse order, to get fresh perspective
"Change your thoughts, change your life"
Enhancing neural structure by practicing thoughts that use those neurons.
Use whole brain, to double-check if answers make sense, avoid overconfidence.

Reading: Renaissance Learning and Unlocking Your Potential | Coursera

Richard Felder: Resources in Science and Engineering Education
Felder-Brent: Teaching and Learning STEM

The Secret to Good Writing: It's About Objects, Not Ideas - The Atlantic
Readable Writing | "Clear writing is a teachable style." –John G. Maguire







Wednesday, March 23, 2016

book: The Art of Visualising Software Architecture; UML

book: Read The Art of Visualising Software Architecture | Leanpub by Simon Brown
free to read online
Large?1457263321   Software Architecture for Developers
Art of Visualising Software… by Simon Brown [PDF/iPad/Kindle]
download $0-$20

Software architecture as code by Simon Brown - YouTube

The Art of Visualising Software Architecture - Coding the ArchitectureStructurizr - create web-based software architecture diagrams using code
open source Structurizr tools @ GitHub (for Java & DotNet)

The tool is using code annotations and reflection to extract structure info from the code,
and then visualize from that information; also suggested GraphViz tool.

Structurizr - Help - The C4 software architecture model
"Structurizr is an implementation of Simon Brown's C4 software architecture model - Context, Containers, Components and Classes (or Code). The C4 model provides a way to easily and effectively communicate the static structure of a software system using a simple hierarchy of building blocks and associated diagrams. It's a way to create maps of your software."
sw tool: Structurizr
Maps of your software


recommended by Allen Holub
in class: Picturing Architecture: UML (The Good Bits) and More | Pluralsight

Allen Holub: Training/Consulting/Programming: Agile, Architecture, Swift, Java
Allen Holub's UML Quick Reference

cloud: Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

Software-defined networking solutions | Microsoft

Software Defined Networking @ TechNet

Software-defined networking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach to computer networking that allows network administrators to manage network services through abstraction of higher-level functionality. This is done by decoupling the system that makes decisions about where traffic is sent (the control plane) from the underlying systems that forward traffic to the selected destination (the data plane)."

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Definition - Open Networking Foundation

sdn-3layers

Free ebook: Microsoft System Center: Network Virtualization and Cloud Computing | Microsoft Press blog

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

ideas to spread: remarkable as purple cow: Seth Godin @TED

remarkable = "worth making a remark about."
Seth Godin: How to get your ideas to spread - YouTube
Seth Godin: How to get your ideas to spread | TED Talk | TED.com



"The riskiest thing you can do now is be safe. The safe thing to do is to be at the fringes, be remarkable.""

Seth Godin: The tribes we lead - YouTube
Seth Godin: The tribes we lead | TED Talk | TED.com

people want to connect to ideas, to "true believer" leaders
"product that tells a story"

Comanche Marketing: Seth Godin on Marketing to Stand Out
"Godin stresses the need to be boldly different to attract attention. According to Godin, playing it safe is risky. Godin also talks about attracting the early adopters because they're passionate and talk to other people, lots of other people."


Hipsters: The Marketers Wet Dream? – All Things Independent.
Seth Godin

Otaku - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Otaku (おたく/オタク?) is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests,
commonly the anime and manga fandom.

(Those are usually "early adopters")

Dave McMurtry: Top Ten Social Media Marketing Mistakes
Past   Now             -Seth Godin, “Tribes”
The Tribes We Lead By Seth Godin



STOP STEALING DREAMS: Seth Godin at TEDxYouth@BFS - YouTube
schools teaching compliance

Seth Godin | Speaker | TED.com

Seth's Blog ("one of the most popular in the world")



"Low Code" apps platfroms

A new buzz-word for "higher abstraction level" apps. The name should be more uplifting.

A common challenge: hiding too much, and no common vocabulary (explicit semantics)
A good solutions would be a web++, not rigid as semantic web but flexible as html.

New Development Platforms Emerge For Customer-Facing Applications
Vendor Landscape: The Fractured, Fertile Terrain Of Low-Code Application Platforms @ Forrester Research

Use Low-Code Platforms to Develop the Apps Customers Want | CIO

How low-code development seeks to accelerate software delivery - SD Times
low code vendor diagram
0812.sdt-forrester-lowcode

event: TechNet VC 2016

TechNet VC 2016 | Channel 9
"TechNet Virtual Conference 2016 is a three day event covering products such as Windows 10 and Azure, and major IT topics such as security and management. It's a technology summit you don't want to miss, presented by expert Microsoft and industry speakers delivered straight to your desk or mobile device."

Windows Server 2016 Nano
Microsoft's mission: more computing is a good thing for people's productivity 

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Federated Wiki, Extreme


Ward is the creator of Wiki, and one of creators of Agile and Extreme programming.

Smallest Federated Wiki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Smallest Federated Wiki Videos

Welcome Visitors

Federated Wiki Videos

Wiki Inventor Sticks a Fork in His Baby | WIRED

Triangulation 239 Ward Cunningham | TWiT

"Extreme Programming is like Extreme Skiing" - Ward Cunningham
"Play fast and safe, but not for everybody"

Skiers Tame Alaska's 'Magic Kingdom' - Extreme Skiing Video | The New York Times - YouTube

WebHooks

Webhook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Webhooks are "user-defined HTTP callbacks".[2] They are usually triggered by some event, such as pushing code to a repository[3] or a comment being posted to a blog.[4] When that event occurs, the source site makes an HTTP request to the URI configured for the webhook. Users can configure them to cause events on one site to invoke behaviour on another. The action taken may be anything. Common uses are to trigger builds with continuous integration systems[5] or to notify bug tracking systems.[6] Since they use HTTP, they can be integrated into web services without adding new infrastructure.[7]"

ASP.NET WebHooks RC 1

Announcing ASP.NET WebHooks Release Candidate 1 | .NET Web Development and Tools Blog

Sending ASP.NET WebHooks from Azure WebJobs | .NET Web Development and Tools Blog

WebHooks.org


Webhooks | GitHub Developer Guide

Platform as a service(PaaS) using Docker and Github | Paxcel Labs
blog-diagram

DraganSr: WebHooks (October 2015)

The semantics of callbacks is not standardized, so is just one more way to make HTTP API calls, different for each site. Is increasing complexity of web-based systems avoidable?

Friday, March 18, 2016

Creativity & Learning (!)

"Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value" - Sir Ken Robinson

Do Schools Kill Creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TED Talks - YouTube

Bring on the Learning Revolution! | Ken Robinson | TED Talks - YouTube

Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley - YouTube

Ken Robinson | Speaker | TED.com

Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? | TED Talk | TED.com

Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | TED Talk | TED.com
"Short poem from W. B. Yeats:
"Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with gold and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." And every day, everywhere, our children spread their dreams beneath our feet. And we should tread softly."


Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley | TED Talk | TED.com
"curiosity is an engine of achievement"
"education is about learning; if there is no learning going on there is no education"
"the role of the teacher is to facilitate learning; that's it"

"There's a wonderful quote from Benjamin Franklin. "There are three sorts of people in the world: 
  • Those who are immovable, people who don't get it, or don't want to do anything about it; 
  • there are people who are movable, people who see the need for change and are prepared to listen to it; 
  • and there are people who move, people who make things happen." 
Ken Robinson (educationalist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



"Cloud" service providers compared

Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and the cloud gang: Comparing the revenue | ZDNet

Microsoft Azure doubles its lead over Oracle, IBM - TechRepublic
October 15, 2015

Figure B

Figure A

Gartner Reprint
(Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, Worldwide 18 May 2015 )

AWS now 10X the size of its competitors: Is the cloud arms race over? - TechRepublic

Move Over Amazon, IBM Can Also Claim Top Spot In Cloud Services - Forbes

IBM - Cloud Computing for Builders & Innovators
IBM - Cloud Object Storage


web animation, book: Seven Brief Lessons On Physics

interesting book and animated web site (a bit heavy on web browser)

Seven Brief Lessons On Physics - Carlo Rovelli

Seven Brief Lessons On Physics - Lesson 1 - The Most Beautiful Of Theories

A Brief, Poetic Tour of Modern Physics - Science Friday

The Curious Wavefunction: Carlo Rovelli's "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics": A beautiful and poignant meditation on the laws of physics and our place in the cosmos

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics: Carlo Rovelli: 9780241235966: Amazon.com: Books

"Moon Shot" Google Lunar XPRIZE

Google Lunar XPRIZE Home Page
$30M
SIXTEEN TEAMS, 238,900 MILES, ONE DREAM
Winning teams must:
  1. Successfully place a robot on the moon's surface.
  2. Travel at least 500 meters.
  3. Transmit HD video and images back to earth.

Amazon Cloud Drive


Amazon Cloud Drive: Cloud Storage - Online Backup
  • Unlimited photo storage, plus 5 GB for videos and files
    $11.99 per year.
  • Unlimited Everything: Securely store all of your photos, videos, files and documents
    $59.99 per year.


Tuesday, March 15, 2016

wearable tech market numbers

Apple shipped 11.6 million Apple Watches last year, says IDC | The Verge
"In its first nine months selling wearables, Apple has shipped an estimated 11.6 million Apple Watches, according to a report this week from research firm IDC. That puts Apple at third place in the industry with 14.9 percent of the market, just behind Xiaomi. Fitbit is still far and away the leader, however, with 21 million shipments in 2015."

IoT, Azure cloud: Microsoft Pegasus II

Microsoft Is Testing Azure IoT Platform From The Stratosphere - Forbes
"The team at Microsoft Research is deploying a balloon in the stratosphere loaded with sensors and cameras, which is connected to the Azure IoT platform. The balloon will send real-time telemetry along with live flight video.
...
Pegasus 1 experiment relied on a distributed computing framework called Project Orleans, and Piraeus gateway – a high-velocity, self-organizing subsystem"

Monday, March 14, 2016

ideas, book: (5 day) Design Sprints (@Google)

The Design Sprint — GV

"The sprint is a five-day process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers. "
  • MONDAY: UNPACK
  • TUESDAY: SKETCH
  • WEDNESDAY: DECIDE
  • THURSDAY: PROTOTYPE
  • FRIDAY: TEST



interview with author: Triangulation 241 Sprint | TWiT


Timers – Time Timer
Time Timer MOD® Sprint Edition - Time Timer - 1

Free Web & Mobile Prototyping (Web, iOS, Android) and UI Mockup Tool | InVision