Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Are computer games recreational?
Can we consider computer games as a recreational task? I mean, to do so you tend to sit on your bum in front of a TV or computer monitor. Some of these games are action packed and can get your heart rate up, some are a little slower. But in the end the person playing is merely sitting down and not doing anything you may think of as actual recreation.
Maybe in the future we will have games you take out and walk, run, etc. I mean; modern day games have progressed to the gamers entire body being used in some games with the latest and greatest Kinect technology. I myself has played games for many years, before it was considered fun and cool to do so. Back since around 1981 or so when I had the ZX81 (my first computer) and even before with Atari 2600. Pacman was the best.
Back then it was considered very uncool to play games, only nerds and strange persons who didn't like daylight played apparently. That said; I would say maybe 2% of my recreation was done by playing these games with 98% being outside doing as young boys do.. Or rather did as don't think many do that these days.
So, even though I was one of those strange uncool people that did play games (you said under breath) and often swapped my C64 games in the playground of school (so many years ago can hardly remember - around 29 I believe) I don't really consider computer games as proper recreational activities. I believe that kids and adults can and should play in moderation but with the greater percentage done outside.
Here's a thought. Buy a cheaper video camera. Get some software for you PC. Go out, shoot video. Cut and edit and post it up to YouTube. You've both got out for exercise and had your computer fix.I do; or least try to. Infact we have a short video coming out soon with me running around like lunatic - probably to the amusement of the passers by.
By the way, this isn't a rant. I am a gamer myself so have nothing against it. Just kids, go out and play for a while.. burn off those sweets.. give you quicker responses...
Maybe in the future we will have games you take out and walk, run, etc. I mean; modern day games have progressed to the gamers entire body being used in some games with the latest and greatest Kinect technology. I myself has played games for many years, before it was considered fun and cool to do so. Back since around 1981 or so when I had the ZX81 (my first computer) and even before with Atari 2600. Pacman was the best.
Back then it was considered very uncool to play games, only nerds and strange persons who didn't like daylight played apparently. That said; I would say maybe 2% of my recreation was done by playing these games with 98% being outside doing as young boys do.. Or rather did as don't think many do that these days.
So, even though I was one of those strange uncool people that did play games (you said under breath) and often swapped my C64 games in the playground of school (so many years ago can hardly remember - around 29 I believe) I don't really consider computer games as proper recreational activities. I believe that kids and adults can and should play in moderation but with the greater percentage done outside.
Here's a thought. Buy a cheaper video camera. Get some software for you PC. Go out, shoot video. Cut and edit and post it up to YouTube. You've both got out for exercise and had your computer fix.I do; or least try to. Infact we have a short video coming out soon with me running around like lunatic - probably to the amusement of the passers by.
By the way, this isn't a rant. I am a gamer myself so have nothing against it. Just kids, go out and play for a while.. burn off those sweets.. give you quicker responses...
Monday, January 30, 2012
A definition of Done in software development
I was asked a good question today by someone which basically went like this "Can we define anything as done status?". There was an addition after that about from customer perspective but I wanted to tackle the main question here.
So, in Software Development can we ever define anything as done.Yes and No..
Longer answer hehe. So, from an agile scrum point of view. To close a story we have to meet all requirements for definition of done; and those probably would vary from company to company. For my current company that means that the story has been investigated, coded/developed,unit tested, qa tested and documentation written. Now some companies may not have some of this and some may have more but for here that is the definition of done. We meet those requirements, we say story done. However, if during regression testing at issue is found its not strange for them to reopen the story (though I keep insisting that we create a new one). So, that could mean a story is not done.
In regards to a release to a customer. We could do UAT (User Acceptance Testing) and sign off so in the strict definition we can mark this as done.. However; whilst supporting the product a bug can be found in the functionality and so in the strictest terms the original code is not done as not working.
So, to come back to the question at hand. In a black and white world where we have done and not done. We could say as soon as a customer signs or a story meets criteria we can say its done and up until that points its in not done state. However in the grey world that we live in I can say that things are never done whilst we have that support contract.
So; what do you consider as done and not done? Can we ever truly meet that requirement?
So, in Software Development can we ever define anything as done.Yes and No..
Longer answer hehe. So, from an agile scrum point of view. To close a story we have to meet all requirements for definition of done; and those probably would vary from company to company. For my current company that means that the story has been investigated, coded/developed,unit tested, qa tested and documentation written. Now some companies may not have some of this and some may have more but for here that is the definition of done. We meet those requirements, we say story done. However, if during regression testing at issue is found its not strange for them to reopen the story (though I keep insisting that we create a new one). So, that could mean a story is not done.
In regards to a release to a customer. We could do UAT (User Acceptance Testing) and sign off so in the strict definition we can mark this as done.. However; whilst supporting the product a bug can be found in the functionality and so in the strictest terms the original code is not done as not working.
So, to come back to the question at hand. In a black and white world where we have done and not done. We could say as soon as a customer signs or a story meets criteria we can say its done and up until that points its in not done state. However in the grey world that we live in I can say that things are never done whilst we have that support contract.
So; what do you consider as done and not done? Can we ever truly meet that requirement?
Friday, January 27, 2012
Evolution of the gaming graphic card
It my time I have tried to remain on the curve for gaming graphics cards; currently own a 6950 as an example. The gaming graphics card has evolved quite rapidly over the past few years with ever growing pipelines etc to get more and more polygons and pixels on the screen.
But lets take a step back through my list of historic graphic cards to see the general progression. So, going back many years, back in 1994 I bought a 1mb Trident graphics card. It could do 1024x768 and up to 16 million colours (most were like 64k). Now this may not sound a lot but back in the day this was equivalent to one of the top end graphics cards of today. You could play any game with all colours and backed up with a soundblaster 2 mono soundcard it was the business.
As time progressed in mid 1996 I bought a Matrox Millenium (I got on trade price at time). Now this was the more powerful card as most game systems were running the Matrox Mystique. This was like having the most expensive top graphics card today and again ran games like MechWarrior 2 and Destruction Derby 2 at an amazing rate. But better was to come as VooDoo were releasing their first addon cards giving us 3DFX.
So, what was your first 3DFX card? Well for me it wasn't hehe. My first was the competitor which was a PowerVR Card. This was an excellent addon card that gave excellent graphics (in my opinion superior to 3DFX) but did not close as many deals as their rivals and so went into just producing chips for cards.
I then in late 97 or was it early 98 went for a 3DFX Banshee card which was graphic card with 3DFX built in. I remember it well as had Half Life day 1 demo with it that kept me drooling for some time. 3dFX Voodoo2 addon came after that. Then the blur of GeForce cards.. 1, 2, 3, 4 and so forth.Not long after I got my first ATI which was a 9600 Pro. That made me want more (after changing fan and pushing it) so next was 9800 Pro. After killing that (changing fan) I got a 9800XT
Next from that went to nVidia again and got a GTX260 XXX. Absolutely loved that card. Only sold it cause wanted DX11. So got a 5770 XXX followed by a 5850. And now were up to 6950. There maybe one or two cards I missed through that journey, I don't think there is but there maybe. But in my purchases there is the evolution of PC graphics card and a beautiful growth it has been.
But lets take a step back through my list of historic graphic cards to see the general progression. So, going back many years, back in 1994 I bought a 1mb Trident graphics card. It could do 1024x768 and up to 16 million colours (most were like 64k). Now this may not sound a lot but back in the day this was equivalent to one of the top end graphics cards of today. You could play any game with all colours and backed up with a soundblaster 2 mono soundcard it was the business.
As time progressed in mid 1996 I bought a Matrox Millenium (I got on trade price at time). Now this was the more powerful card as most game systems were running the Matrox Mystique. This was like having the most expensive top graphics card today and again ran games like MechWarrior 2 and Destruction Derby 2 at an amazing rate. But better was to come as VooDoo were releasing their first addon cards giving us 3DFX.
So, what was your first 3DFX card? Well for me it wasn't hehe. My first was the competitor which was a PowerVR Card. This was an excellent addon card that gave excellent graphics (in my opinion superior to 3DFX) but did not close as many deals as their rivals and so went into just producing chips for cards.
I then in late 97 or was it early 98 went for a 3DFX Banshee card which was graphic card with 3DFX built in. I remember it well as had Half Life day 1 demo with it that kept me drooling for some time. 3dFX Voodoo2 addon came after that. Then the blur of GeForce cards.. 1, 2, 3, 4 and so forth.Not long after I got my first ATI which was a 9600 Pro. That made me want more (after changing fan and pushing it) so next was 9800 Pro. After killing that (changing fan) I got a 9800XT
Next from that went to nVidia again and got a GTX260 XXX. Absolutely loved that card. Only sold it cause wanted DX11. So got a 5770 XXX followed by a 5850. And now were up to 6950. There maybe one or two cards I missed through that journey, I don't think there is but there maybe. But in my purchases there is the evolution of PC graphics card and a beautiful growth it has been.
I have a Reason (6) to be excited about my next review
Now, this will probably take a good week or two before I bring it out as a massive learning curve but my next product to review I am excited about. As with all other reviews I will place the video of review into this blog as well as on my YouTube channels.
So, what could this be; that is if you've not worked it out from the title. Its Propellerheads Reason 6. For anyone that doesn't know what this is its a full DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software; basically all you need on a PC or Mac to create and produce some great music.
Having had an initial play I found it fantastic that its the first DAW I have used that picked up my midi controller keyboard out of the box (there are probably others but I have not used them yet) and the inbuilt synths and racks sounds sound so big.. I think I am going to have fun playing. So keep watching.
I also have to do my next shite stuff comedic review. I bought a couple of items before Christmas last year (as good week or two before) and was going to get them in saying cheap Christmas presents hehe. But with Christmas, new year and all that stuff I never got round to it. So again keep eye out for those.
One last thing is that I also have a Qpad MK-80 keyboard on route. I bought over a week ago and bloke got from been messing me around saying posted when not etc. I got it good reduction from shop price so that is one thing but still.. Should have arrived last Saturday. When does though expect the low down on my first Mechanical keyboard.
This seems more like a proper blog today on what is going on with me rather than talking about some other stuff as I sometimes waffle on about. Just really update into what is going to be coming up and how excited I am to get Reason to review as its massive.. So much to learn in a short time hehe. Playing last night I was amazed at how big the sounds were.
Anyhow, that's all for now folks as got to hold a standup.. may waffle on more later
So, what could this be; that is if you've not worked it out from the title. Its Propellerheads Reason 6. For anyone that doesn't know what this is its a full DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software; basically all you need on a PC or Mac to create and produce some great music.
Having had an initial play I found it fantastic that its the first DAW I have used that picked up my midi controller keyboard out of the box (there are probably others but I have not used them yet) and the inbuilt synths and racks sounds sound so big.. I think I am going to have fun playing. So keep watching.
I also have to do my next shite stuff comedic review. I bought a couple of items before Christmas last year (as good week or two before) and was going to get them in saying cheap Christmas presents hehe. But with Christmas, new year and all that stuff I never got round to it. So again keep eye out for those.
One last thing is that I also have a Qpad MK-80 keyboard on route. I bought over a week ago and bloke got from been messing me around saying posted when not etc. I got it good reduction from shop price so that is one thing but still.. Should have arrived last Saturday. When does though expect the low down on my first Mechanical keyboard.
This seems more like a proper blog today on what is going on with me rather than talking about some other stuff as I sometimes waffle on about. Just really update into what is going to be coming up and how excited I am to get Reason to review as its massive.. So much to learn in a short time hehe. Playing last night I was amazed at how big the sounds were.
Anyhow, that's all for now folks as got to hold a standup.. may waffle on more later
Thursday, January 26, 2012
My techie room setup
Again, another one I seemed to have missed off my blog? Its my current tech setup around my desk. So my PC and Mac. I love watching videos of other peoples setup so hope you will enjoy mine.
Learning to play the keyboard - two weeks in
Two weeks into my learning and still going strong at that time. Again this was around a year ago and did managed to get better over time..
Learning to play the keyboard - first stages
Here's a video I did around a year ago, quite surprised I had not put on here before. I made two videos of my learning, this one and a two week later I will also put up. I did managed to get ok and play a tune or two although I did break one of my fingers later in year and stopped my practice.
That said I am starting to practice on occasion again and have not lost anything other than time. I also have a small midi controller keyboard I am playing with
MicroBlog - Well almost
Two in one day, kind of a record for me. But these are my own opinions and I sometimes feel the need to write them down, inflicting them on you, the readers :-)
Just a thought that has been rattling round in my head for some time now. Its to do with what I want to call microblogs - so things like status updates on facebook, twitter, etc. Now if your like me you may update your facebook status once every 6 months.. Maybe couple twitter messages in a day, or less. So these could not contribute to a full blog.
However, are you one of these that write 50 twitter messages a day? Change your status at least once a day on facebook? So do you contribute to a blog? Combine all those updates and what you have produce may look like a blog.. Go on, you know you want to do it; you can post as a reply to this blog entry hehe.
Personally I do love to read a good blog from time and I do love to write one; though some may have difference in opinion on if mine is good or not. but I must say I do love a good video blog or vlog too. Quick delivery of content and some can be interesting. Add bit of background music, few effects and hooked.
You will see that a number of my entries are videos I have created on my YouTube channels; mainly reviews. I have 2 channels I use now which are Netroman28 (like this blog) and TheGeekFiles. This latter one I decided to create to do reviews, techie vids and the like. It means that Netroman28 maybe left open to blog hehe. sure subscribers will like that hehe.
Personally I love it. Wither it be a written blog, like this, or vlog. Why? Because it allows us into a strangers life for just mere moments. To get insight into them; and ourselves as we may find we're not the only one that thinks that way...
So there we have it, my thoughts. Vlogs are good, blogs are good. Insight into yourself is good. Tech reviews, products and the like are excellent. And so says the blog of Netroman hehe.
If you want to show support or want to get in on the techie stuff please do go check out my channels on YouTube Netroman28 and TheGeekFiles. Maybe we can all have a bit of fun together
Just a thought that has been rattling round in my head for some time now. Its to do with what I want to call microblogs - so things like status updates on facebook, twitter, etc. Now if your like me you may update your facebook status once every 6 months.. Maybe couple twitter messages in a day, or less. So these could not contribute to a full blog.
However, are you one of these that write 50 twitter messages a day? Change your status at least once a day on facebook? So do you contribute to a blog? Combine all those updates and what you have produce may look like a blog.. Go on, you know you want to do it; you can post as a reply to this blog entry hehe.
Personally I do love to read a good blog from time and I do love to write one; though some may have difference in opinion on if mine is good or not. but I must say I do love a good video blog or vlog too. Quick delivery of content and some can be interesting. Add bit of background music, few effects and hooked.
You will see that a number of my entries are videos I have created on my YouTube channels; mainly reviews. I have 2 channels I use now which are Netroman28 (like this blog) and TheGeekFiles. This latter one I decided to create to do reviews, techie vids and the like. It means that Netroman28 maybe left open to blog hehe. sure subscribers will like that hehe.
Personally I love it. Wither it be a written blog, like this, or vlog. Why? Because it allows us into a strangers life for just mere moments. To get insight into them; and ourselves as we may find we're not the only one that thinks that way...
So there we have it, my thoughts. Vlogs are good, blogs are good. Insight into yourself is good. Tech reviews, products and the like are excellent. And so says the blog of Netroman hehe.
If you want to show support or want to get in on the techie stuff please do go check out my channels on YouTube Netroman28 and TheGeekFiles. Maybe we can all have a bit of fun together
Changes to the Google Privacy Policies
I saw the news story yesterday and found an email in my folder this morning. Google have changed their privacy policies. Email pertains to reported removal of over 60 different privacy policies across all of Google and replacing them with one that is said to be a lot shorter and easier to read.
This new policy is used to cover multiple products and features it is said. Also comments like reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across google have bound about. So what does this privacy policy say??? What does it cover????
Looking further into this some headings like Easy to work across Google , Tailored for you, Easy to share and collaborate, Protecting your privacy hasn't changed, Understand how Google uses your data and Got questions? We got answers are highlighted on pages with some text below.. But again, what does this really mean to us the users?
Reading the policy it explains details such as what data is collected from you and how it is collected, how that information is then used and choices they offer on that data.
For an example on this the policy and information collected. There are two defined ways of getting data, one is data you give when setting up the account and second is data collected while using a google service. So, watch what websites you visit ;-) You really need to read the policy for more details but you would be surprised on the information collected while using a google service. Again as an example, your hardware specifics, OS and even any mobile network information (including your mobile number). What, you didn't want them to have that... Well don't log into google accounts from your mobile phone.
If I were to go through list of information this blog would be far too long. Lets say that a lot is collected and quite a bit that you didn't realize.
But if they collect all this information how is it used. I mean, they collect data about you that you didn't know and you are probably now feeling *crap* how is it used. Well the info maybe used for your profile across all of the services that require a google account. In this they may replace existing data (such as names) automatically - so if you had a specific name used on that its good bye to that probably.
Reading all other parts of how data is used makes me a little twitchy at times. Its quite a scary prospect that there is this data and how its used. However, if you want your gmail or youtube then we may just have to live with that.
There are choices that can be taken to control the use of some of this data. You need to go just over halfway through the policy to reach this bit. I recommend you read it..
In short, I didn't want to go and talk about the entire policy as that would take just too much time. What I did want to do is highlight some bits to push you to go and read it for yourself. At the end of the day, this info is about you and you need to know how it is collected and used.
This new policy is used to cover multiple products and features it is said. Also comments like reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across google have bound about. So what does this privacy policy say??? What does it cover????
Looking further into this some headings like Easy to work across Google , Tailored for you, Easy to share and collaborate, Protecting your privacy hasn't changed, Understand how Google uses your data and Got questions? We got answers are highlighted on pages with some text below.. But again, what does this really mean to us the users?
Reading the policy it explains details such as what data is collected from you and how it is collected, how that information is then used and choices they offer on that data.
For an example on this the policy and information collected. There are two defined ways of getting data, one is data you give when setting up the account and second is data collected while using a google service. So, watch what websites you visit ;-) You really need to read the policy for more details but you would be surprised on the information collected while using a google service. Again as an example, your hardware specifics, OS and even any mobile network information (including your mobile number). What, you didn't want them to have that... Well don't log into google accounts from your mobile phone.
If I were to go through list of information this blog would be far too long. Lets say that a lot is collected and quite a bit that you didn't realize.
But if they collect all this information how is it used. I mean, they collect data about you that you didn't know and you are probably now feeling *crap* how is it used. Well the info maybe used for your profile across all of the services that require a google account. In this they may replace existing data (such as names) automatically - so if you had a specific name used on that its good bye to that probably.
Reading all other parts of how data is used makes me a little twitchy at times. Its quite a scary prospect that there is this data and how its used. However, if you want your gmail or youtube then we may just have to live with that.
There are choices that can be taken to control the use of some of this data. You need to go just over halfway through the policy to reach this bit. I recommend you read it..
In short, I didn't want to go and talk about the entire policy as that would take just too much time. What I did want to do is highlight some bits to push you to go and read it for yourself. At the end of the day, this info is about you and you need to know how it is collected and used.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Extremes on the news today
Quite strange extremes listening to the news on the radio on the way into work this morning; and when I mean extremes... Well I will let you judge.
So, the first stories comes on and its to do with the economy here in the UK. The last few months have been bleak for sales and it was saying that if same for numbers in the first quarter of the year the we would officially drop back into recession. I'm sure this is the same for many countries.
Next story comes onto radio; Apply made a $13 billion profit.. From recession to billions of dollars/pounds profit. Extremes.
But what does this show about us as a people of the world. OK, so we won't buy our children toys, food, etc - or rather just enough. But we are happy to go and splurge on tech gadgets :)
Now, I could be mistaken to have similar thoughts having just received a nice new 50" 3D Plasma TV hehe and lots of nice tech stuff including a nice manual keyboard on route but I tend to ensure kids, food, then tech :) (usually by selling old tech to fund new tech).
Is this just me? Has the world gone mad? Or are we just careful with our spending unless its that latest iPhone?
If you have any comments please do leave as I would love to get others thoughts on this matter.
So, the first stories comes on and its to do with the economy here in the UK. The last few months have been bleak for sales and it was saying that if same for numbers in the first quarter of the year the we would officially drop back into recession. I'm sure this is the same for many countries.
Next story comes onto radio; Apply made a $13 billion profit.. From recession to billions of dollars/pounds profit. Extremes.
But what does this show about us as a people of the world. OK, so we won't buy our children toys, food, etc - or rather just enough. But we are happy to go and splurge on tech gadgets :)
Now, I could be mistaken to have similar thoughts having just received a nice new 50" 3D Plasma TV hehe and lots of nice tech stuff including a nice manual keyboard on route but I tend to ensure kids, food, then tech :) (usually by selling old tech to fund new tech).
Is this just me? Has the world gone mad? Or are we just careful with our spending unless its that latest iPhone?
If you have any comments please do leave as I would love to get others thoughts on this matter.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Definition of Ready...
So, some may say definition of ready. Ready for what, dressed, eaten, going out on the lash? Well in this blog I'm talking in respect to Agile Development and in particular to SCRUM.
At the moment I am a working SCRUM Master and so this is something I have to deal with on a daily basis. In reality its down to your team to decide if something is ready or not but daily hits I get from the team is something is blocked because require info. So, obviously the team thought was in a ready state but it was not.
So, what is the definition of ready? Well, an story is ready when every member of your team can understand the problem, understand steps on how to reproduce and understand the test procedure. But what do I mean when understand the problem? Well, every team member should be able to ready the story description, understand what needs to be done and not have any questions (other than maybe some minor ones that can be asked to the PO) and to be able to go away and code.
How often does this happen, well seems not so in my experience. My team for my current sprint, as an example, decided to stick to this for our current sprint and rejected every story in the product backlog! Now or course this is the domain of the PO; but does effect the team as no work to start.
So, if this is the case, should you stick to your guns on this matter? Yes is the short answer. If you are to ensure you get quality ready stories that is. Work can always be resolved ongoing but by accepting non-ready items into a sprint you can not make commitment to PO.
Anyhow, this is really just by blog/rant on the matter as its been a major headache to me in the past. If this is something you have also had or have comments or additions to definition please do add..
At the moment I am a working SCRUM Master and so this is something I have to deal with on a daily basis. In reality its down to your team to decide if something is ready or not but daily hits I get from the team is something is blocked because require info. So, obviously the team thought was in a ready state but it was not.
So, what is the definition of ready? Well, an story is ready when every member of your team can understand the problem, understand steps on how to reproduce and understand the test procedure. But what do I mean when understand the problem? Well, every team member should be able to ready the story description, understand what needs to be done and not have any questions (other than maybe some minor ones that can be asked to the PO) and to be able to go away and code.
How often does this happen, well seems not so in my experience. My team for my current sprint, as an example, decided to stick to this for our current sprint and rejected every story in the product backlog! Now or course this is the domain of the PO; but does effect the team as no work to start.
So, if this is the case, should you stick to your guns on this matter? Yes is the short answer. If you are to ensure you get quality ready stories that is. Work can always be resolved ongoing but by accepting non-ready items into a sprint you can not make commitment to PO.
Anyhow, this is really just by blog/rant on the matter as its been a major headache to me in the past. If this is something you have also had or have comments or additions to definition please do add..
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
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