No more Y! Messenger for Vista
A few days ago Yahoo! posted a message announcing that Messenger for Windows Vista will no longer be available.
For those of you who don’t know this version a screenshot of it inside this post. It was a fancy looking application developed with WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation). It had a lot of transparencies, animations and colors but, in my opinion, was too slow (can’t say if this was because of WPF or because of the programming team).
Yahoo! said that the decision of renouncing to the Vista dedicated version will help them focus on the existing versions and improve them (I’m quite skeptic about this). It is known that Yahoo! Messenger is one of the worst applications if judged from performances point of view. Even the current version 9 is slow and it takes ~30 seconds to start.
On the first run, the Beta version of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista made everyone do “WOW!” but on a closer analysis its lack of features became annoying. There was no archive, no environments, no audibles and a lot of well-known features from the classic version. I think that this version was released to early and this lead to its extinction.
I’ve read on the Messenger official blog that some people are requesting the source code of the obsolete version :) It would be interesting to see the code because then we could say if the application was slow because of Yahoo! programmers or WPF.
The official “Yahoo! Messenger for Vista version is no longer available” announcement can be read here.
Machine Learning (Stanford) 2
Lecture Description:
Lecture by Professor Andrew Ng for Machine Learning (CS 229) in the Stanford Computer Science department. Professor Ng lectures on linear regression, gradient descent, and normal equations and discusses how they relate to machine learning.
Machine Learning (Stanford) 1
First part from an interesting Machine Learning course from Stanford University.
Lecture Description:
Lecture by Professor Andrew Ng for Machine Learning (CS 229) in the Stanford Computer Science department. Professor Ng provides an overview of the course in this introductory meeting.
This course provides a broad introduction to machine learning and statistical pattern recognition. Topics include supervised learning, unsupervised learning, learning theory, reinforcement learning and adaptive control. Recent applications of machine learning, such as to robotic control, data mining, autonomous navigation, bioinformatics, speech recognition, and text and web data processing are also discussed.
C++ := Delphi
On my faculty, every year, you can choose an optional course. Almost everyone requested “Visual Programming with C++”.
The first course. Professor: “Eventhough it is a Visual C++ course we are going to study Delphi” :-|
[What more can I say?]
SkypeGadget 2 A1 is available
The first public release of the new Skype Gadget is available for download.
It is an incomplete version but I need feedback in order to make is better. Try it and send me your oppinion.
IPhone Evolution
I don’t really like posting funny images or videos on my blog but the one below really amused me.
[One small step for man one giant leap for mankind.]
ATM Interface [Bad Practice]
Today I had one of the most funny and annoying ATM experiences.
First, let me describe the ATM: a big screen with 4 buttons on the left side and 4 on the right side. The numeric keyboard(digits, Enter, Cancel and Backspace buttons) is placed on the right side on some angle so you can type easy.
I inserted the card and I was asked for the PIN code. Well… one of the digits was not really working. I pressed the button so hard that eventually I get two asterisks – this means I’ve typed a digit twice. [Ups!] The backspace or cancel buttons were not working and, on the screen, there was just one option: “Confirm PIN”… Without any other alternative I pressed the “Confirm” button and surprise: I got the screen where you choose the amount of money you want to withdraw [Wow, this is a mind reading ATM - he definitely read the PIN from my brain :) ]. Forgot to mention, the Confirm button is not on the numeric keyboard, it is on the right side of the screen – pretty intuitive.
Now let’s choose the sum… Well the sum contains the digit that’s not working… Pressed it again hard and got two digits [ Déjà vu? ]. The backspace button as not working and the only option from the screen was “Cancel”. So I have to move from the numeric keyboard to the screen side buttons. [ It deleted the whole number I've typed. I just want to delete one digit... Annoying! ]. After a few tries I’ve managed to enter the sum and pressed OK – again this was a screen side button.
Now this is the funny part: I get the receipt but no money. [ Wow! ] On it there was a message “Invalid PIN” [ You must be kidding. You asked me about the sum I want to withdraw and made me enter a number almost impossible to type just to inform me that the PIN - which I have entered previously - is wrong?? Damn ].
All I wanted was to take the card and leave from that stupid ATM. Guess what? The card cannot be taken out of the machine until you enter the correct PIN… So I got back to the PIN screen. Being extremly carreful I’ve managed to enter the PIN – I repeat myself: there was no cancel button and if you enter a wrong PIN 3 times the card will be blocked – and the sum I want.
What more can I say?
Microsoft Live Mesh (Tech Preview) Review
If you have multiple computer (work, home etc) you know that file synchronization between them is not the easiest task. If you have a Mac, a PC and a Windows Mobile device then the things can get even worse.
Live Mesh puts you at the center of your digital world, seamlessly connecting you to the people, devices, programs, and information you care about – available wherever you happen to be.
Live Mesh is a free service. You get a live desktop with 5 GB storage space where you can place your files. Also you can sync files between devices without uploading the on the live desktop.