bits and bikes

My bike has had a flat tire for longer than I’d care to admit, so I’ve been commuting recently by foot and by bus. This leaves me with plenty of time to think, but mostly just thoughts about walking and/or taking the bus.

If you’ve spent time waiting for erratically-timed buses, you know this question well: Will I get there faster if I continue waiting or if I start walking? You can look to recent literature in recreational mathematics for some general guidance on this dilemma [1] [2]. But while waiting may pay off for the lazy mathematician, I like to get some exercise in the process. So here’s a twist on the problem: How far can I walk without missing the next bus? I’ll propose three practical solutions…

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I posted an entry on the Grockit blog today, about how aim to build a learning platform that we is both both peer-powered and data-driven. My goal is to contribute a new post each week or so, which you can find here: http://blog.grockit.com/author/ari/.

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Following my acquisition of these socks, I’ve actively been on the lookout for interesting opportunities in my field. I’m excited to have found something great in the works at Grockit, and will be joining Farb and his team there next month. More details in the weeks to come…

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Chris Seibold’s new O’Reilly book, the “Big Book of Apple Hacks,” is now available (from O’Reilly Media or from Amazon.) While I haven’t seen it quite yet, I am familiar with at least one portion of the book: My blog post on User-Initiated Privacy for Web Applications is included.

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After successfully defended my dissertation yesterday, these new socks fit well!

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Web-based applications are becoming increasingly popular, offering a variety of compelling advantages over desktop-based applications, both to developers and to users. These applications are platform-independent, accessible from any Internet-connected computer, offer offsite data storage, and often provide integrated tools for collaboration and sharing. One major tradeoff, however, is a loss of privacy. But this doesn’t mean that we need to give up on privacy (or give up on web applications.) We just need to think more creatively…

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Its original purpose was to let me run certain small scripts on my home computer from my very low-tech cell phone. From here, Berry (originally Hackberry) eventually grew a full syntax for requests, a nice GUI, an SDK, a security model, and many new ways to connect. In addition to the original SMS communication channel, six more input channels and nine more output channels were later added (e.g. IM messaging, Skype, Quicksilver.) Talk about feature creep.

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Recently I’ve been spending time experimenting with (and extending) my coevolutionary simulation software, Coevisualizer, which I now use to model Teacher’s Dilemma-driven learning. … The teacher ends up consistently providing “appropriate” challenges for their student, even as the student’s abilities change.

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