DPL Reading List – April 12, 2019
Here are some of the new and interesting articles we found this week.
Hands-on: First public previews of Chromium-based Edge are now out – “Microsoft has been working on the open source Chromium project to improve areas that are important to the company: ARM64 compatibility, integration with Windows’ accessibility features to improve support for screen readers and other assistive technology, and touch and scroll performance. So far, there’s little to actually see from this work. The differences we do see are in various user interface elements and in some of the service plumbing.”
You Don’t Have to Be CEO to Be a Visionary Leader – “Crafting a vision requires a certain element of seeing into the future. But good senior leaders know they are missing critical information: they are far removed from customer experiences, operational realities, and the hopes and dreams of people working for them. Tapping the insights and experiences of others who will be touched by the work can help senior executives achieve that sense of connection, and many institutionalize the gathering of these kinds of ideas.”
7 Rules for Creating Gorgeous UI (Updated for 2019) – “I was a UX designer with no UI skills. I love designing UX, but I wasn’t doing it for long before I realized there were a bunch of good reasons to learn how to make an interface look nice.”
Meet the man who helped double-check the sums to keep Apollo 11 safe – “Dennis Sager was one of the youngest in that backroom of Building 30 in Houston, Texas, also known as the Real-Time Auxiliary Computing Facility (RTACF). As well as marking the machines’ homework, the group’s job was to help the missions prepare for the unexpected—and adapt when circumstances changed. While the RTCC had to lock in its code and trajectories before launch, the RTACF was agile.”
The Graphing Calculator Story – “I used to be a contractor for Apple, working on a secret project. Unfortunately, the computer we were building never saw the light of day. The project was so plagued by politics and ego that when the engineers requested technical oversight, our manager hired a psychologist instead. In August 1993, the project was canceled. A year of my work evaporated, my contract ended, and I was unemployed. I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple’s doors, so I just kept showing up.”
Untold History of AI: The DARPA Dreamer Who Aimed for Cyborg Intelligence – “The idea came from Licklider’s realization that at ARPA, he would need an efficient way to keep large, dispersed teams made up of both humans and machines up to date with changes in programming languages and technical protocols. A communication network connecting these actors across distances was his answer.”
Video of Apple’s W.A.L.T. in Action – The 1993-Edition iPhone – “While there are some key details known about the device, such as that it was designed in partnership with BellSouth and offered advanced features for its time, such as online banking access, a full touchscreen, fax and caller ID support, a built in address book, and even the ability to customize ringtones (it even featured Newton-like full handwriting support), a functioning version of the device has never, to my knowledge, been seen by “virgin eyes.””
