...Ending with some Good News! [US and Net Neutrality]

The last time I was on a political-roll, it was a Trilogy. Now is no different. To end off the Political Control of Digital Media Trilogy on a high note.

FCC to Enforce Net Neutrality

The number one issue of the critically minded Web-Generation is the issue of Net Neutrality. The just and responsible freedom of the internet.

One thing I would say so that there is no confusion out there is that this FCC will support net neutrality and will enforce any violation of net neutrality principles.
---Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman

This is a very reassuring statement. I usually condemn when a political group copies off a law or model from another country when that model or law is broken. But this is one of those things that needs to be copied off everywhere. Finally a high up victory for Net Neutrality.

Now, Neil Berkett can suck it!!!

Speak Out On Copyright [Canada]

Following up on my latest post, I highly encourage all the Canadian readers of my blog to check out...



SpeakOutOnCopyright.ca is a free public service web site provided by Michael Geist. Dr. Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa. He's someone I highly look up to for everything he's doing on the legal and technology front of various issues.

Also, thank you Jack Zhang for the extra exposure on my last post.

Why Politics and Creative Media Should Not Mix...

An issue that is dear to me is any effort by the government (any - US, Canada, UK... there's no difference) to poison the creative process and creative media with ridiculous control. I strongly believe in Copyright, Intellectual Property, and Creative Licencing. However, without exception, all the current political efforts are all harmful to everyone. For example, if Bill C-61 [Canada] passes, every single Canadian citizen, regardless of where they stand (artist/designer/media or consumers), will feel the repercussion of a Bill that is harmful to the very issue it's supposed to support or protect.

Here are some links to make you sick about the current reality.

• The Death of Analog
• The MPAA's Disingenuous Argument Against Fair Use
• 10 Years of the DMCA
• The Truth Behind [Canadian] Bill C-61
• Aggressive Corporate Rights Holders

Wherever you are in the world, speak out to your government about your concern. Help them understand the reality.

Knowledge Review 7 Poll Result

Well, it was a perfect score for the Technical display option.


Time to code it in. I had the pseudo-code down for all the options, so it's not that much work.

Knowledge Review 7 Node Display

I got on this Blog this morning to get something for work when something hit me. You see, prior to this post, the screenshot of the Knowledge Review 7 DAG preview was on top of the page. The designer in me likes to make stuff look pretty and functional. Now, with my changes, why does everything look like it's a child of NodeA even though the spacing is correct?


The addition of the vertical bars (aka the broken bar character) at the beginning of any line that's not at the root created what I consider a problem. It can be very misleading, especially if you're checking the DAG for the first time. It's bothering me to the point where I feel I have to change it. There are three options.

The original 3DBuzz design

This is the way it's done in the videos. There are no vertical bars at all, so the only visual queue of the depth of a child to its parent are the dashes. It's simple, but on the down side I feel it's not good looking enough.

Option #1 - Simple Design

A simple layout of the Nodes similar to the original design, but without any dashes going through the full line until it's child. They're just below the parent. Another very simple design, but there's not a lot of vertical depth. By that I mean that if Parent1 has a lot of childs, there's not a lot of visual vertical reference between Parent1 and Parent2.

Option #2 - Technical Design

This layout is much more complex visually. It looks very technical, but everything is represented. You can follow each parent and child visually. However, it can be extremely busy on screen.

((EDIT: I just found out how to use Extended ASCII and Unicode in a console application in C#, so imagine the above screenshot but with much smoother lines))

Don't change anything
Stick with the current design even though it can be very misleading.

Essentially, it's a battle between visual simplicity, great aesthetics, and functionality.

There's a Poll on the right. Go vote now!

Knowledge Review 7 WIP Preview

I sadly didn't have time to touch any programming during my three weeks of vacation. So I'm catching up. I just completed the "Grouping" and "RemoveNode" functionality of the Knowledge Review 7 "DAG Program".

Here's a little preview of what it looks like. All the "Node" behavior is hard coded, but the engine is coming along great. User Input is probably coming very soon. I got a few things to-do first.

Photos from the Trip to PEI

Enjoy!



See more on Flickr

Jewel of "Acadie"

The 2009 World Acadian Congress was launched today. For the occasion, I did a Vector piece that reflected the current Crystal trend in corporate graphic design (graphs, typography, logos, etc.)

Ed's P.E.I. Adventure!

On the way to Prince Edward Island, we met someone that tagged along our trip. His name is Ed. Ed followed us everywhere.


Ed really enjoyed his day to the beach. Since we all arrived so late to PEI, we didn't do anything else after the beach.


We had a lot of things planned up for the second day. All of them in Cavendish. So, we had to drive a lot. Ed had a very good seat in the car.

Ed's first stop was at Grandpa's Antique Photo Studio. Ed sadly didn't have enough money to get his picture taken.


After a quick stop at the Cavendish Boardwalk, Ed went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, and the Cracker Creek Mining Co.. The Cracker Creek Mining Co. was a lot more fun than expected. Ed got a lot of great stones, and even a few fossils. He really likes his Shark Tooth.


The day was cloudy and extremely humid, so a stop to cooldown was welcomed. I wonder if Ed knew his limonade had alcohol in it...


Regardless, Ed hit the bed at the hotel pretty early and pretty hard...

Ed's last day on the island was a busy one, so he had to pack pretty early. Ed suprisingly had more stuff than all of us.


In Charlottetown, Ed suggested we first do the Harbour Hippo. It's a LARC (Lighter, Amphibious Resupply, Cargo) from the Vietnam War that goes through the key interest points of Charlottetown and then in the harbour. This is where Ed had the most fun!


There was a lot of people on the Harbour Hippo, but Ed didn't mind once he got a lollipop.


After a bunch of shopping, Ed had one last suggestion before we leave the island: The Cows Creamery. Ed be eating another ice cream for quite some time. There's just something about having 16% of the ice cream being Butter Fat. Don't get him wrong, Ed really found it delicious. Ed was really stuffed afterwards.

Before getting on the Confederation Bridge to head back home, we had to stop at the little tourist village before the Toll. Ed needed to stop at the ATM for the Toll. Ed couldn't help but to stare at the slice of the bridge.

Now Ed is extremely sleepy and needs a lot of rest.

Leaving for P.E.I.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Prince Edward Island. I'm either going to be posting pictures as it happen, or be totally absent for the next three days.