All posts by Patricia Palumbo

Patricia Palumbo is the owner of The Logical Choice, a local technology consulting and computer support business located in Northfield, VT.
Gaming, Minecraft

HoloLens – Your MC world on your table

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E3 2015

It’s time again for the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo known as E3 for short. The annual expo will be running June 15-18, and you can check it out at E3 2015. This is the place to unveil the latest in games and gaming technologies.

HoloLens demo of a Minecraft world

Microsoft put on a demo of their HoloLens technology to show what it can do with the popular sandbox game Minecraft. The demo happened only yesterday, and I think it best to offer you a video that will do a better job of explaining.

Apparently, you can run around with your friends in this dynamic virtual world that is also being represented in your real home.

Picture of a man wearing the HoloLens on his head gazing down at a hologram of a Minecraft world. He sees his tiny friend standing on a tower in the game.
Zack gazes down at Lydia in a holographic Minecraft game.

Microsoft promises to have more information by the July Minecon. It all make me wonder if the purchase of Minecraft by Microsoft was in part that Minecraft is ideally suited for use with HoloLens.

What else?

HoloLens is not only about Minecraft, the technology suggests possibilities far beyond gaming. This brings virtual into the physical world and allows people to then interact or modify objects. Apparently a 3D print design can also be made into a hologram.

I can only imagine how helpful this would be for engineers, architects and interior designers.

Want to really see what some furniture would look like in your space? HoloLens can show you, or will show you as it is not quite ready for public use. It is also tied into Windows 10 which should be available this July 29.

Take a look at the Microsoft HoloLens website, which I might add is quite polished and effective in giving one a sense of the possibilities.

First the Apple watch and now this! Times are a changing, or rather, devices are a changing.

Education

littleBits

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Circuits that snap together!

These circuits snap together with magnets! The neatest thing in electricity by Ayah Bdeir. I don’t recall ever using the word cute to describe circuits. Well, these are cute. They are also fun, and inspiring, which bodes well for learning.

What an easy way to introduce circuits with no  breadboards, solder, or screws required. Modular.

littleBits

Kids are going to be asking for these. 😀

Business

Super Bowl Commercials: 2014

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In case you do want to watch the 2014 Super Bowl XLVIII commercials again. Saving these for later. From what I have seen the sponsors have outdone themselves again.

The 2014 NFL Super Bowl Commercials

Everyone seems extra fired up about the Super Bowl this year. I will be supportive but I don’t have quite the zeal as “most” of the people I know. That’s okay! 😉

Seahawks won 43-8 over Denver. Seems like a trouncing.

Tech Tips

The html acronym tag…

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No longer be supported in HTML5

I like using the acronym tag, it gives us a way to show what an acronym stands for without actually doing it in words on the page. You just point at the acronym and the meaning pops up. There are a lot of acronyms these days so this is darn convenient.

Not too long ago I looked the tag up to jog my memory and discovered that it will not be supported in HTML5. Instead you can use the The <abbr> tag. That seems odd to me, an acronym and an abbreviation are two different things.

Here is an example of an acronym tag using the 3WSchools fine example here.
Can I get this ASAP?

The code looks like this:

Can I get this <acronym title="as soon as possible">ASAP</acronym>?

Here is an abbreviation:
The abbreviation of tablespoon is tbsp.

The code looks like this:

The abbreviation of tablespoon is <abbr title="tablespoon">tbsp</abbr>.

The tag abbr tag is shorter than the acronym tag, that would save space and they aren’t so far apart in usage. I’m guess I am okay with it. Small point I know, unless you happen to use these tags too!