Frustration; Data Stuctures

I'm so close to graduation. The second project of the semester in my CS course, Data Structures, is aggravating. Maybe it's the teacher, maybe it's senioritis but, either way, I just can't get past the intricate requirements that C++ has in place for reasons, it seems, simply to frustrate me.

For example, I have a templated PRQuadTree (which is only good for one thing) and yet it must be templated. While implementing the delete method I realize that we find the item to be deleted using the coordinates, but we only really want to delete one element from the vector stored by the element in the tree. In a normal data structure I would just delete the node but now I have to do a song and dance to make sure the offset is in the vector and delete it, if it is empty then delete the node. This violates the templating quite a bit. The only way I can get away with it is by implementing some backwards-ass method in the comparator that every element to be inserted would then have to implement as well in order to use this PRQuadTree.

Grrr...

How-to: Reorganize "Rolls" in iPhoto 6

If you are anything like me, you will eventually find yourself importing pictures from a source other than directly from a digital camera. This may not seem like much of a problem until you understand that the "rolls" that iPhoto defines its file structure from the process of importing pictures. If you import files from somewhere other than a camera it is named with an arbitrary roll number. The roll name is then used to define the file structure. This will eventually grow out-of-hand. Here's what you do to avoid this messy situation.

1. Open iPhoto

2. Select View->Film Rolls (shift-apple-F)



3. Drag individual or groups of photos (including the header for a roll, which will take all of the pictures within) and drag it to another roll's header



4. If you wish to rename a roll, as is often the case, click a roll's header and extend the information (little 'i') from the bottom left corner. You can see that the title of the roll is shown in this information, from which you may edit it at your leisure

That should be all you need. When you reopen iPhoto it may ask you to re-index or re-organize your thumbnails.

The resulting file structure should look like this:

VMWare Fusion Beta 2

I think I'll give Fusion another shot now that beta 2 has been released.

The beta is available for free with registration.

You can all read their website and the abundant news on various Apple blogs to find out what has changed. I'll post back here with any improvements I experience.

Juiced? No, Joost!

Joost is an internet television client that is currently in invite-only beta. I was lucky enough to receive an invite through a post on Digg. I am very excited about this, not for the technology, but for the simple fact that the collective community is actually moving towards this quasi-utopian goal.

Having played with the latest version of the beta on my MBP I am still just as excited, especially given the number of shows they already have up. Included in this list is Fifth Gear, one of my favorite shows. Top Gear is great, but Tiff is better. Fifth gear has more real-world reviews and a much smaller budget. Yet, it is still just as entertaining because they stick with cars and they do not try and build a shuttle out of a car. As enjoyable as that explosion was, I sometimes just want to watch a car show. Enough about rival car shows, back to the topic at hand. Joost looks almost complete and if they manage to continually expand their show lineup I think more of the world would be willing to ditch cable.

Technically, the interface is still a little rough (choppy transitions) but, the video is smooth. The biggest barrier I see is that the software requires a computer, of course. This limits its current audience to those willing to watch TV on their computer or those, like myself, that have a computer connected to their television screen. This seems to be where a device like the Apple TV strive.

I'll post screen shots as soon as I arrive home and I'll write more on Joost as I have time to experiment.