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Former Rdio software engineer joins Google's Project Glass team
There's still quite a few months before those lucky early adopters can get their eager hands (and eyes) on Google's Explorer Edition set of wearables, but in the meantime, the company's not wasting any time and is building up its team to have the frames as loaded as can be. One of the latest additions to Mountain View's Project Glass squad is former Rdio and Danger software engineer Ian McKellar -- who'd previously worked on the streaming service's API, among other things. Mum's the word on what exactly he'll be tinkering with at the Project Glass laboratories, though we can't imagine it'll be anything short of amazing. In case you'd like to dive into his thoughts a little more, you can check out his tweet on the matter at the link below.
Google employee creates the ultimate LAN party house, lives la vita local
You don't see many software engineers over on Cribs, but if you did, then Google employee Kenton Varda would probably be first in line. Some people buy fancy cars and hot tubs, Kenton created the ultimate LAN party room. Getting your crew round for a marathon Counter-Strike session might be a barrel, but tangled cables and weeding out connection problems are not, or at least Kenton clearly doesn't think so. No more cable spaghetti for him though, thanks to a permanent installation that includes machines, monitors, many feet of HDMI and USB leads, rack mounts and networking equipment for up to 12 gaming chums. Spread over two rooms, with six stations in each -- ideal for team games -- bespoke cabinets were made to keep it easy on the eye. Anyone wanting to take on a similar project can expect to put a $40,000 dent in their wallet, or a little more, depending on the size of your LAN.
Nokia software engineer says 'hardware rules,' software follows
Care for a little more insight into Nokia's smartphone development habits? In an email to our pal John Gruber, a former Nokia software engineer has laid out his perspective on why the Finnish phone maker seems to be struggling in that lucrative high-end smartphone market: "Here's the problem: Hardware Rules at Nokia. The software is written by the software groups inside of Nokia, and it is then given to the hardware group, which gets to decide what software goes on the device, and the environment in which it runs. All schedules are driven by the hardware timelines. It was not uncommon for us to give them code that ran perfectly by their own test, only to have them do things like reduce the available memory for the software to 25% the specified allocation, and then point the finger back at software when things failed in the field." He goes on to say that Nokia's haughtiness extended to the point of turning an assessment of the iPhone's relative strengths into a list of reasons why it wouldn't succeed, which -- considering that the doc was compiled at around the 3GS' launch -- seems like a distinctly foolish thing to do. The really interesting bit here, though, is where that leaves Nokia today. As far as its Design chief Marko Ahtisaari is concerned, the future's MeeGo all the way, but that new platform was nowhere to be seen at Nokia World this year, and Gruber raises the question of whether Nokia shouldn't perhaps switch to the already ubiquitous Android or soon-to-be-everywhere Windows Phone 7. Neither makes a ton of sense on the surface, as Nokia's proud tradition doesn't exactly mesh with dancing to Microsoft's stringent spec tune or becoming yet another Android phone manufacturer. But in the current fast-moving market, a good smartphone software platform today might just be better than a great one tomorrow -- more to the point, we probably wouldn't be pondering this if Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was still in charge, but now that a software guy has finally taken the helm, maybe the winds of change might blow once more in Espoo?
Google's Amit Singhal tells us about the dreams search engines are made of
Do Googlers dream of electric algorithms? For a little insight into what makes the search engine that became a verb tick, we recently attended a talk by Amit Singhal, one of its chief engineers. Amit is part of the team in charge of tweaking and improving Google's ranking algorithms and has 20 years of experience when it comes to sorting through data, with that time split into even decades spent within the academic sphere and over in Mountain View. What he had to tell us mostly revolved around his aspirations from when he started out back in 1990, but it's the way that Google has acted to meet each of those goals that's the fun and interesting stuff (or as we like to call it around here, the meat). So do put on your reading monocle and join us past the break.%Gallery-97608%
Talking to Champions Online's lead programmer
The position of lead programmer is typically reserved for those who love two things, numbers and -- football? Apparently so, in the case of the Champions Online team's Charlie Grisafi, who likens the job to that of being a football coach. We're inclined to agree once he lays out everything he's responsible for getting to people -- programmers to program, design documents and other various bits of software. So yeah in a sense it's like commanding a team of skilled people with different 'plays' which given to the right people will get the job done successfully.All right, enough of the analogies. The truth is it's a rough job -- but somebody has got to, uh, program it. That is we mean somebody has got to program Champions Online and if it weren't for Charlie and his programmers, we wouldn't have anything to play. So what about this mathematical man's credentials? Well they're nothing to scoff at, that's for sure. Citing an 25 year history as a software engineer -- 18 of which have been as a gaming programmer -- tends to cause us to nod in silence and respect. We certainly couldn't do something involving so much math for more than 25 minutes, let alone years. Our hats off to you sir, thy math is strong.
Mythic looking for new blood to work on old games
With Warhammer Online poised to overwhelm the MMO space under thick sea of "WAAAAGH!," the last thing we really expected Mythic to be doing was building up their team working on Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online. DAoC celebrated its sixth anniversary this past year, and UO (which fell under Mythic's stewardship with the EA shakeup last fall) crested the decade mark late last year, so by gaming standards they should have been committed to a home a long time ago, only to be brought out on holidays and propped up in a chair to remind everybody else of happier times. Our own Michael Zenke predicted that 2008 would see the virtual demise of DAoC, and truthfully, I would have counted myself amongst the nay-sayers as well... that is, until yesterday.The guys and gals out of Fairfax sent out a message via The Camelot Herald that the Mythic team was looking to expand their legacy operations by taking on three new software engineers to work exclusively on the development of DAoC and UO. Granted, it's looking like this new meat would make up a considerable portion of their oldies-only teams, but certainly a promising sign for those who still count themselves amongst the faithful. Surely they wouldn't be hiring people to work on the game in anticipation of killing it off, would they? (We know, they're part of EA now, anything is possible.) But hey, if you're a software engineer in the Northern Virginia area looking for work, why not apply?[Via Allakhazam]
Apple seeking a Finder software engineer
Are you a developer who has a beef with Apple's Finder? Well here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is. Apple is currently seeking a software engineer to help with the development with the "...next generation versions" of the Finder. A part of the job description requires the winning candidate to "...develop Finder into the best file browser on the planet." No pressure or anything.If you're interested, you may apply here. Good luck.[Via Daring Fireball]
