Random Forests are the new kid in machine learning town

Is was reading "Specialist Knowledge Is Useless and Unhelpful
When data prediction is a game, the experts lose out." I learned about the new algorithm that seems like a silver bullet for data mining problems: random forests. An explanation in layman's terms can be found on Quora. It still don't fully grasp the idea but I think its worth exploring further to add to a toolbox to solve problems. There exist a R package for random forests for some quick exploration on your datas. Happy hacking.

Design inspiration

This weekend I was browsing with zite app on Ipad. Especially in the "webdesign and user experience" section I encountered some interesting links:

• THE TYPOGRAPHY-OUT APPROACH IN THE WORLD OF BROWSER-BASED WEB DESIGN

• UX: The Power of Getting Things Designed

   
• 16 PIXELS For Body Copy. Anything Less Is A Costly Mistake
• Fundamentals of Good UI Design PDF (23 MB) from Ghost in the pixel

On a more technical level, I taught these are interesting:

• Offline Web Applications, we’re not there yet.

• HTML5 Techniques for Optimizing Mobile Performance
• CSS3 secrets: 10 things you might not know about CSS3

The above is proof I'll need a lot of good lessons about design (but it probably won't help)

Back from holiday

This video sums up how the holiday was. Two of the boys that are jumping are my sons. It was shot with a simple Canon Ixus 300HS. The video video resolution is only 320x240 pixels and was shot at 240 frames per second. Enjoy it.

It's not the story, the people, the technology, it's the team

I was directed to the blog of Amir Salihefendic, and i bounced into this gem:

Finally, these are the operating principals of Pixar as quoted by Catmull:

• constant review
• it must be safe for people to tell the truth
• communication should not mirror the organizational structure
• people and how they function is more important than ideas
• do not let success mask problems, do a deep assessment
• mix up creative and technical people

So it's not the story, the people, the technology, it's the team, but remember: 

"Once one can articulate an important idea into a concise statement, then one can use the statement and not have to have a fear of changing behavior." (Ed Catmull, pixar).

Maybe I should read the pixar book that's on my reading list for some time now.

Panoramic picture taken with Iphone 4

Made with Pano

Bye bye battery of MacBook Pro

Today, I replaced for the second time the battery of my Macbook Pro. The battery had 560 reload cycles. Apple's documentation states that normally a battery should be able to deliver about 800 cycles before replacement is needed. I got my (now iconic) Macbook Pro beginning of 2007 and this is already the second time I have to replace the battery. So with my (heavy) usage the battery worked for two years. The new battery is again made in 2006. So problem's again in 2013 ? Or will I have a new Macbook Pro with a fixed battery by then ??? Maybe I have to recalibrate my battery more often.

Fireworks shot with Canon Ixus 300HS

Yesterday evening, I went to the yearly firework held in Leuven, Belgium. I filmed the finale with my new Canon Ixus 300HS (aka Powershot 4000 SD) at 720p. Here's the result:

I also took some pictures in the fireworks mode. I think the movie catches the moment much more than the pictures. But for those interested, here is a picasa album containing the original unedited files. Here's a nice one:

From Vuurwerk