In this podcast, Peter Jackson, CEO of Flutter Entertainment, said that some people prefer to play poker in VR so that they can wear virtual avatars. I was a bit surprised to hear that as I thought online poker can be perfectly played on 2D displays, including the cards and the virtual avatars of the players.
2021-08-25
2021-08-24
2021-08-23
The past future
I found science fictions from the recent past (like Star Trek and Dune) very interesting in that they envisioned alternative futures that are mostly extrapolated from the science technology around their time (e.g., talking computers hosted in giant mainframes and inter-galactic messages sent through physical tubes), serving as a reminder that our future may turn out to be very different from what we can possibly imagine today.
2021-08-22
Goat milk cheese
How to depict smell, taste, and touch, which are beyond words and pictures?
Problem with online reviews
There are a few main reasons behind the problem with online reviews.
It is easier to choose a differentiated product as consumers will more likely to deduce if that will fit their needs. But less so when there are many similar products (like cereals) for which people will need a mental shortcut, e.g. random choice from a physical grocery shelf or reviews from an online marketplace. More personalized recommendation might help but it will not work for homogeneous products.
It is harder to evaluate a product virtually than physically, particularly so for stuff like clothing for which the sense of touch or smell is important. The advances of mixed reality technology may help reduce this gap, but it remains wide so far.
2021-08-21
Garbage escape dream
It felt very fun and liberating to hide inside a recycle bin and ride away with a garbage truck (at least in that dream).
2021-08-20
IIII break
This dream is probably a reflection of my use of eye-protection programs (e.g., eyes guard).
2021-08-19
Abstract portrait
I have been thinking about drawing an abstract self-portrait for avatar before realizing that others can probably see me more objectively than I can see myself, so I vector-drew over a paper portrait that Yilan did at the end of her Adobe internship.
2021-08-18
How to schedule meetings
First, ask whether a meeting is really necessary. More often than not, the discussion can be better conducted asynchronously via other means.
Then, schedule the meeting to be as short as possible. Some people have the tendency (or the desire) to talk as mush as possible to fill all the allocated time. I schedule most, if not all, my meetings to be no more than 30 minutes, and found that works well so far.