dominic-tancredi.com

Tres Problemeras – Shooting 3 minute film – need actors + anyone for 10 minute domestic scene

Heya! This is my 3-minute film synopsis for “Tres Problemeras”. If anyone is available 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Saturday, February 5th, or Tuesday, February 9th and wants to join the film, the more the merrier.

Basically, these two guys swap bodies again and again and again. So we’re filming quick domestic 2 person scenes. Just you and a friend doing something normal. The film gets better the more people there are doing the same action. And it’ll only take 5-10 minutes tops!

But I’m not giving my address to strangers. So if you’re interested and available, e-mail me: dominic.tancredi@gmail.com.

Tres Problemeras

SYNOPSIS:
DOUG asks his boyfriend SEAN to marry him. SEAN says there’s a problem: his parents won’t accept he’s gay. DOUG decides to have a sex-change as a solution. SEAN is appalled that he wasn’t included in DOUG’s “solution” and decides to show-up DOUG by changing his sex…and also becoming black. DOUG is appalled because his father’s also racist (and never told SEAN), so changes his sex-back and becomes younger.
The boyfriends have a change-war, as seen through a variety of domestic activities that become increasingly more heated. Cooking, chopping, getting drinks from a fridge, going to the bathroom, showering, getting ready for a party, getting ready for bed, even sleeping in the same bed until it reaches a crescendo.
But then, they grow accustomed to the changes. Over the course of public outings, including eating at a restaurant, walking through central park, ice skating, they become more comfortable with each other.
Finally, a single shot of them (as different pairs of sexes, races, and ages) in their home shows they’re still in love. DOUG says he doesn’t care what SEAN’s sex, age, or looks are, he’ll love him no matter what. That what really matters isn’t what we are, it’s who we are.
SEAN says, “Ok, let’s get married.” They kiss.
As they kiss, their versions change, flipping backward, from 50 INDIAN MAN, to 12 YEAR OLD BLACK GIRL to RUSSIAN MALE to SKATER PUNK to HIPPIE GIRL to …
…their original selves.

Popularity: 55% [?]

How to Give Good Feedback

I just had a great client meeting today for a huge client whose name I can’t say (but one of the largest soda brands in the world).

We demo’d a new Flex / Flash app I developed, and his feedback was so clear, insightful, and upbeat, that when we got off the call, I said to the Client Rep’s something I rarely say:

“I love this client!”

Why? I’ve talked to this guy twice, and both prefaced by, “…and this is Dom, the guy who’ll be doing all the programming for your ideas. Say Hi Dom.”

What feedback did he give that made me so charged, that I immediately implemented the changes as soon as we got off the call? Here’s a brief list:

• I can’t see two navigation buttons at the bottom. As an average joe user, I might miss them first time around. Can we bring it to the top of the page to show them? – he’s thinking of the user, and making it easier for them
• These icons are all “default”-looking (they were placeholders because we weren’t provided any icons). Can we go through each default and find an icon for them to use? I don’t care what, just so long as it doesn’t look like we couldn’t find anything better than default – he instinctively knows its placeholder art, gives us the freedom to develop any art we want (close to brand but still nice), and wants the user to know we custom built each element
• I love the look and feel of this navigation! (coverflow) But can we add navigation buttons just in case the user doesn’t quite get it? – he’s thinking of the user, lets us define HOW we want to show this navigation, but still respects the dev time it took to make it flashy

Now, I could go on, but all these notes had this in common:

1. it thought of the user first, not himself
2. it was positive and supportive of the work that is presented
3. it simplified, reduced, and clarified what was presented
4. it was about user experience
5. it wasn’t about adding functionality that wasn’t agreed to – navigation was agreed upon, but asking us to include a simpler solution isn’t new functionality, it’s refactoring code (essentially) since we had the navigation already setup

Just some thoughts to keep in mind when YOU give critical feedback to your team, hired guns, freelancers, or parents.

FTD

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tags: advice

Danger Hiptop – Build Fail, Cannot find ${env.DANGER_HOME}

Working on my first app for the Danger Hiptop SDK. It’s pretty fun, Java with custom classes stacked on top.

I was editing the project in Eclipse, but when it came time to compile via the Ant build.xml, got this type of error:

Reason? The environment variables I set weren’t being seen in Eclipse for some reason. Not to worry. Simply:

1. Right click on build.xml
2. Select “Run As…”->”External Tools Configuration”
3. Select the “Environment” tab
4. Press “New”, and fill out “DANGER_HOME” and “/locationOfYourDangerSDK” (mine is “/Applications/hiptop-sdk”)
5. Hit “Run”!

Before I was compiling it straight from terminal. But sometimes it’s nice to strike a fire instead of wait for lightning.

FTD

Popularity: 20% [?]

Tags: apps, danger, hiptop

Passion Project – Pai Gow Poker – iPhone

As a New Year’s Resolution, I’ve dedicated Monday Night as PASSION PROJECT NIGHT! (krakowww)

To keep myself accountable, I’ll post every Monday night the progress I’ve done, some tips I’ve learned, screenshots… Who knows what could happen in the lab!

Pai Gow Poker

Description:

A single-player Pai Gow Poker game on the iPhone platform, using Objective-C, and a modified version of the GeekGameBoard code base.

Tonight I’ve done the following:

1. Reviewed the Project Description
2. Reviewed the Project Assets provided by Amy Anstine, our Core Designer for Dom & Tom
3. Cleaned up the semantics site-wide (cleaning up semantics a.k.a. naming conventions, linkages, project structure helps me refresh myself on a project)
4. Added content to the ABOUT page, added navigation elements, added copyright
5. Added content to the OPTIONS page, added navigation element, added copyright
6. Setup User Defaults on the OPTIONS page
7. Downloaded the GeekGameBoard codebase and reviewed

Next week, I hope to get my brain dirty and begin implementing game logic: deck, dealer and player’s hands, interaction with setting a bet, selecting cards, etc.

But not bad for a first night.

FTD

Popularity: 24% [?]

Tags: card games, iphone, objective-c, pai gow

Building the Gunseed HG-01!

I finally finished my first Gundam – the Gunseed HG-01, the 30th Anniversary Edition!

I love robots. Transformers (the original) is my # 2 favorite movie. Every time I’m in front of an insurmountable foe, I just tell myself, “Megatron must be stopped… no matter the cost.”

When I was in 2nd grade, we had to build a robot. I dreamed of hammering a mechanical, steam-powered automaton to life… The day came and we ended up gluing cardboard cut outs from milk cartons. But I can do better.

I went to Japan last week and came across Gundams: complex robot toys built from snap-together parts. “Ah, HA!” said I… tiny life. For 1500 yen a pop!

I can’t stop looking at the instructions…the kanji are completely indecipherable except for the shapes.

At the end of grade school, we took a standardized test, testing our verbal and non-verbal skills. I loved the non-verbal section. My score was a 40/40 tying only Amanda Payne for awesome-acity.

Years later, I see those same shapes in the Gundam instructions. Shape driven. Pattern recognition. Warning Signs without explanation.

If you follow the Pattern, be it connect-the-dots, or Gundam-building, this whole new understanding Gestalts. It’s like following a trail in the forest, or a conversation with someone amazing…

…You look around at the end and you’re somewhere you never thought you’d be, doing something you never thought you’d be able to do.

Popularity: 39% [?]

Google Wave Bot Fix – “Could not open the requested socket: Address already in use”

PROBLEM:
You build your first wave bot using Google App Engine + Google Bot instructions, and run into this build error “Could not open the requested socket: Address already in use”.

SOLUTION:

1. Select the Project, then “Run Configuration”.
2. Select Web Applications, then your Run Configuration (mine is called “DomGoBot”).
3. Check “Automatically select an unused port”
4. Re-build!

ANALYSIS:
Google Web Application sets up a Java server via a servlet. It defaults to port 8080. However, sometimes you’ve got other apps running on that port (MAMP, etc.) So just set it to find an empty port and you’ll be right as rain!

FTD

Popularity: 100% [?]

Tags: bot, eclipse, java, wave

Website Updates: Mobile Version, Twitter Tools, Popularity Contest

Attention: Updates made to the site using Alex King’s wordpress plugins (great code = great coder) including:

• Mobile Version using Carrington Mobile 1.0.2 by Crowd Favorite
• Twitter Tools (to push posts up the social networking food chain
• Popularity Contest (ranking my posts by crowd favorite – in the spirit of google’s ranking

FTD

Popularity: 71% [?]

Tags: mobile, popularity contest, twittertools

Hack – Hacking Your Intercom System

Ever need to hack your intercom system? I asked my friends on NYC Resistor and they helped me figure out how:

1. Get an RF remote transmitter and receiver and power adapter – they’re pretty cheap from electronickits.com
2. strip the power adapter wires
3. wire the power adapter wires into the RF receiver (check voltage to know which is negative and positive)
4. test the power by pressing the “learn” button on the receiver
5. “learn” your receiver – press the “learn” button on the receiver and start transmitting with your key transmitter
6. open up your intercom system and find the wires that hook in the “unlock door”
7. using the voltometer, test your intercom to see if your circuit is closed and needs to be opened (via the relay) or opened and needs to be closed (again via relay)
8. wire from the RF reciever to the intercom, then from the intercom back to the receiver to complete the circuit – it’ll either be Normally Closed or Normally Open
9. test the transmitter triggers the relay (button one does Normally Open, button two does Normally Closed for me) and it should trigger the intercom “unlock door”
10. Celebrate!

Here’s another solid example of keyless entry from Make

Below is a quick gallery of images of the process! Hope this helps!

FTD



RF Remote Control Relay Board



Stripped Power Adapter



Intercom System






Intercom System – Faceplate Removed



Tools – Transmitter, Receiver, Wire, Screwdrivers



Receiver – with Power






Receiver – With Transmitter Testing



Intercom System – green wires into receiver + system



Intercom System – green wires into receiver + system (CLOSE-UP)






Wireless Receiver – Top



Wireless Receiver – Inside Box



Wireless Receiver – Inside Box 2






Wireless Receiver – Inside Box 3




Popularity: 1% [?]

Flash – Googlemaps Mask Bug

I just found a bug in Googlemaps’ Flash component.

BUG: When a mask is used over the map component, the copyright and MapTypeControls Fonts (possibly other control fonts) are hidden. The buttons still work.

Originally, the map itself didn’t have a mask, but was imported into a wrapper banner ad that had the mask – same issue. It took a while to isolate what the issue was. Hope this helps someone out. I’m posting images to showcase it:

googlemaps_bug_wo_mask

googlemaps_bug_w_mask

Instead of using timeline, just use actionscript:

map.mask = mapMask;

GoogleMaps Bug Tracking the Issue (link #1)

GoogleMaps Bug Tracking the Issue (link #2)

Popularity: -6% [?]

Flash – ComboBox – Green Halo (won’t disable if you load into another swf bug)

If you have a combox in a swf, and load that swf into a wrapper swf, it’s POSSIBLE the green halo will stick around long after you scroll and make a selection.

Simply add this to your actionscript:

yourComboBox.drawFocus = “”;
yourComboBox.dropdown.drawFocus=”";

That should disable it. There. That’s a headache I hope I can spare you. I can’t tell you how long I worked with “_focusrect” and “focusRectEnabled” before find that solution.

FTD

Popularity: 17% [?]