Mike Oren.com

Before I post my update for the week, I just want to let everybody know that I am in the process of tweaking the site. Some of you may have noticed that I've added an About Me section to the site. I've had this domain for over a year and a half but never really had a biography section, so I figured it was about time to add one. If there's anything anybody thinks I should add to it then let me know. Also, now that Blogger lets me turn off that annoying Blogger navigation bar, I am now publishing to the main page directly from Blogger, so the edit date on the bottom of the page will now reflect edits to the template rather than new posts. My header image will also be changing to include the final logo design when that's finished. The last change will take the longest to implement as it requires some more planning: I want to reorganize the site to push traffic to some of the other pages (the main page gets 100-200 unique visitors per month, but the other pages get 20 or less). This will include having some of the other pages updated through Blogger (with an attached RSS feed) and perhaps the reorganization/deletion/addition of links. So that's something to look for in the next few months.

My interview with IBM was on Wednesday. I think it went well, but you really never know how an interview goes until you hear back from the company or not. Still, it was considerably different than a lot of interviews I've had in the past. I'm used to being asked a lot of questions about my background (classes, work history, all that stuff) and then having a few minutes at the end to ask the interviewer questions about the company, their work, etc. However, in this interview I was asked the "standard" questions (legal to work in the country, little bit about work history, that sort of stuff) and then I was pretty free to tell the interviewer anything that I felt they should know about me, the work I've done, my research, etc. So that was interesting, and I enjoyed the interview (although I'll admit that the style of the interview did kind of catch me off guard--it was early in the morning and I had prepared for a more formal interview). I also enjoyed the fact that the interviewer started out at IBM doing web design and usability testing, so I was talking to somebody who knew the HCI field and understood that I wouldn't be happy in a position where I'm just a "code monkey" and that I need to do work where I can be more creative/work with people. So even if it ends up that I don't get the internship this summer, I definitely had a good experience with the interview and that's always good in itself, and I'd definitely be interested in working and/or interning for them in the future. I'll keep everybody posted if I find out anything more about doing an internship with IBM.

Some of you maybe wondering about CHI '07 and whether or not I made it into the student research competition. Well to end the suspense, I received e-mail notification this morning (at 3 AM when I woke up in the middle of the night and checked my e-mail) that my abstract was accepted into the CHI '07 student research competition. This is fantastic news and should make a terrific networking experience (not to mention the fun of seeing what other people in the field are working on).

In other news, I was contacted by a member of the SenseGraphics employees the other day through FaceBook about providing them with a description of the H3D project I'm working on. H3D is the API that SenseGraphics makes that combines the graphics and haptics elements into one easy to use scene graph. It's really made my research considerably easier so I'm more than happy to provide them with information about the project I'm using it for (plus, the free publicity is nice). I'll probably also make a video of the project to go on the research project homepage so that it can supplement the data already on there (especialy since it's a little barren at the moment). I'm pretty excited about that though. Oh, and speaking of the haptic research project and publicity, it was featured in the Fall issue of VRTech that Iowa State University [PDF] publishes. I also received some publicity from VirtualRealityCentre.ca when they republished my post on user experience research budgets for my class blog. So that makes my last two posts for the class both having external links, which is pretty cool especially since nobody else has externally linked posts at the moment.

On a final note, the iPod Shuffle that I won from DealsPl.us came in on Wednesday (I wont it last Saturday). I hadn't seen the new shuffle up close before, so I was kind of amazed at just how thin they made it. I also like how it recharges and transfers data through the headphone jack and will automatically transfer the iTunes songs to the shuffle (choosing random songs). I have the two Samsung MP3 players I won last year and those have better sound quality, but this shuffle is much better in terms of "everyday" use since I like the randomization of songs just turning it on and pushing play--plus the sound quality isn't that apparent with just the cheap headphones. I use my 2 GB Samsung for driving (it has a larger capacity any way, and there the sound quality is apparent since it has a decent sound system--with the MP3 player hooked up through the auxiliary audio input). I definitely recommend picking up the shuffle though if you like just having the music without the hassle of picking it out and manipulating the interface--and want something that's great for walking/running around with. Also, DealsPl.us is starting an Hour-a-Day Daily Giveaway for prizes, so I encourage you to join and participate in the contests/find some great deals.

posted by Mike Oren  # 8:11 PM