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You may well have seen e-mails or articles along these lines:

Don’t delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rsreeach at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit plcae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig, huh.

Well, I think the above text (when you unscramble it) is making too big a claim that “it doesn’t matter” what order the interior letters of a word are in, and that you can read such passages “without a problem.”

There are certainly quite a few other sites that have talked about this claim:

• An actual Cambridge researcher’s rebuttal and analysis
• Snopes
• A UI analogy
• A discussion at a design site called SimpleBits

The easiest way I can think of to show the claim is dubious is to have you test yourself. Here are three sentences I scrambled using a quick program I wrote to randomize the interiors of words:

• Docotr Sumgnid Fuerd neevr desimailcd reguioils idaes needlslsey.
• Riandeg tihs txet is claetniry pbosilse — hevweor, i’ts aslo cmuotpe innevtise.
• Enre’yveos potohn tdrpooeos mriuclsoulay elxedopd cetmpelloy utesirnsed.

Clearly, the longer the word, the harder it is to unscramble it. The shorter words in this article’s title are easy to decode, but the longer words in the three example sentences, especially less frequently used words like “disclaimed” or “compute” or “photon,” are probably not immediately recognizable.

Now you try it!

Want the original version of my three scrambled sentences? Keep reading.

(more…)

Now you can sign up for TiVoCast programs right from your DVR. Head to TiVo Central -> Find Programs -> TiVoCast and sign up for any of the following:

• CNET: High tech reviews (every Friday)
• Danger Rangers: Safety programming for kids in the form of a song (every Wednesday)
• dLife: Diabetes news and information (once a month)
• Heavy: Adult-rated humor, often in the format of a top ten countdown of things that suck (every Monday)
• iVillage: beauty, health, style, and well-being (every Monday)
• The New York Times: Science, movie reviews, food, relationship and other clips from the venerable grey lady (several times a week)
• Rocketboom: The world’s most popular daily video blog, an eclectic daily burst (Monday through Friday)
• Union: Action sports clips from surf, skate, snowboarding, BMX and motocross (every Friday)

Want my current favorite TiVoCast program? The opening segment of The Best of Union 5 is a must-watch spectacle if you like to see BMX accidents along “the agony of defeat” lines.

More content to come!

The cool thing about the new TiVoCast menu is that you can manage your subscriptions (view, add, remove, modify), and choose individual programs as well. Our TiVoCast infrastructure is much more robust than it was previously, and it’s now easier for us to add new partners.

The other interesting thing about this (that is, interesting if you care about the technical details of how TiVo works) is that this is actually an HME (Home Media Engine) app. This is the first time we’ve added a new feature to the TiVo DVR menu interface without having to do a full software rollout: Instead, the new menu item and its capabilities automatically just appeared for all broadband-enabled Series2 units. This technology can let us develop, qualify and release new features much faster than previously.

I mentioned earlier seeing BloodRayne with Harry on Thursday (a traditional Thanksgiving movie if ever there was one).

Turns out that BloodRayne is directed by Uwe Boll, the auteur behind the video-game-into-movie monstrosities House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark (I’ve played both those games, actually, and I regret to report I saw the House of the Dead movie, which is every bit as awful as BloodRayne). It further turns out that Herr Boll is getting a bit tired of his critics beating him up. So, he turned the tables and challenged them to a boxing competition (as reported in Wired News). It’s a fascinating story; thanks to John R. for providing the link.

Doesn’t make me want to see any of his upcoming movies, though.

Perhaps predictably on the heels of the two Thanksgiving dinners, at the scales this morning I broke a new record: 177.5. That’s way too heavy. I’m now on a diet, and you can follow my progress on this blog. My goal is 160 (after consulting the BMI chart). My strategy will be:

• No sugar drinks (only water or zero calorie drinks)
• No between-meal snacks (only water)
• Very small portions of dessert, if any
• Normal portions at other meals, no second helpings
• Gym at least twice a week
• Team Fitness at least twice a week

I used to be a regular Team Fitness attendee (it’s a work-subsidized small group fitness program at 7am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at a nearby high school gym, with great coaches), but between playing World of Warcraft and having Sammy, I slipped a lot over the last couple of years. Time to get back into a routine.

On Sunday, John and Yvonne came over for our second annual “Thanksgiven,” which takes place on the Sunday of the four-day weekend. It’s a chance for the four of us to unwind and spend time socializing with a more intimate Thanksgiving-style dinner.

Here are my notes on the menu:

John and Yvonne bring:
Tofurky
Cranberry sauce
Green beans with garlic
Apple, berry & pumpkin pie
Gravy
Baked brie & crackers

Stephen and Kimi:
Stuffing
Mashed & sweet potatoes
Drinks
Sweet potato cheesecake

We timed things so that Sammy napped while we ate. Everything was delicious. Some of you may not be big fans of tofurky but I like it.

We capped things off with a game of Dragon’s Gold, some light napping, and later some warm egg nog and rum with all the variety of desserts.

John and Yvonne, thanks for being such great friends and a part of our lives.

I’m looking forward to leftovers…

So Saturday night Kimi and I each saw different showings of Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig as the new (now blonde) Bond. This is a back-to-basics Bond, with no Q and few gadgets, basically rebooting the series, starting off with how Bond was promoted to double-oh status. (Hard to believe this is the 21st James Bond movie; it was definitely time for a reboot.)

In general, critics called the movie too long, and felt that it spent too much time in the casino playing Hold’Em (updated from baccarat in the original novel). I disagree — I thought the movie could have been longer, and as a poker player I appreciated the poker scenes.

Craig, who I don’t think I’ve ever seen in anything before, is easily the best actor to ever play Bond, although the best Bond in my mind remains Sean Connery, with Pierce running a close second. But I think in time Craig’s stock could rise further in my mind.

I was interested in the idea that they were setting up a multi-movie story arc (if rumors about Bond 22 can be believed). I was also fascinated by the Jackie Chan-esque free-running/Parkour action sequence at the beginning of the movie.

I definitely recommend the movie overall. It captures a lot of the essence of Bond while making it a more serious affair. One powerful scene focuses on the emotional impact of all the killing; no previous Bond movie would have spent the time on that portion. I like how the new movie throws away a lot of the ridiculousness while giving room for the legend to grow. There are still unbelievable elements (I’d love if someone made an action series in which the hero is not somehow able to miraculously dodge bullets even when sprayed from a machine gun, or didn’t depict that the best way for a woman to run away from danger is by holding hands with the hero). But no American spy series comes close — Bourne? XXX? Mission Impossible? all laughable in comparison — although it’s true that I’ve always loved Bond, even as a kid playing with the Corgi toy cars.

The last few years we’ve had Thanksgiving at my parents’ place up in Elk Grove. This year, Kelly and Rob hosted. This was great for two reasons: First, it’s a lot closer, and second, they did almost all of the cooking, so we could relax a lot more. The only downside is that I didn’t get to see my brother Phil and his wife Erin and daughter Sarah, since they went to Erin’s parents instead.

Kimi made a pair of sweet potato cheesecakes topped with maple cream. In addition to the traditional menu (mostly cooked by Kelly and Rob’s friend Keith), Rob also cooked some crab, which tasted really great although I have to say it felt out of place. A memorable addition, to be sure.

Kelly’s step-mom, dad, sister Tara, and brother-in-law-to-be Geoff were also there, so it was a big group. After dinner, a few folks watched football and the rest of us played some Outburst (one of my favorite party boardgames). Sammy was well-behaved the whole day and managed to take a nap at 3 in the office. Kimi ended up taking him home around 7, and Harry and I followed a bit later (we had invited him to spend the night).

It felt good to see my parents again, and I appreciated Joanna driving them down and back. If we had more room in our house I think we would have invited them to stay as well as Harry.

At home, Kimi went to bed early so Harry and I played some Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, completing the series we had started the week before. In this two-player board game that shares some similarities with Stratego, the black side (Sauron’s minions — the orcs, cave troll, warg, and other bad guys) are definitely stronger than the white side (the Fellowship and assorted other good characters). Harry’s very good at this game, and gets a lot of practice since they apparently play a lot at his work. With Harry playing the more difficult white side, he beat me 2-1 in the first series, but I managed to win the second series 2-1. The new deluxe edition has some variant characters, and when we played with those, he beat me 3-0 alternating sides. I don’t like the variant characters nearly as much, but I do recommend the game overall — a really interesting game for two players that somehow manages to capture the feel of the books better than any other Lord of the Rings-inspired game I’ve played.

Thursday night we watched BloodRayne, a truly awful inspired-by-a-videogame-neither-of-us-have-ever-played movie, and Friday we basically vegged out and watched Heroes all a bit during the day and finishing up after Sammy went to bed. We had a mini-marathon and succeeded in watching the first nine episodes. I enjoyed Heroes quite a bit, and it’s clear the writers actually know where the first few episodes are going. I was a bit surprised at how much gore there was; it’s not for kids at all. The series plays around with comic books as a theme but ultimately I think the series has more to do with a cross between The 4400, X-Files and Lost than with any particular comic book.

As I write this, Kimi and I are doing a movie-trade. She’s seeing the 7:10 showing of Casino Royale and I’ll see the 10:30 showing.
I’ll add my impressions later.

After using the default theme for a long time, I finally got around to changing things here a bit. Thanks go to Jason “Xyne” for the graphic of Sammy and bubbles in the heading (which was inspired by this photo). Great job, Jason! (You can check out Jason’s gallery for more of his work). Let me know if you like the new look.

This week we launched two new content partners for TiVoCast. (Just as a reminder, TiVoCast is the feature where Series2 TiVo DVRs can download content via broadband. If you have a Series2 but it’s not connected to your broadband, we can help you get ready.)

Union features extreme sports, and the first episode shreds.

dLife is about diabetes. The first episode, relating the history of insulin, was interesting; my dad has had diabetes for several years, and I never really knew all of what was involved. This was definitely a learning experience for me.

More partners coming? Of course — stay tuned. Suggestions for content? Let me know and I’ll pass on your ideas to the TiVoCast sales folks.

Update, 11/9: We just added Danger Rangers (children’s programming). Enjoy!

John Battelle, blog pioneer, has a rant up about the competition that I enjoyed reading.

PVRWire also had an interesting list of ways we could improve the TiVo product, which I might respond to if I find some time today.

I meant to get home early, before dark (it gets dark so early now) but work was too busy. By the time I got on the road, traffic was more frightening than any scary costume. I called Kimi and she was trying to feed Sammy, give out candy to the trick-or-treaters, cook dinner, put up some decorations, and change into her costume — and was quite understandably a bit stressed.

Fortunately, John and Yvonne to the rescue — they were coming over for dinner and to hang out and play party games. Yvonne helped feed Sammy and give out candy, and John helped with the decorations. Kimi made some lasagna that was delicious. We managed to get the house looking suitably spooky. And just in time — not long after 6, the kids starting coming in droves.

Every year we get a few hundred trick-or-treaters. Every year we’ve run out of candy and had to rush off to Safeway to buy more. Some years I’ve had to give out sports bars or spare change at the end. This year Kimi and I resolved not to run out. She spent Monday and Tuesday creating 360 treat bags. And for the first time, we had some candy left over. By leftover bag count, it appears we had 320 trick-or-treaters this year, up slightly from last year.

Sammy really enjoyed seeing all the kids in costume. (If I had to pick the most popular theme, I’d say Star Wars was the winner this year. Spiderman was sharply down from last year, but Batman held steady.)

After Sammy went to bed at 8, Yvonne, John, Kimi and I had some wine and played this game, which I have to say was pretty amusing, especially after a couple of glasses of wine (although we didn’t play it by the rules and as a drinking game, more just as a discussion).