Dirk Riehle's Industry and Research Publications

Tag: Humor

  • The humor that is Alexa 2 / 2

    The humor that is Alexa 2 / 2

    So the Echo Dot seems like a good addition to a larger apartment or house. In addition, Amazon promises you can order it through your existing Alexa device. So I tried: Me: “Alexa, order an Echo Dot.” Echo: “I can only order product for Prime members. So I added Echo Dot to your shopping list.…

  • The humor that is Alexa 1 / 2

    The humor that is Alexa 1 / 2

    I was watching an old TV show rerun with a character in it called Alexa. My Amazon Echo (trigger word is Alexa) was also listening: TV set: “Alexa, stop doing that!” Echo: “Sorry, I don’t understand what you are saying.” TV set (raised voice): “Alexa, don’t talk to me like that!” Echo: “Sorry, I still…

  • That new agile delivery terminology

    That new agile delivery terminology

    Old New Engineering Manager Delivery Lead Director of Engineering Delivery Head Vice President of Engineering Delivery Hero I see a trademark conflict brewing… (not really, trademarks are scoped by domain, there probably is little confusion between a retail service and a corporate role).

  • I want my computer to be as easy to use as my rice cooker

    I want my computer to be as easy to use as my rice cooker

    There is a (by now oldish) saying, attributed to Bjarne Stroustrup: I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone. I used to riff on this with the following variant: For…

  • The looming bubble in Lego bricks

    The looming bubble in Lego bricks

    In 2014, for a course that teaches students teamwork, I bought 20 sets of basic lego bricks for a bridge building exercise. The cost per set was 20 Euro. This year the number of students in our project courses exceeded what could be done with this basic set of legos and so I looked to…

  • The Frankfurt opera house, criving C programmers crazy since 1972

    The Frankfurt opera house, criving C programmers crazy since 1972