Setting up WRT54G as a wireless bridge with DD-WRT

My parents have a Thai TV ethernet box of some kind so they can tune in to their Thai stations, shows, and even radio on their HDTV. However, I had to run a 50 foot CAT5 cable from the upstairs to the first floor great room, which is quite messy. So for Christmas this year, I bought them a Linksys-Cisco WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router.

The setup I wanted was to have the Thai TV box, which uses an ethernet port for all data, connect to the wireless router, and have the wireless router connect to the wireless router upstairs. This setup required a wireless bridge, which the router did not come configured with. So after some googling, I found the proper links to set it all up with:

First thing to do, is to figure out what to do with your particular router: Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS/GX. For me, I had to Flash the WRT54Gv8.

Unfortunately for me, I messed up the installation, and "bricked" my router. But after more googling, I found out how to "unbrick" it: UnBrick your Linksys router - WRT54GS v7. Apparently my problem was that the tftp program was just incredibly slow in uploading the firmware, and I closed the DOS window too quickly due to what appeared to be inactivity.

The last thing I had to do was set up the wireless bridge, which was the easy part. So there you have it, how to set up a wireless bridge using DD-WRT.

Black Friday is just Stupid

To my recollection, I've only ever participated in a Black Friday event back in 2006. And it was really really tough. In a nutshell, I went shopping at midnight, went home to nap, then went out again to shop during the day, totally 15 some hours of shopping by day's end. It's something that I hope to never do again in my life. (Note: I only did this because some girls wanted to do some shopping).

The point I wanted to make, is that Black Friday is stupid and represents some of the things that's wrong with this country (USA). The following article on Gizmodo really sums it up:

10 Reasons We're Doomed: Black Friday Edition



What's stupid about it is how so many people camp outside the stores, lining up in the cold weather, to buy crap they don't really need. Like yesterday, I heard on the radio that some people have been camping outside Best Buy (BB) for 5 days. When a man was asked by the reporter what he was planning to buy, the fool replied that he did not know.

So this guy set up a tent outside of BB, for over 100 hours, to wait for some deals on merchandise he doesn't even know he'll want? It seems more like people in general will want it, after they see how much they're "saving" from the sale.

I can understand it a little more if someone were to do the research for an item(s) he/she wants in particular, and then going shopping that day at the exact store that's selling it. With this information age, it's not hard to find our who's having what deals and where. But to go out and spend money on stuff you don't know you'll even need/want, is just crazy.

For me, this year, I did my shopping online. I knew what I wanted to get. No lines. No cold weather. No crazy shoppers to deal with. No hassle.

And now I can add, dangerous and potentially life-threatening to your health/well-being:

• Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede

My Favorite Firefox Add-ons

Firefox is my favorite web browser. In this day and age, I see no need to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE). Although I do like Google Chrome, it's still not available for Linux yet. But this isn't an entry about browsers and the pros and cons of each. (I do plan on writing about browsers and operating systems in the near future.)

This is the list of add-ons that I install on any computer I use running Firefox.

• Adblock Plus - Blocks Ads (a must for anyone serious about web browsing)
• Forecastfox - Weather monitor
• Delicious Bookmarks - Social Bookmarking
• Fast Dial - Nice thumbnail size shortcuts to websites you choose
• Server Spy - Shows what kind of server is running on the page I'm viewing
• ShowIP - Shows the IP address of the site I'm viewing

Links:

• Mozilla Firefox
• Spread Firefox
• Firefox (wikipedia)

My Impressions of the G1 running Android

I've had my G1 for a few weeks now. My overall impressions are pretty good. I like the touch screen, I like the free applications available through the market app, and I definitely enjoy the web browsing experience on the 3G network over my old Blackberry Pearl on the EDGE network.



But I do have a few complaints:

• Battery Life is too short. I can maybe go for a maximum of 2 days without a recharge if I very minimal use of the phone. But I suppose this is understandable since it is 3G and touchscreen.
• 3G network still not available everywhere. I go to the Chicago suburbs, and I'm back on the EDGE network when I want to browse.
• Facebook's regular website is not G1 friendly. This is not the G1's fault. In fact I use the Facebook iphone website instead.
• Gmail's contact does not sync well. This is what pisses me off the most. Since your contact list is from your Gmail account (at least it should be for back-up purposes), it's a one way sync: Gmail app to phone. If you enter a new contact in the phone, it will not sync up into the Gmail app, or at least not quickly.

Went to the Obama Rally in Grant Park

I witnessed history in the making last night by attendeding Barack Obama's Election Night in Grant Park.

How I got the ticket: Sheer Luck
It all started after I got my lunch and was heading back to the office. A lady one floor beneath mine hopped on the elevator early (she wanted to go down, I was going up, but a co-worker of hers just got off), and she mentioned to her co-worker that if got his ticket yet. I noticed how she was wearing an Obama shirt, pins, and hats. My intuition made me stare at her more. She mentioned that they were mailing tickets out today for the rally. Apparently she was an Obama supporter. As I was getting off, I quickly asked if they had any extras. As the elevator door was shutting, she put her arm to stop the doors, and told me to stop by her office at 3pm, told me her name, and that if she had any left, I could have one.

So 3pm rolls around and I stop by, one ticket available waiting at the receptionist desk for me. Sweet.

Many have called this ticket the "golden ticket" also. Because it isn't a web ticket (no +1 guest) and it wasn't sent via email to be printed out. Mine is a genuine ticket that I guess is issued to volunteers and guests of the campaign. I'm so glad I endorsed Barack Obama on Facebook the day before Election Day.



The rest was pretty much history. I was under the impression that there would only be 70,000 people in the ticket area. But when I got there, and looking around, I'm pretty sure there was way more than that, more like at least 100,000 people.

Other than the smell of weed, farts, and horse crap, the event was pretty nice. And of course, president elect, Barack Obama's speech was heartwarming and inspirational. I have a feeling this will be the president my generation will measure all other presidents, in our lifetime.

Installed Ubuntu Linux onto my Thinkpad T60

Last weekend I installed Ubuntu Linux onto my Lenovo Thinkpad T60 laptop. I wanted to keep Windos XP Professional installed, so I chose to dual-boot it using GRUB. I also upgraded the 40 GB hard drive to a 250 GB hard drive using a laptop hard drive upgrade kit. I copied the files over to the new drive, and then installed Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) in another partition. It was amazingly simple.

My reason for installing Linux is because I miss it. Almost ten years ago I got into Linux (Mandrake and Red Hat) in the first place because I was sick of Windows 98. Win98, which I do not consider an operating system (OS) simply because it does not manage system processes whatsoever.

What made me sick was that I could not get my work done on it and I truly enjoyed my school's Solaris machines (I was an undergrad at Boston University). It's been a few years since I truly used Linux for many of my computing needs. And here I am getting back into that.

Tomorrow, 8.10 will be released and I will again be upgrading my OS. The picture below is of my system running 8.04. Notice my G1 next to it.



On the screen I have Conky running along with Songbird. You probably can't see it from the angle this was taken.

My First Chicago Bulls Game

I just got back from my first Chicago Bulls game. I have to admit, I haven't been a good fan to the Bulls in a long time. Not since the 90's dynasty have I ever sat down to watch a full game, start to finish. Best part of all, my tickets were free and the seats were pretty good (Section 228, Row 1, Seat 7), Club level seats.

Tonight's game was against the Bucks.

Final Score:
Bulls 108
Bucks 95

My First Blog Entry from my G1

My experience with the G1 has been pretty awesome so far. It arrived yesterday to my apartment's front desk at 12:05pm. I didn't get to it until about 5pm. I charged it and have been playing with it since. I'll probably do a review of it later.

T-mobile to ship G1 early?

As my friend Ben pointed out, it's possible that our pre-ordered G1 phones will arrive earlier than expected. Tomorrow, Monday, October 20, 2008 to be exact. Upon checking my order status on UPS.com, I found the following:



So it looks like my Google phone is here in Chicago, and is set to ship tomorrow!

Getting the G1 in one week

Next week, on October 22, I should be getting my pre-ordered T-Mobile G1, in black. Sadly though, in order to pre-order this device, I had to extend my contract with T-Mobile until September 28, 2010. I found out the exact date by a letter they sent me thanking me for choosing to continue my relationship and extending my contract with them.

Let me get one thing straight, I extended the contract only to get my hand on a device running Google Android. I love pretty much everything that comes from Google. Everything. And I want to be one of the first to get my hands on this toy. Even though it's costing me $300.


Links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream
• http://www.engadget.com/tag/G1/
• http://androidcommunity.com/tag/t-mobile-g1/

Tech Cocktail Chicago 9

Another digerati networking event coming up in November! Last time I went I had a pretty good time talking with various people in the Chicago tech community. Only wish my company would sport me with actual up-to-date business cards!

When: Thursday, November 6, 2008 - 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. CST
Where: John Barleycorn Wrigleyville
Tech Cocktail Chicago 9

I also recently joined the community: iam.techcocktail.com

You can see my personal blog's previous posting on Tech Cocktail 8 here.

Using Google Docs as a Collaboration Tool

A few weeks ago I visited San Francisco (SF) for the first time with my baby sister. My sister was busy with law school, so the planning was mostly up to me, and I needed recommendations on what to do there. So I started a Google Docs for myself at first and then added collaborators to help edit it. These collaborators were all friends from SF.

It then turned into a wiki-style collaboration document. I was getting recommendations on where to stay, where to go, what to eat. It was great. This simply goes to show the power of the Google's free collaboration tool and friends that are willing to help others.

Check out the result of the collaboration below:

Steven's San Francisco Trip (Sept. 2008)

The Math behind TinyURL

TinyURL is a website that condenses a submitted URL, usually a long one, into a short readable URL on tinyurl's website. In turn, this shorter URL then redirects to the original url. This is quite handy.

As of this writing, the text below their logo reads:

Making long URLs usable! More than 90 million of them. Over 1.5 billion hits/month.

From what I've seen, they only use letters and numbers. So that gives us 26 possible letters, which are not case-sensitive (in other words, "A" is the same as "a"). There are 10 numbers then, zero through nine (0-9). So through TinyURL's website, that gives us 36 possible links that are of 1 character length. To get number links of length 2, we would multiply the total possible of the first character by the total possible of the second character, luckily they're the same, so 36 x 36 = 1296. For each additional, we again multiply by 36. If n is the number of characters, then the formula can be represented by 36^n, also read 36 raised to the power of n. Mathematically it's represented as 36ⁿ.

So one of the things I'm wondering is, how long before the tiny url isn't so tiny anymore?

As of this writing, they have reached the 90 million (90,000,000) range. So let's see how big this gets:

1 character = 36¹ = 36 possible
2 characters = 36² = 1296
3 characters = 36³ = 46,656
4 characters = 36⁴ = 1,679,616 (over 1 million)
5 characters = 36⁵ = 60,466,176
6 characters = 36⁶ = 2,176,782,336 (over 2 billion)
7 characters = 36⁷ = 78,364,164,096
8 characters = 36⁸ = 2,821,109,907,456 (over 2 trillion, approaching 3 trillion)

So they just passed using 5 characters and are at 6 characters. Getting to 7 or 8 characters may take a while still. According to this Google Search wiki, in 2006 Google has indexed over 25 billion web-pages. So we're not even at the trillion mark just yet!

Plus, this isn't meant for everyone to use to index their page. But for giggles, let's see what adding a few more characters will yield us.

9 characters = 36⁹ = 101,559,956,668,416
10 characters = 36¹⁰ = 3,656,158,440,062,976 (over 3 quadrillion!)
11 characters = 36¹¹ = 131,621,703,842,267,136
12 characters = 36¹² = 4,738,381,338,321,616,896 (over 4 quintillion!)

So each new character that is added adds a significant amount to the upper limit on number of URLs. They won't need to add too many characters at our current pace! Wow, isn't math fun?!

Jewel Osco opening in Chicago's River West

Across the street from me, in Chicago's River West, the construction of Jewel Osco is complete. The grand opening is tomorrow: Friday September 26, 2008. I'm pretty excited about this. When I lived in Boston, I had a Starmarket (now a Shaws) a few blocks from me, and it literally served as my big refrigerator.



Now I'll have the same here in Chicago. I'll have access to fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables whenever. I probably won't need to stock up on much of anything in my actual fridge. This also probably means the end of my need to use PeaPod.

It's location is right at Desplaines and Kinzie. Also, across the parking lot from Jewel is a Chase bank. Sweet.

[UPDATE 9/27/2008] - The street lights have flag banners with West Loop on it, so maybe my area is considered more West Loop than River West. Just a thought.

A C# Code Solution for FizzBuzz

I read a slashdot article earlier today which lead me to a Coding Horror article: Why Can't Programmers.. Program?. This lead me to the FizBuzz problem, which prompted me to write my own quickie solution in C# (as a console application).

Problem:
Write a program that prints the numbers from 1 to 100. But for multiples of three print "Fizz" instead of the number and for the multiples of five print "Buzz". For numbers which are multiples of both three and five print "FizzBuzz".

My Quick Solution:

for (int i = 1; i <= 100; i++)
{
    if ((i % 3 == 0) && (i % 5 == 0))
    {
        Console.WriteLine("FizzBuzz");
    }
    else if (i % 3 == 0)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Fizz");
    }
    else if (i % 5 == 0)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Buzz");
    }
    else
    {
        Console.WriteLine(i.ToString());
    }
}
Console.ReadLine();

I know my version is probably not optimal, nor is it the shortest way to write it. I just wanted to write it for fun, code for fun. I honestly can't remember the last time I coded something purely for fun. Now I'm wondering how I can optimize this in C# and even how to write it in other languages.

Where I formatted my C# code into HTML for Blogspot: http://formatmysourcecode.blogspot.com

Best Free Software Recommendations for 2008

For almost ten years now, I still find myself fixing computers for friends. It's not so much hardware these days as it is cleaning out viruses and installing software to handle a certain task. I don't mind so much, but I just hope my friends learn something from what I do and explain rather than to just rely on me to fix everything for them each and every time.

Anyway, for protecting a computer running Windows, an Antivirus software is required along with receiving regular updates. Just having it installed without updating it say once a week/month doesn't give the computer the best protection.

For installing productivity software, I often get asked, Where can I download Microsoft Office? Photoshop? Or Antivirus? The truth, my friends, is that you shouldn't go out there and download these software illegally, you should pay for them. Actually, I'll give a better recommendation, you should just download the freeware equivalent of them.

There is absolutely no need to risk your computer getting a virus by downloading a pay-for antivirus program illegally, to protect your computer from viruses. Somehow that logic seems lop-sided, but a surprising number of people do it anyway.

So I put together a list of software for 2008 that I recommend to friends and colleagues:

Function	Pay ($$$)	Free
Antivirus	Norton Antivirus and Mcafee	AVG Free
Compress files	WinZip and WinRAR	7 Zip
Office Suite	Microsoft Office	Open Office
Photo Editor	Photoshop	Paint.net and Gimp

Others worthy of mention:

• Comodo Firewall (Firewall)
• Digsby (IM client)
• Filezilla (FTP Client)
• Foxit Reader (PDF Reader)
• Mozilla Firefox (Web browser)
• Mozilla Thunderbird (Email client)
• Programmer's Notepad (Notepad)
• utorrent (Torrent client)
• VLC Media Player (Media player- also get Divx)

Friends often ask how these companies can survive by giving away free software. And to be honest, I'm not sure I have the answer to that. Part of the answer would be in donations, advertising, and even some VC funding.

Some friends even say they don't feel comfortable not paying for software, that instead they are getting some second-rate software or that they will get constant nag screens. This may have been true 5-6 years ago, but not so for today. Those companies have either gone out of business or changed their business model. Besides, many people, including myself, have at least vouched for these software as being quite good and most importantly, legit.

Facebook to become the new AOL?

I used to use Prodigy as my Internet Service Provider (ISP) back in the 1990s. It was fun to post to bulletin boards and participate in various discussions. I then jumped over to use America Online (AOL) because of it's nicer interface, live chat rooms, email, instant messaging, buddy lists, and overall better features. To be honest, back then I used the Internet for two things: to talk about wrestling and find Dragonball Z pictures.

 

Today, I find myself hooked on Facebook. I'm just fascinated with reading up on friends' profiles, what they're doing, events, birthdays, pictures, etc. In many ways, it's everything that I used to use AOL for, and more. If Web 2.0 is the current version of the web, then Facebook is basically AOL 2.0. Of course I don't mean this literally, because then we'd be going back quite a few versions.



With Facebook, I can:

• Send/Receive Messages (like Email)
• Maintain a social network (buddy list)
• IM with friends (Chat)
• Join discussion groups (bulletin boards)
• Play games

I enjoy Facebook, but I do wonder if it will go the ways of AOL. Although it's a hot startup right now, I wonder what if their business is truly sustainable. There are so many social networks out there (MySpace, Friendster, Hi5). And there are other similar services (Twitter, FriendFeed, Digg), many of which operate on a more open network. What I mean by that is that Facebook requires users to login and only upon login to view and use their services. Although this provides a certain level of community and security/anonymity, it's far from being open which is what the Web is all about.

Having a closed network promotes the idea that only their users will benefit from their services. I like how they offer services to share links found on the web with a simple click (Heck, I use it!), but it seems to only drive traffic into Facebook, and not anywhere else. I feel many business minds out there are thinking What's wrong with that? That's great! What company wouldn't want to do that where all arrows point inwards?!

I'll tell you what's wrong, it doesn't contribute to making the web any better. The sharing that takes place is centralized on the here and now. Since when can we search to find that interesting post a friend shared from 3 months back? And even if we could find it, how can we share that with anyone else outside of Facebook users?

For instance, I would like to be able to download all my friends' contact information and store it in my Blackberry. But the current privacy setup prevents any application from getting to such information. I'm sure many privacy advocates love that idea, but if such information was to be really kept private, why publish it to be shared amongst your closest 100+ friends to begin with? The important thing is not how it acts by default, but that there is no option to turn it on, to share this information in such a way. The same can be said with picture sharing.

But maybe I'm just jumping the gun a little too soon here. Maybe down the road they will open up their network some more and play with everyone else a little bit more. Hopefully that will occur while people are still interested in them and not on the next fad.

Interesting Reads:

• Facebook is the New AOL
• Facebook is Not the New AOL

Software Development Comic

I find this comic to be hilarious.

Tapping into the Cloud

A few years ago I envisioned a world where computers would return back to acting more like terminal PCs connected to a mainframe. A world where accessing files/applications locally would be a thing of the past. In a way, that's what Cloud Computing seems to be about. A user can be on any computer (albeit a PC, a Mac, or a Linux box), all that is required is Internet connection and a web browser, and the user can run most of his/her computing needs.



I think it's interesting that applications these days are almost synonymous with web applications than with the original desktop application. I wanted to share some of my favorite online applications with everyone, and encourage you to also tap into the cloud.

Email and RSS feeds
I'm relying less on using Microsoft Outlook and/or Mozilla Thunderbird to collect my email and RSS feeds. I utilize both Gmail and Google Reader for all that now. I can read/add/search for anything on either my home PC, laptop, or work PC.

Bookmarking
One of the main reasons I wrote my own blog application back in 1999/2000 was because I wanted a way to bookmark interesting websites. I hated that I could bookmark a website on one computer, but I wouldn't be able to get at it from another PC. A classmate originally wrote it in Perl, but I translated it to PHP. Here is the link.

Delicious does a fantastic job of this. Good job Yahoo on acquiring them in 2005! As far as I know, this was the first site that I started to tag with.

Pictures, Videos, and Instant Messaging
Picasa is my favorite site to store all my picture albums. YouTube isn't so much a greta place to store videos, as it is to share them. But more or less becoming the same thing. Meebo is pretty nice in how it collects all the IM services in one place. Although, honestly, I'm still a big user of the Digsby desktop application.

Office Suite
I can't say I write my word docs or excel spreadsheets online yet. I know there's Google Docs, but I haven't really caught onto that just yet. I'm just really more of a Blogger.

Agile Software Development

Up to this point in my consulting career, too often I've seen consultants (myself included) spend time writing documents describing what will be and won't be included in the project. And pretty much every time, whatever the client committed to on paper, isn't what the client wanted in the end. Requirements change between the start and end of a project. This is software development as it truly is.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying documentation is bad all together. I can see the importance of writing some functional specification. Maybe some screenshots, workflows, and even the major business rules. I mean, as developers, we can't write code out of thin air.

But if change is so natural in the software world, should it not be built right into the development process?

The traditional Waterfall Model is simply not practical for software development. The phases/stages are like a series of dominoes. Phase 1, Phase 2, then 3, and so forth, much like a waterfall. But I have never seen a project run like this. Projects are more like the Phases jumping back and forth between each other because everything needs to be revisited multiple times!

Agile Software Development recognizes that change happens, and it happens often. The work is done iteratively in short cycles with close contact with an expert user/client. It ensures that:

1. The client gets their hands on something they can use right away.
2. Feedback is given often.
3. Changes/adjustments can be made quickly.

In the end, it should be a better product for the client that is developed with a more reasonable methodology.

Some Good Reads:

• Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide
• The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition)
• The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

Event: Chicago Fark Party

Fark is having a little get-together in August over at Lincoln Tap Room. See the Chicago Fark Party Thread.

Hang on to your hats, it's summertime in Chicago and that can mean one thing, time for another huge Chicago Fark Party!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 16th, at THE LINCOLN TAP ROOM for the spot to be for the next huge Windy City blowout! We've had parties here before and it's always been a hit, and we have lined up a ridiculous party package again, so come on out and join us! Here are all the wicked grisly details.

WHEN:
Saturday, August 16th
8pm-12am, or whenever you feel like showing up and leaving

WHERE:
Lincoln Tap Room
3010 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60657

DETAILS:

Lincoln Tap is a laid back bar with a nice beer selection and full liquor bar. We will have the entire back room reserved for us as well. Lincoln Tap Room is located on the triple intersection of Lincoln, Wellington, and Southport Aves. You can get there by the CTA's Brown Line by getting off at Wellington and walking West the six blocks or so to this intersection.

PARTY PACKAGE DETAILS:

We've done this before, so it's being lined up again, we've secured a party package for the date of the party. $40 will get you a complete open bar for 4 hours from 8pm to Midnight. That's right, for only $10 an hour, you can choose from any beer bottled or on draft, any mixed drink, any wine on the menu and it is all included! This deal is spectacular and I highly recommend you take advantage of it, but IT IS NOT REQUIRED FOR ENTRY, the special is just there if you wish to partake of it.(Source: fark)

Thoughts on Digg Meetup Chicago

First off, let me say that I enjoy reading some of the articles posted on Digg... well, I want to emphasize some. It's a voting system, so there's a lot of crap stories, and just a few winners here and there. But sometimes those stories are worth it. Sometimes...

Anyway, I went to the Digg Meetup event yesterday with a co-worker and I thought it was just ok. Kevin Rose spoke a little, threw out some free schwag, interacted with the crowd, typical stuff. But the real reason I went was my hopes of hearing something about the Google in final negotiations to acquire Digg for $200 million headline. Which I didn't hear. Oh and the free schwag, which I also didn't get. Although a t-shirt did fly by my head, but Smartbar was so dark I couldn't even see the floor and chair in front of me.

I'm just really curious as to what Google or any Digg staff had to say publicly about this acquisition. Although the digg system is somewhat refreshing, the community and users are not. Too many stories and comments are entered without truly adding to the discussion. There is a way to bury these, which is nice, but again, that is based on their voting system.

Not that I'm saying Digg is like MySpace (which I hate, yes the word is hate). No, in fact I still prefer Digg over the moderated Slashdot.

I just don't see how this adds any value to what Google has. I like Google News as it is (although it could use a bit of a facelift). Is it for the money? I know Google would be good for Digg, but what does Digg do for Google?

Here is the Digg: Digg's Chicago Town Hall Pics.

I think their competitors are worth checking out:

• Yahoo Buzz
• Mixx
• Reddit

Event: Digg Meet-Up Chicago

I published this on my other blog, but wanted to post here too. Looks like Digg is coming to Chicago!



Wednesday, July 23, 2008
6-10 pm
SmartBar
3730 N. Clark Street
Chicago, Illinois 60613

Event: Social Dev Camp Chicago

I hope I can make this! From the facebook event link, I found: Chicago Interactive Design/Development Meetup Group. So interesting!

SocialDevCampChicago
Saturday, August 9th 2008
8:30am-6:00pm
at Illinois Institute of Technology McCormick Tribune Center (http://www.iit.edu/mtcc/)
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=20586291919

If you are developer in the midwest you might be interested in checking out the upcoming SocialDevCampChicago. SocialDevCampChicago is an unconference for people passionate about social networks, web applications, platform development, new media, and any of the exciting (but messy) topics in-between. This event promises to be a packed day of sharing, learning, coding, and relationship building with thought leaders in the social web landscape! (source: TechCocktail)

Finished reading the Groundswell

I just finished reading Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Probably one of the best books I've read this year thus far.

What Is Groundswell?
It's a book by two Forrester analysts with practical, data-based strategies for companies that want to harness the power of social technologies like blogs, social networks, and YouTube. (source: Forrester)

I absolutely love reading case studies in these IT Business books. I finished my MS in Information Systems 2 years ago last month. I'm a little disheartened that I have yet to fully utilize my skillset at my current employment. But I am currently writing up a paper on how my company can utilize some of these social trends/methodologies and put them to good use internally.

My plan isn't about using any of these technologies/methodologies for the sake of using something cool, but rather from a problem/solution point-of-view. What is the problem? What is a potential solution?

Reading some Books on Web 2.0 & Generation Y

I want to share some books that I've read or am currently reading. The general theme is Web 2.0 and Generation Y. These topics are so interesting to me because the concepts and the generation behind it is my generation. I barely made it into Gen Y instead of Gen X. Whew!

I just love how my generation likes to solve problems more creatively and more efficiently than previous generations using technology. As more Gen Ys enter the workforce, I think corporate America will need to do some adjusting to how they manage this new breed of workers. I will blog more about the specifics in future posts.

Books I've Read:

• Wikipatterns
• Millennial Leaders: Success Stories From Today's Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders
• Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide

Books I'm Reading:

• Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
• Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers

Programming Books I'm using:

• Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed (WPF) (Unleashed)
• Programming WPF

Digg Meet-Up Chicago

Looks like Digg is coming to Chicago!



Wednesday, July 23, 2008
6-10 pm
SmartBar
3730 N. Clark Street
Chicago, Illinois 60613

Tech Cocktail Chicago 8

I'm pretty excited about going to the Tech Cocktail Chicago 8 event this evening. I'm just so curious as to what kind of exciting tech people/companies are here in Chicago!



John Barleycorn Wrigleyville
3524 N Clark St
Upstairs
Chicago, IL 60657
Thursday, May 29, 2008 from 06:30 PM - 08:00 PM (CT)
http://tech-cocktail-chicago-8.eventbrite.com

Where is the Blogger Community?

I recently started a new blog over at Vox.com after my older sister recommended me the site after a friend of hers recommended it to her. It's a social blogging website that emphasizes on the concept of a neighborhood; essentially socializing with other people with common interests, etc.

Anyway, I still really like Blogger, but where the heck is the community? I'm sure I can search for it through Google, but can't there be some kind of interface that can help users find each other?

I am quite disappointed. Blogger is simple, straightforward, and customizable, but it lacks web 2.0's social aspect. It's just a blogging service. I have no plans to stop blogging here, but Vox does look interesting...

Anyway, here is the address to my Vox blog:

sunpech.vox.com

Vox is created by Six Apart (also the creators of MoveableType, TypePad, and HuffingtonPost). Yes, that is quite the resume.

My Man Bags

I went on an online shopping spree earlier this week and bought some Man bags for myself. I only bought 2, but from the set below, I'm showing 2 because I ordered the one on the left (the more green/olive color), but I received the one on the right (brownish/dark-green). At first I was going to send it back, but I grew attached to the color and didn't want to go through the hassle of sending it back. This one is for when I want to pack my laptop to go.

Now, for my remaining purchase I bought myself a "Jack Sack". It's basically the same man bag that Jack Bauer uses in 24. Can you believe someone actually has a blog (jacksack.blogspot.com) about it? Amazing. This one is for my general use, a book, magazines, some papers/folders, diffuse kits, and pens. You know, the regular stuff.

Overall, I'm happy with my purchases. These bags are nice and sturdy, and I'm ok with it getting a little dirty. I've been mostly using my Diesel bag, but it's a fake my sister bought me from Thailand and it's starting to wear down.

Code Monkey

Jonathan Coulton performs Code Monkey Unplugged. I love this song! It's just so amusing.


Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
have boring meeting with boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very diligent
but his output stink
his code not functional or elegant
what do Code Monkey think
Code Monkey think maybe manager oughta write goddamn login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy just proud

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
with big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you

Code Monkey hang around at front desk
tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
bring you cup bring you ice
you say no thank you for the soda ’cause
soda make you fat
anyway you busy with the telephone
no time for chat

Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle
he sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
with big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you a lot

Code Monkey have every reason
to get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
to see your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job fulfilling in creative way
such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
with big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you

by Jonathan Coulton

Other links:

• jonathancoulton.com
• Portal - "Still Alive" Credits Song
• Jonathan Coulton Sings "Still Alive"

NIN's Ghosts on Amazon MP3

Look what I'm downloading! Trent Reznor recently released his new album, NIN Ghosts online. You can either buy it or download some of it for free, or "free". I chose to buy it because I think he's a step in the right direction for artists to take and build a closer relationship with fans and would-be-fans; basically cutting out the middle-man. Now here's an artist worth supporting.

Some good reads:

• Nine Inch Nails Help Seal Record Industry’s Coffin
• The Inevitable March of Recorded Music Towards Free
• When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide.

Yellow Dog Linux on my PS3

Over the weekend, mostly on Saturday I spent doing 2 main things:

1. Tried to install Microsoft Visual Studio .Net 2008 onto my Lenovo Thinkpad T60 laptop
2. Installed Linux onto my PS3

The development tool installation didn't take well at all, but the Linux install went very well, a bit long to download, install, and configure everything, but overall very well. The distro I chose was Yellow Dog Linux, specifically for the PS3. The driving force behind this is that I have a USB external hard drive which is in NTFS, which the PS3 currently cannot read. So the workaround is to install another operating system (OS) onto the PS3, and have that run instead, which will be able to read the files.
Here are the links I used to get it all done with:

• Linux for PS3 wiki
• Installing Linux on the PlayStation3: A short guide
  
• Installing YUMEX and VLC on PS3
• ydl 5.0.1 has ntfs support

And that's about all you would need to install linux onto your PS3. Of course when I did it I didn't back up my saved games and lost everything. On the bright side though, I was able to re-download my purchased games off the PS3 Network, which was pretty sweet. Update 2/24/2008 @ 5:57pm I got Visual Studio .Net 2008 to install on my laptop finally. Had to mount the ISO as it's own drive and installed directly from there. I used winXP Virtual CD Control Panel.

My Thoughts on Microsoft, Apple, and Linux

My earliest memory of using a computer dates back to my days in elementary school. I used the Commodore 64 to play the game: Sticky Bear in our computer class. It was some kind of spelling game where if you did not do well, the bear would fall into, well, sticky goo. I remember the teacher trying to teach us about the command line for "login" and "log out". I was 8 or 9... and didn't understand a thing.

But times have changed since the 80s.

We have better operating systems (OS), the main ones being Microsoft, Apple, and Ubuntu Linux (Yes, I chose this distribution over say, Red Hat, reason explained later on). And it is these systems that I wanted to blog/rant about today.

Microsoft is by far the dominant player in the software industry. What I respect the most out of them is how they operated as a business and sold their product like crack to businesses and home users. Of course, they stole Apple's graphical interface, but in the words of Steve Jobs, misquoting Picasso,

"Good artists copy; great artists steal."

Yes, their business practice is certainly shady in many ways, but if you are going to be #1 at anything, I wouldn't expect you to be of high moral character. A pre-requisite is almost that you will have to step on people on the way up.

I also love the development tools they have for developers. Honestly, I believe it is in this line of products that they make the best, and rightly so, because it is developers who make software on their platform that ultimately makes them the software giant they are. The tools are expensive, but I've never had to pay for a copy since I get them for free at conventions.

Now, what I don't like about Microsoft is how they continue to push technology ever so far forward that they don't stop to think about if they should. Really, they should concentrate more on making the products they have better and working rather than to keep stuffing new features in that nobody really has even asked for, and this should be done more often! I see no reason how a multi-billion dollar company can't be more innovative with their products and not deliver it every quarter. I just don't.

Apple, a company that I only respect because they succeed where Microsoft fails. They know how to make products that people want and use, and they make it well. Their OS is simple, clean, user-friendly, and of course looks really really nice. The iPod, a small portable music player that hooks up nicely with Apple's very own iTunes that just works.

But that's about as much as I can say about what I like about Apple. They pretty much fail where Microsoft succeeds at. I still find their products pricey, as if they are pieces of artwork. I find Steve Jobs to be an egotistical spokesman past his prime. But it's probably not his fault, it's the Apple fanatics that feed his ego by every time he gets up on a black stage wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. Hopefully I won't have to put up with it for long, I think it's just a generational thing (damn you Generation X!).

Linux, last but certainly not least. What makes this OS so great is that it's what you want it to be. The only thing that doesn't make it great is that it still hasn't hit the home uses yet. This is why I would recommend Ubuntu distro over Red Hat's. It looks, feels, and is even marketed for more regular users instead of Information Technology people, and that is important if this open-source movement is going to go mainstream. With the system requirements on computers getting higher and higher when it doesn't seem to be producing anything more or better, it just doesn't make sense to pay more money for the latest and greatest OSes.

Anyway, despite my rantings, I firmly believe there is room for all three systems in the technology field to grow and prosper in, at least for now.

Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL... Blah!

So it seems Yahoo will reject Microsoft's Bid, but now Yahoo seeks to restart merger talk with AOL? Come on. Not a single combination of these three companies will add much value to the end users, us. The strategies would really be in cutting out the extra fat from a duplicate service(s) and in getting another stream of advertisement revenue from the merger.

Now, a real merger/partnership that would add value would be in Amazon and Ebay. This would totally make sense. Great for the companies as well as for the consumers. Although it would be a bit scary of how they would then have a monopoly of online sales.

Belkin's Pre N Router Laggy on PS3 network

I've spent the better part of this cold weekend indoors trying to configure my PS3 to work on the Playstation Network. My problem was that I would get lag when playing Puzzle Fighter 3 Turbo HD Remix. I've been using the Belkin Pre-N Router for the past few months for everything but gaming and have been content with it. But frankly, it doesn't play well with my PS3! I went to portforward.com and forwarded all the ports to my PS3, and I still got lag! The only time I wouldn't get that much lag would be to hook the system straight to my cable modem. I tried everything from giving a static IP address, wireless setup, to even a wired connection to the router, all of which did nothing to remove the lag.

I switched my router back to the Linksys WRT54GX4 SRX 400, forwarded all the ports, and it worked! So the problem then was truly the Belkin router. As much as I liked Belkin's hardware and performance, I never really liked it's GUI on the router setup page. I only retired this Linksys router because for a period of time it would drop wireless connections every few minutes. I always thought it was because in my area there would be blackouts/surges all the time, which seems to fry the wireless portion of my routers. But it seems to be holding up fine now. Go figure. I've always liked Linksys routers/switches (I've gone through about 3-4 of them over the years), but they just don't seem to last long. Let's hope this one holds up.