Author Archives: joshkim

One Hacker

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Blah blah blah co-founder blah blah blah. While I don’t discount the fact that there are many many lovely pairs or co-founders who’ve succeeded (and also failed), too many people miss the fact that amazing things can and have been done by one person.

For a hardware hacker, things used to be bit more difficult. Heck, now even I, with or without my worthless paper of a degree, can get started and start hacking physical things. Just buy a couple of things (from the tools necessary to an entire build kit), crack open or brew your favorite beverage, and start trying things. Don’t forget about 3D printing: Just copy and paste ALL THE THINGS.

But for a software hacker, it’s always been very very easy to get started. Well, it’s been easy ever since cool people who came before me decided to open up their source code and share to the world their findings.

I am a software hacker. An army of one, powered by the millions of hackers who have come before me, powering the billions of hackers to come.

On Habits

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I took a couple days off from my regular gym routine because my left wrist and forearm was dying from the increased guitar practice (for a gig that happened last Saturday, pic on my Tumblr).

When I tried to come back to it yesterday, my mind was all over the place. I forgot what weight I was supposed to start on. I almost forgot to bring everything I needed, including goggles and towels. I completely forgot about my post-workout protein and banana.

Which brings me to my point: Cultivate good habits. And have those habits create even awesomer habits. Of course, this can go both ways… like my need to have some kind of carbonated drink with a super oily meal.

I don’t know what came first, my current habit of going to the gym or eating a healthier breakfast, but my breakfast has changed into green tea and oatmeal these days. This has been super nutritional and cheap and time-saving. Just win win win.

Tonight’s post should have been much more informative, alas, trying to turn this into a habit has failed.

Gotta start somewhere.

Southwest Rapid Rewards vs JetBlue TrueBlue Rewards Programs

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In short, it’s pretty much the same freaking thing.

Took me way too long to actually figure this out, but it’s almost exactly the same thing.

Southwest’s Visa CC charges $69 yearly, but gives you 3000 of their made up points, which equates to $50. JetBlue’s AmEx CC chares you $40, but there are no bonuses.

With Southwest, you’re getting at least 6 points per mile, and can get more if you pay more for your flight. JetBlue? The same deal. 2 extra points are rewarded on both CC’s per dollar used. (This is the part that took most of my time.)

In terms of redemption, Southwest is a bit more direct, in that if you use the Wanna Get Away rates (the cheapest), it equates to about 60 points per dollar. With JetBlue, redemption starts at 10,000 points for round trip… which I really don’t know what to make of it until I spend any more time with this.

Anyone else want to carry this to completion? Someone could find out how many flights would be required to make the CC a good deal. Blah.

EDIT: Oh right. Expirations. Looks like JetBlue’s points expire within a year without card usage, but SouthWest’s points are okay for two years. This is… not worth my time.

Customized

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The more I compute, the more I realize it’s going to be hard to compute in a different way.

The keyboard that I use, the shortcuts that I memorize, the Vim scripts that I invoke… all of it is becoming a crutch.

But really, I can’t shun all these things because there is a possibility that all of these things will fall apart. I’d have to go back to using paper, and trying to exist in a time where computers didn’t exist.

But what about when papers didn’t exist? Oh dear, I’m taking it too far.

I think the post-apocalypse world scenarios feel a bit too real to me.

But it’s these things that make me worried in some ways: How much are we dependent on technology? On the frameworks we create awesome things with?

I need to stop asking these questions, unless I can somehow get paid for it, because it’s taking up too much of my time.

Zediva Ruling

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This is bullshit. Techdirt has more.

Firstly, Zediva had the innovative genius to come up with such an idea because of the bullshit state copyright is in this country, no thanks to the amazing people at MPAA.

So why isn’t Blockbuster being sued?

Zediva will fight on.

“Zediva intends to appeal, and will keep fighting for consumers’ right to watch a DVD they’ve rented, whether that rental is at the corner store or by mail or over the Internet.”

Next Couple Of Weeks

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Got to get my live eSport fix somehow. Since Evo is right here in town, and it’s free, I will be attending that, instead of driving down to Anaheim for MLG. I missed DEF CON last year after getting into Vegas, so I think I’ll stop by. $150 isn’t bad for a new set of experiences. And from then… looks like I’ll be trekking down to San Antonio to hang out with a good ol’ friend of mine.

And then… who knows. Me and my car, roaming the wastelands, er, countryside. San Antonio to Seattle might be doable. We’ll see…

One Project At A Time

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Time to get back to what I do best, doing things on a list, one step at a time.

Going too freestyle and trying to be more agile on my toes helped me to see a different side of myself, but in terms of getting actual results, I have to go back to setting aside a plan and executing it.

There are so many little things I have yet to even start, and the list only grows longer.

So now, let’s see if I can share a bit of what I’ve done and will continue to do. Maybe it’ll help you along the way.

The blog is mine again. Not led by any trolls trololing, but I will now do as I please.

Going…

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I’m not going where you think I’m going, but I’m definitely going somewhere.

How’s that for some vagueness?

Man, WordPress 3.2 is hot. Little changes really do make the difference, I feel. Definitely a win for the Internet at large, for everyone who just wants to write, and not think about the technology stack as much.

Which brings to where I’m going, in terms of my thoughts on technology, wow it really doesn’t matter if this site is being run on electricity via hamster wheels or nuclear energy because the ‘thing’ that I’m providing are the words.

Creating things via created things. Do what works, and move on.

Oh, and where am I going, geographically? I think I’m going to head up to Seattle. Still need to finish up a few things here in Vegas, but I think it’s the best choice with what I have.

// Oh, or San Antonio. Who knows.

Blame the Government for Crap Broadband?

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Don’t say Engadget doesn’t have good content, because this is very very good.

My hatred of How Things Are in the world of broadband in the United States has only grown after reading this post and watching the video.

One of the many reasons why I think I really should move to a different country later in my life.

Come on, even Amsterdam’s boats have fiber.

1700s: Canals. 1800s: Trains. 1900s: Highways. 2000s: Effing TUBES.

More on unbundling here on Wikipedia.

Samsung Series 5 Chromebook

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In a continuing effort to broaden my gadget experience, I picked up a Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook. Verdict: Don’t buy it.

Hardware

The actual hardware isn’t completely shoddy, but I should have expected anything with an Atom to not perform very well as soon as a Flash plugin kicked in. And for a device that’s supposed to do the full web, I was underwhelmed by not only the Flash performance, but by the performance overall. I really thought I would be able to say that this is a step up from a netbook, those cursed devices that I abhor. (I owned a Asus 1015PEM something something [I hate hate these model numbers] for about a couple days before returning it.) But in reality, this version of the Chromebook, maybe the first of many models, is only a tiny bit better.

And actually, in some parts it’s not all that better. The screen hinge is one of the weakest I’ve seen in a laptop. Feels like it’ll lose its grip on the horribly-contrasted screen very quickly. With the MacBook Pro, the hinges might seem loose, but it’s because of the freaking glossy screen being so heavy, and even then, I still feel like the hinge will hold it’s grippiness for the life of the laptop. (Yes, next time I get a Mac, I will have to grab the matte, no question.)

I do, however, like the feel of the keyboard. I think the keys are a tiny bit rubberized, and so there’s a bit of grip on them as I type. I do think that the omission of a third “function” key on the bottom right corner is a bit of an issue for keyboard nuts like me.

Trackpad… eh. Responsiveness is… alright. I definitely need triple finger gestures, though. I need the ability to close tabs and middle-click open tabs very quickly. I’m already missing the Thinkpad pointer nub.

I’ve had an SSD in my computer, PC/Mac/Linux, for a while, and so there’s no wow factor in seeing anything boot faster.

I haven’t tried the 3G, but I bet it’s going to be better than AT&T.

Software

I like the idea of the Chromebook. I want my current favorite browser on the go. Simple.

But it just isn’t there yet.

I loved how all my plugins were right there, waiting for me to reconfigure. I’ve fell in love with this ever since Google enabled it (secretly, mind you, as they like to just randomly add features and updates without telling anyone). The future is, obviously, to be able to take the entire browsing experience, tabs and settings (like my Google search blocklist) and all.

The actual Chromebook settings seemed to be saved on the cloud somewhere, since I swapped out my Ctrl key for the Search key and vice versa, and was already set after a system reset. (Use the little switch on the right side of the Chromebook, and hit Ctrl + D on start, btw.)

And so…

To this day, I don’t think you can go wrong with an Apple laptop. If I had a need for one, I’d be getting the new 13″ Macbook Air that may or may not be coming out soon in the future.