Eric Schmidt's Keynote Speech at Carnegie Mellon

I always enjoy speeches made by Eric Schmidt. I wish he spoke at my undergrad and/or grad commencement!



My favorite quote:

“How should you behave? Well, do things in a group. Don’t do things by yourself. Groups are stronger, groups are faster. None of us is as smart as all of us.”-- Eric Schmidt

Free Microsoft Development Tools for Students on DreamSpark

On Microsoft Dreamspark, they have a very nice list of Microsoft development tools that you can download for FREE. Mind you, these aren't just the free editions of their software, these are Standard to Professional editions that individuals and companies pay a lot of money for.

The catch is that you need to be a student with a student email. (Something like student.name@myuniversity.edu).

They currently offer:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Expression Studio 1.0
• Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Trial Edition (includes Web, Blend, Media, and Design)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition
• IT Academy Student Pass

My Favorite Web App: Google Reader

Google Reader is by far my favorite web application. I reorganized many of the labels as well as added/deleted some feeds. But I truly consider this app as my gateway to the Internet. I have it set as a tab that always opens up in any of my browsers.

What makes it my favorite is that it collects all my favorite websites/blogs into one simple screen. I don't care about actually visiting the website unless it has an article/blog post that I'm actually interested in commenting or reading comments on. Right there is a time-saver. I can get my daily reads done quickly and efficiently rather than surfing the web for something of interest.

I used to use Microsoft Outlook, Google's personal homepage, and even NetVibes to collect my feeds, but as I use several computers to read my news feeds, they would never sync what I already read.



Other Web Apps
A close second would be Gmail. But lately the application has been getting features which I consider somewhat "bloating". And I do mean this through the Labs feature. There are just too many options that just add clutter and confusion to what's supposed to be a simple and fast interface for email. Thankfully, I didn't enable many of them, but I do notice that Gmail seems to load slower than before.

I've also become more a bigger fan of microblogging through Twitter. I've armed myself with some software and services to help me 'tweet'. I have the twitter client TweetDeck installed on my PC and I'm using free services through TwitterFeed and TwitPic. I definitely think there's some value behind real-time conversations through the sharing of interesting links.

Upcoming Tech Events in Chicago for February

Chicago Twestival!
Date: Thursday, February 12, 2009
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (CT)
Place: Catalyst Ranch - 656 W Randolph Dr Chicago IL
Cost: $10 donation
RSVP: http://www.chicagotwestival.eventbrite.com


Event: TECH cocktail Chicago 10
Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 9pm
Place: John Barleycorn’s - 3524 N Clark (where it always is)
Cost: $0 (per usual)
RSVP: http://techcocktail-chicago-10.eventbrite.com

What's next for Social Media?: GPS-enabled applications

There are some really cool GPS applications out there that are about to push the boundaries of technology and social media as we know it. I remember years ago when I shared a link to Loopt with friends, pretty much everyone didn't like the idea of sharing that much information with each other. Today, I already have a few friends jumping onto to use such an app. Google has now also released a similar application out called Google Latitude, but based on their Google login system. I also just finished manually updating my G1 phone to use RC33, just so I could be one of the first to use the app.

What I'm a little surprised about is how Facebook doesn't have a social GPS application of their own. Loopt already ties in to both Facebook and Twitter status feeds. But there is so much untapped potential with what can be done with users that choose to interact using these applications. Imagine a service that is able to provide relevant ads or suggestions based on your location? The sky is literally the limit to what can be achieved.

Links:

• How to manually update T-Mobile G1 phone firmware to RC33

Basic Combinatorial Mathematics

I absolutely love reading CodingHorror.com. It's easily one of my favorite blogs to read about problem solving from the viewpoint of a programming/developer. Recently, Jeff Atwood posted a problem:

Let's say, hypothetically speaking, you met someone who told you they had two children, and one of them is a girl. What are the odds that person has a boy and a girl?

I was surprised by the number of readers who responded who got it wrong, very wrong. Quite a few who commented answered one-half, 50%. Reasoning ranged from it's always half, or because the ordering doesn't matter-- and that there are only 3 sets to choose from. The latter of which I want to discuss.

Note: B = Boy, G = Girl

Some argued that the combinations to work off of is: BB, GG, BG (3 sets)
The full combination is: BB, GG, BG, GB (4 sets, where BG and GB are treated as separate sets)

The 3 set argument is that the BG, GB should be considered as one set, since order does not matter. But I beg to differ. Although order (older/younger) was not implied in the problem, it must be considered.

Here's why:
Having only 3 sets is basically saying that it's equally likely that a couple with two children will have either a Boy-Boy, Girl-Girl, or Boy-Girl set. This is not true. It is a 50/50 chance they will have children of the same gender (Boy-Boy or Girl-Girl versus a Boy/Girl combo). So a full 4 set combo must be used to deduce the answer to the problem.

The answer then, since we know that at least one is a girl, the BB set needs to get tossed out, leaving GG, BG, GB. So then 2 out of the 3 sets can have boys, so there is a 2/3 chance that the couple's second child is a boy.

Links:

• The Problem of the Unfinished Game
• Finishing The Game

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.