Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Using Yahoo! Pipes to tweak IGN/Gamespot feeds

I was up way too late last night, finally having a chance to play with Yahoo! Pipes, or as it has become known to me, crack pipes. Like any good drug, it's easy to get started, but hard to walk away. All GUI based, drag and drop goodness. I sat in my dimly lit room letting my mind wander. Thinking this is something truly new and innovative... and wondering where to begin. I decided that looking at other people's pipes is a good place to start. But nevermind specifics. I'm here for a purpose.

Problem: IGN and Gamespot both offer PSP rss feeds containing news, updates, reviews, etc. Lot's of information every day. Too much information! It gets to the point where I stop paying attention because the signal/noise ratio is so low. It's all noise, useless posts! I want a feed with just game reviews.

Solution: Pipes lets you take a feed, apply some logic, spit out a new feed, and make it available to the world. In my case, any post that contains 'review' in the title passes through. Every thing else is filtered out. The result is a low volume feed with just game reviews. Here are the two pipes I created:

The filter box, kind of like an if-then in traditional programming, is just one of the many operations available. There seems to be an active community of developers forming and more (advanced) operations will be released in the future.

So when I see you pass me in the hallway at work the next morning trying to hide your red eyes -- relax -- don't look away. I'm hooked on the crack too.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Opposing views on summer vacation

Opposed to summer vacation by Tim:

With the increasing trend towards globalization, I believe American children today will be faced with more competition upon entering college and finding a job. These children seem to be less motivated than their foreign counterparts and less likely to go on for more advanced degrees. How are we going to cut it 15 years down the road? I believe the biggest factor is parental involvement, but our education system definitely has some room for improvement. One such improvement is the year-round school schedule.

I recently heard a professor talk on this subject, (OK, he was actually talking about Chinese New Year) and he explained the history of summer vacation. A large percentage of the population were farmers 100+ years ago and these families needed their children to work the fields over the summer. Fast forward to present day where we still have the same system in place. Kids are busy playing outside or with video games. When school starts again they can't remember what's going on and spend several weeks reviewing old lessons.

Like everything in life, there must be balance. Going to school 9 months straight, then relaxing for 3 months hardly seems balanced. So by taking away, or rather redistributing these 3 months, are we depriving the youth of happiness? This instance of happiness will happen in a flash and then be a memory for the rest of our adult lives. A more tangible, long lasting happiness is having the freedom to choose what we want to do for a living. If we don't start competing at the global level, then this choice will be a memory too.

In support of summer vacation by Tranchiturn:

The familiar is often desired, and so maybe that is the reason why I support the current school calendar. I remember always looking forward to summer because it was a REAL break. No middle-of-winter crap where you don't really even have time to get into anything because you didn't plan it out beforehand (and you have a paper due on Monday). As cheezy as this is, I think it's true that summer break is to children as the american dream is to adults. Summer break (when I say that I mean the full, American, 3 month break) helps to mold children into a different kind of adult than those from strict, working class nations. This, I suppose, will also be a point used in the opposite direction by the Antagonist.

For example, the bad characteristics of some union members can probably be traced back to summer break. But summer break is what keeps dreams alive, American Dreamz. Dreams of being a sports/rock/creative arts star or an entrepreneur. If children go to school all year long, they are trained to work constantly, during a period which they probably have the most potential to be happy, and to do what they want. This eventually leads to a hard working adult, who works however many days during the year, and is convinced that a one-week trip to Florida is a "vacation." Maybe this would create a "happier" or at least more content person, because they don't really know what they're missing, or maybe it's something closer than we think to Communism.

Summer is potential, and like any potential, it can be wasted. Some kids will grow up lazy, or at least average, and every summer, forget 3/4 of what they learned during that year. Others will do things they couldn't do during a couple-week or even a month vacation, will remember what they learned, and will be HAPPY. Maybe this will yield an adult population with a larger proportion of the lazier, 3-steps-forward-2-steps-back people, but it at least gives everyone a CHOICE. This is what the modern Summer Vacation is about: WORK is not the meaning of life, SCHOOL is not the meaning of life (or a means to it). No one knows the meaning of life, but with a Summer Break, you have the freedom to do what you want to do. For those 3 months, no one is deciding for you that the purpose of your life is to work just to survive or just because that's what everyone does.

Attending school year round for the majority of childhood will produce harder workers, steadier emotions (less extreme happiness and less depression), more competition, and ultimately, the kind of population desired by economists and believers that the greater good is achieved by furthering technology as quickly as possible--the closer to robots, the better. Summer break focuses on the individual and will result in an unsure future, emotional highs and lows, and more extreme sports (for example), like normal humans. After all, if we're working more, what are we really working for? Do we subconsciously do this to ourselves because we don't know what our purpose is, but we convince ourselves that working hard will at least lead to SOMEthing?

Editor's Note: Tranchiturn (Shawn) may write from time to time on Mental Benefits of Black Fungus. He currently maintains his own blog, The Simplifier.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

US frequency allocation chart

I was reading a post on O'Reilly Radar about Google's effort to cover Mountain View with free wifi. They linked to a chart on NTIA's website that shows the frequency allocation in the United States. It brought back fond memories. One of my favorite university professors had the same chart hanging in his lab. Maybe I'll print (or plot) it out to recreate that college atmosphere in my cubicle.


Sunday, February 18, 2007

Comparing multiple stocks in Google Finance

Google Finance lets you visually compare multiple stocks within one chart. You can also link directly to this graph by passing parameters via URL. For example, to view a graph of Microsoft, Apple, and Google, use the following formatting:

http://finance.google.com/finance?q=MSFT+AAPL+GOOG

This is useful if you want to compare all or a subset of stocks in your portfolio. Just bookmark the URL. Ideally, Google Finance will incorporate a "link to this page" feature, similar to Google Maps. This would allow a user to customize their chart and save the results. One complaint I have with this direct linking method is the inability to pass other information via URL, such as time span, ie. 1 month, 3 months, 1 year. Also, if you pass more than 3 stocks, only the first 3 are visible by default, meaning you have to select a check box to bring up each additional stock. With more than 3 stocks selected the chart starts to get cluttered, but I would still like this option.

In the example mentioned above, I was playing with the time axis and noticed an interesting trend over the last 3 years. Since February 2004, Microsoft's value has remained flat, while Google has increased 333% and Apple has increased almost 650%.


Tuesday, February 13, 2007

MGS: Portable Ops reminds me of wardriving

I've been playing Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP and there's a new recruitment feature that I find interesting. In most stealth action games like Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, I usually go on a killing rampage each level. Shoot some bad guys, maybe blow em up, then drag the remains to a dimly lit area and continue on to finish the mission. There's usually little or no incentive to go through the level stealthily. Portable Ops changes this. Any bad guy you knock out or shoot in the head with a stun dart you can drag back to your van and take as a hostage. After a couple days pass in the game, he gets converted (brainwashed) to join your side. Each team member has certain stats and you assign him to a specific group, which gives you more intel or makes you recover health quicker, etc. Its to your benefit to grow your team, so you are always looking for ways to knock a guy out instead of killing him.

Another way to recruit new guys is through a menu option called Access Point Scan. This searches for wireless networks nearby and generates a new team member randomly if the signal is strong enough. The interface is minimal, only showing a real time graph of signal strength. However, its very stylized with pulsating colors, making you feel like you're hacking into some secret network. If the signal is around medium strength you can tap the circle button like mad to boost the meter. We all have our favorite button mashing memories. For me, its the in-between stage sequence from the Simpsons arcade game, where you need to blow up you balloon the fastest. Note, the Access Point Scan does not actually connect to the wireless network. It just sees what's out there, regardless of encryption.

I'm not sure about the technical details of the scan. You can only generate one new soldier per wireless network per game. So if you play through the game a second time you can use the same network again. I don't know if this filter is based on SSID (network name) or BSSID (mac address of access point). I would assume they check by BSSID so you can't keep changing your network name. However, if you have a linux based router/access point combo, like the WRT54GL, you could possibly change the MAC address to trick the game into thinking you're on a different network. [ifconfig eth0 hw ether 01:23:45:67:89:AB] But that would be cheating!

The access point method of recruitment really encourages you to bring the PSP with you to snag networks at a friend's house or in public. This aspect of hunting down wifi networks really reminds me of wardriving. Going out and seeing how many networks you can find in a given trip. It might sound kind of dull in text, but its kinda exciting when you end up some place new or some place you shouldn't be. I've become border line obsessive, holding my PSP while driving down the road, endangering the lives of children. At the end of the day though I know it was worth it, because I have a new imaginary friend.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Dog riding on person's back

Here's some photos from chinaren that got posted last weekend. I'm not sure what type of dog this is, but I think its called bomei in Chinese.

Update: I think its a pomeranian.





Thursday, February 8, 2007

What's in a name? / Fungus in America

When I was putting this site together in blogger, one of the first entries to complete is the name of the blog. I've always felt I was never very good at coming up with new names, like picking a screen name or naming a pet. God forbid if I have a child... she'll be (half?) caucasian and have a wacky Indian name, like Tejas. So when I was thinking of a name for this site, I had an idea in mind from a movie I saw a few weeks prior. In Curse of the Golden Flower (Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia), the Empress is slowly going insane due to poison secretly placed in her daily medicine. This poison is a special type of black fungus and is mixed in her medicine under orders from the Emperor. She soon figures out what is going on, but continues to play along, not wanting the Emperor to realize she knows. After all, what can you do if the top guy wants you dead?

Another thing I was thinking about was health vs sickness and how we typically take health for granted until something goes wrong. I was flipping through my official company issued 2007 calendar, which is crammed, err bloated, with health tips and bright pictures with a new fruit or vegetable each month, and came across a section on mental health. [must keep it together for remainder of post] These tips combined with the situation from the movie is where the site's name originates from. You can draw your own conclusions about meaning.

I'm also confused why the term fungus in American culture is rarely associated with food. The word seems to have a slightly negative connotation. For example, an average American might say, "Take my big toe out of your mouth! Don't you know I have foot fungus." Where a Chinese person is more likely to say, "Father, can you please pass the fungus? It was delicious!" We seem to tolerate mushrooms without a problem. These are just types of fungus. Here's a valid comparison: salmon is to fish as mushroom is to fungus. You can interchangeably say I'm having salmon for dinner or I'm having fish for dinner. The former is just more specific. So the next time you're asked about eating mushrooms, I urge you to start off vague! Let them drill down on specifics as necessary.

Monday, February 5, 2007

New blog, new blogger features

The last two weeks I've been stuck inside my house the majority of the time due to an encounter with the dreaded mono. I had grand plans of accomplishing things during this time off. Things I could do lying on a couch, maybe. Well, I'm mostly recovered now and not much happened. Except! There was some business I had to take care of with my old website, aorula. Specifically, removing a file I hosted. Some RPC exploit used to gain admin access to unpatched Win2k/XP boxes. Personally, I don't think the file is to blame. The person who wrote it may be evil and the people who downloaded it may have used it for shady purposes, but the file itself justs sits there until someone uses it, for good or bad.

In the process of removing the file, I realized my blogger template was messed up and all my php includes were not showing up on the front page. When I logged into to blogger, which I had not done in several months, I noticed it had been updated and taken out of beta status. Something rare for a google product, so it caught my attention. Some new blogger features I liked were the use of labels, fast blogspot publish times, and ease of setting up a new blog. I always felt like aorula was more than I wanted to maintain, having to ftp files around and track down problems on the web host's forums, and this prevented me from using it more. So I setup this new blog thinking that sheer ease of use will produce more posts. I'm also interested to see how google will further integrate their services. Already, blogger has teamed up with google reader to provide a widget you place on your blog that displays your shared reader items. Maybe in the future we'll see a google calendar widget, more with picasa web photos, or even automatically generated content based on your personalized search history.