This is post 300 of this blog, I am quite amazed at the number of posts I have made thus far over my 2 year span of running this blog. The amount of content I have written for this blog is likely sufficient to fill a book or two if it were ever printed. An interesting thought, but anyways, back to the main post.
Approximately a year ago, a man by the name of Jeff Han at New York University made his pioneering presentation of multi-touch technology in February of 2006 at the TED talks conference which blew the audience away. Interestingly, multi-touch technology is nothing new as known experimental work on this technology dates back to 2001 under the auspices of the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory, branded as DiamondTouch. Unfortunately, DiamondTouch never made the same level of impact as Jeff Han's presentation.
An important lesson to learn here is that technology is only as valuable as it's usefulness; and it's usefulness is defined by it's application (or it's perceived application, "coolness" counts as an application). Where Mitsubishi failed, Jeff Han has done an exemplary job of making multi-touch technology useful as it is cool, as witnessed by his TED presentation (which I highly recommend you to see). It's applications include fast manipulation of satellite images, planetary topographical maps and a variety of entertainment applications. Of course, a 5 year late start might have provided Jeff Han with an edge over Mitsubishi in computing power, in addition to the current availability of satellite data and CPU processing power.
The application possibilities for this technology is exciting and nearly a year after that presentation, Microsoft has moved into developing multi-touch systems christened Surface, which is pretty much a carbon copy of Jeff Han's technology. Perhaps they've got a licensing deal with Jeff Han? I'll leave that up to speculation.
The only drawback to the current state of multi-touch technology is that it can possibly somewhat unwieldy when it comes to manipulating data on a full screen. Considering that I can use a mouse to access the full range of my monitor on a surface area less than 1/5 of my screen, access time to manipulating data on a large screen will be significantly slower. I do believe that there are ways of speeding up how our ability to interact with these systems. I will predict that touch screen technology will become mainstream in the next 7~8 years.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Still got my poker skills
I have been meaning to make a post since last year that I have quit playing online poker, despite being consistently profitable every month. I have raked in over $2000 in a single month playing online poker at my peak, usually I averaged $400~$500 ish but I have since quit playing after making my move to Japan. There are people that can't walk away from a game after losing, but you'd think I would be crazy for walking away from a winning game, especially where I can make $20~$30/hr playing-- and there is a reason for that.
Since moving to Japan, I have dabbled with online poker from time to time, but I ultimately decided to drop it. I reasoned that I would be losing so much out of my Japan experience if I spent most of my free time inside my room just making cash online. Then it dawned on me, that there is more to life than just making money. Considering the adventures I've done and the people I've met, a few extra thousand dollars could not even come close to replacing these experiences. I spend most of my time outside now with people or traveling around. Money alone, does not bring a quality of life, though often is it only a tool to allow you to do things. Like many tools, it does not have to be necessary to realize your end product-- and I think that there are many that don't realize that.
But still, I do play poker from time to time just socially. The last time I played was in September where I had the opportunity to play with Matt in Calgary and walked out with a whopping $600 in profits, it was certainly a great poker game. Since my return to Canada on Tuesday, I have only ventured out to the casino just once to try my hand at the poker tables and after a 5 hour stint at Riverrock, I can say that I still have it because I played my cards and the people right.
I played at the $1/$2 no limit tables and made some great plays, (despite losing a few hands at first) where I put a player on nothing with my AK after a hefty preflop bet. The flop and turn was junk and I was betting the crap out of him and yet he still called to catch something on the river. Out of my $200 buy in, I managed to lose $120 and brought myself down to $80 in about 2.5 hours. Fortunately, I had a great QQ pocket pair and people were betting it up preflop (2 people at $30 and a few others at about $15 each and some extra cash in the pot) where I just took the remainder of my cash for an all in and took the pot down to bring myself to about $235.
I was thinking of quitting after a few more revolutions because I was back up and wanted to quite while I was ahead (and keep my record of never losing cash at a casino) . But then I was on the button and then I got Q9 suited hearts on big blind with barely over $200 at this point.The flop came out with a J74 with 2 hearts and I was on the flush draw. There were a few players left at the time and there was a $20 bet which me and a one other player called. The turn was an Ace of diamonds where my opponent decided to bet $40. I put my opponent on the J trying to force the other players and me out. I reraised to $80 to put pressure on the better and represent that I had something, like a J or just hit the A. The river came with a 5 clubs.
My opponent checks the bet to me and after considering that I had a tight image the whole game, I decided to take my remaining $140 and put myself all in on a bluff. My opponent had more than enough to cover my bet. Should he have called, I would have lost everything. He hummed and hawed at me and even called out that I was playing like I was on a flush draw but missed (which was exactly right), but everytime I got called that game, I had something pretty good, even when I lost. I shot back at him that I was reading him playing on the Jack pair, but he had to fear me playing on the Ace... and my gut knew that I was right about what he had. The problem was if this guy would back down and let me take the pot; my heart was racing.
Given my poker image and that he would have to risk $140 to make the call, he backed off letting me take an additional $100 in profits after that hand. I played one more hand which I immediately folded preflop, which was unfortunate because I would have hit a straight on the flop but hey, I was just happy to end the game in the black with an additional $100 in my pocket. I cashed out after 5 hours of play, putting my hourly rate at $20/hr and headed home.
Even after my poker exodus, it looks like I still have my skills.
Since moving to Japan, I have dabbled with online poker from time to time, but I ultimately decided to drop it. I reasoned that I would be losing so much out of my Japan experience if I spent most of my free time inside my room just making cash online. Then it dawned on me, that there is more to life than just making money. Considering the adventures I've done and the people I've met, a few extra thousand dollars could not even come close to replacing these experiences. I spend most of my time outside now with people or traveling around. Money alone, does not bring a quality of life, though often is it only a tool to allow you to do things. Like many tools, it does not have to be necessary to realize your end product-- and I think that there are many that don't realize that.
But still, I do play poker from time to time just socially. The last time I played was in September where I had the opportunity to play with Matt in Calgary and walked out with a whopping $600 in profits, it was certainly a great poker game. Since my return to Canada on Tuesday, I have only ventured out to the casino just once to try my hand at the poker tables and after a 5 hour stint at Riverrock, I can say that I still have it because I played my cards and the people right.
I played at the $1/$2 no limit tables and made some great plays, (despite losing a few hands at first) where I put a player on nothing with my AK after a hefty preflop bet. The flop and turn was junk and I was betting the crap out of him and yet he still called to catch something on the river. Out of my $200 buy in, I managed to lose $120 and brought myself down to $80 in about 2.5 hours. Fortunately, I had a great QQ pocket pair and people were betting it up preflop (2 people at $30 and a few others at about $15 each and some extra cash in the pot) where I just took the remainder of my cash for an all in and took the pot down to bring myself to about $235.
I was thinking of quitting after a few more revolutions because I was back up and wanted to quite while I was ahead (and keep my record of never losing cash at a casino) . But then I was on the button and then I got Q9 suited hearts on big blind with barely over $200 at this point.The flop came out with a J74 with 2 hearts and I was on the flush draw. There were a few players left at the time and there was a $20 bet which me and a one other player called. The turn was an Ace of diamonds where my opponent decided to bet $40. I put my opponent on the J trying to force the other players and me out. I reraised to $80 to put pressure on the better and represent that I had something, like a J or just hit the A. The river came with a 5 clubs.
My opponent checks the bet to me and after considering that I had a tight image the whole game, I decided to take my remaining $140 and put myself all in on a bluff. My opponent had more than enough to cover my bet. Should he have called, I would have lost everything. He hummed and hawed at me and even called out that I was playing like I was on a flush draw but missed (which was exactly right), but everytime I got called that game, I had something pretty good, even when I lost. I shot back at him that I was reading him playing on the Jack pair, but he had to fear me playing on the Ace... and my gut knew that I was right about what he had. The problem was if this guy would back down and let me take the pot; my heart was racing.
Given my poker image and that he would have to risk $140 to make the call, he backed off letting me take an additional $100 in profits after that hand. I played one more hand which I immediately folded preflop, which was unfortunate because I would have hit a straight on the flop but hey, I was just happy to end the game in the black with an additional $100 in my pocket. I cashed out after 5 hours of play, putting my hourly rate at $20/hr and headed home.
Even after my poker exodus, it looks like I still have my skills.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
It is nice to see my university in the news sometimes
I just read this article at Arstechnica today with the university I attend in Japan, (Tohoku University) in the news after developing technology that can improve the data density of hard drives. It's the first time to see my university in the news in an English site, so kudos to them.
Monday, May 14, 2007
You don't need reviews to tell if a movie is good
I noticed something interesting today while I was out with my friend, Kayo, at the movie theaters. We made plans to catch Spiderman 3 since last week since the both of us were rather busy and we like action movies.
Anyways not to give anything away, other than I would give a positive recommendation on the movie, that you can tell how good a movie is by the reactions of the viewers. By the end of the movie, there was plenty of reactions, especially from the girls whom were crying (but I am not going to say if they were happy or not). Actually, Kayo, who I was with ended up crying and had to run to the washroom before the end of the credits. I spent a while outside in the lobby watching people as they came out of the theater with the same reaction too. I do personally have to say that the story was well played and that you can probably tell how good a movie is by the reactions of the people leaving the theater.
Anyways not to give anything away, other than I would give a positive recommendation on the movie, that you can tell how good a movie is by the reactions of the viewers. By the end of the movie, there was plenty of reactions, especially from the girls whom were crying (but I am not going to say if they were happy or not). Actually, Kayo, who I was with ended up crying and had to run to the washroom before the end of the credits. I spent a while outside in the lobby watching people as they came out of the theater with the same reaction too. I do personally have to say that the story was well played and that you can probably tell how good a movie is by the reactions of the people leaving the theater.
Monday, May 07, 2007
On traveling and marrage
I started using this thing called Facebook just recently which is a social networking website where friends link to friends and share information. It's a rather fascinating webpage as I have found many old acquaintances I used to know dating back all the way back to my elementary school era. It's rather fascinating to see how many of my old friends are doing, all of them seem to be doing pretty well.
One interesting thing I noticed, is a growing number of acquaintances and friends getting married or have gotten married. I have a feeling in the next 3~4 years that there will be a boom of marriages within my circle of friends as people start heading towards the end of their 20's. As for me, I too have begun contemplating the idea of getting married but I am also cautious of not rushing myself to anything because everyone else is doing something. Things will happen, when or if there is a right time, but not sooner.
Living in a place like Japan with strong ties to a community of foreigners I have noticed that most people that travel aren't married. I have met countless numbers of foreign teachers and international students doing their masters, Ph.D's or postdocs out here and nearly none of them are married, despite many of them being in the latter half of their 20's. I doubt any of them are getting married anytime soon.
Life in Japan is incredibly interesting and fun, especially living as a foreigner. There is a sort of a character that many people become while traveling. It is the kind of outgoing adventurous character you become when you travel to a different country. It is, in effect a collection of your desire to make the best of your limited time somewhere. You say 'hi' to random people, sometimes you might get yourself into or start a random conversation with someone on street, you end up trying as many new things as possible or going to as many places as possible, you want to be nice and make friends while in a different place. This is what I call "the spirit of a traveler." I hope that when I do come back to Canada, I remain as a traveler for time to come.
The problem is that being a traveler has certain problems when it comes to relationships, that problem is not knowing where you'll be in the future. You might be living in a certain city for a few years before moving on to somewhere else, you might go home to your home country eventually. Obviously, it is a matter of knowing when you will be settling down. Travelers, unfortunately, won't be settling down for a while, but even if I end up marrying late, I will have no regrets about going off on my adventures, because it is something that I will likely never experience if I had done otherwise.
I wish I went traveling a little earlier, but it really depends on when you are ready to go.
One interesting thing I noticed, is a growing number of acquaintances and friends getting married or have gotten married. I have a feeling in the next 3~4 years that there will be a boom of marriages within my circle of friends as people start heading towards the end of their 20's. As for me, I too have begun contemplating the idea of getting married but I am also cautious of not rushing myself to anything because everyone else is doing something. Things will happen, when or if there is a right time, but not sooner.
Living in a place like Japan with strong ties to a community of foreigners I have noticed that most people that travel aren't married. I have met countless numbers of foreign teachers and international students doing their masters, Ph.D's or postdocs out here and nearly none of them are married, despite many of them being in the latter half of their 20's. I doubt any of them are getting married anytime soon.
Life in Japan is incredibly interesting and fun, especially living as a foreigner. There is a sort of a character that many people become while traveling. It is the kind of outgoing adventurous character you become when you travel to a different country. It is, in effect a collection of your desire to make the best of your limited time somewhere. You say 'hi' to random people, sometimes you might get yourself into or start a random conversation with someone on street, you end up trying as many new things as possible or going to as many places as possible, you want to be nice and make friends while in a different place. This is what I call "the spirit of a traveler." I hope that when I do come back to Canada, I remain as a traveler for time to come.
The problem is that being a traveler has certain problems when it comes to relationships, that problem is not knowing where you'll be in the future. You might be living in a certain city for a few years before moving on to somewhere else, you might go home to your home country eventually. Obviously, it is a matter of knowing when you will be settling down. Travelers, unfortunately, won't be settling down for a while, but even if I end up marrying late, I will have no regrets about going off on my adventures, because it is something that I will likely never experience if I had done otherwise.
I wish I went traveling a little earlier, but it really depends on when you are ready to go.
The Wii
It has been almost exactly 1 year since I first heard real news about the Wii. No one had a real clue what it was exactly like until E3 2006 last year where news of gamers lined up at the Nintendo booth addicted to the Wii console. I knew from the start that the Playstation 3 to be released by Sony would be a flop, despite that I decided to apply for a job with them.
I bought into Nintendo stock at about $20 USD after I read the reviews of the systems and what was going around the net. The X-box and the PS3 would be going head to head, but the Wii was cheap and something refreshingly different. I bought some more at $26 and the price has been on a steady climb since then. As of today, the stock stands at about $41 and I think it will continue to rise for a while longer.
I've never touched the Wii since buying stocks, not until yesterday while at a friend's house when I tried the system for the first time. The system is simple yet ingenious and I loved it to bits. I played bowling, boxing, tennis and all sorts of silly games on the system. Buying extra stuff like extra controllers for system will run a small change of cash and the games also run for about $50 each.
The prices for the games on the Wii are somewhat cheaper than those on the X-Box and the PS3 but still close to par, but graphics wise, they are incredibly simpler compared to the more serious gaming consoles; it is insane how beautiful the graphics are on the PS3 for example.
I do know from my gut feelings that Wii sales will be strong for a while since supply is still tight and they are selling out. Couple that with game sales that will also be turning a profit for Nintendo, I think that these guys will be in good shape and growing for a good time to come. I intend to at least double up on my stock with them.
That is not to say that every investment I have made was successful. I have lost approximately 50% of invested money in a company developing LED lighting systems which I felt that would be the future of lighting. LEDs are exceptionally efficient compared to their incandescent counter parts. However, they haven't taken off yet I still don't exactly know why.
I have taken a position with Apple on their upcoming iPhone. I watched Apple's stock ever since the iPod era and always though that they were going to max out at some point, but they kept on going. I do know for sure that I am not as confident on the upcoming iPhone as I was for Nintendo's Wii because there is a lot of built in hype in the iPhone and I already know that the iPhone is going to be expensive, in addition to the service costs to run the iPhone. But somehow, when I compare the iPhone to the expensive blackberry when that came through, they might still pull through, but I think their stock price is rather inflated.
I bought into Nintendo stock at about $20 USD after I read the reviews of the systems and what was going around the net. The X-box and the PS3 would be going head to head, but the Wii was cheap and something refreshingly different. I bought some more at $26 and the price has been on a steady climb since then. As of today, the stock stands at about $41 and I think it will continue to rise for a while longer.
I've never touched the Wii since buying stocks, not until yesterday while at a friend's house when I tried the system for the first time. The system is simple yet ingenious and I loved it to bits. I played bowling, boxing, tennis and all sorts of silly games on the system. Buying extra stuff like extra controllers for system will run a small change of cash and the games also run for about $50 each.
The prices for the games on the Wii are somewhat cheaper than those on the X-Box and the PS3 but still close to par, but graphics wise, they are incredibly simpler compared to the more serious gaming consoles; it is insane how beautiful the graphics are on the PS3 for example.
I do know from my gut feelings that Wii sales will be strong for a while since supply is still tight and they are selling out. Couple that with game sales that will also be turning a profit for Nintendo, I think that these guys will be in good shape and growing for a good time to come. I intend to at least double up on my stock with them.
That is not to say that every investment I have made was successful. I have lost approximately 50% of invested money in a company developing LED lighting systems which I felt that would be the future of lighting. LEDs are exceptionally efficient compared to their incandescent counter parts. However, they haven't taken off yet I still don't exactly know why.
I have taken a position with Apple on their upcoming iPhone. I watched Apple's stock ever since the iPod era and always though that they were going to max out at some point, but they kept on going. I do know for sure that I am not as confident on the upcoming iPhone as I was for Nintendo's Wii because there is a lot of built in hype in the iPhone and I already know that the iPhone is going to be expensive, in addition to the service costs to run the iPhone. But somehow, when I compare the iPhone to the expensive blackberry when that came through, they might still pull through, but I think their stock price is rather inflated.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
A unoffical 2 week holiday~
The one thing I enjoy most about being a grad student is that I work at my own pace; basically I get to come and go as I please. The good thing about this lab, is that so long as you have some results to present at the bi-monthly lab meetings, you won't get into any trouble. Fortunately for me, I have some spare results from working rather efficiently for the past month that I can use to take it easy for the next 2 weeks. Been working pretty hard for the past month that I need some time to wind down.
I have a feeling that it will be pretty tricky to take time off from work the way I can take time off from going to lab-- I just don't go and I like it like that.
I have a feeling that it will be pretty tricky to take time off from work the way I can take time off from going to lab-- I just don't go and I like it like that.
Where are the boundaries of your world?
While looking for a place to sit at the cafeteria today, a Bolivian friend of mine waved me down and I joined him for lunch. We started chatting about the world and his country. He told me that he used to work for the government in Bolivia but it kept changing so much... now Bolivia seems to be making a transition to socialism, which unfortunately doesn't seem like a good solution for a country with a wide disparity between the rich and the poor.
He told me that one of the biggest problems about Bolivia is that everyone in Bolivia thinks that Bolivia is the world. Though profound by itself at the time, I don't see the connection between that statement and solving their problems, but still sometimes I wonder for how many people, the boundaries of their world stop at the borders of their own country.
When I talk about boundaries, I don't mean just being outside of your own country, but really understanding what living in another country and culture is like. There is much to learn from people in different parts of the world, things that you or your people that might have never even thought of before.
I realize that sometimes making change happen can be incredibly tough. It could be inside the structure of an organization, a government or culture. Sometimes the system does not work and it is incredibly tough to change, as some systems are like bulky machinery running with a heavily in one direction. Why fight to change everything when you could also just go somewhere that suits you better? There will be, of course, times when you should fight for change... but only when you are in a position to make it happen.
He told me that one of the biggest problems about Bolivia is that everyone in Bolivia thinks that Bolivia is the world. Though profound by itself at the time, I don't see the connection between that statement and solving their problems, but still sometimes I wonder for how many people, the boundaries of their world stop at the borders of their own country.
When I talk about boundaries, I don't mean just being outside of your own country, but really understanding what living in another country and culture is like. There is much to learn from people in different parts of the world, things that you or your people that might have never even thought of before.
I realize that sometimes making change happen can be incredibly tough. It could be inside the structure of an organization, a government or culture. Sometimes the system does not work and it is incredibly tough to change, as some systems are like bulky machinery running with a heavily in one direction. Why fight to change everything when you could also just go somewhere that suits you better? There will be, of course, times when you should fight for change... but only when you are in a position to make it happen.
Sendai Art City Project
I am a sucker for city events and shows, whether it be an art show, music, dance whatever. Where ever there is a collection of people out together showing stuff off, I want to be there to take a look.
I really enjoy going to these events because I can learn a whole lot of things that I would never encounter in my normal daily life and it is always interesting to me to go out an experience new things. Who knows what you might learn!
And it always makes for interesting stories, like just yesterday, I had my portrait done by a street artist. The first time I ever had something like that done. While watching the street artist draw other people, I had a chance to meet a really nice lady who was very friendly and we ended up chatting for a little while. I even snapped some nice pictures of her getting her portrait done which I will be sending to her by e-mail.
I also managed to meet a couple, where the guy was from Vancouver hanging out in Sendai after his wedding that day, his wife is from Sendai and they were out visiting her family. I talked to the guy and he told me that he lived in Burnaby and worked in Richmond... at MDA, the company where I had an interview with right before coming to Japan. Had I not gotten the scholarship to come out to Japan, I would have likely been working there after I finished my contract job at some other company where I was doing really boring work. The world is really a small place sometimes. I have more stories to tell about how small this world is, but perhaps another time.
But for now, click on the photo to check out the album and enjoy the pictures.
I really enjoy going to these events because I can learn a whole lot of things that I would never encounter in my normal daily life and it is always interesting to me to go out an experience new things. Who knows what you might learn!
And it always makes for interesting stories, like just yesterday, I had my portrait done by a street artist. The first time I ever had something like that done. While watching the street artist draw other people, I had a chance to meet a really nice lady who was very friendly and we ended up chatting for a little while. I even snapped some nice pictures of her getting her portrait done which I will be sending to her by e-mail.
I also managed to meet a couple, where the guy was from Vancouver hanging out in Sendai after his wedding that day, his wife is from Sendai and they were out visiting her family. I talked to the guy and he told me that he lived in Burnaby and worked in Richmond... at MDA, the company where I had an interview with right before coming to Japan. Had I not gotten the scholarship to come out to Japan, I would have likely been working there after I finished my contract job at some other company where I was doing really boring work. The world is really a small place sometimes. I have more stories to tell about how small this world is, but perhaps another time.
But for now, click on the photo to check out the album and enjoy the pictures.
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