In Year 2021

Remember, a Day Made Of Glass? It's the vision of Corning, a company which manufactures specialty glass and ceramics.

This time it's Microsoft. Let's see Microsoft's vision for year 2021. 

Well, at least cars still run on tire...

I have one favor to ask. Talk to me. Tell me which technology is your favorite :)

[Book Review] Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay by Mira Kirshenbaum

Rating: 3.5/5

Genre: Non-fiction

Book Review

Do you know the term “Relationship ambivalence”? It is a state where you feel that your relationship is too good to leave, and, at the same time, you also feel that your relationship is too bad to stay. You feel like screwed up if you make either of the choices. So you don’t decide. You leave it to fate. You wait for the sign to tell you what to do. It may take months, years, or even decades for that sign to come. When the sign came, you’d ask yourself, why did’t I see this coming?, why have I waited for so long?,...

On the other hand, if might find the sign which convince you that your relation ship is too good to leave. And again, when the sign comes, you'd ask yourself,  why have I had to live with uneasy feeling, when the only problems in my relationship are so little and trivial and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with my relationship.

Google Map/Google Earth

The day Google Earth came out, the whole world was stunned. It's the first time we see the useful (and dangerous) civilian application. Starting from seeing the world, we can zoom in and see countries, districts, villages, and houses (including yours).

This is what you see
when you turn on Google Earth

This is What you see
When you look for a city

[Book-Thai] Facebook คืออะไร? ทำไม Facebook จึงประสพความสำเร็จ

“We’re utility. We’re trying to increase the efficiency to which people can understand their world. We’re not trying to maximize the time spent on our site. We’re trying to help people have a good experience and get the maximum amount out of that time.”--Mark Zuckerberg

ตัวตนของเราออนไลน์

จุดเด่นของ Facebook คือการใช้ตัวตนจริงๆของเรา อันนี้ก็ต่างจาก Social Network Services อื่นๆก่อนหน้านี้ซึ่งคนมักจะสร้างนามแฝงขึ้นมาใช้แทนตัวเอง อันนี้ไม่ได้หมายความว่าเราไม่สามารถใช้นามแฝงในการสร้าง Facebook Account แต่เนื่องจาก Facebook ถูกสร้างขึ้นมาเพื่อพัฒนาการสื่อสารระหว่างคนที่เรารู้จัก การใช้นามแฝงจะทำให้เราได้ประโยขน์จาก Facebook น้อยมาก

ตัวอย่างง่ายๆคือ ในสังคม Facebook เรามักจะยอมรับคนๆนึงเป็นเพื่อน ถ้าเรารู้จักเขาอยู่แล้ว หรือเขาเป็นเพื่อนของเพเพื่อนเรา (ซึ่งเราสามารถดูได้จากรายชื่อเพื่อน ในหน้า profile ของเพื่อนเรา) ถ้ามีคนที่ใช้นามแฝงเข้าไป เพื่อนๆอาจจะไม่รู้จักเขา และไม่รับเขาเป็นเพื่อนใน Facebook ก็ได้

Windows 8!, What a Nice UI!

I just have a quick view at Windows 8. I really like its user interface! It's like a whole new world. What do you think?

To My FB's Friend, It's time to change password!

I first heard about this from Security Now shows that Symantec discovered the tokens to access your Facebook account has leaked. 

Bad News:

If you use Facebook app  and you gave that apps an access to your profile, you might want to read this. Usually, such the apps need to access your profile from times to times (e.g., post on the wall). The apps do not use your password to access your profile. They use Facebook-issued tokens to access your profile. The bad news is these token are leaked. Now, hackers can do whatever your apps can do. 

Good News: 

The fix is simple just change your Facebook's password. Then, Facebook will reissue the tokens to all your apps. The old tokens that hackers might get a hold of would expire. 

Wanna know more?

You can read this link to find out the details. 

List of MAC OSX Command Line

I just find a very useful site which contains a list of MAC OSX command line. Check out [ here ].


Command Line Interface
Terminal is a useful utility, which allows advanced users to work with command line interface (CLI). A lot of programmers prefer this mode due to its flexibility to customize things.

Even for semi-advanced users, Terminal looks scary. One of the problems is that you don't know the command name and their syntax. Documentation is long and some time hard to read. But for sure, it require a lot of effort to comb through the documentation to get what you do using CLI. So a lot of users just give up using CLI.

List of MAC OSX Command Line

I just find a very useful site which contains a list of MAC OSX command line. Check out [ here ].


Command Line Interface


Terminal is a useful utility, which allows advanced users to work with command line interface (CLI). A lot of programmers prefer this mode due to its flexibility to customize things.

Even for semi-advanced users, Terminal looks scary. One of the problems is that you don't know the command name and their syntax. Documentation is long and some time hard to read. But for sure, it require a lot of effort to comb through the documentation to get what you do using CLI. So a lot of users just give up using CLI.

SS64

Recently, I find a useful site, which lists the most frequently used commands for various platforms, e.g., OSX, Oracle, Windows. The list is not too long and is accompanied with short description. In my opinion, it is a very good reference site. Check out [ here ].

My Personal Use: Copy file content to clipboard. 

Let me give you an example use. Do you know that OSX has a command "pbcopy"? To me, I would like to copy the content in a text file to the clipboard. Here is what I do:

1. Type "less myfile.txt | pbcopy" at the command prompt.
2. Press Command + V on the application that I would like to paste the content (Note: in Windows, press Ctrl + V).

Pretty cool isnt' it?

[Book] Why is Facebook successful? What exactly is Facebook?

“We’re utility. We’re trying to increase the efficiency to which people can understand their world. We’re not trying to maximize the time spent on our site. We’re trying to help people have a good experience and get the maximum amount out of that time.”--Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook Key Differentiation Factor: Real Identity

What differentiate Facebook from other online social networking website is the true identity. That does not mean you have to use your real name. But you get little benefit from Facebook if you use a fake name. 

Facebook mimics this property from the real society. You wouldn't be friends with those you don't know. You tend to make friends through your friends. In Facebook, you would friend people up if you know that person (or you know friends of that person) in the real world. 

[Book Review] The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick

Rating: 4/5

Genre: Non-fiction

Book Review

It is clear from the title that this book is about FACEBOOK. The most widely-used social networking website in the world. Out of curiosity, I read this book after watching the movie “Social Networks”, which is about Facebook. In my opinion, the movie is not based on this book. But based on another book “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal” by  Ben Mezrich. So this book presents another point of view for Facebook, and unquestionably Mark Zuckerberg.

[Book Review] The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow

Rating: 4/5

Genre: Non-fiction

Book Review

If you think that mathematics mainly for academic, this book might change your view. The book talks very little about basic probability principles. Rather, it focuses on how the principles were discovered, what it meant in the old time and the present time, and the fallacy associated to them.

I am quite familiar with probability. So, I find myself reading this book enjoyably. As a student, I was wondering why should study difficult and boring mathematics. If you are like me, you might find this book quite interesting. This book gives the readers the reasons why mathematics matters to, say for example, engineers, statisticians, or even lawyers.

Another interesting part of this book is the  history. There are stories of great mathematician and scientists such as Gerolamo Cardano, Galileo Galilei, Blaise Pascal, Jacob Bernoulli, Thomas Bayes, Laplace, Carl Friedrich Gauss. Who would have know that Thomas Bayes was a minister. Pascal suffered from his illness when he did too much thinking.

The book is interesting. It looks at aspects that I usually overlook. It keeps me engaged for most of the content. Overall, I like this book.

[Book] Chances and Successes -- The Drunkard's Walk Wrap-up

Although regularity can be found in social data, the future of a particular individual is impossible to predict due to

• There are infinitely many possibilities,
• Minor change can lead to a significant change in outcomes (i.e., the Butterfly Effect), and 
• People are irrational. They sometimes act against their best interest. 

For a particular action, we all owe more to the chance (i.e., luck) than what most people realize.

[Book] Past-Present Asymmetry

 “If the future is really chaotic and unpredictable, why after the event has occurred does it seem as if we should have been able to foresee them?”

It is easy to reconstruct (or explain) a present from the past. But it s virtually impossible to predict the future from the present. To reconstruct the present, we can look at the past and make up the reason which leads to the present. If we use the same approach to predict (or extrapolate) the future, before long we will end up with infinitely many possibilities. And, even if you can magically pinpoint the future, the Butterfly Effect can mess things up. A minor event from the present to future can change the future entirely. This is to say “the future is unpredictable”.

Source: The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow, Chapter 10 [Read the Book Review] [Read the Previous Part] [Read the Next Part].

Mac Book Pro Battery

ผมเพิ่งได้เครื่อง Mac Book Pro มา และพบว่าแบตเตอรี่ของเขามีความจุสูงมากๆ Apple อ้างว่าใช้ได้นานถึง 9 ชั่วโมง แต่ในเครื่องที่ผมใช้ก็คำนวณได้ 9 ชั่วโมงกว่าๆ ซึ่งก็นานมากอยู่ดี ถ้าต้องขึ้นเครื่องบินไปต่างประเทศ คงไม่ต้องกังวลเรื่องแบตเตอรี่หมดบนเครื่องอีกแล้ว