[Word of the Day] Fleeting

Fleeting เป็นคำคุณศัพท์ใช้ขยายคำนาม เราจะใช้คำว่า Fleeting กับสิ่งซึ่งเกิดขึ้นแล้วไม่คงอยู่อย่างนั้น เช่น ความรู้สึก มโนภาพ เป็นต้น

แต่ถ้าจะให้จำคำว่า Fleeting ให้ดี ให้ลองนึกถึงคลื่นที่ซัดฝั่ง คลื่นนั้นจะเคลื่อนเข้ามาซัดฝั่งเพียงชั่วเวลานิดเดียว แล้วก็จะถอยลงทะเลไป นั่นแหละที่เรียกว่า Fleeting

"I can see her face clearly in my mind, but it's fleeting."

มีความหมายว่า

"ผมสามารถเห็นหน้าของเธออยู่ในหัวของผม แต่ว่ามันไม่ชัดเจน"

ตีความได้ว่า

นี่อาจจะเป็นเรื่องที่ผู้พูด พูดหลังจากตื่นว่า เขาเห็นใครซักคนในความฝัน และในความฝันนั้นเขาเห็นหน้าเธอในช่วงเวลาสั้นๆ เมื่อตื่นมาเขาก็พยายามที่จะนึกขึ้นอีกครั้งว่าหน้าคนที่เขาเห็นในฝันเป็นอย่างไร แต่นึกเท่าไรก็ไม่เห็นชัดซักที เพราะว่าหน้าของเธอนั้นมัน Fleeting

When Furby met Siri

          ว่ากันว่า เฟอร์บี้ ถูกออกแบบมาเพื่อให้พูดกับเรา ในขณะที่ SiRi ของ Apple ถูกออกแบบมาเพื่อฟังสิ่งที่เราพูด ลองมาดูกันว่าเมื่อ "ผู้พูด" มาเจอ "ผู้ฟัง" อะไรจะเกิดขึ้น

[Word of the Day] Springboard

เราคงรู้จักคำว่า Springboard กันใช่มั้ยครับ เป็นที่ๆใช้กระโดดในสระว่ายน้ำกัน

แต่คำว่า Springboard ในภาษาอังกฤษ ยังมีอีกว่า "สิ่งที่ช่วยให้เราเริ่มต้นได้" ตัวอย่างการใช้งานเช่น

"We'll use an example of Sydney Opera House as the springboard for our discussion." 

ซึ่งมีความหมายว่า

"เราจะใช้ Sydney Opera House เพื่อเป็นจุดเร่ิมต้นในการพูดคุยกัน"

ตีความได้ว่า ผู้พูดต้องการจะพูดเกี่ยวกับเรื่องอะไรซักอย่าง แต่เพื่อให้ผู้ฟังรู้สึกสนใจ ผู้พูดจึงจะยกตัวอย่างโดยใช้ Sydney Opera House ในการเริ่มต้นการพูดคุยกัน

Google Nose: From Text, Picture, Video and now Smell

มนุษย์เรามีประสพการณ์อยู่ 5 แบบด้วยกัน รูป,เสียง,กลิ่น,รส,สัมผัส แต่เราไม่สามารถนำประสพการณ์เหล่านี้เข้าสู่คอมพิวเตอร์ได้ทั้งหมด ที่เราทำได้หลักๆคือ รูป เช่น ข้อมูลข่าวสาร หรือจะเป็นรูปภาพ และเสียงเช่นเพลง เมื่อรวมรูปและเสียงเข้าด้วยกัน ก็จะกลายเป็นวีดีโอ ปัจจุบันเราสามารถได้รับประสพการณ์ทั้งภาพและเสียงผ่านอินเทอร์เน็ตได้แล้ว

ส่วนกลิ่น รส และสัมผัส ยังเป็นสิ่งที่ยากอยู่ แต่เร็วๆนี้ Google ได้มีโครงการใหม่ที่จะนำ 'กลิ่น' เข้าสู่โลกคอมพิวเตอร์ และจะช่วยให้คน Search หา 'กลิ่น' ที่เราอยากรู้ว่าเป็นอย่างไรได้ เช่น กลิ่นของดอกกุหลาย ถ้าใครไม่เคยดมก็คงไม่รู้ว่าเป็นอย่างไร

ตัวผมเองก็ยังสงสัยอยู่นะว่ามันจะเวิร์คจริงหรือเปล่า แต่นั่นไม่ใช่ประเด็นหลัก สิ่งสำคัญคือวิทยาการก้าวหน้าขึ้นทุกวัน วันนึงเราคงจะสามารถ เก็บกลิ่น และส่งกลิ่น แห่งความสุข ความอบอุ่นผ่านอินเทอร์เน็ตได้ 

Prime Number Animation

Prime number is a number which can be divided by itself and '1'. It could be hard to imaging what it's like if you are not a mathematician. Visit the following website. It's quite interesting.

http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/math/factorization/animated-diagrams/

Google Glasses! 4/4 [How it works]

          This the last post. It shows how Google glasses works. It's a good attempts, but not complete. Well, Jeff Jarvin said in his book "What would google do?" (see the link below) that everything for Google is a beta. Google never waits for a complete product. It releases a usable product, and continue to improve it. Perhaps, in future, we might see a more complete Google Glasses.

How It Works

There is a concern that I have: Privacy. Google is not the company who would care a lot about your privacy. You would never know that if your video feed is archived with google. Well, there's a old saying, convenient comes by the price of privacy and security. The list of Google glasses series Introduction and What Google glasses can do Google glasses in Fashion Google glasses and your baby How Google glasses works

Google Glasses! 3/4 [A Baby]

          This one is to use Google glasses as your camera. You can't hold your camera all the time. So you might miss a great moment. Here, Google glass can help. Plus, in some cases, it might not be a good idea to take a camera. But you can wear google glasses. Perhaps, some museum might even think that it's just another glasses.

Google Glasses and Your Baby

The list of Google glasses series

1. Introduction and What Google glasses can do
2. Google glasses in Fashion
3. Google glasses and your baby
4. How Google glasses works

Google Glasses! 2/4 [Fashion Industry]

Here is my second post in the series. Let's see what Fashion industry think of Google glasses.

Google Glasses in Fashion

The list of Google glasses series

1. Introduction and What Google glasses can do
2. Google glasses in Fashion
3. Google glasses and your baby
4. How Google glasses works

Google Glass! 1/4 [What It Can Do]

Google is working on an interesting virtual reality project. And, it has a prototype for sale! It's called "Google Glasses". Normally I don't post several videos consecutively. I do for this one. Here are the list.

The list of Google glasses series

1. Introduction and What Google glasses can do
2. Google glasses in Fashion
3. Google glasses and your baby
4. How Google glasses works

What Google glasses can do 

Windows 8: A Small Demonstration

This is one of the greatest marketing campaign to demonstrate that Windows 8 is really simple. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal. Without any spoiler, I'll let you watch the video below. Enjoy :)

Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year to you all! I wish you all the best things in the world. May this year be a great year for you all. May you all have good health, success, and prosperity!

My New Web Page--WhatILearnFromReading.Com

I just launch my new website 

"WhatILearnFromReading.com". 

It is a blog where I document what I learn from [my] reading. The recent blog post will be updated on the facebook fan page, below: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/What-I-Learn-from-Reading/423436971050450

Life is busy. If you don't have time but you like learning new thing, please visit my blog. I hope you will find my content useful. 

What I Learn From Reading Is Coming Soon

For a while, I have been reading a lot. Well, mostly listening, since I usually "read" audiobook. I have also reviewed and done book summary at this blog.

I decided that it's time to escalate my passion and effort for my reading. So I decided to run a new website "www.WhatILearnFromReading.com." Currently, I am touching up the website. I am planning to launch the website on 12/12/12 (nice date, isn't it?) Here is a sample page:

I will document what I learn from reading there. The first book that I will do is "The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship" by Bill Murphy Jr. [ Read The Book Review Here ].

I wish you will go there. And, if you find the content interesting,  I hope that you'll come back and visit the website regularly. I hope that you will tell your friends about the website. And, I hope that you'll also tell your enemy about the website :)

As for this blog, I will still keep posting miscellaneous things like cartoonized your picture.

Cartoonize your picture with cartoonize.net

Wanna make your picture like a cartoon? I am looking for one, as I will use my cartoonized image for my new website. So, I went and looked online. I found "cartoonize.net". This picture lets you upload your image and apply cartoon effect to your picture. I tried it, and it's pretty cool. Here is the result:

The nice things about this website are

• It's free!
• You don't need to create any account. Just upload and choose your image
• You can download the image after it is cartoonized. There is a little watermark "cartoonized.net" on the bottom right corner. But you can crop it out. 

There is a desktop version for $19.95, where you can convert your images in batch, and you can do it offline. To me, I think it's expensive because I'm a casual user. For now, online conversion is all I need.

[Book Review] The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship by Bill Murphy Jr.

Rating: 4.5/5

Genre: Non-Fiction, Business

Book Review:

      As the name suggested, this book is about how to become an entrepreneur. But, more importantly, it is about how to become one intelligently. It starts off with why a lot of entrepreneurs fail. Then it presents 10 rules that will help you to become a successful entrepreneur. If you are planning on becoming an entrepreneur, you should really read this book. If you are not, you might as well read this book because it is quite intesting. It’s fun to read and along the way, who knows, you might change your mind and want to become an entrepreneur.

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick, Steve Wozniak, and William L. Simon

Rating: 4.5/5

Genre: Non-fiction, Biography

Book Review

Kevin Mitnick was a notorious hacker. He was very good at what he did. He was able to get into a lot of secured placed without getting caught for several years. But then, in the end, like most hackers, he got caught, served his term, and came out clean. Now, he is one of the most skillful security professional.

This book is based on his story. It starts since he was young. So, I kindda understand why he becomes a hackers. In a way, he’s like Steve Jobs. Mitnick and Jobs are geniuses. They are not happy with what traditional education can give them. So, they need to find a way out to express themselves. Jobs went on founding Apple, while Kevin turned out to be a hacker.

This book is not only fun, but also informative. Before reading this book, I know quite a bit about security. But still, I learned a lot more from this book. But don’t be scared by the term “security”. The content of this book is not very technical. This book is meant for general public. For example, to get confidential information, you just need to use “social engineering”. You just have to pretend to be one of employees who are allowed to have the information. How? Well, you just need to know how the inside people talk to each other. Then, you search for the right telephone numbers. You call them. You pretend to be one of them. And, people will give you the information you want. Most people are just too trusting. The question is do you have the guts to pull this off. Well, Mitnick does.

[Book Review] Steve Jobs--The Exclusive Biography by Walter Issacson

Rating: 3/5

Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography

Book Review:

       The reasons I like biography is that it is inspring. I’d like to know more about someone I admire, and Steve Jobs was one of them. I started  out knowing next to nothing about Steve Jobs (although I own an iPod nano and a Mac book pro). I was kind of curious about the people behind it. From this book, I learn a lot about Steve Jobs, his invention, and his company. To most people, Steve was a Genious. But who would have known that he had a very conflicting personality. He was a firm believer in Hindu and Zen. Yet, he was obnoxious and very hard to deal with. He’d like to be at the intersection of technology and humanity. Yet, he was no humanitarian. He did everything in his own way regardless of whether his action will hurt others. I’m glad that I get to know that side of him.

[Book Review] The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Rating: 3/5

Genre: Novel

Book Review

Most of us probably heard of “The Phantom of the Operas”. It is reproduced over and over again in various form. I first saw it in the broadway musical produced by Andrew Loyd Webber. Then I saw it again, when hollywood made it in the movie form. And, this is my third time. This time is in book, audiobook. 

As in other novel, the book is more elaborated. It contains a lot of details which is left out by musicals or movies. Also some parts, some important parts, are quite different from the musical and movie production. It is interesting. But I find it quite difficult to follow (esp. for non-native speaker), because it contains so many Theatrical terminology. But it  was alright. On the average, I enjoyed it. 

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.