the emoticon

Blue Brain Project

jterenzio — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:11:40 PST

I recently learned about a project that aims to fully model a human brain on a supercomputer. This sounds pretty far off, but they've already mastered a full section of a rat's brain. Given how quickly processing power is growing, the 10 year goal stated by the project's leader, Henry Markram, doesn't sound all that unbelievable considering what they've accomplished up to this point. If you're interested in the science or philosophy of the brain, there is a very cool talk on TED. I really like how Markram has some very simple yet thought-provoking ways to think about the mystery of consciousness.

I personally believe that consciousness is intrinsically tied to the physical universe in some magnificent way that we cannot even fathom. Our separate approaches to understanding each one might not be the best way to go about finding a "theory of everything". If you think about it, the Big Bang and consciousness are uncannily similar. Their existences are self-evident and their origins are completely inexplicable... Food for thought.

LA vs. San Francisco

jterenzio — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:58:54 PST

It's been a long time since my last post so I just wanted to check in. As some of you might know, I recently made the move to San Francisco (last September). I have to say it's been an extrememly positive change from LA. While I don't want to delve too deeply into the intrastate rivalry that California is so famous for, I do understand the (often stark) differences between NorCal and SoCal much better now. I'll just give a quick list of (non-social) improvements:

everything is local, no more driving 45 minutes for a simple errand
public transit rules (in case it's too far to walk)
food is cheaper and better
fine IPA and great wines are more readily available
oppurtunities for photography (besides celebrities ;) ) are endless
everyone is in tech
outdoor activities within 1 hour

Regarding the people... this is little more complex. Many will argue that LA is known for superficial folks driven by fame and looks. That might be true to an extent but San Francisco also has its fair shair of superficiality, it's just based on different tenets. Fixed-gear bikes (in one of the most hilly cities on earth) are prevelant, the foody/organic/vegitarians are way more in your face, and I do think the NorCal pride is a little more intense than down south. That being said, San Francisco dominates in non-Hollywood arts and the amount of "old money" vs. the "new money" that is splattered all over LA makes it seem more like a Northeastern city of culture. I like this because in addition to hip, there are opportunities to see some of the best ballet and opera in the world for example.

Anyway, I can go on and on but I'm not. I have a few other posts I've been wanting to make on more concrete topics so stay tuned!

The Economics of Free

jterenzio — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:13:06 PDT

If 411 is a multi-billion dollar per year industry, then why can Google give away GOOG-411 for free? Because every time someone calls it and says something, Google records their voice and matches it to the business name to build a more robust voice recognition system. After a few years of collecting, this database is worth millions and millions. In effect, the caller is doing labor for Google while perceiving that they are using a free product.

If you think this type of stuff is interesting, you should check out the book Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business by Chris Anderson. It's full of interesting ideas about the internet and it's seemingly cost-free nature. I'm only half-way, but I have to say it's caused a lot of discussion so far...

Check it: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free

Apple vs. Microsoft

jterenzio — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:22:52 PDT

The debate will always* rage between Mac and PC users. I'm not going to go into my personal beliefs here except to say that I was once a Windows enthusiast, and now I'm a Mac enthusiast.

Today I read a great article by John Gruber at Daring Fireball about the state of Microsoft in the face of an ever growing competitor in its core marktet. I would recommend reading it. It definitely addresses a lot.

One of the things to keep in mind that I have noticed about Mac and PC television ads lately is this: Mac ads try to sell their state of the art operating system and computers while PC ads basically try to talk people into buying a cheaper computer so that they'll be stuck with Windows. They don't even care what brand you buy... they barely even say anything about Windows at all.

*will it?

Twitter Might Be Useful

jterenzio — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:37:24 PDT

I came across this article in the New York Times last night and thought it was the best pro-Twitter article I've read yet. I have to admit that for me personally, it has been difficult to embrace Twitter and find meaningful ways to use it. However, I think I do understand the utility and disutility it can provide.

A lot of people I know who are not super internet savvy will quickly dismiss Twitter as a fad. More often than not they say something like "it's just a useless stream of personal anecdotes that I don't care about at all". This is true for many Tweets, such as "Walking the dog!", but not all of them. Like any form of electronic communication, Twitter has signal and noise. I think Twitter can be likened to an FM signal, and users/aggregators are like tuners, able to pull the proper channels of interest.

I think that even though I have not personally added much signal strength to Twitter, I am nontheless excited about what it has to offer. There is no doubt that Twitter can provide useful and timely information in a way that's never been done before. Next time you see hundreds of cops in your neighborhood, or there's a forest fire coming your way, just search Twitter and maybe you'll find out what's happining. I think after this I'm going to follow some cool people, and maybe the Korean BBQ truck around here that everyone talks about: @KogiBBQ.

JT in Belize

jterenzio — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:18:58 PDT

I'm off to Belize and I thought it would be cool to keep a travel log right here on the emoticon! Stayed tuned for continuous updates and hopefully some pics (pending the internet situation).

I'm not 100% sure of the itinerary, but I'll be staying with my girlfriend's family on Ambergris Caye from 7/11 to 7/18. Should hopefully be doing some snorkeling/diving at some point and otherwise exploring what looks like a ridiculously beautiful tropical paradise.

7/10
Just finished packing. Should be arriving in Belize around 3pm tomorrow. Apparently Belize is on mountain time right now, so it's an hour later than the west coast. Brought a ton of slide film and the Nikon, otherwise packing light. Stayed tuned!

7/11

The flight was pretty smooth, arrived at BZE and took a cab to the ferry terminal. Belize City is a blast from the past, it looked like pictures I've seen of old Havana. The ferry was to take us to San Pedro, which is the one and only city on Ambergris Caye. It was more of a glorified speedboat, and it was an incredibly rough and crowded one-hour trip. Apparently we hit "rush hour" where everyone (tourists and locals) were heading back to the caye. But I guess I'd rather be on a crowded boat here than the 405 though. The waters are beautiful. When we arrived our guide said that everyone who comes on the boat leaves on a plane. We probably won't be exceptions.

That being said the trip was worth it. Ambergris Caye is a quintessential island paradise. And the fact that it was a bit tough to get to makes it all the more appealing to be on it. Right now we are in the midst of severe afternoon thunderstorms, but I will post pics tomorrow hopefully.

7/23
Ok so I failed at my planned updates. In fact I've been home for most of a week and I haven't even capped this post off. The problem with being on a tropical island paradise is that the internet is really slow, and you don't want to do anything except chill. In condensed form, the rest of the trip went something like this: swim, eat, snorkel, eat, scuba, eat, swim, eat, scuba, eat, sail, eat, smoke cuban cigar, eat, head home. It was one of the best trips of my life...

I promise I will provide more next time!

10 Best Picture Nominees?

jterenzio — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:30:19 PDT

So my buddy sent me an interesting article today from Variety. Apparently the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that from now on there will be not five, but ten nominees for Best Picture. The explanation is as follows:

Having 10 best picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize.

At first I was feeling pretty cynical about this. I think that in the last five years or so there have been quite a few Best Picture nominees that were undeserving. Take the 76th and 77th Academy Awards for example. I also thought that maybe this is a marketing ploy. More movies will soon be able to stamp "X Oscar Nominations" or "Nominated for Best Picture" on their covers at the video store and the Academy could build even more hype for the show.

Looking at the last two years, however, I started to change my mind a little. The last two Academy Awards (79th and 80th) both had a pretty robust lineup of nominees, and frankly one could probably think of a few more that could have easily been added each year (given that they were both really good years), right? Into the Wild and Children of Men came to my mind immediately. I did some research at http://www.imdb.com/list to confirm this, but I did not find what I was looking for. I actually only came up with one additional pick for the Best Picture nominees for each of the last two years.

So now I've come full circle and am back to my original feeling about this. I just don't think there are on average anywhere close to ten films per year that are worthy of Best Picture. So it's looking more like a marking ploy to me. What do you think?

UPDATE (6/25): on NPR's Marketplace, Kai Ryssdal called this "a smart Hollywood stimulus package." He put it better than I did...

These new emoticons are sweet

aow692 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:34:00 PDT

Isn't this the greatest blog you've ever seen??

iPhone 3GS Early Review

jterenzio — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:31:50 PDT

Today I was at lunch with some coworkers. In case you didn't know I work at an internet company, so the whole crew is pretty into things like the iPhone. One guy was saying that he was going down to the Sprint store to see about getting the new Palm Pre. Suddenly I found myself vehemently defending the iPhone 3GS as a better choice, even though I've never actually seen or held one.

iPhone-induced craziness can strike any Mac fan at any time. The only cure is to educate yourself more- so that you can back up your claims with empirical evidence. That's why I'm about to order my iPhone 3GS online. Am I sick?

Polemical First Post

mmedved — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:49:14 PDT

I tried eating 보신탕 (dog soup) on Wednesday.

Gut reaction?