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2008-02-29

 

iSwitched

I have been a happy user of NetVibes for two years, using it for reading news, storing bookmarks, accessing web storage, tracking stock prices, maintaining notes and a TODO list, and whatnot. But, like before, I've decided to switch to Google, this time their Reader.

It was a pretty easy decision. While I still like the functionality of NetVibes, using it has been a pita in the new office, where there are always connection problems. The way NetVibes is implemented, each "widget" has to grab its content independently. Since I have like 40 widgets, poor connections mean I always have a few widgets malfunction. I noticed I have been spending more time reloading than actually reading news...

As a side benefit of Google Reader, I also get to accumulate unread news over time, which are lost in NetVibes. So next time I'm on a trip for a few days, I won't miss the news of, say, Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo.

2008-02-24

 

Missed Patent Opportunities?

What is the best thing to do on a lazy boring Sunday? Google yourself!

What if there's nothing new? Google Patent yourself!

I just did. Turns out a very old paper of mine has been cited on two patent applications. Maybe I could have helped myself to earn some dough...

2008-02-22

 

Free In-n-out

This week we have a free In-n-Out lunch on our company site, this time for the celebration of Black History Month. For those of you living outside the southwest, In-n-Out is a very popular and inexpensive fast food restaurant here, and their burgers are really great for their price.

This is actually the second time in a while. Different from last time, however, is that this time we need to first get a ticket to claim the meal on the trailer. Why all the trouble? That's because last time they ran out of food at around 12:30, while they claimed to last until 1:30, and someone I know got at least 7 burgers. Talking about selfishness!

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2008-02-18

 

Hardest Part

It's difficult to realize which part of my job is the hardest until near the end of a full project cycle of my own.

It would seem hard to know what to do in the beginning. People tend not to know what they want. And it is a researcher's responsibility to understand their product, their business, and what is technically feasible for them to excel in their market.

Then it is equally hard to make them agree with your decision. Convince them that even though you don't really know what they do, you know what is the best for them, and you know what it takes for them to be successful.

What follows is the easy part, which is the actual research work. Abstracting problems. Reading papers. Designing algorithms. Implementing prototypes. Running experiments. Writing patents. Things people actually expect researchers to do.

The next step would be the boring part. And this includes periodically presenting results and getting feedback. With the only goal of making them take over what you have done. Usually it would mean horrible work like cleaning up code and, god forbid, documentations.

And just before you thought you have arrived to the fun part, namely, writing papers, the worst has yet to come. It is not about writing a high-quality paper. After all, these are industrial research projects with real-world impact that some academic conferences are dying for.

Before disclosing company's trade secret and product's internal details, you need to know if you can actually do that, and if so, how much. In the last few days, in order to decide the position of the paper, I have talked to their engineers, scientist, technical leader, product manager, PR, marketing people, and attorney.

I still have no idea on how to write the paper. It almost made it not worth doing.

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2008-02-15

 

Filming

The big thing in office this week is filming. There is a big sign outside the office building telling us that we should remain silent because of filming. Also, we could be in camera in the building and when it happens we should not look right at the camera. I guess it makes sense to do this here more than in the headquarter in Bay Area, since we have more filming talents (and probably out of work until recently) in LA.

Why filming in the office? They are probably doing some web videos to promote our products. And they seem to think what it takes is some nerdy actors walking around our office building talking with other less nerdy supposedly engineers. And what's the best to mock an office environment than, er..., a real office environment?

Which means that for the last few days, I have been trying to avoid any filming area, to avoid becoming a moving filming background. This has been difficult, since they constantly roam around lobby area. Like yesterday when I left, I had to avoid taking the stairs. They are taking away my only exercise at work!

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2008-02-10

 

Frustration

What is more frustrated? Getting papers rejected many times because of "wrong conference" reviews since there isn't really conferences right for your research, or waiting months for your adviser to even start reading your completed thesis?

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2008-02-08

 

Evil Applications

I've finally got a chance to read my first evil, er... patent application, only five months after submitting my idea. What can I say? It is an interesting experience.

The first thing I noticed was that it is now turned from a small paragraph into a 20-page monster. Then there are several figures of "computer systems" that don't seem to mean much. But most importantly, the text is now rewritten in a language I barely recognize–more than anything, it just seems like a random selection of words to me, consisting of very long sentences with repeating nouns and adjectives.

I was supposed to proofread it. That includes technical correctness and also whether it is as broad as humanly possible. I'm proud to admit that three pages into reading it, I fell into asleep in my cubicle.

There are still two more to come. Anyway, this is a small price to pay, given the few grands I'm getting from each application.

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2008-02-05

 

Another Rental Experience

Enterprise is my car rental company of choice, due to its below average price with frequently above average discounts. The service is always satisfactory, albeit sometimes a bit slow.

I used them again the past weekend. The best strategy to get a free upgrade is always to arrive late on a Friday evening, when they run out of small cars. I didn't really mean to get an upgrade, but because of the schedule I arrived late on Friday anyway. Of course, they ran out of cars, especially small cars, to the extend they needed to move walk-in customers to other neighborhood locations.

Anyway, I was asked if I wanted to get a truck instead of my reserved economy. Worried about gas prices, I declined. Guess what I was given instead. An SUV. Not just any SUV, but a Ford Escape Hybrid. These babies go for $50 per day even on the cheapest Fox Rent-a-car, but I was able to rent one at the economy rate of $16.42 per day.

The driving experience is excellent. It was a very comfortable car, as it was the largest car I have ever driven. As a hybrid, it can go long distance without turning on the engine, and that is where the fun begins, trying to drive in a reasonable speed with the traffic without activating the engine. And I only used a little bit of gas, despite driving for long distances.

Of course, there are some downsides too. I needed to parallel park this baby a few times, on both sides of the road. And man, it wasn't easy. Anyway, I guess I have improved my parallel parking skill.

Another fun fact is that even though I have driven only a very small percentage of the car's mileage when it was returned, I have improved its mile per gallon by almost 10%, from 26.4 mpg to 28.8 mpg. I guess this makes me a damn good hybrid driver. Now if only I could afford one myself...

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