(an)drew lee

Google Search Keyboard Shortcuts

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:44:13 -0700

After two years of not knowing why my keyboard shortcuts “stopped” working on Google Search …

Lavu, an iOS based POS

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:34:48 -0700

I ate at Burnt Rice, a pretty nice Korean-fusion style restaurant. I saw they were using iPod touches and iPad for their point-of-sale systems. Pretty neat.

(linkedin)

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:36:42 -0700

(linkedin)

New Startup Accelerator at USC's Viterbi School of Engineering

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:39:04 -0700

New Startup Accelerator at USC's Viterbi School of Engineering

Dealing with Bootstrap overlapping issue

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:54:54 -0700

Dealing with Bootstrap overlapping issue:

Read all the replies.

LinkedIn news is beautiful.

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:47:22 -0700

LinkedIn news is beautiful.

I just noticed the chapters column on the right. Man I had...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:09:37 -0700

I just noticed the chapters column on the right. Man I had massive tunnel vision the past three weeks.

Rails

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 03:01:22 -0700

I’m three weeks into my internship, and three weeks into Rails. I had no idea, but the Rails documentation is great. I was introduced to Ruby as a language more than a year ago and I thought the lack of documentation was a drag. Coming from a guy who was learning Java in school.

Currently reading validations for the model/record (which I learned in Rails 3 is a lot more simplified), and I’m beginning to find the Rails framework very natural. I guess that’s what you get after working on the same project for over three weeks.

The whole ‘test-driven development’ with rspec is also sticking with me. Although it comes with more preparation, I’m able to test most (if not all) the possible cases for a certain line of code. The complexity in these tests are rather simple so I don’t see any problem in writing them. My only frustrations right now are fixing the indentation when I copy paste similar parts of tests in RubyMine.

Git Reference

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:04:00 -0800

Git Reference:

Note to self.

Interactive Typography

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 02:01:00 -0800

Interactive Typography:

This link has been on my to-do list and I’m proud to say that I can finally ~~cross~~ it off! Couple things I learned: modular scale, hedonic vs utilitarian motivation, as well as some history about typography.

Pebble Shipping Tracker

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:25:41 -0800

Pebble Shipping Tracker:

As the days approach, I become anxiously excited. If that even makes sense.

Upgrading SSD on Macbook Pro

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 17:04:59 -0800

Just got my Samsung 840 Pro in the mail today and installed it on my 13” Macbook. To those who are still on HDDs or the mechanical drives, switch over right away. I highly recommend it. You will notice the difference in almost every aspect of your computer, from boot and shutdown times, copying files, and even launching applications.

If you do decide to upgrade, here are some great guides. Some literature on SSDs and buying them. A video of upgrading the drive and what it looks like; it’s so easy a caveman couldn’t do it. After the SSD installation: a great guide on macrumors. Also, another guide if you are noticing slow boot times. (I set the start up disk by: System Preferences > Startup Disk and clicking my SSD.)

Apple's iOS Human Interface Guide

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 13:06:12 -0800

Apple's iOS Human Interface Guide:

Found this nice gem on Hacker News!

"People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware."

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 04:33:00 -0800

“People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.”

- Alan Kay

It’s a great quote and it came to mind when I stumbled upon this cool store that sells electronics (hardware) kits. Credits for the finding go to Techcrunch. I have always been fascinated by the hardware that underlies great software and now there’s a site that makes it easy(ier) to learn.

Always Learn a Lesson

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 06:55:50 -0800

I get my information from a variety of places. TechCrunch, Hacker News, VentureBeat, being a few, and it’s hard to sort through the important things and the things that don’t really matter. Either way, when I’m on these sites I spend time to learn something

http://www.livingforimprovement.com/how-i-gamified-the-google-interview-and-how-you-can-too/

My Take aways:

Creating an environment for yourself that gets you doing what you need to do
Write everything down so it’s out of memory (post-its / notepad)
Record yourself speaking and play it back; to become more familiar with information
Creating reference points; making it easier to actually see/feel the progress.

For me, creating an environment dedicated solely for work is powerful and helpful. I know that when I get situated on my couch, that’s where majority of my coding is done. There is also space allocated for laying out sketches, wallet, key, phone and even a water bottle. Having the environment also makes me more efficient; I know instinctively where things are located without spending much conscious effort. So I know when I sit on the couch and the headphones are plugged in, I’m good to go in terms of coding.

Writing things down is also a great exercise that I do with practically everything. Having a place to write down my thoughts help reduce the mental clutter. I was originally inspired by the ill methodology, and so I re-emphasize it because it is crucial when becoming really creative.

Recording yourself and playing it back … a had a science teacher in the 7th grade who told me a story about this once. To be continued.

Lastly, creating references points are a great idea because you can actually see your progress. When you’re burnt out and all you feel like is giving up, you can take a step back and just look at how far you’ve come in your journey.

Keep moving forward and look back at how far you’ve come.

CSS, margin and padding

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 11:57:06 -0800

CSS, margin and padding:

A reference for me in case I forget, and for everyone else out there ;).

The funniest thing happened to me on Friday (12/7), well in...

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 02:35:00 -0800

The funniest thing happened to me on Friday (12/7), well in retrospect it’s funny. It was my first day of training at the Hyatt Hotel in Belmont [features a beautiful pond and it’s right near the Oracle building(s)], and I was using public transportation due to lack of a car. I planned everything to a T, jotting down all the details of my morning to the training on that notepad. I executed all the steps and followed the direction pretty much perfectly. I was riding the Caltrain to my very first day of my new job, and it was a great feeling.

As a past time, I was reading on my kindle, and by the time I checked to see where I was, I was at Hillsdale. And in my mind I said “oh… shit,” because I was not supposed to be there. The plan was originally to get to the hotel by 9am, but I was in Hillsdale. So what do you in a moment of doubt? Whip out your trusty iPhone, which read 8:14am. On top of that, after checking the timetable for the trains, I learned that the next train to take me down to Belmont would get there at 9:04am! So what could I do? Ask for a ride. I called my friend in Palo Alto to ask if he could come get me and deliver me to the Hyatt, and boy was I relieved.

But after placing that call and being graciously in debt, I had the thought of checking my maps app. There was another glimpse of hope. The trip from the Hillsdale station to the Hyatt in Belmont was about 2.5 miles away and 49 minutes according to Google Map. Being scared that I would be late, I took off running. Forest Gump style.

I eventually made it to the hotel lobby with two minutes.

I learned two very valuable lessons today:

Even with preparation, life happens.
Be present in the moment, especially if you are doing it for the first time.

p.s. the running part was actually not that epic. I ended up walking the last half.

8 Principles For Building Products People Want

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:53:34 -0800

8 Principles For Building Products People Want

Future of Books, Blogs, and Anything Alike

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:06:58 -0800

When I think of the future that this world is headed in, I am quite fascinated. Over three decades ago, software was being sold on what I guess to be floppy disks. Over two decades ago, software was being sold on cd roms. Nowadays, software is ran natively out of the browser, and I see everything moving towards that direction. Books, videos, apps, and everything alike.

I had this idea that blogs are slowly becoming sort of like online books. One of the great things about the internet is its flexibility. One no longer has to ship new editions of a paperback book. That person only needs to make edits, and the person on the other end just refreshes. In that sense, I think blogs will behave more like books. A behavior I imagined, that blogs would adopt, was pages. Instead of pages being up-to-down, I think they will be sided to side. Like a book, you read a page and turn it.

A proof of concept that I did recently. And who knows, may be blogs become outdated by some new technology.

When code doesn’t work.

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:33:18 -0800

When code doesn’t work.