BRYANCHEN.COM

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Operating+Systems&articleId=9130727&taxonomyId=89

This is a really interesting, satirical commentary on Microsoft’s naming blunders.

Introducing Bespin from Dion Almaer on Vimeo.

I saw this video and I can’t wait to start trying it out. I especially liked their ideas on how collaboration and file visualisation should be… Believe it or not, I drew up a little plan about it back in 2003, but like all my plans (haha), it never came to fruition. Thankfully these guys share the same ideas and put in the effort to create Bespin.

Today’s society is super-connected. Physically, we have fast and efficient transportation systems that allow us to commute to our meetings. Virtually, we have ever-increasing bandwidth and improving technology which simplify communication and the ability to remain connected to one another. While Moore’s Law is still somewhat valid for computing machinery, our human brains have not been able to keep pace with all this progress. Data and information have become readily available – in fact, since the Internet boom, the problem of information-overload has become more severe and widespread.

We’re already familiar with e-mail spam: messages that we did not request for or do not want are labeled as spam. The reason for the ubiquity of spam is simply due to the convenience and low cost of generating such spam. If, for some reason, sending an e-mail cost the sender a dollar, there wouldn’t be so much spam. If sending an e-mail involved some form of computation which took a minute or two, there wouldn’t be so much spam.

Now, with nascent technologies and services like Friendster, Facebook, MySpace, and the like, another form of spam has surfaced – social spam.

The source or root of social spam is in social networking sites and services, or social networks. Broadly defined, social spam is simply requests or messages, which you do not want, that come from other people or entities within the social network that you use.

For now, there seem to be three main trends in the cause of social spam. Firstly, there are organisational entities looking to advertise a product or service for commercial reasons. Secondly, there are individuals who have a strong desire for social inclusion. Thirdly, the ease of creating custom extensions on social networks: Some may classify the first type of spam as real spam, and the second type as pseudo-spam, but the very definition of spam still holds.

Slightly more than half of all social spam is generated for commercial reasons. Companies seeking new ways to promote their wares have been attracted to social networks due to the sheer number of users that they can potentially reach. Numerous companies set up profiles in social networks and then randomly (or not) start to include real social network users in their profile. By doing so, they are able to harvest tonnes of information that immediately becomes available when a user accepts their request to be added.

Another form involves some form of deceit. The tactics described below are normally used by more dubious commercial services, such as companies providing adult entertainment services. In the case of such, these businesses generally set up profiles on social networks and pose as female users, with suggestive photographs and profile descriptions to lure unsuspecting social network users into initiating contact. While I may sound stereotypical about this, I must add that this form of social spam is not limited purely to adult entertainment. I have seen companies who create profiles that look seemingly innocuous and which appeal to users who, out of our human-nature tendency to be curious, click on these profiles, only to eventually realise that they are not real people.

Since the advent of first generation social networks, the typical adolescent mindset has become more pervasive among Internet users. This mindset generally revolves around the need for competition and social inclusion. For instance, many find it necessary that they appear as someone who is widely-known, sociable, or influential to others. They feel that having more friends (or people) connected to their profile equates directly to being more popular. Due to this, such people generate their own social spam by sending connection requests to random people, or to people they know, but barely.

My own experience with such purveyors of social spam is that the level of inconvenience that comes with it is greater than those that generate social spam for commercial reasons. The reason for my opinion is that social spam generated by businesses and companies is generally easy to spot and remove. In contrast, when I receive a request from some person that I barely know, if at all, there are a few processes that I have to undertake before coming to a decision whether to accept that request or to reject it. First, one would have to determine whether the person requesting the connection is known to him or her. Next, that person, at least on a subconscious level, has to rate the requester according to how well he or she knows them. Finally, that person would have to make a conscious decision to accept or reject the request, which may take into consideration the social and emotional ramifications of the action.

Facebook itself, like many others, allows developers to write custom applications through an easy-to-use API. This could prove to be its greatest asset and its greatest enemy at the same time. The simplicity of these APIs creates such low barriers to entry, to the point where anybody who can write simple scripts could potentially create his or her own plug-in or mini-application. While there are many useful extensions available, this has led to vast amounts of junk extensions that generally provide zero useful features. Notifications and requests, together with the ever-available “Send to All” buttons in such plug-ins generate their own fair share of social spam.

Now that we’ve seen how an instance of social spam could be generated and the inconvenience one instance causes, imagine social spam on the magnitude of its e-mail cousin. The same inconveniences and economic costs involved in e-mail spam is also applicable to spam of a social nature. Time lost, revenue lost due to time lost, computing resources wasted including bandwidth and processing power, are all real consequences of social spam. Similarly, the vast amount of social spam disguises legitimate requests on the social network, which one would inadvertently disregard as spam.

I used to enjoy using services such as Facebook and Friendster. Nowadays, I have to force myself to log in at least once a week to remove social spam. I’ve stopped using them to connect to friends, and have even contemplated deleting my account. I’ve received notifications from weird-sounding mini-applications that I’ve begun to reject all requests to add any kind of new application to my profile.

The result and the impact of social spam in the near future remain to be seen. We can speculate all we want, and yet be wrong about it. One thing is quite certain, however, and it is that if the magnitude of social spam continues to increase, the convenience and benefits of social networking services would be overwhelmed and outweighed by the eventual inconvenience that would come with using such a service. Should that day ever come, we would, as a connected world, possibly be forced to disconnect ourselves from the first useful application of technology since the Internet and search engines.

Some people constantly face the dilemma of whether to open up their hearts and risk being hurt, or remaining the way they are, thus eliminating or lessening that same risk. Because I have loads of time on my hands (metaphorically obviously, though I’m wondering how time would feel if it existed physically – perhaps something fluffy and smelling of vanilla..ah, that’s the vanilla muffins in my room), I have decided to write about this based on experience, and trying to find analogies (purely for fun reasoning).

Occasionally, I wonder how life would have turned out if I had remained in my own circle of comfort, not risking anything, hence not losing anything. A few of those occasions, I do feel that maybe things would be great … less complications, less problems, more ‘me’ time, less responsibilities, .. more money. =P I must add, however, these are thoughts which linger only for mere moments (billionths of seconds..if that’s possible. okay, no it’s not because neurons’ minimum speed is higher than that.. right, enough nerd-talk). Then I think of all the experiences I’ve had over all these years – the good, and the bad.

True: I’ve gone through hell more than once. True: I’ve lost many things along the way. But also true: I’ve gained so much more, as a consequence of the hell I went through.

I’ve been through a few relationships in the last 8 years. I’ve been through more downs than ups. Yet if you asked me whether I’d do it all again, I’d tell you ‘Yes’ in a heartbeat. Econs: Do something as long as its benefit exceeds or equals its cost. And I have to say that I’ve learned a lot and I’d be someone completely different (and boring) if I had not been through the hurt. That’s not to say I haven’t hurt anyone myself…because I have. But for everything that happens, there lies a lesson to be learnt. When you hurt someone, you understand the other side of being hurt. When you hurt, you learn how not to hurt someone else…unless of course, you’re an asshole in which case these things (and this entire post) doesn’t apply to you.

From each hurt, you only gain the ability to be happier the next time. Painful as memories may seem, you will end up revelling in the present. “Hell”, as some may call it, is only temporary. In the long run, we will be happy. Short run fluctuations in happiness will not affect long run equilibrium. I initially typed out how I derived the assumption that we’re meant to be happy in the long term, but I removed it because I think it strays from the point at hand.

Emotionally, I’ve come away stronger. It was tough, I cannot deny that. Yet looking back, every single bit of hurt, every ounce of sadness, each moment of bitterness seem insignificant. I’d rather have loved and hurt than not to have loved at all, because you never will know what would happen in the future.

This year, I’ve decided not to design anything for Christmas. Rather, I’ve composed a little song, which articulates what I feel perfectly. Don’t think I’ll have the time to upload the tune (gotta record from the piano and all) for now (if at all), but here’s the lyrics to it:

Sometimes I feel like sighing.
Sometimes I feel alone.
Sometimes I feel that the whole wide world,
Has hearts that ‘re made of stone.

I wish I had 3 wishes,
I’d make them count; I would.
I’d wish for peace and love and joy
- That people would be good.

There is a time to be nice,
There is a time to share!
Let Christmas be that time,
To show the world we care.

So now here’s what we must do,
Listen carefully,
Just close your eyes and clasp your hands,
And whisper prayerfully:

“Oh Lord please help me now,
And give me strength to say,
To those who’ve done me wrong this year:
‘I forgive you!’, Lord I pray.”

No better time to be nice,
This is the time to share!
Just open up my heart!
Lord Jesus, ’tis my prayer!
For Christmas is the time,
To show the world I care!

I had originally planned to release the photos when I get to them in my blog entries, but I came across this one, and I decided that I had to share it with you guys now, especially since it fits into the whole notion of Christmas.

At the peak of Mount Pilatus. The gentle rays of sun. The rolling curls of clouds. The world beneath us. Surely, this has got to be heaven on earth.

Later today will mark my 3rd paper, which also happens to be my 2nd last paper. It’s algorithms… 12|34 to 123|4. A bit like quicksort…of sorts. =P

I need a 75% on this paper if I wanna smell an A at all.. I’ve already got a whole lineup of activities (both exciting and mundane) that I’m looking forward to (sure, anything beats exams) after my last paper tomorrow (which happens to be maths). After my master plan for ClinicWare failed miserably early this year, I’ve walked away with valuable lessons on running and managing projects. I’ve got another idea in mind, based on a really exciting group (I hope) that I’ve joined in NUS, called the CVWO (Computing for Voluntary Welfare Organisations)…but I shall not disclose it now.

Now for more interesting, non-academic things… it stormed yesterday. yes, with full electrical and water exhibitions in the sky… somehow, my room (and its wooden floorings) were flooded from underneath. Then, the earth leakage circuit breaker tripped. I had to turn of the circuit breaker to my room before the ELCB could be switched on again without tripping. Till now (24 hours later), I’m still unable to turn on the electrical power to my room.. I attempted to change the ELCB and the miniature circuit breakers in my electrical switch box, but after poking around (and a few shocks from electrical arcing), I decided to wait for someone more pro to do it. I don’t wanna die so young..especially not when my exams are almost over. I never did well in my practicals during my electrical engineering course in poly.

Just got a call from the (first and always) 8th Signal Battalion … just to confirm my contact details…. sian. Hope the mobilisation ends fast. ………………………… Mum just called from Shanghai..checking my shoe size ….. apparently Nike shoes are cheap there due to over-stock (intentional, I suppose).

Right, enough rubbish from me for now…I have to get back to my revision!

After working for so long, I’ve realised I’ve gained a certain degree of independence and initiative. This directly means that when school starts, someone who has worked for awhile would possess a higher level of responsibility and an intuitive ability to better discern problems and develop more creative solutions. I have found this to be very true, in fact. Perhaps too, the long rest since I last attended a school served me well.. Maybe it’s also the fact that computing is my favourite course of study. Yes.. all this combined, I’m extremely passionate about my school. It’s time to have fun. The next four years will have its ups and downs, but I know at the end of it, I’ll look back and reminisce all the moments happily, and contentedly.

This project has been replaced with Caragen:
http://www.bryanchen.com/2007/07/18/caragen-tool-the-castle-active-record-autonomous-generator-tool/

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http://my.project.sg/ActiveRecord/ARGenerator.php

I’m using the ActiveRecord framework provided by the Castle Project in a couple of projects for clients, and I’ve found that the monotonous and mundane task of creating AR classes is something that could be accomplished programmatically. I did check out the now defunct (indefinitely?) monorail generator, but it severely lacks an intuitive and functional interface. So, I created my own AR class generator!

Currently generates C# code for SQL Server 2005, but if there’s a demand or when I decide to (whichever is sooner), I’ll extend it to support more database types.

In time to come, I’ll add more and more features till it’s mature enough to create even the most sophisticated relationship mappings. For now, however, you can try it out and if you have a feature you’d like to see added, or just some comments on it, let me know by emailing me[at]bryanchen[dot]com.

Check it out!!

http://www.rosebayflowers.com.sg

It is the unrivalled best in terms of both quality of flowers and quality of the materials used to wrap the bouquets. Don’t believe? Check it out!! You can tell, even with the small pictures, that the materials are of top quality.

I used to patronise FarEastFlora because of their wide range, but honestly, I think (and I know you all will agree with me) that when you send flowers to somebody, you  want the absolute best because it’s something from your heart. There should be no compromise, absolute. Rosebay Flowers fulfills that need.