There’s this girl named Belle. Although she doesn’t know it, her name is appropriate for her looks. Wherever she goes, there are men – young and old – who’d love to have her. She’s known this ever since she’s developed a woman’s figure. The attention has helped her overcome the lack of it from her own family. She likes to dance and often is at the center stage. If she isn’t at the time, she will be. She’ll move the crate of beer from the sidewalk to the middle of the street and dance there – all while splashing water onto herself from the hose she holds so familiarly in her wet palms. She’ll also be groped by a family friend who’s a married man of 19 with his wife looking on. At the peak of everybody’s drunkenness, Belle prowls the streets. She walks to one end of the street, turns around, and then back again. She’s looking for something. She finally comes to a stop at a dark alleyway, enters and only reappear after 20 or so minutes. There’s some doubt about what Belle was doing in the dark alley as it could have been a coincidence that she came out of it with two young boys of her age or a couple of years younger. It could also have been a coincidence that one of the two boys was adjusting his zipper as he was coming out and that Belle, herself, was holding what seemed to be her belt. As she walks back towards our table, our eyes met and we exchanged smiles. My smile slowly fades away as I realize her smile would become a wink in a couple of years and then maybe traded for something else beyond that. But like I said, it wasn’t clear what happened in that alley.

She’s walked passed me now, sitting on a motorbike facing towards our table. She has an almost dejected look on her face. She’s swinging her belt around and one of her friends come by to talk to her. No smiles between them. Then I realize she’s holding a strong looking stick that would make a good weapon. Was she holding it when she came out of the alley? I don’t know. What I do know is that when it was time for bed, she disappeared into the night like she did in the alley – this time up the stairs of the same building as the married man from before. It could be another coincidence that they were family friends.

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But last month, I came across someone mentioning WebeTalk on an online community which I’ve already forgotten the name of.

It’s a simple but elegantly designed website with a web-based IRC client in the middle with the banner text,

“We are a group of web entrepreneurs who like to talk with each other about new ideas, internet topics, and various other things. Come join us today!”

It’s mostly quiet when I’m logged in, but I also happen to be on the other side of the world, assuming that most of the chat members are from North America. But having just logged in at 1:20PM (UTC/GMT +8 hours) there seems to be some short bursts of activity.

Not sure if you want to join this small WebeTalk community? You can find interesting stats on the channel here: http://webetalk.com/stats.php like my favorite, Longest Monologue.

See you there!

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Hackerspaces are perfect for entrepreneurs who like to work with their hands. So, what is a ‘hackerspace?’

“A hackerspace or hackspace (from Hacker and Space, sometimes referred to as a makerspace) is a real (as opposed to virtual) place where people with common interests, usually in science, technology, or digital or electronic art can meet, socialise and collaborate. A hackerspace can be viewed as an open community labs incorporating elements of machine shops, workshops and/or studios where hackers can come together to share resources and knowledge to build and make things.”

Surprisingly, hackerspaces are easier to find than you think. They’re all across the world and there’s at least one in many big cities. Here’s a list of all the locations you can visit: http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces

So, if you ever need a place to build a prototype of your next product or need some expertise in building it you know where to look!

PS: There is one at Waterloo called the Kwartzlab and another in Toronto called the HackLab.

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This is what we call a motto. “Italian for pledge, and motti when plural,” as says so on Wikipedia.

I’m pretty sure I derived parts of my motto from somewhere else, although I don’t remember it now. But this motto has been on the back of my mind for a while now, and it guides everything I do with an invisible hand. It goes as follows,

“Understand the past, plan for the future, and just survive in the present.”

The reason for the beginning and middle part is obvious. I won’t bore you by explaining it. The main idea is that the present as we perceive it really isn’t the present. There is a time lapse of when things are happening in reality and when we perceive reality. Putting science aside, the present happens too quickly for us to make good conscientious decisions all of the time.

In other words, don’t bet on making the right decision when you are suddenly given the opportunity, and withstand any troubles you face knowing that you have a solid plan, built on experience and knowledge. Survive the hurdles, and you will continue on your plan – better than what you were before.

Peter Kao

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It’s surprising to see so many people waste away the benefits of the internet. The occasional gaming a few times a week is alright, but nowadays you can do just about anything on the internet. The problem is – some of us do nothing online.

You want to explore a new hobby? Visit Sutree and you can learn to become an expert. Need an easier way to manage your personal finance? Visit Buxfer and setup a budget in minutes. But many remain ignorant and visit solely entertainment websites that only wastes away countless hours. These people were the typical couch potatoes, and now they have evolved into desk potatoes. The only difference now is people are in control of the content they receive, and that may either dilute their general knowledge or increase it tenfold. Take for example, a sport fanatic. He/she will spend majority of their time reading game results online. Or, car enthusiasts who will spend the entire the day watching video reviews. Why? Because they can and they want to.

With TV, you will at least be forced into catching a glimpse of the news or forced to watch something of a new subject when nothing good is on (ditto for magazines and newspapers). But because the way the web is, you can visit a website every day of your life and still learn about the same subject, albeit different subcategories of the subject but still the same general subject nonetheless. That’s alright, however the danger comes when a dumb person likes dumb things.

Now, it’s a whole new discussion to define intelligence. However, I think we can all agree that most people who comment on Youtube are dumb, either that or they are incredibly effective in writing numbingly idiotic comments. So, the dumb will do dumb things, such as watching all ball-in-the-groin videos on Youtube while the intelligent may watch a single ball-in-the-groin video, laugh his/her ass off and spend the remainder of time learning how Bush sucked as a president, which may I dare say effectively explains the dirty core of politics.

But how about easy online access to the news and other lessons? Doesn’t that help “dumb” people engage in learning experiences who would otherwise be wasting their time? No, we’re all spoiled and we get what we want. Just be hopeful that you do more online than reading the entertainment section on Digg.

The internet has so much potential to save us time, educate us on important life lessons or entertain us. Unfortunately, it further grows the gap between differing intellects. The workforce will contain far brighter, well-rounded individuals who will take even more advantage of poorly educated folks.

All in all, the dumb will get dumber and the smart will get smarter. One thing is for sure though: we will all end up knowing more than before. The question is – about what?

For better using the internet, I’ve listed a few sites that I visit regularly to update my knowledge:

Personal finance – Redflagdeals Forums, Buxfer

Investment – Stockhouse, Four Pillars, Million Dollar Journey

Economy and Market – Canadian Business, Business Week

Science and Technology – Wired, Lifehacker, Engadget

Entrepreneurship – Springwise, Trendwatching, Inc.

Overall knowledge – Digg, TED, Flora.tv, Wikipedia

- Peter Kao

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Back in the 70′s, Pong was a fairly fun game even though it seems as a ridiculously slow-paced game now. With so much stimulus around us we just can’t use enough of our brains.

PongOut makes an excellent comparison of how attention-deficit the younger generations are compared to the older generations. And what makes this game fun is that it challenges players to focus on two relatively complicated things at once, each of which has it’s own gameplay.

Now, if only there was a third screen…

Peter Kao

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Today, I was talking to a friend of mine and I asked, “So, who are you going to vote for?” 

She said, “Obama.” 

The funny thing is, we were both on campus – in Canada. 

The point is that we focus so much on American politics (assuming you DO follow politics, if you don’t -YOU SHOULD) that we understand so little of our own.

I believe that more students like us will be driven to vote if we take more time to understand Canadian politics, and now you can do so easily using a web-app created for the 24-Hour Hacking Competition from Yahoo! Here’s the link: http://yahoo.summerhilldesign.com/index.php 

With this app, you can find every single incumbent Member of Parliament’s position on various topics. The UI is really well designed and makes learning about politics actually fun. Go check it out! 

REMEMBER TO VOTE ON: October 14, 2008 

Peter Kao

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Yes, I've arrived

Just moved into Velocity, Canada’s first (that I know of) student incubator residence. I first wrote about it in January (see Velocity – The UW Student Residence for Undergraduate Entrepreneurs) and now I’m living in it.

At first glance, the Velocity building doesn’t look like a student residence at all, rather it looks like an University staff building, but upon entering you are presented with a nice slab of glass that lists impressive sounding areas of the residence. You also get a top-view glimpse of the Rogers Wireless Device Lab which, sadly, is still in construction. I can already imagine it looking stunning though.

Entrance Slab

Device Lab in Construction

The residence will have several rooms that are completely at our disposal. Rooms such as the Device Lab, Great Hall and Conference Room will help entrepreneurial students like me collaborate on projects without having to worry about space or technical limitations.

My only peeve are the old-fashioned rooms and how everything is laid out. Don’t get me wrong, the rooms look nice and habitable. It’s decently sized as well. It’s only the old wooden cabinents and tables and the un-usable layout of the plugs that bother me. First off, the ethernet jack is at least 2 meters away from the today, so you’ll need an extra long ethernet cable to access the LAN line. The other thing is that when sitting down at the table, you irresistibly feel like you’re in a prison cell. There are no windows visible. Maybe it’s just the layout of my room, so let me know if yours is fine, but from what I’ve seen from my friends a lot of the rooms feel very secluded. These problems are small and won’t be a bother once you get used to the room, but I thought I would lay it out for those interested in joining us next term.

My Room! MH-225a

My Room (again)! MH-225a

Door Room Vanity

Here are some more pictures:

My Cheesy Looking Room Door

Sexiest Looking Kitchen I've seen on Rez

And here’s a video showcasing the world’s most advance window at Velocity! It’s a rod attached to a window…

The people are nice, the facilities look nice (though some are still in construction) and the energy is superb. Can’t wait till we have our first Velocity meeting tonight!

PS: News is that we’ll be hooking up an XBOX 360, PS3 and Wii on the big screen TV in the lounge! Man, how are we going to get work done in this place?

Peter Kao

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