Mind of a Young Undergrad Entrepreneur

I was browsing through a fellow UW undergrad’s blog when I stumbled upon his “Endless Google Search”.

The first thing that went through my mind as I was using it was, “Holy shit. This is awesome.” This just comes to prove that opening up API’s is a really good thing for the world. It allows creative programmers such as Paul (his blog here) the tools and resources to building something as ingenious as his “Endless Google Search.”

Basically, Paul used one of Google’s API’s to create his own search tool, one that uses the Google Search Engine but lists the results in such a way that you don’t need to click on any link to see more results. The mod uses AJAX to load search results, which allows you to simply scroll down to view more. This is a great tool if you are doing research!

Check his tool out here

However, as someone mentioned in the comments for the post, the ‘endlessness’ of the page may incur depression in some people…LET THIS BE A WARNING TO THE WEAK-MINDED

- Peter Kao

Just an update on my operating system problem, I had installed Ubuntu over Vista since I was fed up with it self-destructing (who knows when it will do it again).

Ubuntu is currently the most popular Linux distribution out there and I had always loved it. After spending countless hours (2 days straight FYI) configuring and setting up the system to get it to feel and work exactly the way I want, the system was waiting for a priority upgrade. So, this is when I was reminded why I had quit Ubuntu before. When I upgraded my system, everything went kaput. I had to re-install EVERYTHING, but since I prefer the operating system over Windows any day, I reinstalled it again. Got everything working again, then I decided to neglect the priority upgrade and upgraded my hardware drivers. Then, kaput! AGAIN. This time my sound card went dead. This was the last draw. Ironically, I installed Vista over Ubuntu and am re-doing my configurations on that.

Ubuntu is truly remarkable if you haven’t used it before. You can see an example here:

I really think that Ubuntu has a chance to go mainstream, but before that, it has to have better hardware support and a more stable upgrading process (one that doesn’t involve constant destruction to the system files), not to mention more support for 64-bit systems.

All in all,  I have wasted a lot of time on computers lately, mainly trying to get them to work the way they should. I am even starting to feel a bit annoyed with them…oh noes! My nerdy side is slowly diminishing! (the fact that I just said that proves to be on the contrary).

- Peter Kao

I was running a routine CHKDSK on my laptop last week and according to the Vista there were some files that required moving. So, Vista moved them around for me to “solve the problem” but instead of optimizing my laptop, it self-destructed by moving BOOT records to weird places which means that my computer can’t boot up anymore!

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My apologies to my peers who were volunteers at the Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference ‘08, but the conference was really really bad. The atmosphere of the event felt very “last minute.” The delegates were rude, clique-y and anti-social. Presenters, who are the main attractions and contributors to the conference, were only given t-shirts as prizes. This made me feel both embarrassed and a bit ticked off. Also, the TechExpo blew too. It was suppose to showcase emerging technologies, but instead was an open-floor for companies to promote themselves or recruit undergrads.

Well, that was my one minute rant. Any longer might be considered to be offensive (not that it hasn’t ticked off the volunteers already.

- Peter Kao

I have already started on one of my New Year’s Resolution, which is to manage my money better. The reason is not because I am in a huge debt or starving and living off leftover garbage food, but more so to get in the habit of understanding where my money is going or coming from.

This will be something I will need to do anyways when I start my own business, since I will have to somehow track my cashflow.

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