Hung Truong: The Blog!

Thoughts on the Macbook Air

So Apple announced the Macbook Air today. I was hoping for something like a major upgrade to the Macbook Pro, but this is kinda cool, too.

It’s thin, which is really nice. I used to have a Dell 300m that was about 3 pounds. I liked it a lot for the portability; unfortunately the build quality wasn’t great and the screen developed some issues.

But basically, that’s all the Macbook Air is: a thinner Macbook with less features that costs more. Unless you’re a weakling, the benefit of having a slightly lighter computer isn’t really worth all that you’re losing. Sure, there’s stuff like the multi-touch and um… isn’t that about it?

I was totally ready to buy whatever new awesomeness Apple had ready for the Macbook Pro, but I guess I’ll forgo buying one until they do get an upgrade. At this point, I can buy a refurbished Macbook Pro for about the same price (or less) as a new Macbook Air. But I don’t really need a Macbook Pro since my normal Macbook is still chugging along nicely…

Who Died In A Blogging Accident?

2 people apparently. But now there’s a lot more posts for the phrase “died in a blogging accident” because XKCD did a funny comic.

The world may never know who died in a blogging accident. And yes, I’m repeating the phrase “died in a blogging accident” for maximum SEO goodness. Died in a blogging accident.

Internship Searching Season 2008

So January (and in some ways, December) is the time to start looking for internships. I’ve already done quite a bit of looking along with sprucing up my portfolio site (the projects section has accordion effects now!) and updating my resume.

I think part of the reason it’s difficult to search for internships is because I’d like to define the internship rather than the employer defining it for me. I understand the need to succinctly say, here’s what the internship position is, but too often I end up seeing generic “software engineering” of which I have no idea what they entail.

Out With Vista (New and Busted), In With XP (Old Hotness)

That’s right! After having been screwed by Vista for the last time (incompatibility with Nero 5 OEM, which would require an unnecessary “upgrade” to Nero 8, and the inability for Vista to share its printer with other XP computers), I’m switching back to XP. And by that, I mean I’m switching my mom back to XP.

So long, Vista! I hope you die in a fire!

Google “Friends” = Worst Idea Ever

Maybe I’m just in a bad mood this week. Or maybe software is just getting ridiculously stupid.

I use Google Reader as an RSS Feed reader. They recently introduced a “feature” where you can see stuff from your “friend’s” RSS subscriptions. Google has the idiotic idea that anyone you chat with on Gtalk or email is a friend.

Google doesn’t ask you who you friends are, they just have some algorithm to determine it. An algorithm. To determine who your friends are.

While I am very confident in certain algorithms (like say, Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm), I believe it’s quite easy to figure out who one’s friends are by FUCKING ASKING THE PERSON!

The worst part is, in order to remove these stupid stories, you must delete these people from your contacts list. So really, there’s an extreme binary relationship: either you are someone’s friend and you email them, or you are not their friend and you will never email them, ever.

Google will not be able to beat Facebook at social software if they can’t figure out how to ask someone who their friends are. This move shows an utter lack of understanding of human nature. Google thinks they can solve things mathematically when asking a user will completely suffice. The algorithm-worship there has seriously got to stop.