Category Archives: Geek Stuff

KC Supports Entrepreneurs: My First Day in Kansas City

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Kansas City definitely doesn’t have most entrepreneurs, but it does have a community that is receptive and welcoming to entrepreneurs.

Where I’ve Been

Silicon Valley has been my home for the past summer, and I’ve been there many times before. I went to Stanford to attend Startup School in 2007, where I heard from entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Paul Buchheit, and Paul Graham. In 2009, I went to San Francisco to attend the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on a Student Scholarship. That was the first year the iOS App Store existed. I’ve been to every WWDC since, at Moscone West every year.

In 2010, I went to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. I met a lot of entrepreneurs there, and visited some software companies in the area. I formed my own development team and worked on mobile apps for a year.

So I bring a unique perspective to Kansas City; one informed by the hacker culture in both Silicon Valley and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Hacker House at 4428 State Line Rd

The address of Ben Barreth’s Hacker House is public info:

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Why I decided to visit Kansas City: it’s not just Google Fiber

A Little About Me

I’m a hacker and entrepreneur from Los Angeles, California. My initial introduction to technology came when I was a child, and my dad showed me how to assemble our own computers. I was intimidated at first, but I was also fascinated. Our first family computer was a 486DX with 16MB RAM and a 14.4k modem. Over the years, I dove deep into various online communities, from shareware to virtual worlds to web development. In 2008, I made the switch to Mac for the sole purpose of doing iPhone app development, and I’ve had amazing success there: today, my iOS and Android apps have over 12 million downloads, and nearly a million active users.

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How to change the browser interface language of Google Chrome for Mac

1. At the top left of your screen, open the Apple menu.
2. Click System Preferences…
3. Under Personal, click Langauge & Text. (On my system, this is the fifth icon from the left.)
4. Under the Language tab, drag English (or your preferred language) to the top of the list. In my case, I had to move English above Tieng Viet (Vietnamese).
5. If Google Chrome is running, restart Google Chrome. (Changes take effect at launch.)

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How to learn programming

“I hated high school. It was the worst time of my life. [Then] college … was just awful. When you’re in high school, everyone tells you, ‘There’s a lot of repetitive bullshit and standardized tests; it’ll all be better once you’re in college.’ And then you get to your first year of college and they’re like, ‘Oh, no– it gets better when you’re in grad school.’ … I couldn’t take it. So I dropped out. And I’m glad I did.” – Jamie Zawinski (jwz), one of the world’s best programmers.

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iPad isn’t a computer

When people complain that the iPad doesn’t have multitasking, a camera, a full-fledged desktop OS, or an exposed filesystem, they’re missing the point. They’re forgetting what came before: a slew of tablets from the likes of HP, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Asus, Toshiba and others. What do all of these existing tablets have?

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