Teens in Tech 2010
Introduction
Teens In Tech Conference 2010, sounding self-explanatory, was about generating interest in technology for teens. Many guest speakers talked about cultivating their tech careers by blogging, making things, and/or later becoming an entrepreneur. There were tons of free swag (video games, electronics, accessories), catered lunch, and extensive Q&A sessions with experienced industry members of the tech world.
Slideshow
My Students
- Brandon “B” Daws - featured blog post
- Liz Martinez- featured blog post
- Kim Salinas - featured blog post
About me
As you may know, I’m an instructor at the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), teaching a year-long pilot course for young adults about Open Source Software. We’re now at a halfway point, and currently study: Linux, programming, and web development. In a nutshell, this post is about last Saturday, where we had a lot of fun and got tons of free stuff at Teens In Tech Conference 2010, hosted at Google’s Downtown SF campus.
For more…
You can see more pictures at my Flickr account, tagged “teens in tech”.
Hint: Steve Wozniak can be found in a couple of those pictures, since he attended most of the event.
Digital Photography: An Introduction
This weekend I took a digital photography training class at BAVC (http://bavc.org) with Liz Hickok (http://lizhickok.com). It was a ton of fun, where I finally learned how to correctly use my Nikon D3000 DSLR camera.
We spent over 15 total hours learning from actual shooting, as well as studying the mechanics of photography. In short, Liz was an absolutely amazing teacher. You should sign up for one of her classes, or go visit her studio where she builds cities made of Jello.
Homemade pizza (above) sitting on stone slab after using a wooden paddle.
Perhaps the best culinary gift I’ve ever received. I’m now a pizza maker extraordinaire! It was incredibly delicious, and went down nicely with a Sangiovese Italian red wine.
Xbox 360 desperately needs built-in wifi
This is especially not just for people like me, who can just whip up a wireless bridge when needed. Rather, it would be better for everybody including Microsoft.
For example, my neighbors casually mentioned something I hear all too often… After getting their kids an Xbox 360 (for Christmas), “they just couldn’t get online with it.” With their wireless router far off their living room, getting it connected started to seem like an impossible task.
Long story short, they were suckered (like many) into first buying that $100 wifi dongle by Microsoft. If you know anybody who has it, they’ll tell you the same thing… its reception sucks. So they went back to the retailer (Best Buy) and some shrewd employee suckered them into additionally buying a 50ft ethernet cable ($25) plus a couple usb/cat5 adapters ($35), so it would get better reception…
Needless to say, Best Buy’s shady workaround didn’t work at all. But luckily for my neighbors, I had a spare Linksys WRT ($25) to donate them. After setting it up, hopefully they can return all that crap now…
Why Microsoft should add built-in wifi for the Xbox 360
Pookins is hurt
These last couple of days have been rough on the family. I’ve spent the last two nights at Marin General, since my cousin Brandon was in a car accident last Friday night. He was a passenger in his friend’s car when it lost control and smashed into a tree. His friend/roommate is in good condition, but Pookins is still in the ICU under observation.
Sadly we had to go home today to rest, knowing that he is in good hands. But fortunately, we have a big family that assembles well in these kind of emergencies. Thanks everyone for being there, letting Brandon know he’s constantly in our best wishes.
If you see this Pooks, I want you to know you’re like a brother to me. After seeing you so lucid after just splitting your skull, I’m confident you’ll be fine. Knowing how hard your head is makes me almost feel bad for the tree ;) All jokes aside, we’re going to spoil you rotten once they release you. Get ready for it, there is no escape.
Nikkor 50mm Prime Lens
Last fall I purchased a Nikon D3000. Since then I’ve been constantly taking pictures using the basic kit zoom lens, having a great time with it. Well this Christmas, I received a new Nikkor 50mm prime lens. I was amazed with how awesome it is after toying around with it a bit on Christmas morning.
Here’s a few shots that I really loved…
I love this thing
Took a few shoddy photos over by Fort Funston with Chas earlier tonight, then threw it all together in an obscure point and click game framework for python called ‘pyzzle’. Besides a couple engine hacks to get it running, not too shabby…
Links:
http://www.python.org/
http://www.pygame.org/
http://pyzzle.sourceforge.net/
# TODO
- Take panoramic photos at intriguing locations
- Gather some royalty-free effects and music
- Start pyzzle project
- Implement slide map, world objects, inventory items, and event triggers
- FUN :)
The above picture is a layered, soon to be pink sauerkraut.
Werewolf Bar Mitzvah
Spooky Scary ♪
Welcome to my blog.
Although I seldom write, I often think about doing so. If this were my brain, it would be filled with posts and potentially zombies. In the meantime, you can see me on...
Twitter.
Other sites.
