I was interviewed by the Globe and Mail about “hacks” for student living. In this case I’ve done a bunch of work to find out cheaper alternatives to whiteboards. I was originally inspired to start looking for cheaper versions of whiteboards after spending a weekend at Stanford’s D.School working on Ben Huh’s Moby Dick project. The space is opinionated only in the sense of allowing space to be extemely flexible. Everything object within the building can be moved around to accomadate to the “space” a team needs. If you’re curious, the below video explains it well. I got mine from this Toronto home depot. Lexan is the company that makes the highest quality boards. It is important to note that as the price goes down, so does the grade (quality) of plastic. If you’re interested here are a few other resources I found helpful along the way: Cheap whiteboard material can also be found online here Stanford’s D.School very thorough design handbook Creating a glass whiteboard - instructables Someone also just sent me their (much bigger than mine) DIY whiteboard:...
Read more: Globe and Mail: whiteboard alternative
Christmas is coming! http://t.co/tbmRuV4gbD pic.twitter.com/6tyiTdxAGK — Martha Stewart (@MarthaStewart) December 17, 2013 A few months ago just before heading to bed I got a text from Stephen with a “stupid idea”. The idea centered around being able to save any GIF to Gifpost that catches your eye online. This would save you from having to download the GIF to be able to find it next time you want to use it. A couple weeks later and gifpost.me was born. Full credit to Stephen for doing all the heavy lifting on the backend. A few months after releasing the site online, it started getting used by people that weren’t just our friends. Rapper Mac Miller used it to announce his new album: 30 minutes til #SDS http://t.co/EfMsXnJODs — Mac (@MacMiller) April 23, 2013 So, it turns out building a tool with a very specific focus–however trivial–can be helpful to a certain audience. Maybe everyone that needs your tool won’t find it right away. July 2015 update: site was shut down as traffic had slowed and finding time to do maintenance was...
Read more: Building a GIF site for Martha
[Google killed this API feature in 2013 so the site no longer exists] wherearethelees.com was a creation for Mother’s Day between Ted and I. So where did the idea come from? Harry Potter, of course. The Weasley’s had a clock (Whereabouts Clock) that told them where everyone in the family was at all times. Short of being magical, we created this because my Mom doesn’t yet own a cell phone. Right now it’s a mash-up of Google’s Map API and Twitter’s API. A “DINNER!” button that allows my Mom to press a button that sends a text to all our phones may be in the pipes for the near future.
Read more: Where are the Lee's?
Culture One of the biggest values you get from traveling the world is interacting with different cultures. I’ll admit that technology has made it a lot easier to learn, and having video calls with people halfway around the world is impressive, but it’s not perfect. When you first step outside your country, you immediately see the varying ways of life and cultures. Why is this important? Let’s think of cultures like computer languages for a second. Variance in computer languages allow us to view problems from slightly different perspectives. We have certain variables that make up this culture. We have certain norms, certain policies, certain liberties, and certain restrictions. Visiting countries with entirely different cultures introduces us to new meanings for these variables and the ability to see problems slightly differently. We gain a new set of eyes. City View Most people I meet have lived in the same city for 20+ years. When you start living in a new city you explore the hell out of it, but after a few months we just get comfortable with the same...
Read more: Importance of travel
