Niel de la Rouviere

Aren't we the lucky ones: Goodbye Taiwan

Sat, 09 Nov 2013 10:00:00 +0000

On the eve of my departure I think back on the year that has past. I arrived in Taipei, Taiwan with my girlfriend on 15 December 2012 scared & excited. I knew not what Taiwan would hold for me, but I knew it would hold something. I set off for Taiwan to learn and explore and I definitely did.

It’s hard to say goodbye. It always is. But now it’s harder to say goodbye than it was a year ago in South Africa. I knew I’d see my family and home again. I’d be back. But Taiwan is different. I don’t know if I’ll be back, and if so, when? The people and the memories seem ethereal, like it never happened and leaving here would be like waking up. The departure feels permanent.

I’ve formed close bonds with this city, my students and great friends. But what will this all mean? Being a part of this community: the breakfast stall vendor who’d prepare extra pieces of egg pancakes on Friday because he knew we’d be coming for our usual, the estate agent who mistakenly started calling me Derek when I first met him and would continue to do so every time I saw him outside our building, or the Jehovah witness who I met within the first month who I’d see all around town friendly bowing as we recognized each other.

Then, suddenly in rapture I disappear.

It feels odd.

It feels like I’m losing something. But what is it? Perhaps it’s the potential for more. Those future memories that are waiting to be formed in some special moment. It’s addictive to live abroad. Most days are new and fresh. A taxi ride anywhere becomes a chance to stare at the countryside. There are many memories here. More so than time allows.

In that sense it’s hard.

I would not equate the loss of a loved one to the leaving of a year spent abroad, but as fateful messages go in times of turmoil I encountered one recently in an episode of Downton Abbey (spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched past season 3), where the Ms. Crawley, Lady Marie and Branson were discussing the love of the ones they lost and in the sombre mood Ms. Crawley remarked with a slight smile her on face, “Aren’t we the lucky ones”.

In that moment it was profound.

There are so many questions about my time in Taiwan that will go unanswered for some time. The most important: “What did this all mean to me? What I did I learn? Where will this year fit in the grand scheme of things?”

Creating your own narrative before it’s written can sometimes be dangerous, but it’s hard not to in this case. I feel like my time Taiwan is like the prequel/backstory to something far greater. That’s why there some anxiety in leaving it behind. Like being afraid that you might’ve opened the stove too early on those perfect scones.

I’ve learned a lot: how to be a teacher, to live outside my comfort zone, to interact with colleaques, to face fears with less hesistance, to appreciate the care and love my girlfriend gives, to realize that the world is way bigger than it seems, to embrace empathy across all spectrums and much, much more.

But, even though I’m sad to say goodbye and I feel like I’ve not explored enough of myself and Taiwan, I know what I’ve experienced is priceless.

I am the lucky one.

I fly tomorrow. I’ll probably shed a tear and it’ll be the same way I arrived, but this time I’ll be a different person and I’m so grateful for it.

再見台灣。

Introducing Bitcoin Node API and Bitconvert.js

Wed, 17 Jul 2013 03:45:18 +0000

Since working on Min.io, a Bitcoin project with my brothers, I’ve started doing a lot more Bitcoin development. I’m doing contract work for Safe Paper Wallet as well, building and improving their paper wallet generator, which has been incredibly fun to work on. Besides those projects, I’ve created two new open-source projects: Bitcoin Node API and Bitconvert.js.

Bitcoin Node API

While coding the payment server for Min.io, I would communicate with the Bitcoin wallet using JSON-RPC commands. There’s a module that easily interfaces with it, but it’s only for the back-end. Most often I would test payments and need to quickly debug something using a JSON-RPC command. I often had to stop the server, put in the command and run again. This was not ideal. I wanted to reach the commands quickly and effortlessly.

I then created an Express middleware plugin that maps JSON-RPC commands to any chosen url. So for example if you map the middleware to /bitcoin/api and then run http://localhost:5000/bitcoin/api/getinfo, it will return the data produced by the ‘getinfo’ command.

It makes rapid Bitcoin development really easy. Anyone can now interface with their wallet using query strings by just adding a few lines of code. In fact a whole Bitcoin Node API server is now just these few lines of code!

var bitcoinapi = require('bitcoin-node-api');
var express = require('express');
var app = express();

//Username and password relate to those set in the bitcoin.conf file
var wallet = {
  host: 'localhost',
  port: 8332,
  user: 'username',
  pass: 'password'
};

bitcoinapi.setWalletDetails(wallet);
bitcoinapi.setAccess('default-safe'); //Access control
app.use('/bitcoin/api', bitcoinapi.app); //Bind the middleware to any chosen url
app.listen(3000);

Not all commands are supported yet though. I’ll be adding them as I go along. You also have access control available to secure your api. For example:

bitcoinapi.setAccess('restrict', ['dumpprivkey', 'sendmany']);

Setting that restricts access to the ‘dumpprivkey’ and ‘sendmany’ commands.

Check out the Github Repo if you want to contribute.

Bitconvert.js

Bitconvert.js is a simple javascript script that converts any number within a user specified CSS class to and from Bitcoin <-> USD. It’s written with no dependencies and gets the latest prices from MtGox. I wrote this so that any website owner can add a toggle for their prices into Bitcoin if they wanted to sell their goods using Bitcoin. It’s also really simple:

<script src="bitconvert.js"></script>
<span class="amount">$ 5.24</span>
<span class="amount">$ 1</span>
<button onclick="bitconvert.toggleConversion()">Toggle</button>

I’ve been enjoying Bitcoin immensely. It’s great to work on something so incredibly exciting.

The Curious Case of the Word 'Sonder'

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 05:08:21 +0000

If you spend a lot of time on Tumblr and Reddit you might have encountered this word before:

sonder n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

It describes a feeling I’m sure many of you have had. It’s poignant, humbling and thought provoking. I’ve had this feeling quite a few times, and I like it. But is ‘sonder’ a real word or not?

The Origin of Sonder

The catalyst for this post is seeing the word being mentioned online, often with the response that it’s not a real word. The recent example can be seen here. There are many more example of this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

The reason for these responses, are that yes, sonder is a word that was created by The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (DoOS). Urban Dictionary now lists the word as well. So the word was created by a blog on Tumblr very recently, yes. It cannot be found in any ‘official’ dictionary, except in some other languages such as Afrikaans and French where it has different meanings. The origin of sonder is most likely not related to any word and just made up. The creator of the DoOS said this himself.

You can see the Google Trends start spiking for the term “sonder definition” around the time word got posted.

So by all definition (pun intended) 'sonder' is a new and not real word, but still the comments that users have made that it's not a real word irks me. Here's why:

What is a word?

A word is made up of two parts: a form and meaning. To think of it in programming terms, variable name and variable. The form of a word is the pointer or reference, so this can be either the written or spoken form. This form references a concept or the meaning in your brain. Concepts are complex. That’s why synonyms like frightening and terrifying probably relate to very similar concept boundaries but differ slightly.

This is why having a first language is a great resource to learn new vocabulary in a foreign language because you already have concept boundaries formed. Some foreign language words might differ, but initially you map the new foreign form to the same concept. So two forms point to the same concept. Later these change over time as you realize the foreign form does not entirely map the same concept boundary in your first language.

Now that we understand what a word is, let’s segway:

What is a dictionary?

A dictionary is the implicit common consensus on words in a language: their form to meaning relationships. It is usually created explicitly by a group of people that try and describe the words in a language. Now, they do and should not control which words are correct or not. This is very important: official dictionaries do not represent correct or ‘real’ words. They try and describe the common consensus on words. That’s how neologisms gets entered into the official dictionaries. For instance dumbphone was added in February this year.

Then this happens. Look at the first comment in the link above:

Sad to see that the OED includes fashion words quite so fast. Why not wait to see if they survive a decade or so before polluting a beautiful language with items that will mean little or nothing in the blink of an eye.

This is what I want to address.

What is a real word?

There is no such thing as a real word. Any form to concept link is a word. That’s a word. Sonder is a real word. I can use it and some people will understand it (like my brother, who first introduced sonder to me). We have a similar form to concept binding. That’s how language works.

Language is not governed by people, but used by people. If new words are common, that’s how the language is used. Not because some dictionary decided to choose some flimsy new word and now all hell breaks loose. What did people do before dictionaries?

However, I can’t use sonder in my next philosophy paper, not because an official dictionary doesn’t have it, but because its not widely known yet. However, that can be said about any obscure word, such as pyknic. Just because it’s in the dictionary doesn’t make it anymore or less valid as a word to use, nevermind ‘polluting a beautiful language’.

That’s why one of the most important concepts in communication is knowing your recipient. It’s your responsibility to bring your message across as clear as possible. This is obviously not always easy, where for example your concept which is linked to a form, triggers a slightly different reaction and concept when presented to your recipient.

The point is this: a word can’t be more real than any other word. It can be more widely known, which allows you to use it in everyday conversation, but just because a dictionary doesn’t have it doesn’t make it any less of a word. Sonder is a word, but you should understand the discourse context and choose your words appropriately.

Six Reasons why I'm long on Bitcoin

Wed, 08 May 2013 04:24:01 +0000

If you’re into tech, you probably would’ve heard about Bitcoins. Next to Google Glass and 3D printers, Bitcoin is the next big ‘new’ thing. Silicon Valley investors are salivating at Bitcoin companies. Coinbase just raised $5mil, for example. Besides the buzz and excitement, here’s why I’m excited about Bitcoin and will invest my time and money in it for the long term.

1) Decentralized Currency

This is the most obvious reason. If I had to explain the main reason why people would want to use and invest in Bitcoin, is that it’s a currency that is not governed by any state, institution or bank. This idea itself is amazing. If you told someone this five years ago, they would laugh in your face. It’s just too much too handle.

Even though I personally have no qualms with most government institutions, I do realize that their are problems with currency and money in the hands of greedy people. Stories of corruption and fraud are too frequent for my taste. Nevermind the recent Cyprus financial crisis, which lead to a direct increase in interest in Bitcoin. The more libertarian persons would find Bitcoin very suited to their needs, but for me the idea behind it is extremely powerful.

2) Your Own Banking API

Bitcoins being inherently digital and open-source allows for interesting changes in how people handle money. At the moment, a bank is at a distance. The average person has very little control over their funds. Internet banking has made this much easier in the past few years, but working with ‘money’ is hard.

As a web developer being able to control my own ‘wallet’ easily gives me some interesting options, such as creating my own API. At the moment I don’t earn Bitcoins, but let’s say in the next few years I’m getting a steady stream of coins. Using some code that tracks my incoming transactions, I can instantly move a percentage to my electricity bill account. When it reaches a threshold, I can instantly pay the bill.

The possibility to automate your money on your own terms is very exciting. Working with a Bitcoin wallet is incredibly easy.

3) Mobile Payments

Although iOS is struggling a bit with accepting mobile Bitcoin wallet apps, I recently tried out a Bitcoin wallet on my aging HTC. By embedding the Bitcoin URI in a QR code, I’ve experienced the most “eureka” moment with Bitcoins by far. It was almost like QR codes were made for this.

Bitcoin addresses are not speaking-friendly. Here’s how one looks like: 1QBRE1itGAta7HxnEBnQqF11YbtNDbx1c6

There’s no way you can “remember” that or let someone type that. That’s why QR codes are the perfect match for transferring these addresses.

Let’s put it this way, transferring value in a digital way has never been this easy. In fact, Bitcoin + mobile phones might be exactly be what the mobile payment market has been looking for. No credit cards, no regulations, no issues with getting money out again. Bitcoin is made for the digital age and that’s why it works.

4) Value for amateur creators

This is one of my personal favorites. My brother has talked about this as well on his blog. Since early high school I’ve always been a creator rather than a consumer. I played Warcraft 3 to no end, but then I would start creating my own maps (I made quite a lot!). Then with Morrowind I ran around most of the map, but then I would create my own hideout in Ald’ruhn using the editor that came with the game. Now I create music. Sure I can put it on Bandcamp and get the money out with Paypal, but in South Africa we could only recently do that. In high school I did not have the means or expertise to sell my content.

Now, any amateur creator can sell their content for Bitcoins. But here’s the AWESOME part. These creators can then spend their coins on other things. There’s no need for asking your Dad for a credit card. This enables a whole new generation to control their money.

Yes, I’m talking about kids here, but what about people who don’t have bank accounts? Or people who can’t or don’t want to use a credit card? It’s just so much easier to receive value with Bitcoins.

5) Just so incredibly mind-boggling

My Dad asked me on the weekend to tell him in 2 minutes why I think Bitcoin is the next big thing. I couldn’t. I rambled for 10 minutes with no sign of stopping. Bitcoin is a paradigm shift. The idea that people in altruism want to see Bitcoin succeed and ultimately work on its success is perhaps the most telling example of our new global open-source society. Bitcoin is a perfect storm of technology. But the most incredible thing of it all is seeing this crazy idea come to life. The past few years have been a rocky road for Bitcoin, but it’s like seeing a loving dad nurture its son. When it falls, people are there to pick it up. It’s like the Truman Show with Jesus as the character.

Sometimes when I look at how far Bitcoin has come I can’t imagine how this has happened. How is it possible that a decentralized currency, with no government, has a market cap over 1 Billion US Dollars and a network hash rate of over 971.35 Petaflops? I constantly go, “Huh? How? What!?”.

6) If it fails, it's here to stay

Maybe Bitcoin will fail. You never know. But the idea behind such a type of currency, even in its current early state, shows that there are crazy ideas out there that can change the way we think and work with money. I often equate Bitcoin to Wikipedia in absurdness of ideas that somehow work. There is way for humanity to work on something together and sometimes all you have to do is dream or be Satoshi Nakamoto.

In the end, like most things, don’t put all your eggs into one basket, however Bitcoin is just too exciting and amazing to not add a few more eggs. Bitcoin will either be worthless or biggest thing to happen to our society since the Internet. So why not get involved? Now if only my Dad was more interested in Bitcoins I can easily pay back the money I loaned for the plane tickets to Taipei.

Creating a Bitcoin Paper Wallet

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:14:00 +0000

Bitcoins are booming at the moment. Yes, it had a bit of dive, but its adoption and growth is incredibly exciting. I got into Bitcoin early 2011 when I decided to ‘play’ around by buying some. Needless to say, those few coins are worth quite a bit today.

Thefts of coins are becoming common, not only with end-users, but on hosted services too (online wallets). Storing your Bitcoins safely has become somewhat of a problem. One, which if not handled properly, can easily hamper the growth and trust in Bitcoin. If my grandma can’t store her coins safely how can it reach mainstream adoption?

This post, however, does not focus on the grandma demographic just yet. I’ve got some ideas on how to make it easier, but for now here’s how I created a Bitcoin paper wallet to store my Bitcoins.

Before I continue, there will always be some degree of paranoia involved in this: to what length will you go to store your money? This post is to satisfy my own level of paranoia.

Roadmap (tl;dr version)

So here’s what I do:

1) Create a Tails OS boot disk 2) Prepare BitAddress.org files 3) Boot into Tails OS 4) Create private keys using custom BitAddress.org fork 5) Print/store those keys 6) ??? 7) Profit

So that’s the short version.

Long Version (time to get paranoid)

I’m going to assume that you know some of the basics of Bitcoin and how it works. However, just to reiterate, each Bitcoin address (which is generated from the public key) has a corresponding private key which ‘unlocks’ the address. If you have access to an address’ private key, you can get access to the coins inside.

The standard Bitcoin client stores your private keys in a file called the wallet.dat. Its right there on your computer. If the file is not encrypted, any virus/person can just scoop the file and take your coins. However, if it’s encrypted, then you have to enter a password every time your make a transaction or want to access the wallet. However, this is still vulnerable to keylogging.

So the idea behind a paper wallet is that the Internet never ‘sees’ your private keys. There is no way that any person could get access to those keys. It was created offline and printed/stored offline so no-one can get it.

So here lies two problems:

1) How I do go completely offline? 2) How can I create a Bitcoin address + private key without being online? (Bitcoin is online digital currency nonetheless!)

The solution to number one is easy. Boot into a fresh OS install of your choice, usually something as easy such as Ubuntu which can written to a USB of CD/DVD. This way when you boot, you know there’s no malware and the computer has never been online.

The solution to number two lies in Bitaddress.org. This website is a client-side Javascript implementation of Bitcoin address generation. The code for the site is all available on Github. However, looking at BitcoinAddress.org it added one more problem that I was not comfortable with:

3) Private keys are displayed in plain-text.

Yes, the Internet will never see those private keys, but what if my printed paper wallet gets lost or someone steals the actual paper? You can decide if this is something you’d be paranoid about, but I did not feel comfortable having the private key out in the open like that. So my solution was to encrypt the private keys and display that instead. I’ll explain how to do it easily.

So now that we have the three problems solved. Let’s do this!

Step 1: Create Tails OS boot disk

So, there are a few options to create a safe bootable OS. As I mentioned earlier Ubuntu is one, but I found this Debain-based OS which is perfect for my paranoia. Tails OS. It is an amnesiac incognito live system. Like huh? What does that mean? It ‘forgets’ everything once you shut down and it forces its online connections via the TOR network. I don’t need to go online, but I feel safe with the fact, that if I need to, it’ll be even more anonymous and secure.

Download the .iso and burn it to a DVD. Check the Ubuntu instructions (just replace it with the Tails OS)

Step 2: Prepare BitAddress.org files

So, as I mentioned a little bit earlier. BitAddress.org generates public addresses and private key pairs in the browser. You can just save the site (save as…) and then put that onto a flash drive, however I created my own fork that added encryption of the private keys (among a few more tweaks).

It’s called Icecap (cold storage get it?). You can visit the repo here. Download the .html file and the aes.js file. Save that your flash drive. You’ll use this create your keys once you’re in the OS. You can read the repo readme for more information on my fork. In the future, you’ll only have to download one file.

You can decide which one you’d want to use. This tutorial will assume you used my custom version.

Step 3: Boot into Tails OS

This is a pretty self-explanatory step. If you’re on a Macbook, like me, just press alt on startup, wait for a few moments then select the DVD. The process on signing up is easy. You have to fill in a master password and there you go. Fresh OS.

Step 4: Create private keys using BitAddress.org

Once you have booted. Put your flash drive in and open the .html file you saved. You don’t have to go online! That’s the point of BitAddress and my custom fork: you can safely generate your keys without any online interaction.

For my own fork, go to the bulk wallet tab (the single wallet is still there if you want it). I’ll explain why I use bulk wallet generation later.

The rows to generate are how many key pairs ("wallets") you'll be creating. Before you press generate enter your passphrase for the AES encryption. Once that's all done, click Generate.

It'll display your public address, private key (wallet import format) and the AES encrypted private key. Below that, it'll show you the QR codes (this is still very simplistic crude design: the small one is the public adress and the big one below it is the corresponding encrypted private key).

If you want to get your private key from the encrypted key, enter the encrypted key into the decrypt box. Make sure you have the correct passphrase and press decrypt. If everything is good, the private key is then shown. This is for accessing your private key when you want to retrieve coins in the future.

NB: The encrypted private keys in the QR code have added inverted commas (quoted that is). Remove these if you scan them from the QR-code to decrypt in the future.

Step 5: Print/store those keys

Now remove the private keys from the text area and then print the whole webpage with the QR-codes (public adress + encrypted private keys). I saved the webpage as a .pdf file as well to keep a digital backup on a flash drive. Tails OS had some problems picking up my printer, but I just booted into my Mac (switched off the internet) and then printed it. I would not have felt safe doing this if I knew that the private keys weren't encrypted.

Sending and Retrieving Coins

Now that you have a public address you can pay coins to that address. I use Blockchain.info to look at my addresses. A random address I picked for example. To retrieve those coins I just use Blockchain.info’s online wallet to import the private key. This gives me access to the funds where I transfer them away.

Important Notes

Test that your encrypted private key can indeed be decrypted by your passphrase! This is very important. If this doesn’t work, then you’ll have a really hard time getting the private key again.

When you retrieve the coins from the address, you MUST transfer ALL the coins out of the address. The address is ‘compromised’, but there is another reason, whenever you retrieve the coins and a subsequent transaction uses the coins from that address, that address will no longer be valid. This is a rookie mistake. Read up on how change works in the Bitcoin network. You’ll be mistaken if you have 100 coins and spend 5 of them and still think that 95 Bitcoins are still in that address. However, the ‘change’ address is automatically stored in your wallet. So you won’t lose those coins, but just keep in mind that the original paper wallet address will not have any coins left in it anymore!

This brings me to why I used the bulk generation. I want to separate my coins into more than one offline wallet. I do this, because in the event that I want to retrieve my funds, I don’t have to recreate another wallet for ALL my funds. If you have only ONE offline wallet and only want to retrieve a few coins you have to make another wallet in any case. Thus, I see paper wallets as ONCE off retrieval. Once it’s retrieved, get everything out of that address and use it or move it around.

Conclusion

I’m sure there are ways to make this even more secure, but at the moment this satisfies my paranoia. I’ll be updating Icecap (repo is here) to make it bit more accessible in the future. I predict Bitcoins will continue to grow, thus storing your Bitcoins safely will be very important. Start now!

If you liked this tutorial consider donating some Bitcoins: 1QBRE1itGAta7HxnEBnQqF11YbtNDbx1c6

If you have any questions, comment below or email me: niel@delarouviere.com

Google Glass, Augmented Reality and Being Human

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 08:02:50 +0000

Whether Google Glass fails or not, the discussions generated by it and human nature will become one of the most interesting philosophical issues for the coming generation. This short essay is part of an assignment for the completion of the E-Learning & Digital Cultures MOOC on Coursera.

Google Glass is almost too sci-fi. It’s unreal, but what issues does it raise? I’ve seen quite a lot of people reject Google Glass, on the basis that it’s technology gone too far. It will inhibit true connection. Who wants to talk to someone with such a thing on their head?

But, what is the underlying message? Google Glass is not human, but is it really?

There are two ways to look at this:

1) What is human is definable and thus, it’s under threat from technology, or 2) the whole conception of what is human, is made up and/or can’t be defined.

Trying to answer the question, of what is human, is the answer. Once one starts trying to answer the question, one can infinitely go down the line trying to answer that question. I believe that because humans created technology, it is human. The notion that technology is something not human, does not make sense to me.

We're already augmented

Think about cellphones. It’s an object that’s permanently in your pocket. It already changed your life. It’s now a part of your life, not separate. One can argue that cellphones are in fact a modification of the self. Who has gone somewhere without their cellphone for an extended period time and felt some kind of anxiety or loss? I bet a lot!

Think about this further, a cellphone is an extension (perhaps an improvement) of being human. We can be in contact with most people in the world, with a touch of a button. Wikipedia and Google are at your fingertips, which practically allows you access vast amounts information almost instantly. This is fundamentally changing us, yes, but we’re still us.

Small changes on an incremental scale, will be assimilated into the notion of what is human. Google Glass might be a big step, but with a slow adoption rate, this might well be normal in five years time.

Utopia or Dystopia Notions

Let’s look at this video for example. You might have seen it before:

Sight from Sight Systems on Vimeo.

That is certainly a dystopia for augmented vision. This idea is very strong. Just read this article for instance.

Let's say that I'm standing behind the counter at a business establishment -- bank, fast-food restaurant, airline check-in counter, whatever. My Google Glasses might display the social security number, the general rap sheet, social media appearances, and so on, of the person in front of me.

Are people fearing technology, or merely the change?

Being human is tied to tradition

The reason, why Google Glass will be rejected by many people, will be due to the fear that it will inherently destabilize their self and tradition. Let’s use a current example again: cellphones.

My parents both use them. It’s the norm, but then my dad forwards me an email with plenty of these types of pictures with a warning in the email heading “The Day Einstein Feared”:

There’s an inherent duality to technology and the change that it brings. With technology we can cure diseases, make people hear again, create artificial limbs and many more great things. But technology, also has a perceived disruption. An idea that it’ll change us too much.

Do we control technology, or the other way around?

Technological determinism says that societal and culture change is driven by technology, meaning that technology changes us. But this supposes that we’re not under control of what technology does to us. It boils down to how you define technology, as something created by humans, or is something completely separate.

I do believe technology is changing our society, but we are the ones orchestrating that change. Humans are technology. Humans are change.

The impact on learning

How we perceive technology and how its changing our society, will also impact how we will perceive learning. When last did you have to remember random facts, and not just Google it? Our connection through technology is becoming an extension of our cognition. Although my thoughts on technology in language learning are varied, you can for instance see a Google Glass application of voice translation:

Technology in learning, especially languages, where my expertise lies is fundamentally changing. We can’t frame the way we live and learn in the past anymore. Google Glass might bring great changes or maybe not, even for learning, but technology will never stop changing society. Will you reject it, or accept it? Maybe the answer is not in a dichotomy, but in something else: a mindfulness to the impact of technology. If you reject (or accept) technology, why are you doing it? Is it merely a knee-jerk reaction to fear of change or a deeper understanding to the potential impact of it?

Our potential to change is limited by our fear of it.

HanziCraft: One Month after Launch

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 06:25:13 +0000

So, last month I launched HanziCraft. Here are the stats.

Statistics

Google Analytics data below:

I’m quite happy with the stats at this point. I made the big announcement on the 11th of January on my Chinese learning blog. Then the roller coaster started. My first sales came in within a few hours. I sell premium accounts for the site. In total I’ve only sold 8 accounts. It’s not a lot, but it’s the most I’ve made for any startup or web project I’ve worked with. It is however the first project I’ve had a product to sell.

However, those sales all came from the first two weeks. The last sale occurred on January 29th. The big spike in the middle is when I posted the site to reddit. I believe these eight sales are core users. The people who truly believe in either me (via Confused Laowai) or are hardcore learners. It will be curious to see how future sales will be.

The bounce rate of the site is incredibly low, which is something I’m very proud of. If you look at the front page of the site, I made the entry into the site extremely actionable. It has started varying towards the end of the first month, but that is to be expected as returning users might only look up only character before heading off.

Most traffic to the site comes from my blog and HanziJS (which used to have limited HanziCraft features, but now only functions as a page to document the Node.js module that HanziCraft uses).

The reason why so little hits came from reddit is because, when I posted the site I linked my blog post. That’s why the referral is high from my blog. I wanted to people to read more about project before heading to the site.

Other Notable Mentions

As you can see in the referral stats, the site is already being linked by Chinese learners. I hope, as the site grows and its utility increases and the word of the mouth will continue to grow.

HanziCraft has also been included in Hanping’s latest version (an Android Chinese dictionary) as an external link to see more info on character entries.

Conclusion

I’m happy with the stats thus far. I wish the sales were more consistent though, but that will hopefully become more clear in the future. I’m busy coding more features, so hopefully that will increase even more praise and usefulness. In terms of marketing at the moment, I’m not spending any money, but I use my Chinese learning blog as the main means to promote it. It’s been an interesting ride and I’m excited for this project!

17 Things I learned at University that wasn't academic

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 10:03:41 +0000

Stellenbosch University started its new year & it’s the first time without me as a student in five years. I graduated with majors in linguistics & Chinese, and I’m awaiting the results of Master’s thesis in Computer-Assisted Language Learning. However, as I’m seeing friends and strangers Tweet about heading back to University it made me introspective. Here are some things I learned, apart from the differing types of morphology in languages and how Chinese characters combine in awesome ways.

1) You grow as a person

This one is first, because it’s the one that totally came out of nowhere, but it wasn’t obvious at the time. Now it’s like a “duh” thing. Each year I grew as a person and it was awesome.

2) Eating McDonalds watching retro gaming reviews are great

During 1st & 2nd year, my good friend Leon and I, on calm nights, used to walk down the McDonalds, come home and sit and watch video game reviews from Screwattack. It was nerdy, but fun. Thinking back on it, the mixture of junk food and retro games will always leave an impression on me. Sometimes, the best combos in life come from the strangest things.

3) Late nights working on essays are not that bad

I used to think that staying up late working on essays would be a bad thing. Which sane person would enjoy that? Maybe I’m not normal, but I ended up enjoying spending late nights writing, picking my brain for more pages. It felt productive (not necessarily efficient mind you), but walking home at 2/3am in the morning, watching other people stumble home drunk, and me being totally sober, just made me realize that University creates an opportunity for a great balance: work hard, party hard.

4) University is not high school

Another simple one, but I didn’t realize how big of a difference it really was. Self-discipline is something you need for University, but that freedom to choose when and how to work, party and procrastinate was an amazing change for me. Besides, the freedom and new-found control, the fact that University has so many more people is amazing. More on that point later.

5) You are not your course, but you want it to be

We hear it all the time, “What you study does not define you” blah blah, but I found that people cling to it like it really does define them. It’s their way to easily judge and define people. I did it too. I felt proud in the fact that I did a BA. I was the rebel (or loser) kid, who didn’t choose the boring “subjects”. But time and time again, when I met people, this is how I saw people too, “Oh you study this, then you must be like this”. Then, I met more people and realized what nonsense it really is. I’ve had friends in almost any discipline imaginable and that’s awesome.

6) When you're at a University, you're extremely privileged

Self-explanatory. You’re the 1%. Have fun, but don’t waste the opportunity.

7) Late night strolls are amazing

At times, when you feel down, there’s nothing more soothing than getting some tunes and just taking a walk.

8) Mutual struggle is a beautiful thing

During exam time classes stopped and everyone was studying. Some people hate exams, but I loved it. Everyone had the same goal: suffer endless nights to pass subjects. The library was always full, every conversation was about stress and coffee aromas were everywhere. I liked the fact that a big group of people, 95% of them you don’t know are going through the same thing you’re going through.

9) There will always be someone to go have a drink with

Always.

10) There are more people like you

This ties in with the difference between high school and University. You thought you were weird? Think again. It humbled me and almost made me happy.

11) You'll never reach the top of the chain, but that's ok

The ladder never stops. There will always be someone above you in the chain. They will probably enjoy the power, but who cares? You were the stupid 1st year too.

12) Don't mix drinks in a sippy cup, eat two mini-hamburgers after a test, invite people over to your apartment and expect to feel great the next day

Oh boy. The biggest hangover ever. Never again. That is all.

13) The more you learn the less you know

Scumbag University: Learn more things, realize you know nothing.

14) Great opportunities will sometimes come from nowhere, but because you tried

I went to Beijing in 2009 on a summer school. The top two students in our year for Mandarin program could go. I was the fifth student. The first student went, the second one already booked a Eurotrip, the third student had Chinese heritage so couldn’t be sponsored, the fourth student didn’t attend enough class and then there was me. I aimed for the top two spots, I just couldn’t make it, but then I got lucky! Make your own luck.

15) Don't take life too seriously

One night in second year, as existential University first problems go, I was wondering what the hell I was doing. Then I got a message from my sister, who has already been at the same University, telling me to relax and realize that this time you have at University is some of the best times ever. Don’t take life too seriously. Have fun.

16) The memories that last are usually the random ones

My fondest memories at University are often the times when I realized how great University was: walking to class, sitting in a bar at a random night with my friends, watching retro gaming reviews with my flatmate, spontaneously having movie nights and lots lots more. It’s not the proverbial “EPIC” party (well some of them I do remember), but it’s more of the fact that it reminds of me what University is all about: learning, not only in academic knowledge, but in life too.

17) Your destiny is not set in stone

Initially I chose to study a BA is because a) I didn’t want to do graphic design as a career (back then I was really into Photoshop) and b) I couldn’t do a BMus in Music Technology because I did not have the theoretical background required. Then I chose Linguistics as a subject mainly because my course didn’t allow me to choose Theatre Sciences (analyse scripts etc). Mandarin I chose, because I liked the East just a bit more than France and sounded like a fun challenge.

Lo and behold, five years later, I’m a massive language nut, I absolutely love linguistics, I’ve got a semi-popular Chinese learning blog, got a bursary at MIH Media Lab, which improved my coding, which allowed me to make my first money with HanziCraft and am now living in Taipei with my girlfriend I love whom I met via Twitter.

You never know where life will take you.

The 5 challenges I faced in developing my new project HanziCraft

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 05:01:30 +0000

In 2012 I had a coding rebirth. I needed to improve my coding skills for my degree and went straight into Node.js as it was the quickest to pick up coming from front-end web design. While coding for my research I also spent some time on side-projects, that in the end taught me a lot!

I now introduce my biggest project yet: HanziCraft. This site has been in development for a few months. I did all of the coding myself, however, the site is based on my open-source Node.js module, HanziJS (here’s the Github Repo link), which has one more active contributor (thanks Dusan!). He helped me refactor a lot of the code. I learned a lot with that.

Challenges

1) Payments

One of the big challenges for HanziCraft was to make it available as a payable project from the start. I had to figure out to how work with a payment processor. I ended up choosing Paypal IPN, mainly due to the fact that most processors require US bank accounts. It was tough to figure it out at first, but I managed to get it to work in the end.

Besides the countless hours trying to figure it out (I wish the documentation was easier to understand), I actually quite like the simplicity of it now.

2) User Flow

Only users that have accounts will be able to use the premium features on the site. So I needed to figure out how to make this buy process and account creation process as smooth as possible. After consulting with Simon, we came up with a smooth system.

User buys with Paypal -> Server creates blank user -> User receives email to register his account (this includes password + username + contact email) -> User gets a secret link to fill this in -> Ta-da new premium user!

This way the disconnect between user account & payment does not occur.

3) Actual users!

Most of my either sites have passive users (besides Social Mandarin, which is based on Drupal), thus they only interact with the content without contributing. If they need to, they just fill in a form, such as adding a blog on Polyglot Link. Now, HanziCraft, is the first project where I had the responsibility towards paying customers (and their data).

I had to make sure that the way they use the site was going be what they expect from websites: forget password features, user profiles, security etc.

I realized there are more things to add than you think and it’s not necessarily the part I like coding that much. I like solving problems, not merely coding database/server logic into a system. However, now that I’ve coded those elements, I can easily just use it again for future projects!

4) Information Dense Design

I still don’t think I’ve gotten the perfect design for HanziCraft yet (I’m a redesign junkie), but it’s definitely an interesting design challenge. A dictionary-like service needs to be clever on how to present information as it’s usually text heavy:

> Don't overwhelm the user
> Use ONLY what is needed.
> Aesthetic elements need to improve readability. Anything else should be removed.
> Keep the colour scheme simple.
> Make sure that the design does not leak into each other, this causes confusion (this I think I still need to work on).

In any case. I love this challenge. I’ll be tweaking HanziCraft’s design for a long time to come. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

5) The relationship between open-source & product

As I said earlier. HanziCraft is based on my own open-source module (HanziJS). I had to walk an interesting line in how I handle the relationship between the two: what do I submit for the open-source part & what do I code into the site?

For instance, one of the premium features of HanziCraft is the ability to submit more than one character at a time. Before I wanted that as premium feature, it was not available as a function in HanziJS. So I decided to add a decomposeMany function to the code. This allows other developers to use such a feature, but also helped me with my site.

Another example of the relationship between the two. I created a merged relationship for messy input handling. What happens if I submit non-Chinese characters? HanziCraft first removes all non-Chinese characters form the field & then sends this to HanziJS. Here, I validate the data to see if it’s still good or not. However, it’s not really necessary, because I know all elements that I send to HanziJS, will be clean.

However, if I just use HanziJS and give it messy input, such as a null input or non-Chinese character, it will just return “Invalid Input” for that specific character.

This mixed method allows me to create solid function for HanziJS, but I went a bit further in HanziCraft to make sure that what is sent to HanziJS doesn’t contain any wrong input. This feature is not necessarily needed for HanziJS, because it it’s up the developer to decide what he wants to send to function. What if he wants to determine non-valid input? This allows him to.

Conclusion

HanziCraft is an absolute blast to work on. I love working with Chinese characters & trying to solve my own problems regarding info I want for learning Chinese. I’ve already had a few sales for premium accounts & the response so far has been positive. If you’re learning Chinese, check my post on Confused Laowai, regarding the reasons behind why I created HanziCraft.

Introducing Twin Tech Talk

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:46:53 +0000

Since my girlfriend and I recently moved to Taiwan (check my post on Confused Laowai for more info), Simon (my twin brother) and I wanted to keep in touch, especially our spontaneous tech discussions. We’re both interested in tech and 21st century trends and always manage to find interesting topics to talk about.

We’ve decided to have Google hangouts and then record them so other people can share in our interests. Twin Tech Talk is born. But there’s an interesting twist to keep our discussions spontaneous: we each pick a topic before recording, but we don’t tell the other one what it is. This way, the conversation is fresh and not rehearsed.

We just filmed our pilot this weekend: we discuss Kickstarter in 2012 and the Ouya (the upcoming Android console).

What do you think? We had some problems with sound (especially Simon’s, that why he sounds so distant), but we know how to fix it for episode one. We initially wanted to choose two topics each, but as you can see, one topic each is long enough.

Any suggestions? Do you like it?