Miscellaneous and Useless Information

James Lin’s infrequently updated blog

  • Ariel Hsing: Ping pong’s newest American star

    Ariel Hsing has had a great run at the Olympics as a member of the U.S. table tennis team. She was the only American to make it past the first round, she upset a former world champion in the second round, and she pushed the eventual gold medalist to the limit in the third round…

  • Computing as a career

    Here are some thoughts for students who are considering computing, including computer science and software engineering, as a career. While these tips are particularly geared for high schoolers going to my alma mater, Monta Vista High School, they can apply to many others. What do I enjoy about computing? Computers are capable of doing amazing…

  • Tips for New York City transit

    Since I’ve been to New York City several times for business, I thought I’d pass along some tips. If you’re in New York City for a week, I would highly recommend getting a 7-day Unlimited MetroCard ($29). A single ride is $2.50, so just two trips a day makes it worthwhile. However, you can’t use…

  • Mac OS X: Clipboard vs Pasteboard

    In my previous blog post, I noted my surprise and distaste for the term “Pasteboard” over “Clipboard” in Mac OS X. It seemed like an unnecessary change in terminology. However, a friend and long-time Mac user later pointed out to me that OS X still calls it a Clipboard, for example, Edit→Show Clipboard in the…

  • Tips for Inkscape on a Mac

    Last night, I worked on an SVG file that Caitlin Kelleher had created with Inkscape (for the cover of the proceedings of VL/HCC 2011). I also used Inkscape, but it took a few tricks on my Mac to get it to work properly. I wanted to use Helvetica Neue for all of the text, but…

  • Steve Jobs presents plans for Apple’s new campus

    Just one day after his keynote at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Steve Jobs made an appearance last night at the Cupertino City Council to present the company’s plans for a new campus in Cupertino, on the old Hewlett-Packard site. It essentially consists of one giant building shaped like a doughnut that will hold 12,000 people….