Kyle Brady: A Blog

Well, since I’ve mentioned that I’ve been relatively busy, both on and off the computer, recently, I thought I’d make a list for anyone that cares about what my life may have involved.

• I left California on Dec. 18th, and have spent the majority of the time in the Baltimore (actually, Towson) area of Maryland.  That’s on the East Coast for you geography failures.
• I leave tomorrow night to return to the epic awesome that is California.  Be ready.
• I spent a week in the Palm City area of Florida (a little bit north of Miami), right around Christmas, visiting lots of family I hadn’t seen in awhile.  Something like 21 of us.
• mySHOUToutLOUD has been the apple of my eye for the last few months, and we finally launched the Consumer side on January 1st.  Since then I’ve put the programming on hold, and have been trying my hand at PR/Marketing, with mixed results.
  • Facebook Advertising gets you alot of ad views, very few clickthroughs, and even less active users on whatever you’re advertising.  Just FYI, it sucks and isn’t worth it.
  • If you pick up an issue of the METRO (Silicon Valley newspaper) from last week, or this week, turn to the back page.  You’ll see an ad for mySHOUToutLOUD.
  • I’m supposed to have one interview today, and another tomorrow, to have articles in some Towson/Baltimore area newspapers, with the twist that I’m a “20 year old from Towson with a tech startup in California”.  I’ll link when they come out.
• I’ve decided that Shell Scripting sucks.  I needed a script that would generate entire server backups, and then download and distribute them to different locations.  Since it’s easy to do this via command line SSH and FTP, I assumed Shell would be good.  It’s not.  I’ve spent a large handful of hours on it, and it’s not done yet.  Next time, I’ll just do it in C, thank you very much.
• I got some feedback on my book from teachers I like/respect from my high school Alma Mater, Loyola Blakefield.  Apparently “Whispers Into Shadow” isn’t a load of crap, and I should continue with it.  Writing resumes tomorrow on the plane, hopefully completing it within the next three months.
• Finally, I actually go back to school starting Monday at San Jose State University.  This is my first real semester of school since last June, when I decided to leave Santa Clara University and transfer to SJSU… not knowing it would take 6 months to do that.  It’ll be interesting, so we’ll see how it goes.

And, as if that weren’t enough, I’ve also spent alot of time being:

• awesome
• egotistical
• amazing
• a rockstar
• sick programmer
• your worst nightmare

Words to live by?  How about… “Keep the demons inside you.  It makes you more real.”

posted on January 17th, 2008 at 9:32 am by Kyle - Comments

Tags: Business, C, Christmas, Code, Education, Me, My Future Book, Programming

If you’re reading this, then chances are you know about Amazon.com’s Kindle, an e-book reader… kind of like an iPod for books. And you also probably know that it’s getting major criticism for everything from it’s battery life to it’s product design to if it’s even useful.

But one major market is being overlooked here, without anyone thinking about the potential effect it may have: students.

Expensive As Hell

Textbooks are super expensive, and it gets even worse when you go to college. $350 for a textbook? And it’s not made of silver? The biggest excuse for the price of textbooks (even if you buy them used online, they’re still very expensive) is the printing. Hardback + many many pages + color + nice and glossy pages = high printing cost.

I guess that makes sense. So why don’t you not print at such a high standard, and lower the prices a little bit, eh? BECAUSE YOU WANT MY MONEY!

Are you spanking for money? Or the money?

Heavy

Most high schoolers (at leas the ones that actually want to go to college) carry a backpack full of textbooks to and from school everyday. Not one of those laptop backpacks, but a super-size LL Bean backpack that is made of that funny material that’ll stretch, but not easily rip.

Doctors and parents complain this is ruining their children’s backs. College kids refuse to bring books to class because it’s so difficult to make that 30min walk across campus with 15 books in their bag, totaling the entire weight of a large hobbit.

Why don’t we use less textbooks then? Oh, maybe because there’s usually 2 books required, if not more, for the average college class, and rumor has it those “Barnes and Noble Campus Bookstore” places highly encourage the use of multiple books, especially when they’re new…

Remember Laptops?

Remember when laptops were going to revolutionize the learning process, about 10 years ago? How parents were fighting for their kids to be able to use laptops in the high school classroom? And colleges were promising to make the texts available via computer?

What happened to that? I know I haven’t ever used a digital textbook in college, and I don’t know of anyone else that does either. But the ones I do hear about are usually clunky: you have to install special software, only install once… sounds like something Microsoft would create, right?

Solution

So here’s my solution. Since publishers are apparently incapable of publishing full-color textbooks in PDF format, and selling them iTunes-style (not through iTunes, but the same idea of online distribution)… which would considerably cut costs, since not only is the book not physically printed, but it’s not shipped anywhere either… why don’t we take advantage of the “I want to be popular” technology of the moment?

“The Solution”

E-book readers like the Kindle (there are others, but this is the one to get the most coverage so far) could be the easy solution. Try this out on college campuses, where the kids have money to spend, and actually might want to learn:

1. Include as part of tuition a one-time fee for an e-book reader. Deliver this at orientation Freshman year.
2. All classes have the option to buy a printed version of a book, but are suggested to use the digital version, available for download at the appropriate location.
3. See how happy it makes everyone.
4. Continue this program every year.
5. Eventually stop even printing these college textbooks.

“Oh but what if it breaks?!?!?!” Easy answer. I’m pretty sure that if you have to pay anywhere between $100-300 every now and then, even if it’s every year, to get your textbooks for a fraction of the cost ($30 Physics books anyone?), no-one is going to complain. So don’t give me that IT crap as an excuse.

Conclusion

Maybe e-readers are not going to be very popular in general population for another decade or two. I mean, seriously, a digital library of books isn’t going to impress anyone… no-one’s iPod or iTunes library is of any interest either, right?

I personally would have chose “Textbook Monopolies Suck”. Whatever.

But at least target the market that would benefit the most: poor college students who hate paying for textbooks every semester. College textbooks have been a problem since probably the dawn of time, and now here’s a way to alleviate the pain.

posted on December 14th, 2007 at 1:58 am by Kyle - Comments

Tags: Books, E-Readers, Education, Future, School, Technology

I got a question from someone at my former highschool, Loyola Blakefield, about what COEN is like, so here’s my answer:

——————————

Well, COEN is alot like a grenade… they just give a bunch of information to you, and wait for you to explode. And I’m not kidding… what I’ll describe isn’t just me, but friends from other schools in similar programs as well.

It involves a very broad study of science in general:

• physics
  • general
  • thermodynamics
  • electromagnetism
• chemistry
  • general

Alot of math classes:

• calculus
  • I through IV
• discrete mathematics
• differential equations
• etc.

And then there’s the COEN classes:

• programming [usually in C]
  • Intro
  • Advanced
  • Data Structures
  • Embedded Systems
  • …and alot more…
• hardware
  • circuit design
    • intro
    • basic
    • advanced

And those are just classes I took in my first two years. I’m sure you’ve looked at course overviews, so I’ll be a little more personal…

It’s hard. Very very hard. I never had any problems in school (didn’t even really study) until college, and then I quickly found out that I really am only good at programming. That comes natural to me, and everything else is pretty much an exercise in trying not to drown.

My first COEN requirement was a general chemistry class, only alloted to people in engineering. There were three sections of the class, but in my section we started at at about 200 students, and ended with around 80. The schools will try to weed out people who are “unintelligent” (read: stupid) and those who aren’t dedicated, so they throw it to you fast and hard.

That being said, it’s very interesting and exciting. I’ve had a pretty rough time for reasons other than my studies (I’ve had alot of “drama” with other things that carried over), so I’m not your typical engineering student, but I’ve enjoyed it. You have to push through the things you hate (like physics and chemistry) in order to do some of the things you love (like being awesome in your programming classes). You meet alot of very very smart people who may frustrate you in the beginning, but end up being your friends, or at least your study-buddies because you know they get the A’s.

As for jobs… Pretty much anything. That’s the beauty of an engineering degree, people hear the word “engineering” and it’s like a key turns. Everyone I mention this to always responds “oh wow, you must be very smart” (or something similar). The same goes in the job field… you can run a business, work for NASA, or be a hobo. It really doesn’t matter what you do, as long as it doesn’t require an extra certification (like if you want to be an accountant or something).

I have friends that have already intern’d at places like NASA, Ebay/PayPal, and our school’s IT department. But I, personally, have the intention to graduate and never need to apply my degree. I’ve been programming since middle school, and recently started my own legitimate business, with the intent to grow it big enough by graduation that I won’t have to get a “real job”. Another one of my friends, as a Civil Engineer, is going to work for his dad’s structural design firm after graduation.

Like I said, you can pretty much do whatever you want.

So, I’ll close this up for you, since it was alot. If you want to do anything computer related in the future, COEN sounds like a good fit for you (CS is ok, but it’s alot easier and doesn’t have that “wow” factor). It really doesn’t matter if you know how to program or not, because they teach you. You just have to be an “engineering mind” that likes to figure out how things work, tinker, and doesn’t give up easily.

The three physics classes I had to go through were some of the hardest things I’ve done in my entire life. Ever. But you know what? We all went through it, most of us hated it. Now we joke about it, and even though we hated it, when we read something in a newspaper, technical journal, or hear someone speak that involves detailed physics things… we understand it.

And that’s exactly what engineering is about. They throw all this at you so that you don’t necessarily use it… but that you understand it, and will be able to figure things out when you need to. In my experience, Loyola was a good step before going into an engineering program, because some of the kids coming from public schools had a harder time than the private schools…

All that money being used, eh?

Let me know what you think, and if you have any more questions. Or if I didn’t make any sense at all.

–Kyle

posted on November 16th, 2007 at 9:11 pm by Kyle - Comments

Tags: Education, School

The people/person over here like to argue that, taking a page from ‘Heroes’ on NBC, “change the schools, change the world”… somehow that’s not as catchy as the real version. While I tend to agree that if you change the schools, as far as teaching methods and the like, you directly affect the future… what about those of us that learn better outside of school? Oh, you didn’t know we exist? Sorry, my fault, let me explain:

School != Education

Just because you go to school doesn’t mean you’re intelligent, or will come out of school intelligent. This is most true for college. Think about all those frat guys you know that get a degree in “accounting” or “communications”… the only thing that changes after 4 years is that they’re fatter and start to wear suits during the day. There are exceptions, of course, but something tells me being drunk 5 nights a week, while “bro’ing up”, is not really conducive to increasing your intelligence, awareness, or knowledge base.

Self-learners

And then there are those who learn better on their own (I’ll call them “self-learners”). I am one of these people. For some reason, self-learners find the typical classroom setting very boring and slow, and would rather do the work on their own. This is not a cop out, or an excuse to be lazy, but reality. Speaking from personal experience, self-learners have a hard time absorbing information from the typical classroom setting, but when they are given the chance to learn on their own, especially for a purpose, they exceed all potential of any classroom ever.

When has multiple choice really appeared in the real world?

Methodology

I don’t know why this is true, but it is, and I know that my situation is not unique. When you can devour a book in one sitting, quickly learn a programming language by reading a manual, see the end results of an equation or proof before it’s even begun… you find yourself wondering why you bother sitting in a classroom. Then comes the frustration when you don’t do well on a test, because you learned the subject rather than learning for the test. Is not better to understand the overall breadth of the topic, and it’s minutiae, than to learn a few small very specific pieces?

It’d be a calculus joke if you could read it.

Examples

There are very obvious examples of the school system not being “form fitting” for many: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Einstein… the list goes on. Doesn’t this say something? If some of the most successful, innovative, and intelligent people (in many industries) of this age dropped out of college… that seems to mean that college is not the answer for these types of people. The question then becomes: is it the school system? Or is these pockets of individuals? Where is a solution?

My Solution

I have a very simple solution, although I doubt it would ever be accepted by the college system. Allow full, complete, unmitigated independent study of any size or scope, and assign value to this. For example, someone who knows 4 programming languages, reads many ‘high brain’ books, and tinkers with electronics would be alloted the majority of a Computer Science degree, requiring only a few minor adjustments to an already full plate.

The problem with the modern collegiate system is that it’s too rigid, too structured, too hierarchical. If someone wants a degree in Computer Engineering, it makes sense to take Physics, Chemistry, math, programming classes, and hardware classes… but English? History? Religion? All of these classes have been covered in depth since elementary school, how is one semester of U.S. History going to augment your knowledge from your years of history classes?

The other problem is that the college administrators assume that learning is a ‘track’, traveling from Point A to Point B to Point C. In some senses, yes… you can’t design a computer processor without basic hardware knowledge. However, requiring 10 high level math classes in order to graduate as a Computer Science major? When most of your future will be involved with code? When has anyone used advanced Calculus in their lives, unless you’re involved in the math or advanced science fields?

Broken: A Story of Wasted Money and Years

Schools are broken, and I want out. I’ve known this from Day 1 of college, and that’s why I’m transferring to attempt to graduate faster… college classes cannot replace real world experience, and they will never be as beneficial as a subject learned by oneself for one’s own purposes.

posted on October 25th, 2007 at 11:29 am by Kyle - Comments

Tags: College, Education, School

Some people apparently think American illiteracy is growing by millions every year…

You know, I’m not realy clear on the statistics of how many people are born in the country every year, nor am I fully aware of the success/failure rate of the public (and private) school system on educating American children. But I do know this:

If those statistics are, in fact, true… they’re highly misguided.

Books. I love them. Why don’t you?

Anyone want to sit down and consider this problem for a second? How many people legally emigrate into this country yearly? Out of that number, how many are literate, or at least at a level of certain expected proficiency? I’d be willing to bet a large majority. Why? If memory serves me correctly, to become a US citizen you have to take (and pass) a class that involves learning history, and memorizing things like the Pledge of Allegiance. It would be difficult to pass a US history class if you couldn’t read… wouldn’t you think?So, we know that the legal immigration isn’t the cause of this. Could it be the public school system? It’s widely decried as an utter failure, but something tells me that this is blow a little out of proportion. Again, why? Because it gives the mainstream media something to focus on and complain about when there’s nothing else for them to get people upset over. Also, they tend to focus on the absolute poorest sections of the country. Do you think all public schools are dilapidated buildings, where kids have to walk 45 minutes to get to school, only to find out they get a piece of celery for lunch?

Right. Next?

Here’s my opinion on the supposed “giant illiteracy rate”: illegal immigrants. Most people inside the American borders agree that illegal immigration is a huge problem. Maybe not everyone, but it’s not something you can really argue. I’m in San Jose, CA … about 6-8 hours north of L.A. … and yet everytime I go to Home Depot, a car wash, or other such stereotyped places, there are very large groups of Mexican immigrants looking for, or working, low-paying manual labor jobs.

Anyways, I’m going to assume that everyone agrees that illegal immigration is real, and accounts for a large influx of people into the country every year. The question then becomes: are they literate? Are they educated? They may not speak English, but does that mean they are poor and unintelligent? No. I’m not suggesting that.

The heavily defended Southern Border.

However, statistics show that Mexico is a very poor country, and that large numbers of the population are not only poor, but also uneducated. Statistics also show that the average illegal immigrant from Mexico to America falls in the “poor” category, because they wish to find a better life for themselves and their family. (I even happen to think this is an acceptable ideal… you do anything you can to better your life as you see fit. I just am of the opinion that it should be for legal matters…)

Connect the dots that I’ve plotted for you on a very simple graph. If those numbers on illiteracy are real, and if they consider the America population to be those within the borders of the country, and not those legally present… then the answer is most likely that a large portion of the illegal immigrants are illiterate, and they are falsely inflating the “failure” of the American public school system.

Chew on that, Bill O’Reilly.

posted on October 6th, 2007 at 10:20 am by Kyle - Comments

Tags: America, Citizenship, Education, Illiteracy, Public Schools