Finally some site updates!

Published by dara on 11 October, 2011 in Site News. Closed

Last weekend, I found an archive of a lot of my old postings, and after some chicanery to get around WordPress limitations, I managed to import all the old content into the new blog.

That discovery spurred me to begin updating this place more regularly, and add some things that I’d been meaning to post but never quite got around to.

The Hiking section includes all of the trip reports I’ve written from the last 4 years.  I’ll try to add in brief reports for some of the missing trips as well.

The Miscellaneous section from the old site has been restored.  There’s a lot to update there.

Finally, I’ve created a Programming section, where I’ll be posting the projects I am or have been working on.

Notes on Building a C/C++ Leak Detector

Published by dara on 9 October, 2011 in Programming. Closed

Building a simple C memory leak detector is not too difficult.  I did it in a previous post in less than 200 lines.  But once you add features, it becomes a lot more complicated.

What features am I talking about?

1) Allow use in programs with more than 1 source file.
2) Make fast enough to use in reasonably large programs.
3) C++ support (track allocations made with new and delete).
4) Detect use of mismatched allocation/deallocation (e.g. new and free).
5) Detect simple buffer overflows (writing off the end of an array). 
6) Be generally helpful (errors should be handled gracefully). 
7) Test everything well.

And of course it goes without saying that I wanted to keep it portable, and as simple as possible.

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Glitches

Published by dara on 9 October, 2011 in Daily and Tech. Closed

Since moving in to my apartment I’ve been trying to get my computer setup ironed out.  I’ve hit a few glitches along the way.

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Chance Encounters

Published by dara on 8 October, 2011 in Daily. Closed

Low Memorial - Concert

 

I went down to campus this morning to do some work at the library.  On my way out, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a concert in progress on the Low Steps.  Quite a talented group, particularly the lead singer Bri Arden.  Chalk that up as another good reason not to stay indoors on a pleasant Saturday afternoon.

Mobile phone annoyances

Published by dara on 7 October, 2011 in Daily and Tech. Closed

Cell carriers

Thanks to (previously mentioned) problems with AT&T at my new apartment, I’m in the market for a new cell phone carrier.

Unfortunately, this being the US, that means I also am in the market for a new phone.  Mind you, I’m perfectly happy with my current phone.  if I could use it on someone else’s network (i.e. not AT&T), I’d be happy to.  But I can’t.

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Revisiting Old Haunts

Published by dara on 6 October, 2011 in Daily Photo. Closed

Rainbow over Reservoir

We are all creatures of habit, but some of us more than others.  When I was living in NYC in spring 2008, I would frequently take the 1 subway line up to 59th street, walk a few blocks across to Central Park, and make my way northward to the reservoir.  I almost always passed by the children’s zoo, the sailboat pond, the Belvedere ‘castle’, and the great lawn on the way to the reservoir.  It was always a nice way to spend the afternoon, and clear my head of whatever funk I was in.  I made the trip more than a dozen times from March through May of that year.

Today I needed to catch the train to visit my grandparents, so I replicated the route I used to take, in reverse order.  As usual the fountain was running in the reservoir, and I was lucky enough to catch a rainbow.  Even in the middle of the densest part of New York, you can still find a little tranquillity, if you look.

Goodbye, Mr. Jobs

Published by dara on 5 October, 2011 in Tech. Closed

Well, that was sudden.

Only a few months after handing over the reins at Apple, Steve Jobs passed away yesterday from cancer.  He was 56.

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The iPhone 4S announcement

Published by dara on 4 October, 2011 in Tech. Closed

Iphone 4

Well, Apple made their iPhone 4S announcement today, and apparently a good many people are less than impressed.

The main complaints I’ve seen so far are:

Same design as the iPhone 4.  This seems to be a form of misplaced status anxiety.  I’ve seen no specific complaints about the iPhone 4 design.  Only a desire for something ‘new’ and ‘shiny’.

Screen is still ‘only’ 3.5″. The assumption seems to be that a bigger screen is automatically a better screen.  From the perspective of pocketability and battery life, that’s not true.  A larger screen would make some things easier, but there would clearly be tradeoffs.

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AT&T Wireless Woes

Published by dara on 30 September, 2011 in Daily and Tech. Closed

I finally got my housing assignment from the university last week (I was waitlisted).  Pretty nice place if I do say so myself.

Only one problem: I don’t get any cellular reception in the apartment.  I’m not talking about having 1 or 2 bars and suffering dropped calls.  I’m talking about no reception whatsoever.  Oh sure, if I open a window and lean out at the right time of day, I might get 1 bar.  On a good day.  If I’m lucky.  Other than that I get nothing.

My first instinct was to blame AT&T.  After all, it’s AT&T that had a huge dead zone in the middle of campus at my last school, and it’s AT&T that offered almost no coverage at home back in California.

Apparently, my instincts are correct.  My roommate, who also has AT&T, has the same problem.  My neighbor, who has Verizon, has no problem at all.

So naturally, I called AT&T to complain.  Their suggestion, after I had spent a nice chunk of the afternoon on hold, was to purchase a ‘MicroCell tower’.  This device which attaches to your internet connection, acts as a cell-phone booster and re-routes cellular communications over your network.

Here’s the problem: I’m already paying AT&T monthly (~$65) for service.  Now they want me to pay $60 in addition, just so I can use the service I’m already paying for?

Thanks, but no thanks.  Goodbye AT&T.  Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to miss you.

I’d rather not be the product

Published by dara on 28 September, 2011 in Politics and Tech. Closed

Google adwords

Google is one of the great success stories of the last decade.  The explosion of the internet has left them at the center of the one sector of the economy that seems to have a future.  In addition to producing Google search, they are one of the companies that is putting significant resources into research that may not have immediate applications.  They’re also from what my friends tell me a fun and exciting place to work.

The thing that surprised most people about Google’s services early on is that they’re free.  Or rather, that’s how it seems to us.  We get to access great resources day in and day out without spending a penny.  Seems like a good deal.

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