Earlier today, a few local blogs mentioned my T-Comm website (a live map of all the buses in Metro Vancouver): This real-time Vancouver bus tracking map is pretty obsession-worthy (Vancouver Is Awesome) Vancouver bus tracking map allows you to track movement in real time (Vancouver Courier) This map will tell you where every public transit bus in Metro Vancouver is (Urbanized Vancouver/Daily Hive) The site wasn’t really designed for day-to-day navigation, but more for transit enthusiasts who are looking to find specific buses (e.g., the double decker test buses we have on the streets right now, 1008 and 1009). In Continue Reading
Delaying a MacBook Pro’s deep sleep
I bought a new mid-2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro late last year, immediately prior to the line being discontinued (I still think the second-generation MacBook Pros were the best series). After about a week, I found an annoying thing with it: When I turned on the computer after coming back from work, it seemed like it almost always required a cold startup after sleeping, where the optical drive initialized and did its buzz, and took a lengthy 10-15 seconds to wake up from sleep. Also, the computer would wake up (and the optical drive buzzed) even if the MagSafe charger was disconnected. Continue Reading
Driving around with car2go
About a month ago, I signed up for a car2go account. So far I’ve used it twice already and I’ve been pretty happy with the experience. Why car2go? In the case I miss the last SkyTrain home, the car2go would be a cheaper option than taking a taxi, and more time-efficient than waiting for the Night Bus. (It’s roughly $10 for a 20-minute car2go trip from downtown to Richmond, versus a $35 taxi ride. The earliest Night Bus gets me home around 3am). I share cars with my parents, so in the rare case that they need the cars, I Continue Reading
Post-summer update
I can’t believe it’s September already. The weather is starting to become cool and wet, days are becoming shorter, marking the end of what has been an incredible summer (and year to date). It’s been a while since I’ve written here, so with the changing season I thought I’d share a bit of an update of 2016 so far. Some of these warrant their own blog posts, but until I have time to write the full thing here is a summary.
Amateur Radio and the Vancouver Sun Run
Earlier this year, in search of a new hobby, I took an Amateur radio course (also known as ham radio) and received my license about a month ago. Amateur radio is all about non-commercial communication over radio waves. Most consumer walkie-talkies (like ones using the FRS) work only over several kilometers in the best of conditions. Believe it or not, Amateurs are able to use equipment to communicate all over the world, and even into space contacting the International Space Station using radio frequencies. This kind of communication was probably more popular decades ago when there was no Internet, or cheap long distance Continue Reading