The Geekette Speaketh

Learning By Giving: The Go Tutorials

2013-01-07T18:56:00+08:00

I’ve always had trouble studying. Whether it is by learning by myself or through a teacher. But over the years, I found out that the best way for me to learn something is to give something back.

I find it hard to study. A friend once mentioned that I may have ADD. I can’t listen to someone long enough to understand something. Self-study fares a bit better. I’m able to learn. But it’s still hard to retain the information. Over the years I realized that I retain the information longer if I am able to teach someone. It doesn’t matter if I teach face-to-face or virtually through written tutorials.

I’ve been wanting to learn the Go language since last year. And yes, I have learned and wrote a few programs. But heck, I’ve now forgotten about it and have now to start from scratch once again. I do need to use this for a personal project. So I’ve decided to create my own Go tutorials so I can finally get around to retaining what I learn from the language.

I’ll be sharing my tutorial here on my blog. I’m looking forward to also learning from other people as well. It would be nice to hear advice from others so I can integrate them into the tutorial.

Reboot v.2: Octopress

2013-01-01T16:15:00+08:00

During the last days of 2012, I started to work on the website for Mensa Philippines. After about 24 hours working on the site using Blogger, it’s now just waiting for the thumbs up of the Mensa officers. So I decided it was high time to give my blog a new look as well. The last time I did a reboot was in May 30, 2010.

At first I was thinking of just giving it a new look. Then I thought of moving the blog to a new webhost. I was hoping that the Amazon Web Service (AWS) EC2 instance would come out cheaper than using NearlyFreeSpeech. As it turns out, that’s not really the case. Then Marc Tan suggested I take a look at Octopress. And I did. And I fell in love with it. So now I’m getting ready to move my blog from Wordpress to Octopress.

Moving to Octopress also meant a change in my writing workflow. Now, more than ever, I’ll be able to write out my thoughts using my phone on Evernote. It also meant making use of my bluetooth keyboard again. Since the whole thing uses Markdown, it means I don’t have to think about HTML formatting while I’m typing out my thoughts.

I found a way to move most of my posts from Wordpress to Octopress. It just needs some minor corrections first. Then some changes to the look of the Octopress blog. Then I can finally switch the domain to the new platform.

Smart, Globe and getting caught in the crossfire: Aftermath

2012-11-11T19:04:00+08:00

Previously, I talked about the speculation that Smart (and not just Jim Ayson) hates me because I have personal friends in Globe. After the post, it so happened that Jim and I had a conversation on Facebook. I can’t post snippets of our conversation. But if you so wish to read it, you’ll have to search for it. It’s somewhere in Facebook.

So in the end, Jim doesn’t hate me. But at the same time, part of the speculation is true. I say part because there’s a gray area of alliances vs friendship. Remember that I said that the two almost always get mixed up in the Philippine setting. For most people, it seems tricky. But it’s actually very simple if you look at it from my point of view: I don’t mix business with pleasure.

So here are the points that everyone needs to know (to end the drama): * I was reminded by my colleagues in Mobile Monday Manila that some of Smart’s people do attend the meetings as much as they can. Hey. Telcos need to work too to provide you with your much needed services. So no truth that Smart shuns Mobile Monday because Globe is there. Some expected Globe people don’t show up at Mobile Monday at certain times as well. Except one. He has to. Otherwise we can’t get into the German Club for our meetings. But then Christian Besler doesn’t officially represent Globe/Kickstart when he’s in Mobile Monday Manila. Again, changing of hats.

I was reminded by my friend from Smart that a lot of Smart-sponsored activities have been posted on the Philippine Android Community (PhAC). But with the way Facebook Groups work and the schedules I keep with regards to actually being able to read the posts, those activities get pushed way down the line on certain days.
Jim joined PhAC a few days before the ‘Appy Birthday Android event. Of which, there was very little time to invite anyone by then. And also because he wasn’t sure on the rules of posting on PhAC. (Something which the PhAC managers have to sit down and talk about when everyone’s not so busy.)

Which brings us to the point about affiliations. Yes, that was brought up. And in the end, that was cleared up. To rephrase what I said to Jim: “I have as much as an affiliation with my friends in Kickstart and Globe Labs as I have with my friends in Smart.” In other words, I have no business affiliation with Globe. That much has been cleared now. So there.

What have I learned from all of this? * I spend a LOT of time with Globe Labs’ and Kickstart’s activities. I guess because most of the time I was pointedly asked to come over. Which is quite often.

I spend way less time going to Smart’s activities. I guess because most of the time I was pointedly asked to come over. Which is less often because of bullet point number 1.
I need to fix my work schedule. Mostly so that I can just go without having to be pointedly asked to come over. Otherwise, people would think that I’m a self-important brat that has to be pointedly invited just so I can come over.

That’s that. Moving on.

Smart, Globe and getting caught in the crossfire

2012-11-10T20:22:00+08:00

UPDATE: After this post was written (and before Jim Ayson read this), Jim and I chatted on Facebook and cleared the air regarding matters of affiliation. Read the results of that talk in the next post. I understand that Jim read this after our talk and he has mentioned that he was very disappointed and would write a reply in his own blog. If he does, do go ahead and read it. But that will basically be it. If you’re expecting a blog war, that’s not going to happen.

So there was this event called ‘Appy Birthday Android held by Smart and Google Developers Group (GDG) at the telco’s Smart Experience Center in Megamall. I didn’t know about it. I haven’t been in touch as often as I should with the people from GDG since everyone is busy with Startup Weekend Cebu and Davao as well as our day jobs. I’m not on Twitter and Facebook 24/7 so I will definitely be late in receiving news and will definitely miss on news. I don’t follow Smart and SmartDev either. I only found out about the event on the night itself because I was trying to figure out what was causing last night’s unusually heavier-than-usual traffic.

Then I heard the news about Smart thinking of giving the Android developer community a special package for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7. And it had to come from Miguel Paraz on Twitter. My corresponding out-loud thought was: Why is no one from Smart posting it on the Philippine Android Community?

Which led to this short private discussion with a friend of mine.

Friend: Looks like someone from the Smart side has tagged you as “in league with the enemy” :-P
Me: Yeah. I think Jim Ayson hates me now. Which is why Philippine Android Community isn’t getting any news for devs except through bloggers.

“In league with the enemy.” That’s because I have more friends in Globe than in Smart. Particularly the people in Kickstart and Globe Labs. Note: FRIENDS. REAL FRIENDS. Not just business contacts, even though almost all of them hold highly influential positions. In Smart, I have REAL FRIENDS as well. But they don’t hold highly influential positions within the company (except for Gio Bacareza). While I don’t think this should be an issue because I consider all of them friends and not business partners, most Filipinos don’t really see the difference. Hence, the speculation that the people from Smart won’t talk to me because of that situation. I don’t have many real friends in Smart. But I consider most of those I know in the company as my acquaintances and potential business colleagues. For some odd reason, saying this pisses off a lot of people.

So, is it true? Do some people in Smart avoid me because of my personal ties with some Globe people? I don’t really know. It’s all speculation. But if that’s true and they’re using that as a reason for not trying to be active in the communities I hold like Mobile Monday Manila and the Philippine Android Community, then I would call bullshit on that. I’m a co-founder, not a full-all-encompassing owner of both communities. Both communities have a set of managers/organizers as well so I don’t have full and final say of the activities. The Mobile Monday Manila team consists of myself, Christian Besler, Manny Nepomuceno, Leigh Reyes, and the newbies Rafael Oca and Anne Olvido. The Philippine Android Community team consists of myself, Anne Olvido, Rafael Oca and Raymond Jay Golo. So if they wanted to, they can talk to the other team members. I have never let personal dislikes get in the way of anyone promoting anyone’s agenda as long as it is within the space covered by either of the communities.

The point is, it’s not me that loses out when I don’t get informed on these activities. It’s the people who are a part of those communities. In some way, the telcos lose as well because it would have been a great way for them to get more traction from like minded people.

UPDATE: Don’t forget: Read the about the aftermath.

Working with Go

2012-11-02T02:48:23+08:00

I have this idea that’s been brewing for the past couple of months. Normally I would work on it using Java but I decided it would be a perfect time to learn new technologies. I ended up learning Go and the Google App Engine. There’s still some other stuff I need to learn, like Angular.js and Twitter Bootstrap.

I’ve been using my Core i7 laptop a lot for development and training nowadays. But it still is a bit heavy. There are times when I’m not really sure if I should bring the laptop or not. When I end up bringing it, I find that I don’t really have spare time to work on my project and end up regretting bringing extra weight for nothing. When I end up not bringing it, I suddenly find myself with spare time and I would regret not bringing along the laptop. So I was thinking of using my netbook instead. Unlike Java, Go is lightweight. I’m not using eclipse with it anyway. The netbook would definitely a perfect solution.

Things to remember when installing on a Windows 7 machine. When using Google App Engine, don’t forget to also install Python 2.5. I installed Python 2.7.x and it worked just fine. I’ve already installed Go and LiteIDE. I still need to install BlueGriffon (for HTML5 pages) and configure git on this thing. That way I can leave the laptop behind on days when I really don’t need the full power (and weight) of the i7.

Adjusting the screen size on Ubuntu in VirtualBox

2012-08-03T22:48:36+08:00

Recently I upgraded the Ubuntu system on my VirtualBox. That included a correctional upgrade for the kernel. Lo and behold, after that upgrade my display wouldn’t behave anymore. It wouldn’t resize properly to the virtual machine (VM) window. It was either too big or too small for it. I figured I might need to do a reinstall of someting.

A quick search on Google came up with NerdGrind’s solution on how to increase screen resolution on VirtualBox for an Ubuntu install. So I went ahead and followed the directions. Long story short: I just needed to re-install the VirtualBox Guest Additions, restart the VM and everything was back to normal again. Thank goodness for that. I don’t think I can take having to reinstall the Ubuntu VM. Too much time will be wasted if I do.

Ubuntu VM System Version: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin)

VirtualBox version: 4.1.18 R78361

Living a better lifestyle

2012-07-27T07:16:17+08:00

Just a couple more weeks before my birthday. I figured that it was as good a time as any to have a change of lifestyle. Adopt new habits and break bad ones.

One of the habits I’m forming is to exercise as much as I can. I used to swim at the Marikina Sports Park pool. But taking the car everyday to the local pool soon took it’s toll on my wallet. I didnt like the idea of brisk walking around the village at the break of dawn or just as the sun sets. In the end I settled on speed roping.

It’s really jump rope that uses a much lighter material so it would go around faster. I had unearthed my speed rope and realized that it had broke near the handle. Thankfully the PVC cord is adjustable. I’ll need to buy a new cord for it though.

So far the past four days have shown how so out of shape I am. I haven’t gone beyond one minute a day. I easily run out of breath. Hopefully I can get beyond the one minute mark by next week.

The other habit is to write more often. To journal my day just to know if I’ve made the most of it. I’d love to do the 750 words a day goal. But I’ll be happy for now to just be able to write anything at all.

The goal is to do these two habits everyday for 30 days. Here’s hoping I dont break the chain.

NFC Goodness

2012-06-11T08:22:39+08:00

Recently I was lucky enough to win a Sony Xperia P during its launch. It was wonderful to finally own a phone with NFC. I was a bit disappointed to find out that the SmartTags that came with it were read-only.

But that disappointment was short lived as a kind stranger on Twitter sent me a small pack on NFC stickers. Meanwhile, I was also given a couple of test cards from Jollibee’s HappyPlus rewards program.

Now to do some NFC magic!

Accessing Linux from Windows via TightVNC

2012-04-09T05:46:21+08:00

My netbook has been getting little action since I got my i7 laptop. The netbook was really too sluggish to get any Android work done. Even during my Android talks, I end up bringing the laptop instead. But now I’ve decided to bring the laptop back into use again. April 2012 is looking to be a really hectic month with all the events and talks happening. I’d like to go around bringing along the much lighter netbook instead. I’m now experimenting with using the netbook to connect to my laptop at home for presenting and running code.

The following setup makes use of the following computers:

NEO B1230 netbook: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz. 2 GB RAM. MS Windows Home Premium SP1
NEO B5702 laptop: Intel Core i7-2630QM @ 2.0 GHz 6MB Cache. 4GB RAM. Linux Mint 12.

Setting up TightVNC on Linux

First I installed TightVNCServer and XTightVNCViewer. You don’t have to install the viewer, but I’m doing so in case I might want to log in to my netbook from the laptop.

$ sudo apt-get install tightvncserver xtightvncviewer

Then I simply ran TightVNCServer from the command line. When you run this for the first time, it’s going to ask you for an access password and a read-only access password. Give different passwords for both. Afterwhich, TightVNCServer will tell you that it created a new desktop named $ServerName:1. If you run TightVNCServer again, it will create another new desktop named $ServerName:2. Remember those numbers. When you need to kill those desktops later, just type

$ tightvncserver –kill :1

where the number is the desktop you’d like to close.

Another thing I also did was to enable desktop sharing and security on the laptop. Otherwise I won’t be able to get in.

Setting up TightVNC on Windows 7

Well, this was pretty easy. Just download TightVNC for Windows and install it.

Setting up the router

For the router, I needed to make use of Dyanamic DNS in order to connect to the laptop via internet. I registered at No-IP, got myself a free domain name and added that to the router settings to enable DDNS. I also set up port forwarding specifying 5901, 5900 and 5800 as service ports pointing towards my laptop’s IP address. 5900 and 5800 are default ports for the TightVNC server. Meanwhile 5901 corresponds to the server plus the TightVNC desktop number that I wanted to access.

Tying it all up together

From my netbook, I ran the TightVNC viewer. when it asked for the TightVNC server, I entered my No-IP domain name followed by the port number 5901. Example: myserver.myvnc.com:5901. Once I clicked on Connect, it would attempt to contact my laptop. If all goes well, it will ask for the password and I’m in!

So far I’ve tried accessing the laptop from within my own network using the No-IP domain. A friend also tried accessing my computer via the No-IP domain and found it to be practically dial-up slow. I still have to test the connection via mobile internet to see how fast or slow the connection will be. Nevertheless, it all looks promising.

Working with msysgit and Bitbucket

2011-11-13T16:00:51+08:00

I decided to try again and use git. The last time I used git was about two years ago. I used to use Project Locker for my projects. The problem is the free account only has 300MB of space and a maximum of 3 projects. I needed more than 300MB since my slide decks were easily hitting 6MB each and my documents were also hitting around 35MB. Then of course I still had to save my code. So much as I was a Project Locker user for so long, I decided I needed to move. Bitbucket was an easy choice since its free account has no limits on storage and number of projects.

Since I was still using Windows 7, I had to find a way to simply get started without fooling around much with configuring my system. Thankfully I found Jason Meredith’s Git for Windows Developers series. I downloaded msysgit and started following Jason’s directions in part’s 1 and 2. I’ve yet to read Jason’s part 3. That said, I was able to follow through quite well with his series. Definitely one of the better tutorials out there.

Another good git tutorial shared by a friend of mine is Nick Farina’s Git is Simpler Than You Think. It was Nick’s blog that made me decide that I really needed to go back and really learn git for my projects and documents.

So far I’ve moved two of my current projects to Bitbucket and I must say their servers are definitely faster than those of Project Locker. Using git will be so much easier to manage my projects across two computers and three operating systems (Windows 7, Windows XP, ArchBang Linux).

Project: Laptop Skinning (planning stage)

2011-11-11T23:56:43+08:00

Last November 6, I got a new laptop thanks to NEO’s trade-in promo and Art’s franken-laptop. I’ve always wanted to get this quad-core lappy since I first reviewed it on Technoodling. Now that I have it I can finally get around to trying out the latest versions of Android. For now, I have other plans for this laptop aptly baptized as LUST-V2. The main one of which is to skin this thing.

While I love the glossy feel of LUST-V2, I would like to use its top to show people who I am and what groups I’m active in. I have stickers from the different activities I’ve participated in but I don’t want to just simply stick them onto my laptop. I remember Jerome wishing he had never put stickers on his laptop since it was so hard to remove them when it came time to pass on his unit to someone else. Thankfully CD-R King has cheap laptop skins for sale now. I intend to get a few transparent skins for my project. Barring that, I can opt for a plain dark or light colored skin to put on LUST-V2. When I need to pass this laptop on to someone else, I simply remove the skin and that’s that.

Once I have the skin on, I have three options.

Option # 1: Collect stickers and stick them on.

No brainer. Every time I get a sticker, I stick them on to the laptop.

Option # 2: Make my own stickers.

National Bookstore has vinyl sticker paper for sale. I can always print logos and stuff on them and stick them onto my laptop.

Option # 3: Print on ordinary paper and decoupage onto the laptop.

I found instructions on how to skin a laptop using the decoupage method. It sounds like a plan. I just need to buy Mod Podge Gloss from Deovir Arts. Or I can just simply dilute Elmer’s Glue-All and use an acrylic spray to finish.

I’ll figure out which option to go for in the next few weekends. First I need to buy that skin.

Google unveils Ice Cream Sandwich mascot!

2011-10-17T04:39:04+08:00

You know it’s game time when the newest Android mascot is finally delivered to the Google Campus. And it’s no different for the Ice Cream Sandwich!

Today the Ice Cream Sandwich mascot was unveiled on the Google Campus. See the unveiling for yourself!

Also if you’ve been dying to finally see the Samsung-Google launch, then mark your calendars! It’s going to happen on Oct 19, 10am Hong Kong time. You can watch the live coverage on http://youtube.com/Android on that day and time.

Meanwhile, I should whip up an Ice Cream Sandwich in honor of the unveiling!

Android basics demo at the PLM

2011-08-14T09:29:00+08:00

Last August 9 I was invited to give a talk on Android development. My friend, Anne Olvido was also there to give a talk in User Interface Design. I was surprised at how much effort these students put into the preparation of this activity. There were even a couple of intermission numbers.

The PLM students were such a lively bunch. I’m glad to see how eager they were to learn about the Android platform. The students continued to ask questions and tips for their projects and thesis.

At the end of the day we had the usual appreciation plaques. But the surprise of my life came when I opened up my package later. I was given another Starbucks drink tumbler. I don’t mind this since one can never have too many drink tumblers. But what surprised me was that they gave me a book: “Pastry” by Michel Roux! I eagerly read the book and started planning my next baking project from it. These students know how to do their research!

To the students of PLM, thank you for inviting us over! If you ever need help with your projects, you know where to find us. :)

A day of baking

2011-08-14T08:54:00+08:00

A couple of weeks back my best friend enrolled me in a baking class in MIHCA as a gift. Yesterday I was able to attend this class. This was one of MIHCA’s lifestyle classes. I was hoping that this was more than a demo class and would allow real hands-on baking. The class did not disappoint!

We ended up baking five recipes. I was specially interested in making the foccacia since I had never tried making yeast breads by myself. It was fun to be able to knead and feel the dough in your hands. Some people think it would be easier to use an electric mixer with a dough hook. But I find doing it by hand more enjoyable.

We got to take home all of the food we baked. Next month they have an advanced baking class. Me and my new friends plan to get together again and join the same schedule. In fact, we bonded so much that we plan to have a monthly reunion to bake and share new recipes!

Google+ Hack: Keeping track of private messages

2011-07-05T23:09:26+08:00

I’ve been in Google+ since last week and so far it’s been a blast. I’ve sent a few feedback messages to the guys at Google on some nifty features that I wish were in both the mobile and web app. I’ve also discovered a hack to be able to keep track of private messages and notes-to-self.

The thing with Google+ is that there isn’t any way to keep track of the messages you share to specific people. In fact, it doesn’t even show up on your profile stream. What to do? The answer is to make a circle of one. That is, create a circle and put yourself in it. Then add that circle to the message and TA-DA! You can now keep track of the private stuff!

I created two “private” circles, one for private messages and another for my notes-to-self. So far it’s worked out well. The posts show up in the circles. I finally have a way to keep track of my notes and the messages I post. It only works one way though. There’s still no way to tag incoming private messages created by other people. But at least I’m halfway there.

MobileMonday Manila 2011.06: Live blog review

2011-06-16T21:19:34+08:00

A few days ago we just concluded our second meeting for MobileMonday Manila. I’m still a bit busy with other stuff but I do plan to write more about what MobileMonday is all about. In the meantime, do enjoy the live blog review provided by Art of Technoodling.net.

MoMo Manila 2011.06 LIVE BLOG

Now open: Google Summer of Code 2011

2011-04-04T17:21:00+08:00

It’s that time of the year again! Google has opened its doors to student applicants for this year’s Summer of Code. Applications had started March 28 and will end on Friday, April 8th 7:00 PM UTC. That’s Saturday, April 9th 3:00 AM in the Philippines.

For those of you who don’t know what Google Summer of Code is all about, it’s an annual program to give students from around to world some geek cred by working on several open source projects and get some cash on the side as well. The program has been happening every summer (North American summer, that is!) since 2005. This year an applicant can choose from 175 participating organizations for a project they’d want to do. These include the Blender Foundation, Drupal, Inkscape, KDE, Moodle, The Honeynet Project, and WordPress.

Who can apply? Well, first and foremost you have to be at least 18 years old on or before April 25, 2011. You also have to be a student. Doesn’t matter what kind of program you’re taking: college, university, masters, PhD, undergraduate. The point is you have to show proof that you are currently enrolled in an accredited university/college educational program, whether full time or part time. No, your course doesn’t need to be computer related to join the Summer of Code. You just need to be technical enough to hack some code.

How do you apply? You start off by making a proposal on the project you want to do. The proposal is subject to approval by a participating open source organization. You can check out the ideas page on the Summer of Code website to figure out what you’d like to do for a particular organization. You can also check out the student manual for tips on how to make your proposal. Once you’re accepted, you can finally start coding!

But you don’t code for free though. You get a stipend for all that hard work you put in! This is how it works: If you get accepted into the program, you get US$500. When you pass the mid-term evaluation of your project, you get US$2,250. When you pass the final mid-term evaluation, you get another US$2,250. So by the time you end your project in August, you have a total of US$5,000 (roughly 200,000 pesos)! If that isn’t incentive enough, I don’t know what is!

Need more information? Head on over to the Google Summer of Code homepage right now!

Changing work habits to solve dry eye

2011-04-03T06:45:02+08:00

I noticed for the past couple of weeks that I’ve been getting really bad headaches when I’m working in front of my computer. The headaches are localized to my forehead though. I was worried that my sight just took a turn for the worse. So I set an appointment for a check-up at the American Eye Center.

Back in 1996, I underwent Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) to correct my myopia. My doctor at that time said that my sight might worsen again in the future due to lifestyle and age. I last had my post-op check-up in 2007. I was diagnosed with slight myopia, but it wasn’t bad enough to need a retouch. In my recent check-up, my sight grade didn’t change at all. I was diagnosed with eye fatigue with slight dry eye. My lifestyle finally caught up with me.

The doctor told me to use an ophthalmic lubricant (GenTeal) to use as needed. He doesn’t recommend using Visine or Eye-Mo since they’re harsh on the eyes for everyday use, even those “daily use” ones. He also told me to take frequent breaks away from the computer. The advice has made me rethink about the way I work. It also made me realize that taking frequent off-computer breaks is not really an option but a necessity.

To help me with my breaks, I reinstalled WorkRave on my computer and configured it with what I learned using the Pomodoro Technique. That is, 25-minute time slots for work, 5-minute breaks and 15-minute breaks for every consecutive four work slots done. I also listen to my body now. When my forehead starts aching, I take a break away from the computer. I use the breaks to see if I need to use the lubricant and to go get a glass of water. Maybe I should take Vitamin A supplements as well.

I also will have to give up on pulling all-nighters. It’s also a source of stress on the eyes. Indeed, while this is said to be part of the life of a developer, I’ve realized that it shouldn’t be and I should find ways to avoid this from ever happening.

The New York Cheesecake experiment

2011-04-03T04:48:01+08:00

During my best friend’s birthday, I decided to surprise him with one of his favorites: A New York Cheesecake. I’ve done a couple of cheesecakes in the past. Every one I baked came out cracked. I asked my friend Lori (Dessert Comes First) for advice on how to stop this from happening. The answer: Cook in a bain-marie. For the unfamiliar, a bain-marie is simply a water bath.

My cheesecake recipe is actually a modified version of Chantal’s New York Cheesecake. Since only a few people were eating (my best friend and I), I pared down the measurements enough to fill two 4 1/2 inch springform pans. Other modifications I made:

The graham crust is based on Lori’s Simply Sinful Cheesecake recipe. Lori had baked the crust first before pouring in the cheesecake mixture. I agree with her. Pre-baking the crust gives you that nice cookie-like texture that holds throughout the baking process.
I added an extra yolk to the recipe for a bit more custardy feel. I would suggest you not add the extra yolk when you try this recipe the first time around, just so you’d have a baseline. Add the yolk in your next batch and decide which you’d like best after that.
Lori immediately removes her cheesecake once cooking time is done then leaves it out to cool. I left mine inside until I can hold the pan of water with my bare hands. It might depend on the oven and the cheesecake recipe you’re using. Experiment to see which works best for you.

A tip with the bain-marie: Wrap your springform pan in foil before putting it in that pan of water. This prevents water from seeping into the bottom and making your lovely crust soggy. What I would do is to take some string and tie the foil around the top edge of the springform pan so no condensation collects inside the wrapper. Or you can just simply fold the foil and crimp it over the edge of the your springform pan.

If you would rather want to bake this in a 9-inch springform pan, multiply the graham crust mixture by 2 and the cheesecake mixture by 4. EXCEPT THE YOLKS. I’m not really sure what would happen if you add four extra yolks to a quadrupled mixture. I would suggest you remove the extra yolks and add up as needed. Yes, it would mean multiple experiments with this recipe, but is that really a bad thing?

So, here’s my junior version of the New York Cheesecake. Enjoy!

Junior New York Cheesecake

Graham Crust:

1 cup crushed graham crackers

1/8 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

Cheesecake Mixture:

1 8-ounce package cream cheese

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 egg

1 egg yolk (optional)

1/4 cup sour cream

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Grease two 4 1/2-inch springform pans. Set the pans aside.

In a bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Divide the mixture equally between the springform pans. Press the mixture down with a flat object (like the back of a spoon or a bottle lid. Bake for 10-minutes. Set aside to cool.

In another bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate.

Mix in sour cream, vanilla, and flour until smooth. Divide equally and pour into the springform pans. Wrap the pans with foil.

Get another pan big enough to hold the cheesecakes. Place the cheesecakes into the pan. Fill the pan halfway with hot water.

Place pan in preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes OR until center is slightly jiggly in the center but the perimeter is set. Turn off the oven. Cool in oven with the door slightly open. Remove when you can handle pan with your bare hands. Remove the foil and chill the cheesecakes at least four hours to let flavors develop.

Presenting Android to STI Students

2011-03-22T03:51:28+08:00

I previously mentioned that I met a group of STI students during the January meetup of the Philippine Android Community. I also mentioned that they had invited me to give a talk on Android development during their school’s ICT Roadshow. That happened last March 10, 2011.

It was a wonderful event! I met two people from NEO Technologies, namely Kathryn Day (Account Manager) and Anci Puzon (Events Supervisor). We talked a bit about their products, one of which happened to be a very lightly marketed Android tablet that’s in limited supply. I have to remember to invite them to the PhAC meetup this March.

My presentation went along smoothly. At first, I was quite apprehensive after the talk since no one in the audience was asking questions. I did give a sigh of relief later on when I heard their feedback after my talk. I’m glad that they appreciated my presentation and look forward to future talks with STI Global City. A great many thanks to the students of STI and to Ms. Cheryl Buatin for the invitation! Thanks go out as well to Anne Olvido and Mai Ladanga for coming over and presenting their applications to the audience!

Here are the slides I made for my presentation. The code sample used was courtesy of Sunit Katkar and can be found here. You’re free to use my presentation if you wish. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License apply.

Introduction to Android (presented Mar 10, 2011) from Charo Nuguid

View more of my presentations.