I have been reading the Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and have been gaining insight into our behavior and why we do the things we do. Humans are habitual creatures and apparently, we go through the majority of our day by relying on our habits – though it seems like we are making multiple conscious decisions throughout the day.

I have also found out about how much of what we do are being recorded and studied. There is actually software, Hit Song Science that predicts the popularity of a song. I wonder if that is the reason why there is so much crappy music nowadays . . . radio stations around the country are using data to see which songs are popular and then form playlists around those songs. A study shows that the majority of us will not tune out of a station if it is playing something familiar to us, regardless of whether we like it or not. Personally though, whenever a song I dislike gets played on the radio, I immediately tune to another station or plug in my iPod. However, it seems interesting to me that most people do not . . . However, all of this is moot as I have learned from other sources that a huge majority of teenagers use Youtube to discover new music. So, Youtube is now the new MTV.

More and more companies are relying on mathematicians and statisticians to make use of the enormous amounts of data they have on their customers. Patterns emerge whenever you apply the correct algorithm/formula and from there, companies are more than eager to take advantage of it. There used to be a time when I wasn’t too worried about companies mining data by monitoring my spending habits but they are now integrating their data with data they have bought or mined from somewhere else. There is a huge compilation of data on each individual through social media, online retailers and offline data records. It is no longer science fiction or paranoid to think that Google would know more about you than your co-workers or friends.

I’m also aware of the fact that the next generation would have no problem sharing this information to companies since they grew up in a time where it is the norm. Once they grow up to be our age, everything would probably be public information and perhaps it will be a better world, who knows? A whole generation will not know what a dial tone is, or a rotary dial phone for that matter, they will never see a typewriter and perhaps not know what a watermelon seed looks like. But hopefully, all the data that is gathered about them, helps them form good habits or at least, help them make good decisions.

I have recently signed up for a class in Web Analytics at UBC. I think it will greatly complement my knowledge in usability design and will improve how I produce websites in the future. I haven’t really had much time to study user behavior in the past aside from the usual A/B testing so it will be a welcome change to be able to delve into the analysis of the user and how my websites are being consumed.

I have also made great improvements in my javascripting, having completed a course last year on the basics. I’m also finishing up on the Javascript component at Codecademy (http://www.codecademy.com/). I’m much more confident in my Javascript skills now and am consistently putting it into practice in whatever project I may be working on.

Here’s a snippet of what I have learned so far:

Creating Objects in Literal notation

var person = {
name: 'Ryan', // note the comma
weight: 150 // no comma after the last key-value pair
};


Below is the same but using an instance

var person = new Object();
person.name = 'Ryan';
person.weight = 150;


Now you can access the object’s properties by just stating

var weight1 = person.weight;
var weight2 = person['weight']; //this is an alternate way


You can also create a constructor to make it easier to create new objects

function person(name,weight)
{
this.name=name;
this.weight=weight;
}


And then afterwards, create new objects just by using the constructor

var myFriend=new person("John",150);


That is the basics of Javascript objects . . . I will be sharing more about Javascript and jquery on later posts.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple passed away yesterday, Oct 5, 2011.

I have read numerous biographies about him and had concluded that while I was a huge fan of Jobs (much more than Apple, as a company) I wouldn’t necessarily want to work for him – he was extremely meticulous, argumentative and once he set his mind on something, could be really difficult to sway. Having said that, he was mostly right on most things – he had vision and he almost single-handedly made those visions reality.

He will truly be missed and Apple as we know it, will never be the same without him.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. – Apple Inc.

ENDGAME

I have just recently finished reading this book about Bobby Fischer – 1972 World Chess Champion. He is indeed a remarkable character, read his Wikipedia entry and you will get a glimpse. That is exactly what he wanted the world to get, only a glimpse since he is an intensely private person. Right after he won the World Championship in 1972, he fell off the radar and completely removed himself from chess as well as from the public eye.

He calls himself a genius and was deeply involved in the Worldwide Church of God until 1972, he was also Jewish but he denounced both the church and all Jews. Frequently making harsh remarks against all Jews (anti-Semitic) and religion as a whole. He hates journalists of all kinds and refuses to be photographed even with close friends.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book – it is fascinating how a person can be so sensible and sharp when in front of a chessboard and yet be so anti-social and seem so neurotic apart from it. Bobby Fischer, while he was probably the best chess player who ever lived was not nearly half as good as a human being.