If you’re into tech, you probably would’ve heard about Bitcoins. Next to Google Glass and 3D printers, Bitcoin is the next big ‘new’ thing. Silicon Valley investors are salivating at Bitcoin companies. Coinbase just raised $5mil, for example. Besides the buzz and excitement, here’s why I’m excited about Bitcoin and will invest my time and money in it for the long term. 1) Decentralized Currency This is … Read More.

Bitcoins are booming at the moment. Yes, it had a bit of dive, but its adoption and growth is incredibly exciting. I got into Bitcoin early 2011 when I decided to ‘play’ around by buying some. Needless to say, those few coins are worth quite a bit today. Thefts of coins are becoming common, not only with end-users, but on hosted services too (online wallets). Storing your … Read More.

Whether Google Glass fails or not, the discussions generated by it and human nature will become one of the most interesting philosophical issues for the coming generation. This short essay is part of an assignment for the completion of the E-Learning & Digital Cultures MOOC on Coursera. Google Glass is almost too sci-fi. It’s unreal, but what issues does it raise? I’ve seen quite a lot of … Read More.

So, last month I launched HanziCraft. Here are the stats. Statistics Google Analytics data below: I’m quite happy with the stats at this point. I made the big announcement on the 11th of January on my Chinese learning blog. Then the roller coaster started. My first sales came in within a few hours. I sell premium accounts for the site. In total I’ve only sold 8 accounts. … Read More.

Stellenbosch University started its new year & it’s the first time without me as a student in five years. I graduated with majors in linguistics & Chinese, and I’m awaiting the results of Master’s thesis in Computer-Assisted Language Learning. However, as I’m seeing friends and strangers Tweet about heading back to University it made me introspective. Here are some things I learned, apart from the differing types … Read More.

In 2012 I had a coding rebirth. I needed to improve my coding skills for my degree and went straight into Node.js as it was the quickest to pick up coming from front-end web design. While coding for my research I also spent some time on side-projects, that in the end taught me a lot! I now introduce my biggest project yet: HanziCraft. This site has been … Read More.

Since my girlfriend and I recently moved to Taiwan (check my post on Confused Laowai for more info), Simon (my twin brother) and I wanted to keep in touch, especially our spontaneous tech discussions. We’re both interested in tech and 21st century trends and always manage to find interesting topics to talk about. We’ve decided to have Google hangouts and then record them so other people can share in our interests. … Read More.

In between completing my Master’s, I spent a lot of time working on side-projects. When I look back over the year, I realized each side-project taught me new skills, like building blocks paving the foundation for the next one. The best way improve in coding is to build something and I did just that. Here’s how it went: 1) HanziJS: Request/Posts & Jade Templating HanziJS, the open-source project, started … Read More.

Seriously, does anyone else feel it? Like we’re driving in a car from the 1960′s with no seatbelt and poor crash capabilities, full speed towards a wall… drunk. Maybe it’s just me, but this generation of everything at our fingertips is starting to get to me. I can download any movie or any song right now. I can watch any form of porn right now. I can … Read More.

I started my first blog way back in 2005. I was 15 ok. I know… Oh boy. I was weird. The blog doesn’t make any sense, so don’t worry. I then left things for a bit, but only seriously start blogging again in 2008, with Niel Default (old personal blog) & Twindie.net. Both weren’t really focused on anything, however Twindie.net became this weird humour blog, which joked about blogs and … Read More.