Pirates of Silicon Valley

 As I watched the film “Pirates of Silicon valley” I was amazed how Steve Jobs and Bill gates were once friends, when in fact they were rivals as Steve Jobs being the co-founder of Apple computers and Bill Gates also the co-founder of Microsoft. These two braniacs are the creators of billion dollars computer industry which make our lives easier these days.

The film showed a brief flashback of their lives wherein it was more of the negative sides of both great men as we know them today. Gates being a genius with no conscience succeeded through theft and bullying and Jobs on the other hand, is a creative man who lets the profits go to Gates. Although this film showed the negative sides of both men yet, it never failed to show how both were also passionate and how dedicated they were in their jobs that brought the computer technologies we used today.

All in all, this film is good since it showed how computers evolved. Also it showed the good personality of Steve Wozniak, the brain of Apple I and Apple II who is also the co-founder of apple. These were the geniuses who transformed not only of how we communicate but the way we live today.

Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities Book Review

Book Review:

Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities is not your ordinary book. It is a book filled with mathematical games, puzzles, stories, and facts. Ian Stewart wrote it in a way that the readers won't get bored. The book was really interesting since it looked like Stewart randomly wrote the book out of nowhere. He had no plot or direction to follow. It's like the idea of publishing a book suddenly popped in his mind then BAM! here you go. lol

I definitely enjoyed answering the puzzles. His stories were also fun to read. I really loved Stewart's humor too. This book was fun and entertaining to read. It's the kind of book that you wouldn't mind to reread again and you can also skip a few pages if you want to and you won't miss out on anything.

Well.. i haven't finished reading it since i skipped a few pages. I'm off to answering more puzzles! haha

Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

                (book review)

The book written by Ian Stewart titled, “Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities” is a collection of intriguing mathematical games, stories, puzzles and factoids. It also included theories such as the “Chaos Theory”, introduced and discussed the lives of great mathematicians such as that of Pythagoras and Archimedes and some of the mathematical discoveries such as the Fibonacci number and Goldbach Conjecture.

As I browse through the pages of the book, I got curious with the topic “Goldbach Conjecture”, as I can remember, it was the mathematical problem highlighted in the film, “Fermat’s Room”, we watched before. It was the mathematical problem that made a mathematician go insane when he discovered that he wasn’t able to solve it first, where it fact he did. It is indeed a difficult and at the same time an interesting problem unsolved for 250 years now. Though many mathematicians attempted to solve and provide a proof for this conjecture, so far no one proved it right.

I enjoyed some of the topics, especially those humorous ones. While the rest, those with heavy ideas, I also appreciate them. It is an another unique math-related book that I appr

Pirates of Silicon Valley

      (movie review)

The film “Pirates of Silicon Valley” explores the impact of the rivalry between the brains of the Apple Inc. and the Microsoft Inc., the two of the most famous names in the field of computer technology, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The film showed a brief history on the lives of these two and their somewhat individual journey on developing their creative and logical ideas on computers and computer technology towards them, achieving the peak of their individual successes.

To be honest, I just know these two icons by their names and for some facts like Bill gates, branded as “the richest man in the world”, but aside from that, I haven’t had any idea on what they are really famous for. While watching the film, I was shocked when I learned that Bill Gates is actually a computer genius and is involved with the Microsoft Company, all I know was that he is a business man that’s all, that’s why he is so rich. Oh poor me.

What I liked in this film, is its being realistic and at the same time informative. The film somewhat brought the evolution of computers, a definitely interesting topic. And for that, I love the film. I was amazed when I learned that, Microsoft gained its popularity because of Apple, and what was more amazing was that, it was because of “stealing a software from an Apple model! Because of that theft, these two until now competes in the world of computer technology.

What I learned in the film, is that “a creative mind is an asset that will take one to a place he/she couldn't ever imagine”.

Pirates of Silicon Valley -- Movie review

This movie showed me the true color of the big names in the computer industry. I always hear things about Steve jobs and bill gates like, they were rich—that’s it. This movie showed that even these “geniuses” have problems.  In this movie, Bill gates had many unpleasant attitudes. He steals, lies and cheats. And Steve Jobs, was more or less like that also.

This movie showed how this multi-billion-dollar computer industry became this big and successful. But movie was more focused on Steve Jobs since most of the time, the actor that played him was on the screen. 

The movie also covered the time when Steve was still in college and they were still in their dorm room. It was also showed there that Jobs, acted as the front man, for Wozniaks’s personal computer. Wozniak created the personal computer by himself and Steve Jobs was in-charge of the sales talking and promotion of the product saying that the apple computer would be the “device that would change the world”.

This movie mostly showed the imperfections of these rich people. Jobs’ girlfriend told him that she’s pregnant but he won’t accept that the child was his. It was also showed how self-centered he was by the way he treats his employees. He shouts at them for sleeping but his employees have already been working for 50 hours straight. He was very unprofessional since he goes to his office wearing sandals and makes a fool out of the applicant.

Bill Gates on the other hand, was arrested for speeding. He was part of the group who lied to IBM that they owned DOS.

Eventhough they had these attitudes, now they are very successful, and Bill Gates is now the richest man in the world.

I am not saying that we should also lie and cheat in order to succeed. But sometimes, being very good isn’t good. Everyone of us has God given talents and skills. These people succeeded because I think this is their passion and in order to get their dreams they may have used the wrong ways but since it is what they want to do they succeeded. 

Pirates of the Silicon Valley

                Good artists copy. Great artists steal.

                The Pirates of Silicon Valley is a movie about the rivalry between Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computers, and Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft. The movie shows the historical development of these two large computer companies, from the time when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs’ college days to moving pictures using old cinematography. It is the evolution of the age of personal computers shown before our eyes.

                The movie also emphasized the negative qualities of the two gentlemen that are now having big names worldwide. Despite of the unenthusiastic attitude of Steve Jobs to his team and co-founders, he still managed to uplift and give a renowned recognition of the Apple Company. On the other hand, Bill Gates also tried to put everyone down who are in the same business even though Microsoft at first was an underdog. Still, he survived and also made Microsoft as a threatening counterpart to Apple.

                Moreover, the movie highlighted on how Apple grabbed the idea of the Graphic User Interface from Xerox, how Microsoft purchased the first Disk Operating System from an underground programmer, and how Bill Gates developed Windows behind Steve Jobs’ back. For these reasons, the revolutionaries were depicted by the title movie itself as the “Pirates of Silicon Valley”. Through this, they become the two richest men in the world up to date.

                What was really amazing about the film was that the two contenders actually worked together until Steve Jobs realized that Bill Gates developed Windows using the software that Apple had programmed for their computers. Isn't it amazing?

                The film is well presented in terms on the chronological order of events (with all the dates and locations). If you are into the history of computers, this movie is a must-watch. And oh did I mention that Noah Wyle (playing as Steve Jobs) is so charming? J

Is Mathematics fun? (A "Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities" Review)

                Mathematics is the language of the universe. It's also the language of fun. Is it?

                There once was a boy who loved mathematics. When he was fourteen, he found that boring school stuff couldn't satisfy that love anymore, so he started collecting all the mathsy fun he came across in his independent reading, filling notebook after notebook with games, puzzles, and anecdotes. Eventually, his math collection grew to fill an entire filing cabinet, “Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities”, and the boy grew up to become a professor. Stewart presents a wide-range of math-related goodness: puzzles, jokes, anecdotes, theorems, biographies, and even straight magic tricks.

                This book isn’t what you would think of when I say “book”, it is more of a collection of problems and curiosities from all areas of Mathematics. The entries in this book are rarely more than two pages long so one can be quickly looked at whenever you have a free time; however some of the problems in the book are deceptively simple and can leave you thinking about them for days. 

                I also loved the way humor was delivered, making the book a less of an entertainment if you took breaks at the jokes to rest your mind. Other places to let the mind 'rest' is where the author has thrown in a chuck of historical background; learn and play, all in the one book.

                Overall, it is a fun book, though quite heavy in places. It won't be to everyone's taste, but for those who enjoy the challenge, and find Mathematics and logic to be just their kind of thing, then this book is a fun way to spend your free time.

Narrative Report for Computers group

            We, the 5^th group, were tasked to report about computers. We reported last March 14 and 21, 2014. For our games, we conducted a “Logo Quiz” last March 14,2014. Last March 21, 2014, we presented our creative presentation in a form of informal debate.

            During our “Logo Quiz” game, the students were grouped according to their group during reporting. Three groups participated in the said game. During the game, the groups were tasked to identify the name of the 75 logos that will be projected in the white screen. These group of logos comprised of different websites. The sites that we have used were based on the list that we found in the internet under the keywords: “frequently visited websites” and “top 100 websites”. Mr. Chris Anthony Jawa edited the logos that were used. Unfortunately, we started late (about 7:45 AM) so we have to put the game under time pressure in order to maximize the time. The Statistics group won the game. They obtained a score of 63. They were followed by the Algebra group (61 points) and Geometry group (60 points). There were only three groups who participated instead of four because unfortunately, no one in the Number group were present in class that day. Initially, we were planning to conduct a “Pictionary” game but after consulting to Ma’am Cielo Blasing, she suggested that we conduct a “Logo Quiz” instead.

            We have presented an informal debate focusing on some of the positive and negative effects between an electronic classroom (e-classroom) and a traditional classroom. Ms. Gabrielle Palmares finalized the script that we used. We have selected such topic because, aside from it was suggested by our professor, there are so many websites in the internet that can offer the facilities of an e-classroom like Skype, Youtube, etc. In these sites, we can communicate with our teachers and view their instructions and lectures even if we are far away from each other. We can also watch the different lectures of other teachers from different universities for further references. These can widen the learning experience of the students. We also included in our presentation the setbacks such as the internet connection and the temptations that are brought by internet. We were able to communicate to each other despite on the conflict in our schedules through the internet.

            Our creative presentation was postponed for some meetings because our professor presented “The Pirates of Silicon Valley” which showed the story of two present-day “Big Time Businessmen/Billionaires” named Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and all the struggles they have encountered in making Apple and Microsoft what they are today.

Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

I thought at first that I would be reading a boring, mentally destructive technical book about Mathematics. But I was totally undeniably wrong. The book written by Ian Stewart is a mind blowing, fascinating and perfectly not a boring book and would totally not dose you off.  In fact, it made you curious and know the answers yourself. This book lets the readers forget about the Mathematics we learned at the four corners of our classroom that gave us too much head ache and problems. It brings out the interesting side of Mathematics in a tricky and funny way.

This book contains brain teasers, facts and puzzles compiled by Ian Stewart at young age. It made me realize how amazing and interesting math could be. As I looked and skim some of the pages, there were some that I hardly understand but there were also sections that made me get my note and pen and solve the problems such as the Magic Hexagon, Euler’s Pentagonal Holiday and Digital Century. The book also provided answers for the desperate readers who solved the puzzles and problems. I never thought this book would be that fun and exciting, it made me curious of the answers I solved whether it was right or wrong. For me, this book is more of a game book than a reading book wherein it requires readers’ pen and paper for it to be fun and enjoyable

Pirates of Silicon Valley Movie Review

The Pirates of Silicon Valley: Movie Review

                ‘Pirates of Silicon Valley’ is a movie that explores the rivalry between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on the development of personal computers. It shows the history and relationship between Apple Inc. and Microsoft Inc.

                I don’t really know much about Gates and Jobs. All I know is that both of them are rich and are constantly at each other’s throats. I just had this notion that both of them are awesome since they helped and contributed a lot to the development of technology. I also know that people think highly of them because of that. This movie showed their early years in the business. It showed their passion in developing computers and also their negative sides. Like how Jobs had a hard time acknowledging her own daughter and how Gates developed Windows from an Apple software.

                I was surprised to see that Gates and Jobs were once friends. The thought never came to my mind so I was really surprised to see it. Especially when Gates worked for Apple, Jobs trusted him then BAM! Betrayal. Funny how he’s the richest man today when he started off with working for his rival company.

Statistics Group: Narrative Report

Group Members: Aguilar, Lagmay, Ong, Tabenas

Date of Report/Presentation: March 5 and 12.

                Our group was tasked to report about statistics. It was quite difficult to get everyone to meet together and plan since we had different schedules. A facebook group was made so we could talk about the report/presentation online. Everything went well because everyone was willing to cooperate. Then, the group decided to have the games first.

Jynel was our game master since she knew a lot of games related to statistics. So we decided on four games; (1) Heart attack (card game), (2) matching game/memory game, (3) Dice game (with questions related to statistics), and (4) UNO stacks game. Jynel was assigned to the first game. I was appointed to the 2nd game, Gayle at the 3rd game, Angel at the last game, and Chelsi was the overall facilitator.

For the presentation/report part, our prof suggested that we should present a debate about statistics as an art or science. Gayle did the research then I made the script. We went for a skit/debate. Jynel and I were on the arts team while Gayle and Chelsi were on the science side. Then we showed videos that Chelsi and Gayle downloaded online.

Narrative Report (Statistics)

Narrative Report: Statistics group

Our group is the third group to report about our chosen topic which is statistics. The reporting was done on March 5 and March 12, 2014. Our group decided to start with the games since we do not have much time to discuss if the debate/creative presentation would be done first. Days before the games, we met and decided on what games to play that is related to statistics. The one who was very enthusiastic about the games and knew a lot of games was Jynel. She suggested a lot from card games to guessing games. Bern and I were just agreeing and also suggested some simple games. In the end, we decided to play a total of four games. The games decided were Heart attack (card game), matching game (cards), Dice, and UNO stacks.  For group mates that could not come to the meeting, they were informed through facebook as Bern made a group in facebook just for us to discuss concerns about Math 1.

On the day of the games, each of the members was assigned tasks on who would facilitate in a specific game. Jynel was assigned in the first station which is the Heart Attack (card game), Bern was assigned for the Pairing game which is the second station, I was assigned for the Dice which is the third station, Angel was assigned for the Uno stacks station and Chelsi was assigned as the overall facilitator. I will explain some of the games that may be unfamiliar or was altered to fit for the objective of this “games”. The matching game is a game where cards are arranged invertedly- facing downwards- and members of teams would find just one pair from all the inverted cards. In the Dice game, two dices were used and members of teams were given two numbers. They should obtain the numbers given using the dice. Depending on how many tries they did before they got the numbers given, they are asked a corresponding question about statistics, of course. For UNO stacks, this game is adapted from the famous game UNO stacko.

For the presentation, our professor asked us to do a debate and a creative presentation. The topic for the debate was given to us also by our professor which is “Is statistics an art or a science?” When we were given the topic, I was a bit burdened since I do not know much about statistics. But still, we pursued with the topic given to us. For the creative presentation, our professor said we could do videos and all that. Our group decided to do a skit as a creative presentation incorporated with our debate topic. So, our skit is about students playing cards then shifted to a debate session since one did not accept her loss. The other party says statistics is an art and the other says statistics is science. In the skit, Bern and Jynel were the ones on the art team while Chelsi and I were on the statistics as science team. For this skit to be possible, I was the one who researched about the topic. I then gave it to Bern who wrote our script. For the videos shown during the presentation, Chelsi contributed one video wherein we also sang the lyrics of the statistics song. I also contributed one video (from youtube) where it discusses about the application of statistics in our everyday lives. Just by facilitating these games and reporting about statistics, I appreciated it more and learned more about it.

Pirates of Silicon Valley

Movie Review: "Pirates of Silicon Valley"

“Pirates of Silicon Valley” is a movie about the men who changed and made the world of technology what it is today. These men are Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak from the Apple Company and Bill Gates from Microsoft Inc. This movie shows the relationship and history between the two companies and how they dominated the world of computers and technology.

Most people’s view on Steve Jobs has always been positive. Before I saw this film, my view of Jobs was good and that he is a genius. This movie made me change my view towards him to the point that I want to punch the actor playing his role. The feeling is similar with the phrase “childhood ruined” wherein you believe in something for so long but then the truth comes out. Then, reality struck you. Everything you believed in was a lie. That was the feeling I got while watching this movie. When Jobs died, everyone felt sad and that they are worried about what will happen to his company. I thought, Jobs must be someone good or a saint for people to really idolize him and adore him. I was wrong. It was his works that got people to love him. His attitude towards people was different from what I thought and it was even worse. Gates, on the other hand, was just the founder of Microsoft and the richest if not one of the richest man in the world for me. I did not know much about him. Then this movie shows his negative side. This movie taught me a lot of new things about these two men. I always knew that there were sides to people that they want to hide in front of the public. It just amazes me how honest this movie is that they showed that side of Jobs and Gates. It shows an unbiased representation of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. It also shows the positive and negative side of both parties.

For people who want to know more about the two leading computer and technology companies, this movie is recommended for you. It shows sides of both founders of the company that not all people know. The movie is so honest that it makes you think if the situation really happened. Well, some are inaccurate but only a few. In general, the movie is good and very informative.

Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

Book Review: "Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities"

A book that stimulated my mind and made me solve and answer interesting and challenging mathematical questions. This book is “Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities” by Ian Stewart who also wrote the book “The Mathematics of Life”. This book is a compilation of the mathematical problems the author found interesting when he was young that was not taught in class.

Every problem starts from the curious mind of a person. Just like the story of the Pandora’s Box. If Pandora just followed the rules and did not open the box due to curiosity, there would not have been a problem. However, the curiosity of a person does not only bring problems but also solution to problems. As said, this book is a compilation of the mathematical problems the author found interesting. All of the problems found in this book were not taught in class and was just discovered by the author. Due to the curious mind of the author, he found problems and also solutions to his problems. The problems shown in the book were all interesting and can exercise your mind. You would not believe that a 14 year old would do such thing. However, the author is just different from the others, I guess. The problems in the beginning were still easy and understandable. But, after some time, the problems became challenging that make you think again. This is the beauty of the book because it is not the regular mathematics book that tackles about plain algebra, geometry, and trigonometry where you can sometimes just mentally answer the questions in a minute or two. This mathematics book is more on the application of the said topics. It has puzzles, problems and even jokes.  

This book is recommended to everyone that wants to learn more about math that is not taught in the class and avoid the typical straight to the point math books. If you just want to play with numbers then this book is for you. I think playing with numbers and discovering new stuff about mathematics is what makes it interesting and fun. I have done this when I was young but failed due to reasons. However, this book is a proof of how fun mathematics can be.

Let's Be Pirates, Arrrr!

Pirates of Silicon Valley. Ahhh, the last film to review. Who's excited for the last movie review? This girl is! And what makes me more excited? This movie is! What a great timing that the last film review is about a movie I like.

Why Silicon Valley, though? Silicon Valley in California is like the home of the world's largest technology corporations. The movie chronicles the life of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs from the conception of their products up to their success. The movie is in the style of an interview with flashbacks to supplement the story. The movie shows how Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, students of University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University, respectively, made ways for their dreams to be fulfilled.

The story of Steve Jobs started with him and Steve Wozniak running through the students' riot against war in 1971 and Jobs claiming that they (the two Steves) were the real revolutionaries, what with their computer. They decided to drop out of school and focus on their project. With many developments and enhancements later and a rejection from IBM, they were approached by Mike Markkula in their garage-turned-workplace and thus, Apple Inc. was created. It was not sunshine and flowers at first but they made the company successful. And with this success came Steve's worsening attitude. He left his pregnant girlfriend and threw tantrums at his employees. Although Apple was his brainchild, he was forced to leave the company.

Bill's part of the movie started with classmate Steve Ballmer describing him as someone who prefers to spend time with his computer over studies and girls. Like Jobs, Gates dropped out of school to focus on his computer. After many talks and hardships, Gates established Microsoft. Running a practically unknown company was hard for Gates. Interestingly, Apple became curious of Microsoft. Gates took this chance to gain the approval of Jobs to work with them because, according to him, Apple would be unstoppable if they have Gates' programs. Jobs took the bait and it was a win-win situation, with Microsoft also gaining more fame. Gates took advantage of this merger to develop his computer in hopes of surpassing Apple. And surpass he did.

The movie ended with Steve Jobs being rehired to Apple after the latter acquired the NeXT Computer by Jobs. Bill Gates continued to soar, becoming the world's richest man.

If there's one thing I learned from this film, it would be that Steve Jobs is a jerk and Bill Gates is a wise, wise man. I know it's a film and it's exaggerated, but still. Steve Jobs is a controlling man; throwing tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. What gentleman leaves his long-time girlfriend when she gets pregnant, and insist that it's not his? It came to the point that Steve Wozniak, his bestfriend and partner, gave up on him. Speaking of Wozniak, why don't people recognize him? He was in charge of the engineering and technical stuff while Jobs was the business-minded one. Technically, he made the apple computers and devices. Where would Apple be without him? As for Bill Gates, I admire his guts. He was able to make Jobs be part of his plans without Steve knowing (at first, that is). He was like, if you can't beat them, join them, then beat them. Well played, Bill, well played.

It seems that there's another thing I learned. A person's highest educational attainment does not determine his success. Knowledge, skills, talent, and determination make a person successful. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are perfect examples. They were not able to finish their studies but with the combination of those mentioned above they are now big names in the digital world.

Well, that's all for now for this long review. Sorry not sorry 

I told you I liked it!