rmundo

SEEKING WORK - Taipei | Remote

Hi, my name is Ray. http://about.me/rmundo

I've been developing iOS apps for the past four years: - Previously wrote satellite flight software for the Taiwanese space agency, jumped into mobile apps and haven't looked back since. - Was iOS lead for one of the top navigation apps in Taiwan: https://itunes.apple.com/tw/app/le-ke-dao-hang-wangn3-pro/id... - Did almost all of the development work for a local EV charge station info app: https://itunes.apple.com/tw/app/yes-chong-dian-zan/id6311870... - Also scratched a few itches of my own: https://itunes.apple.com/app/face-tie/id570542131?mt=8 - There are also others which I'm not at liberty to disclose. - Also have done work in Ruby (Rails, Sinatra), Python, HTML/CSS, but prefer iOS work for now.

Why you should work with me: - I keep up with most of the latest framework updates, was in SF for WWDC/altConf this year. (Although prefer not to work in Swift for now, personal projects only) - I stay current with design trends and industry news. Core Intuition, DF, objc.io, all that good stuff. I know my shxt. - Clear English communication. No worries about whether your point got across or not. This is crucial in remote work settings, I think.

We'd work together with great results if you're pretty clear what it is you want done and what the scope of the project is. Handwavey functionality requirements are hard to implement right in the best situations, in remote work it will probably result in surprises and hurt feelings on both sides. Small/medium projects where the goal is clearly defined tend to work best.

Rate: 300 USD/day (straightforward projects using established frameworks). Yes, it's relatively low, but decent for living in Taipei. I don't expect it to stay that way forever, though. I track time in half-day increments.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raytsaihong Twitter: @rmundo Contact: ray.tsaihong@gmail.com

This. If you can sing along to a song, you can definitely figure out tones. It might take some associating each word with a tiny little snippet of music, but that is essentially what it is.

Re: figuring out whether your tones or speech is correct, try talking to Siri or Google voice search. I tried my French on the French Siri and it was humbling.

I live and grew up in Taiwan. Zhuyin is a learning tool taught to all schoolchildren to teach pronunciation. It also happens to be a computer input method because everyone knows it, and the alphabet fits onto a computer keyboard. No adult regularly uses Zhuyin otherwise.

I've recently switched to using Pinyin for computer input because Zhuyin has a larger alphabet compared to Pinyin, and the Zhuyin keyboard on iOS has smaller keys to fit more characters in the same space, making it much harder to type with. The Pinyin keyboard is essentially an English keyboard that spits out Chinese.

SEEKING WORK - REMOTE | TAIPEI

Hi, iOS developer for 3+ years here, before that I was writing satellite software and firmware in C/C++ for Taiwan's space agency.

I have a couple of personal apps in the app store; the most recent one scratches a personal itch: it uses facial recognition to help you tie a tie in the easiest way possible. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/face-tie/id570542131

I was iOS team lead for one of the major navigation apps in Taiwan, and have since created medium sized apps (over two dozen viewcontrollers) for multiple clients. I also have experience with Python, HTML/CSS, javascript, git/svn. I love working with people who are dedicated to designing the best user experience possible.

You can find me at ray.tsaihong at gmail if interested in discussing work opportunities. Thanks!

Glenn Fleishman's latest The New Disruptors podcast episode interviews a guy who did just that. Should be very relevant to what you are looking for. http://www.muleradio.net/newdisruptors/31/

I would love love LOVE for someone to come out with an inclined treadmill desk that generates electricity from all that walking.

"When you're on a mobile device, you don't have time to go search the web for an app that does a certain function that you happen to require. You want a central place that will list all of the apps that are compatible with your phone"

It seems we really need a curated site for mobile apps like the Yahoo of old for websites. Essentially, a more functional app store than the app store. Thoughtful reviews on par with those you see on Amazon. Algorithms equivalent to PageRank don't seem to apply to this space, so perhaps human experts like those seen on about.com might work.

I always wanted a steam-powered laptop. Bring on the brass and leather!

To answer your first question, he's fit enough to finish 5000 pushups in a week.

http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/02/mark-zuckerberg-the-evolut...

So it's true what they say about the fabric of the mind. Consider mine blown!

Back when I was studying in Michigan this topic came up one night over beer. Almost everyone there knew a friend of a friend or family member who could get them a decent employee discount on American cars.

This would be a great tool to help with hiring. 100k students means 100k candidates who have completed the exact same exams and problem sets, providing a common basis for interviews. A company would know exactly what was taught in the course, and have a more objective way of evaluating certain skillsets.

The possiblities are endless. Two ideas off the top of my head that aren't data search: 1. personal expense tracking: "just spent 30 dollars for gas". 2. mileage tracking: odometer reads 26312 miles.

This really drives home the need to launch as soon as you can. Most of the actual work of building a startup actually happens after that. Great visual reminder!

I find the quality of light to be a big factor for me. Sitting in front of a big window, or heading to a coffee shop and sitting right next to one of their big picture windows helps a lot.

Even if most of your friends are working, you can set up short lunch dates to catch up and get some people time.

alwaysagoodtime had one piece of advice that really resonates: Find the right woman/(man) or don't have one at all.

And I recently reread a PG article where he says he only had a gf two months in the three years he was working on Viaweb. Good to keep in mind, but I read it, and then promptly forgot. Lesson learned!

I've read so much writing on meditation from Tibetan monks getting MRI scans to finding peace and becoming ready for love in Bali. This one is by far the most compelling argument I've read. And if it can start having an effect in four short weeks, there's no reason not to give it a try.

So we have the website equivalent of spam. A simple solution would be to have a secondary page labeled "We think this is spam" where all the banned links would reside. Anyone who needs to see what's there could always dig in.

This concept was brought up in one of the Patlabor anime movies, except instead of buses, it was police/fire/ambulance/emergency vehicles that could move over congested traffic to get to an accident scene more quickly.

Kudos to the Chinese for being willing to try it out, but the concept existed at least in 2001(if it was Patlabor 3) or 1993(Patlabor 2)

A BS+MS in four years, congratulations,you're already ahead of the game. A second masters wouldn't hurt,especially if you have an interest in a multidisciplinary field where you can use both degrees (robotics, biotech, space). Is there a reason why you don't want to start your career in EE at this time? Depending on your program, a EE MS on its own might be strong enough to get a job doing somethig you really enjoy. So what is it that you enjoy doing?

The previous NASA administrator, Mike Griffin, managed to collect 7 masters degrees along his career, so if you just like to learn stuff and earn recognition for it, it's possible to do so while working as well.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Watch it for yukks and for a general take on what occupies the American psyche. It's in your face frivolous, but so much news these days is frivolous while pretending not to be that in comparison, The Daily Show actually feels like straight talk. They seem to really do their homework when it comes to researching past news. And the interviews are gold.

The Economist has a decent survey of what's important to different peoples around the world, but I try to keep in mind that a page or two of commentary often doesn't capture all the nuances of a local situation. Other times I just scan the front page of Google News.

All news is biased. Just choosing the verbs and nouns in a news report makes it so. Things I try to avoid these days are outright dishonesty, unfair judgement (different standards when judging Party A vs Party B), and hidden agendas. Having a value system is alright if you are honest and forthright about it.

I was surprised to read this article, as it seemed to me from reading HN and other tech-related news sources that there are more opportunities than ever. Am I wrong?

Pressurizing energy into more dense forms of enegy? Goodness, they've gone and invented energon cubes!

Are you a perfectionist? Do you want to accomplish so many things your mind reels with the possibilities, but can't figure out which ones are worth the all out effort it takes for success?

Did you always think, "I've got some great things ahead of me", and now you ARE grown up and this IS the future and you're worried about what you have to show for it?

Maybe you want to have great friendships and do great things and all these seem to require so much energy and attention and so many steps to not mess up. If that's the case, I'd say try dialing back, focus on enjoying the journey and less on the result, because really there is no guarantee that the results will be awesome.

You say people respect you for many things but that you have a "terrible" problem with discipline and focus, something I suspect most everyone has. Maybe you're just giving yourself too much pressure and need to take it easy for a few months? Since you're still in school, have a chat with a psychological counselor on campus. To me it sounds like you might be temporarily stressed out or burned out from the efforts of your previous startup.

Peace.

It pays to be able to flexibly switch my mindset in a way that is beneficial to myself. On the one hand, I want to always feel there is room for improvement. On the other, I don't want always be feeling inadequate compared to other members of my comparison group. It's easy to keep measuring yourself against an ever tighter, ever more elite group of people. The pressure is not always worth it.

I was just wondering earlier today how long world helium reserves could last. For airships a 90% reduction in carbon emissions won't matter if helium becomes the economic bottleneck. Sort of depressing how soon we seem to be reaching a point where depletion of earth resources is inevitable.

Hydrogen would be interesting if we could make it safe enough. It could double as a fuel source for the ships, too.

The article essentially observes that millionaires in Asia now collectively control more money than millionaires in Europe. So there is a lot of economic activity going on and some people are rapidly getting rich. But the average asian citizen still has a much lower salary than a westerner, and public infrastructure is pathetic. A disproportionate amount of wealth is going to those on top of the economic food chain, and that's going to stunt their development.

This article makes sense for you if you're the kind of company that needs 35k to create an app. In that case, sure, stay away from the app store. But for indie devs with a bright idea, the app store is a great opportunity to try something out for a very low cost. A very interesting space for startups, I'd think.

How about using this idea to hire people long term for your company, as a supplement to the interview? Filter through resumes, send promising ones a one day scope problem, with a one day deadline and one day's pay. Allow one or two "call tickets" where they can contact you for feedback.

It ought to be fascinating to find out if such vocal characteristics changes over time with upper body strength in the same person (for instance, putting them through a six month strength training program). Or if this is somehow set at puberty, and people's relative strength remained the same over most of their lives. I would imagine most people don't suddenly acquire an urge to become stronger after they reach their thirties. Or at least they didn't while humans were evolving.