I was mystified by the code structure of a repo until realizing that I was on the wrong branch.
January 5, 2025
December 31, 2024
Shell scripts
Try to use bash instead of source to execute scripts in separate shell environments, especially in a nested fashion to avoid side effects, such as variable pollution and exit status propagation that could lead to mysterious bugs.
December 12, 2024
A post of insignificance
Just walked up to the 15th floor and found my PhD adviser sitting in a cubicle before returning to my office on the 8th floor.
November 19, 2024
Patent banquet
As a potential sign that patents are even more important for the company than I thought, the best corporate party I have ever attended so far turns out to be a patent banquet, with excellent food, place, service, and participation by the top executives.
November 16, 2024
Most important skills for ML R&D
Secure compute resources and figure out the compatible combinations of Python package versions, and the rest will follow naturally. 😈
October 23, 2024
Digital painting apps – good to use, hard to monetize
Adobe Fresco is free for all now!
Give a try if you are into painting/drawing/motion and have a touch/stylus-supported device running iOS/Windows.
Compared to apps that have a larger audience (e.g., social media) or higher margins (e.g., business/productivity), digital painting aims for those who have the skills and interests to create art and who often do this for fun instead of work.
I guess this is why the Procreate CEO once commented that they make money in order to make the app, not the other way around.
October 19, 2024
Adobe MAX Sneaks
Presenting in Adobe MAX Sneaks turns out to be a very fun and rewarding experience and quite different from presenting in SIGGRAPH or other large academic conferences – higher stakes, deeper-vested audience, to entertain than to inform, larger teamwork, and more rehearsals.
See the list of presentations here.
August 27, 2024
Reporter trying to “catch” employees
I received an invitation for a “chat” from a reporter with a major media company for a story he is currently working on about my current employer.
Per company policy I forwarded the inquiry to our PR (public relation) partner, who told me that the reporter is indeed legit but tends to try to “catch” employees unawares to speak to them on the side without PR.
On one hand I am all for the freedom of press and I have enjoyed their reportings, but on the other hand trying to trip employees up is probably not the most ethical way to obtain information.
So I just ignored the reporter and let the PR handle the situation.
July 7, 2024
Focus time during shutdowns
Adobe has week-long (or longer) shutdowns around early July and late December every year, which are often good opportunities for traveling (e.g., vacations, family visits, or conferences).
To me these are also often golden opportunities for focused work, such as reading papers, thinking about research problems, and conducting exploratory experiments, which are often hard to come by during the regular work days with frequent distractions (often fulfilling coworkers’ requests).
I have found such focus time incredibly productive and satisfying, and wonder if I could continue the effect outside shutdowns by trying to reduce distractions, at least those self-induced.