Chino Peak

Google Sheet is one of the most powerful spreadsheet application that exists online, rivaling with Microsoft's Excel. One of the main strengths is its strong support for collaboration with other users, much easier and popular than collaboration tools with Microsoft Office. Aside from plain spreadsheet, it also supports extensions such as macro. If you are familiar with macros on other office tools, they work almost the same. However, the most extension I use and tinker with is the Apps Scipt . Apps Script Extension One of the challenges I faced recently is how do I track or monitor reports in our department if they are submitted on time or worst, forgotten due to lack of better monitoring tools. So I thought if there can be simple applications that can be deployed or use by a more general user to allow reminding periodically what reports are approaching due dates or those that are past dues. Then I looked for a way, instead of creating a full blown app from scratc...

Introduction It has been too long that many people uses Microsoft Excel in day-to-day computing tasks. It's so big that it almost resemble a programming language where non-technical people can create their own spreadsheet programs. It has many uses with just the default grid-type data entries. But Microsoft Office developers did not stopped there. They gave it more power by adding a scripting capability to it with VBA or Visual Basic for Applications. Most of the office apps of Microsoft has this VBA at their disposal but I most used it with Microsoft Excel. It was the most appropriate application for me to use it. But then come the big competition. I'll skip the open source apps that may compete with Microsoft Office and go directly with the big one. This is the Google Sheet from Google. Introducing Google Sheet Google Sheets is an online spreadsheet application that allows users to create, edit, and format spreadsheets to organize and analyze information....

 Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have exploded into our lives, powering everything from our music playlists to groundbreaking medical diagnoses. Even how our mobile phone cameras take pictures uses AI. But where did this extraordinary revolution begin? And how did we go from clunky, rule-based systems to the sophisticated, data-driven intelligence we see today? The quest to build intelligent machines has captivated thinkers, scientists, mathematicians and many more for centuries, with pioneers like Alan Turing laying crucial theoretical groundwork long before the formal establishment of the field.  Now let's dive into the fascinating origin story and explore the ever-expanding contributions of these transformative technologies. The Seeds of Intelligence: Early Days of AI The concept of artificial intelligence has roots in ancient myths and fictional automatons. However, the formal pursuit of AI as a scientific field began in the mid-20th century. Alan Tu...

 As mentioned in this post,  https://www.chinopeak.com/2025/03/pros-of-ai-today.html , we have been given a few powerful tools in our hand. AI is a promising technology yes we get that. But let's dive a little about it. Is it all good? We are going to weight the cons if they are really worth it. It's the buzzword on everyone's lips, promising to revolutionize everything from healthcare to how we order pizza. While the potential benefits are undeniable, it's crucial to acknowledge the less glamorous side of AI – the potential downsides and ethical dilemmas that demand careful consideration. Let's delve into some of the significant cons of  relying  on AI. Job Displacement and Economic Disruption Perhaps the most widely discussed concern is the potential for AI-driven automation to displace human workers. Repetitive tasks, data entry, and even some analytical roles are vulnerable. This could lead to widespread unemployment and exacerbate existing economic inequalities...

 Friendster, once the king of online social networking, ultimately succumbed to the might of Facebook. Here's a look at how it happened The Early Days of Social Networking Before Facebook, there was Friendster. It was a groundbreaking platform that introduced the concept of online social networking to a wide audience. People loved connecting with friends, discovering new ones, and building their online presence. However, Friendster faced significant challenges, primarily related to its rapid growth. The Fatal Flaws Technical Difficulties Friendster struggled with scalability. As its user base exploded, the platform experienced frequent crashes and slow loading times. This created a frustrating user experience, driving people away. Instead of focusing on improving their infrastructure, they at times attempted to reduce user activity, which is the opposite of what a social network should do. Lack of Innovation While Friendster pioneered social networking, it failed to innovate and ad...

 How AI is Creating Art, Music, and More Have you ever seen an image generated by an AI, or listened to music composed by a computer? If not, you're missing out on something truly incredible. Generative AI is changing the landscape of creativity, and it's happening right now. What Is Generative AI? Basically, generative AI models learn the patterns and structures within a dataset (like images, music, or text) and then use that knowledge to create new, original content. Think of it as teaching a computer the "rules" of art or music, and then letting it improvise. For example, you can feed a generative AI thousands of paintings, and it will learn the styles, colors, and techniques of those artists. Then, it can generate new paintings that look like they were created by a human artist. A World of Creative Possibilities The applications of generative AI are vast and exciting: Art: AI can create stunning visual art, from abstract paintings to photorealistic images. Tools...

 Hey everyone! If you're anything like me, you've probably heard a lot about artificial intelligence lately. It's in the news, it's in our phones, and it's even writing blog posts (well, sort of!). But have you ever stopped to wonder how we got here? How did we go from clunky, basic computer programs to the sophisticated AI systems we see today? Let's take a little trip down memory lane, shall we? The Early Days: Rule-Based Systems Back in the early days of AI, things were pretty simple. We were dealing with what are called "rule-based systems." Imagine a computer program that follows a set of "if-then" rules. For example, "IF it's raining, THEN take an umbrella." These systems were good at specific tasks, like playing chess or solving mathematical problems, but they were limited by the rules we programmed into them. If a situation fell outside those rules, the system was stumped. Think of it like a really detailed instruction m...

Introduction  AI or Artificial Intelligence is almost all around us. From music suggestions in Spotify, video recommendations from Youtube, friend suggestions on Facebook and many more.  In 2022, the AI era has come to a new level when ChatGPT was released. This gives us a new way of looking and experiencing the power of artificial intelligence or machine learning combined NLP of natural language processing. We can now talk with computers as if they are a real person. You can ask them anything and they give you a response. In its most basic term, they are a prediction of what should come next. More like a line equation that can predict what will be the next point when given a certain condition. You don't have to define everything for the machines to learn, you just have to cover a large set of data. For example, if we have a survey data of jobs by height, let's say job A are mostly performed by people with height 5 feet and below and job B are mostly performed by people with h...

Introduction It's been a few years since I started using large language models (LLMs) in the form of chat agents such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek. So far, they've been very helpful for me in so many areas. Mostly in building softwares, but they are too global in scope that their training are so helpful to so many people and so many subjects.