SeanChoe : blog http://blog.seanchoe.com social media, movies and technologies posterous.com Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:40:24 -0700 Say Hello to My New Friend, "Eve" http://blog.seanchoe.com/say-hello-to-my-new-friend-eve http://blog.seanchoe.com/say-hello-to-my-new-friend-eve

Eve

It's been 4 years since I bought my old white MacBook (It's was my first Mac ever), and I thought it's finally time to move forward.

So I bought a new MacBookPro! 2011 February released, Intel Quad-core i7 2.0MHz, Refurbished model. I can't tell how much excited I am!

I was so excited and gave her a name. it's "Eve". took from the Pixar movie "Wall-E".

I'm looking forward to the journey I'll have with her for next few years. Let's make a history together Eve!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:55:24 -0800 It's my 30th birthday!! :D http://blog.seanchoe.com/its-my-30th-birthday-d http://blog.seanchoe.com/its-my-30th-birthday-d
Media_httpdistillerys_yrahi

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:02:01 -0800 My best friend's birthday present for me! :D http://blog.seanchoe.com/my-best-friends-birthday-present-for-me-d http://blog.seanchoe.com/my-best-friends-birthday-present-for-me-d
Media_httpdistillerys_itbje

Taken at 맥도날드 둔촌점

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:32:39 -0800 Gingerbread House Making http://blog.seanchoe.com/gingerbread-house-making http://blog.seanchoe.com/gingerbread-house-making

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My friend/boss Lance invited me to his annual gingerbread house making family event! It was the first time in my life and had so much fun!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Thu, 02 Dec 2010 05:37:51 -0800 I got the new Apple TV! http://blog.seanchoe.com/i-got-the-new-apple-tv http://blog.seanchoe.com/i-got-the-new-apple-tv Again, I got something that another people don't have here in Korea.
(previously it was the iPad. )

It's really tiny than I thought. And beautiful. I gotta see how good
it is when it's actually connected to TV. :)

Thank you YoungDoo for getting this for me!

Photo_1 Photo_2 Photo_3 Photo_4
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Fri, 05 Nov 2010 23:50:00 -0700 The Valley : How Silicon Valley Became A Startup Paradise http://blog.seanchoe.com/the-valley-how-silicon-valley-became-a-startu http://blog.seanchoe.com/the-valley-how-silicon-valley-became-a-startu

This is the video I took on May 2010, when I traveled around United States.

I visited as many startups as I can in Silicon Valley, and interviewed people who work there.

I'm very inspired by the people there, and the atmosphere of the startup industry. Thanks to all the people who gladly allowed my interview.

And I hope all of you enjoy this film.

Staring:

  • Jia Shen (Co-founder, RockYou) - @mekatek
  • Mickey Kim (Google. Now he changed his position to Head of Google TV Partnership Asia Pacific.) - @mickeyk
  • Robin Sloan (Media Partnerships, Twitter) - @robinsloan
  • John Yamasaki (Director of Community and Partnerships, Seesmic) - @jyamasaki

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:46:30 -0700 Memories of New York in Music http://blog.seanchoe.com/memories-of-new-york-in-music http://blog.seanchoe.com/memories-of-new-york-in-music When I was traveling New York one and half month ago, I was intentionally listening Frank Sinatra's 'New York, New York' and Jay-Z's 'Empire State of Mind' through the whole days of traveling to keep the memories of New York in the music. But right after I got back, it was not that effective maybe because the excitement was still left.

However today, I was listening to shuffle playing of my iPhone, and accidentally listened to the 'New York, New York' after over a month. And at the moment the first melody started, the whole memories in New York have been just passed through my head like a flash. It was really an amazing experience. if you see the TV show Lost, there were scenes that the characters recalled their memories (not exactly memories though) and dropped a tear over. It was just like that. It was so emotionally intense so that I almost wept.

If you planning to travel around, I recommend to use my way to keep the memories.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:09:39 -0700 Facing the Giants http://blog.seanchoe.com/facing-the-giants-6 http://blog.seanchoe.com/facing-the-giants-6 This Monday, I watched the movie Facing the Giants. It just moved my heart. I weeped more than ever I watched a movie.

It can be classified as a christian movie. The director Alex Kendrick is a pastor of the Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, and he founded Sherwood Pictures.

I've looked him up. This movie Facing the Giants was released in 2006. After that, he made another movie Fireproof in 2008, and it made a huge hit. I haven't watched Fireproof yet, but I definitely will soon.

It is first time I watched a "fiction" movie which has a story of christianity. I've been wondering if it's possible to make a "fun" movie with a story of christians except the Bible stories like Passion of Christ, but it was. This movie Facing the Giants is the story of high school football team, and it even has a nice plot as a general movie. At the first part of the it I felt that the movie isn't as sophisticated as other Hollywood ones, but more I watched, I found myself diving into the story.

This movie also inspired me about my career. I have a vision to live as a christian film maker, and this movie and the director Alex Kendrick showed me one of the ways about it.

If you're a christian, you may feel what I felt and cry yourself out. Even if you're not a christian, I believe this movie will entertain you, and hope that you can be changed by the Gospel like the students in the movie.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Tue, 06 Apr 2010 01:55:25 -0700 Introducing Open Travel project http://blog.seanchoe.com/introducing-open-travel-project http://blog.seanchoe.com/introducing-open-travel-project I'm quiting my job.

Some of you're jealous of me huh? Guess what, I'm traveling for a month after I quit!

No, I didn't win a lottery. It's just a big challenge for me. I'm preparing to start a new business with friends, which is pretty risky.
But I'm more excited and happier than ever. Because I'll do what I really want to do. Even If I fail, I'm sure it'll be a big help for me.

So I'm preparing my travel, and hoping it to be a turning point of my life by experiencing and learning many things to design my future.
And I decided to make it open to public, so that I can gather information from everyone on the internet, Specially the local people. And I like to call it Open Travel.

I'm traveling to United States, and will visit 4 areas. Bay Area, LA / Irvine, New York, and Chicago.

Please check out the website below to know more about my Open Travel project. And help me to get great informations about the areas I will travel.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:51:05 -0700 Introducing KMixx : The New Hub for Korean Tech & Social Media News http://blog.seanchoe.com/introducing-kmixx-the-new-hub-for-korean-tech http://blog.seanchoe.com/introducing-kmixx-the-new-hub-for-korean-tech Have you ever been wondering "Isn't there a tech blog written in English specified only for Korean tech news?"? If so, now you probably have got an answer.

KMixx is a new blog for Korean tech & social media news. My friend Richard Min started it, and many contributors are posting great articles. including the former Googler David Lee. Check out the About page.

And I'm also writing some articles as a guest contributor.

So if you're interested in Korean tech news, please subscribe it. It also has a Twitter account, of course. :)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:54:00 -0700 2010 : Products I Can't Live Without http://blog.seanchoe.com/2010-products-i-cant-live-without http://blog.seanchoe.com/2010-products-i-cant-live-without

Inspired by Kevin Rose's post and Michael Arrington's, I'm listing my "products I can't live without" of 2010 here.

iPhone 3G : My second brain.
Google (Search, Map) : Actually this is the most part of my second brain. :)
Gmail : It's more like text messaging or IM now with my iPhone.
Google Sync (Google Contacts, Calendar) : I guess this is what cloud computing is.
Google Tasks : I've been using RTM before but I thought I just better stick with Google's products.
Evernote : It's my third brain. memorizing-wise.
Tweetie 2(Twitter) : a pipeline connecting to the world.
Facebook : It's getting more fun because my Korean friends are starting to use it recently. 
Instapaper : Great way to keep track on the hot issues and great articles.
Balance : This is enough to keep track of my money usage. And it's free!
Mashable : The best social web / mobile news site. I think.
Umbrella Today? : It prevented me from getting wet by the rain so many times.
Holy Bible (iPhone App) : What I read everyday.

I guess that's it. :) I'll add later if I find out more but I don't think I would.

So what's yours? :)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:17:00 -0700 The Second Event of Seoul GTUG http://blog.seanchoe.com/the-second-event-of-seoul-gtug http://blog.seanchoe.com/the-second-event-of-seoul-gtug

On 6th March, at the tail of Winter, about 50 people gathered in Google Korea office for the second event of Seoul GTUG.

It was a little less than 70 attendees of the first Seoul GTUG event, but it was better for talking and sharing thoughts each other.

On the first event, the subjects were quite wide-ranged and some people gave us feedbacks that it would be better if we focus on one or two subjects only. So this time we decided to focus on Android and AppEngine, which most people are interested in.

For ice-breaking, I started the speech with introducing scenes of GTUGs around the world, and talked a little bit about Google Buzz and Google I/O. People seemed to feel the pictures of other countries' GTUG event very interesting and get a sense that we are all connected.

Here is the slide about it.
The second speaker was Brian Lee, the co-organizer. He introduced basic to detail informations about AppEngine. He is not a professional AppEngine developer, so he put a lot of effort to study by himself first and prepare the presentation. And it ended up as a very useful lesson for all of us.

Next speaker was not on the official agenda because we invited him very urgently. He's name is Sang-yeop Park, and he is an author of the book "Starting Google AppEngine". He made a insightful speech about what kind of chances we can get as developers with AppEngine. He explained the reason he wrote a book about AppEngine. When Chris Schalk and Mickey Kim from Google Mountain View came to Korea and had a seminar about Open Social and AppEngine, he attended and asked them that if there is a plan that Google will build a data center in Korea or Asia. And they answered, if Korea have got enough number of AppEngine developers, Google may consider it. So Park thought that he should publish a book and make AppEngine more popular, so that there can be more AppEngine developers in Korea.

Jae-ku Choi made the next speech. He explained the differences of various kind of mobile platforms like Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile, and so forth. he also talked about a little bit about Apple iPad too. He also is an author of many books about computer programming. And he was a very nice and funny speaker, so we all could enjoy the speech and learned a lot.

At last but not least, Sung-suh Park (a.k.a Gray, which is his internet name) has made us a great time discussing about Android platform. He is known as the first Android developer in Korea, and made lots of apps so far. he made speeches on many seminars or events about Android in Korea. He just wanted to talk freely with all the developers there and it was a very successful try. Many people asked a lot of questions very passionately and we even got over-timed.

After the official event ended, a few people among us gathered around at the cafeteria and shared our lives, and had dinner together. As always, meeting nice people and building networks are the most exciting and greatest part.

As events passes by, I feel our community is getting firmer. We feel more like a group or a family. I wish this group to be great network of developers in Korea and make good examples for other communities.

Here are the pictures of the event. Enjoy! :)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:30:20 -0800 The 5th Tweetup : Seoul Space Fever http://blog.seanchoe.com/the-5th-tweetup-seoul-space-fever-0 http://blog.seanchoe.com/the-5th-tweetup-seoul-space-fever-0 I've announced the 5th tweetup just 2 days before the date, so I thought it'll be a smallest tweetup we've ever had.

But turns out, it became the best party ever.(in party-wise) in courtesy of Richard Min, Who has set almost whole things up.

We had an amazing DJ, a basketball lucky draw, (a signed ball from David Lee, NBA's Korea country manager) and nice food. Richard has a great network, so that he could call all those people (20 people attended) in 2 day. He says he could fill the place if we announced it 2 weeks ago. :)

And we also had best girls/attendees ratio. ;) A special thing was there were only Koreans or half-Koreans this time. I wish others in TwitterSeoul community could attend. I promise that I'll announce earlier next time!

Here are a few photos and video of that day. Please add ones if you have.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:28:00 -0800 What I was missing about the iPad http://blog.seanchoe.com/what-i-was-missing-about-the-ipad http://blog.seanchoe.com/what-i-was-missing-about-the-ipad

I finally watched the whole iPad announcing keynote yesterday, and realized something different.

Have you figured out what Steve Jobs emphasized most? It was not the hardware technology, it was not the gorgeous iWorks software or the iBook, it was the prize.

The prize starts from $499, And it is a breakthough. They seemed to put all of the efforts to reach down to that prize. And that's the main reason why the iPad is missing all the features we expected. (I mean hardware-wise)

What that means? The ACCESSIVILITY. iPad is not for the people like you and me. (You know what I mean by that) It's for the people who doesn't own a laptop maybe, or who doesn't do anything except surfing the web, playing games, watching videos or listening to music, even if they own a laptop or a pc. Steve Jobs already gave each of them a very attractive device which they "have to own" because it's a "phone", and made them to learn how to use it, and he finally revealed a device in front of their faces which is just right for them. They don't ever need to learn how to use it. 

See, the iPad sales will be higher than we thinking. And we tech geeks
and developers will have more chances to make people to live a fun and better life, with the device.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:02:00 -0800 Amazing birthday presents http://blog.seanchoe.com/amazing-birthday-presents http://blog.seanchoe.com/amazing-birthday-presents

Photo

Sam Kang, one of my best friends, bought me these from US for the birthday presents. An Apple Remote and the book "Pixar Way". The 2 things I love most, Apple and Pixar. :)

Thank you Sam, you know what I'm crazy about!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:06:56 -0800 My first impression of Apple iPad http://blog.seanchoe.com/my-first-impression-of-apple-ipad http://blog.seanchoe.com/my-first-impression-of-apple-ipad Now, finally the Apple tablet has been released. It's officially called "iPad" (the name is also being a target of sarcasm)

The hype was really huge, and I also was one of the victims, so a lot of people may have disappointed by the real product. And it's true, It was not as huge as I thought. But as I'm watching many informations about it, I feel it's very reasonable and very Apple-ish.
I was disappointed by the lack of camera also, but it would not be reasonable if it had. it'll be good for a video chat, but no one will take pictures or videos with an 10-inch device.

However, apps for iPad will have a lot of advantages, You can do even more than iPhone apps with a big screen. There will make many other new business models I think.
And this is just a start. This new product will make a new industry. iPad is the first tablet device which has the OS specialized only for touch interface like iPhone, so in my opinion, after a few years touch-based device will be main stream and iPad may be the start of the era.

But I still wonder. will someone be carrying iPhone, iPad, and a MacBook together? iPad cannot alternative iPhone or MacBook yet, so we should be watching how high will the sales go up. But you know, it's Apple. it's very pretty and attractive.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:12:16 -0800 Jessica's wedding http://blog.seanchoe.com/jessicas-wedding http://blog.seanchoe.com/jessicas-wedding

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:06:00 -0800 A small tweetup at Gangnam tonight http://blog.seanchoe.com/a-small-tweeup-at-gangnam-tonight http://blog.seanchoe.com/a-small-tweeup-at-gangnam-tonight

Hi everyone, I've got to say first, happy new year! :)

As a new year's event, there's a small tweetup on Gangnam tonight. (5th January 2010)

@nikc and @minka, Twitter friends who came to Korea for a few weeks from Adelaide Australia, want to meet Seoul tweeples and know about stuff in Korea. :)

They are running the company Freerange Future.

So if you're interested in running a company, about Australia, or just want to enjoy talking around, Please come and join us!

WHEN : 7:40pm, 5th January 2010
WHERE : Espresso Public at Gangnam (near subway station gate no.7) (refer this blog post)
MAP

If you want to join us, please leave a comment here or reply to my Twitter(@seanchoe), whatever you can contact me.
You can also contact me via email (sean@seanchoe.com). It'll be pushed to my phone right away. You can send me your numbers or I can reply mine.

Attendees (so far) ----------------
@seanchoe
@nikc
@minka
@steveohan
@gnimsh
@sean_choi
@youngdoo

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:22:00 -0800 Avatar : an epic for minorities http://blog.seanchoe.com/avatar-an-epic-for-minorities http://blog.seanchoe.com/avatar-an-epic-for-minorities
(Note : no spoilers ahead. but If you are sensitive about leaking the story before watching a movie, I recommend you to read this after you watch the movie.)

As I've been looking forward the movie Avatar for a few months, I've been worrying at the same time that what if I disappointed because I expected about it too much.

And after I watched the movie, if you are worrying about same thing as me, I can tell you. No need to worry at all.
I don't know about you who are reading this, but for me, the movie Avatar was the best entertaining movie ever in my entire life. Seriously, this movie just blew away my mind.

Avatar is truly a buzz these days. Many people are saying about its stunning 3D computer graphics. It was really fantastic, but I want to weigh more to the movie's ideas.
The story is about a paraplegic ex-marine (Jake Sully) being committed to the unique mission called "Avatar", which is transplanting his personality into a alien body and putting into the it's tribe. This movie has many factors I concern about and like. nature, adventure, and a interest in minorities are them. Jake Sully is a minority in human society because he is a disabled. and he became an alien as well after he tried to join the Navis(alien tribe). But he slowly gain their trust, and becomes one of them.

There was one line in the movie which came through my mind. Quaritch (a villian, sort of.) says to Jake "Do you think you're one of them? There's no way you can be." (maybe not correct) Jake's in the alien's body, but theoretically he can't be one of them. And if he go back to human life, It may not be worth living. I've always been thinking about the pain of minorities like foreigners, aliens, Korean-Americans, and so forth. They are always wanting to join one of the tribes, but basically they can't be neither sides. This movie is letting us to take care of that kind of people in our society.

And this movie also lets us to dream. The planet Pandora is no where can exist on earth. Director James Cameron create a new world and made it feel like real by cutting edge 3D graphics. Watching movies are always like dreaming. Good movies make it feel like more real, but as the line in Avatar, sooner or later though, you always have to wake up. And we go back to boring life.

This movie is like awesome dream so that I want to watch it on and on. And that's what I'm wanting to do in my life as well. Giving people good dreams, good hope. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:35:50 -0800 Starting Google Technology User Groups in Seoul http://blog.seanchoe.com/starting-google-technology-user-groups-in-seo http://blog.seanchoe.com/starting-google-technology-user-groups-in-seo On early November this year, I've seen a tweet by Mickey Kim, a Korean Googler and also a great Tweeple. (@mickeyk)

It's in Korean, and the link is here.

It says "There is at least 1 GTUG in every country in Asia, but not in Korea. I hope someone take the initiative. Anyone who's interested on Google's technology can make it."

GTUG is a acronym of "Google Technology User Groups". GTUGs are "user groups for people who are interested in Google's developer technology", according to the official GTUGs web site. it's here.

And there's a slide explaining the GTUG I made for the first Seoul GTUG meet-up.

And this YouTube video interviewing the GTUG founders will help you to understand GTUG.

So, I applied as an organizer of Seoul GTUG right away. Why? maybe because I'm the type of guy who are desperate to take the initiative. :)

And then I've got the reply from Stephanie Liu (@stephliu), Who's in charge of managing the GTUGs around the world in Google. She asked if it's ok to co-organize the GTUG with "Brian Lee", who applied at the same time as me. So I talked with Brain, and said ok.

So the Seoul GTUG started on 11st, November. Brian and I've been preparing the first event for a month, and finally announce it to open on 19th December.

We had the event at Google Korea office. Google employees helped as so kindly to managing the event. I appreciate it so much.

The first event was very active and energetic. over 90 people applied, and 64 people attended. I could feel that many developers on Korea were eager to this kind of communities. There were not many developer communities in Korea so far, and I think it'll be good if this Seoul GTUG could be a game changer of developer environment in Korea.

Though the subjects are too widely scoped and some people felt that there was no specific point on the event, I think it's a good start. We'll take the feed back and try to make the better event next time.

Here's some pictures of the event.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1716687/profile_111223.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1gvSWFs6v0B Sean Choe 최우형 Sean Choe