Welcome to WhiteHat Blackbox – A blog sharing my experiences of what works in improving my life: getting things done, staying focused, increasing happiness, and hacking behaviors.

About Daryl Furuyama

Hi, I’m Daryl Furuyama and I write WhiteHat BlackBox to share my experiences in life hacking. I question, test, find out what works/doesn’t work, and refine. I am not looking to find the end or the best, but to continually improve. I think that is the most exciting.

My passion is figuring out how things work and learning in general. Since I was very young, I loved taking things apart (and sometimes putting them back together) and asking questions. One of my elementary school teachers once left a comment on my report card that I “questioned everyone, even adults”. As you can tell, I also got in trouble a lot for challenging authority figures.

In jr. high school, my brother began making websites. I thought it was cool, but he wouldn’t teach me. I then taught myself HTML through the lousy AOL tutorials and by modifying the source code of websites I liked (including the now defunct Anime Online). This got me in the habit of viewing source code and detecting weaknesses in system designs.

I paid my way through college working as an interface security analyst for an internet startup. I initially majored in computer science, but switched to sociology because people are more interesting. I like the idea of people behaving as a system.

I finished my undergraduate degree in three years and then moved on to being the youngest student in my M.B.A class. I’ve also done a few interesting things along the way. I got a radio license from the FCC when I was 13. I’ve climbed to the top of Mt. Fuji and slid down the ashy soil. I’ve flown an airplane without a license (it was an ultralight). I also started a company of four, which we closed two years later, right before we graduated.

I like making stuff, tinkering, and sharing.

What Does “WhiteHat BlackBox” Mean?

The name for my blog is derived from two hacking terms: “white hat” and “black box”.

• White Hat refers to the type of hacker: A white hat hacker is one who hacks to gain knowledge (opposed to a black hat, who hacks maliciously).
• Black Box refers to the type of hacking: Black box hacking is discovering the behaviors of a system without prior information on how it operates.

I run tests on my own life to discover how it works and how I can make it better. I am a white hat black box life hacker.

Note to Myself

Only post things that you want to remember yourself. If you don’t think it is useful for yourself, then it probably isn’t useful at all. Don’t attempt to add hypothetical things you “think” will help others. You will end up adding informational clutter, decreasing the effectiveness of the site.