tech journal

The Joy of Sucking

2006-07-17T19:00:00.000+08:00

The title of this article led me astray for a while at first, until I really read the article (and understood the meaning). Wired News has an article about the joy of losing at games, and how sometimes it feels good to lose. This is called "sucking", which is the term used in the article, though I'd definitely have preferred "The Joy of Losing".

Now, losing at games, is fun?

Doctor Google

2006-07-15T20:18:00.000+08:00

Someone wrote an article about Google, claiming that AdWords is giving him a headache. And apparently it seems that Google knows everything, and has sent the person a letter with some acetaminophen attached.

LOL. Dear Google, I need a...

Mozilla Firefox 2.0 Beta 1

2006-07-13T21:57:00.000+08:00

Mozilla Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 has been released, but I'm busy these days, and I'm not really interested in betas now. I'd just get the final version, heh.

However if you are really interested, you could always download it and try.

The Periodic Table of Keys

2006-07-13T21:55:00.000+08:00

Yet another Periodic Table, but far more awesome than any other I've seen before.

Somebody must go create an image of this!

How Microsoft Can Win the iPod

2006-07-13T21:52:00.000+08:00

Technology Review has an article on how Microsoft could go to win Apple's iPod and claim dominance over the market. The article's long, but in short, it simply says that Microsoft must do whatever Apple has done, but it must do it better: release a better player, release a better music store, and touch on emerging technologies.

Microsoft's iPod Rival: The "Argo"

2006-07-13T21:49:00.000+08:00

Engadget reports that Microsoft has really developed the Anti-iPod to counter increasing threats from Apple. It looks clean, its screen is huge, but the controls look a bit weird. Nevertheless, it's sent by an insider. Maybe it's another hoax, maybe it's not.

Read the full scoop, with a picture.

Busy

2006-07-13T21:46:00.000+08:00

I've been very busy these days, so I can't post very frequently. Today I'll make an effort to post recent stuff.

But still, I'm still going to be very busy until maybe early next week. School stuff.

Tech Obsession Signs

2006-07-09T17:29:00.000+08:00

At The Age, they've written an article about ten signs which show that people are obsessed with technology. Well, it's a nice read, but there are some things which aren't really true.

5. Your favourite song goes "beep"

Microsoft Supports OpenDocument

2006-07-07T17:39:00.000+08:00

BetaNews:

In a surprise move, Microsoft is bending to pressure from governments and will sponsor an open source project to build tools that enable conversion between its Open XML formats in Office 2007 and OpenDocument (ODF). The forthcoming Office suite will also support an add-in for saving directly to ODF.

The Open XML Translator project will be hosted on SourceForge.net, and is available under the BSD open source license. Microsoft says anyone can submit bugs and contribute to the project. A beta of the Open XML translator for Word 2007 will be made available Thursday, which can convert .docx Word documents to .odf and vice versa.

Hohoho. Microsoft, going open source? That's surprising.

Funny del.icio.us Contest

2006-07-07T17:37:00.000+08:00

Recently I found this contest" which is based on bookmarking service del.icio.us, and I'm impressed by the creator.

A contest? Jakob Lodwick, the creator of the contest, will give $100 to a random person who has bookmarked the contest page. And I've joined too, because I bookmarked the page for bookmarking purposes. Simulataneously entering me into the contest.

I find it a very nice idea, and such nice ideas are rare to come by. When they do, it's awesome.

Surviving Meetings, Developer Style

2006-07-07T17:34:00.000+08:00

Lifehacker:

If you're stuck in a meeting that you don't want or need to be at, tech blogger Philipp Lenssen has a few...interesting ways you can make your time more productive, or at least more fun.

I don't have meetings, but I have classes at school, and incidentally to pass the time today during Chemistry, I played Battleships with my friend today. Total excitement and fun, although I lost. LOL.

The Internet is Made of Tubes

2006-07-03T18:37:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how people can imagine stuff to be, take for example, what a Senator thinks the Internet really looks like.

They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck.

It's a series of tubes.

And if you don't understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and its going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.

We've got to give it to him.

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3

2006-07-02T15:28:00.000+08:00

There's a new version of Microsoft's Windows Internet Explorer on the loose; get it here, and actually there aren't much changes from the previous beta version, from what I see.

Installing the new version required me to uninstall the previous version along with restarts. The trouble is expected: it's a beta after all. But I could expect Microsoft to at least simplify matters a bit for consumers.

I tried using Internet Explorer for an hour (just to test), and found out that I can finally drag and drop tabs now. It might not seem very useful, but when you have dozens of tabs opened, it allows for easy organisation.

Other than some minor changes, I think there's really not much difference from Beta 2, but yes, it's a huge improvement from Internet Explorer 6.0. That was really sucky.

Productivity's Enemy: The Internet

2006-06-29T17:18:00.000+08:00

Coding Horror enlightens by mentioning that a major but overlooked source of anti-productivity goodness is the Internet. And yes, I agree very very much.

Sometimes the Internet can be useful to get things done, but only if it helps, and if it's relevant. I usually turn off my computer when studying or doing homework, and I can tell you, the Internet is a big distraction. But if I wanted to communicate with my peers or discuss something, I can't live without the Internet.

And why did take so long for most of us to realise this?

Sometimes I truly think I'd be more productive if I disconnected my ethernet jack.

Indeed.

Do Girls Exist on the Internet?

2006-06-29T17:10:00.000+08:00

I found this amusing article by a girl, about her experiences on the Internet, being a girl. Apparently boys don't believe she plays World of Warcraft.

My adventures on the internet have led me to learn many things about myself. I'm not a girl and I do not exist on the internet. I do not play games and do not know how to turn on my computer. I did not build my own PC, nor did I buy a video game. I do not own a headset and do not play first person shooters and MMOGs. My life on the internet is an intricate, well planned lie.

LOL. One of the best articles I've read.

Genuine Simply Games Degree Exam Paper

2006-06-27T20:40:00.000+08:00

Joystiq:

On first glance, this exam paper looks like a hoax intended to poke fun at the recent trend for video game degrees. However, if you dig a little deeper, you'll find that it's actually a genuine exam paper that students studying Computer Games Art or Computer Games Design at The University of Teesside have to take. We're sure many of you could answer these questions in your sleep, for example, question number 14 is "What was the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) videogame console, released in America and Europe, known as in Japan?"

History of Games. Wow, what are those people thinking these days?

Windows Live Messenger Out of Beta

2006-06-25T19:54:00.000+08:00

Late announcement, but I recently got the latest version of Windows Live Messenger. No beta label anymore, finally!

The Golden Age of the Internet

2006-06-24T20:52:00.000+08:00

John Dvorak at PC Magazine writes that this is now the Golden Age of the Internet Age, but like other Golden Ages, it is doomed to vanish.

A proprietary, closed Net is coming. A golden age ends either when something new comes along (as with radio's golden age, killed by the advent of TV), the government gets involved, or entropy sets in—usually a mix of these elements. In the case of the Internet, we are already seeing a combination of government, carrier, and business interactions that will eventually turn the Net into a restricted and somewhat proprietary network, with much of its content restricted or blocked. Only a diligent few will actually have access to the restricted data, and in some parts of the world even trying to view the restricted information on the Net will be a crime.

Technology will always advance, but what exactly is the Internet? Internet, unlike the radio (an example which Dvorak used), is not just a simple invention. It's a system, a system of networks, which doesn't really count as an invention. The Internet is made up of inventions, and I don't count it as an invention itself.

A Golden Age ends when something new comes along. We need networks to transfer information and communication, and unlike the radio, the Internet is not just an entertainment product that can be replaced by advanced technology. Indeed, the underlying systems of the Internet can be replaced by newer systems. IMHO there's nothing else which can replace the Internet; it can only be improved.

The Internet will stay on as long as networks exist between computers. What is Dvorak meaning, when he says "Golden Age of the Internet"? Does he mean the rise of entertainment and services offered? Does he mean the rise of new Web 2.0 services for people? Does he mean the usage of the Internet as a medium?

I do not define the Golden Age of the Internet as anything; we don't know what's going to happen in the future. But for all I know, the Internet is a part of the Golden Age of Technology.

The Perfect Penalty

2006-06-24T20:38:00.000+08:00

BBC News:

England's bid for World Cup glory could be boosted by scientists who claim to have discovered the formula for the perfect penalty.

Experts at Liverpool John Moores University have sent their findings to England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Factors involved in their calculations include the number of steps in run-up, time taken to kick the ball, velocity of shot and position of striking foot.

The formula to remember in a shoot-out is (((X+Y+S)/2)x((T+I+2B)/4))+(V/2)-1.

LOL.

Amit's Game Programming Information

2006-06-24T20:36:00.000+08:00

A hobbyist game programmer has set up a resource page containing links to various resources for game programming. Excellent resource.

Time Breakdown of Modern Design

2006-06-22T22:05:00.000+08:00

This image is a generally accurate graphical representation of the time spent by web designers. I particularly like "Time spent trying to get the bastard to work in Internet fucking Explorer."

UFO Hacker's Discovery

2006-06-22T22:01:00.000+08:00

Wired News queried Gary McKinnon, dubbed "UFO hacker" because he allegedly hacked into NASA websites and claimed to have found images of extraterrestrial friends.

I remember reading this before (by BBC News), but it doesn't hurt to reread again. Such stuff are always interesting.

My dialup 56K connection was very slow trying to download one of these picture files. As this was happening, I had remote control of their desktop, and by adjusting it to 4-bit color and low screen resolution, I was able to briefly see one of these pictures. It was a silvery, cigar-shaped object with geodesic spheres on either side. There were no visible seams or riveting. There was no reference to the size of the object and the picture was taken presumably by a satellite looking down on it. The object didn't look manmade or anything like what we have created. Because I was using a Java application, I could only get a screenshot of the picture -- it did not go into my temporary internet files. At my crowning moment, someone at NASA discovered what I was doing and I was disconnected.

Is it really authentic, and that the US government is really hiding something from us, or is it just a bunch of created nonsense? We don't know, but hey, if only the someone at NASA hadn't discovered WTF was happening.

Top Geek Websites

2006-06-18T23:57:00.000+08:00

Pocono Herald states the popular, the hot, and the obvious: popular sites for "geeks".

Slashdot, Digg, Tom's Hardware, and Wired all make it into list, but we're all sure that they are way lot more.

Microsoft Developing iPod Rival

2006-06-17T14:32:00.000+08:00

Reuters reports that Microsoft is currently developing (really) an iPod rival, as well as a new music service to pwn the iTunes Music Store.

Well, I don't think anything can manage to really beat the iPod and the iTunes Music Store. They are vastly popular, and perhaps the "de facto" of the digital music industry. It would take a Redmond miracle to turn the tide. Apple is dominant.

Playing with Power

2006-06-17T14:13:00.000+08:00

1UP.com presents an article detailing the various game/play mechanics that have evolved with time and are now found in most video games. The greatest ideas ever in video games.

Video games are built on ideas, or "play mechanics," if you will. A game's play mechanics determine both its structure and its rules: how you win, how you lose, and what you can do to stay alive in the face of overwhelming odds. As good as these ideas may sound on paper, they don't always work in execution. Sometimes they don't even make sense. But every once in a while, a game designer comes up with a fantastic concept that engages the player -- and influences the work of other designers.

From hit/health points to magic spells to bosses to combos and chain reactions, you'd probably smile after reading the article, like I did.

Bill Gates to Step Down in Two Years

2006-06-16T12:08:00.000+08:00

It's official, and I don't have much too say about it. Apparently, Mr Gates is going to concentrate on work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Oh well.

Windows Vista Premium Requirements

2006-06-16T12:06:00.000+08:00

Most know by now that Windows Vista would have demanding requirements for consumers, if they ever wish to run it at its full potential. The requirements have been released for Premium, and I can say, I don't even have most of them. DailyTech:

* Must have H.264 hardware decoding
* Must have HDCP
* Must support multi-monitor support
* Must have HD audio
* Must have HD audio jack presence detection
* Must have Serial ATA 2.5
* Must have minimum of 50MB NV cache on hybrid HD's with at least 8MB/sec write 16MB/sec read (for mobile only)
* Must support booting from USB flash drives
* Must have Windows Vista Green Button on all remotes
* Must have Green Driver Quality Rating (DQR)
o Green score of 7 to 9
o Yellow score of 4 o 6
o Red score of 1 to 3

It's possible to notice that these are generally requirements for extreme multimedia, and it's high definition all the way. Sad to say, I don't think most computers now even have these, but we might see more emerge by next year.

This is not all. Read the full article for everything (and it's minimal) you need to have to run Windows Vista Premium. I thought they were joking.

Funny Notepad "Feature"

2006-06-14T23:08:00.000+08:00

Well, apparently, someone has found a hidden feature, or perhaps an egg, in Microsoft Notepad, my favourite barebones text editor. I tried it myself (and thought it was fake), and seriously, this works.

1. Open up Notepad (not Wordpad, not Word or any other word processor)
2. Type in this sentence exactly (without quotes): "this app can break"
3. Save the file to your hard drive.
4. Close Notepad
5. Open the saved file by double clicking it.

When you open the file, you should not see "this app can break". Instead, you should see something else. The article says squares, but Chinese characters appeared for me. And I can't be bothered to translate it.

Anyway, nice discovery.

UPDATE: Whoops.

ASCII World Cup

2006-06-12T17:22:00.000+08:00

No joke. Someone really implemented live World Cup matches in ASCII.

You've got to telnet their server which should be fairly easy, and for now, there's nothing showing up. I guess it's because there ain't any matches, but I'm excited to see how it would look at like at 21:00. Australia and Japan at Kaiserslautern!

"The best, most ridiculous, most redundant graphical implementation of ASCII!"

Sounds promising.

Adidas Teamgeist and "National Balls"

2006-06-10T18:46:00.000+08:00

I couldn't think how to rewrite the title, but hell, Gizmodo:

Compared to most other soccer balls which have 26 or 32 sewn panels, the Teamgeist only has 14, making it far more smoother than ever before. This fact has goalkeepers going crazy since the smoother surface gives the ball a more unpredictable trajectory in the air. Translation: be on the lookout for what seem to be silly goalkeeping errors.

Backed by what Adidas calls "unprecedented" performance, the Teamgeist, which is supposedly the roundest soccer ball ever produced, is also nearly completely waterproof, thanks to a thermal bonding technology. Finally, FIFA rules state that balls must not have a more than 10 percent weight increase when wet; the Teamgeist far exceeds that requirement with less than .01 percent weight increase.

I can't see why it's more advanced than my PC, but the Teamgeist is still cool anyway.

More awesome stuff related to soccer balls and also in the World Cup mood, is 32 Qualified Soccer Balls. Hey, why didn't I see this earlier?

Anyway, I love the Sweden (Schweden) one. IKEA!

Microsoft Released Vista Beta 2 to Public

2006-06-09T13:54:00.000+08:00

The ugly: it's facing a lot of demand. I can't even download it (but I got my key). When it was initially released, I was excited, but my download was terminated after about 100 MB of the 3 GB monster ISO.

The ISO would then be burned onto a DVD and then you boot into Microsoft goodness. I'm planning to run it as a virtual machine though. One, I don't have a spare blank DVD lying around. Two, I'm lazy to buy one. Three, even if I do, I don't want to meddle with hard drive partitions. I don't even have an extra system to play around with. Four, I can run it as a virtual machine, so why not?

We are currently experiencing a high level of demand and cannot process your request at this time.

I guess I'll have to wait for a while. Still, I got my CD key. Enables me to use the beta until the middle of next year.

How Not to Steal a Sidekick

2006-06-09T10:55:00.000+08:00

Evan Washere's friend left her T-Mobile Sidekick in a taxi (which means that she lost it, yeah), and discovered that someone had took it and used it to take pictures of themselves. Like any "scam the scammer", "humiliate the thieves" classic Internet story, Evan has apparently got a website up and running about his negotiations with the "thieves", along with those pictures they had taken. And a bunch of extra information.

This actually emerged a few days ago, but it was down when I wanted to post about it. Today I checked again, and discovered that it was back.

When my friend realized that she had left the Sidekick in the taxi she asked me to immediately send a message to the phone saying that we would give a reward for the phone. There was no response. After a day of waiting, she had to go to the store and spend over $300 on a new Sidekick. When she put her SIM card in, she saw that the person(s) that had taken the phone had not only signed on to AOL leaving their name and password in the phone, but they had taken pictures of themselves.

At the point of time, the victims have already reported the theft, and this case, like all other "screw the bad guy" stories, is particularly entertaining. Earns a place next to the famous P-P-P-PowerBook counter-scam.

Is this entertaining, depressing, or humiliating? I guess it's all three of them.

Microsoft Offers to Include Flash, Shockwave for PDF in Office

2006-06-08T19:01:00.000+08:00

Microsoft Watch:

Microsoft has offered Adobe the opportunity to have its Acrobat PDF reader, Flash and/or Shockwave technologies bundled into Vista, Heiner said. Microsoft also has extended to Adobe an offer to include in Windows Vista their own "Save as PDF" plug-in. Adobe is still considering the PDF reader, Flash and/or Shockwave integration, but is not interested in the PDF-export technology deal, Heiner said.

All these for PDF support in Office.

A Sixth Sense

2006-06-08T18:55:00.000+08:00

Wired News:

What if, seconds before your laptop began stalling, you could feel the hard drive spin up under the load? Or you could tell if an electrical cord was live before you touched it? For the few people who have rare earth magnets implanted in their fingers, these are among the reported effects -- a finger that feels electromagnetic fields along with the normal sense of touch.

Wired editor Quinn Norton really went to have a rare earth magnet implanted in her ring finger to achieve a magnetic "sixth sense". Apparently she is able to detect live wires and such, and the magnet would even spin in her finger. Scary.

Though luckily, she won't be able to erase hard drives with a single touch. Interesting, but it's scary to think how we could be implanted with stuff next time to do beyond what our bodies are able to. Think Magneto!

New Copyright Law

2006-06-06T20:07:00.000+08:00

I think it's only happening in the USA, but it seems to have stirred up quite a something by now. IPac:

This will be a busy week in the House -- Congress goes into summer recess Friday, but not before considering the Section 115 Reform Act of 2006 (SIRA). Never heard of SIRA? That’s the way Big Copyright and their lackey’s want it, and it's bad news for you.

Simply put, SIRA fundamentally redefines copyright and fair use in the digital world. It would require all incidental copies of music to be licensed separately from the originating copy. Even copies of songs that are cached in your computer's memory or buffered over a network would need yet another license. Once again, Big Copyright is looking for a way to double-dip into your wallet, extracting payment for the same content at multiple levels.

Seriously, WTF are they thinking? Charge for a song in memory?

I live in Singapore, but I'm sure they'd be cracking up on us soon enough. I hope not.

Ballmer Unable to Fix Infected System

2006-06-06T17:11:00.000+08:00

Not only Ballmer, but also a Microsoft team. Australian IT:

MICROSOFT executives love telling stories against each other. Here's one that platforms vice-president Jim Allchin told at a recent Windows Vista reviewers conference about chief executive Steve Ballmer.

It seems Steve was at a friend's wedding reception when the bride's father complained that his PC had slowed to a crawl and would Steve mind taking a look.

Allchin says Ballmer, the world's 13th wealthiest man with a fortune of about $18 billion, spent almost two days trying to rid the PC of worms, viruses, spyware, malware and severe fragmentation without success.

He lumped the thing back to Microsoft's headquarters and turned it over to a team of top engineers, who spent several days on the machine, finding it infected with more than 100 pieces of malware, some of which were nearly impossible to eradicate.

Among the problems was a program that automatically disabled any antivirus software.

Funny. Now what if the computer was running Linux?

Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment

2006-06-05T19:41:00.000+08:00

EepyBird.com:

What happens when you combine 200 liters of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos mints? It's amazing and completely insane.

The first part of this video demonstrates a simple geyser, and the second part shows just how extreme it can get. Over one hundred jets of soda fly into the air in less than three minutes.

It might be not so tech, but it's geek enough to deserve a post up here. Two cool dudes conduct an extreme mentos-plus-soda experiment (if you don't know what this is all about, check it out) which is totally awesome. It essentially looks like a magical fountain display, except that it's soda.

I haven't tried this experiment myself yet, due to constraints (I've to find a suitable location), but now's the holidays.

*evil grin*

Slashdot Updated

2006-06-05T15:11:00.000+08:00

Slashdot, the popular technology news site has been given a permanent makeover with the new winning design from a contest.

My first impressions was "wow", and found that everything was neatly positioned, sans-serif fonts are used (though I sort of miss the default font of old times). I thank anything that the green colour is still used, although now as a gradient, but I believe it's a prominent design feature of Slashdot. Colour is important.

There's a bit of Web 2.0 in the new design (note: a bit), but I'm glad only a bit of rounded corners and a few gradients have been placed. Font size is smaller, more readable, and like I've said earlier, it looks neater now.

My only problem with the new design is something to do with the comments. I like to read my comments nested, so that child comments are indented to indicate that they are child comments. In the new design, the indent or "displacement" or whatever is reduced, so it's quite hard to differentiate which are parents and which are childs. Worst of all, Slashdot articles have a reputation of having way too much comments (which is yet another prominent feature of Slashdot), so it's easily to get confused in the middle of reading.

Next is the location of the moderation score of comments. Previously, scores were located next to the title of the comment, which made reading easier (I could just look at the comment score and determine whether it was worth reading or not). This time, the scores are located at the far right, which downright sucks, because now I have to look everywhere just to read comments. Left, right, and left again.

The new design, in short, improves Slashdot's look, but the functionality hasn't changed a bit. They could maybe provide an option to revert back to the old, uglier, but more functional style.

The comment scores, the comment scores! My eyes, my eyes!

Slashdot has just turned brighter, neater, maybe for the better. It doesn't look right to a long time member like me, but as with all changes (like Revolution to Wii), I guess everybody would be used to the new Slashdot.

Windows Live OneCare

2006-06-04T12:11:00.000+08:00

Microsoft has released its maintenance service for computers, also known as Windows Live OneCare. The title clearly suggests that it's part of Microsoft's latest arsenal of Live services, but it's also one service which I'm not very interested in.

In my life I have not purchased any security or maintenance suites to "protect" my computer, especially when I need to pay subscription fees. They might provide virus and spyware scanning, but the real truth is that you don't need to pay US$49.95 a year to defend your system.

Why do I say so? With safe computing practices, one can easily avoid any dangers. I have only relied on a simple firewall for years and have not faced any dangerous threats. Yes, I do use Windows Defender, but so far it hasn't reported any spyware. Nothing awkward has happened.

Safe computing practices? You've heard them before: don't open attachments without checking, don't download suspicious software, and those other tips you might have considered to be just nonsense. Nonsense? Think again. Would you rather follow more cautious steps (which costs nothing but some time), or fork out a sum of money to purchase a security suite to protect your computer, which might not even be able to fix all problems at all?

Is a security suite even necessary? It's like giving a fish to someone, but not teaching him to fish. If he knows how to fish, you won't have to give him a fish anymore. Likewise, if users know how to properly maintain their systems, they won't have to spend more money.

The problem is that most users do not know how. And Microsoft is trying to help them by offering a paid service. Now let's think again. How many people would actually consider buying Windows Live OneCare which requires a yearly subscription of US$49.95?

I paid money for an operating system. Now I have pay more money to protect my computer. WTF is this? Why not add both together? Why not just include the protection in the operating system? Why others have protection but I do not, just because they are willing to pay more?

The worst thing about this is that both products are made by the same company: Microsoft.

Microsoft can also just provide added security through Windows Live OneCare, but meanwhile the masses need basic security. We certainly don't need to pay more for protection.

Such a disappointment. I had thought they'd offer it for free.

NES Super Mario in 3D

2006-06-03T21:27:00.000+08:00

Destructoid:

From the I-shit-you-not-dept: "Super Mario Bros 2.5D is a remake of the classic, Super Mario Bros… in 3D. How can you remake a 2D game in 3D? Add depth! Defeat enemies as Mario in a whole new way with 3D views and 3D graphics!"

2D sprites in a 3D world. I'd say it adds a new element to one of the best NES games of all time, but I still prefer ol' time 2D Mario, heh.

Slashdot Redesign Winner Announced

2006-05-31T21:45:00.000+08:00

Check it out; it's extremely awesome. Kudos to Alex Bendiken.

Levels of HTML Knowledge

2006-05-31T21:41:00.000+08:00

456 Berea Street:

Inspired by Emil Stenström’s Levels of CSS knowledge, I started thinking about the extreme difference in HTML knowledge among people working in the web industry. It spans all the way from people who know next to nothing about it to those who know it well enough to write the actual HTML specifications.

I thought I’d describe a few different levels of HTML knowledge. For some people, these levels are stages that they pass while learning more and more about HTML, gradually understanding concepts such as web standards, semantics, and accessibility. Others are at a certain level because it matches their attitude towards HTML and coding in general. Many people never advance beyond the first few levels. For some that is just fine, while for others it is not.

Me Level 5, sometimes Level 4. Level 6 is way overkill for me, LOL.

Don't Try This at Home

2006-05-31T19:53:00.000+08:00

Wired Magazine:

The first startling thing Joy White saw out of her bedroom window was a man running toward her door with an M16. White’s husband, a physicist named Bob Lazar, was already outside, awakened by their barking dogs. Suddenly police officers and men in camouflage swarmed up the path, hoisting a battering ram. "Come out with your hands up immediately, Miss White!" one of them yelled through a megaphone, while another handcuffed the physicist in his underwear. Recalling that June morning in 2003, Lazar says, "If they were expecting to find Osama bin Laden, they brought along enough guys."

Nice article about chemistry before and chemistry now. I wished I had lived in the good ol' days of science. Nowadays kids have almost nothing dangerous to play with. What's fun with something not dangerous?

Review: Windows Media Player 11 Beta

2006-05-28T17:59:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since Windows Media Player 11 Beta was released, but I haven't found the time to download it, install it, use it, and review it, especially when it's only a beta. Today I finally found the extra time to do so, and downloaded the file off Microsoft's site within minutes.

The installation took quite some time, but when it launched, I was breathless: the interface was amazing. The glossy black interface was times better than the previous version, and iTunes looks like nothing, compared to it. Of course, I think Microsoft copied from iTunes, mainly the centered controls.

Classic menus are gone now, and I won't advise enabling it either, because it makes everything look very ugly (it doesn't fit in). Nevertheless, it's possible to survive by just right-clicking the top of the player.

The new overhauled interface is actually less complex and complex than that of Windows Media Player 10, and there's sort of more real screen estate now. Back and Forward buttons are also added, and they do what they usually do, like you're using a browser. The buttons have been updated to go with the new glossy look, and seriously, they look freaking awesome.

The next major update provided in version 11 is the new nicer Media Library, the "core" of Windows Media Player. In version 10, text was dominant, and all information was presented like a database. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.

Version 11 introduces a more graphical Media Library. Album art is presented along with albums now, and everything is actually nicer to look at. All information are more neatly organised, and it's attractive.

Microsoft has intergrated MTV's new URGE music service with Windows Media Player 11, though I'm not the kind who loves online music services. It doesn't really affect me much, really.

Windows Media Player 11 Beta is a significant upgrade to version 10 in terms of both looks and functionality, and it's satisfying. I use Windows Media Player daily, and I'm happy to have an improvement over my favourite music player. Curse the "beta" status, though.

Mousing Lefty

2006-05-27T11:01:00.000+08:00

Lifehacker:

Women learn lots of things from their mothers. Some learn how to apply makeup, others some trick to keep blemishes at bay. Still others learn how to perfectly fold a fitted sheet or make a rich chicken stock from scratch. My mother taught me how to mouse goofy, i.e. mousing lefty rather than righty.

My right hand ached a lot from hours and hours (and years and years) of computing. One day on the phone with her, I mentioned the pain I felt in my wrist. She replied very simply, “Oh, I had that problem too, so I switched to mousing with my other hand. It took a bit of getting used to, but then I got the hang of it.” This wasn’t just an off the cuff comment from a casual computer user, this was my MIS-degreed, Sybase tech-supporting mother speaking, a woman who lived on the computer.

Although I'm left-handed, I can use the mouse with my right hand perfectly well, which I don't know why (guess I'm used to it). But for one, I have no idea how I am going to survive with a mouse in my left hand, and it definitely needs serious adaptation.

My mouse is crafted for the right hand (the shape), so it wouldn't be soon when I get the chance (and strange feeling) to ever mouse with my left hand.

BTW, mouse in right, and left as master is awesome. I can write or hold a cup or eat with a spoon or spin a pen while scrolling with mouse at my same time. Brilliance, for me, that is.

Common Typos

2006-05-27T10:56:00.000+08:00

Lifehacker:

I learned how to type (or "keyboard," as they called it in my high school) 15 years ago but there are still certain words that I misspell very predictably when I’m banging out my thoughts on the keys quickly. "Teh” instead of "the," "Gian" instead of "Gina," and my new one since we launched Lifehacker is "Lifeahacker."

I do have typos emerging often here and there, and usually it's a letter swap ("teh"). I attribute this problem to fast typing, though sometimes I wonder why I still get typos when I slow down.

Ha. No one is a perfect typist.

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Beta

2006-05-22T20:38:00.000+08:00

I recently downloaded Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Beta (it shouldn't be beta anyway), an application I can run to find out whether it's ready to run Windows Vista. It's interesting.

The Advisor requires installation, and I don't really think there's a real need for it, since it's just an application to check requirements. But I installed it anyway.

To begin, the Advisor wanted me to start a system scan. Next, I was presented with a list of boxes to check, corresponding to various needs. I picked "my needs", and the Advisor claimed that I needed Windows Vista Ultimate. I knew it, LOL.

After choosing the stuff, I was given a report on whether my computer could support the feature. It could support everything I wanted it to, except for "Premium Photo, Music and Movie Experiences".

If you would like to connect this PC directly to a TV and you do not have a high definition display that accepts PC video input, you will need to upgrade your graphics adapter to one that supports TV output. Alternatively, you can use this PC as a media center host and connect to a TV through an intermediary device such as an Xbox 360 or other Windows Vista-compatible Media Center extender.

Doesn't seem to be a major problem though. The next step basically determined whether my hardware could run Windows Vista. All of my devices were supported, except for some, like RAID controllers. I never use them, so they aren't a problem.

The final stage of the Advisor stated that Windows Vista Ultimate is the best edition for me, and I could run it pretty well too. I also had a chance to print or save the final report, but nah.

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a required tool for people who really want to know which edition is perfect for them and whether their system can run various features or not. And the simple reason I wanted to try it out was because I wasn't too sure whether my new system could handle Vista at its best. Sounds stupid, but Windows Vista really has high system requirements, so to speak.

Reinstalling Windows XP

2006-05-22T17:41:00.000+08:00

CodeFromThe70s.org:

If you're anything like me, there's a good chance that your XP system is slow as hell and things don't work properly anymore. Sure, it used to be nice and fast when the computer was new and XP was fresh, but you just had to keep installing and uninstalling all that software, didn't you?

Now your Start menu is four columns wide, it takes ages to boot the computer, and apparently there are these tiny conflicts between all the stuff running - or trying to run - on your machine so things don't always work as they should. No amount of time spent in Add/Remove Programs (thanks developers for creating uninstallers that don't work) will help you. Defragging? That stopped having a noticeable effect six months ago.

So the only solution you have is to reinstall Windows. Yes, the dreaded moment when all your applications are gone and you're not productive anymore. It will take weeks, if not months, to get everything installed and configured properly. If you're anything like me you've been there before. You might think you're up and running after a day or so of going through checklists and loading software, but it's only a matter of hours before you reach for an infrequently used tool that's not there. Then you search for the application and install it, potentially taking hours, only to run into the same problem with another piece of software later.

I've faced reinstalls a lot of times, but LOL, surely I haven't had a menu four columns wide. My current menu's only one long column. Neat.

This article describes a solution for having your old workspace back after a reinstall. It's a good read, and certainly the most major problem faced is software. I usually have to look through my folders for what software to reinstall, then get a bunch of updates, and it takes a long time. Configuration is another pain, but once the job is done, you'd be happy next day.

Reinstalls are actually very beneficial, especially when you want a refresh to clear all that gunk and junk out of your computer (you installed a shareware program and uninstalled it. It's uneasy to know that the Registry has a "useless entry"). I don't really recommend frequent reinstalls, though. Maybe once a year is adequate. Really.

Fake E3 Wii?

2006-05-20T23:49:00.000+08:00

The Inquirer:

The recent demonstration by Nintendo of its new Wii machine at the E3 show was all fabricated, according to the Nintendo insider forum.

Nintendo apparently was in a bit of a bind because it needed to make a good impression at E3, but it didn’t have a product. The ATI graphics card which will be a feature of the Wii is still in development.

The forum claims that the machine on show was just an empty box with a light on it. A large number of cables were seen coming out of the back which appeared to lead to a Gamecube.

The claim is that the Gamecubes were tinkered with to run a Wii development kit, with the signal routed back through a pretend Wii machine.

And surprise, an official reply from Nintendo (didn't expect this to happen). GameDaily BIZ:

Nintendo confirmed that they did indeed use GameCube housing, but that the "guts" or internal architecture was certainly from the Wii. "The Wii hardware we exhibited at E3 2006 was made specifically for the E3 show and is not the final mass-production version. Some of this hardware was cased in Nintendo GameCube housing," the company explained.

It might be sort of "disappointing", but I guess it doesn't matter to most gamers. They love the controller! Would you prefer awesome graphics with seriously complex controls or "not so nice but acceptable" graphics with an entirely wonderful and innovative control scheme?

Ten Dumb Things to Mess Up Computers

2006-05-20T23:41:00.000+08:00

TechRepublic:

We all do dumb things now and then, and computer users are no exception. Inadvertently pressing the wrong key combination or innocently clicking OK in the wrong dialog box can change important settings that alter a computer's behavior or even crash the system.

Nervous newbies are often fearful that one wrong move might break the computer forever. Luckily, short of taking a sledge hammer to the box, the consequences aren't usually quite that dire. Even so, users often do create problems for their computers and for your network. Here's a description of common missteps you can share with your users to help them steer clear of preventable problems.

Nice.

Apple MacBook

2006-05-19T20:18:00.000+08:00

Knew they'd release the MacBook when they launched the MacBook Pro.

MacBooks come in black too. Awesome.

Windows Live Mail Supports Firefox

2006-05-16T19:56:00.000+08:00

Finally! I just discovered it when I was reading my mail, and no more using Internet Explorer anymore, yay!

Review: Windows Live Messenger 8.0 Beta

2006-05-15T17:58:00.000+08:00

I could download Windows Live Messenger 8.0 Beta after signing up as a beta user. It's essentially a renamed and upgraded MSN Messenger, labelled beta, and I finally had the chance to use it. It had been around for ages, but finally it's sort of released to the general public, with limitations.

It installed over MSN Messenger, and despite the name change, it still resides in MSN Messenger's folder, for compatibility, I guess. Surprisingly, all my settings were retained (happy), and I just explored what more I could do with the new Windows Live Messenger.

The most significant change to Windows Live Messenger is obvioulsy the new interface. Everything has changed (most probably to fit nicely into Vista), and I'm quite glad that the old interface has disappeared. It was ugly, honestly, and cluttered. In short, it was a mess.

And who says you need rounded corners to have a nice interface? Windows Live Messenger's interface has absolutely no rounded corners, but it still looks good. Defeats the Web 2.0 belief that's going round these days.

The new interface also offers the ability to change the colour scheme. It's cool, but I've stuck to the default one. After all, it's a matter of personal preference.

The status icons are improved too, once again very Vista, and it took me some time to get used to the icons. The new icons look awesome, seriously.

Enough of the visuals. In Windows Live Messenger, it is now possible to edit contact information (for your own convenience, I guess). I'm delighted at this, since it would do me a big favour. Now I can give contacts a nickname (which overrides their display name), and it'll do away with the sometimes perplexing display names some of my friends use. I can just give them a nickname and instantly I can identify them. Previously I had to check their e-mail address to know who exactly someone is (if I had no idea).

There's also a new feature called Offline Instant Messaging. As the name suggests, if you want to send a message to an offline contact, you could, but the contact would receive the message the next time he/she logs in. IMHO it's very useful, and kudos to the developers.

The process of instant messaging hasn't changed much, but there's one very distinct thing that has changed. In MSN Messenger, a normal conversation would go like this:

A: what do i have to hand in tomorrow?
B: you need to hand in the assignment
B: and that ruddy worksheet
A: ok
A: thanks
B: no problem
B: :)

In Live Messenger, however, things get quite simpler.

A: what do i have to hand in tomorrow?
B: you need to hand in the assignment
   and that ruddy worksheet
A: ok
   thanks
B: no problem
   :)

As you can see, consecutive messages by the same person are "grouped" together. It is indeed an unexpected feature implemented. I wasn't used to it at first (in fact, I was shocked), but now it's not much of a problem.

Actually, this new change can be changed and reverted to the original way through the settings. Additionally, timestamps can be added now, so it's possible to know when a certain message was sent. Curiously, these options are not enabled by default.

Sending files in MSN Messenger was cool, but when multiple files had to be transferred, you either resorted to virtually sending everything one by one, or spend some time placing them in a compressed folder.

Sharing Folders (very P2P) is apparently a new feature in WLM to ease file transfers. Microsoft's explanation explains it all:

Sharing Folders are a new and simple way for you to share personal photos, documents, and files with your Messenger contacts. You can create a Sharing Folder by simply dragging files onto a contact name in Messenger. This will create an exact copy of the files on both you and your contact's computers, and create a Sharing Folder that can be accessed from Messenger, and on the desktop.

It's sort of a synchronisation with your contact (like a PDA, maybe). And it's more convenient: just place any file you would like to share in your Sharing Folder. But if you still don't like the idea of Sharing Folders, Live Messenger still provides the old alternative for sending single files.

Winks and Nudges still exist in Windows Live Messenger (I really hated those annoying things. Disabling them does the trick, really), and I'm wondering whether it's a practical or annoying feature. It's pretty sad to know that users have a tool to annoy their friends, but thank goodness we can just disable them.

Windows Live Messenger 8.0 is a significant upgrade to MSN Messenger 7.5, and now, wouldn't they just release it a little quicker.

Killer Spam Phrases

2006-05-14T09:56:00.000+08:00

The Inquirer:

There is one phrase which, if you type into any search engine will expose your PC to shed-loads of spam, according to a new report.

Researchers Ben Edelman and Hannah Rosenbaum reckon that typing the phrase "Free Screensavers" into any search engine is the equivalent of lighting a blue touch paper and standing well back.

LOL.

Zapper Style Controller for Nintendo Wii

2006-05-12T18:00:00.000+08:00

Absolutely awesome.

Review: Windows Live Mail

2006-05-10T19:13:00.000+08:00

I got invited to try out Windows Live Mail (beta) some time ago, and I had mentioned that I only got the 2 GB storage upgrade. I was looking forward to the new interface, so I was quite disappointed.

But days ago, I went to Hotmail, signed it, and found myself facing a white interface. Finally!

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the best out of Windows Live Mail without resorting to using Internet Explorer. Firefox is okay, but there would be not much difference with using the old Hotmail interface, then. It's just a colour scheme swap. Annoying.

Therefore, for the sake of testing out this upgraded service Microsoft has to offer, I started Windows Live Mail in Internet Explorer 7. The difference is amazing.

I was welcomed by a page offering two choices: the new Live Mail experience, or the Classic Hotmail View. Naturally I picked the default option, the new experience, since I would have just stuck to Firefox if I ever wanted the Classic Hotmail View.

Next I could choose the location of my Reading Pane (will explain), my colour scheme (nifty), and some options. The new Live Mail experience, of course, takes advantage of AJAX and some new Web 2.0 stuff, which looks very impressive.

The interface differences are outstanding. There are three panes (for me). The left pane contains all the categories and folders for your mail, the center serves to show everything in the selected category or folder, and the right pane (Reading Pane) shows the contents of the selected e-mail in the center pane. It's nice, but if you have a small viewing estate, be prepared for some mess.

Fortunately, the panes are resizable, so that's not much of a problem. Shortcuts, which are located below the left pane, have a very obvious purpose, and all three panes work together seamlessly. It's particularly more manageable that Gmail's interface, but messier.

The location of the Reading Pane can be changed. For me, I initially chose it to be located on the right, so it's the right pane, but I discovered that placing it at the bottom of the initial left pane makes the interface look like Outlook, which is good. Besides, it's less messier. It's a matter of personal preference, actually.

Another feature served to suit preferences is the ability of change colour schemes. I put mine as the default scheme, and like I've said earlier, it's the user's choice.

The new Live Mail experience also includes search for mail, and I wonder very much why it's not included in the Classic Hotmail View, at least.

A new option in Windows Live Mail (for both interfaces) is the ability of save sent messages. I love it particularly, and the lack of it in Hotmail was a main reason I preferred Gmail. Now I can choose whether to automatically store my sent messages. It might seem useless, but in reality, it's darn useful.

Microsoft has adopted a convention of putting all their new products as "beta", obviously taking a leaf out of Google's book. I'm not against it, but I can't stand it being a trend or something.

To conclude, Windows Live Mail is a significant upgrade to Hotmail, though to fully take advantage of it, users need to use Internet Explorer. I do wish that Microsoft can include support for Firefox, for they'd be losing out if they don't (Gmail and Yahoo! Mail all work nicely). That's one sucky point about WLM.

On the good side, managing your mail in WLM has never been easier (compared to Hotmail, that is. It was a disaster), and it's actually a good web service. There's of course room for improvment. I'm sort of impressed.

Nintendo Wii Classic Controller

2006-05-10T18:28:00.000+08:00

Seems like there's an alternative to the remote of the Nintendo Wii. Gizmodo:

Featuring four face buttons (y, x, b, a), select and start, two analog sticks, a d-pad and four shoulder buttons, this Wii controller should feel right at home to anyone who’s played a game in the last two decades.

It can't sense motion, so I guess it's most likely used for games (GameCube?) which don't need the new stick controller. Interesting, anyway.

Windows Live Stuff

2006-05-09T20:31:00.000+08:00

I've just got my Windows Live Mail upgrade yesterday (finally! I thought it wouldn't happen), but sadly it only works best in Internet Explorer (not much of a surprise).

Besides Mail, I also downloaded the beta version of Windows Live Messenger 8.0 Will review both services the next few days.

PlayStation 3 Stuff

2006-05-09T20:28:00.000+08:00

Wired News:

Sony executives showcased the benefits of the company's upcoming PlayStation 3 console Monday, saying its technological features will give it an edge over rival products from Microsoft and Nintendo.

I'm not giving a damn about the pricing (yeah, it's expensive. US$500, baby), nor the processing power of the PlayStation 3, but how Sony copied Nintendo's idea of the motion controller.

Actually, the console itself has not changed that much, but the main new change is the controller. Sony apparently has ditched the "banana design", opting for the previous look instead. That's the cosmetic change.

The DualShock 3, the controller's name, is now wireless (via Bluetooth), and if you're weird and wired it's possible to stick in a USB cable for wired goodness. The cable also serves to deliver power to the controller to give it a charge for wireless capability.

Pro-G delivers news that the vibration feature present in previous controllers is gone, due to interference between the vibration and sensor. Makes some sense, but if they can solve this problem, they could.

The new controller can now detect motion, a feature already boasted by Nintendo's Wii. It's definitely a strategy by Sony, and now it only leaves Microsoft in the corner with a controller that can't detect a single twitch of players' hands.

The whole thing about the PlayStation 3 is interesting, especially when Sony has started to include motion detection in the controllers, opening up a new way of gaming. I'm not that concerned about the power of the system, but let's consider this.

Since the PlayStation 3 (supposedly) has the processing power of the Xbox 360 or maybe even more, combined with the new controller (a feature of Wii), would it mean that it is sort of a Xbox 360 plus Nintendo Wii, putting together the power of both rival consoles and therefore unleashing the beast of the next generation of consoles? It's something to consider.

Star Wars Original Trilogy On DVD

2006-05-05T20:07:00.000+08:00

It's bloody official.

Fans can look forward to a September filled with classic Star Wars nostalgia, led by the premiere of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game and the long-awaited DVD release of the original theatrical incarnations of the classic Star Wars trilogy.

I'm excited (although I admit, I have the VCDs, but DVDs are always better)!

Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.3

2006-05-03T19:19:00.000+08:00

I'm not at all tired of posting any Firefox updates. Latest one, 1.5.0.3. It appears however, to only fix one problem, a security bug.

Looks like they respond fast enough as usual.

Review: Windows Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2

2006-05-01T00:09:00.000+08:00

Previously, Microsoft had released a preview version of Internet Explorer, and recently they've rolled out the real beta version of it.

Actually, there's not much changes from the previous version, except for minor interface changes (which is good). Most of the major changes in the final version have already been made in the preview, and I guess that subsequent releases would address bugs and some changes here and there.

There are still some interface quirks which have remained, but I guess I'm used to it, having experienced it when using the preview version. I still think that the interface is quite "out of place" with Windows XP's interface. They just don't fit, really.

The beta isn't perfect, but it's usable, though I still think Microsoft needs to do a bit more to really be able to compete with Mozilla Firefox. But it's still a huge improvement over Internet Explorer 6, and Microsoft deserves to be commended in this case.

Issues concerning the beta can be found here, and it's a relatively long list of problems. One thing I also want to mention to people who have installed the preview and want to install this version: read the release notes.

It seems that the preview must be installed first through the Control Panel, and then you install the beta. I wasn't aware of this at first, and tried unsuccessfully to install. Reading the release notes helped me, but I think it's quite a hassle having to uninstall a previous version. Hope Microsoft can address this issue.

I look forward to the final release of Internet Explorer 7, and I expect much.

No More Revolution

2006-04-28T17:07:00.000+08:00

I refuse to accept this. Nintendo Revolution is no more. The name has been changed. Wii.

Nintendo Wii. WTF?!? WTF is Wii?

Introducing...Wii.
As in "we".

At first I was enraged by the change of the name, the ditching of "Revolution" for a sort of awful "Wii" which has not much meaning (to me now, that is). It might sound ridiculous, similar to "wee", something to be ashamed off, and the Internet's buzz now is about how bad Wii actually is.

Wii, WTF? Double vowels, and someone who doesn't know what that is wouldn't even guess that it was a console at all.

After a while I found myself warming to the name, and it actually isn't so bad after all, just that it's weird. I think the world will get used to the name; we technology people are simply used to calling it the Revolution, that is.

I'm not implying that I love the new name. Indeed, I prefer the Revolution over the Wii, but I understand that Nintendo had an intention for attraction. Perhaps it would not attract older people, but they're aiming for the younger generation instead.

Wii definitely doesn't sound cool, but I'd say once again, that a few months later, we will all be used to calling it the Wii. No one would be angry anymore, and this matter would be forgotten once the system launches.

Of course, Nintendo had better do a freaking awesome and amazing job on the Wii to cover up for the name. Now their task is to convince everyone that their console is absolutely wonderful.

Anger and fury might be the first reactions of most people, like me, but they will find out that they'd use the name often some time later. The name will grow on us.

Wii. I still have weird feelings about it.

Fake Paper Detector

2006-04-27T13:46:00.000+08:00

New Scientist Technology Blog:

You may remember the story of some cheeky MIT students who wrote a computer programme to generate scientific papers. Well, now some researchers at the Indiana University School of Informatics have come up with an Inauthentic Paper Detector to foil it.

The fake MIT paper was given a 21.5% probabilty of being authentic. Meanwhile, Hwang Woo-Suk's 2005 paper in which he made fraudulent claims to have cloned 11 lines of embryonic stem cells, comes up as 'AUTHENTIC', with only a 4.9% chance of being fake. I doubt that anyone will ever write a program to detect that kind of chicanery.

LOL, funny.

Explorer Destroyer

2006-04-26T15:55:00.000+08:00

Explorer Destroyer is a new campaign, to yes, get users to switch to Firefox instead of sticking to Microsoft's product. They've also thought of an interesting way to go about their business, which is to take advantage of Google's Firefox referral program. Convince one person and you get a buck.

I thought this was a joke at first (LOL, the name, the name!), but it's apparently a very serious campaign. I still remember the time when Firefox (real thing) was released, and there was a huge campaign for switching.

Anyway, I look at my site statistics everyday, and realised that not many people use Firefox. Most still stick to Internet Explorer, and I heartily advise everybody to switch.

Of course, Firefox may be facing some competition due to the rise of Internet Explorer 7, and speaking of it, there's a new beta for users now. I've downloaded it, but haven't got it installed. Can't do much nowadays, now's the time for my exams.

I guess I'd try during the weekend, but meanwhile, you can read Paul Thurrott's review. And apparently nothing major has changed from the previous preview I downloaded earlier this year, but it's still worth looking at.

Killing A PC

2006-04-24T22:47:00.000+08:00

PCstats:

Computers should be essentially immortal right? They are just a collection of circuits and signals, and as long as power flows to them, they should continue to operate; there's nothing to break down, nothing to age... uh-huh. Anyone who's ever owned a computer knows that this is not quite true.

Computers and their component parts do have a finite life span, and just like us, they have a list of afflictions that are most likely to claim their digital existences. Also just like us, most of these problems stem from careless handling, neglect, unhealthy environments and old age. Toss careless manufacturing into the mix, and you can see why the average computer system rarely survives more than ten years without some sort of catastrophic failure.

I still clearly remember the time when I smelled smoke emerging from my power supply. Priceless moment, that one, LOL. This is a very interesting read. I didn't know that USB devices could kill!

Second Screen

2006-04-21T20:18:00.000+08:00

The New York Times:

Fervent computer gamers and the detectives on "N.C.I.S." do it, but I had no plans to add a second monitor to my computer system — not until I bought an upgraded video card for my PC and noted it had output connections for two monitors. Once I saw that, I could not resist dusting off my old 14-inch monitor and plugging it in along with my new 19-inch L.C.D.

Recent Windows and Mac computers (and some Linux systems) can operate with multiple monitors; with my computer's Windows XP operating system, it took only a few keystrokes and mouse movements to set things up. Once I saw how it improved my productivity, I was an instant convert.

Being a poor user with a single monitor, with not so much money to purchase a second monitor, and also not enough space on my 80% full desk to put another, I haven't experienced work with two monitors before, though generally everybody who has says that there's no return ticket.

Certainly I do want a second monitor (it's sort of a dream), but there are constraints. As I've mentioned earlier I have definitely no space on my desk. Really.

I think I've to wait a long long time before I can get such a productivity luxury.

Reduce Desktop Clutter

2006-04-21T20:12:00.000+08:00

AJ's Blog:

I find the concept of desktop icons on a computer completely unnecessary. To access icons the desktop, you have to resize windows or minimize all windows (or click the Show Desktop shortcut). These small distractions affect productivity. Luckily Windows gives us the tools to effectively disable the desktop and create a much more productive user experience.

I'm not the type of person who loves to put shortcuts to all my documents on the desktop. In fact, I only have one icon, which is also the default single icon for a normal Windows XP installation.

The famous Recycle Bin. That's all I have. Besides, it's seldom used.

I never put the shortcut to My Computer, because I feel it's quite redundant, especially when the Start menu already has it. Unless one does not have his current window maximised (which is stupid), it's quite troublesome to minimise windows just to gain access to desktop shortcuts.

My recommendation is not to use the desktop at all, because you sacrifice a few seconds of looking at your workspace just to click on icons. Instead, I always like to put shortcuts in my Start menu (which appears at the touch of the Windows key), or the Quick Launch bar.

I have to say that the Quick Launch is a wonderful thing, and if there's anything you use daily and want easy access to, the Quick Launch bar is the best place to put its shortcut. It's easily accessible, and it's really a quick launch.

I like stuff to be simple and organised, unlike cluttered desktops (which I've noted my friends to have. Horrible), and it really helps. Makes me happy (I'm neat!), and makes everything look nicer.

BTW, there's one thing of the writer's article that I don't really like. A Desktop toolbar stuck at the top of the screen. IMHO it's very ugly, and it reduces screen estate. Besides, I wouldn't like my shortcuts to be located at the top and
the bottom. Either one, but not both.

But when it's stuck at the bottom, it's a marvellous thing to look at.

To sum up, here's my rule: no desktop icons, except for the Recycle Bin.

Video Game Refund

2006-04-19T21:30:00.000+08:00

I can't believe this. Confessions of an IT Hitman:

He said since the game had been opened, he had no options. He could only issue a refund for unopened games.

I finally said fine, and they reached up on the shelf and gave me a sealed copy of that stupid game.

I went to check on my son who was trying to decide which Nintendo DS game he would get in the future.

I then walked back up to the counter where the manger was smiling and whispering with the unhelpful clerk.

I got their attention and showed them what was in my hands.

"Hi, I have my receipt and an unopened game. I would like a refund."

They stopped smiling.

LOL, good stuff!

Pronunciation Of Software Names

2006-04-17T19:05:00.000+08:00

The Jem Report:

I know some of you have seen zealots on the web go at each other's throats about the pronunciation of certain terms. How does this look to the outside world if we can't even agree on something so simple? If you are a new user, this all can be even more confusing if the name or reference to a single concept changes depending on who you interact with. Whatever level you fall into in terms of a user, that's just not kosher, baby.

So to help you acclimate to the GNU/Linux world more quickly, I would like to offer a beginner's pronunciation guide for common Free and Open Source enthusiast terms. And as you all know, we here at thejemreport.com are all about etiquette.

This article points out the "most major confusions" of open source software names. But I like the inclusion of NVIDIA. Honestly, my brother and I used to say it as Neeveedia until I watched an advertisement. Enveedia, LOL.

I would also like to point out another one: The GIMP. Somewhat like NVIDIA, I pronounced it as The Zheemp until I watched a video. The Geemp. Well, at least from the day onwards I knew how most people pronounce the name of that image editor.

Open source names are usually awkward and strange, far from the standard naming conventions of "standard stuff". Windows Vista, Apple Mac OS X, all can be pronounced without much of a debate.

But consider Debian, GNU, and Linux. Is it just a habit for software developers to give their stuff such names, or is it a speciality of open source software?

Meanwhile, I still consider it to be a unique feature of open source software. Makes them very different.

Nintendo's Other Path

2006-04-16T11:58:00.000+08:00

Red Herring:

It’s exactly what you’d expect the underdog to say. While Microsoft and Sony have amassed more weaponry than Congolese warlords in the coming battle over who will lead the next generation of video game consoles, third-place Nintendo says it is content to let the giants rumble. The strategy is simple, says Will Wright, the chief creative officer of Electronic Arts’ Maxis studio. Nintendo is waiting for its rivals to kill each other.

Interesting.

Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.2

2006-04-15T10:18:00.000+08:00

Another new release of Firefox. What's new, is mainly that it has Universal Binary support for Intel Macs now. Cool.

Plus the usual bug fixes.

Google Calendar

2006-04-14T11:02:00.000+08:00

Google has unrolled its latest offering, Google Calendar, and its purpose is obviously obvious.

Simplify. Organize. (And relax.) Organizing your schedule shouldn't be a burden. That's why we've created Google Calendar – our free online shareable calendar service. With Google Calendar, it's easy to keep track of all your life's important events – birthdays, reunions, little league games, doctor's appointments – all in one place.

Using Google Calendar, you can add events and invitations effortlessly, share with friends and family (or keep things to yourself), and search across the web for events you might enjoy. It's organizing made easy.

Strange as it seems, I've never depended on a calendar application before, not even Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, or anything else. I still can get organised without one though.

I feel that one drawback of a calendar application is that it requires a computer. Which means that you need to use the computer in order to check your calendar, and it's more troublesome than the standard paper calendar. I might be wrong, but if all my tasks don't require another computer usage, I'd be better off with pen and paper.

I don't know how such a program has totally changed anyone's life, but it would be interesting if someone could give me a link to such a story. Then I might consider starting a revolution to organise my life better, heh.

Oh yes. Windows Live Mail hasn't been working much for me. I've been waiting for ages and all they have given me is just the 2 GB of storage.

New Codenames For Future Windows

2006-04-13T22:01:00.000+08:00

The Inquirer:

MARY JO Foley at Microsoft Watch said that planners at the firm have lit upon a codename for the next version of Windows and that name is Fiji.

But she reckons that because Microsoft isn't into parallel software development, delays in Vista will push back Fiji and its successor Vienna.

They are really very prepared, aren't they? Even when Vista is not ready yet.

Coloured MacBooks

2006-04-12T21:39:00.000+08:00

The Register:

Apple's upcoming Intel-based iBooks - now firmly believed to ship under the MacBook brand - may see the company once again offer the product in a range of coloured cases not seen now four more than four years.

It's highly likely that the MacBook will debut in shiny white, but sources cited by AppleInsider suggest the machines may come in other hues too.

w00t fancy.

The time may have come for a return to coloured cases. We'd nominate shiny black, the better to match the current iPod colour scheme. Interestingly, it has been suggested in the past that Apple has considered a black iBook/MacBook, but nothing appears to have come of it until now.

Black is the new white, or so it seems in Apple's opinion. Nevertheless it's still cool, but they shelved the coloured iPod minis, didn't they?

YouTube

2006-04-10T16:51:00.000+08:00

Wired News:

Internet video sensation YouTube.com seems like a startup straight out of Silicon Valley central casting.

A year ago, co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen were in between jobs, a pair of twenty-something geeks running up big credit card debts as they tooled around a garage trying to develop an easy way for people to share homemade videos on the web.

Now they're flirting with fame and fortune, budding media moguls in a new entertainment era that relies on unconventional channels like YouTube -- by some measures, the leading video-sharing site, one that has cultivated a huge audience while testing the bounds of creativity, monotony, copyrights and obscenity.

You know, I didn't even know that YouTube actually existed until one day I stumbled upon an embedded player in a blog. I forgot where was it, but hell, I think I only thought Google Video was the only video service in the world.

Wrong enough, heh.

But whether it's iFilm, Google Video, or YouTube, they usually form the only source of entertainment when I'm darn bored. Makes me happy when I watch some funny videos.

Microsoft's Mac Attack

2006-04-09T20:12:00.000+08:00

The New York Times:

HELL froze over this week as Apple Computer unveiled Boot Camp, a free program that will allow its new Macintosh computers with Intel microprocessors to run Microsoft's Windows XP operating system as an alternative to Apple's OS X. The news media were agog and Apple's stock price zoomed at the announcement. In my view, it was mildly interesting, but hardly the revolution Apple users want to see.

Most commentators seem to think that Boot Camp was a shock to Microsoft, too, which I guarantee you it is not. After all, Microsoft is the one that truly benefits, because it will get to sell a retail copy of Windows for every copy of Boot Camp downloaded. The retail version of Windows makes Microsoft about three times as much profit as the version that comes preloaded onto PC's made by third parties like Dell.

I like the part saying that it's actually Microsoft that profits and benefits.

Windows On Mac Simultaneously

2006-04-07T21:11:00.000+08:00

I guess some people would think Apple's new Boot Camp's is never enough. Wired News:

On Thursday, Herndon, Virginia-based Parallels released a public beta of its virtualization software package, Parallels Workstation 2.1.

"What's the value of a dual-boot solution? Is there any value? I don't really think so," said Parallels marketing manager Benjamin Rudolph.

In a virtual environment, Windows runs as a Mac OS X application inside its own window. Safari and iPhoto can happily co-exist with Microsoft Access running on Windows XP. The virtualization software even supports monitor spanning. On a two-monitor system, Mac OS X can be running on one screen, and Windows XP on the other.

The virtualization approach to running multiple operating systems simultaneously differs sharply from Apple's dual-booting Boot Camp software. Boot Camp requires users to reboot each time they wish to switch from Mac OS X to Windows.

Depends on preference, definitely. If you pick virtualisation over dual booting, you're gaining productivity at the cost of performance. Conversely, the other way promises maximum performance, but it would suck waiting to boot to another operating system. You'd have to shut down, restart, and load everything again.

Performance versus productivity. Which one is better?

Apple's Boot Camp

2006-04-06T16:10:00.000+08:00

Very interesting. Wired News:

Apple Computer on Wednesday unveiled new software that allows Intel-based Macs to run Microsoft's Windows XP. Apple shares rose nearly 7 percent in early trading.

The computer maker said its new Boot Camp software is available as a download beginning Wednesday. It allows users with a Microsoft Windows XP installation disc to install Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac computer.

"Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple's superior hardware now that we use Intel processors," Philip Schiller, Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in a statement.

Boot Camp makes it easier to install Windows software on an Intel-based Mac, with a step-by-step guide. It also lets users choose to use either Mac OS X software, or the Windows software when they restart their computer.

Users can download the new Boot Camp software from Apple's website. A final version of Boot Camp will be available as a feature in the upcoming Mac OS X version 10.5 "Leopard."

And they said they won't be doing anything like this soon, didn't they? Now we can run Windows on Macs officially.

Invited To Google Analytics

2006-04-06T16:01:00.000+08:00

I had signed up for Google Analytics before, as I heard that it's a very good service for web statistics. Besides, it's from Google.

I don't know how long I had waited, but I was only reminded today by an e-mail in my inbox which told me that I could register now. It provided me with a code, and I'm quite delighted about it.

These days I've been using StatCounter, a free and similar and wonderful service which I use for my blogs, and either I totally switch to the Google way or use both. But I'm not going to do anything anytime soon. I've just returned from a camp and am dead tired.

Meanwhile, you can try to sign up too. No harm.

The Best Internet Spoofs

2006-04-01T19:57:00.000+08:00

The "hiatus" post before is true, despite the occasion today, but I'm currently "bypassing" it because I still have some time.

Wired News:

"It must be true. I read it on the internet." Au contraire, mon frere. Internet hoaxes have been around for as long as the internet itself, and we never run out of people willing to fall for them.

Some are so clever that it's easy to be taken in. Others are so patently ridiculous that you should probably slash your wrists for falling so easily. Here are 10 of the best.

Bonsai kittens! That was a classic legend.

Hiatus

2006-04-01T19:42:00.000+08:00

I'm not probably going to post until Thursday or Wednesday, since I have a camp.

Common Installer For Linux

2006-03-29T20:18:00.000+08:00

InfoWorld:

Instead of standardizing each and every Linux distribution on a common core, developers from various distributions could come together to standardize a new, single distribution -- but not some kind of uber-Linux to end all Linuxes. On the contrary, the sole purpose of this lean, stripped-down distro would be to get a fresh machine up and running with the Linux of your choice. It could come preinstalled on factory hard drives instead of DOS or, alternatively, it would be small enough to fit on a Live CD or even a USB keychain drive.

Most every Linux distribution has some means whereby you can install the OS over the network. So, rather than using CDs, let's make this the standard method of installation. When you boot this distribution I'm imagining, it would configure your network connection and give you a menu of Linux distributions to choose from, with screenshots and descriptions of each, and then automatically pull down your pick.

Interesting, but once again, would the developers even think of working together? Would it be accepted by the community, or be just dubbed as another futile attempt to solve compatibility problems?

Why Windows Is Slow

2006-03-28T21:40:00.000+08:00

The New York Times:

The company's marathon effort to come up with the a new version of its desktop operating system, called Windows Vista, has repeatedly stalled. Last week, in the latest setback, Microsoft conceded that Vista would not be ready for consumers until January, missing the holiday sales season, to the chagrin of personal computer makers and electronics retailers — and those computer users eager to move up from Windows XP, a five-year-old product.

In those five years, Apple Computer has turned out four new versions of its Macintosh operating system, beating Microsoft to market with features that will be in Vista, like desktop search, advanced 3-D graphics and "widgets," an array of small, single-purpose programs like news tickers, traffic reports and weather maps.

So what's wrong with Microsoft? There is, after all, no shortage of smart software engineers working at the corporate campus in Redmond, Wash. The problem, it seems, is largely that Microsoft's past success and its bundling strategy have become a weakness.

Windows runs on 330 million personal computers worldwide. Three hundred PC manufacturers around the world install Windows on their machines; thousands of devices like printers, scanners and music players plug into Windows computers; and tens of thousands of third-party software applications run on Windows. And a crucial reason Microsoft holds more than 90 percent of the PC operating system market is that the company strains to make sure software and hardware that ran on previous versions of Windows will also work on the new one — compatibility, in computing terms.

As a result, each new version of Windows carries the baggage of its past. As Windows has grown, the technical challenge has become increasingly daunting. Several thousand engineers have labored to build and test Windows Vista, a sprawling, complex software construction project with 50 million lines of code, or more than 40 percent larger than Windows XP.

Very interesting. So legacy slows everything down.

Life Without Mouse

2006-03-27T16:00:00.000+08:00

Chrono Tron:

The mouse is an integral part of your day-to-day in this Techno age. Many of use cannot even imagine a life without a mouse and from what I have heard, Life without a mouse is the ultimate horror for some of my own friends. And yesterday I too recived this nice error message from my own system “Windows failed to recognize mouse. Please shut off the Computer and reattach the mouse” despite the fact that my mouse was well connected to the port. So, I tried connecting everything tightly, even opened my mouse, checked all the wires and tried but to no avail. I didn’t have that much time and decided that I would work without it and well, here’s life without a mouse.

Firstly, it’s not bad. Yup! For those who think that life without a mouse reminds you of the 80’s or MS Dos, I’ve got a message for you, it really isn’t that bad. Infact whatever you do with the mouse you can do without it and you can easily learn to use some really great keyboard shortcuts to make your work fast even with a mouse later. [Note: Most of them are windows only as I use Windows, I will however try to find some more for the mac and linux].

This is followed by a long list of applications with some examples of the various keyboard shortcuts that can be used, and it's awesome.

I have been always using the mouse, but also depending on the keyboard for web browsing (tabs!). From this article I've mastered quite a lot of new shortcuts.

Keyboard shortcuts work best IMO in Firefox,and it helps to scroll through tabs quickly when I have more than 15 open at a time (with another window with another 15 or so). A long long time ago, I was struggling with the mouse with Internet Explorer, but Firefox plus shortcuts is definitely amazing. I blaze through my information now.

There are definitely some crucial shortcuts every computer user must know, and I have to say, it feels weird without a keyboard. Practically integral to my computer productivity.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2006-03-26T16:49:00.000+08:00

I've bought a copy of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy yesterday, which contains "the trilogy in five parts", and I've just completed the first one. So far it has been good, and nice jokes in there.

I'll read the rest of the book over the next few days, and I've been in a "book mood" these days. I don't know why, but it feels good to read books.

The Bespoke Computer

2006-03-25T14:06:00.000+08:00

The New York Times:

It started when I decided I needed a new high-end PC for a book I'm writing on Vista, the much-delayed next generation of the Windows operating system.

I wanted a machine with the latest Intel dual-core processor, two gigabytes of memory and a high-capacity hard drive. Because I needed to switch back and forth between Windows XP and my beta copy of Vista, I wanted two removable hard drives that I could swap in and out.

I also wanted the smallest, quietest possible case. And I wanted to reuse some parts from a two-year-old computer with a failed motherboard but perfectly good audio and video cards, memory and hard drive.

Major computer makers, including Dell and Hewlett-Packard, will build PC's to order, but their selection of components is limited and they offer only a few types of cases. And they certainly don't allow customers to send in used parts to reduce the cost of the final product.

What I needed was a custom-built machine, sometimes known as a white box because it often doesn't bear a brand name. Such machines were more popular a decade ago than they are now, in part because name-brand PC's now start under $400.

But white box computers make sense for consumers with particular needs, and made up more than 20 percent of the desktop market in the United States last year, according to David Daoud, a personal computer analyst with IDC. There is also a market for "white books," or nonbranded laptop computers, which Mr. Daoud said accounted for about 12 percent of laptops sold in the United States.

Custom computers have been the solution for most buyers these days, including me, as they are totally customisable, you can select what you want (not the junk pre-installed software some companies usually provide), and it's cheaper, but you sacrifice the warranty.

But what beats telling your friends that your computer has no brand, and is in fact built for yourself? I told my friends I built my own computer, and it sure pays to do so (geeky!).

Some people are afraid to build their own, so they usually buy from a vendor. I don't blame them, because it's natural to be afraid from the complex wiring and little chips stuck around in the system. Building a computer, however, is a very good learning experience, and in fact, once you know it, it's very easy. I'm intending to build another one, but that's not really soon.

There is no warranty, but people could just give their system to any person who knows what's wrong and chances are that it would be fixed quickly. It sure wins over the vendor option. I had experience with a Compaq system, and it sucks having to travel to their headquarters, give them the machine, fill in a form, and return a few days later to retrieve the machine. Yes, it's fixed, but it's troublesome.

People usually have the impression that this option of building your own is for very geeky people. It's true to a certain extent, but I guess as times goes by, more and more people would learn, and once again, having a customised computer is true pwnage than the plain ones of your fellow friends.

Windows Vista Delayed

2006-03-23T16:45:00.000+08:00

The Register:

Microsoft has pushed back the consumer release of Windows Vista to January 2007, because it isn't good enough to meet its Q4 2006 target.Instead, Microsoft has staggered the launch into two parts - subscribers to Microsoft's Volume Licensing Program will be able to get the code in November 2006, while OEMs can begin shipping it in January next year.

Not again. It's almost five years since XP.

Dell Buys Alienware, Really

2006-03-23T16:43:00.000+08:00

After rumours, it's now a total fact that giant vendor Dell is really going to buy Alienware, perhaps to make itself more powerful even when it's now the top vendor in the United States.

I guess they're moving Alienware to their gaming department to churn out their ultimate XPS gaming machines.

And they said it was false.

Mozilla Bon Echo Alpha 1

2006-03-22T21:07:00.000+08:00

It's just like the old Deer Park, but it's also the first official testing build that I won't really download and install and evaluate? Why? Well, I'll give the link first.

I downloaded it, read the release notes while it slowly streamed into my system, and began the installation of the alpha build. I realised that it was installing in a separate directory (I don't like it), and the whole program is renamed to Bon Echo instead of Mozilla Firefox. It's "rebranded", which I suspect is because this is an alpha build, but I'd rather stick to old Firefox than a code name and the icon's swapped too. Why even bother to change the branding? Why not just name it Mozilla Firefox 2.0 Alpha 1 (Bon Echo)?

People could also be mistaken that Bon Echo is an entirely different application, though I don't think it's likely that they'd get to know this before 2.0 comes out.

That's very um, inconsistent. It just puts me off, and besides, from the look of the notes, it's definitely unstable. There's not much major changes that I'm excited about, and the known issues are really serious issues. Read.

It's no surprise, considering that it's an alpha, but surely Deer Park fared better than this.

Prevent Hearing Loss

2006-03-22T15:52:00.000+08:00

Wired News:

Hearing loss has been called a loss of intimacy, because as hearing acuity declines, the ability to pick out a voice over background noise is one of the first things to go. The hearing-impaired often sit there nodding politely, effectively zoned out from conversations because they get sick of asking, "What?" Another unfortunate aspect of hearing loss is that it tends to affect people who value music and sound more than anyone else, the price for spending so many hours listening to music. Worse still, most commonly available headphones force users to increase volume in order to hear music more clearly.

I've recently stopped using earphones which get into the ear, and opted for a decent pair of headphones instead. They're damn comfortable, better to listen with, better sound quality, and most importantly, safer than earphones which might cause deafness.

The best solution is definitely to use speakers, but that's pretty unconvenient. I usually think that headphones which don't find their way into your ear are usually the best, and don't turn up the volume.

Just my two cents.

Mathematics For Programmers

2006-03-18T19:38:00.000+08:00

The title of this post at Stevey's Blog Rants explains all. It's one of the longest blog posts I have ever seen, but it's certainly a very interesting read.

It's such a long post that I'm quite lazy to break it down for my views, but generally I think for different types of programmers, there are different types of topics.

Different types of programmers? Say, you are writing a physics engine for a game. You need to understand your calculus, mechanics, and yes, trigonometry plus some algebra to move along.

If you're writing a graphics engine, it's essentially to know trigonometry (3D space!!) and perhaps vectors. No one codes 3D without trigonometry, though trig is generally quite detested. Always difficult to memorise all the identities.

If you're writing something like Mathematica then maybe good luck, you need to develop algorithms to evaluate input, and for such a case, I guess you need to know everything because it's a computer algebra system.

This might not be correct, but it's an overview and supports the point of different fields for different tasks. No point learning the probability distribution curve when you're coding the next best physics engine.

Anyway, I suggest all programmers and maybe all students to give this a read. It's a fine article, and mostly what it says are true.

Oh yes, I forgot. The comments are an interesting read too.

Windows Performance Rating For Vista

2006-03-17T13:29:00.000+08:00

Engadget:

Microsoft is including a rating system, known as the Windows Performance Rating, in Windows Vista, which will enable PC buyers to see how well a particular model can handle the new operating system. The tool ranks your computer on an overall scale of 1-5, and ranks specific components as well. The tool is likely to benefit PC retailers, who will be able to use a relatively low score as a rationale for selling upgrades, but it could also leave some consumers bewildered by what may seem like mediocre scores for relatively high-end systems. Trying out the new system on a number of PCs, CNET found that a recent Sony Vaio with a 1.83GHz Intel T2400 and 1GB of RAM scored a middling 3, though the rating system gave it a whopping 5.6 for its processor and 5.5 for memory.

I guess if this is so, my computer would practically fail the test. The test's not exactly that accurate, is it?

I haven't tried out the test myself, for I don't have a copy of any build of Vista.

Awesome Macromedia Director Game

2006-03-17T12:45:00.000+08:00

Via Digg. If you didn't believe that 3D games could run smoothly on your web browser, Phosphor Beta 1 will prove you wrong.

It has great physics for such a game, wonderful graphics (can't compare with Half-Life 2, but this is on a web browser!), impressive lighting, nice textures, and you just play it like any other damn shooter. I practically spent an hour just now fragging bots. Multiplayer support is possible too.

Runs great on Firefox with OpenGL. Awesome.

Windows XP On Mac: Game Over

2006-03-16T18:27:00.000+08:00

If it's true, then the feat has been done.

The prize of $13854 has been won by some dudes called narf and blanka (for an instant, I was reminded of nerfs and blankets).

If it's really confirmed, then Apple would be ashamed, the hacker community would honour their new heroes, and consumers would go to the extreme end just to have Windows XP on their new Intel Mac.

UPDATE: The solution is available for download.

Windows Live Mail Beta

2006-03-16T12:00:00.000+08:00

This morning I checked my Hotmail inbox and received a surprise: I was invited (finally!) to Windows Live Mail Beta.

We want you, one of our Hotmail VIPs, to experience the next generation of Web-based e-mail - Windows Live Mail Beta. We've been testing the service, and we feel like it's now ready for some of our best Hotmail customers like you, to try it out and tell us what you think.

Being extremely delighted I clicked the link, followed the instructions and was notified that the changes would take place within the next two weeks.

I haven't got the new interface ready yet, but there's one thing prepared already. It's the enormous 2 GB of storage, more than I would ever need.

Once I have successfully have all the features of the new service, I'd post a review.

Google News Fooled

2006-03-15T19:12:00.000+08:00

The SEO Blog:

Sometimes the most well thought out practical jokes trigger an uneven brand of justice that falls under the laws of unintended consequences. While not formally codified and ill defined, the law of unintended consequences is very real, as a Google-focused prank pulled by 15-year old Tom Vandetta amply illustrates.

Reading through SEO focused blog entries, Vandetta found an article that explained how to fool Google's news system by writing fake press releases. Sensing an opportunity to experiment and play a joke on his friends, the self-described "Google fanboy" decided to see what would happen if he submitted a fake Google press release claiming the 15-year old New Jersey student was Google's youngest employee.

News sources may be reliable, but not always. It gets worse when the system is automated: no humans to check for reliability. That's why I seldom check Google News. I prefer Digg and Slashdot. But that's just a personal preference.

Microsoft Made iPod Box Parody

2006-03-15T19:07:00.000+08:00

Weeks ago, there was a video circulating around about Microsoft "improving" on the extremely simple iPod packaging box (the music's very funny, BTW). Certainly funny.

The funnier thing is that Microsoft had initiated its creation.

Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla on Tuesday confirmed with iPod Observer that his company initiated the creation of the iPod packaging parody video that was first reported last month. "It was an internal-only video clip commissioned by our packaging [team] to humorously highlight the challenges we have faced RE: packaging and to educate marketers here about the pitfalls of packaging/branding," he said via e-mail.

Good stuff.

Amazon's Unlimited Storage

2006-03-15T18:54:00.000+08:00

Ars Technica:

This morning Amazon opened up S3, its new online storage solution for web applications, and now you can store unlimited amounts of data on Amazon servers for US$.15 per gigabyte, paid monthly. S3 was purportedly built to support both Amazon's own internal applications and the external users of the Amazon Web Services platform. That should be proper motivation to build a service that's fast and robust enough for mission critical use, yet flexible enough to support any storage task thrown at it.

Cheap, but free is better, isn't it?

Google Mars

2006-03-14T18:15:00.000+08:00

We had Mother Earth, the Moon, and now Mars.

Awesome.