Andrew's Blog

What happened?

2010-02-21T02:58:00.003+08:00

Well... In the last year, I've never had the chance to update this particular write up.

So, what's exactly up.

Let's see, from the top of 2009. My grandpa passed away. I picked up cycling, due to the fear of heart problem that exists in my family. I stopped production on GeeksWeekly. Paul was an inspiration, but he does have something that he wishes to do. I guess, nothing is perfect in life. And I have to thank him for the chance that he gave me. All the audio editing skill was what I learned whilst producing the podcast. And it will always be something that I cherish and keep using it for my future projects. I got a job. As a lecturer. From June till December. It was nice, that I know, I can inspire people (hopefully I did). And at times, to understand that I was once naive. Having the fear of not living it up to expectations was always around during that time.

Having been a lecturer, you'd run into problems. Not just simple ones, but complicated ones. Students with problems in their household, trying to get some attention by hook or crook. At times, I was really afraid when that happened. Hopefully I've lived it through and provided sufficient advice. That gave me the experience of a very different view on problems, when it is seen at a more mature age. I too was once young, foolish, and made stupid decisions. Jimmy is his name. And I hope that he does move on.

Even though, I'd hope that I can inspire people, another group of people inspired me. Not a small group. But a large group. From entrepreneurs, entertainers, scientists, friends and even family.

Thanks to these people, I made a move that I never thought I would at such a young age. To start my own business. Chee Yang, Fu How, Yuen Hong. These are the people behind it. I am truly inspired and I want it to be a success. My closest friends, and family. Those who did give me a slap in the face and tell me; "DUDE! WTF! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU THINKING?" You know who you are, and I truly thank you. I appreciate it. There is always fear in ones life. May it be when you're sitting down and thinking, "Damn, I'm out of a job." Or be it, "How am I going to make money?" These people that I mentioned lit my way through out the struggle. From not having a job, to exploiting my talents and turn it into a gold rush opportunity.

Last but not least, is to learn to see that there is more in life, to grow old, to die, to love, to care for... That view truly knows no boundaries. As an extra inspiration, the heart and soul of an entertainer... the peoples of Pixar...

I have always wanted to write a review of their last feature length film; "Up". I think, there are plenty out there, and I do not wish to repeat what the critics have to say. But back to my point.

Life itself is a journey. Live it out. I definitely will.

Hopefully this sick gut feeling for wanting to care for someone is filled up. =)

UPDATES

2008-12-11T13:43:00.000+08:00

I ought to update the blog a little more often. But when I do find interesting stuffs, or when I just wanna lash out at my local ISP, I'll do it.

I'm looking for a freaking job! BUT IN THIS TROUBLED TIMES, IT IS HARD! Frustration over. Moves on with life. And Pownce is closing down. Pownce has been acquired by Six Apart for an undisclosed amount of money. Pretty cool that they get acquired so soon. And congratulations to the Pownce Team.

Tech Industries get the Hit

2008-10-29T02:13:00.000+08:00

That's it, The tech sector is getting the hit with layoffs.

Revision3 had just laid off 30% of their staffs. Dell laid off 10% and a lot more. I guess this is the DOT BOOM BUST. Here's a nice tip from Jason Calacanis. Invest in yourself during this downtime. Eg. Projects, further better your skills and it will pay off.

There shall be more updates on the layoff. Head to Techcrunch and search for Layoff Tracker and you'll see how many companies had laid off staffs and which that may have bagged up everything and closed down the business.

ROFLMAO

2008-10-16T15:42:00.000+08:00

That's all that I'm gonna say. Hence, watch the video.

I got to post some stuffs!

2008-10-14T20:34:00.000+08:00

Okay, this time, I was out busy with assignments. Rushing to finish one for myself, and getting some hardware working. Damn, that was busy. But still, engineering is a subject that I love!

Male Trait?

2008-10-08T00:22:00.001+08:00

At times, I just love what I do. I'm a messy guy, but when it comes to engineering subjects, my mind pops up with ideas. At times, those ideas may seem to be too advance for the current technology, but still, it is still an idea to implement. It's still an idea. It's about being systematic in solving problems or storming for a new product or technology.

I realised how much I loved that kind of activity. It's as always the good old days back in Secondary school (High School) where I was taking the Engineering Drawing subject. My teacher, and god bless him that he was good and I really treasure the efforts that he used to teach the class, likes to give us questions, leave us alone to figure out solutions by ourselves. By hook or by crook, we come up with answers.

As of today, I was trying to finish assignments for the university. And that kind of feeling struck me, and it brought back memories. Still, I'm happy of what I've choose to do.

Looking for Electronic parts is hard in Ipoh

2008-10-06T20:31:00.002+08:00

I've finally found the mixer I want in IPOH! YAY! But it's gonna cost me RM3.8k for me to get it. Oh, no, not so soon I'm afraid.

And I was out and about looking for Screened Twisted Pair cables. Can't find a single one. The best bet was one spindle, costing me RM300+. Okay. That's overboard.

Found some really good directional mics for my podcast, and it's going to cost me RM800. Found a pair of AKG. And for the first time, I'm gonna love high end audio. I think I'm turning into an Audiophile! SOMEBODY STOP ME! But anyways, High end headphones are always good. Some particular point is how accurately it reproduce sounds. I tested a pair of AKG K99 today at an audio equipment store. Here's the best bit. Any little bit of noise that an amplifier reproduce, you can hear it over the AKG. AWESOME! That's right down pricision. FTW! I need it, I'm gonna get it, it will cost me RM300. Pretty reasonable price compared to the ones that I have now, which was the Logitech Premium Headset 350 USB. That is also a good pair of headphones and mic for RM199. But if you push it to the limit, it will break. Mine's almost broken. Need to send it back for warranty.

Facebook in Malaysia

2008-10-04T11:09:00.001+08:00

Is Facebook getting more popular in Malaysia?

Must be cool.

I GOT NAGGED

2008-10-03T20:17:00.000+08:00

Okay, I've got to admit. I have not been updating my blog for a long time. And I've been really busy with a lot of stuffs. Part of it is me being out of the country for 8 days. I spent that 8 days in Australia.
Nice little experience.

Let's talk about Australia.

Weather there is about 6 degree C to about 29 degree C. Really cool weather. Loved it. Even more, I went out on shorts on one night. Chilly, and really cool! Pure bravery. Okay, that's just me blowing my own horn, but the temperature during Tuesday night is a little bit warm. About 20 degrees C. Loved the food there. Sadly, due to religious reasons, I'm not allowed to have beef. So, there are some sausage that I can't have, some Italian style cooking that I can't really have as well.

Okay, enough about the environment and food. I have to talk about the University that I studied in. I'm pretty sure that Professors of Havard University, Oxford University will be much better than the Professors that is in University of Southern Queensland. But still, I respect them. Main reason is the number of years they had with electronics and electricity plant. Gotta love them for that.

Okay, I'm not gonna talk about anymore stuffs about Australia. Great experience.

I'm still trying to start a lot of stuffs with GeeksWeeklyTV.com. I have a side project called Young Michaelians Alumni. A weblog for Michaelians young and old all over the world. I'm trying to get Mr. Peter Khiew to get involved, as he is the closest source to news about SMI. Will try to post update about that.

More, I remember that my good friend invited me into a group page called Circles99. It is still around, but with limited data and so on. Still, those who were invited into the private group founded by Yew Lok, log in, please. Just bring it back to life.

More next time around. Need to catch up with tech, and to finish a couple more projects.

I Love What I See and Read about My Homeland

2008-09-05T14:26:00.001+08:00

At times, it is just way too funny the way things plays out in Malaysian Politics.

Now, I'm not too much of a political guy. But, as what I understand democracy is that all Malaysians that holds the blue Identity Card of Malaysia is entitled to do whatever he or she likes. Though, "Daulat Tuanku". As I still love this country at certain times because of quite a number of reasons.

Let's not talk about the royals. Let's talk about the ministers. Sometimes, I just would love to know what in the world they do in Office. Other than bicker and shout and scream about stuffs that is not supposed to be mentioned. But hey... what do they really do in Office???

I just want to know really badly.

By the way, Love MOZILLA UBIQUITY!

Bill Gates vs Steve Jobs Lightsaber duel

2008-07-25T17:36:00.001+08:00

I've just found a pretty cool gem. It's on Gizmodo. And here it is!

If you don't know what this is about, check this out first.

Streamyx Woes

2008-07-14T16:51:00.001+08:00

Yes, if you're feeling that your broadband connection is slow, that is because that an exchange server in Komtar, Penang is down.

TM is working on it to restore service.

The Media Speaks out

2008-07-14T16:27:00.001+08:00

Throttling broadband access for all

There, a piece of my mind about my current ISP. I'll just echo everything out of the original writer's mind instead of rambling around for another 2000 words. Not cool.

TOP GEAR GTR vs Japanese Public Transport

2008-07-14T15:54:00.001+08:00

I hope that I do no end up spoiling the fun. But just a couple of comments.

BBC's editing is extremely magnificent.

There. Done it. Nothing else to do. Heading back and crawling the web for good stuffs.

The GeeksWeekly Show #38 - We're Back

2008-07-13T13:31:00.001+08:00

Yes, we're back after another week away and get great news. I don't want to keep it up but tech news is really hard to find in the summer. Dang. But here's what we talk about:

New web application:

Brethe Mobile WebSMS - Free SMS

In the News:

iPhone 2.0 firmware is out, and also Jailbroken
MIT research converted a window into a solar panel
Shah Alam broadband project for 150,000 personal in the Business district
Microsoft responds to Apple's 'Get a Mac' Ads.
New MacBook Pro case? MacRumor has more

Get it here:
The GeeksWeekly Show - Mono
The GeeksWeekly Show - Stereo

More ISP Blues

2008-07-10T04:20:00.001+08:00

Okay, I’m now angry at my ISP, I really am and I could get into trouble with this post. I’ve posted these kind of topics before, but it’s just me trying to let go of some steam that is stored inside my brain that concerns my ISP (TM NET Streamyx). At times, I’d just wish that everything is just fine like it is when it was in 2004. When I first applied for a broadband service. That was when they had the capacity to handle the number of subscribers. Now, with the traffic shaping case and so on, what does it mean from a customer’s point of view? In my mind as an engineer, I’ll be saying: “You have a problem that needs to be solved”. As a consumer: “What a crappy service, I’m going to jump ship and go to another ISP”. And so, I’ve gone back to the roots of a lawsuit. And so, I dug up the MCMC page, and took a look at some of the amendments that has been established since 1998. And I’m sure I’ll be wrong all over the place. So, here goes;

Regulation 3. Universal service provision objectives.

(1) The following are the objectives of the universal service provision:

(a) collective access to basic telephony and Internet access services; and //Yes, internet to everybody. Does collective means a place that houses an organisation, office, or government building?

(b) individual access to basic telephony and Internet access services. //Yes, individual access finally. Cool. *Darn, no wonder it took such a long time to get a phone line back in 1993*

(2) In the event that the objectives specified in subregulation (1) cannot be met simultaneously in a universal service target, the order of priority for the provision of universal service shall be as follows:

(a) collective access shall have priority over individual access; and //okay, more people getting it, the better

(b) access to basic telephony services shall have priority over Internet access services. //wait, what about those in farms and secluded areas?? Could be the last mile problem.

[Subs. P.U.(A) 402/2003]

Regulation 4. Notification of universal service targets.

(1) The Commission, subject to the approval of the Minister, shall identify the universal service targets, and shall, from time to time, publish a notification specifying the identified universal service targets and such other matters as the Commission considers relevant. //isn’t that like asking for information about someone via a third party without a warrant? I don’t know, again, I may be wrong.

[Subs. P.U.(A) 402/2003]

(2) For the purpose of the notification under subregulation (1), the Commission may request any network facilities provider individual licensee, network service provider individual licensee and/or applications service provider class licensee to provide, within a specified time, such information or documents as the Commission may require. //Oh, so that is asking for information from a service provider. So, If I go to a certain hosting service in Malaysia, the MCMC could ask for my information *explains the Bittorrent tracker cases in Malaysia*

[Am. P.U.(A) 143/2005]

(3) Any person who fails to comply with subregulation (2) commits an offence under these Regulations. //So, if the service provider does not comply, they are going against the law. But what about EULA? Or T&Cs that is established between the service provider and the end user/subscriber. And what about asking me directly about my information? *Okay, I understand that I can be withheld for no reasons if I do not comply.*

Regulation 13. Progress report.

The designated universal service provider shall, from time to time or upon request by the Commission, submit a report on the progress of the implementation of the approved universal service plan. //Okay, Minister of MCMC, has TM Group submitted any reports concerning the RM16 billion that was given to them? Because I’m concerned about the progress as a consumer! I’ve got to wait for 10 years for the progress. With that amount of money, I’d say I can do A LOT of stuffs with it! But I’ll just keep those in my own brain.

[Subs. P.U.(A) 402/2003]

Regulation 14. Application for variation of an approved universal service plan.

(1) A designated universal service provider may apply to the Commission to vary the approved universal service plan and shall for this purpose submit to the Commission a draft variation of the plan. //Does that include data packet manipulation? If no, can that be added after the plan has been approved?

(2) The Commission may—

(a) approve the variation plan with or without any amendment; or //If approved, can it be change all of a sudden without letting the MCMC know? I’m not sure how this is decided or if the Minister is actually easily manipulated to agree with an organisation or if they have a bias against some company. Eg. If I said that my bandwidth has been sucked up but this, this, this and this. I want to implement this, this, this and this. Then the Minister asks why. I’ll then say it’s because if this, this, this and this, and the cost *blah blah blah blah blah* and the minister agrees. Wait, if you’re a business organisation, and that one is managing it, shouldn’t one be looking to cut cost and maximise customer experience? If I’ve already sold out my bandwidth, I would get more so that all of my customer is happy. And if something is wrong, I’d find out. If my customer is telling me something is wrong, I’d go find out. That may be an engineer’s mind and not a business person’s mind. Okay, seems to be off track.

(b) refuse to approve the variation plan. //I do not like monopoly. That’s like anti-competitive. Hope that everyone out there understands

(3) The Commission may, before giving its decision in writing for approving or refusing the variation plan under subregulation (2), consult the designated universal service provider. //If it’s to improve, I’ll agree.

(4) If the Commission approves the variation, the varied universal service plan shall become the approved universal service plan from the date as specified by the Commission in the decision.

Regulation 15. Commission may vary an approved universal service plan.

(1) Notwithstanding regulation 14, the Commission may, by giving the designated universal service provider a written notice, require the said provider to vary the approved universal service plan in accordance with the terms set out in the notice by submitting to the Commission a draft variation to the approved universal service plan. //I don’t understand this at all. Does it mean that I can submit a plan to the MCMC and designate TM Group to do something? I think I’m totally wrong.

(2) The Commission may, by notice in writing consult the designated universal service provider before finalising the variation to the approved universal service plan under subregulation (1). //That will be the MCMC talking to a service provider.

(3) The varied universal service plan referred to under subregulation (2) shall be deemed to be the approved universal service plan from the date as set out in the written notice.

Regulation 16. Revocation of designation of designated universal service provider.

(1) The Commission may, revoke the designation of the designated universal service provider in any of the following circumstances:

(a) the designated universal service provider has failed to comply with the approved universal service plan; //does that mean if the standard that one first sets is not met, one complains, and if the MCMC sees that the service has not checked out to the earlier standard that was approved, they can revoke the plan?

(b) a receiver or liquidator has been appointed for the designated universal service provider; //third party?

(c) a petition for the winding up of the designated universal service provider has been presented against the universal service provider in a court of competent jurisdiction or a resolution for its voluntary winding up has been passed; //Okay, sounds like what I like!!

(d) the designated universal service provider ceases to carry on its business; or //Filed for bankruptcy? Or just failed to manage it?

(e) the revocation is in the public interest. //Does that mean if a majority of people in the public is not happy with the service provider, the MCMC can revoke the service?

(2) Before revoking the designation of a designated universal service provider, the Commission shall notify the designated universal service provider in writing of its intention. //Revoke notification (in letter form)

(3) The designated universal service provider shall within thirty days from the date of issuance of the written notice provide a written submission to the Commission stating the reasons why the designation should not be revoked. //Service provider states reason why a mentioned service should not be revoked

(4) The Commission shall consider the submission made by the designated universal service provider before revoking the designation. //MCMC makes the decision *sound like a 12 person jury trying to get unanimous judgement*

(5) The revocation of designation of the designated universal service provider shall take effect on the expiry of fourteen days from the date on which the notice of revocation is served on the designated universal service provider.

(6) If the designation of a designated universal service provider is revoked under subregulation (1)—

(a) the designated universal service provider shall, unless otherwise authorized by the Commission, cease to implement the approved universal service plan from the date the revocation takes effect; and

(b) the revocation shall not prejudice or affect the rights of the Commission to recover any money paid to the designated universal service provider or obtain any remedy arising from or in relation to any non-compliance of the approved universal service plan. //I think both above is about what is going to happen to the service provider.

(7) Upon revocation of the designation of the designated universal service provider under subregulation (1), the Commission may designate another licensee as the new designated universal service provider to complete the approved universal service plan. //An alternative

(8) Notwithstanding subregulation (7), the designated universal service provider revoked under subregulation (1) shall be paid all cost and expenses incurred as set out in the approved universal service plan less any advance payment made up to the date it ceased to be the designated universal service provider. //Take up your bag of responsibility

Regulation 17. Requirement to provide information to new designated universal service provider.

The Commission may, by notice in writing, require the designated universal service provider whose designation has been revoked under subregulation 16(1), to submit to the Commission any information which in the opinion of the Commission is necessary for the implementation of the relevant approved universal service plan by the new designated universal service provider. //Is this lawful? I mean, that’s my information out there.

Regulation 18. Compliance with quality of service standards.

A designated universal service provider shall comply with the quality of service standards as provided in any mandatory standards or consumer codes registered under the Act, which are relevant to the activities of the designated universal service provision. //Okay, a certain quality of service must be met. But does that involve dropping data packets? I’m for net neutrality. In my mind, I paid for the service where it will provide me with a link to the cloud of data that is out there in the millions of networks in the world. I realise that one would do anything in a network to achieve that standard, but what about implementation of new transfer protocols?

Alright, I’d better stop before I get into trouble. This is just me understanding the laws of my beloved homeland of Malaysia.

ISP Blues

2008-07-10T02:43:00.001+08:00

I HATE MY LOCAL ISP!!!

I need an alternative that is not expensive, and also a better service, preferably, cable or fiber optics.

I'm not sure if this is an internal problem or a DNS problem or something else. I need answers ASAP! How is it possible that I'm getting very bad transmission from Stickam and also Castfire?

Someone just tell me something about it. Need to call technician tomorrow morning.

ARGH!!!!!!

Death of Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0

2008-07-07T16:27:00.002+08:00

So, I killed my mouse.

After about 4 years and 2 months under my sweaty palm and also my sister's and brother's sweaty palm, it died. When I bought it, the price was RM140. Now, it's about RM110 or so, I think.

Here's what I still think about buying an expensive mouse over a cheap mouse. Consider this, that you pay RM15 for a mouse that will last you for about 6 months, cheap plastic, cheap electronic parts and so on. Tally it up to about 4 years, you would have spent about RM120 in 4 years. But this assumption is definitely wrong, because one could get a Logitech mouse for about RM30 and last for over 5 years. But still, it's a good mouse compared to other unnamed brands. If you could spend around RM150 for a mouse, the hardware that you're going to buy, that is your pointing device for your PC or Mac, it will last you for about 5 years. So, what was the deal that I got 4 years ago?

I bought a Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0 for RM140 (I fancy getting something wireless), had 3 years limited warranty. Was thinking that I could get it to last till 2009. But it didn't. Still, it's a good mouse, consider that I got about 4 months battery life (average, because I'm on my computer all the time browsing the web and crawling for good stuffs, and also on some social network), it's a pretty good mouse. The scroll wheel is one of a kind, as it's a smooth wheel (non rachet). If I was given the Logitech MX Revolution, I'd adopt to it very easily. Also, it has a tilt wheel, Meaning having things on your screen scroll sideways. That was a high point back then. Not sure about now. But, I stuck to it. After about 3 years using the mouse, the middle button starts to conk out. I'm getting it to respond to each and every click that I press. So, I was thinking, "Okay, it's about time, let me just kill it then I'll change". And so a year and 2 months passed, and the left click died.

What's my next mouse?
I've placed order on a Logitech G5. Not sure what kind of colour that I'm going to get for it. But here's why I chose it.

I was thinking of buying the MX Revolution or the VX Revolution at first. Couple of reasons why I didn't do it. the MX Revolution is pretty expensive, but it is the most advance mouse in the market. Same reason for the VX, the other reason is that the battery in the MX is non user changable. And so, if I'm going to pay RM399 for a mouse that will last me 2 years, I am not going to do that. So, I went to the VX Revolution. Pretty cool sibling to the MX Revolution. Was thinking of it. But when I took a look at the estimated battery life, 3 months on 1 AA battery. Then I looked back at my dead MS Wireless Mouse and thought "I'm getting that on my current mouse, why not get one that lasts longer". Scrapped both of them
NEXT! Microsoft Wireless Laser 7000 mouse. Looked at it, fancy little mouse. Didn't like it (somehow) and so left it alone.
Last mouse, the Logitech G5. How I ended up on this. My good buddy, Xing Min bought one of these for a couple of years ago. He loved it. Went over to use it, even I loved it. First things first, there were a couple of criteria that I want to fufill before I decided on the G5. I was even looking at the G9 for a bit. I want the mouse to be heavy. Cause I like a heavy mouse (in my own opinion, a little bit more accurate but if you're on a FPS, that goes away), I want something that has extreme accuracy (I work on CAD programs a lot, and I'm thinking of developing on Action Scripting 3.0) and I want something wired. So, heavy mouse, that is not wireless, and also extreme accurate, let's take a look at the choices, only 3 left, Logitech G5 and Logitech G9 and also the Microsoft Sidewinder (not interested in it and I can't get it in Ipoh through distributors in Ipoh), 2 choices left, G9 has an overall weight of 28g, G5 has an average of 36g, I want a heavy mouse! and so, I went to the G5, though th G9 has a scroll wheel that is non rachet.

Oh well, that was long, but hey, I want my stuffs to last long enough. And that will future proff to any Mac system that I'm buying cause it's USB! YAY!!

Will be back for more.

Diggnation #157 - Bye Bye Bill

2008-07-05T13:54:00.001+08:00

Bill Gates Retires Today, Dr Who Dalek Custom Security Cam, Diablo 3 Announced, Godaddy VP Caught Bidding Against Customers

Get it here:
Diggnation #157 - MP3
Diggnation #157 - High Definition
Diggnation #157 - Large

Like it? More on Diggnation.com

The GeeksWeekly Show #35 - The Week of Threes

2008-07-01T04:32:00.001+08:00

We may be taking of for a week, but we're talking about a lot of stuffs happening. Thus, the name of the show.

Here's what we have for the week:

Malaysian Government orders torrent sites Shutdown.
Diablo 3 announced on Worldwide Invitationals
Voodoo Envy 133 against the MacBook Air? 0.7inch
MacBook Air to get Suitable Montevina chips later this year?
Spore Creature Creator now out, RM39 for a copy.
Azureus dead? Vuze goes social??

We've got an application to recommend:

Doomi. A to do list application

We talk more about Firefox 3 and some extensions that we can't live without.

Shareaholic
DownThemAll
1Password (Mac Only)
Digg toolbar
TwitterBar
Video DownloadHelper
Piclense

Get it here:
GeeksWeekly #35 - Mono
GeeksWeekly #35 - Stereo

WOW! Loads of stuffs!

2008-06-17T03:28:00.001+08:00

Alright,

Seems like the guys at Flock.com is listening and thank you very much.

I'm sure that a number of people had been crying out loud for the implementation of the Firefox 3.0 engine with Flock.

Today, Flock announced the beta release of Flock 2.0 Beta 1. So head on over to Flock.com, head to the blog section and get it. Or just simply click here.

On the other side, if you're not one heck of a big social freak, why not try Firefox 3? Today is *cough* (my birthday) *cough* is also the day where Firefox 3 has been finalised. So head on over to Spreadfirefox.com and they are also trying to set a Guinness World of Record for the most download software on Day 1 release. Go there and help them out as well.

Today is also the day where Spore Creature Creator goes live! EA, if you ever come onto this page, come on, give the birthday boy who has been waiting for Spore for so long since E3 2006 (twinkling eyes of cuteness begging for love and also free stuffs).

OMG! What in the world am I thinking. So, head on over to Spore.com and take a look at what they have to offer.

Oh, and one more thing (in his Holiness of Steve Jobs)

Some news about Spore that has been circling around. And it is true. The demo was leaked early. Multiple sources to get it, I'm not going to post the link. Just in case that EA comes after my arse and send me into heavy debt in legal issues. But that aside, give it a search. You might not know what you will get.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

After Two Weeks

2008-06-02T17:08:00.001+08:00

I've got the hang of Flock now, but here's what I really don't like:

This browser is based on Firefox 2. So it might take up some clock cycles as your use the program. On a Pentium 4 2.8GHz HT, not good for what I like to do while I browse.
Can I manually add plug-ins to the My World Page?? Would love to know. And would like to know if I can write something for it as well.
There's this user called Mr.BabyMan on Digg. Can't get his diggs and medias on the Media Bar.

Alright, I've got to admit that I"m using the beta version of the software, but still, this is a software that I love and I can't wait for the version where it uses the Firefox 3 engine.

Good luck to the guys at flock.

This non social freak has almost been turn into a social freak.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

C&C3 LAN PARTY

2008-05-26T02:04:00.001+08:00

I took part at a EA LAN Party event today. Just across my street. Large Building with 150 computers.

Went into a skirmish with another 4 more players. My demise came after I eliminated 1 more other player. Here's how it went down.

I was playing as GDI. Got myself a couple Mammoth tank, got to raid one base. Then sent all of them back to my base. Didn't expect anything else to come. After all of my troopers came back to the base, they sent a Nuke and a Rift to my way! I went WTF!? I'm dead!

But, props to the two players who teamed up to take my out. They have a very big base. And I regretted that I didn't make enough harvesters to fullfil my Tiberium needs. That's one more extra reason that I died. I'm gonna play more of C&C3.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Alex Balk - Outtakes

2008-05-22T22:17:00.001+08:00

Alex Balk - Outtakes

This is going to be interesting about Indiana Jones.

How would one say to this, John Williams, of all great soundtrack composers, wrote lyrics for songs that he composed soundtracks for movies!

At first thought, I think this is great, but when I kept on reading about it on Gizmodo, and after looking at Alex Balk's tumblr page, I'm shocked. But still, he did compose great movie soundtracks and I adore them.

Caution. If you are going to click the link on top, there are some really foul language there.

Enjoy The Raiders March, to John Williams original lyrics and and also composition of the theme.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Migration

2008-05-21T20:20:00.001+08:00

I think I've just got the hang of Flock. Love it. But that browser needs to get some of the kinks and tricks worked out before it is a fully usable browser.

Here's more complains. And I think I've repeated it. Flock takes up too much memory. At time, it just takes up some processing power away from my computer. Not a great one, but sufficient to run Vista.

But, what the hey. on the other side, I've got my diploma! Freaking exams that the government requires one to take was pulling me back. HISTORY was the one that was holding me back. I hate history, but I can't run away from that. But something happened when I was part of the previous election. I changed my mind on how I view history. And as engineer, it is an important subject. Truth be told, one has got to take a look back in time and see what was wrong. Thus, not to make the same mistake. Though, some brought it a little farther away. As one wants one side to be better than another. But on the other one side wants a proper fair distribution of "stuffs". You know what, I'm gonna babble about these stuffs anymore.

Full concentration on my current task at hand. My Degree program. Finish that, and I'll continue on doing great stuffs on GeeksWeeklyTV.com and also a few more ideas that I have in my mind right now. Opps, not to forget, my life.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Extensive Trial with Flock

2008-05-20T03:40:00.001+08:00

Okay, I've been trying out Flock for quite a bit, and I think I'm starting to like Flock.

I didn't give into flock as I started to use it on the initial release. But now, with all these social network that I use and also the netcast network that I'm running. I realise the massive functions that is in Flock. Though, I still use Firefox 3 all the time, but Flock has become my default browser to be left on. Here's one idea, the Flock development team has got to use the Firefox 3 base. The Firefox 3 engine is way much better and efficient than the Firefox 2 engine.

Some more thoughts. It chews up quite a lot of processing power at time. Must be the Firefox 2 engine.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Busy like mad

2008-03-24T13:55:00.001+08:00

I'm filled up to the top with assignments. Gonna head out and finish up my job and hand them in and pass the exam!

More, I've just linked Paul's public pownce post to twitter for GeeksWeekly.

Come follow us!

I'm bumped!

2008-03-12T21:42:00.002+08:00

I don't really know what to put down right now, as of what I've seen so far in the news, in Perak the DAP-PAS-PKR coalition that was elected into power is still making the decision of who should chair the position of Mentri Besar of Perak. I hope this sorts out ASAP.

BTW, I got myself a Meebo account, and I've added a chat room into my blog. I'm planning one for GWTV later on this week. So, if you'd like to drop a message or what ever it is that you want to tell me, if I suck or if I don't update the blog all the time, just let me know.

That's all for now. Meanwhile, back to my poor books.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T17:53:00.000+08:00

I've not been posting in my own blog for quite some time, so here's an update after so long of being missing and working on my very own tech podcast with a Malaysian flavor.

How's the show doing~!?
In a way, it's a bless, and it can also be a curse, as you get a little more public, on the other hand, this is what I love in the first place, tech, computers, games, electronics, design and so on that has a reason to tie in with Science and Physics and also the Physics branch, Electronics. It's also been great, head to the page at GeeksweeklyTV.com, we're shortlisted as one of the finalist for the 2008 Malaysian Youth dotCom search. There will be a small corner up on the right side of the page, give it a click, and you've casted a vote for us! Please vote for us! The show is one of 2 podcast that has been listed there. So, that gives me a little edge over other tech stuffs that reviews new tech products. I talk gadget, Web 2.0 business, science, computers, operating systems and much more and there are some guides on tweeking and pranks as well.

New addition to the list of shows~
The GeeksWeekly Show (Andrew and Paul)
Malaysian Minute (Paul)
Penang Hokkien (John Ong)

Penang Hokkien is a podcast started back in 2005. It is all in Hokkien so, anyone who wish to pick up some hokkien by listening, this is definitely the best way to do so. Even I picked up a few new stuffs over time.

Shameless Plug~

Thanks to YeahHost for the domain, use the coupon code WH9400W7102 when you sigh up for a domain name at YeahHost and get RM20 ringgit off your plan. YeahHost, targeting your needs, affordable, reliable, scalable and fast.

What's more,

Happy New Year! All the best to my listeners and readers, family and friends, thanks for the support for over the years, I'll definitely keep it up over time.

Putting Up Good Content to Please

2007-11-30T16:24:00.000+08:00

Putting up good content to please people sure is hard. But when it comes to podcasting, I think the producers has the right of what to put up, because a podcast is what the producers want to talk about. That's also the reason why the production team is so small as well... But critics can do their job of criticising a certain subject. I think I'll be taking that into consideration.

Meanwhile, expanding a lot of stuffs on my podcasting network. Hope to blog, pownce, twitter, jaiku, facebook more at the time... Not to forget, I have my degree to worry about as well. I'm already occupied before I go gain some engineering experience! Boy, I'm busy... But it's all good and has well meaning to me... I LOVE IT!

Where did this guy go?

2007-11-05T13:29:00.000+08:00

Alrighty... I've not been here for quite a bit... my last post was quite some time ago. So, at least, there's something new here.

So, what I've been up to?

Here's some:

I've started my own podcast! The partner in crime is actually Paul (his blog link is in the page)
I've been taking up photography, re-learning flash with AS3, messing about with Ubuntu, looking for a replacement computer for the dead Duron that my friend gave me (you know who you are and I thank you because it had serviced me long enough to cause me to fall in love with Ubuntu (I sound like such a nerd)), submerged myself into Facebook, Pownce, Digg, Podshow, and some MMO. Oh, to other people who are casual gamers. Don't get into MMO games, it's addictive! Tried to write, found a program, so that I can keep up and motivate myself to do so. Maybe I'll post my writings here. Looking forward to do something for my high school's alumni and old boys (this is much of a journalist's job but I love my school, I'm willing to do it) and I think that's it for the past few weeks.

Also been reading some rants. Some are good some are bad, some can be just a place to release some steam (it's good if "you know who you are" who's reading, who's been ranting to release some steam).

Oh:
P/S: Some birthday shout outs: Ed Khing, Lik Wai and Meng Fei. Sorry for the belated greetings. Good luck in your career, and also studies! Hope to see you guys during Christmas or maybe the Lunar New Year.

I think that's it for now. For more stuffs about tech, Just head to my podcast page and listen to any of those episode. Feel free to comment and also e-mail the podcasting crew at geeksweekly@gmail.com.

Is It Time to side with someone?

2007-09-19T00:56:00.000+08:00

Alright, this title actually brings me to the current format war between HD DVD and Blu-Ray DVD. Kind of sad to see this kind of format war bud up again. As what I've seen in the past few years, there was the DVD+R and the DVD-R war. Which was for which, but it didn't really end when all the players and drives went on to accept both formats of DVD recordable.

Okay, As what Leo Laporte says (or it maybe someone else), if the sales of DVD is of 4:1, i.e. 4 BR DVD to 1 HD DVD, the war is over.

Let's take a rundown, on the HD DVD side. Developed by Toshiba, each layer is about 13GB worth of data. Quite a number of film studios are siding with HD DVD. Reasons behind the support, I didn't really care about it. As a consumer, I'd rather care of what I can get with HD DVD. Yes, true, in my last post, I'd side with the HD DVD side for content. Unlike DVD, HD DVD will serve fresh content, rather than pre-recorded trailers (of course, the film stays intact). The current maximum capacity is 51GB over 3 layers per DVD.

Alright, let's skip to the Blu Ray DVD court. Developed by Sony, each layer is about 25GB wroth of data. Yes, way larger than HD DVD. Not a big number of film studio is on this side of the grass. Content is play as pre-recorded. Don't really care about it, I'd skip to the menu if I watch it on a PC. The only extra that I'm getting over here is that my favorite drive manufacturer, Pioneer (my dad bought a DVD player from this company and has lasted till now) is supporting Blu-Ray. The other case is that my favourite storage manufacturer, Mitsubishi is also on the Blu-Ray field!

Say, I'm kind of still wanting to wait and see. LG has announced their second generation HD DVD and Blu-Ray DVD player. This time, the catch is that the HD DVD side has approved it.

Say... I'm confused... shoud I go Blu??? Or should I stay on the Red side of it all??? Both do have good features...

HP to launch dual HD format burners?

2007-09-13T03:52:00.000+08:00

Okay, as I've said, I'll be trying to integrate AJAX with my blog, updates are coming. Problem beging when I'm trying to bind AJAX and the Blogger API.

Okay, interesting news so far, from HP! They are going to release PCs that will feature a Blu-Ray and HD-DVD writer.

For those who would like to stay neutral and would like to wait which format will reign supreme, this should be the best solution. I'm glad to see this news.

I'm going both ways, as both are as robust, both are as good, both features High Definition data, both can sport up to 50GB or more in a dual layer disc (triple for HD-DVD). The only thing that drag me away from Blu-Ray is that the content is just like DVDs, pre-recorded trailers means pre-recorded trailers, but on the HD-DVD side, with the player hocked up to the net, you will get new content everytime you pop in a HD-DVD. New trailers definitely everytime.

Best to have both format in one device.

Luciano Pavarotti, Resto Nella Pace, Amen

2007-09-07T23:36:00.000+08:00

Alright, a little bit of disclaimer, I'm not Italian, I used Google Translate to get that phrase.

I didn't really fell into classical music until lately. I've always been a listener to great soundtrack composers like Hans Zimmer (The Rock, Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End, and a lot more), John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones and lots more), John Goldsmith and a few more movie composers that I listen to. Much changed when I hear the sound of Andrea Bocelli. It's almost like dreaming. Then, I came to realise a person that goes by the name Luciano Pavarotti. Did some research, tried to look for some of his albums, legally and illegally. Didn't find any of it and gave up. All that I have of Luciano Pavarotti is a song that goes by the name Nessun Dorma, that was performed at the 2006 Turino Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony (or it should be closing). Seeing a aged man performing such a powerful act has never been easy for me and it brings a great feeling of respect to Luciano Pavarotti.

I made more research about him after his death just out of the curiosity of knowing more why is he so famous and yet how did he touch so many people from all walks of life.

Take a look at this performance.

I do hope to have listened to his works.

Luciano Pavarotti, Resto Nella Pace, Amen

Some updates

2007-09-07T15:36:00.000+08:00

Alright, I'll not be posting for the next few days. I'm trying to update my blog's design and see what I can add to it with the new Blogger API.

This is going to get really geeky. Hope that all of my visitors will add in some idea and help me out with the re-design.

iPod refreshed

2007-09-06T02:24:00.000+08:00

Alright, new stuffs from the recent Apple event.

New iPods

iPod Touch, 8GB and 16GB pricing off at $299 and $399.

The original design of the iPod is now the iPod classic. Comes in 80GB and 160GB of capacity. $249 and $349 each.

The iPod "fatty" nano is true! the mock up was true! Here's the deal, 4GB and 8GB, $149 and $199 each.

All pricing are listed as American Dollars, I'd like to see good news from a supplier for Malaysian pricing.

Had a great time waiting for the launch and the live blogging events at home. 2 in the morning now. But it was fun. I was shouting like a mad man when Jobs announced iPod Touch.

Alright, the usual me, if there are new good stuffs, I'll have it here.

Oh, a few more things.

The iPod nano is now capable of video playback, both iPod Classic and iPod Nano has coverflow, a new user interface and a little more longer battery life.

The iPod Touch has Wi-Fi built in, has calculator, calander, Safari and a few more applications found on the iPhone. Should be shipping in the next few weeks. Simply take it as an iPhone without the phone function. It looks almost like one.

One more big news! Apple is dropping the 4GB iPhone, and the 8GB iPhone will be tagged at $399 each.

For more information visit Ars Technica, Gizmodo, Engadget or Crunchgear for the latest Apple event.

The Beat Goes On.

A stroll down Ipoh

2007-08-29T18:16:00.000+08:00

Alright, it's just after exams. I think I'll just go spend some time in my good old Alma Mater.

Great place, most of my memories are left permanently in my heart. Those busy days, busy events, staying back for an unknown amount of time. Just for the activities.

So, as I was strolling by, passing the Ipoh Field, the stage for the coming Merdeka event is being set up.

Kind of cool! I think Ipoh's hosting the main event. School's close. So, got in and have a stroll.

I'll post the details on the YMA blog page.

Images hosted by Flickr.

SHOT OUT!

2007-08-26T23:30:00.000+08:00

Alright, big shout out to someone who I adore and I think a little bit of a role model, (my mom and my dad is still the best, but his work hammered me quite a bit)

Sir Sean Connery (IMDB), Happy 77th Birthday.

Alright, call me gay if you want, but he's one heck of a guy.

Oh, on the side, Sir, if you ever come across this blog (I bet you will never come across this in your lifetime), as a fan, just one small request, please return as Professor Henry Jones Sr. for one last time. It will be great for us fans to see you one more time in one more silver screen outing.

Born 25th August 1930, Edinburgh, Scotland, Sir Sean Connery had definitely made his mark in the entertainment industry. Early cast roles in Another time, Another Place led him to playing the suave British spy, James Bond.

The debut of Dr. No in 1962, staring Sean Connery as James Bond. The point where he was shot into stardom. He then stared in four more films as James Bond that includes From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965) and You Only Live Twice (1966). Apart from being James Bond, Sir Sean Connery was also in other films such as Marnie (1964), The Hill (1965) and much more.

Holding the record for 7 outings (tied with Sir Roger Moore), Sir Sean Connery returned once more as James Bond in 1971's Diamond Is Forever and the Thunderball remake in 1983.

He also stared alongside with Sir Michael Caine in The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

I don't remember well and I've yet to see all of Sir Sean Connery's films. I'll head straight to 1986. I was just 1 years old back then and I've yet to understand what is movies.

After all that publicity, Sir Sean Connery was obviously recognized as a very talented actor. But yet, he's yet to get an Academy Award (Oscars).

1986 sees the sci-fi film Highlander. Alter Highlander II in 1991 where Sir Sean Connery played Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez.

1987 was where he famously played a Chicago beat cop, Jimmy Malone alongside Kevin Costner as Elliot Ness. After the tremendous act of the dying cop, and also getting a worst Irish accent in film history, he finally got himself an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Still strong at the age of 58, he continued on to play bookish Professor Henry Jones Sr. in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

I thought I've lost you boy!

Leave that a mark in the entertainment industry, the phrase "Junior" impacted all Indiana Jones fans.

1990 sees Sir Sean Connery continue on. Even at the age of 60, nothing was going to stop him. He played Lithuanian submarine captain Marko Raimus with Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan. (I read the book, saw the film and was amazed.)

Sir Sean Connery starred in quite a number of film in the 1990s. Including blockbuster film The Rock, directed by Michael Bay, he played imprisoned British Intelligence agent, John Patrick Mason. He also played the King Arthur in First Knight (1995), romance comedy, Playing By Heart, romance thriller, Entrapment and a lot more.

In 2000, he played recluse writer William Forrester. Introducing new comer Rob Brown where he took him under his wings in acting.

After three years absent from the silver screen, he stared once again in summer blockbuster The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as English adventurer Allan Quatermain.

He returned once again as James Bond in the video game rendition of From Russia With Love and Sir Billy the Vet, a Scottish production of animated tale.

There are more to Sir Sean Connery than just films. Click on the title, that will take you to his site. A strong supporter of the Scottish parliment, a talented and artistic man.

Hm... I think that's how I come to know more about Scotland as well.

His life's work cannot be completely told here. As there are a lot more to his work in charity, and also the film industry.

Once again, Sir Sean Connery, Happy 77th Birthday.

How I Digg

2007-08-25T17:20:00.000+08:00

The GigaOM Show

2007-08-24T18:54:00.000+08:00

Alright, I'm still busy with that AJAX transformation and I'm starting to get the hang of it. Hope that it goes well.

Sold a notebook today, One of HP's model.

Here's a new introduction to a show that I'd watch religiously, it's a show about online startups and technology.

The GigaOM show.

Give it a try.

Converting to AJAX

2007-08-24T01:43:00.000+08:00

Okay, there's been some development with this blog. I'm trying to add a string of HTML/Java coding on the page. So, hope that you guys understand.

As you can see there's two "About Me" sidebar widgets here. Please ignore the bottom one as it's an ongoing project.

Thanks much!

If this works out, I might be starting a podcast soon on another blog.

New Layout!

2007-08-23T20:32:00.001+08:00

Alright, I've been sticking with the Blogger's theme Tic Tac for quite some time already, I think it's time for a little change. I've also added a poll to see if you, my blog's visitors thinks that the theme looks nice? or should I revert it? Or should I redesign a theme with AJAX?

Hope that all of you will share your thoughts, and maybe help me out with some AJAX coding. Thanks!

Still Looking Up for HDRI

2007-08-18T13:34:00.000+08:00

Still in the process of learning about HDRI. Found a great blog for cars. At the same time, found some really good HDRI examples.

I did find some in flickr as well. But that is still taking me a few months to understand an image.

This is from the Autoblog. Pictures of the latest Aston Martin DBS

Back to tech

2007-08-17T14:08:00.000+08:00

Alright, I may have posting something that may seem racial, if any saw it, sorry. I kind of smelled danger. I'd better stay off it.

Found something really nice on Ars Techinca.

Click here.

Is Malaysia A Haven for a Multi-racial Community?

2007-08-16T23:49:00.000+08:00

Edit: I smell danger.

Webb Alert

2007-08-16T16:29:00.000+08:00

I started to get into tech when I was about 13. That's when I had my first computer. A Pentium Celeron 300MHz. Yeap, cheap machine, but it was worth my while.

Then, I got addicted to ZDTV. That was back in 1999 before they changed name to TechTV. I got a glimpse of it at one of my friends house. Then I started going after it. After TechTV was acquired by G4, I kind of left it alone. And went after what Leo Laporte did, what Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, Patrick Norton (just left DL.TV, rumor has it that he's moving to Rev3), Robert Heron, Roger Chang, Yoshi (still looking) and most of the TechTV staffs.

Here's Morgan Webb!

I GOT SIMPSONIZED!

2007-08-15T18:31:00.000+08:00

I was reading Foo Kiat's blog and then was linked to Yee Hui's blog. Both of them were once my classmates and also my schoolmates.

Yee Hui got himself Simpsonized.

So, I tried it myself...
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I'm still wondering if I do look like that.

Fancy that? Try it! Get Simsonized.

High Dynamic Range Imaging

2007-08-15T17:48:00.000+08:00

I was really amazed on what Adobe's Photoshop can do. Apart from creating great wallpapers that my friends are obsessed with, I like it from a photographic point of view. I've seen some really great HDR Images around the net. I'm impressed, and I'd like to learn about it.

But my question currently is how many frames does it take to make a good HDR image. I do have a few of my friends who did join a photography club back in my high school days (or Secondary School as some call it) and I'm wondering if any of them know about HDR.

I think I should give it a try and see how it goes.

Cameron Trip

2007-08-13T19:24:00.001+08:00

Alright, as promised, I did go to Cameron Highlands. A very nice local attraction.

Headed up to Cameron Highland at about 7.00 in the morning. The journey this time was not as nauseating as it was last time when my dad drove up to the place from Tapah. This time, we entered from Simpang Pulai's entrance. Making the trip much more easier for those who are not very tolerant with nausea.

I was not in my family's car actually. I was with my cousin who managed to get my aunt along with my other cousins. So, a total of 9 person was on the trip.

It's quite the usual stuffs actually. Much like heading to Tanah Rata and make our way up and down again to the Simpang Pulai stop. But some changes had been made since I was last there. I think it was 2 years back when I was last at Cameron Highlands.

Cactus Valley had a major change. From the entrance point, adding expansions higher up the field. Adding a lettuce farm. nice beautiful lettuce from all over the farm. Some Coral Lettuce, and a few more that I managed to photograph of.

Other than that, Cactus Point has moved! A little close to Kea's Farm. It used to be close to a shop lot and a small park about 1km away from Berinchang. Nice place.

One of the highlight that I have this time is that I did make a trip into the Boh Sungai Palas Plantation and factory. I've been there once but this time is the one time with my family. Me and my mom had been drinking that tea for some time. I know how it is made, but showing it to my mom, I'd think that she'd appreciate the view of the plantation and how it is made a little more. That should be nice. I was trying to take a panoramic photograph of the plantation. I'll post it up to my flickr account when I'm good with it. A local series was made there too. It was called "Sky" try to head to 8TV. I think it's listed there. The view there is beautiful!

Well, that's all for now. I be back to my usual self. Posting stuffs about tech.

Edit: Added the photos of a panorama shot of Boh's Sungai Palas Tea Plantation.

8TV Summer Live Concert 2007

2007-08-12T01:41:00.001+08:00

DSCN0459_1
Originally uploaded by andrew_lim85

This is one of the best shot that I managed to get. A photo of the stage that was built here in Ipoh for the 8TV Summer Live Concert 2007.

Went there. It was hot, kind of rained for a bit, but it stopped, many was there, the hosts estimated 50,000 people was attending this particular event. Okay. Done with the numbers.

Hosts for the day was some of 8TV's show hosts. I honestly don't remember their full name. One of them was Gary. I remember Xin Yi. She was at Ipoh Parade when I claimed the tickets for this event. Dylan (Host of Step Forward and I Wanna Be A Model) was also there.

Great hosting casts.

On to the performers.

First up! George Lam! Great Hong Kong superstar. Kind of had an accident a few years back while he was holding a tour. A great comeback and what a way to attract attention to Ipoh! Yeap, That's my hometown.

2morrow was there. I don't really know if they are local Malaysian artist or Taiwanese artist. They are kind of cool. A slower paced song. Though the theme was about dances.

Next up. Two more local artists was up. I don't remember the other one, But I remembered Gary Chaw Ge. Soft songs again. Regular Chinese Pop. Before he came on, there was another local artist. I don't remember her name.

After all that, Malaysian Idol Daniel Lee was up next. Singing one of his songs from his latest album. Fans of him should know what song is that. I don't. Even though I have it in my system, my sister is the one who's listening to it.

After Daniel's done with his performance. It was time for another local artist, John. I think he's one of the contestants from Superstar Project Malaysia. No exact memory as I didn't watch that program.

Alright, enough about local artists. Korean band The Cross was up next. The lead sound kind of annoying. Didn't really liked the performance. And I didn't pay attention after that. as I don't remember who went up next.

But the last two artists that was in the queue, JJ Lim (Singapore) and F.I.R (Taiwan) brought up the heat again! After all that, it's time to head home.

That's just the summary of the concert. And what I had paid attention to. Before all those went on, Macarena dancing! Was used to get some lucky winner of RM500 (US$140). Just for the fun of it, I kind of joined in and thought I won. The clip of a guy jumping up and down quite high. I was doing that. But he wore a purple shirt, and I wore a blue one. So, lucky him and also congrats!

That's all for now.

Next is a one day trip to Cameron Highlands. Time to get some fresh tea.

Cool wallpaper of New York City

2007-08-09T17:16:00.000+08:00

Found a cool wallpaper! Really nice photo shot of 9th Avenue.

Click here.

Night Shot from my balcony

2007-08-08T21:58:00.001+08:00

Night Shot from my balcony
Originally uploaded by andrew_lim85

I'm not so good with a camera yet. It's my new found interest. I like those photo effects of light streaks. And I'm wondering how can I do it with a cheap point and shoot camera. This seems kind of okay for me. Any suggestions? The camera is a Nikon L11. (Picture hosted by Flickr)

Web 3.0

2007-08-08T16:27:00.000+08:00

It is interesting to know what is Web 2.0. Almost all sites have been turned into using AJAX. Some are starting to hate that word right now.

Yahoo! turned into AJAX somewhere in 2004/05 I don't remember the exact date but it's cool at first and it kind of wore off. Sad but true. So what's the new hype?

Recently in some articles that I've read and some sources (still judging if it is reliable) and podcast had claimed that Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. are working together with a few social networking sites like MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, Multiply and much more to create a mash up of these applications into one. That should be an interesting story.

Those aside. But calling it Web 3.0? Should the internet be graded with version numbers now?

Should be a good thing if it kick things off the ground. But to one who had enough and had fatigue about Web 2.0, I'd still like to call it the internet. A place where a lot of activities and communications can be done and also a source of knowledge.

Intel's Q4 Prediction

2007-08-04T01:45:00.000+08:00

I was right! And I'm really getting giddy now. I did tell my friend about stuffs on Q4 this year. I was kind of predicting that Intel will release something new and that DDR3 is to be introduced into the market as a new high end RAM (still wondering if that's true).

Alright, I got conformation from link that Intel will be releasing a Quad Core processor this Q4 using the 45nm production format and will be sporting 12MB of L2 Cache. THAT IS ONE HECK OF A DIE! and it will clock out at 3.33GHz per core and a bus speed of 1333MHz

Here's the link

Some Updates from the Tech part of My World

2007-08-03T15:55:00.000+08:00

Okay, I keep track of a few podcasts/netcast/vidcast/video blog or whatever it is that you all want to call.

Sad news from Buzz Out Loud, where Veronica Belmont has left BOL.
Also, Jim Lauderback's departure from Ziff Davis to Revision3. Hope that more success will follow him.
Today, Patrick Norton, who left Ziff Davis. I think he jumped ship from Ziff Davis (DL.TV) to Rev3 for Systm. Love that show, any of you all who do DIY stuffs must see that show.

Not much good tech stuffs lately. Not much new hardware news from Intel or AMD. Still waiting for those good parts to arrive.

Great, that's all for now.
Time to mess with Flash CS3

Gran Turismo 5

2007-08-02T11:43:00.000+08:00

I've been a fan, to be honest about GT5

Check out this link.

Delicious new Gran Turismo 5 pics and news

Return to Blogger as my Blogging Application

2007-08-02T00:21:00.000+08:00

After quite a while of using Wordpress, I will still keep that as my tech blog. I would restart this blog as my personal blog. Just to keep the same address.

This Blog has moved

2007-02-03T14:30:00.000+08:00

Hi all, this blog has moved to a new blogging API

The new address is
http://techenthusiast.wordpress.com/

Furious!

2007-02-01T03:04:00.000+08:00

I'm feeling pretty much furious right now.

How is it possible that iTunes Music Store be blocked into a situation where "Connection: Reset" would show up in iTunes? If it is a P2P protocol, I would definitly understand why that would happen as traffic shaping has been implemented to my ISP's bandwidth distribution policy.

It is just heartbreaking where one is such a long term customer, managed to use full capacity for such a service for more then two years and this is what happens to such a customer.

To all Malaysian readers, and to those who use Bittorrent to download legal content most of the time, As a blogger, I would like to propose a petition ( a signed petition, in paper ) in order to get TM Net to do something to their network before all of their customers leave or set up a new ISP service in Malaysia. And to the GOVERNMENT. DO NOT INTERFERE WITH WHAT EVER COMPANY THAT IS TRYING TO PRIVATISE A SERVICE.

To all that resellers, the income from reselling TM Net Streamyx service is definitely a good earning out of one day worth of hard work. DO NOT! And I say again, DO NOT AND BE CAREFUL OF THE MARKETING CAMPAIGN THAT TM NET IS TRYING TO DO!

It is frustrating.

Simply frustrating.

Updates from Digg.com

2007-01-30T15:51:00.000+08:00

I've managed to get in contact with the Digg.com crew, and developers, they are working on the new Blogger API. I hope that my regular visitors will stay patient as they are getting to the new Blogger API for now.

I'll promise that I'll get back as soon as possible.

Meanwhile,

http://www.twit.tv/
http://www.digg.com/users/andrewlim85
http://www.revision3.com/
http://dl.tv/

Please take a look at these sites for good information on good computer hardwares. And also good technology news.

Digg is not supporting the new Blogger!

2006-12-25T01:15:00.000+08:00

Alright!

That's just an if Kevin Rose comes across my blog.

Kevin, there's a beta version of Blogger that's related to Google, I'm pretty sure that you know that. Hope that you and the Digg team fix it soon.

Sorry for the slow delay on my blog for tech feeds as I've just started work and not much time to Digg. If you would want to see what I digg from time to time, here's my digg profile:

http://www.digg.com/users/andrewlim85

I promise that I'll get back as soon as possible

Beginners Guide to Linux Desktops

2006-12-20T11:40:00.000+08:00

So you use Linux, but have you ever used a different desktop environment than the default? Surprisingly, there are too many to even count, but we are taking a look at a few of the most popular and explain advantages of each one.

read more | digg story

Firefox 2.0.0.1 Final is here!

2006-12-20T11:34:00.000+08:00

Firefox 2.0.0.1 Final - The award-winning, free Web browser is better than ever. Browse the Web with confidence - Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started. Download Firefox now and get the most out of the Web.

read more | digg story

Review: NVIDIA GeForce 8800

2006-12-20T11:25:00.000+08:00

A few short weeks ago, NVIDIA unveiled the GeForce 8800 series of graphics cards and the nForce 600 family of core logic chipsets on the very same day. The flagship parts in each of these product categories, the GeForce 8800 GTX and the nForce 680i SLI, made the basis of what NVIDIA has dubbed their "Ultimate Gaming Platform".

read more | digg story

Ubuntu: Features vs. Freedom

2006-12-19T20:03:00.000+08:00

Jono Bacon, official Ubuntu Community Manager, speaks out about the debate about the inclusion of binary graphics drivers by default for desktop bling. Spoken by a truly honest and respectable guy, he brings some sanity back to the discussion.

read more | digg story

Do I need the processes running on my PC?

2006-12-19T20:01:00.000+08:00

This freeware has all the answers... download, scan and get all the details in one page! bye bye ugly task manager. Never seen anything like it.

read more | digg story

Trying to understand the situation

2006-12-19T04:32:00.000+08:00

It has been very hard to get an ISP (Internet Service Provider) in my country to fix the problem that I’ve been facing for about half a year. High latency problems, traffic shaping (wouldn’t blame them as the trunk to other links may be too small for the country itself) and a lot of complications between the user and the service provider.

Everybody has been talking about Quality of Service (QoS) that this particular ISP is serving. Is it poor? Is it good? Or is it just average? I’ve asked myself that questions many times just to see how good it is. As of 6 months ago, I’ve willingly comply with the high latency matters. But it was not solved until recently for a short while. And then, it just came back on! I was wondering, “What happened to the fix?” With that, I waited for a few weeks more and I couldn’t bare it anymore. I rang them up at their Customer Service hotline and asked to speak to a supervisor so that I can get stuffs to the higher levels.

In fact they did. Thank you for once. And one of their higher level teams did ring me up. As what I’ve told them, I’m a UNIX user (Linux in particular) and I’m also a Windows XP user. I asked them about a lot of questions, telling them all the information that I could supply them. I won’t deny that they have to do traffic shaping but high latency has been a major problem to me. As they have told me, traffic shaping may not come off or it might just come off in about 5 years time.

A little sidetracking. Tech in my country has never been a very good industry. It is sometimes influenced by money, mostly politics and also economics of the country. Part of the reason why they took up traffic shaping is that broadband penetration is only about 20+% of the population in my country.

Back to what I was talking about earlier. I’ve forgotten about getting traffic shaping and taken it out of my mind. But sometimes when it comes a time I want to get a certain file fast out of P2P (legit files), I really want them fast and I really want to utilize the bandwidth that I’m leased to (1.5Mbps, it’s slow, I know). Time to forget about that.

Moving on, lately, I’ve been trying out some stuff to overcome traffic shaping for this particular ISP. Tried proxy, worked for a while, tried encryption, didn’t work at all, and I’m thinking of SSH tunneling! WHAT AM I THINKING OF!? Is that really necessary? But I’ve just rang them up again, threatening them that I would tunnel their server for bandwidth. And I’m still wondering if it works. I do hope that they respond.

What do you think? Should I really go through what I’m sitting through now? Or should I just send them a lawsuit claiming for compensation? And should I send them a lawsuit for controlling an honest user? Who do torrent for legit files such as Linux distributions? And also legal podcasting items? Here’s more information. I’ve not been able to any of my subscribed podcast ever since that problem. Should there be any readers our there who are working with other ISPs, place get in touch with me, I’m trying to understand the situation. Just leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. If it’s possible, e-mail me, and I’ll get back to you privately.

dd - the most useful command in Linux

2006-12-19T03:31:00.000+08:00

This tutorial describes to you the gazillion uses for dd - it's more useful than you think.

read more | digg story

100 Keyboard shortcuts (Windows)

2006-12-19T03:30:00.000+08:00

Title says it all =)

read more | digg story

Firefox Reaches 25% Market Share

2006-12-18T11:54:00.000+08:00

According to these stats across over 4,000 websites, one in four web users browses with Firefox.

read more | digg story

Sweet hack for FF and IE users. Make web pages load much faster.

2006-12-18T11:52:00.000+08:00

Make web pages load lightning fast.. A must-see tweak for Firefox and Internet Explorer users. Most browsers are configured for dial-up.. Tweak the settings to boost surfing speeds and minimize page load times...

read more | digg story

How to enable DVD playback : Ubuntu

2006-12-17T12:39:00.000+08:00

DVD playback is not a feature that is installed by default due to license restrictions. In my opinion the restriction is stupid, very restrictive and violates my rights (of course I am not a lawyer so don
’t listen to my rants.) This tutorial will show you how to install DVD playback capability on your Ubuntu linux machine.

read more | digg story

Intel vs AMD - Integrated Graphics Shoot-Out

2006-12-17T12:35:00.000+08:00

Who's best for games - and Windows Vista?

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Open source is where the action is in 2007

2006-12-17T12:26:00.000+08:00

The pace of change in the open source software business is likely to accelerate in 2007 as developers climb up the software stack from the operating system and databases to applications.

read more | digg story

Metal Gear Solid 4 - another LOST PS3 exclusive, coming to Xbox 360!

2006-12-17T12:25:00.000+08:00

Straight from a dev source on the game, MGS4: Guns of the Patriots will be hitting 360 a few months after the PS3 version, simply because Konami doesn't believe there'll be enough consoles out there. Blu Ray diode failure appears to be the issue that publishers believe hinders market penetration.

read more | digg story

5 Things You Can Do With Old Hard Drives

2006-12-15T16:58:00.000+08:00

Projects include: a Hard Drive Speaker, Tesla Turbine, Hard Driver Domonoes, HDD Grinder, and a Hard Drive Computer Case

read more | digg story

New logo for Mozilla Firefox browser.

2006-12-15T16:30:00.000+08:00

Proposal for new Mozzilla Firefox logo is really nice. Check this out !.

read more | digg story

Henry Gomez is new CEO of Skype!

2006-12-15T16:24:00.000+08:00

The eBay makeover of Skype is complete. Henry Gomez, a former eBay executive and a veteran marketing professional is the new chief of Skype. He takes over from Alex Kazim1, till recently the president of Skype.

read more | digg story

Mark Cuban Suggests How to Kill the iTunes Store

2006-12-15T00:32:00.000+08:00

Cuban wants Google or Microsoft to offer the music industry more than they earn from Apple's online music store. Then he thinks GOOG or MSFT should just give the music away and make money on the ads. Crazy? Or what the Industry should have done six years ago when 80 million people were using Napster?

read more | digg story

Thunderbird 2.0 beta 1 Reviewed

2006-12-15T00:30:00.000+08:00

Mozilla has released the first beta for version 2.0 of its popular email client, Thunderbird. The initial release is still a little rough around the edges, but it boasts a host of promising new features.

read more | digg story

Ars Technica's first look at Firefox 3.0

2006-12-14T01:54:00.000+08:00

The recent release of Firefox 3.0 Alpha 1 provides insight into the future of the popular open source web browser. With the new Gecko 1.9 rendering engine, Firefox 3 now leverages the powerful Cairo vector drawing library and passes the Acid 2 test.

read more | digg story

AMD On Track For Shift To 45-Nano Manufacturing

2006-12-12T22:43:00.000+08:00

Last manufacturing switch took 26 months, but at least one analyst says AMD will make its current deadline.

read more | digg story

Mac Sales 4X faster than Global PC Market; closing in on 3rd Place in U.S.

2006-12-12T21:02:00.001+08:00

Apple's Macintosh unit sales are growing more than four times faster than the global PC market and have Apple closing in on 3rd place in the U.S. PC market. While iPod sales contribute nearly 40% of Apple's revenue, Mac sales still kick in more than half, which means the product's renewed vigor is goosing Apple's sales and bottom line.

read more | digg story

Netherlands pulls plug on analog tv, first nation to switch to digital only

2006-12-12T21:02:00.000+08:00

Dutch government will save around $14 million annually from the switch, the cost it used to pay to broadcast the free antenna service that was used by only 74,000 households. In US, whose digital target is 2009, about 21 million people use antenna service, & another 20 million would need digital converters. I say bring on IPTV!

read more | digg story

Deck the halls with... WiFi blocking decorations?

2006-12-12T01:50:00.000+08:00

"That's the word from AirMagnet, Inc., a company that develops and sells WiFi networking analysis and troubleshooting tools. The company says that it monitored office WiFi health before and after holiday decorations were deployed, and their survey found that Old Saint Nick has some splainin' to do."

read more | digg story

New SVG Features in Firefox 3 Alpha

2006-12-12T01:45:00.001+08:00

Tim Rowley, SVG developer in Mozilla, updates us on the latest new features in Firefox 3, including rendering performance enhancements, vector-based printing output, better standards support, etc.

read more | digg story

Ubuntu: King of Distros for 2006

2006-12-12T01:45:00.000+08:00

"According to Google Trends, but also according to Distrowatch, our own statistics here at OSNews and overall sense of the industry during 2006, Ubuntu has a big leap in mind share ahead of its competition."

read more | digg story

Mozilla Ships Alpha Release of Firefox 3.0

2006-12-11T15:56:00.000+08:00

Mozilla today hit an early milestone on the road to the next version of its open-source browser, but the final product is still a year away, developers say.

read more | digg story

A helpful HDTV chart: Viewing distance to screen size

2006-12-10T19:48:00.000+08:00

Some people can take advantage of the extra lines of resolution but sometimes, it's an unnecessary cost. Simply locate your viewing distance on the right hand side and screen size on the bottom, connect the two lines and bam, your optimal screen resolution.

read more | digg story

Mozilla commits to collaborating with Linux distros

2006-12-10T14:28:00.000+08:00

The foundation says it will work directly with representatives of all interested Linux distributions to manage patches, create distro-specific packages, and make collective decisions on policy.

read more | digg story

Firefox use continues to rise in Europe

2006-12-09T23:54:00.000+08:00

According to research, the browser is now used by some 23.2 per cent of European PC web surfers - up from 19.4% in April. A detailed percentage-by-country map is at the link.

read more | digg story

Firefox use continues to rise in Europe

2006-12-09T23:53:00.000+08:00

According to research, the browser is now used by some 23.2 per cent of European PC web surfers - up from 19.4% in April. A detailed percentage-by-country map is at the link.

read more | digg story

Optimus Keyboard Goes Back To Color

2006-12-09T20:18:00.000+08:00

The team scrapped the black and white release to instead wait to release in full color. The team will concentrate on making a color Optimus-103 with OLEDs.

read more | digg story

Super Mario 3 Stop-Motion Video Made From LEGOS!

2006-12-09T20:16:00.000+08:00

I originally found this through WIRED's Game|Life blog by Chris Kohler: http://blog.wired.com/games/2006/12/
stopmotion_lego.html#comments. Chris writes, "Reader Jaime Wells sends along some stop-motion recreations of video games made with Lego blocks. I think I may have linked the Donkey Kong animation here before, but I'd never seen Metroid."

read more | digg story

Microsoft Kills Front Page

2006-12-09T20:14:00.000+08:00

According to FrontPage
’s own home page, “After nine years of being an award-winning Web authoring tool, FrontPage will be discontinued in late 2006.” -quote from dvorak.org
This comes as microsoft prepares to release its vista operating system along with office 2007, o well for microsoft's attempt at html editing

read more | digg story

Boot MacOS X86 from USB Pendrive

2006-12-09T03:45:00.000+08:00

Have you ever dreamed about carrying in your pocket,
your favorite OSx86 install. And boot it everywhere.
When dreams come true... Full tutorial @ MacGeek's blog :-)

read more | digg story

How Microsoft fights off 100,000 attacks per month...

2006-12-09T03:43:00.000+08:00

Microsoft may be the biggest target out there for hackers. Here's what the company does to protect itself from the continuous onslaught of probes and intrusion attempts.

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Want To Save Money On A High-End Laptop? Buy A Mac

2006-12-09T01:25:00.000+08:00

"If you're like me you've probably always heard Apple Macs carried a price premium over machines from companies such as Dell. I decided to put that belief to the test by comparing the prices on two similarly configured notebook computers."

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Which Blank DVDs Should I Buy?

2006-12-09T00:37:00.000+08:00

Ever wonder who actually makes the blank media that HP, Imation, or Memorex sells? What are the best brands for archival? It's all right here in this handy list along with the % reliability of each.

read more | digg story

Pirates crack Vista Activation Server

2006-12-09T00:26:00.000+08:00

Pirates have released another ingenious workaround to Vista's copy protection: a hacked copy of Microsoft's yet-to-be-released volume licencing activation server, running in VMware.

read more | digg story