Time sprints, flies and teleports

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] Random 987 song

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Famous Amos Chocolate Chip cookies / Plain water

My last update was on 23rd May, but the real last update was 21st Jan. The real 'life' update came 10 days earlier, which means from than till now it has been over half a year of real updates. For now, I have my contract extended till the end of the year, which means less thinking (or more) until then. I have to decide my study route very very soon as expenses of my wedding will soon climb up.

Wedding I say? Yeap, of course I have to plan my marriage with my beloved Serene by now. No no, proposal not done yet but I've promised her on that pretty soon (how soon? Wait lor :P), but certainly the wedding needs to be planned. For now, our date is somewhere around the second half of next year (2011) and most importantly, it will be a wedding lunch so I might be anticipating less guests, but oh well, we had reasons for deciding on lunch instead of dinner.

Back to study route, I have a few options - ITIL (for service delivery), MCSE (Microsoft Certification), CCNA (Cisco Certification), PMP (Project Management). PMP poses a problem as I do not have job credentials that reflect on project management, but the huge advantage comes as PMP does not specialize in specific field i.e. I can go any industry. I think I will go for ITIL Foundation v3, as I still am not sure how much I am going for technical studies.

It's quite a dilemma, but I have to sort it out really soon. There will be plenty to come about regards to money matters, but we gonna bite it through! On a side note, I managed to get my copy of Starcraft 2 Collectors' Edition @ SGD$229.00...ppl ask if it's worth it, well I think it is, after all in life, everything has a value that only we choose to determine whether it's worth it.

I hope I'll be updating this blog more often somehow :) for whoever is left reading this...

.LuKe.

Reason why I should go management...

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Mixed Vege Rice / Water

Look at this article...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10435937-56.html

A 9-year old kid who has an MCSE certification!!!

I can "knock off" liao...really not the way to go man...

.LuKe.

This is cool stuff from Microsoft!

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine, cold

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Iced Milk Tea

A project building up Microsoft Surface's abilities, a project team does the traditional desktop D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) on Surface!

http://blogs.msdn.com/surface/archive/2009/12/16/new-gameplay-video-with-d-d-on-surface.aspx

.LuKe.

Facebook know-a-bit

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Bee Hoon / Pokka Green Tea

For now, facebook implemented the shortening URL thingie...

So,

www.fb.me = www.facebook.com

.LuKe.

An Apple a day will start keeping people away

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine but irritable (stiff neck condition)

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Milo

Sorry for boring everyone with IT stuff, but the next news caught me off guard. Article from Ars Technica, Apple refuses under warranty products is returned for repairs due to the fact they belong to smokers.

I'm not a fan of smoking; in fact I hate the smell - however this came too much of a surprise as it seems to infringe into human rights, but of course from an employer's point of view, you wouldn't want your employees to be exposed to "hazardous materials" i.e. nicotine and tar. I do think this is already a bit overdoing it, as one of the comments say, it's not that you cannot work with it, just that you need to take appropriate measures to protect your employees.

Then again, Apple really has weird guidelines when they do their stuff, be it the App Store or now, their warranties.

.LuKe.

Viewing Apple's World

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Ikea's Christmas Hot Plate / Iced Lemon Tea

Someone has provided a nice article about viewing Apple differently from other companies:

ComputerWorld: Four Things you need to know about Apple

Of note:

- Everything Apple sells is an Apple product

After reading the article, you have to agree what the author said is right. Everything that Apple makes and uses, they treat it as theirs.

- Apple products are disposable

Upon thinking how they make the products, all are built in batteries. Since batteries in most mindsets are somehowwhat disposable, I must say they have a unique view about the gadgets they make. Maybe even their laptops.

- Nothing exists unless Apple sells it

This emphasizes just how much Apple lives in their own world. I have nothing too much to say about it though.

- Apple doesn't want to be a successful business

I believe this view is written with a tinge of humour in it. I do not believe any business wants to operate without profit, but I must say that Apple does it in a way that when they do things they want it to be good and popular.

.LuKe.

Google Jokes

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine and smiling

[CuRRent Song:] Dunno

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Mixed Vege Rice / Pearl Milk Tea

Guys, have you heard of Google Jokes?

Bet you haven't - because I've recently discovered it. No no no...it's not a goofy thing that Google made directly, rather it's something I found interesting to the point of funny about Google.

For a start, let us step into the famous Google Search Engine, www.google.com.sg (mine is .sg):

Try typing "I am e" - e.g. I was trying to type "I am extremely bored" but do not complete the sentence:

I am extremely terrified of chinese people!!! OMG!!! Are we that terrifying???

Now try "Google is"...

OMG Google is going to take over the world! Not really much of a news, judging by the way how it rules the Web now.

Okay since we're at Google, why not Microsoft? Let us try "Microsoft is " (with the space)...

Microsoft is dead - certainly a scam for now. :P

Now we can create our own jokes in Google - what's yours?

.LuKe.

Non-personal topics - Football and Technology

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] Some familiar song but I do not know the title (from radio)

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Chicken Rice / Iced Tea

First on football, people who knows me do know I'm a Manchester United FC supporter and thus major rivals' downfall should be my glee. Not this time though, upon seeing Liverpool stumble to their 4th consecutive defeat, it's hard to imagine how such a top-class team could come out like that. Of course, it isn't news to any football person that the engines of Liverpool are Steven Gerrald and Fernando Torres, which to Liverpool fans' dismay are both injured. This spun a great deal for any hope in any team playing with Liverpool, and with Sunderland winning them with some luck due to the referee's incompetence to stop the game due to a beach ball and with Lyon winning with substitutes in the Champions' League, Liverpool will certainly face the heat and scrutiny of many. With the coming week's big match of Liverpool vs Man Utd, this is certainly one loss they can avoid catching, and if the 5th defeat is imminent, we might expect to see some changes in the managerial room for Liverpool.

Next on IT, I was reading articles on Ars Technica when I found a convenient flash presentation done by Microsoft about introducing the appropriate laptop for users. They even do some educating on their part so that users will possibly know what the various terms like Processor, RAM and Video Graphics are. Here is the link:

PC Scout

Of course, note the part they mentioned about Vista, and any IT guy knows they are bu||$hitting. Of course again, please get any system with Vista Home Premium and beyond to get the free Windows 7 equivalent upgrade (which in many testers' opinion is much better than Vista).

Oh well, time to throw my link to those who wants to know more!

.LuKe.

Baby I'm amazed by you (Mozilla) - a techie post

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] None at the moment, unless you are talking about the title which rings in my brain

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Milo

From ComputerWorld:

"Apple gets best spot in EU browser 'ballot screen,' Mozilla says"
"Safari for Windows shouldn't get first place on Microsoft's proposed ballot, Firefox maker argues"

Just because Microsoft sorted it in the parent company's alphabetical order. Of course, fair say to mention it "should" be sorted according to market share or (maybe) security, but it gets to the point you get a feeling that Mozilla is whining they ain't getting the best treatment.

Under Microsoft, this is what you will get:

(Apple) Safari
(Google) Chrome
(Microsoft) Internet Explorer
(Mozilla) Firefox
(Opera) Opera

If it's the browser's alphabetical order:

Chrome (Google)
Firefox (Mozilla)
Internet Explorer (Microsoft)
Opera (Opera)
Safari (Apple)

Both ways and Mozilla doesn't get first slot. The Commission has reasoned market share is not the way to go as the original indictment was due to "unfair automatic" installation of "recommended" Internet Explorer without giving users a choice of other browsers. Maybe random slots? Well, though processor cycles are cheap nowadays, but to me it's a waste of coding to include code to do the randomization, though it's very simple.

No one can be happy with such a case, and for certain Microsoft isn't that happy with so much whining going about. After all, it's a stupid case to begin with since it's MS's Windows and they should have the choice to insert only their own browser as default - it's not as if they do not allow other browsers to be installed. Only the tech savvy will usually take other browsers and for those who aren't, I don't really think they care what browser they use so long it suits their objective. Then again, IE is not the most secure or fastest around, maybe that's what they are arguing all along.

But then again, isn't Windows a Microsoft product? Sounds like someone's forcing me to use other brands of flour when I have my preferred and "recommended" brand of flour that I use for my cake, as an analogy.

.LuKe.

Future of Gaming?

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine, TGIF

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Nasi Lemak / Pearl Milk Tea

My dear reminded me I've not blogged about our KL trip, sorry dear it slipped my mind. I'll get it up as soon as the mood allows me :)

Anyway the highlight of the blog post:

From Ars Technica:
"AMD unveiled its next-generation GPU architecture at an event today aboard the USS Hornet—2.5 teraFLOPS of floating-point power, or well over twice the company's current high-end cards...OTOY's demo of Crysis running on an iPhone was probably the most profoundly intriguing use of AMD's upcoming GPU that I saw all evening."

"Ok, I know that 90 percent of you just did a double-take—Crysis, the standard gaming benchmark for high-end 3D hardware, running on a next-gen GPU on an iPhone?"

Wow, it seems that the editor did have a good view of this to come, and apparently IT WORKS. This view about offering gaming through the network has been covered by Ars Technica, and I don't mean just "MMORPG". I meant playing just about ANY game while being networked. This idea works as the game renders over at server side and sends compressed packets over to the client (in this test case, an iPhone) for generating the display. Inputs will be sent back to the server by whatever you did on the iPhone.

What seems a vision of impeccable possibility, suddenly becomes less of a dream and more of a reality. In time to come, we will certain live in a world like The Matrix. This gaming idea holds big, so we'll see how things come by.

.LuKe.

Rando-Random stuff again :)

[CuRRent MooD:] Tired but fine

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Milo

With the arrival of the new Maple patch, hackshield screwed up the progress we had in Virtualbox and the virtual machines. It seems that now it gives funny errors that I have no solution for now.

Of course, dismissing the issues, my KoC character is already level 31 :) and slowly becoming stronger :) haha

Suddenly I realised I have lots to read. Haha.

.LuKe.

Updates for Random MS Information (Virtualization and Hackshield?)

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Milo

From a discussion forum online...

"Multi-core based computers are at a significant disadvantage since Hackshield does not work well with the efficiency at which they work. This forces the user to have to use only one core of its multi-core system. (This is called setting the affinity under Windows XP.) Another issue is that HackShield is a memory hog. Gamers that use on-board graphics could see significant reduction in game play to the point of crashing."

I do not know the true nature and the validity, but my next attempt is to force my guest to run single-core. Will see how it goes.

-- UPDATE @ 2020 hours --

Nope, doesn't work. Still detects as hacking regardless of whether I set affinity to one processor or set priority to high. Well, the CPU I tried is only running on HT (Pentium D...is it even 2 core? I doubt so.), so I do not know if that made a difference. I'll have a last go on my laptop which runs 2 cores (core2duo).

-- UPDATE @ 26 Jul, 1725 hours --

Nope again, not on a Core2Duo either. Guess it's up to AHNLabs...(if they ever bother) to make this work.

.LuKe.

Interesting finding on expenditure in US (IT related)

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Milo

From Ars Technica:

Apple nabs 91% of "premium" computer revenue in June

"Apple may have less than 10 percent of the US computer market in terms of unit sales, but it's still grabbing a much larger percentage of US computer revenue, according to the latest numbers from NPD."

"For the month of June, slightly more than 9 out of every 10 dollars spent on a computer over $1,000 went to Apple."

Anyway these figures are based on USD. Come to think, Apple systems are never cheap so...how do they grab the lower half anyway??? They are not cheap, they can only grab that section of the market. True, this article is talking more about their premium product and quality. I wouldn't want to start a war of Apple VS Microsoft, but to me its always comparing Apples to Oranges.

If Apple was the one which start off brightly and business-centric like Microsoft, do you think we will be complaining about Microsoft's rubbish today? I believe Apple will fall in the same fate like Microsoft.

.LuKe.

Random MS information

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine, lil tired

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Milo

With VirtualBox 3.0x which supports DirectX renders from hardware acceleration, it is now possible to run Maple from guest WinXP OSes. Problem is, hackshield will detect as a hack to occur. Still trying to figure out if it can be circumvented by legal means i.e. not hacking hackshield itself.

I'll post some screenshots if possible, after all I may put up an article about it.

.LuKe.

Another ethics vs actual punishment case...

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Spicy Chicken Noodle / Pearl Milk Tea

Case in topic: Retrial of Jammie Thomas-Rasset ends with massive fine imposed on her

Links:
Thomas verdict: willful infringement, $1.92 million penalty - with links to the whole retrial at the end
Analysis: $1.92M fine in music piracy case could hurt RIAA

What began as a first trial with damages linked to $220,000 becomes $1.92 million worth of damages awarded to RIAA on the retrial - something that we can imagine when linking to an internet crime or stealing of music - but all for 24 songs being shared out from the defendant's PC. 24 songs for 1.92 million? I'm pretty sure my dear Emil Chau does not need to work for subsequent lives ahead if money can carry over to next lives.

Right view of case: She did share out 24 songs, in the case they mentioned are downloaded copies and does not have a legal copy of (means she does not own a copy of the CD or purchased from authorised sources). In prosecutor's view, these 24 songs are potentially shared amongst thousands of users, leading to a slapping of a fine of $80,000 per song and thus amounting to $1.92 million. So yes, she did commit a crime by downloading and sharing the songs, in law and ethics she's wrong.

Opposing view of case: 24 songs for $1.92 million? That's like saying being fined millions for stealing a CD, or hang on the rope for stealing (ehm, sounds like some other country does it). Even for the first case, fining $220,000 for 24 songs on a commoner sounds insane. How long will it take for me to pay $220,000, let alone $1.92 million? It's obviously pushing the defendant to bankruptcy. People mentioned she could be jailed, but based on what I read, this is a civil case and not criminal, thus liable to fines. I think a sane, normal person prefers to be jailed for this one.

Debating view of case: People are not talking about defendant being "innocent" or "guilty" but more of the $220,000 or $1.92 million. I think there's a lot of holes in this case, since the defendant claimed she did not see the warning messages that Kazaa (this was the p2p software that caused her problems) gave her. Some would think she's on purpose to feign innocence by claiming she was not using the PC, or she did not receive warnings, thus being slapped with such a fine...but $1.92 million is overly ridiculous. If they doubled or tripled the original, say $660,000 just to remind her that evidence shows she did commit a crime and re-emphasizing the power of the law, it sounds sensible but...almost 2mil? It's almost 10 times the fine imposed on the first trial to a commoner!

Oh well, after seeing all the evidence and stuff, while I won't say she's right, but certainly the amount is ridiculous.

.LuKe.

Sometimes I wonder how it'll be like if I took a totally different route off my work life

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] Duno

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Famous Amos Cookies (2nd pack in a wk...OMG) / Pokka Mint Green Tea

As I was going through so many articles nowadays, I can't help but wonder that now's an exciting time for developers as so many tools are available.

When I started out on my home's 2nd hand 386 DX26 (or was it 33, correct me big bro), all I knew of a computer is that it is something that somehow makes gaming consoles possible. I often looked at them like windows to gaming (please, no pun intended) as my second bro got the first nintendo back home and played Castlevania 2 like no tomorrow till he completed the game, then got on to a Japanese RPG known as DragonQuest III. It was the latter that got us so crazy we can remember many japanese terms and even most of the mazes in the game we needn't have the guidebook with us!

Anyway back to what I was saying. So when I got my bum into Nan Hua Secondary, it didn't take long before my interest kindled when I saw booklets which has game code written in the ZBasic and GWBasic (QBasic being an MS variant, is largely but not fully compatible much of the time) languages, that triggered something in me that never seemed to have gone away throughout the years.

The passion to create games. From then, I learnt code straight from the booklets (they are coding booklets, not guidebooks or manuals) and developed my small little games which reside in the small confinements of the PC, only making its existence known to my secondary school friends in the Computer Club. I recalled making a text-based RPG style of Battleship which you can issue commands of different weapons to sink other ships.

Flash pass a few years later, I got myself directly into Singapore Polytechnic in DCIS (Diploma in Computer Information Systems). I got distinctions for 2 programming modules, notably Structured Programming using Pascal (no one uses it much anymore nowadays but to me the lecturer helped me plenty to establish my base and knowledge, as well as fuelling the interest) as well as Data Structures and Algorithms using C (I was a lil surprised with this one, but it was a nice one). Unfortunately whichever is non-programming I tend to suck at them (exception being Business Studies which I got an A) and even stayed back for a full year and wasted my parents' money :(...well, I guess in life there's always a reason for everything.

I guess it would've been good if I've pursued my life on my interest, but somehow life doesn't work the way you want, maybe for special reasons. Instead of programming, I took up desktop support for my first job (and for now, possibly my career). Many poly frens of mine asked why I didn't take up a programming job, and all I can say is "programmers have no life". At a point of time in NS, I wanted to take up a Games programming degree course, but the expenses were hefty (SGD$30,000) and I can ill afford that, so I gave up.

4 years later, I'm now doing desktop support in general plus a few here and there. But the interest for games programming never died...sometimes I wonder.

If I put my heart into developing my programming skills, what would I be now?

However, there is no "ifs" in history.

.LuKe.

It's Christmas time in the City~

[CuRRent MooD:] Fine

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Milo

Actually I do have photo updates, but they are in my lappie so...later eh? :P

And again, a year has gone past and drawing to a close. Many things happened, good bad ugly, decisions made, disappointment and happiness shower on many of us all the time. I haven't been doing a lot of updates on this blog, so my apologies to whoever loyal readers I had left. Since there's not a lot of update, I think it's not difficult to have a quick run-through of what it has been in 2008?

Jan - Feb > about friends' visit to my place during CNY. There I mentioned about Cellie and whatever had happened a year before. I guess I was right to have postponed what I felt till a year later where almost all has waned and in place. Unfortunately on my latest updates, Cellie seemed to have gone back to singlehood and emphasis on her work life is back, though she said she quite enjoyed the work she is doing right now. At least she got a pay raise!!!

Apr > my studies and age catching on me. Well I've not been clubbing for quite a while (cannot say the same for drinking since I did so a while ago with Rykiel and Xing), and studies took a hit when I failed one of my modules. Fortunately though I had a Credit for the module before the one I just completed. In any case, I'm left with the Project module so I gonna brace in for impact!!!

Jul > talks about Michelle's ROM. It was really an emotional thing, and of latest update is now she is in USA with her hubby and a healthy son by the name of Javien! It's great news, and I hope the whole family be safe and happy till time goes on. Also mentioned is the KL trip with my colleagues, but I didn't blog about it! Wahahhaa...I did post pics up in Facebook though. Basically the highlights of the trip includes the meetup of Alicia, a facebook friend I got to know from an app named "Friends For Sale" as well as a 10km (or was it 5km?) run in KL. Also talked about Christina's Asset Management and her "secrets" and a brief introduction of Ashley's experience.

July's really quite an unusual spate of updates, talking about the planned NDP outing as well as flying aeroplanes.

Aug > went to watch NDP preview, courtesy of Lawrence and Patricia. Did manage to watch it with Rykiel and it was a lil tiring but not too bad an evening. Well, things has been ongoing for Pat and Lawrence as they are planning for marriage come June 2009. Wow that's fast. :P Michelle left for USA, my module with ASP.NET with it (as per mentioned above, got a Credit for it) and our Olympic medal after 40+ years. Also a suggested update from a friend I knew quite some time ago from LifeStyleX plus pics.

Sep > clubbing pics of Patricia and Isabelle's birthday. Of course not to mention my lovely dearest Serene, we got together on 21st Aug (this date is subjective but we fixed it so)...it has been ordelous but somehow we managed it :) and the bumping of Emil Chau at Zion Market...hahaha

Oct > weekend getaway to Genting Highlands. First time there, first time wif a loved one, first time out on a climate cooler than Singapore...hahaa many firsts. Many pics (not as many as one might imagine) but it was really a nice trip. Next year we are unable to make it for any trips for the first half year as her colleague beat her to it, so we'll see how it goes coming the second half.

Nov > Highlight is of course, KylieX! Heehee...it was a really really great concert, and sorely missed till like duno when...I'll purchase the KylieX DVD when I have the money! Another highlight was The Lee Guitars concert, pretty nice but reminded my age as I was in no endurance mode for MayDay's rock concert ethics.

It's Xmas soon (2 days) and I've received my pressie from my dear...a wallet and belt combo, and yes I do admit men are boring, but I appreciated her effort and thoughtfulness as my belt is a near-goner...:P I got her next year's JJ Lin's concert (from what I heard, first JJ concert in Singapore) tickets and she was like jumping and shrieking in joy as she didn't even know JJ was organising a concert locally :) love you dear!

It's the time of the year where I have to think of resolutions for next year, and yeah those new year wishes. Come to the end of the year, I'll blog again.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Convenience for the IT techies -
Link for techie resumes: Need a job? Resume tips for techies
Things you must know as an IT pro: The 30 skills every IT person should have

.LuKe.

A highlight to IT (Computer) Security before I blog my usual...

[CuRRent MooD:] Dampened

[CuRRent Song:] None

[Last FooD/BeveRage:] Medicine / Milo

For all who have thought of the notions:

"I'll delay updating my Antivirus."

"Spyware/Malware cleaners are for experienced, rich and busy people. A normal person like me would be out of it, since they will not be on my PC."

"Why does Microsoft flood us with so many updates???"

This is a serious case in the State of Connecticut, United States of America. Links per mentioned:

InfoWorld: http://weblog.infoworld.com/robertxcringely/archives/2008/12/the_julie_amero.html

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Amero

Blog of Julie: http://julieamer.blogspot.com/

ComputerWorld: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121839&intsrc=hm_list

To get a summarised idea of the case, read the Wiki link or the ComputerWorld link. It's something you may least think of while using a PC, but imagine the terror on Julie's face when she was pasted with incredulous accusations from parties that knew NUTS about technology and malware/spyware. This case highlighted some key issues:

1) IT ignorance can possibly get you into big trouble.
2) Lawyers may, and possibly do, get into all sorts of cases just to earn that buck. Even if it meant ruining a person's life and in the end did not get the original claim proven. This is clearly a case where all but the most cruel of people would curse and condemn the judiscation that went against Julie.
3) IT staff just had it harder nowadays - and you do really need to update your knowledge.
4) Your work environment does not protect you as much as you think.

When I read this case just now, I was chilled to the bone, and the heart went heavy. How could it happen, and why? It's clearly a case of so many things that can be prevented but did not happen. The last part of it? She was revoked of her teaching credentials and what I would say as a "going-through-the-motion" legal charge of USD$100. This case ruined her life, her reputation, and she lost the child in her as she had a miscarriage. I would get a good lawyer who wants to earn that buck to sue whichever shit people to claim back so much losses she incurred during the course of this case.

So much IT security loopholes - the OS, security software, firewall, lack of knowledge...wow, that can certainly kill.

Would you think twice about your computer security now?