I have a few Gmail accounts to hand out. I need your full name and a valid email address. If you're interested, leave a comment here, or use the feedback form if you want me to keep your info private.

I intend to mass-mail everyone on my address book at some point in the near future to see if anybody I know wants one. :D

Congratulations!

Your Google AdSense application has been approved. You can now activate your account and start delivering Google ads on your site in minutes.

Let's see how this turns out.
If you want to find out more about the program, check out this announcement. It's open to any/all bloggers now; you don't need to have a Blogger account specifically.

Just took delivery of the 700m, and god...it's one beautiful machine!


The screen is so gorgeous, it almost makes me want to cry when I look at my 5100 now. :S
Now, excuse me while I go and drool over this little devil. More about it (and more pics, of course) later...

EDIT (Sept. 10, 2004): More pictures here or here. =)

Wow, I have to say...that was one brilliantly artistic movie!
It's a Chinese epic story, so don't expect it to be completely realistic, but the camera work, the action and plot, the colors and settings...all of it was simply marvellous. I would highly, highly recommend catching it while it's still in theaters - the experience just won't be the same on the small screen when it's out on DVD.

Here's a short synopsis from Fandango:

Raise the Red Lantern's acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yimou directs this martial arts epic set in China in the 3rd century b.c. Assassins are determined to murder the tyrannical king. A mysterious, nameless man appears at the king's palace claiming to have already dispatched the three most legendary killers. The king entreats him to describe in detail how he overcame each of them. So begins a Rashomon-like tale filled with high-flying action and passionate drama.

Check out the new Microsoft homepage. It definitely looks very clean and professional, but more importantly, it's moved a step closer towards web standards-compliance!

Stopdesign reports that the site is moving towards using a table-less CSS layout, and this is clearly evident by the fact that the number of table elements used has dropped substantially. A large part of the proprietary code has been scrapped, thus decreasing the total sizes of the pages as well. If you're interested in knowing more about the changes, take a look at Doug's in-depth post on Stopdesign.

Great move, I have to say. Hopefully, it's an indication of a change of heart...a possibility that we might even see a more standards-compliant rendering engine in upcoming versions of IE?

The 700m just shipped today!
Man, I hope it doesn't arrive after Monday once I get back to uni :S

Just took delivery of my dad's new Nokia 6800 from the UPS guy. =)

You can tell this is a "business" phone from the ground up. :D It's got a typical, no-frills design when you first look at it, and there's no camera built-in. In the short 15 minutes that I've played with it, here's what I think (compared to the 3650):



Display: although it has the same color depth as the 3650, it's not even close to being as bright, sharp and clear. But then again, since it's not a smartphone, you're not going to need an exceptional screen. I haven't tried looking at it in the sun, but it'll be nice if it has a reflective TFT like the 3650 so that you can see clearly without having to squint and turn the display at odd angles.
Construction: The 6800 "feels" a little more solid than the 3650. Now the 3650 is not at all fragile (as I mentioned earlier, I've dropped it too), but the 6800 just appears to be stronger, especially the back surface. It's smaller than the 3650 (duh!), but not as miniscule as some other phones out there.



Features: Comparing the 6800 to the 3650 in this aspect is just plain unfair. One is a smartphone, the other isn't. Enough said. The 6800 does have a stereo FM tuner though...something which the 3650 (and even the 7610) don't have, and it works really well. The sound through the speakers and the headset is very clear and sounds like any other stereo FM player. The fold-out QWERTY keypad is, without a doubt, much, much more convenient when typing out email/SMS messages than any other regular phone keypad (this was a key reason why my dad got this phone).



Connectivity: The 6800 is GPRS-enabled, includes a WAP (but not full-XHTML) browser, an email client, and SyncML to synchronize with a remote calendar/contacts server. It connects to a PC via either IR or a data-cable, but lacks Bluetooth.
RF: This should be one of the first things to look for in a phone, but I brought it up last since I obviously haven't had a chance to try that aspect of it within these first 15 mins. However, reviews claim that like almost every other Nokia phone, the RF and the voice quality of the 6800 is excellent.
Bottom-line: It's a nice phone. It has a modest, unassuming, professional look at first glance, and the fold-out keypad is a unique idea that keeps the size small, but packs in a huge convenience for text/email. The FM tuner makes it a cool toy too. :D

Well, the good old TNT2 in the desktop decided to die yesterday after several years of serving us well =P
This was a 32MB ASUS V3800 Magic card with a RivaTNT2 M64 GPU. I remember how it was one of the "top of the line" cards when my dad first got it in Singapore while on a business trip. All my friends had these 4 and 8MB cards, so 32MB was a big leap. :D


Guess it's finally time for a new one...

Oh, and I should be getting my Bluetooth adapter in a couple of days \o/

Wow...this is one incredibly useful app!

Basically, FolderShare is a private file-transfer and synchronization app. My brother and I often transfer large/multiple files to each other over the net, and FolderShare is an ideal solution for something like that.

The way it works is very simple - you start the app, create a new library and associate the library with a particular folder that contains the files you want to share. Your account is username/password protected, so you just give the account details to the person you want to share your files with. When the other person logs in, a secure VPN tunnel (using 256-bit AES encryption) is transparently created and you see a list of all the files that are being shared. Double click a file and it starts downloading.

Just like a private P2P app, you say? Well, the real beauty of it is the synchronization feature. You can set up a library of say, your documents, on a remote machine...then connect to the library from your home PC or notebook. FolderShare can then be set up to automatically synchronize the contents of the two folders without any user intervention!

Other really handy features are the ability to resume transfers, and the fact that it only transfers the changed contents of a file while synchronizing rather than transferring the entire file all over again.

The free trial has no timebomb, so you can use it as long as you want. It just limits the maximum number of shared files to a total of 1,500 and the number of simultaneous downloads/uploads to 1. =)

You don't usually see a lot of free software for the Series60 platform. While looking over a forum thread the other day, I found a reference to an open-source, S60 version of the popular puzzle game: Frozen Bubble. It's a fun little game, and a nice alternative to Snake when I only have my phone to while away the time. Quite addictive as you go up the levels too =P



After installing this, I decided to go check up on SourceForge for more S60 apps, and came upon OggPlay, this interesting one that enables OGG music file playback!



And while on the topic of open-source S60 apps, I just have to mention Bemused. This is just one of those really cool apps that allows you to control the music colllection on your PC via Bluetooth. Besides being able to move to the previous/next song, you can actually browse through your entire collection and pick which song you want to hear.



Man...I just need to get myself a USB-Bluetooth adapter now. Would probably make Outlook calendar syncing more convenient than using IR too.
*Goes to look around*

After moving from AOL's AIM client to Trillian, I'm now making another shift. I tried Miranda a long time ago (while trying to find an AIM alternative, after AOL decided to bundle in junk like WildTangent), there were several little issues that prompted me to go with Trillian instead.

Decided to go back and give it another shot today, and I'm glad I did. Most of the complaints I had have now been cleared, and the huge number of plugins available for it now make it a worthy contender to even Trillian's Pro version which costs a fee. My only little gripe is that I can't view people's away messages unless I actually send them an IM. Apparently, this is because Miranda uses the TOC protocol to connect to AIM's servers after AOL's attempts to block out alternative clients. Hopefully we should see an OSCAR version of the AIM plugin sometime soon which will correct this issue.

Very minimalistic, extremely customizable and extensible, and best of all - it's free and open-source!
Check it out: Miranda IM

Finally done with the eight week long math session!
Five weeks of english left to go, then the last short break for a week and a half, and back again, ready to go in Fall.

To all you high-school seniors: have a great year! Hope you guys aren't too heavily burdened. :D

Got around to slipstreaming SP2 into my MSDNAA XP SP1a CD today. Also printed out a spiffy CD cover set for the jewel case. Pics!

Hehe...I noticed the reflection of my 3650 in the jewel case only after I had transferred the pics. :D
For anyone else planning to slipstream: check out AutoStreamer. Highly recommended. Makes the whole process a breeze!

So my dad and I visited a T-Mo retail store on Friday evening to look at what's available, but it turned out to be a rather pointless trip. The salesgirl there was trying real hard to throw as much bullshit as she could at us. To cut a long story short - the deals she was offering were pathetic, I told my dad it wasn't worth it, and we left. =P

I did play with some of the phones that they're offering, and I can't really say that any of them excited me all that much. As I've mentioned before, you just don't feel "at-home" using anything else once you've used a smartphone, be it Symbian-based, PocketPC, or Windows Mobile. My dad just ordered a Nokia 6800 on Amazon today as a replacement for his 3650 - it's a nice little thing...the keypad flips open to reveal a full-sized QWERTY keyboard to type emails, text messages, notes etc. My mom wants a really simple, no-frills phone. I still haven't made up my mind... :S

The 700m we ordered has now entered the "In-Production" phase (i.e, it's now being put together). The preliminary ship date for new orders has been pulled back by a few days, so we might actually receive the machine earlier than the original estimated delivery date of Sept 6th. I hope I'm at home when it arrives! :D

My one-year contract with T-Mobile expires next month. Their service has been good and they have nice plans, so I'm not intending to switch providers, but I think we'll be moving to a family-talk plan sometime next week. My dad says they're offering us new phones, so I'm going to have to look into what I want. To be honest, I really like my 3650 - the RF is superb, and the camera takes good pics. Plus, it's a Series60 smartphone, which makes it incredibly functional and extensible.
I'd love to somehow get a 7610 in it's place, but I'd have to get it online, and the prices are ridiculously high...almost $600 the last time I checked. Not just yet...will wait for it to be officially released in the U.S. so that the prices have a chance to drop. I might end up getting one of those tiny phones that just look nice this time. They wouldn't be half as functional as the 3650, but as long as the RF is good, I'll be fine with it. After all, if I get bored of it, I'll always have the 3650 to fall back on. ;) Will see what I can find...

EDIT: I just went back and looked at some of the pics/videos/reviews I had seen of the 7610, including the one on Neowin. Damn it...I really want one now!

If you think injecting ink into a printer cartridge might damage your printer, try filling it with animal cells.

That's what they're doing at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, these days. In the name of science, researchers have developed a way to print sheets of solid animal tissue by filling Hewlett-Packard and Canon inkjet cartridges with animal cells, or "bio-ink."

Using basic design software, often AutoCAD, scientists like Thomas Boland, an assistant professor of bioengineering, are designing and generating tissue that could someday save heart patients who need new cardiac tissue.

"We've created cardiac tissue successfully," Boland says. "It actually beats in the petri dish."

Boland says that just as blending primary colors results in new colors, so does printing different cells create new tissue.

Was going through all my RSS feeds this morning, and noticed this rather crazy and interesting news story. I wonder how far research groups will be able to take this new process. Could turn out to be extremely useful and important if it's successful and works well...

Faced with a new kind of browser war, Microsoft has kick-started renewed development around its flagship Internet Explorer (IE), prompting speculation that IE 7.0 could be coming down the pike.

With online security fears pushing users away from IE, the software giant has stepped up its effort to restore users' faith in the browser. It has reassigned a high-profile Longhorn evangelist to the IE team, advertised for browser developers and launched a widespread online offensive to solicit feedback from users. [...]

On its IE Blog and Channel 9 wiki, the company has aggressively encouraged end users and developers to spell out what should be done with the world's most widely used browser. And the feedback has been flowing in. Outside of the security overhaul that's coming with Windows XP Service Pack 2, developers are beating the drum for fixed positioning in CSS and better support for the Portable Networks Graphic standard. [...]

Consumers are demanding that IE be fitted with tabbed browsing, a feature that comes embedded with rival Firefox and Opera browsers. Tabbed browsing allows the user to view multiple sites within a single browser window, saving system resources that would otherwise be used by multiple browser launches. [...]

There is also the possibility that Microsoft could streamline support for the RSS syndication format by embedding a feed reader into IE. Microsoft has launched RSS feeds across many of its Web properties and, judging from the feedback, it's a safe bet that the company could add auto-discovery for RSS feeds within the browser.

Source: internetnews.com

Glad to see that the Mozilla team has not only given us a brilliant product like Firefox, but has also given Microsoft the impetus to improve future versions of IE in order to remain a key player in the browser wars. I love competition. It can really do great things for end-users like us...

Was able to obtain and install XP SP2 RTM yesterday, and I'm quite impressed so far. Haven't experienced a single glitch. In fact, for some odd reason, my bootup time was cut down rather significantly, and the whole system feels noticeably more responsive. I guess that's a good thing, and I should be happy about it. Many others are experiencing the same thing, so it seems like MS must have done something to clean up or optimize the code.

Some of the new features are quite nice:
- The revamped wireless network dialogs: you get to see a list of all available networks, including the signal strength, all in one nice, convenient setup
- Windows Firewall is good enough for me, so I've uninstalled my third-party software firewall now
- Security Center looks cool, but it's more targeted towards new users really
- Software-based Data Execution Prevention (DEP): doubt I'll ever see this in action, but it's there nonetheless
- The popup blocker and ActiveX protection in IE were much needed updates, and they're finally here for IE users. Needless to say, I'm still sticking with Firefox though - nothing comes close to being as versatile and extensible.
- DirectX 9.0c: not into gaming, so it doesn't really make a difference to me

After much anticipation and several delays over the last few months, Microsoft has finally released the RTM build of SP2 to official beta testers via WindowsBeta. The servers are getting hammered...badly hammered, and popular forums are bursting with threads and news stories about the release. Hopefully, I should have my copy of it by tonight once I'm back home, or tomorrow morning. Fun fun.

Just got two new site themes up:

- FluidBlack: This is a nice, minimalistic background that goes nicely with the black-grey-white color scheme of the rest of the site.
- Techie: This one is a more "trendy" theme, quite similar to the old "Abstract" theme that some of you liked while it was on.

"Rain" and "Lite" will continue to remain in the list of options. FluidBlack will be my default theme for a while.
Which will be yours?

I'm also thinking of changing the one-liners on the top of the page once every week.

...the new 700m for my dad!

12.1" WXGA wide-aspect TFT display @ 1280x800
Intel Pentium-M "Dothan" 725 @ 1.60 GHz (2MB Cache, 400MHz FSB)
1x256 PC2700 DDR SDRAM module
40.0 GB Hard Drive
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+RW/+R) w/ double-layer write capability
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG MiniPCI IIIB Adapter (802.11b/g)
Integrated 10/100 Network Adapter
Integrated v.92 56k Modem
2 x USB 2.0, 1 x IEEE 1394 (Firewire) ports
1 x S-Video out, 1 x VGA out ports
1 x Type I/II PCMCIA card slot
1 x Secure Digital (SD) memory card reader
8-cell 65WHr Li-Ion battery (~4.5-5 hours)
Windows XP Home SP1

...all in a sweet 4 lb. (1.8kg) package!
Going to order an additional 256 or 512MB memory module from Crucial within the next couple of days.

Dell is also sending us a free printer within the next week or so. Since the notebook itself was just introduced, it should be arriving in the first week of September.
Woo yay! \o/

The new Inspiron 700m