Software engineer by day, gadget geek 24/7

Moving blog to Wordpress

2005-05-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

I have finally done it - I have setup my own Wordpress blog over at http://gadgetdude.dkldomain.com. The visual design is my own, with CSS techniques based on others. I have ported all my Blogger entries and comments over, following a well-documented tutorial. Join me there, won't you?

[Internet] Traffic conditions in RSS

2005-05-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a writeup on how to customize Yahoo Maps' traffic condition RSS data for a specific location and radius. In the comments there is another link to a page that integrates this data with Google Maps.

It's amazing how RSS can be used beyond blog publishing. I have added this traffic conditions RSS feed to My Yahoo.

[PDA/Cellphone] Windows Mobile 5 announced

2005-05-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

Today Microsoft announced the new Windows Mobile 5, formerly known as Windows Mobile 2005 or Magneto. Many sources are reporting this, so I will just pick one and link to it.

For now Windows Mobile 5 is only available to hardware partners, so individual consumers like me will have to either wait until a new device with this OS is released, most likely in Q3, or for O2 to offer a software/firmware upgrade for my XDA Mini. As for the software upgrade route, since HP and Dell have already announced upgrade paths for their devices, I don't see why O2 couldn't, especially since Asian companies are less set on forcing us to buy brand new devices as their Americans counterparts. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

And lastly, WebIS has announced that their PocketInformant 2005 PIM software will support Windows Mobile 5. That could be great news for me since I already own a copy of PocketInformant 2005. I haven't used its contact photos feature due to the lack of integration with the desktop Outlook, but I hope that would change if I manage to upgrade to Windows Mobile 2005.

[Moblog] Dog having a good time

2005-05-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

Posted by Hello

He is having fun rolling around on grass. We are helping to take care of our friends' dog while they are abroad.

[Moblog] Random photo

2005-05-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

[Personal] Reconnected at home

2005-05-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

Last night I finally plugged in the computers and setup Yahoo DSL. And now I have Internet access at home.

Yahoo DSL is awesome, easily providing the best content among the previous broadband ISPs I had (Earthlink, Comcast). Now I have access to the enhanced My Yahoo, LAUNCHCast Plus, and Mail Plus. These are the ones I care for and actually use, there are also other perks like bigger Briefcase space and Unlimited Photo Storage. Essentially I got Yahoo Plus with Yahoo DSL.

Before Yahoo DSL I had hoped that Yahoo Mail status could be integrated into Yahoo 360, but now I wish that Yahoo 360 status could be integrated into My Yahoo. Goes to show how fast my portal choice switches!

My monthly due is $20 for a one-year contract. I do worry how Yahoo/SBC will charge me after the term. I really don't want to pay $40+ for broadband, I mean, that's why I moved away from cable.

[Personal] I am still "online"

2005-05-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

A few things have happened in the past few days that kept me from posting to this blog. For one I finally moved into my new house over the weekend. It didn't go 100% smoothly, but everything eventually got into the property, so I can't complain. Then there was the apartment cleaning which I absolutely hated, but judging by the apartment manager's response, we should be getting most of our deposits back. But ultimately the reason why I didn't catch up on my online activities is because *gasp* I don't yet have network access at home!

[Personal] Happy day not so happy

2005-04-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today is the day when I finally move into my new house. I am supposed to be happy and excited, but I am not, at least not at this moment. A couple of reasons:

- My company is in the bottom of the sewer right now. Earlier this week an official announcement has been made about layoffs. Today there is news that talks of sellout is in progress.

- My movers were supposed to arrive at 9:30AM. They didn't. Instead they will come at 12:00PM due to a truck scheduling probably.

That's it for this post. Lack of a keyboard on my PDA impedes my "inspiration".

[Misc.] Funny funny "Dangerous Hacker!"

2005-04-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

Must read. Be patient and read till the end, you will be awarded: Total Illusions - The Forums -> Dangerous Hacker!

[Internet] Condensed history of China

2005-04-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

My main workstation is still down and waiting to be picked up by IT. Feeling bored, I decided to refresh my Chinese history. I was looking for a more in-depth version in Chinese (the language), but my laptop (PIII 700mhz, 256mb RAM, good for checking emails only) didn't have the Chinese IME setup, so I ended up searching in English and found The Birth of Modern China. It's a good short read, mainly facts with few opinions sprinkled in between. Near the end I found one paragraph I especially like. I have quoted two paragraphs, the first just leads into the forementioned one.

On the other hand, they did do their best to prop up the ailing Qing, the most notable example being the crushing of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 by foreign troops (primarily U.S. Marines). What the Western powers were interested in was the carving up of China for their own purposes, and that, paradoxically, required keeping China together.

But two things happened to prevent that. First, in 1911, the Qing dynasty collapsed and China plunged headlong into chaos. Second, in 1914, the Archduke Ferdinand told his driver to go down a street in Sarajevo he shouldn't have, and Europe plunged headlong into chaos.

Ok, it's been fifteen years since my last real grammar lesson, but is this some kind of parallelism?

[Internet] Great design: iampariah.com

2005-04-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

I came across this blog site designed and owned by Pariah S. Burke. The site's use of color and layout is unique and pleasant. It's definitely not the Kubrick theme, which is now the default theme for Wordpress 1.5.

I admire those with creativity, something that I am sadly lacking.

[Misc.] All powerful professor and his laptop

2005-04-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

It's great to be connected. Regardless of whether that's true, at least one can bluff using the right terminologies. From my experience it seems that no one should ever mess with a professor from a major university, as this laptop thief has learnt.

Update: It was a bluff and didn't work.

[Personal] “可笑”的律师公司

2005-04-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

我有一位同事正通过公司的律师办他的绿卡，“可笑”的是律师公司把文件递了上去但忘了交钱，而这钱却是我同事几月前自己出的。今天为这事我那同事气得头都疼了。

[Misc.] The way to play Dance Dance Revolution

2005-04-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

Think the "Easy" setting in Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is hard enough? Well, I for one do. The toughest songs I could ever complete are those with predictable beats from the "Moderate" setting. I have never even tried "Difficult" in my whole two years of owning my DDR game.

Anyway, there is a video of a kid who can play DDR on its hardest setting while juggling three pins! There is inspiration for you. I often wondered if those tough songs were humanly possible to complete. I guess now I know, really know.

[Moblog] BSOD

2005-04-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

I came to work this morning and was greeted by a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) on my main workstation. Multiple reboots only resulted in multiple BSODs. Only the "Safe Mode" worked but I didn't know my local login - we normally log in using network domain username/password.

My theory? Last night I left the machine to do a full compilation. Without our knowledge the IT department also pushed a patch requiring machine restart. These two must have collided in a BSOD sort of way.

I am just glad that I didn't come to work at 9am this morning (10am is typically the acceptable starting time for engineers). Otherwise I would have wasted one extra hour of beauty sleep.

[Personal] Official home ownership

2005-04-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday I am officially on record as the owner of the house. It will just be another two weeks before we move in since we gave the seller free rent-back. Our apartment is a mess with all sorts of things packed half way. Oh did I mention my bank account is pretty much empty?

[Singapore] Funny laser gun army story

2005-04-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

I always get cracked up when reading these army stories over at Days were The Those. This one is no exception:

me:"ZIU!ZIU!ZIU!"
platoon commander:"what the fuck are u doing?!"
me:"erm..."
platoon commander:"u were told to make the sounds of gun fire! wat were u doing?!"
me:"erm sir, my gun can shoot lazer."

[Singapore] Reward or punishment

2005-04-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I didn't physically hear this happen over the radio but instead only read it through this blog entry.

I can't believe that Singaporeans are being awarded for things like sleeping with girlfriend's mother. True, the radio show gives awards for the best ("deepest, darkest") story it gets, regardless of the nature. And true, it's not the DJ's responsibility to judge what is right and wrong. But doesn't instances like this just send out the message that doing wrong things can still be rewarded somehow?

[Portal AV] Cowon iAudio X5 pictures

2005-04-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

Cowon iAudio X5 - Originally uploaded by gadgetdude.

As usual, Engadget provides the scoop on latest gadgets. This time it pointed me to DAPreview, which has more pictures of Cowon's iAudio X5. Some say they don't like the "bump" at the top, but I kinda like the resulting curve. That color screen is just beautiful. Did I mention it's the size of a 40GB iPod?

[Personal] Decision at work

2005-04-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

This afternoon a colleague told me over the phone that his group has 5 openings and asked me if I am interested. Should I attempt an internal transfer?

For transfer:

That group is working on the next generation product, therefore the work would be more challenging and fun.
More interesting stuff on my Resume.
My current work is boring.

Against transfer:

Our company is not doing too well. The current product line I work on has customers and is therefore more stable. The next generation product won't have customers in the near future, so its future is uncertain.
I am doing pretty well in my current group. It's very likely that my manager will decline the transfer request.
It will be busier over there. I just bought a new house and need some free time to settle in.

I know it seems that the "against" list is longer, but then each point is not weighted equally. What to do, what to do?

[Misc.] Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Air Purifier may make air worse

2005-04-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

I was going to buy two of Sharper Image's Ionic Breeze for my new home after hearing a friend say how effective these air purifiers are. They certainly aren't cheap at $450 each (although second one is only at $225). Now I read that Consumer Reports claims these purifiers actually pollute air more by emitting "unhealthy amounts of ozone". Luckily I read this before putting down $675 for two of them. Guess it's back to old fashioned dusting.

[Moblog] Comfortable Frosty

2005-04-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Our dog Frosty resting comfortablely at home.

[Personal] Blog anonymously?

2005-04-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Something has been on my mind ever since I started blogging in 2003: should I reveal my true identity in my blog? If I do then I can probably make my blog more interesting and personal. I can write more freely and not worry about what to censor. On the other hand revealing my name can severely limit what I write online. One of the topics I like to rant about is work, and I just don't think I can write freely about work if I feel that the blog endangers my job security. Other types of complaints would probably be cut as well. This may not be bad for readers, but it does take away some of my blogging pleasure.

The mental debate continues...

Update: Here is a guide on blogging safely (aka anonymously).

[Moblog] Speed trap?

2005-04-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

Speed trap? Neh, it's just me sitting in my parked car waiting for my wife to return. Windows Media Player is playing some music, PocketIE is running in the background, and I just thought a picture is due.

[Personal] Furnitures are mine

2005-04-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

We bought a set of furnitures from a guy who is leaving the country. Today we hired movers to transfer them to a storage location. Everything went quite smoothly, and best of all, it didn't rain!

Three more weeks before I move into my new house. Yippy!!

[Internet] Craigslist + Google Maps

2005-04-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

Bloglines is my daily-visited site. For my wife that honor goes to Craigslist, a super popular listings directory. It's just too bad we have already bought a house, otherwise she might find use in this integration of Craigslist housing ads and Google Maps .

[Personal] Chinese soap 杨门虎将

2005-04-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

My wife is now into the Chinese drama Warriors of the Yang Clan (杨门虎将). When searching for a picture for this post I found out that the main actress (蔡琳) is actually Korean.

[Internet] My 5-minutes thoughts on Friendster

2005-04-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

I had signed up for Friendster before but quickly deactivated my account because I had problem even responding to a friend invitation. Now that I have played with Yahoo 360, I thought I should give Friendster another try. Because I am a geek.

It's good that Friendster no longer requires an invitation to sign up, so I just "reopened" my account using the same email address. Upon login I noticed that my previous Friendster invitation was still valid, so I accepted that invitation. Yes, I was finally able to add a friend!

Here is a quick impression of Friendster, much of it is in comparison with Yahoo 360:

Friendster displays way too many ads on every page! This is not scientific, but I feel that the two blocks of ads together occupy up to a quarter of the home page content.
Friendster's UI is bland compared to that of Y360. Y360's layout just seems more logical and appealing to me. Friendster's ads probably have some ill-effects here as well.
I like Friendster's horoscope feature. It's nothing useful, but a cute read nonetheless. I like innovations such as this.
Friendster's free blog, powered by TypePad, is served with ads. Still, it looks clean and offers features such as categories. Y360's blog cannot compete. I got 50MB of space and 0.25GB of monthly bandwidth. I can upgrade to an ads-free version for a fee.

Friendster's omnipresent ads is the deal breaker for me. Yes, they have to make money, but the ads do occupy quite a lot of space. Besides, I just see more potential in Y360 since they have more services that could be integrated.

Update: Here is a picture of my Friendster page showing the ads.

[Internet] Yahoo News redesign

2005-04-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

I came across the article Inside Yahoo News: Aggregator brings RSS to the masses via this page. The article has a screen capture of what the new Yahoo News would look like when it's released in late April. I like the new look, it's less cluttered with a UI design similar to Yahoo 360. I hope with the new logical layout Yahoo News can finally be my one-stop news agregator.

[GPS] Magellan Roadmate 700 vs. Lowrance iWay 500c

2005-04-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

Tom's Hardware Guide has a in-depth look at two portal hard-disk-based GPS solutions. For a while last year the Magellan Roadmate 700 was my favorite, so this article was quite a good read for me - it took me two days to read it, but it was a good read nonetheless. I like the screen captures, they finally showed me what the Roadmate looks like in action. The store display models could only be run in demo mode, and unlike Garmin's, that mode doesn't show what the display is like during routing.

My favorite GPS-to-be is the Tom Tom Go 700. Yap, another "700".

[Personal] Difference in a day

2005-04-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was feeling crummy because the flood insurance for the new house turned up to be tricky. Some sort of elevation measurement is required and the yearly amount will double my total property insurance. Then today the seller informed me that he has a letter that proves flood insurance is not needed. Hooray! I will probably not know whether the letter is effective until tomorrow, but that at least gives me one day to feel less crummy.

[Misc.] Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells

2005-04-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

The Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells is just what I need (if all I need are dumbbells - I probably need the whole gym). It looks like a winning concept. All you need is one set of dumbbells and just "dial" the desired weight. No racks needed to house the traditional set of individual dumbbells. Alas, the wallet needs to be heavy-weight as well to support the $400 price tag. For that price I can probably buy a cheaper Bowflex gym clone.

[Personal] Blogging and work

2005-04-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

I just realized that blogging has affected me at work in ways other than just consuming more office time. I am more "liberal" when it comes to updating work status. This may or may not be good. For example, on Friday I put something like "...the machine is sooo slow, it takes 5 minutes to..." in the customer issue updates. I think before I started blogging I would have never put such things down on writing.

[Software] Version control software recommendation?

2005-04-03T01:27:00.000-08:00

I am thinking of setting up a version control software at home for personal use, you know, for whatever pet "projects" my 10-minute attention focuses on. Of course the software would need to be open-source. I am aware of the famous CVS back from the school days, but I wonder if there is a better, more modern and user friendly offering. This webpage offers some help, but it doesn't mention the strength and weaknesses of each package. Now I am fully aware of how few people actually read my blog, but I want to ask anyway: can someone suggest a version control software for my case?

My requirements are as follows:

Mainly for single user (me). I wouldn't mind if it supports multiple users, but that's not as important.
Low resource overhead.
Command line + GUI, preferably with Explorer integration.
The basic features such as checkin, checkout, rollback, etc.

[PDA/Cellphone] TV cellphone

2005-04-02T00:39:00.000-08:00

The NEC N940 TV phone looks nice. I wonder how many frames per second one can get on that thing. Maybe it won't be a problem if it uses over-the-air signals instead of cellular data signal (like Sprint's attempt?).

[Personal] Today's work pattern

2005-04-01T23:02:00.000-08:00

Today I was working on a supposedly super hot customer issue, an issue that stops customer's production rollout. You know, one so highly visible such that the VPs give a hoot. The entire defect scenario involves about 5 steps to reproduce, and I was given a debug environment with the correct setup.

That machine was so freakishly slow! For one of the steps it could take more than 5 minutes to complete and yet another 10 to recover to a clean state. As any programmer knows, it often takes more than one debug cycle in order to identify the problem, especially if the bug is tricky and unfamiliar. So my day was spent on clicking, waiting a few minutes, analyzing, and clicking again. Who would have thought waiting for a computer could be so tiring?!

By the end of the day I managed to find the defect cause (but not the fix since it's not my area). Y360, Bloglines, and Blogger had prevented me from going crazy.

And that's no April Fool's joke!

[PDA/Cellphone] More preview of Windows Mobile 2005 (Magneto)

2005-04-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

I am definitely a PDA fanatic (and now a PDA/smartphone nut). I want to get my hands on any information on the upcoming Windows Mobile 2005, aka "Magneto". With that said, here is one more Magneto preview I just found tonight.

[PDA/Cellphone] PocketInformant 2005 released

2005-04-01T14:11:00.000-08:00

PocketInformant 2005 is released today. I had played with the beta, so most likely I will upgrade for $15. It's not a revolutionary upgrade, but I find some of the features useful. Besides, I want the latest and greatest! :)

[Internet] Gmail rich text editor

2005-04-01T00:29:00.000-08:00

Gmail rich text editor - Originally uploaded by gadgetdude.

Others have been reporting about Gmail's new rich text editor, but today I finally saw it for the first time in my account.

[Internet] More Yahoo 360 praises

2005-04-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

I like Yahoo 360, and I am certainly not alone.

[PDA/Cellphone] ROM upgrade for T-Mobile's HP iPaq h6315

2005-03-31T17:34:00.000-08:00

T-Mobile is providing a ROM upgrade for HP iPaq 6315 sold through its stores. Again, with all ROM updates, make sure you follow the instructions very carefully.

[Automobile] Move over Hummer

2005-03-31T17:05:00.000-08:00

Picture from Boing Boing.

$65,000 for this road bully? I can crush all the multi-million-dollar exotic cars out there with this "Smart Truck III". And if the "Smart Truck III" can't catch them, I am sure the ".50 caliber machine guns and anti-RPG (rocket propelled grenade) missiles" can.

[Personal] Lumped together

2005-03-31T14:07:00.000-08:00

It's funny how things tend to be lumped together and come in bursts. This past week I have been working on some customer issues. Yesterday for the first issue I discovered that it is related to a multiple-browser-window detection feature. Then today for the second customer I discovered that it's caused by the same forementioned feature.

It's not the first time this pattern has occurred. I have experienced the same in the past with bugs on different product features reported by different customers.

And now I have three customer issues to work on. I feel like a tech support endowed with the bonus of code access.

[Personal] Voodooist recommendation?

2005-03-30T22:48:00.000-08:00

We have about another month before we move out of this shit hole apartment. What makes here so unbearable is not the building itself but rather the fat assholes who live on the floor above us. This couple upstairs has a kid, and apparently they don't give a damn about others - they allow their kid to run around and pound the floor relentlessly. Sometimes the kid even plays Dance Dance Revolution, a game that emphasizes pounding! Talking to them directly didn't work. Talking to them through the apartment manager didn't work. And now the apartment manager himself wants to stay out of the dispute. How can I blame him? The female upstairs is fierce, and we are already moving in a month.

Just now the kid had more great time pounding our ceiling. I think when she grows up she will become either a drummer or a bass guitarist. Can anyone recommend an effective voodooist?

I have never hated anyone so much for so long.

[Internet] What is Ajax

2005-03-30T16:20:00.000-08:00

What is Ajax? According to this well-written article, it's:

Ajax isn’t a technology. It’s really several technologies, each flourishing in its own right, coming together in powerful new ways. Ajax incorporates:

standards-based presentation using XHTML and CSS;

dynamic display and interaction using the Document Object Model;

data interchange and manipulation using XML and XSLT;

asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest;

and JavaScript binding everything together.

Phew... I had thought it's yet another standard with which I would have to start from zero. Kinda lazy you see...

[Internet] Wordpress website and search engines

2005-03-30T16:14:00.000-08:00

According to this, WordPress website has been "making" money off search engines by cloaking irrelevant articles.

Open source or not, I just don't think it's a decent thing to do.

[Automobile] Another car blog

2005-03-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

I just found another blog on automobiles: The Car Blog. I like these sites better than traditional ones such as "Car and Driver", "Motor Trend", etc. Blogs are updated often and thus present more fresh material everyday. Personally I also like blog authors' writing style more - they are often witty and get straight to the point, unlike some articles from traditional car mags that use metaphors like there is no tomorrow.

The other auto blog I read is AutoBlog.

[Internet] Yahoo! 360 Invites

2005-03-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

"Yahoo! 360 Invites Coming In at Forever Geek", go take a look at what Yahoo 360 looks like.

Nothing too fancy and functional, but it's in beta and it satisfies my curiosity.

[PDA/Cellphone] Cellphone coverage extender

2005-03-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

I was shouting "dude, yes!" when I started reading about the SpotCell cellphone coverage extender. Then all was quiet when I read the bottom line of $900.

I so need one such device at home, just more affordable. T-Mobile coverage is just crappy in my area (or in most other areas).

[Moblog] Scenery from "dog" park

2005-03-27T11:29:00.000-08:00

[PDA/Cellphone] O2 XDA Mini xBackup

2005-03-26T21:14:00.000-08:00

Two days ago I evaluated some PocketPC software using my O2 XDA Mini. All programs had been removed because I didn't like any of them, but the uninstallations seemed incomplete and some weird behavior developed. So earlier tonight I performed the dreaded hard reset and restored from a previous backup using O2's built-in xBackup software. After getting all my data back up to date, what do you know, I am no longer able to open Pocket Outlook! Some prodding showed that "\windows\tmail.exe", the .exe for Pocket Outlook, is missing. That thing is supposed to be in ROM!

I am doing a backup right now in preparation for another hard reset. :(

Update: Ok, I know I shouldn't have created a backup (thereby over writing the older restore point) of the problematic state. The xBackup restore didn't fix the tmail.exe problem, so I ended up spending the whole night manually setting everything up again.

[PDA/Cellphone] Windows Mobile 2005 preview

2005-03-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

Magneto - Originally uploaded by gadgetdude.

PocketNow has an article on Windows Mobile 2005 Beta (Magneto). The screen shots are great, I especially like the phone application. Hopefully in Magneto major functionalities can be accessed by buttons instead of stylus.

[PDA/Cellphone] HP’s iPAQ hx7360 Pocket PC Phone

2005-03-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

"News" has it that the future HP hx7360 will have everything and more, and I mean everything: Windows Mobile 2005, 3G, VGA, huge RAM/ROM, GPS, CF, SD, 802.11g, built-in QWERTY keyboard. It will cost "a bit", but what really concerns me is how big it might be, at least considering the inclusion of VGA screen and CF/SD cards.

Update: Ok, it's fake.

[Automobile] Scion t2B Concept

2005-03-24T21:56:00.000-08:00

I am not a fan of Scion xA and xB. I kind of like tC, not because of its styling, but rather its value.

Now this new Scion t2B Concept me like. A mean looking robo-car. And the swivel chairs plus the movie projection screen? I would like to see that make it into production.

[Internet] Gmail's links

2005-03-24T21:47:00.000-08:00

Here is something interesting about Gmail I hadn't noticed before:

The links that you click on to read your mail, aren't HTML links at all. There is a slight difference in behaviorWhen you click on a normal HTML link, the action is triggered when the mouse button is released. In GMail, when you click on your mail, the action is triggered when the mouse button is pressed.

Hmm, they must have some event handler for the onmousedown event.

[Misc.] Firefox installer

2005-03-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

Tonight I upgraded to Firefox 1.0.2. The installation itself went smoothly, but what bummed me out was that it didn't remove the Firefox 1.0.1 entry in "Add/Remove Programs". Clicking the Uninstall button for Firefox 1.0.1 actually uninstalled the latest Firefox, leaving the Firefox 1.0.2 uninstallation entry useless. The fix? Reinstall Firefox 1.0.2 again. This happened every time I upgraded Firefox.

The best solution so far? Manually uninstall any previous versions of Firefox before installing the new one. I was hoping that by now this irking problem would be fixed.

Update: Looks like I am not the only one complaining about this problem.

[Personal] Less regrets

2005-03-23T13:42:00.000-08:00

Fear has been lingering in my mind ever since our house offer was accepted last week. Remember, we paid 12% over the asking price of ~$720k. (Actually I never revealed the dollar amount.) There was always the fear of real-estate market crashing and whether we overpaid for this particular house. Luckily our family and friends are pretty supportive and all claim that the house is worth it. In addition houses that just came on the market are even more outrageous, often wanting more money for less of a house. I am also glad that we had secured our loan before the interest rate went up, although mine is already 0.5% higher than one month ago when we first started house hunting.

I will be busy preparing for the upcoming move at the end of April. Hopefully by then the raining season would be over and my entire ordeal is smooth.

[PDA/Cellphone] T-Mobile pulls iPaq h6315 and offers exchanges

2005-03-23T13:36:00.000-08:00

I had a "bit" of customer support adventure with my HP iPaq h6315. My first two unit were defective, but I finally got a fully working one on the third try. I have since moved on to the execellent XDA Mini and gave/sold the h6315 to my sister, who might be interested to find out that T-Mobile has stopped selling the phone and has offered an exchange program.

[Personal] Offer accepted

2005-03-17T15:54:00.000-08:00

Last night one of our two offers was accepted. We should be moving into our house by end of April if nothing goes wrong from here onwards. The final sales price is way above the listing price, but at least the house is situated in a good school district.

After putting down so much money on a house I just don't know whether to be happy or sad about the whole matter. But I am definitely relieved that I don't have to continue this bidding war with other houses.

[Internet] Yahoo! 360

2005-03-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

Looks like Yahoo is joining the social networking and blogging world. I hope its Yahoo! 360 is not a let down like MSN Spaces.

[Personal] Tax this tax that

2005-03-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

I just got my annual bonus deposited into my bank account. 43% of it went to taxes!!!

[Personal] Attempting two more house offers

2005-03-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

Today we toured quite a few houses and really liked two of them. We will try to put offers on both and see what happens. Hopefully this time we won't be number two again. (But I also don't want both offers to be accepted.)

[Moblog] Last year's halloween toy

2005-03-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

I just don't feel like working.

[Moblog] Keyboard at work

2005-03-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

I am just bored...

[Personal] Ridiculous counter offer

2005-03-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

Today we got a counter offer for yesterday's bid. The terms are just ridiculous:

"All contingencies to be removed by the end of the day (loan appraisal, property)."
Yeah right, no contingencies on a house with ZERO inspections?!
"Buyer has to pay for all the reports."
The seller is asking for >$50,000 over list price but couldn't cover the ~$500 reports?!

All this for a house that needs some costly work? Forget about it!

[Misc.] TomTom Go 700

2005-03-11T13:58:00.000-08:00

Looks like TomTom Go 700 would be my favorite GPS device from now on (or at least until something better comes along). Hope it's available in US and won't cost too much.

It has a remote control, a 2.5GB hard disk, and bluetooth capability that allows hands-free calls and GPRS data connection via your cellphone.

The 700 boasts hands free communication by channelling the phone call from your mobile to the tom tom go unit much like a Bluetooth headset would, the on screen GUI allows calls to be answered, but it does go one step further giving the ability to access the phones contact list and to make calls from the unit.

...

Finally the last change which was widely expected is the inclusion of tom-tom's data services now branded "TomTom plus", this allows the go unit to deliver the tom tom traffic service we had previously reviewed, the required GPRS connection is made via your enabled mobile across the Bluetooth connection. The service has been broadened to go beyond real time traffic info to include weather, news and additional mapping and POI downloads.

[Personal] Busy busy busy

2005-03-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

I realize I haven't been posting much about gadgets. Unfortunately I am just preoccupied, both physically and mentally, about the house hunting. I can't even concentrate on my work during the day. At least 50% of the time I am either surfing about houses or faxing stuff to my realtor.

This afternoon we put down our fourth offer. We will know the result tomorrow. I am kind of numb by now.

[Personal] Shot down again

2005-03-08T17:14:00.000-08:00

This morning we tendered our third offer on another house, and by afternoon we already got the impression from seller agent that it won't be enough. My offer price is $45,000 over the asking price, which itself isn't exactly low.

At this rate I would be in an apartment forever.

Update: There was a counter offer, and we had to add $20,000 in order to qualify. We added $21,500 but still came in second. This is a time where I don't want my lucky number 2!

[Personal] Good week

2005-03-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

I had a good week. A promotion is coming in April and I will be getting a merit increase as well. Plus there is an annual bonus, the first ever for engineers in our company.

[Software] Picasa 2

2005-03-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

I have been using Adobe Photo Album for a few months. While its tagging is superb in organizing photos, the program tries hard to hide the concept of files and directories from users. As a result my photos are now all over the place because Adobe Photo Album automatically copies files to different destinations based on import method, and I import photos using card reader, digital camera, and ActiveSync.

I had tried Picasa 1.0 before and found it limited. Tonight I finally downloaded Picasa 2.0 and realized it's much improved than its predecessor. It offers a nice UI and flexibility to organize photos based on directories plus tags. I think I am ditching Adobe Photo Album for Picasa. Hey, it's free!

[Internet] Gmail on Pocket IE

2005-03-05T00:11:00.000-08:00

Gmail finally supports Pocket IE (or any lower-end browsers) on Pocket PCs. I just experienced it on my PDA a few minutes ago. It's not especially formatted for PDA screens, but it certainly does the job when POP3 fails.

[Personal] Sleepy at training

2005-03-01T13:05:00.000-08:00

I am bored and sleepy here on the first day of my 2-day training course. Four more hours to go before the end of day. My XDA Mini (on which I am writing this post) is going to come in very handy.

[Misc.] Robin Williams on Whose Line Is It Anyway

2005-02-28T22:06:00.000-08:00

Robin Williams is great on tonight's episode of "Whose Line Is It Anyway".

[Moblog] Waiting for airplanes

2005-02-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

It's 6:30am. We are here waiting for planes to take off and land from a nearby airport in order to gauge the noise level.

Update: We stayed until 7:30am but only heard one plane. It wasn't productive, probably because the flight schedule is different on a Sunday. We were told that typically flights start at 6:30am and you could hear planes one after another.

[Personal] Outbidden again

2005-02-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

I was outbidden again for that perfect house we were eyeing. The winner was able to pay the highest amount with full cash and put down zero contingency even though no inspections had been done.

On with the house hunting...

[Personal] 吃草

2005-02-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

我买房子后就得开始吃草了。

[Internet] Straits Times website to charge for access

2005-02-24T09:59:00.000-08:00

Starting from Mar 15, 2005, Straits Times will start charging a fee for its website.

Come March 15, access to the 10-year-old online version of The Straits Times will be by subscription only. It will be only the second internet news site in Singapore to do this after The Business Times.

Three subscription plans will be available: Readers can choose to pay $15 a month, $72 for six months or $120 for a year.

Straits Times already requires registration in order to read the currently free articles. Use Bug Me Not.

[Misc.] Knife block

2005-02-23T14:24:00.000-08:00

Cute...

[Personal] Deja Vu

2005-02-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

Just had a phone conversation with wife about house hunting. After I hung up the phone I realized that I might have dreamt of this before... Deja Vu!

[Personal] Mapquest

2005-02-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

Of the three well known map sites (Google, Yahoo, Mapquest), my least favorite has to be Mapquest. Its pages are full of ads, and their maps are small with no option to make it larger for broadband users. They also don't seem to respond to the new Google Maps threat, unlike Yahoo Maps. At least for Yahoo Maps I have seen some improvements, but nothing yet for Mapquest.

[Automobile] New Mazda Miata photos

2005-02-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

Autoblog has some pictures of the new Mazda Miata. Personally I don't like the front headlights.

[PDA/Cellphone] Pay to unlock PocketPC phones

2005-02-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

Luckily my PocketPC phone is already unlocked, but if not (or I am not with T-Mobile), I might give this SIM unlock program a try. It's not free though, and I don't know if it actually works. At least it's an alternative.

[Moblog] Some very expensive real estate properties

2005-02-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

[Moblog] Great weather today

2005-02-21T18:21:00.000-08:00

[Personal] More "incentive" to move

2005-02-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

This evening the bastards on the second floor above us were having a good time. Their kid was playing Dance Dance Revolution video game, you know, the one where you dance to the music on the floor mat? We are talking about an apartment building that's at least 30 years old! Needless to say we couldn't take the pounding and the bass, no matter how synchronized they were.

Can't wait to buy a house and move out of here.

[Personal] Found that perfect house

2005-02-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, this week we found THE house we want to buy. The asking price is a bit high, but we are hoping that will also limit the number of potential offers and thus avoid a bidding war. The offer deadline is Wednesday of next week. I really hope we can get this one.

[Internet] Competition and improvements

2005-02-14T12:20:00.000-08:00

So Google Maps gave us zooming without web page refreshes. Today I just discovered that Yahoo Maps also incorporated this feature into its offering. You still can't drag the map around like Google's, but at least when you zoom or move around (via direction buttons) in Yahoo Map, only the map is updated, not the entire web page. This is actually not hard to do in DHTML, but I suppose Yahoo just wanted that little pressure (or idea) from its competitor.

[Personal] I really like this house, but....

2005-02-13T21:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we found a 6-year-old single residence house. The asking price is acceptable. The location is somewhat convenient (can't afford desirable locations). The floor plan is impeccable. It even has a great area for my hi-fi. But darn it the airplane noise is irritating! Where is that perfect house just for me!!!

Yes, house hunting in the Bay Area is incredibly frustrating.

[Personal] House hunting journey continues

2005-02-13T19:57:00.000-08:00

We were supposed to meet will our agent this late afternoon to write an offer for a townhouse we have been eyeing. At noonish the agent called and told us an unpleasant fact she just discovered: there was a death in the property two years ago. The death was of natural cause, but it physically happened in one of the rooms. Needless to say we didn't like the news. Though it might bring down the number of offers, but it also lessened our fondness of the place. After much reconsideration, we will probably pass on this property.

[Complaint] Lousy Epson scanner Smart Panel software

2005-02-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

I have an Epson scanner which we bought two years ago. Boy the bundled scanning software is lousy. The main component is the Smart Panel "suite". Not only is the UI non-standard and confusing, it is buggy enough that tonight it took me 3 attempts just to successfully scan 6 pages.

In the first try I didn't rename the files and instead tried to batch-save them with the default "FILE00x.jpg" to the directory previously set. Nothing was saved, all I could see in the directory were the 4 previously saved "FILE00x.jpg" files, and my scans were lost because the "Scan-to-File" application had exited. I thought, fine, my mistake, I will try again.

In the second attempt, I created a new directory, rescanned the 6 pages, and tried to save them using the default "FILE00x.jpg" names to the new location. Guess what? No new scans were saved, instead I saw the same four previously saved documents, but this time in the new directory! This could not be my mistake! Unfortunately after "saving" the files, "Scan-to-File" exited and left me cursing at the screen.

The third time I rescanned everything and manually renamed all the files prior to Scan-to-File's batch-save. Finally got it to work.

*sigh*

[Internet] Google Map dissected (by someone else of course)

2005-02-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

If you are impressed with Google Maps, and who isn't, then this article is a must read. The author did a great service to dissect Google Maps and present it to the rest of the world.

[Personal] Crazy crazy real estate

2005-02-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

Today I got the final verdict on our offer on the townhouse. There were 13 offers in total. Ours was the fifth highest, so at least it was not the party clown. Our offer price was already about 8% over the asking price, but there were two offers that were 11% or 12% over the asking price! How does one compete?!

[Personal] First offer rejected, sort of

2005-02-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

Just got a call from our agent regarding the offer we put on a townhouse. She still hasn't heard anything from the seller agent, but she is pretty sure that no news by now means bad news. We would get a confirmation by tomorrow morning. Oh well, guess 8% above the asking price is not going to cut it.

[Internet] Google Maps

2005-02-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

I just came across the new Google Maps. It's very impressive, almost feels like my GPS mapping software on my PC. Even though Google map runs in a web browser, there is no page refresh when you zoom in or move around, unlike its competitors such as Yahoo Maps. Why is this good? Well, it allows you to freely explore the map by dragging the map around (or use keyboard shortcuts), as compared to click-and-wait on other map sites. Also when you maximize your browser, Google Maps automatically zooms its map to maximize the available space. It does directions too, though the route isn't visible when printed on a black/white printer. I also wish Google Maps allows some degree of personalization like Yahoo Maps, e.g. saved addresses.

[Personal] Incredible real estate market

2005-02-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight we just sat down with our agent to come up with our first offer on a real estate properly. I don't have much confidence that our offer will be accepted, and we are just treating this as an exercise. The real estate market in the Bay Area is simply crazy. For the same amount we are putting down for the townhouse, we can actually buy not one, not two, but three standalone houses in other states such as Wisconsin.

[Misc.] No negative apartment ratings?

2005-02-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

Techdirt pointed out an article about how an apartment complex owners are trying to sue people who post negative reviews of their apartments. The web site is Apartment Ratings, which I have visited when I was looking for apartments. Certainly some stories sounded bogus, but many of them seemed legitimate, especially when I compared them to my own or friends' experiences on those exact apartment complex. Yes, you can sue when the stories are false, unfortunately I believe that most of them are true.

By the way, you can use Bug Me Not to gain access to the very original article in Chicago Tribune.

[Personal] Tour of duty

2005-02-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

Right now I am doing my annual tour of duty in cold/flu/fever land. For the past few years around Dec or Jan I always manage to catch something. My mom commented the other day that as a teenager I used to grow taller after each annual recovery, but I suppose now that I am older and have done all the positive growth, I can only "negative-grow" stuff instead. You know, stuff like wrinkles and sagging chin.

This year it all started with a light fever, followed by one week of nonstop coughing, and finally succeeded with one more week of cold. Sure, I can't breath properly and I feel drowsy half the day, but I feel the ordeal is near its end: my wife just caught my cold, and based on past history, my discomforting days are numbered once that happens.

[PDA/Cellphone] iPaq Mobile Messenger looks impressive

2005-02-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

[Image from Brighthand]

Brighthand has a story with pictures and details on the upcoming HP iPaq Mobile Messenger. It's unconfirmed whether the pictures are real, but the Mobile Messenger will have a GPS receiver and GoodLink software (for push emails, I think, more for corporate world) plus support for GSM/GPRS/EDGE. The screen resolution is a bit low at 240x240, so I hope that will keep the device small. After using the XDA 2 Mini, I can't go back to the typical PDA size anymore.

And I thought HP is going downhills in the mobile device area. Let's hope this one gets better quality check than HP's 6315.

Update: Looks like this thing is not going to be small at all.

[Complaint] T-Mobile coverage and support, again

2005-02-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

About 2 weeks ago I gave credit to T-Mobile for its improved coverage near my apartment. Looks like the good coverage via roaming is short lived. Last night both my wife's and my phones failed to register on ATT Wireless' network, thus kicking us back into the stone age of 2004.

Hoping this is temporary, I called T-Mobile to see if they have any additional information. After being transferred from customer service to tech support, I was told something like "if it works it works, if it doesn't it doesn't". Remember last time I was told there was a new agreement between T-Mobile and ATT Wireless? Apparently this tech support personnel doesn't know about it and asked me to find out from ATT Wireless.

And I actually liked T-Mobile for the past 2 weeks.

[PDA/Cellphone] T-Mobile MDA IV

2005-02-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

[Image from Engadget]

Not yet in US, a bit big and heavy looking, the T-Mobile MDA IV does have impressive specs including a VGA screen and all the wireless connectivity options possible (including 3G).

Update: InfoSync has bigger and better pictures.