My new 5G iPod

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Yes, I've decided to upgrade to the latest and greatest iPod available now. The package arrived one day after the order was placed and when it arrived, all was sweet. Can't wait to enjoy the new iPod goodness.

World of Warcraft erotica

World of Warcraft is a virtual world. As in the real world, there will be folks there who think about sex and erotica. It's therefore no surprise that a group of erotica-minded folks will be using WoW for their fantasies. These folks have created a forum called Darknest to indulge in their fantasy. They have even created a bunch of nude skins for the characters in WoW. Never thought that I'll actually see a topless orc.

Dungeon crawling, LEGO-style

When I saw this site called BrickQuest, I told myself this has to be the coolest thing one does with LEGO. But then again I thought, using LEGO for other things are as rad too.

Anyway, BrickQuest uses LEGO to build a dungeon that can be used for fantasy boardgaming. The site also has rules on how you can play the game and plans for you to build your own LEGO dungeon. Dungeon crawling in a LEGO universe is so cool and cute too.

Ten Bloglines Hacks

I love using Bloglines. In fact, it is my RSS reader of choice. The Micro Persuasion site has a piece on ten ways you can get more out of Bloglines. Love those hacks, I really do.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones viral marketing video

This is an extremely funny video for the new POP:TTT game. I don't know if this is a fan-made thingy or it's actually an official video for a viral marketing campaign. Whatever it is, it's really funny. It shows flesh and blood humans, that's folks like you and me, attempting the stunts that the Prince can do in the game. The results are side-splitting. Since I'm currently playing the Warrior Within, this sure is funny to me.

My 4G iPod

Not the latest but still good. This is after all a test post to the blog.

GremSpot on the move

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I am starting to use SplashBlog to post some photos. Quite easy to use and is faster than using email to post to Flickr. Look out for more picts coming your way.

PocketMod: The Electronic PDA killer

Well, your trusty Palm or Pocket PC device is your best friend, until it starts to act up. In comes the PocketMod. This is probably the electonic PDA killer because it's just... you guess it... paper. The Pocket Mod is called a disposable organizer. Using a flash-based app, you can choose what kind of paper you need, e.g. sheet with guided lines or week view page, then print it out on a piece of paper. You can then fold it into a handy book-like format that you can carry around with you. It's the ultimate note card and PDA, rolled into one. The developer has even come up with a PDF to PocketMod converter. Truly useful for those times when you can't depend on your PDA.

Top popular podcasts

Want to know what are some of the popular podcasts around? Popcasts is a site that aggregates the various podcast charts around the Net. At a glance, you'll be able to see what other folks are listening to on iTunes, Podnova, Odeo, Podcast Alley, and many more. Nice to see what folks on different places are listening to.

Logos of the world

If you're looking for logos of various brands, here're two web sites that you can find many of the brands and you can download their logos for your use.

• Brands of the World
  
• Logotypes

P2P's effect on music sales

Does file-sharing affect music sales? I guess the answer depends on who you're asking. This article on The Long Tail looks at a fascinating paper that has been released on the economics of P2P file-sharing.

...it does indeed depress music sales overall. But the effect is not felt evenly. The hits at the top of the charts lose sales, but the niche artists further down the popularity curve actually benefit from file-trading.

Well, it seems that if you're a listener of mainstream, label-driven and marketed music, then file-sharing hurts. But then, who needs to support these manufactured musicians anyway? I say, support the niche, indie musicians.

There's another interesting summary of this research here.

Apple imitator?

We know that long, long time ago, there were Apple clones such as Orange and Pineapple. Of course, these clones don't exist anymore because Apple has been pretty tight on the infringement of their trademarks and copyright. Today, I say this in the Straits Times.
It's an ad by a cellphone retailer, and the company is called Apple Telecom. We know that Apple is also the name of the company that The Beatles started, and it's also the name of a newspaper in Hong Kong, so why not a cellphone retailer in Singapore? But look at the logo. Doesn't it resemble the actual Apple logo?
The difference is that the leaf on the top of the fruit is on the left instead of the right, and the fruit itself has not been eaten. Uncanny, isn't it? With Apple going hard on the companies using the iPod name, I wonder if the Cupertino-based company will come down hard on Apple Telecom?
What's funny is that 5 pages later, there's an ad by ishop, an Apple authorised reseller.

Transformers costumes

This has got to be the coolest costumes ever made. This fellow has created a series of Transformer costumes that can actually transform! If you're going for a costume party, wearing these will certain make you the Prime (pun intended) attraction of the party. Now, you just have to be prepared to be US$3700 poorer, or simply hope that the creator of these costumes release his design on the net as open source.
Link

CD case Origami

Sometimes, you just don't have a CD case or covers. This happens especially if you're burning backup CDs. This site has an interesting mini-project where you can fold a piece of paper into a CD case.

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Xbox360, smashed

The folks at Smash My [insert gadget name here] has done a brilliant follow-up to their iPod smashing antic. This time, the target is the much sought-after Xbox360. With the rumoured shortage of this console, doing such a thing may be sacriligious to some. Still for those bent on destruction of bright shiny new electronics, it's some fun. And with the various reports that the Xbox360 is actually unstable and crashing, smashing one may not seem so far-fetched. Although we would not encourage you to do it if you're short on cash or if the machine you have is the last one on the planet.

If you've spare CPU cycles, help fight AIDS

Previously, if you'd some spare CPU cycles that you can spare, you can join one of the couple of grid computing projects around such as SETI@home. But if you think searching for aliens is not such a worthy project, now you can contribute to a more noble cause and contribute in the project to find a cure for the deadly AIDS virus. All you have to do is download and install a piece of software and it will utilise your free CPU cycles to aid in this distributed computing project. For those not too keen to help out on the AIDS cause, there's also a Folding@home project which aims to collect data on how to find cures for protein-folding based diseases like caner and Alzheimer's.

Watch iPod videos on the TV cheaply

The folks at Apple are really sneaky. If you try to play the videos on your 5G iPod using a standard A/V-to-RCA cable plugging it to your TV, you'll probably be out of luck and think that you'll have to shell out some cash to buy the official Apple-approved cables. Well, you don't have to because the sneaky folks at Apple has simply switch the outputs in the cables. To beat that, you just have to switch the way you plug the standard cables into your TV and set your iPod to the right settings. This tip on Macdevcenter.com gives you the details. So save some pennies and get a normal cable, no need to always fork out hard-earned cash and bow down to the Apple merchandising machine. Just because Apple makes something doesn't mean you have to buy it.

So here's what you have to do:

* Plug the red RCA plug into your TV's yellow RCA jack.
* Plug the yellow RCA plug into your TV's white RCA jack.
* Plug the white RCA plug into your TV's red RCA jack.

Creative Commons music for everyday

This is something called CC:365. The idea here is to deliver a Creative Commons song using RSS feeds every day of the year. So for those sick of listening to major labels crap and want to experience some good quality, free music, subscribe to this. The songs featured will be from a wide variety of artists you've probably never heard and genres you may not even be familiar with. I say, what a great way to explore new music.

The ultimate LOST theory

Okay. Those who are watching LOST will certainly be wondering what the series is leading to, let alone the meaning of the series. This forum post on 4815162342.com has a grand theory on what is happening on LOST. It's comprehensive and complete with screenshots from the series to explain everything. Magnetism plays a large part in this theory and it makes a great deal of sense. But then according to some happenings in Season 2 (I'll be silent on this for those who have not watched the second season), the theory is just blown out of the water. Hmm... maybe even the producers of the show don't know what is gonna happen... that's my theory at least.

Great desktop art from Pixelgirl

Looking for cool desktop wallpapers? Pixelgirl has enough to get you drolling, and hoping that you've a couple of virtual desktops to place all these wallpapers on.

The Ultimate Guide to Google Services

We love Google... really we do. Google is so much more than just a search engine. It is also a mail service, a blogging service provider, and so much more. If you want to know what other Google offerings are available, you need to go to Tipmonkies to see the ultimate guide to Google Services. Google taking over the world? Maybe pretty soon.

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Useful IP search tool

This is a pretty useful and nifty tool for looking up DNS. The DNSStuff site contains a number of tools to look up info on DNS and IPs. One of the more useful one in the list is the "City from IP" tool where you can enter an IP, and find out which city that IP is from. Can't really know the accuracy of the result but at least when I entered my IP, it works.

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The LOST Numbers Reference Guide

4 8 15 16 23 42... LOST fans will be going crazy wondering what these numbers mean. A fan of this intriging series has started a reference guide on these numbers and looking at the ways these numbers work themselves into the episodes of LOST. If you're conspiracy-mad, like most fans are, you'll enjoy this site. Now, where was the last time I saw 4 8 15 16 23 42 appear?

NES-ified hit tunes

Ever wondered what some pop tunes will sound like if played from a Nintendo's NES audio system? Wonder no more. Head to the link below to download some cover tunes of 16 pop songs. Some of my fave songs are covered so it's going to be syn-tastic.

The Mario recital

Previously I blogged about a blindfolded pianist who played the Super Mario theme. This is even better. These guys in the video are playing a recital of the Super Mario theme on a marimba, together with some stage performances such as capturing of the 1UP mushroom, and even Princess Peach made an appearance. This is absolutely great and is a must-see for Mario fans and fans of Nintendo. These guys should go on tour.

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LEGO minifigs built a computer

This guy called Andy L sure has a sense of humour. He has posted an account of how his LEGO minifigs helped built the computer that he is using. Not a bad job for a bunch of LEGO figures!

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Evening of the Reanimated Corpses-a Wiki movie

Wikipedia has become more than just a source for information. Someone has posted a movie script there hoping to turn it into a collaborative project. Interesting concept indeed, but for now, the folks at Wikipedia has locked access to the script to prevent other people from vandelising it. We'll just have to wait and see how far this project can progress.

Update: Seems like a Wiki site dedicated to scripts have been set up and it's available at www.wikiscripts.org. A couple of scripts are there so if you're for some collaborative writing action. Check that out.

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Ten ways to really make use of Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the best example of how Wikis can really be useful. This website gives you ten ways you can really make Wikipedia works for you. Totally useful for those wanting to make full use of the socially-created online encyclopedia.

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The top 20 geek novels

The Technology Blog on Guardian has a list of the top 20 geek novels as voted by their readers. The list is really a good place to start if you're looking to read some great tech or sci-fi tomes. Of the 20, I've actually read 15 of them. Those that I've read are in bold. That makes me a true blue geek right?

1. The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams 85% (102)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell 79% (92)
3. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley 69% (77)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick 64% (67)
5. Neuromancer -- William Gibson 59% (66)
6. Dune -- Frank Herbert 53% (54)
7. I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov 52% (54)
8. Foundation -- Isaac Asimov 47% (47)
9. The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett 46% (46)
10. Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland 43% (44)
11. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson 37% (37)
12. Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38% (37)
13. Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson 36% (36)
14. Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks 34% (35)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein 33% (33)
16. The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick 34% (32)
17. American Gods -- Neil Gaiman 31% (29)
18. The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson 27% (27)
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23% (21)
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham 21% (19)

VNC using Flash

There's now a VNC client available in Flash. This means that you don't have to install a VNC client to connect to a remote machine with VNC installed. All you need is a Flash player. Can't wait to try this out!

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"Lost" numbers widget

If you're a fan of the TV series "Lost", you'll enjoy this Konfabulator Widget. It replicates the computer found in the underground chamber in "Lost" where every 108 minutes, one has to key in the number sequence for the timer to reset. What happens when you don't hit the "Execute" button when the timer runs out? Well, you try out and tell me.

What font is that?

This one is a useful website for those font fanatics, or just about anyone who wants to know what font is used in a document, design banner, etc. All you have to do is upload an image of the text, and it'll recognise the font that's being used. Really useful for designers or if you want to do a spoof of something using the same fonts.

What does an average face looks like?

This is an interesting website of a project called "The Face of Tomorrow" that takes pictures of folks in various cities, and then combining their faces to form a composite picture. The end result is a supposedly "average" face in that city. It's really interesting and it seems that the "average" person looks pretty good, actually.

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RIAS does what RIAA does

The crackdown by RIAS on illegal music download has began. There is actually evidence of letters sent to home internet users regarding the alleged infringment of copyright. You can read the details on the linked website.

What's inside Microsoft's Xbox 360

The good folks at Anandtech have done it again. These hardcore hardware folks have opened up the Xbox360 to give those who are curious a peek inside the innards of Microsoft's latest gaming machine. For those who are too afraid to open up the box, since it'll void the warranty anyway, you can head down there to check out the insides of the Xbox360.

Barenaked Ladies on a stick

On a USB stick, that is... The Canadian band Barenaked Ladies is experimenting with a new way of delivering their music. They are going to sell their music on a 128MB USB flash memory drive. Interesting way to sell your stuff, but I wonder if the tunes on the stick have any sort of DRM...

...a USB flash memory drive containing songs, videos, and exclusive content from the Barenaked Ladies, and will go on sale November 22, 2005! Essential for any BNL fan’s collection, the 128mg USB flash memory drive (about the size of your pinky finger) is a fast and easy way to share music, videos, pictures and other data. It is PC/Mac compatible, re-usable and incredibly low priced at $29.98 (close to the same cost of the device on its own with no special content). It will be available on Amazon.com and Werkshop.com (Nettwerk’s online merchandise store), and will also be sold at all BNL shows this winter.

Open source free beer... I mean Mac software

We all love getting free stuff. Here's a list of Mac software that're free for you to grab. Yes, free as in the air you breathe is free and "everybody loves free beer". Support open source!!!

Xbox 360 Hardware Porn

The Xbox360 is out in the market. For those of us not in the US, we still have to wait some time before we can see the machine, let alone get our hands on it. So for those who can't wait to get the skinny on the new gaming machine, 1up.com has a feature that looks at the machine in its bare glory. Hardware porn like this beats real porn anytime.

Use Pandora to discover new music

If you're a music lover, you'll probably be looking out for bands or songs that are similar to those that you like. Pandora is a great tool for that. you can create your own radio station by typing in the band or song that you like, and a playlist will be created that has songs that are similar to what you've entered. It's simply a great way to explore new music and bands. One does have to have an Internet connection and has to listen to the songs via a web browser though.

Bluetooth on iPod

Want to receive the audio signals from your iPod using a Bluetooth headphones? This guy has hacked a Bluetooth headset to do that, and he explained how he did it in a Comic book bubbles form. Interesting.

Star Wars meets Transformers!

If you're both a Star Wars and Transformers fan, now you can have a toy that combines the best of both universe. It's the power of the Force meets the power of the Allspark and Hasbro are releasing Star Wars vehicles that are actually robots in disguise. There's a TIE Fighter that turns into Darth Vader, Jedi Starfighter that turns into Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Wheel Bike that turns into General Grevious, and (probably the coolest) an X-Wing that turns into Luke Skywalker. They're all so cool!

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iPodder Lemon now called Juice

The lawyers at Apple has done it again. iPodder was my first podcasting client and it's free. iPodderX is more powerful but nothing beats the simplicity of iPodder. Now, the legal cats at Apple are going after this GPL-based client. So, the folks of iPodder are now changing the name to Juice. It's sad to see these big companies going after the smaller ones, even ones with little profit motive. I guess iPodderX will be next in Apple's gunsight, and I wonder what the iPodderX folks will change the name of their software to.

29 no-nos for gamers over age 30

Joystiq has a list of things that if you're a gamer of over 30 years old, which include yours truly, shouldn't do. A fun read like one of the item which reads... "Pirate games - shouldn’t you have an income by now?"
Link

Backward Compatibility on the new Xbox360

If you're concern about the backward compatibility issue on the new Xbox360, you should go read this comprehensive Q & A on the Xbox website regarding this. Todd Holmdahl of the Xbox Product Group answered in much detail how the backward compatibility thing will work on the new system. Seems like those who're still not tired of Halo can still have their fun on the Xbox360, with conditions, of course.
Link

Watching all six Star Wars movies simultaneously

Star Wars fans are obsessive, none more than this fellow. He watched all six movies at once! If you want to experience just a fraction of what he has done, head to his site.

So all six Star Wars movies are out on DVD now, and I said to myself: I have nothing better to do, and there are so many parallels between these movies as it is, it'd be fun to see how many interesting things line up with each other if I watch all six movies simultaneously.

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Sony-BMG's infectious CDs

Recently, it has been discovered that Sony-BMG has been using a copy-protection technology on their music CDs where if you insert the disc in your PC, a software will be installed automatically using rootkit technique used by virus writers, and it will create problems with your system. The EFF site has put up a list of CDs that contains this software and also provided tips on how you can recognise CDs with this software.

Makes me wonder why music companies are doing such silly things to cause mistrust among their users. No wonder I don't feel like buying new CDs these days... but thankfully, Macs are immune to this problem. Good thing I'm ripping my CDs on a Mac.

Playing RISK using Google Maps

Google Maps has many uses. One of those is using it to play games. The link below will bring you to someone who has used Google Maps to play the game RISK. It's a fun way to use Google Maps. I bet Google didn't expect someone to use the map this way when they open up the API of Google Maps for folks to use.

First iPod-specific torrent tracker

Here's what the iPod video users who are also BitTorrent users are looking for. The site called Podtropolis is suppose to offer plenty of content for the iPod via BT trackers. The legality of this site is however, dubious. Still, when there's a demand, a website will spring up to serve the demand.

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The Ultimate Torrent Finder?

If you're looking for a way to search various Torrent sites at once, you should head over to this link. Massive.

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Game design in WarioWare

WarioWare on the GameBoy Advance is one of the most interesting games I've played. It is actually a perculiar game where you go through many many mini games. It's so interesting and out-of-the-ordinary that Game Studies, an online journal of computer game research, is looking at how WarioWare can teach us about games. Interesting read.

WarioWare, finally, is fascinating because of its message to game scholars: we can reflect upon games by making them. Experimental games are a powerful tool for thinking about and communicating ideas about games.

How to backup blogs

Backup... that's the keyword for everyone using computers. So if you're running a blog, and you don't want your entries to get lost due to some unfortunate incidents, you'll want to backup. But what if your blog is not hosted locally? Well, Lifehacker has the info you need. Go read it to find out what applications you can use to backup your blog, on Mac using WebGrabber and on Windows using HTTrack.
Link

Dreamcast & Xbox360 compared

Gaming site 1up.com has a piece comparing the eerie similarity between the dead and buried Dreamcast console from Sega and the upcoming Xbox360. Will Microsoft's second console be the end, just like Dreamcast? Only time will tell, but for now, you can read... and speculate.

The sound of silence

This one is totally bonkers. I love listening to podcasts because they offer something that regular FM radio can't, i.e. interesting and relevant content. But what about listening to nothing? Some folks have come up with a podcast that's really about nothing. It's called "Silent podcast" and it's, well, completely silent. They even have a link in the iTunes Music Store. Maybe silence is really golden.
Link

How the Death Star Works

The Howstuffworks website has come up with another gem. Following their explanation of how the lightsaber works, this time, they're looking at the ultimate weapon of destruction, the Death Star. It's an educational read, especially if you're a Star Wars geek with a sense of humour and may think of living on the Death Star one day.

Tours on the Death Star last at least 180 days and usually much longer. Personnel are often in deep space without leave for months at a time, and since the location of the Death Star is always classified, contact with family or friends is strictly prohibited. This can make life on the Death Star very difficult. To ease the burden of this duty the station is outfitted with many civilian amenities. The general sector of each zone in the Death Star has a park, shopping centers and recreation areas that include restaurants, a cinema and fitness centers.

The Cult of iPod

The iPod culture has certainly become a big big thing. Playlist Magazine has a really insightful look at what the iPod has done to our culture and transformed us into an iPod nation. Well, other branded MP3 player manufacturers won't be too upbeat about that.

Just as no one predicted the iPod would be such a smash hit, no one foresaw its effect on listening habits, the music business and the culture at large.
...
Thanks to the iPod, everybody’s a DJ—or an MP3J. MP3Js are amateur DJs who spin tunes off their iPods and gather at clubs for “iPod nights,” or iParties. These iParties started at New York’s Apt. nightclub, which connected a pair of fully-loaded iPods to the club’s sound system. Customers took a deli-counter ticket and when their number came up, they had seven minutes to showcase their musical taste. Now there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of clubs and pubs around the world that let people bring their iPod and take a turn being the DJ.

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