Forum on the 2006 Singapore General Election at NUS

The blog called "Rojak or the melting pot" has a great coverage-cum-commentary of what happened at the Election forum held at NUS. If you're interested in all the action that is leading up to this year's GE, you may want to read this. It's a great read.

World largest video games collection

Want to know what it feels like to have all the games that you want to play in your house? On the VintageComputing.com site, you can find an interview with someone who might possibly have the world largest game collection. There're pictures too of games stacked on shelves and all over the floor. Believe me, that's a lot of games. Head over to see if you don't believe.

Desktop wallpapers for the Designer-type

Wallpapers are a dime a dozen. A large number of wallpaper are simply crappy. Great looking wallpapers, are however a little harder to find. Joey Interactive has put together a list of sites with kick-ass looking backgrounds for your desktops. Check them out if you are in the mood for changing the look of your computer workspace.

Full length Zelda movie by fans

A Zelda fan site is taking their love of the Zelda series to the extreme by working on a full length feature film with a plotline that's based of the Ocarina of Time game. The site has a trailer up and according to the site, the film is "nearing the final stages of production, with just animation and CGI left to complete." More power to these Zelda fans and do check out the trailer.

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DRM is Killing Music

I love this... 'nuff said. Yes, I stole it from here.

Election rules for the Net in US

With S'pore's General Elections around the corner, it's important to note that when it come to political campaigning, the Net, at least for S'pore, is not a free for all. Interestingly, the US has also come up with regulations to do with political speech and ads on cyberspace. Just another note that there's no such thing as "free", even on the Internet.

Sashimi goodness

Sashimi goodness
Originally uploaded by Gremlink.

My wife brought me to this obscure Jap resturant which is in the building behind Orchard Point. Never expected a place like this to have such nice and tasty Jap food.

Chelly in a jelly

Chelly in a jelly
Originally uploaded by Gremlink.

We see those funky and funny mis-spellings on Japanese signs and we laugh. I actually never expext to see one of such signs in Singapore.

I actually saw the sign at a Jap confectionary shop. The sign says that they are selling "seasonal sweet chelly covered with lightly sweetened jelly". Must be jolly good kind of cherries.

tvRSS: TV Syndication via RSS

If you're looking for a way to keep up with the torrents of some TV shows, tvRSS is a good place to start as it brings together the links for various TV shows that you can subscribe as RSS feeds. Nice use of RSS.

Composing Word docs without Office

Web-based apps have come a long way. This one is simply amazing because it has the potential to replace your Office applications. AjaxWrite is a word processor that you can use in your browser. You can compose your document, and choose to save it as Word, text, and even rich text format. So it you have a perpetual connection to the Internet, you can throw away your MS Office suite. Will we be seeing an AjaxExcel or AjaxPowerpoint soon?

Performing diagnostic on your iPod

If you're wondering what else you can do with your iPod, here's a list of ways that you can run diagnostics on your iPod. These are probably the ways Apple use to find out if there's another wrong with the player before it ships or when you send it in for repair. Included are things like the way to test your scroll wheel to scanning the hard drive. Try them out, if you dare.

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Looking inside Windows Vista

Want to know what Windows Vista is all about? Well, CNET is carrying a story that's written by the Gamespot folks on everything you need to know about the new Microsoft OS. It is written from a gaming perspective so if you're a gamer, you'd be doing yourself a favour to read this and prepare for the big upgrade to Vista come next January.
Link

Finding music with Google

The Google search engine is indeed powerful. With the right search tips, you can actually tailor your search to look for specific MP3s. The page has tips on how you can do that. It's quite simple really... just use this:

intitle:index.of "mp3" +"U2" -htm -html -php -asp "Last Modified"

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LEGO aircraft carrier

This is just so amazing! It's an aircraft carrier that's built from LEGO bricks. The size of that thing is enormous very amazing.The pictures even show some of the interior of the ship, and there're all the minifigs staff running the craft too. See these pictures in the link below.

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Build your own Home Theater PC

If you're tired of waiting for a PC that can be used as a Media Center, why not build your own? Here's a step-by-step text and picture guide explaining how to set up every aspect of a home theater PC. It covers everything from hardware to software. Try it out if you're the handy, techy sort.

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Sneak peek at Windows Vista

Want to know what the new Windows OS looks like? Here's a site that has screenies of almost everything you could be curious about the OS.

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SXSW conference where MPAA was blasted

One of the panels at the recent SXSW conference is one on The Future of Darknets. Apparently, according to the Powazek website, it became a MPAA bashing session when the MPAA rep on the panel was introduced.

What followed was an hour-long firing squad as one audience member after another directed angry questions her way. The feeling of pent-up frustrations with the movie biz was palpable, especially as her claims of flexibility and excitement within the MPAA to find "creative new solutions" to the problems raised by the audience rang more and more hollow, the more times she repeated them.

It'll be interesting to be actually at the conference to hear what happen and thanks to the power of podcasting, you can as the audio file is made available. Some video clips are available too.

XP-on-Mac, it's true!

I mentioned previousle that some folks have got WinXP to boot on Intel Macs. Seems like this has been confirmed to be true. In fact, the method to perform this amazing feat is now on the On Mac site. Also, the folks who did this is also about $14,000 richer. Once this thing is stable and proven to be easy-to-use, maybe it's time to start considering an Intel Mac as a viable system to replace my Windows-only systems.

In case if you still don't believe that it is true, CNET has done an interview with Nederkoorn, the fellow who organised the contest to get WinXP to boot on a Mac.

Find Music from TV and Movies

Sometimes when you watch a TV series or movie, you'd hear a tune that's so catchy and wonderful that you wonder what that piece of music is. Well, now you have a resource that'll help you identify that tune. Tunefind lets you search for a particular TV series and list the songs played during a certain episode. Handy.

DRM sucks battery life

Is your MP3 player not playing as long as it should? It's probably because of the DRM. According to tests conducted by CNET, if you buy music with the PlayForSure DRM or Apple's FairPlay DRM, you'll find that your music won't last as long on your MP3 player because battery life is reduced by up to 25%. Seems like we consumers are getting the short end of the stick with this whole DRM thing. Stick to ripping your CDs (which is actually illegal in Singapore) or grab your music from non-DRM music source. Yes they are out there if you look hard enough.

Windows XP Is Now Bootable On Intel Macs

If the news is true, Mac users can now boot Windows XP on Macs with the Intel chips. When Apple started shipping the Intel Macs, users have wanted the ability to dual boot so that they can load Windows XP and OS X on these machines. To encourage the search to achieve this, On Mac took donations and is offering up the money to the first person to be able to boot WinXP on the Mac. Now, it seems that someone has done it. Read the linked story for more info. It seems, though, that we'll have to wait for the instructions to appear before we can really say that it's true.
Link

Massive collection of LEGO instructions scans

Want to see what all the LEGO instruction booklets are like? This site has all the scans of LEGO booklets you ever dreamt of. You can probably spend your time browsing through the scans and wishing that you have the actual sets to play with.

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IPTV: A Primer

IPTV could very well be the next big thing for TV content. In the not so far future, you'll be able to get most of your programming from IPTV. So what's IPTV? Ars Technica has a great intro to what this technology is and what it means for consumers. Read and learn.

Using Google to seach files

Hackers are so innovative. Using some special searches, these folks are able to search for specific files (and file types) using google. on this G2P site, you can find music, files, using an interface that's quite easy to use. You can actually already do such searches in Google now, but this gives the search a easy to use interface. Search away...

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13-floppy disk RAID

Want a RAID array? Do it with floppy disks. 13 of those, to be exact. On the linked site, you can see pictures and also a video of how someone building a RAID storage with floppy disks and 6 USB hubs. It's pretty amazing what bored students can do.

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The Firefox Superbrowser

Firefox is a great, great browser. One of the best things that it can do is that it can use extensions. These babies can add functionality to your browser and make using Firefox really fun. This guy on Splasho has decided to make his own Superbrowser by loading 100 of the most popular extensions at the same time. The result is a cool, cool browser with plenty of functions, but a toolbar that probably takes up a large percentage of your screen, and a right-click context menu that is one of the longest that I've seen. The best thing is, the app remains stable. Mind blowing.

Sync iTunes with non-iPod player on a Mac

Previously, I highlighted that you can use a non-iPod player with iTunes on your Windows machine with iTunes Agent. Now, you can do the same thing on a Mac. With this software, you can sync yout iTunes songs into a PDA's memory, a removable hard disk, and one of those MP3 players that will be recognised as a hard disk when you insert it into your Mac (Creative players, anyone?). It's pretty useful for those who wants to use iTunes but don't have an iPod.

The zen of presentation: Gates vs Jobs

Those of you looking for some tips on improving your presentation may just want to take a look at the article posted on the Presentation Zen site. It compares the contrasting presentation style of the head honchos of Microsoft and Apple. I believe those who want simplicity will get something out of this.

Caught the Shuffle bug

Caught the Shuffle bug
Originally uploaded by Gremlink.

I finally caught the Shuffle bug, a year after its release and probably at the end of the product's cycle. I used to think that the iPod shuffle is an overhyped product. I still think so, but the way it integrates with iTunes makes its usage a no-fuss experience.


Caught the Shuffle bug
Originally uploaded by Gremlink.

Since I was looking for a cheap flash-based music player, and one that works with iTunes, my choice is pretty straight-forward. Now, I am the proud owner of a 1GB Shuffle that can withstand some amount of rough handling. Hey, I can now go jogging with a music player that can withstand shock. It's great.

I've also found a really useful page on MacDevCenter.com with great tips and tricks on how to get the most out of the Shuffle.

Real Life Simpsons Intro

If you've seen The Simpsons, you'd know what the intro to this popular animated series looks like. But what will it look like if the Simpsons are not animated characters but real life actors? Someone has done the intro to this TV series as a real life video and it's amazing how well they've managed to pull it off. Check it out on YouTube. It's really cool!

RIAA Radar: Check if an album is by RIAA labels

The RIAA has done some silly things. If you want to do something about it, for example boycott the buying of albums released by labels who are members of RIAA, you can use this website called RIAA Radar to search for albums and see if that album is from a RIAA member. This will help you to make informed decisions about your music purchase. Great for the activist in you!

Top 10 Strangest Lego Creations

You can use LEGO to build almost any thing. On the Techeblog site, they have listed the top 10 strangest creations made from LEGO bricks. From BrixPod's classic iPod Shuffle case to a LEGO Harpsichord, these are all amazing LEGO creations. Amazing and strange, but true.

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Use normal MP3 players with iTunes

Seems like there is now a way to use your generic MP3 player with iTunes. This software called iTunes Agent enables you to use a non-iPod device with iTunes, "just" like an iPod. In fact, any device that will show up on your Windows machine as a "removable drive" can be configured to be synchronized with iTunes. Neat.

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Are gadgets getting too costly to fix?

It seems like trying to get your damaged gadget repaired is so expensive that you'd do better by buying a brand new one. Is there a conspiracy going on in the tech world that force consumers to buy new gadgets rather than repairing them? Someone please tell me.

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Australian government report warns of dangers of DRM

A special committee in Australia formed to look into copyright and DRM issues has released a report that actually recommended that the existing DRM and copyright regime should not be as harsh and have to be balanced against public rights. It is a refreshing thing to hear considering that corporations are pushing for restrictive DRM measures that will end up screwing us, the consumers in using digital media. It's a pretty long report but it should be read if you're concerned about DRM issues.

Are Games Addictive?

Gamasutra has a great and well-thought out article on whether games are really "addictive".

To keep this article in perspective, we're talking about games. Recreation. Stuff that people do for fun. Even if it were possible to remove the proverbial nicotine, or addictive ingredient, would we want to? If it takes the fun out of games, then the answer is probably no. We still have responsible players who count on us for quality entertainment. But who knows? Perhaps laborious, calculated efforts to create that “healthier” game will help one developer to produce the most exciting game ever. In any case, there are people who do seem to have serious problems with gaming, but there are also people who watch too much TV, or spend too much time reading. Do these other media forms face criticism, or a looming threat of legislation? Not really.

Addiction is complicated. To revisit the introduction's caveat: this article isn't intended to transform you into a trained clinician. Instead, it's meant to shed some light on the very basics of addiction. It also shows why some of the research deserves to be viewed with a critical eye. Some people do have problems with games; that's getting harder to discount. What we can do, as game creators, is understand that a problem exists, and try to understand research advances as they occur.

Why Windows Vista Won't Suck

ExtremeTech has an article on why Microsoft's next OS won't suck. It takes apart the marketing hype and goes into quite a bit of detail on the various features that operates under the hood of the upcoming OS. Thankfully, the details in the article are not so complex that you'll turn into a space cadet. Great read for everyone, especially if you plan to find reasons to upgrade when Windows Vista comes out later this year.