Gmail Skin!...change the look of Gmail

If you want to do some tinkering and change the look of Gmail, there's this little little how-to on how to change Gmail to have a .Mac look. Maybe Gmail should look ahead and introduce skinnable interface for Gmail, that would be rad.

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Tips to search on Google effectively

I guess most of us have used Google for most of the searches that we perform on the Internet. So, it's not a bad thing that we review some tips that will help us do our searches. This article has some tips that will perhaps help you find the things that you want in the wide wild world of cyberspace.
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Play D&D, not MMORPGs

A fan of RPGs? Well, it seems like the folks who started this whole phenonemon is striking back at the virtual versions, the MMORPGs. Yes, it seems that there is a Dungeons & Dragons ad out there that is encouraging folks to play the real table RPG over the virtual one. The copy on the ad is great fun...

If you're going to sit in your basement pretending to be an elf, you should at least have some friends over to help. Dungeons and Dragons: Get together. Roll some Dice. Have Fun.

SHE roped in to promote World of Warcraft

Seems like Blizzard is going all out to attract gamers in China to
play World of Warcraft! There's even this Coke commercial featuring
the gals from the pop group SHE where computer-generated versions of
the pop trio dressed in fantasy warriors outfits fought an evil record
company exec who turns into an orc. The ad is to promote Coke and the
co-branded Coke-WoW website. Maybe Coke is the drink that will fuel
you when you're playing WoW. What happened to the standard gamers'
preferred drink of choice to keep you awake playing hours on end...
Red Bull?

TIME interviews Neil Gaiman & Joss Whedon on geeks

Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon are two of my most admired folks creating sci-fi/fantasy stories right now. Neil Gaiman is the author of the Sandman series and also many other books. Joss Whedon is the creator of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. Their works have such an influence on today's pop culture and I believe they will go down in history as key figures in pop culture. Here, they're interviewed and they also gave their perspective on their fan geeks. Yeah, I'm proud to be one such geek.

If your neighbour is the Simpsons, this would be their house

There's actually a house that looks exactly like the Simpsons House in the cartoon series. The walls are painted in vibrant cartoony-like colors and everything looks like they just pop out from the cartoon. Like Bart would say... cool dude!

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Windows Vista to boot in 2-3 seconds.

Booting up a PC is such a chore. You can go fix a cuppa, come back to your PC, and your Windows may still be booting up... just kidding, but not too far from the truth. The new Windows Vista may change all that. From the new Microsoft Windows Vista Website, the Redmond giant is claiming that "A Windows Vista computer starts and shuts down as quickly and reliably as a television, typically within 2 to 3 seconds." How true will that be? We'll have to wait to find out...

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Mac user thinking of switching back to Windows...

This piece is written by a fellow who has used a Mac and is thinking of going back to the Wintel platform. Now that I've used both Mac and Windows, there are some points in his long long list that I agree with, but some of them seems to be just unjustified. Well, all I would say is to read it, then personally try out both platforms and come to your own conclusion.

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Legal music downloads in Singapore, but not for iPod users

The Straits Times has a report that to battle illegal music downloading, the RIAS and the music industry is getting young people to download legal music by offering discounts on legit music for university students on online music store Soundbuzz. Soundbuzz is one of two legal music download sites in Singapore. The other is ;Play. However, there's one thing that is oft overlooked. The files offered on these music sites are DRM protected in the form of WMA files. This means that those cool teens with an iPod cannot play music from these stores. Does anyone else see the problem/irony here? Apple's iPod is one of the most popular digital music player ever, but if you're using it in Singapore and listening to music, you're probably listening to illegal downloaded tunes. Unless you're only listening to tunes with a Creative Common license or you're talking about those bands that are explicitly allowing their music to be shared and downloaded, which probably does not include your regular pop artistes ruling the airwaves and the pop charts. You may be listening to Podcasts, which is another story entirely.

Remember, previously, someone pointed out that ripping music off your own CDs is also illegal in Singapore. Now, that is really strange right? In short, for Apple iPod users in Singapore to be using their device legally, they can only listen to Podcasts and other "free" downloaded music. You're actually not suppose to listen to Green Day, U2, MayDay, and any other music with labels who are members of the RIAS.

Ah... the whole farce and perils of legal-vs-illegal music and the usage of digital music players in Singapore. We live in a ridiculous world!

Cleo's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors (The Kana Sai Edition)

There is this really funny piece on the Cheeky by nature blog. The author has written a spoof of the "Most Eligible Bachelors" articles you find in magazines. It's really funny, so read to find out.
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Huge huge huge toy collection

If you love toys, you've got to check out this guy's toy collection. This must be one of the biggest toy collection I've seen, ranging from Spawn to Star Wars, from Simpsons to Clerks. You gotta wonder how much this fellow spent on all these toys.

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The Complete Codec Pack for XP

The XP Codec Pack is suppose to be one of the most complete codec pack around. What's a codec pack you ask? Well, in simple layman terms, it's to help you play most major audio and video files in oyur media player. If you want to view media files that you grab from the Net, this easy-to-install package will help.

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BitTorrent clients compared on a Wiki

If you're still searching for the right BitTorrent client, check out this table on Wikipedia. There's an interesting table that compares the features of 25 different Bittorrent clients. Take a look and take your pick.

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Put a KDE on your Mac

AppleTalk, the Ozzie Mac community, has put up a guide on how you can get the KDE desktop running on your Mac. If you're up for some experimenting and ready to tweak your Apple machine for some Linux-based fun, check it out.

GBA SP Gets Brighter

This is so unfair. The GBA SP gets a brighter screen and I'm stuck with the older one which has a dim screen. At least it's better than those folks who got the original GBA, which comes without a backlight. This is the progress of technology for ya.

Since stores are still stocking the original Game Boy Advance SP systems with the older front light technology, the way to know when a system has the new backlit LCD is pretty obvious -- Nintendo isn't hiding the fact that they've made the swap, since they brand the boxes with a huge "Now with a BRIGHTER backlit screen!"

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Free sci-fi audio books

Sci-fi writer James Patrick Kelly is offering up a couple of his short stories as downable MP3 audio files. These audio short stories are offered under a Creative Commons license and many of them have been published in Sci-fi mags such as Asimov's Science Fiction. If you're a sci-fi reader, you should head over to his site to grab these goodies now.
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Opera Web Browser is now free

Yes, you used to have to pay to get rid of the banner ads in the excellent Opera browser. Now, the company has decided to give it out free, without the banner ads. Windows users can start grabbing this great and feature rich browser. Seems like the browser wars is really starting to heat up.
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Plague in virtual World of Warcraft.

Think you can only catch the plague in the real world of flesh and blood? Think again. It seems that there's actually a plague spreading throughout the MMORPG called World of Warcraft. An epidemic in the virtual world... that is so cool, unless it's your avatar that's being infected.

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Is an iNote tablet on the horizon?

From its almost "gone" state, Apple is now once again on the cutting edge. Hence, an analyst looks at Apple's recent hardware release, including the iPod Nano, and speculates that that perhaps a tablet computer from Apple is on the horizon. The article must not be entirely predictive, but it sure does gives an insight on Apple's product strategy. So perhaps the Apple Newton will have a successor?

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Straits Times offering free Dashboard Widget

Hmm... someone working in Straits Times must be a Mac-head. They are offering a Dashboard Widget for the Straits Times Interactive where you can read the headlines and possibly the lead of the story. You would probably still have to be a paid subscriber to read the full article.

Since Konfabulator is available now for free on both Mac and PC, why not offer a Konfab widget so that Mac and PC users can use it? That'll actually reach a wider audience than just one that's for the Tiger OS. Let's wait and see if they do that.