Jiving your site with Gizoogle

Want to sound like you're speaking jive? You can use the site called Gizoogle to translate your words into jive. Just enter the webpage that you want translated and you'll get your text translated. Well, I've tested this and this is what this post will be like if it is written in jive.

Wizzy ta sound like you're speak'n jizzy? You can use tha site called Gizoogle ta translate yo words into jizzy. Just shot calla tha webpage that you wizzy translated n you'll git yo text translated. Wiznell, I've tested this n this is what this post wizzy be like if it is written in jive.

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.

Free up space on Mac OS X

If like me, you like to trim unnecessary stuff of your Mac, this is a useful and educational site on how you can free up precious space on your system. Just be careful when you start your process and not remove important files.

Travel with only one bag

Packing a travel is actually an art, or is it science? Regardless, it's much more convenient to travel with one bag than be weighed down by tons of your luggage. Onebag.com is a wonderful to explore if you want to check out how you can travel light, telling what you need to take on your trip, what to take them in, and how to pack your stuff. Great for smart travellers.

SXSW 2006 Music torrent downloads

If you're looking for free, legal music to fill up your iPod, check out the collection of MP3s for this year's South By South West conference in the link below. Featuring music from the Showcasing bands playing at the event, there are two separate torrent files that you can grab. In total, there should be about 900++ MP3s in these torrent files which will probably add up to more than 2.5GB of music. Enough to fill up your iPod, or at least if your's is a 4GB nano.

In case you think that the MP3 files are fillers or throwaway music, think again. You'll be able to find gems and some interesting bands in this collection. A great way to discover new music.

Birthday Lunch

Lunch with my wife @ the Soup Resturant during her birthday recently.

Mother of all Lists

Lists. They're a great way to put down useful information. You can have a list of useful stuff, or you can have a list of not so useful stuff. Whatever the case, we have made one or more list during our lifetime. Now, how about sharing those lists that are useful to other folks? Well, Listible is a web resource that puts together various useful lists. On the site, there're things like a list of "Top Free Anti-Virus Software", "Creative Commons Music", and even "Sites to download free and legal MP3s". Really quite a nifty little resource.
Link

The System of the World @ The Tower of London

Neal Stephenson is one of my fave writers and his trilogy called the Baroque Cycle is certainly a most interesting romp through the age of enlightenment. To provide readers with visuals of some of the locations found in the volume called "The System of the World, notlikecalvin has posted a Flickr photoset of locations in the Tower of London where some of the action takes place. So if you want to see the real life locations where the actions in the book take place, go take a look.

Custom LEGO creations

Saber-Scorpion's Lair has some really great looking custom made LEGO creations. There's a series for HALO, Metal Gear Solid, and even Lord of The Rings. I don't think that we will be seeing offical Master Chief Minifigs from LEGO any time soon, but it is certainly great to see fans taking the initiative to create sets of their own. Nice.

Classic Apple

Classic Apple
Originally uploaded by Gremlink.

It is strange how some things that you kept for years become items with historical significance. My wife found this classic Apple logo in her box of memories. To have a classic logo in one's hand is like holding on to a piece of computing history. Seeing where Apple is now and also the fact that the Mac has replaced the original Apple line, I can only say "wow" to how far tech has brought us.

LEGOd Video Games

Skinny Coder has posted a series of video games scenes recreated using LEGO bricks on Flickr as a series of photos. Some of the games that were "LEGOed" include NES classics like Metal Gear, Duck Hunt and Bionic Commando. For those who are more attuned to current games, there's a version of Katamari Damacy, or is it Blockacy... Impressive.
Link

Apple and Nintendo - long lost connection?

Okay, take this link with a pinch of humour. The Go Nintendo site has a series of images that shows the curious and coincidental connection between Apple and Nintendo products. Who knows? Will there one day be a product that brings the two cult brands together?

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A moment of light & shadow

A moment of light & shadow
Originally uploaded by Gremlink.

Caught this interesting image this morning. The sun was shining into the dinning room and cast an interesting image onto one of the chairs.

Instantly upload screenshots to Flickr

This is a useful tool with a clumsy name. Flickr and WEBIMAGER is a freeware that lets you capture screenies and quickly send them to your Flickr account for the world to see. Great if you don't want to manually go through the process of logging into Flickr, touch up the image, upload the image... by which time you may have fallen asleep.

Exhaustive list of Freeware Alternatives from Neowin.net

I've mentioned one too many times that freeware is great. There have been a number of freeware lists that I've featured on this blog, but this is suppose to one exhaustive list. It's actually pretty good until you find out that it's more Windows-centric. Mac folks will have to dig further in other places for a similar list.

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Soft-mod your Xbox

Here is a step-by-step guide (complete with pictures) on how you can turn your gaming machine into a media streamer. Well, if you didn't know that pimping out your Xbox can be that easy, now you do. All you need are just some free software, a Mech Assault game, a Datel Xbox Action Replay, and some patience.

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RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use

Oh my goodness... has the RIAA gone bonkers? Actually, they've been that way for some time. Anyway, it seems that now the RIAA is arguing in a DMCA rule-making filing that copying for personal use ( such as copying to an iPod) is not fair-use. Read this link on Electronic Frontier Foundation to find out what RIAA is doing to you and your music.

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Search Amazon and NLB at once

This fellow has come up with a really, really useful Web 2.0-type service called Book Jetty for book lovers in Singapore. What it does is that you can search for a book on Amazon, and it'll also simultanously look for it in the National Library catalogue. Essentially, you can look for a book that you want and then see if it's available in the library. Or if you want a book from the library, you can at the same time find more info on the book in Amazon.

Useful eh? Absolute time-saver, I'd say. It's still in BETA so there may be some bugs and it may not be optimised in terms of speed. Still, it's a terribly useful application. Two thumbs up! Just hope that Amazon or NLB won't shut it down with silly reasons like "copyright".

Playing with Sand is fun

There's this thing on the web called the Falling Sand game and it's really a dirt-free way to play with falling sand. Running on Java code, some have called this game really "zen"-like. It's so popular that there's a "Hell of Sand" version with not only falling sand, but stick figures.

Now, Owen Piette has taken this whole sand box fun to a new level by coding a version with C/C++ so that you don't need a web browser to enjoy the calming effects of falling sand. It's amazing and certainly a therapeutic way to waste your time and experience Zen too.

IPTV box?

Is this the IPTV box that will be in our homes soon? It'll be great to have a media center box where you can have access to thousands of movies on demand.

LEGO Star Wars The Original Trilogy

Following the success of the prequel Star Wars LEGO game, LucasArts is going to bring those cute brickhead minifigs to the original trilogy. It's cure great news for LEGO Star Wars fans. But we will have to wait till 2007 to play these games if the release date is any indication. Also, it'll be available on seven platforms. Won't GBA and Xbox be really at the tailend of their product life cycle in 2007? Still, it's good news that new games will still be available for these "aging" platforms.

Old times

Spotted these old school records at the food court in Wisma. Totally retro. Since they are displayed out in the open, hope no one will nick them. Hmmm... I wonder what the record sounds like.

DivX on XBox360

Using the Xbox360, you can watch the videos on your Media Center PC, but only if they are in Windows Media format. Of course, clever hackers are changing that and providing a solution that will allow you to watch DivX and XviD files. There's also another solution in the works called Transcode 360. Hackers are certainly stepping in to fill the voids...

Seamy history of videogame sex

Sex in video games. It's certainly a hot hot topic for some. 1up.com has up on their site a feature on the "Secret History of Videogame Sex". It looks at some milestones in games that has to do with sex, or sexier aspects of games, such as the introduction of Lara Croft, the busty girls of Dead or Alive, the notorious BMX XXX, and of course, the Hot Coffee thingy from GTA:SA.

Androids dream of electric sheep screen-saver

Electric Sheep is an amazing screen-saver. It is open source which means it's free and works on PCs and Mac. What it does it is that when it is activated, it will communicate with other computers on the Net to create amazing looking fractal like images. You have to try it to see how amazing the images created are.

Mother of all torrent list

On the Web of Knowledge blog, there is a torrent site and resource listing that could jolly well be the mother of all torrent info. It groups the various sites into categories including unsigned bands, bootlegs, educational, etc. Some are perfectly legal while others are a little on the wild side. You decide.

Web browsing in 3D

3D certainly beats 2D by 1D right? If you believe so, check out this neat 3D web browser that allows you to display pages in 3D. Called uBrowser, this app will allow you to look at web pages from different angles. Don't know how useful or usable this really is, but it's fun while it last.

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No games regulation please, thank you

Games regulation seems like a necessary evil. Especially with controversy of games leading to violent behaviour and containing certain undesirable content (think GTA and Hot Coffee). However, there are still some who thinks that games should not be regulated. On the Next Generation website, an opinion piece by John Geoghegan, former VP of global marketing and sales for LucasArts, argues for a hands off approach to games. The chances of this becoming a reality is remote, but gamers can still dream.

Using the Quicksilver Trigger

Quicksilver is one of the best freeware that is out there for the Mac. It is truly a powerful tool and there's a "trigger" feature that will certainly make you a power user. However, the feature is a bit difficult to start using so this website has a really useful tutorial that'll help you start to use "trigger" on your QS.
Link

Lego iPod Dock assembly step-by-step

Apple's original iPod dock is a tad expensive, if you ask me. If you really want one, and you're a LEGO fan, you can follow the step-by-step pictures and build your own LEGO iPod dock. Just follow the picts that're posted on linuxmatt's Flickr photo set.
Link

Pictures of Treo running Linux

Can a Treo 650 actually run Linux? Well, different versions of Linux is suppose to be able to run on certain devices. And some folk seems to have managed to boot and run the GPE 2.7 version on a Treo. I don't know if it is true but the pictures that are posted on the website seems real enough. Go see it for yourself and decide.
Link

The Future of the iPod

What's next for the iPod? This article from ShortFlip.com posits everything. From the display to the capacity of the device, from the design to the OS running it, the piece is a comprehensive and interesting look at the iPod that you'll be carrying in the years ahead.

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Games are good for you

Games are big business, if you believe the figures that compare revenue from games to that of Hollywood. Maybe that's one of the many reasons games are under attack from certain US politicians. Can't be help really, the more popular one is, the more people will "hate" you for it. Anyway, if you're sick of hearing the why games are bad, here's something upbeat that will cheer you up. Modulo26.net has a piece that looks at why games are good for you. This is my favourite line from the article

...games are not a waste of time-nor are they only for children.

Something that I've known to be true for a long, long time.

Read fast and faster

Too many books, too little time. This is what book lovers and readers will tell you. So what can you do? Well, you can take up speed reading. In truth, some folks think that speed reading is the magic drug for those with plenty of reading materials to digest, while others think that it is all bogus. Regardless, you might want to pick up some of the useful tips that are found on this web page to help you to digest information on printed pages faster.

The Singapore Elections Rally Archive

The Singapore Elections is coming soon and some folks on the Net are trying to collect and archive the rallies that will be held during the period. Pretty ambitious but all possible with today's technology.

Not everyone can attend all the rallies. Not every rally is televised or covered. Hence the purpose of this blog.

If you attend a rally, any party's ally, and record it as video or as audio, digitize it, and upload it to Google Video, then send us the link. We will post the links to the recordings so that all Singaporeans can watch and listen to the speeches for themselves. Please record the rally speeches without commentary.

Link

Seen @ Art of Star Wars exhibition

View All

I finally got a chance to go to the Art of Star Wars exhibition at the Singapore Science Center. It was quite an experience to see the actual art and props from the movies. However, the total number of things there are quite limited. Still great though.

Build Your Own iPod...

... or more accurately, create your own flash memory-based MP3 player. This website will teach you how to make your own player that uses standard MMC or SD memory cards with sizes up to 1GB. Well, it's definitely not an iPod from a design perspective, but it probably can do the job. For the tech-minded.

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Fixing Windows with Knoppix

There are times when your Windows system just won't work for you. This is where the Penguin will save your files. With a Knoppix Linux distro, you can use it to help recover your computer and data. ExtremeTech guides you through the process of fixing Windows with Knoppix, which includes resizing Windows partitions, solving key system file problems, and recovering data. Useful stuff.

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The truth behind Steve Jobs' $1 yearly salary

We've heard about Steve Jobs getting paid only for $1 a year. Is that all there is to it? MSN Money digs deeper and unveils the fine print behind CEOs getting only $1 in their paycheck... In truth, they are compensated much, much more. I won'd mind getting a $1 payslip if the compensation is as generous as what these CEOs are getting.

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Carry your apps around

PortableApps.com has come up with a suite of applications that you can carry around on your portable storage drive. Included in the collection are a web browser (Firefox), email client (Thunderbird), web editor (NVU), office suite (OpenOffice), word processor (AbiWord), calendar/scheduler (Sunbird), IM client (Gaim) and FTP client (FileZilla). It's like a Swiss Army Knife of applications, if you ask me. Go grab it and become an instant road warrior, without the computer.

Looking into Google's future

Everybody loves Google. The extremely useful search engine has become the de facto search engine of choice among many Net users. However, one really wonders what Google will be like in the future. CNNMoney.com has an interesting article that attempts to look at the future of Google and they have enlisted the help of some notable folks to help them gaze into the crystal ball.

What kind of company will Google become in the coming decades? Will it succumb to hubris and flame out like so many of its predecessors? Or will it grow into an omnipresent, omnipotent force--not just on Wall Street or the Web, but in society? We put the question to scientists, consultants, former Google employees, and tech visionaries like Ray Kurzweil and Stephen Wolfram. They responded with well-argued, richly detailed, and sometimes scary visions of a Google future.

The 5 Problems with Videogame Journalism

Firingsquad.com has an insightful piece on five things that are wrong with videogame journalism today.

In the last year, a lot has been said about videogame journalism and the problems of the field. There is a belief that gaming reviewers play into the hands of the marketing machine instead of being actual critics who can help to improve the quality of the content such as is the case with the film and music industry. One fundamental problem is that reviewers never get the chance to experience the game the same way you do.

A good read.
Link

How to Get Great Sleep

Psychology Today has an article that examines sleep and by understanding our sleep cycles, we can make use of methods to help us get a good night sleep. Good for those times when you can't seem to fall asleep.

Delete does not equal erase in an iPod

If you think that deleting the MP3 files off your iPod means that you're throwing them into the limbo and never to be recovered, think again. Apparantly, Apple has built in some features that keep the data in storage, and even features that allow them to dig in and find out where the data came from. Scary eh? You can read more about that on a CNET article that reveals how the hard disk on your fave music player could haunt you, since deleting data doesn't mean that you're removing that same data from your iPod.

Make your own paper Serenity model

Wow... Browncoat rules! This guy has made a paper model of the spacecraft Serenity from the Firefly series. Also on the page are plans of the model so that if you're as fanatic a Firefly fan as he is, you can build your own paper model too.

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Batmobile spotted

Did the Cape Crusader get evicted from the Bat Cave? If so, he must be staying somewhere in the North Beach Road area.

Play with the Google logo

Some guy has come up with a version of the Google logo made with dynamic Java code. You have a logo that is made of sparkling granular-like sand and when you move your mouse pointer over it, it will swirl and then reform. It's simply beautiful and cool.

Looking inside the new Macs

Are you curious what the inside of your Mac looks like? For those interesting in getting to the guts of your machine, this site has pictures of various Macs, including the new Intel iMac, with their guts exposed for the whole world to see. Well, now I can know what's in the inside of my 12" Powerbook G4 without having to perform surgery on it.

SpyMy - a Digg clone?

Digg is great, and when something is as successful as Digg, someone will be looking to clone its success. Well, it seems that some folks from Malaysia has decided to do a Digg clone and it's called SpyMy. Instead of digging a story, you "Spy it". Rip off? You decide.

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15 Tech Concepts You'll Need To Know In 2006

Scienctific and tech breakthroughs won't stop for anyone. To help you keep on the bleeding edge, Popular Mechanics has come up with a piece that you should read if you want to know the tech concepts that you'll be hearing about in the coming year. Don't know about AJAX or Mobile WiMAX? Go read this.

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Hobbit house in miniature

A Tolkien fan has meticulously recreated a dollhouse version of Bilbo and Frodo's house from the Lord of The Rings. Every little detail is there from the bedrooms, to the kitchen, to even the little ornaments the adorn the walls. Amazing.
Link

How to deal with telemarketers

Nobody likes telemarketers. If that is so, why do we still receive so many unsolicited calls? Well, here is a counterscript that you can use if you get a call from telemarketers. Instead of becoming the victim, be proactive and start asking them questions. Maybe this can help you tip the balance... since telemarketers follow a script anyway.

The Last iPod Video Guide You’ll Ever Need

The folks at Plastic Bugs have put together something that every 5G iPod owner should read. It is a comprehensive guide on almost everything you'd like to know about putting videos on Apple's popular music player. So if you're planning to use your iPod to view videos, this is a guide that you should read. Oh, it's for Mac users only.
Link

Play with virtual LEGO bricks

Ever wanted to play with LEGO bricks on your computer? Now there's a tool to let you use any number of bricks to virtually do up your creation, without having to worry that you don't have enough bricks. This software is called LEGO Digital Designer and is made by LEGO. Use it to build anything you want, then if you really want to make it real, you can subsequently go ahead to buy the real bricks. For those who don't have enough cash, well, this software will give you hours of virtual LEGO pleasure.
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10 gripes about Mac OS X

After using OS X for some time, I would have to say that Apple's operating system is simply sweet. However, it is not the perfect OS. Perhaps there will never be a perfect OS, some may say. Still, Informit.com has a piece that states 10 items that is annoying about OS X. Some of it is quite true and when you think about it, it is annoying that OS X does some of these things. Read and learn.

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Another Star War LEGO Movie...

It's always great to see LEGO movies. This time, it's one called the Han Solo Affair featuring our fave scoundrel in the galaxy. Fun stuff.

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Behind a Steve Jobs Keynote

With MacWorld coming up next week, Steve Jobs keynote during that event will be the most anticipated event, especially for Mac fans knowning that the head Apple honcho's keynote is akin to a great performance and there will certainly be something interesting that will be announced. But do you know what goes on in the prep for his keynote? On Guardian Unlimited, former Apple employee Mike Evangelist gives you the scoop behind the Steve Jobs show.

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Battle using Google Earth War

Someone once did a Risk-type game using Google Map. However, it was shut down due to some copyright issue with the actual Rish game. Now, some one even more brilliant has come up with another cool battle-type game using tools from Google Earth. Here, players generate revenue to fund their armies and you can also start or join alliance. Great for those diabolical minds with a head for world domination.

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Help to find the Linux distro you need

Finding the right Linux distro for your own use may be a bit of pain if you don't know where to start. This site is here to hep and it uses a series of questions to narrow down and pick the Linux distro that's best for your needs. Useful.

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Learn Japanese with RPG

Learning Japanese is fun if you use this RPG game. This is a game that uses all the familiar RPG conventions that helps you learn the Japanese language. In the game, you play Knuckles from the Sonic universe, and you go on exploring the world an learn Jap. Sounds fun. Apparently, you can learn Indonesian and German with this too. The only cryptic thing is that the game is called "Knuckles in China Land". Going to China and learn Jap? Strange...

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Free online file storage and sending

If you're looking for some ways to store or send files online, this is something that you should check out. The CreativeGuy website has come up with a list of online file storage services and/or large file size email sending services. Everything on the list is free and you can read what features and the kind of restrictions that the services have before you decide what to use. Handy.

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Blog Software Comparison Chart

Thinking of starting a blog in the new year? Well, with all the various blogging software out there, you may wibder which service you would want to use. Here's a handy comparison chart that you can use to check the various features that each of the software has. Great for everyone thinking of registering for a blog. The only gripe I have is that there is no comparison of pricing.

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Free Software for Starving Students

Happy New Year everyone! So what's in store for the new year? Well, maybe the best way to start the new year is to get something free. The link below will bring you to something that's called Software for Starving Students. It's a CD that you can burn and contains a number of freeware that you can use. They are truly useful stuff and versions are available for Windows and Mac. Even if you're not really a starving student, the collection is still great if you're looking for some free, useful software to use. What better way to start a new year by getting something free, or even better, burning it for your friends for free?
Link

Hack to download tunes from MySpace

Many indie bands put up their tunes on MySpace. You can listen to them using the embedded player, but you can't download them and play it at your own leisure on your MP3 player, if the "download" option is disabled. Now, there's a hack that lets you grab any songs from the site. Nice workaround.

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