By MV on Tuesday - Nov 13, 2007
Since we only had cable TV in less than 1 year it’s understandable that I have not seen this documentary in 2006. It’s National Geographic: Fight Science. It’s great that Nat Geo played a replay of this documentary.
What interested me is not how they compared the martial arts. In fact, the documentary hardly compared which martial art is the best. It only distinguished what are the qualities of the best martial art and what techniques delivers the most damage. They also proved that legendary techniques are true such as the legendary death punch. The goal is to separate fighting fact from martial myth.
The engineers used a $150,000 Hybrid III biofidelic crash test dummy filled with sensors. It can determine the strength of the impact and the damage to the tissue relative to the blow. In weapon testing, they used human torso made of a material that mimics the density of human flesh. They also used motion capture to simulate the action in full 3D.
Martial arts featured: boxing, tae kwon do, kung fu, karate, muay thai & jiu-jitsu. Weapons featured: kali (Arnis), bo staff, nunchaku, three-section staff, bow & arrow, shuriken (throwing star), dao (Chinese broadsword), jian (Chinese straight sword) and katana.
Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/fightscience
Posted in Randomness |
By MV on Tuesday - Nov 6, 2007
There’s a lot of buzz going in the internet about the so-called “Gphone” since late December 2006. Google is yet to reveal a true Google phone. For now, we get the Android platformwhich is part of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) that was announced yesterday.
What is Android? From what I know so far, it is an OS, middleware and key mobile applications. In other words, it’s a software stack. It’s open source. It’s based from Linux kernel. It should be able to optimize and maximize the potential of the mobile phone’s hardware resources. There’s an SDK to be released so users (more or less developers) can customize the phone in different ways they can imagine. It will enable the phone to access the web. It can combine information from the web with the individual’s mobile phone to create relevant user experience. Android can also provide access to many libraries and tools that can be used to develop rich applications such as a P2P social application on your phone.
Now that you have a platform, partner that with a stunning touch-sensitive mobile phone and you’ve got a true iPhone competitor. Way to go Google. I’m not a fan of Apple iPhone so Android is definitely welcome. It’s just disappointing that after all the hype, news and raves about Google finally releasing the “Gphone,” that we only get to see the tip of the iceberg. If Android becomes a success, and if the Open Handset Alliance lives up to its expectation, I’ll buy it.
I think what’s more exciting is how many enthusiasts will create application for OHA, and will OHA create a new revolution in cellphone industry much like how Linux competed with Microsoft in desktops and servers? Only time will tell.
Source:
Open Handset Alliance
Google Blog: Where’s my Gphone?
Posted in Insights | Tagged cellphone, Google, iPhone |
By MV on Friday - Nov 2, 2007
Where is the Google love? I still haven’t seen the new UI for Gmail in my inbox. Apparently, my account has not received the upgrade yet. Maybe it’s randomly assigned. I’m using my Gmail account everyday — an avid user — why I haven’t seen the new version yet? I’ve been waiting for it ever since the first rumor came out.
While everyone is discussing the new features and showing off screenshots, I’m still here, waiting anxiously. I really hope that the new UI will be activated in my account soon.
Update:
I’m surprised to see that the “loading…” message in my account in Gmail had changed from red to yellow so I knew right away that my account is already using the new version. From what I have ‘felt’ so far, what I’ve read is true. There is a slight slow down when scrolling page. However, I noticed that there opening email from inbox listing is now faster. I think that the javascript is pre-fetching the content of the listed email so it now loads faster.
Posted in Randomness, Websites | Tagged Gmail, Google |
By MV on Friday - Nov 2, 2007
I’m testing the new Yahoo! Messenger version 9.0 beta and it’s quite stable. It has not crashed on me yet or gave me any serious problem.
Few things I noticed in this beta version is the ‘detailed’ listing of friends. You have an option to go back to classic ‘compact’ friends list if you don’t like this new format. The plug-in area is now cleaner and is collapsed by default. Maybe Yahoo Messenger dev team have noticed that very few liked many plug-ins opened so they decided to let the users activate the plug-ins one by one instead. This is good because casual chatters won’t bother what those extras are anyway. What’s more obvious now is the phone-out balance, placed on top to remind you on your available phone-out credit. A new group to show address contacts is visible by default but it can be disabled in ‘show/hide’ option from the menu. The small ad banner at the bottom is still there and cannot be disabled.
The skins are improved and you can easily change them depending on your mood. You just have to click the orb-like thing near the minimize button and you can access new skins — orange, green, blue, purple, pink, violet and brown. These skins are more artsy now because they sport unique vector art unique for every color. In version 8.1 you only have 3 skins to choose from so you have to download extra themes in order to get more colors but version 9.0 has 7 themes out of the box. Not entirely useful nor useless but it’s neat to have these new themes by default to suite your style.
For the message window — still no tabbed options. I don’t know how useful it is for typical users but power users have been screaming for this feature quite some time already. If 3rd-party chat client such as Trillian can have it, why not YM? Down to the core feature of the new IM window, you can now preview links to pictures and videos right in your IM window. It’s really convenient when you are showing off pix or vidz from the web to your friend. There are new emoticons for this beta release but I have not checked if there are new hidden emoticons. You may want to invite your friend to get the beta release because the current version (8.1) cannot render them yet.
YM 9.0 beta has an option to forward calls to your mobile phone, pretty much like Skype-in, and yes, you should have a ‘phone out’ credit to use this feature. Sending SMS to a friend is now well integrated in YM just like ICQ. Good news to Philippine local users because YM is now localized so it has better support to text messages. I tested it and the text messages are transmitted from mobile phone to YM chat window, and vice versa, almost instantly.
To share a few disappointments, there are things I am not happy about. If you are using picture avatars instead of the default Yahoo flash avatars, I noticed that there is a bit of distortion on your friend’s avatar in the IM window. Sometimes the dimension is correct, sometimes, it’s a bit stretched. It’s irritating to look at. Then, they removed the option to reveal/hide your avatar and your friend’s avatar separately in the IM window. Now, you only have the option to reveal or hide both avatars at the same time. But why? Why would they remove the option to hide your avatar? I’m happy to look at my friend’s avatar but viewing my avatar in the main window and the IM window is redundant already, that’s why I miss the separate hide option for each avatar. This new beta also has a bit of increased RAM usage.
Anyway, if you want to improve this new version of YM drop your feedbacks to Yahoo Messenger team. You can also report some bugs if you encounter one. So far, in the duration of my test, this beta release is very solid and stable so don’t hesitate to try it out.
Link: Yahoo! Messenger beta website
Posted in Reviews | Tagged chat, IM, Yahoo |
By MV on Tuesday - Oct 30, 2007
I really wonder why I’m still stuck with my old ATI Radeon 9550 graphics card after reading this review. It is already aged and it still uses AGP. Unbelievable. I totally skipped PCI-e version 1 because I’ve read that new graphics cards are now shipping for PCI-e 2.0 already.
As much as I like to upgrade, I pushed back my computer upgrade this coming Christmas ’07 instead of last year’s. Then I’ll ask this question again. Do I really need an upgrade? My cheap-o-meter will instantly tell me that I don’t need an upgrade soon because my computer is still good for my work. Most of the times I’m running 3 different web browsers (Mozilla, Opera, IE) and a couple of multimedia applications. Overall, I’m still satisfied with the speed of my computer in image manipulation and compressing or uncompressing zipped files. I could play games in medium settings smoothly. Maybe I’m just excited with all these technologies that I am missing so I’m itching to get my hands on these products. What makes me excited are the following: Intel Core 2 Duo, Nvidia 8800 series, DDR3 Corsair memory modules and liquid cooling system. Man, if I can just buy all these on December, I’ll be so happy. Then, I’ll ask myself again. What will I do after 6 months? Will I buy the newer Intel microprocessors? I’m sure that 8800 series will be cheaper and there might be DDR4 as well. Will I still need to buy now?
I really hate how fast hardware gets outdated. Don’t let me start with cellphones. It’s just ridiculous how fast a cellphone with a price tag of P40,000 drops value after 6 to 9 months. Computer hardwares are more forgiving as they decrease in value slower than a cellphone unit but it’s disturbing if you want to invest on a gadget for a long term.
Nevermind how slow my computer is — the fact that I can still post in my blog using this good-old computer means that I don’t really need an upgrade yet. I play console games so why would I invest in P10,000++ graphics card when I can use that money to buy a PSP or PS3. The only reasonable thing I have in my mind to buy a new CPU this year is to get a fresh hardware to run my work-related stuffs and use my old hardware to run a local Linux file server.
So will I still buy a new computer this coming Christmas? Maybe.
Posted in Insights, Randomness |
By MV on Tuesday - Oct 30, 2007
I spent a week in “hermit mode” to focus on my office work and some other things that kept me busy. For instance, the Halloween costume party that we had last Friday — I spent several days pondering what the hell I’m going to wear that day. I’ll discuss the details later on.
—————-
To begin with, I feel cheapskate these days because I want to save up more money to recover from my overspending last quarter. I’m happy that I managed to tune my car’s fuel consumption to the minimum since the recent oil price hike. I haven’t refueled for the last 3 weeks. That’s a record. Either I’m not using the car too often or the last change oil significantly improved the fuel efficiency of my car. Either way, I’m not complaining. It’s good no matter how I look at it.
—————-
Now for the Halloween party last Friday, I cosplayed Akatsuki — more or less Itachi — since I didn’t have any weapon or accessory to carry. I didn’t have the Sharingan. That would be too silly or ricey (baduy)!. Red eyes… sore eyes? Bleh. It was my very first cosplay so I had a mixed feeling about it since I just improvised the costume. I made the cloak out of a black graduation gown (toga) and I put white straw / Japanese paper strips around the cone “rice hat” (actually I used bathroom tissue because I couldn’t find Japanese paper! kukuku!). I had to be creative to patch the symbol of Akatsuki, the red clouds, around my cloak. I used red construction papers and white paint to draw the outline of the clouds. Then I pasted, clipped and stitched the clouds around my cloak. I have 5 red clouds evenly distributed around my cloak and it was not an easy feat because the paper clouds can be ripped easily. If you’re familiar with toga, it does not have a collar so I had to wear black long sleeves to cover my neck. I also had to wear red shirt inside because the underside of my toga is also black. The underside color of Akatsuki’s cloack is red. Just use your imagination.
That’s not the fun part yet. The event took place in Manila Peninsula Hotel. Just imagine what the executives and VIP in the hotel lobby were thinking when I was walking along the hallway. Were all pretending like children there. I was fortunate that other people wore more ridiculous costumes than mine. It’s just a whim of my mind to cosplay Akatsuki. I can’t be bothered spending money for a costume so I just made one — and it happens that Akatsuki’s costume was very easy to create.
Near the end of the event, the organizers nominated best costumes. Since my costume was all improvised, when you inspect it closely, you’ll agree how overrate my costume was. It’s just appealing from a distance but the overall quality sucks big time when you scrutinize it. I’m lucky to be in the top 15 costumes because other people who spent real money on their costumes were not even recognized.
The lesson learned here is simple — it’s the thought that counts! If that makes any sense at all.
Posted in Randomness | Tagged Akatsuki, cosplay, Halloween, Naruto |
By MV on Monday - Oct 22, 2007
I’ve seen how TechCrunch started from a small site by Michael Arrington that blogs about Internet startup. To read about its success is both exhilarating and awe-inspiring. It may not seem obvious but we’ve come to another wave of dotcoms and TechCrunch is geared towards that direction to report the the latest scoops and development. It’s something that I really envy when I look at Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. People can really get rich when they have the concept, network, guts and right timing to create something new.
I’ve linked TechCrunch in a number of my entries I’ve made here in my own blog and I’ve also commented a few articles in there. To know that it makes more than 240K USD a month is just insane. How can a blog create so much money. It appears that Michael Arrington and his crew got a lot of creative juices to boot.
This is just one example of success story which represents how serious business the internet can be.
Source: Yes, some blogs are profitable – very profitable [via Digg]
Posted in Insights, Websites | Tagged business, inspirational, internet, success |