LoNo's Space

Moved!!

2006-03-13T14:45:00+08:00

Ran out of the free space and finally decided to spend some money ;-)

Update ur bookmarks (if you care!)

Blowing my own Trumpet !

2006-01-23T09:57:12+08:00

My award winning tip called Javascript version of @DBLookup & @DBColumn has appeard in Top 10 Tips of SearchDomino for 2005.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-24T11:11:35+08:00

Messed Up!

2005-12-06T11:13:01+08:00

Today i got an invite to join the Windows Live Mail Beta. Clicked on the link, it tried to do something ( for probably 30 secs or something ) and finally gave me this error page. Interesting message !!

Screenshot of the Error Page

The Guys' Rules

2005-11-24T09:19:42+08:00

Yeah, u've probably heard of these before...but no harm in reminding the girls again :) :) :)

The Guys' Rules

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down Finally, the guys' side of the story.
(I must admit, it's pretty good.)

We always hear "the rules" from the female side.
Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules!
(Please note.. these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!)

1. Men ARE not mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat.
You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.
We need it up, you need it down.
You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly Acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only If you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one .

1. You can either ask us to do something Or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not! A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will Be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear Is fine...Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this.

Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;
But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.
Pass this to as many men as you can - to give them a laugh.
Pass this to as many women as you can - to give them a bigger laugh

via Lawrence

Google : Analytics

2005-11-15T11:09:15+08:00

Analyse your website details for free using Google Analytics

Google Base

2005-10-26T09:40:00+08:00

Google is currently testing its forth coming service called Google Base. This is what its main page has to say :

Post your items on Google.

Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. We’ll host your content and make it searchable online for free.

Examples of items you can find in Google Base:

• Description of your party planning service
• Articles on current events from your website
• Listing of your used car for sale
• Database of protein structures

You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local.

via Seweso

Google Kai

2005-10-21T14:39:55+08:00

A couple in Sweden has named their fresh-out-of-the-womb baby, Google Kai !!

Reason being that the baby’s father who has a doctorate in search-engine marketing is a big fan of the company.

News Article Link

Google : Reader

2005-10-13T09:25:00+08:00

Google has recently released its web based RSS reader called Google Reader. The interface is good but needs a little work specially when using Firefox.

Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar

2005-09-22T09:47:13+08:00

Microsoft has released a beta version of its Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar to help us understand the webpages better !

Link

Via Jake

Google : Wi-Fi

2005-09-21T14:10:13+08:00

Google Wi-Fi is set to be launched soon. Download the Secure Access Client and read the Faq.

Google : Blog Search

2005-09-15T09:25:00+08:00

Search blogs via Google Blog Search. You heard it here first ;-)

Future of iPod

2005-09-09T00:10:00+08:00

Sneak peek: the future of the iPod

Introducing LoNo's Pics

2005-08-25T20:05:00+08:00

Lately i got interested in photography which became serious!!

2 weeks ago, i purchased Nikon D50 (which set me back by $1,500 SGD) and i have been experimenting alot. I thought its was time i share them and hence came up with LoNo's Pics.

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures ;-)

Google : Talk (Instant Messaging)

2005-08-24T00:50:00+08:00

Google Talk can be released anytime now ( according to the link .. it should be today or tomorrow!! ) .. cannot wait to IM using Google technology :)

Full Story

Tips ( updated on 25th Aug 05 ) :

Use * around words to make them bold

Use _ around words to make them italic

Google : Desktop Search

2005-08-22T17:35:29+08:00

Google has released its newest version of Desktop Search.

The new version includes a sidebar designed to personalize the application, with mini-apps that return information from news, RSS and Atom feeds, photo sites, and other information sources, based on the user's previous Web activities.

Speed Up Adobe Acrobat Reader

2005-08-12T11:15:00+08:00

To improve the loading time of Adobe Acrobat Reader follow the steps :
Go to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader
Move the plug-ins folder to the optional folder. (Cut and Paste).
By default all the plugins are loaded on startup which makes the loading terribly slow.
Once these changes have been done, the plugins would still work, but won't be loaded on startup, rather only when needed.

via Fahim

Speed Up Firefox

2005-08-04T16:45:00+08:00

Few tweaks in the configuration makes the pages load lightening fast !!

Steps to Speed up Firefox

via Ferdy Christant

Technology at its best !!

2005-07-20T00:32:48+08:00

Via Mid-Day

Notes Domino 7 Beta 4

2005-07-13T09:10:00+08:00

Notes Domino 7 Beta 4 is available for download !!

Via Alan

Company Policies

2005-07-01T09:20:35+08:00

Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable.

Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up.
Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder. One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room.

Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious, but, undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why. However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder.

A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him. This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he's not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he's attacking the new monkey.

One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Eight new monkeys are

now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why.

"AND THAT'S HOW Most COMPANY'S POLICIES GET ESTABLISHED".

Let Get it Started

2005-06-28T19:53:38+08:00

Lotus Notes 6 has startup options too ( like we have in Windows, which defines what applications need to be launched once you log in ). So one can save alot of time when they have the Mail, Calendar, To do list, custom applications opened once Notes is launched.

If this has been news to you, then do visit Alan's blog.
( as a return gift, you will find lots of more tips there )

Royale - Nice XP theme

2005-06-20T00:42:56+08:00

Bored of your Windows XP desktop, try Royale. Just install the theme and select it from the desktop properties.

Hannover - Future of Lotus Notes

2005-06-15T00:28:24+08:00

At the DNUG/IBM Lotus Technical Forum IBM presented the future of Lotus Notes. The codename is "Hannover" and here are some screen shots. I must say the client looks awesome and it totally based on Eclipse technology. Click here for some more gyan !!

via Ed Brill

Google Sitemap : Improve your coverage

2005-06-05T01:34:35+08:00

Why wait for the Google Crawler to index your webpages ? Use Google Sitemap. You can use the Sitemap Generator to create a XML Sitemap.

"It makes total sense to push new links to users quickly. We don't want to wait on the engine to deliver results - we want to get content into the engine faster. Whenever it's possible, we opt to push content rather than have it pulled. That gives us a more interactive experience with Google."

— Marshall Simmonds
Vice President Enterprise Search Marketing New York Times

Domino & Apache Tomcat SSO

2005-06-02T21:26:19+08:00

Brian Green has put up a very detailed post on Domino & Apache Tomcat SSO. The level of detail is superb, with screenshots and code snippets.

Ok .. i am 26 today ;-)

2005-05-24T13:10:00+08:00

Google Earth : Ready to Travel the World

2005-05-22T15:13:32+08:00

In a few weeks time, Google will be releasing its latest service called Google Earth. Users will be able to search for a location, zoom in on aerial images and then layer driving directions on top of the 3-D map. Should be alot of fun to take a virtual ride as the best high resolutions images will be displayed from the Keyhole 3-D mapping techonology it acquired last year.

Google : Personalized Home Page

2005-05-21T00:55:00+08:00

Just tried out the new Google Personalized Home Page and its cool. You can choose the contents from GMail, Weather Forecasts, Google News, Movies, Stock Market, BBC News, New York Times etc. And my favourite feature is that you can drag the portlets anywhere on the screen to change the alignment.

Impressive Resume

2005-05-20T20:42:33+08:00

This guy has got around 180 offers from companies. You know why ?? Check out his resume !! (please turn on the speakers)

Google : Desktop Search for Enterprise

2005-05-18T21:15:10+08:00

Internet search provider Google Inc. is set to make a foray into corporate messaging search today when it unveils an alliance with IBM Lotus of Cambridge that will enable tens of millions of office workers using Lotus Notes software to search their e-mail, instant message threads, and nonLotus desktop files using a new Google product.The product, to be called Google Desktop Search for Enterprise, will be offered as a free download from the Google.com website onto office computers, starting today.

Read complete article

Google : Web Accelerator

2005-05-16T21:15:00+08:00

Has anyone tried the lastest Google Web Accelerator ?

In memory of Bill Ernest

2005-05-05T11:10:49+08:00

Bill Ernest was one of the best developers in Notes. He passed away last week at the age of 47. His contributions to the Notes Community were enormous ( his posts on R6 forum ).
Following Scott's post, i thought of contributing a tip in his memory.

alert function in javascript shows Ok and Cancel buttons ( and cannot be changed ) which in many cases is misleading. This tip uses VBScript to display prompts by which we can have all the buttons that VBScript supports i.e. Yes & No, Yes, No & Cancel, Abort, Ignore & Retry , etc.

{Link}

May his soul rest is peace.

Google : Search History

2005-04-26T12:55:26+08:00

Lastest in the service line is Google's Search History. You would require a Google Account i.e. GMail to use this service (if you need invites, let me know ... i have got lots). Once you log in, all the searches are tracked. It comes very handy when you cannot recollect the search keywords and it also tracks the links you clicked from the search result.

How is your Boss ??

2005-04-22T09:34:39+08:00

Chuck Connell has started a website where one could put up stories/experiences/personal views about your boss.

Go ahead and say that My Boss is Worse Than Yours.

The best part is that you don't need to leave your credentials, the site has taken care of generating random names, so go ahead and express your self to the fullest !!

Ultimate View Navigation

2005-04-21T11:30:00+08:00

Bob Obringer has done some amazing work on Web View Navigtion. Check out the Ultimate View Navigator !

Everyone's playing with the Monkey !!

2005-04-20T00:40:00+08:00

Greasemonkey seems to be the latest attraction for many of the Lotus Gurus!!

Julian created a really cool interface which helps alot if you are browing on the LDD forums. You don't need to open each document in a thread .. everthing is inline now and its called LDDMonkey.

Rob came up with a similar script which displays comments on Julian website inline. So no need to open the comments in the pop-up. Use AssMonkey !! lol ....

Jake has also contributed to the LDD by retaining the search keyword value and adding links to open search results in a new window. Check out LDD Super Search.

I have installed all the 3 scripts and they work just great.
Great Stuff, Keep it up guys !!

Corporate Terminology

2005-04-15T14:20:00+08:00

COMPETITIVE SALARY: We remain competitive by paying less than our competitors

JOIN OUR FAST-PACED COMPANY: We have no time to train you

CASUAL WORK ATMOSPHERE: We don't pay you enough to expect that you'll dress nicely

MUST BE DEADLINE ORIENTED: You'll be six months behind schedule on your first day

MUST BE FLEXIBLE: On many occasions, you'll be asked to bend over and grab your ankles

SOME OVERTIME REQUIRED: Some time each night and some time each weekend

DUTIES WILL VARY: Anyone in the office can boss you around

MUST HAVE AN EYE FOR DETAIL: We have no quality control

CAREER-MINDED: Female employees must be childless (and remain that way)

APPLY IN PERSON: If you're old, fat or ugly you'll be told the position has been filled

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE: We've filled the job; our call for resumes is just a legal formality

SEEKING CANDIDATES WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF EXPERIENCE: You'll need it to replace the three people who just left

PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS A MUST: You're walking into a company in perpetual chaos

REQUIRES TEAM LEADERSHIP SKILLS: You'll have the responsibilities of a manager, without the pay or respect

GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Management communicates, you listen, figure out what they want and do it

feel free to add more to the list ;-)

The Drunk Game

2005-04-09T18:00:00+08:00

Link

Try and see how far you can keep the drunk man up.
You just move your mouse left to right (no clicking) to keep him walking in a straight line.
The objective of the game is to keep him walking, without falling over, by using your mouse from left to right or right to left - you can't see your mouse which makes it more difficult. Apparently the record is 82 meters!

Do post your results :)

Scores :
My best run was 33 ... still trying
Hey, i am getting better !! its 54 now

Update : my personal best is 78 now !!

Floating Point Calcuations - Beware !!

2005-04-07T15:30:00+08:00

Ever came across this situation ?
Try the following code and see the results ( prepare to be shocked )

Lotus Script:
Dim x as Double
x = 4.08 + 18.84 + 18.84 + 18.84 + 18.84 + 20.56
If x = 100 Then
Msgbox "X is 100"
Else
Msgbox "X is something else !!"
End if

Formula:
x:=@Sum(4.08:18.84:18.84:18.84:18.84:20.56);
@If (x = 100;
@Prompt([OK];"";"X is 100");
@Prompt([OK]);"";"X is something else !!"))

The Debugger & the Calculator shows that the total is 100, however the logic fails.
This can be addressed as a Floating-Point Calculation issue and its NOT a software bug ( since it has been seen in C/C++ and Excel as well ).

Some explanations from Experts in Notes Community :

Bruce Stapley

Only numbers with fractional components that are an exact power of 2 can be exactly represented in a binary coding system -- which is what computers use. This means very small deviations/errors occur in essentially every floating point variable in every programming language on every computer everywhere. Since Notes only stores floating point numbers, essentially every calculation you do on number fields suffers from this effect. However, the difference will assuredly be insignificant and unnoticed unless you're doing an equivalence comparison. The solution, put simply, is to round to a sufficient level of precision before comparing two floating point numbers for equivalence.

Stan Rogers

In LotusScript, there are precisely two levels of floating-point precision: Single and Double. Equality testing checks all bits -- any difference at any bit level is an inequality. This is true across all general-purpose computing languages, although the number of bits available to each variable type and the number of different types may vary from language to language. If you need to compare within a confidence margin, you need to round your values at your arbitrary precision depth. Some specialised languages on some platforms have similar facilities built in, but you can and should consider them oddities.
Calculators designed exclusively for decimal use often get around the problem by using binary-coded-decimal values internally, where each four-bit group represents a single decimal digit (0000 to 1001), but that is wasteful of resources and does not allow the same registers to be used for general-purpose (non-decimal) data.

Solution

For R5 - Round the Number to a sufficient level of precision before comparing for equivalence
For R6 - Use @FloatEq which is helpful in dealing with inexactness of floating point operations

Google : Ride Finder

2005-04-02T12:00:00+08:00

Now you could get a ride by using Google's lastest search Google Ride Finder

Happy Birthday GMail

2005-04-02T00:50:00+08:00

GMail turns a year old .. and it has amazing things to offer.

Just launched in GMail :

G is for growth
Storage is an important part of email, but that doesn't mean you should have to worry about it. To celebrate our one-year birthday, we're giving everyone one more gigabyte. But why stop the party there? Our plan is to continue growing your storage beyond 2GBs by giving you more space as we are able. We know that email will only become more important in people's lives, and we want Gmail to keep up with our users and their needs. From Gmail, you can expect more.

We're not in the plains anymore
Fonts, bullets and highlighting, oh my! Gmail now offers rich text formatting. And over 60 colors of the rainbow. Discover a land of more than just black and white. Learn more

TeamStudio launches Script Browser

2005-03-30T17:05:00+08:00

The most eagerly waited tool has arrived.
TeamStudio has released Script Browser ( its free so ahead & download it ).
Some of its features :
* all classes and functions from the main tree, with 3 tabs to sort the code by script library, by class, or by call. Selecting something in the tree displays the properties of that function/class.
* the name of the script library in which the function is found.
* the line number on which the function is defined within the script library.
* how the function was declared, especially useful for when you simply want to know what parameters to pass to a function.

Lotusscipting just got easier !!

via Thomas Duff

Software Quality Management at its Best

2005-03-29T22:58:43+08:00

Many times software problems are fixed (rather patched) without doing any Impact Analysis. Later, one realises that lastest patch has introduced a couple of New bugs. It may seem quite normal, but when scaled to writing software for a rocket launch .. it can be tricky !! You better do the Impact Analysis :)

So what does it take to write a program which would launch a rocket into space ??

The right stuff kicks in at T-minus 31 seconds

Must Read !, I know its lengthy ;-)

Sense & Simplicity

2005-03-27T00:15:00+08:00

One of the most memorable case studies we came across on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount to do so. But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, did not get into complications of X-rays, etc but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each Soapbox passed the fan; it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (Ink won't flow down to the writing surface). In order to solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

And what did the Russians do...???
The Russians used a Pencil !!!

Moral of the story

Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problem
So, learn to focus on solutions not on problems
If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything
If you look at what you have in life, you have everything

Via Zaheed

Get PimpZilla

2005-03-24T09:38:03+08:00

PimpZilla is the best Firefox theme i have ever seen! try it out.

Google Open Source Code Portal

2005-03-22T19:05:00+08:00

Google has recently launched its Open Source Code Portal.
Its aimed for developers interested in Google-related development and can benefit from source code and API services.

Domino 7 development features

2005-03-17T13:00:10+08:00

Thomas Duff has a very enlightening presentation to share. It about the new features in Lotus Domino 7. Worth a look if you happen to do Notes.

Thanks alot Thomas, cheers !!