Mt In Tech : scratch pad

Who offers best iPhone Deal ?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:00:52 PDT

I don't know about you ... for years I am not able to tell which telco actually offer better iphone deal than another. All seems like marketing fuss to me. Each has a layout plans that confuse me easily when I switch view from one Telco to another ...

Well, this is my petty try ...

1 phone : iPhone 4
2 model : 16GB & 32GB
3 telcos: Celcom, Digi, Maxis
2 contract periods : 12 & 24 months
1 verdict.

At first I don't really care about usage. I just want to buy an original iPhone that I can get full support. Considering that, it should be cheaper to get it from a Telco than from a retail shop.

Maxis wins hand down on that aspect simply because they offer the lowest monthly package where you pay only $50 per month. So for $129 a month I can own 16GB iPhone 4 and $145 for 32GB model.

But what if I do care about data usage ? ie. 500MB from Maxis $50 package is just not enough. So I analyse the price from the per GB perspective. Surprisingly Celcom comes up to the top picks.

So if you just want the phone, get from Maxis. If you use a lot and don't worry about cash flow, you should properly get it from Celcom.

It seems like no single verdict can be drawn then. I know its lame but the verdict is "it depends on what you want".

This hasn't considered

cash flow where the payment options would be important
calls and SMS and other goodies that comes with the package
telco specific bonus ie. extra free calls, free SMS, free facebook browse etc.

But here is the source document I use, you can go ahead and analyse for your own need : link to spreadsheet

What is your opinion ? Which telco offers the best iPhone deal ?

Building more than ONE PC

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:45:53 PDT

When building more than one windows computer, its important to prepare the installation media instead of having each computer to download its own which will consume too much bandwidth and too slow. Some of the OEM installation kit or writing network installation script may be too advance for home / SOHO user so the best is to download all the important software and burn them into a CD.

The following is where I download the latest 'Complete' package for my 'Offline' installation ... The sequence follows too ...

Chrome - to browse internet. My habit is not to launch IE until I have virus scanner in place. I have had bad experiences where the first thing the old IE did was to download a virus.

Acrobat Reader - I install this be default. Most of the business documents on web are pdf. Later stage I may want to prepare an installation media that disable auto update by default too.

Avast - Virus scanner of choice

Avast Latest Update - because its easy to update its virus definition, its just an exe file !

Spybot - spyware ad-ware prevention

Spybot latest update

I install Spybot the last so that it wouldn't keep on asking me if I want to install the virus scanner etc. Minimizing number of clicks is 'important' when you install more than 2 computers.

Once downloaded all above offline installation, it will be just nice to burn them into a CD ( less than 700MB on 22 July 2011 ). But there shouldn't be a worry cause there are DVD and better still, use USB drives. But my environment is filled with tons of OLD PC ... with 256MB RAM and 36X CD ROM is considered 'fast' ....

Other Options

AVG x86 or AVG 64bit - also Virus scanner of choice ... but its harder to update its virus definition so I don't use this normally. AVG Latest Update

Claimwin is the ultimate FREE virus scanner for all systems even server OS. So I always have Clamwin installed side by side with Avast or AVG as a backup. Although improved a lot now, but Clamwin is weak on prevention. Its ok on scanning and killing viruses but its main winning feature is its legally FREE for all to use.

I used to install Zone Alarm but now windows comes with firewall. Although windows firewall doesn't do much but its ok together with Spybot and virus scanner, I find Zone Alarm being redundant nowadays. However, for machines that can't install virus scanner like windows server operating system, I will install Zone Alarm there.

Firefox is also popular but its only good if you really like all those add-ons. I just browse so I don't like Firefox. After all, IE has tons of addons too anyway ...

Thunderbird is the email of choice but old windows comes with Outlook Express, the new windows uses Live Mail. But quite a handful are assessing their emails through web browser too. So I only install Thunderbird if the user needs it.

After the 'important' installations, I then follow with PDFCreator, OpenOffice, Teamviewer, IrfanView, MpcStar ... Oh yea, and lastly I may do the Windows Update the last cause it will take such a long time and reboot so many times ...

Deadly Sins of YES 4G - especially Buzz Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 04:37:11 PST

DON'T READ if you already BOUGHT from YES !!

Should you really say YES to YTL's 4G ? Well, may be you should consider these deadly sins that I have observed . . .

First of all, they said, "pay only what you use". But there is a minimum charge of RM 30 every month if you engage one of their packages. As far as I know, this 4G network is a closed network. Meaning the only way you can engage their services is by buying one of their devices. And once you DO NOT use their services anymore, your device is ABSOLUTELY USELESS !! Hence the only way to engage them is by buying one of their packages. So how is that "charge only what you use" with this RM30 monthly ?

Note: You still can BUY their device separately and then TOP UP with credits. In that case, I suppose you will NOT be charge the minimum RM 30 a month. But the question remains . . . You HAVE TO buy their devices ! How is this a fair trade ?

FYI : RM 30 = 1GB usage or 333 SMS or 5 hours 33 minutes.

The next big hu ha is you pay only 9 cents. BUT there is NO WAY you can find out how much you have used so far from your phone. How many calls have you made ? How many minutes have you called ? How many SMS have you sent ? How many MB have you used ?

The only way to find out your usage is by login to their web site. And once you login, all you can view is your usage up to yesterday.

The good thing is, they said login to their web site to check usage does not incur cost. But there is really NO WAY you can tell whether charge does incur or not when you browse to 'their web sites. Simply because there is NO details of your browsing bandwidth.

The phone . . . is basically not a phone. It is just a device for you to log in and log out to their 4G network. Below screen shows where you do just that. At the moment you sign in, you basically leave your fate to them. There is NO WAY you can track or measure your usage. There is NO WAY you can find out if there is a background application using bandwidth without asking for your prior approval.

As a matter of fact, in order for 4G phone to work, your phone WILL check the connection and other info 'from time to time' and it will DEFINITELY use some bandwidth. They may say those do not incur charges, but then again there is NO WAY you can be sure either way.

OK, even if we assume YTL is your god and you trust them fully. But once you install some of your own application ie. facebook !? Then how do you tell if that application is continuously using bandwidth even when you are NOT using it !? You DON'T !!

The only way you can CONTROL your usage is by log out of the network. But once you log out, you will not be able to receive call or sms. So you HAVE TO keep yourself login.

You HAVE TO keep yourself login

Once login, you have NO CONTROL of the usage

When you buy the package, you get nothing else but a receipt. So basically you are just buying a 'thing' like any other trade transaction. They DID NOT promise their up time, NOT their coverage and NOTHING about provide you a fair services like a proper way for you to track your usage.

As long as the 'thing' / device you get is still working and their 4G network is still up, you basically have NO LEGAL RIGHTs whatsoever against them. It doesn't matter at all if you can't make call, your sms didn't get delivered and your usage has been abused etc. You just DON'T have any legal rights against all those situations.

You PAID and you GET the 'THING'.

There were NO other service warranty / guarantee at all.

Since when is the voice and internet NOT together ? It has always been internet on top of voice even during those dial up era. Now with their so called 4G, its voice on top of internet. Which really is no different than Skype, which has been existed for ages. Either way, voice and internet has ALWAYS been 'together' !

===

There is a "Auto Sign In" check box on the phone, even if you don't check that, the device will still sign me in without me asking it to do so.

===

Once you login to their web site, your usage up to yesterday will be reported. However, the account details seems NOT changing even after 3 days of usage. Says I have used 9MB so far for example but my total credits in my account remains the same RM XXX. So even if I know my usage, I have no ideas how they are going to charge me in future. We will see but I am quite sure "PREPAID" is suppose to mean deduct immediately after each call/sms/bandwidth usage.

===

The general perspective of YES Buzz 4G Phone

yes Buzz 4G Phone Samsung SWD-V100

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 04:36:38 PST

This is the advs published on Yes web site. After delaying for more than 3 months, this phone is finally launched on 4 March 2011. The phone itself is RM 488. If you get the package RM 1,199 then you get the phone for FREE.

The phone comes in RED and GOLD color. Mine is the RED one. The GOLD one seems a bit yellowish and 'not apparent'.

This side is the Camera button and the interface port. The same port is used for USB data sync and charging. When connected to USB, it will automatically be charged too.

Volume up down buttons and micro SD card slot. It comes with NO extra memory.

. . . when you slide out the keyboard. The keys layout is not that good. You can really type like the way you type on a keyboard. I suspect the spacing between the keys are too wide.

The 'shift' keys are also not that convenient. They called it the Alt key. And the layout for all the Alt keys are not the same as the keyboard. They are actually one row down. If you don't know typing, then the QWERTY layout wouldn't help you neither.

You get a CD to install PC Studio. This piece of software take ages to install and I highly suspect this is a piece of badly written software. My whole system slows down big time after installing this.

The phone's main screen.

This phone main menu screen.

the interface cable, the same goes to USB cable and Power Charge cable.

The back side of the phone. 2MP camera is just alright.

These are the stuff you get in the whole package.

You can go to Lot 10 or KL Sentral to try out the device. Don't bother asking too much technical stuff. Most of the staffs working there have no clue what 4G or Wimax is really about. Nor will they tell you ALL the right stuff. They will give you tons of misleading information anyway.

If you are serious, do all your research online before you go. While on side, just try out the device you want to buy. Then make a decision right there.

When you are buying, just pay and give your IC. Then you will need to pick a number. 30 mins to 2 hours later, your line will be active !

outdated side : yesbuzz4g

Want to know the deadly sins of YES ? Read HERE !!

UniFi - Malaysia's High Speed Broadband

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:25:03 PDT

Today I got my UniFI installed. Its the FIRST high speed broadband in Malaysia. Considering it quite new, the whole experience is just Marvelous !!

First the installation guy came ( FREE Installation now ), find the nearest fiber optic box ...

The whole things they did outside took about 2 hours ... basically they pulled a fiber optic cable into my place.

then they climb around the house, getting the lines connected.

by default, they just follow the phone line location, then they also follow the Astro line so that they don't need plan any new routes.

This is the box separating 'outside' and 'inside'. The black line above connects to outside, the white line connect into the house.

This is the hole they drilled into the house.

This is the 'white' fiber optic lines - for indoor use.

The whole packages comes with a modem ( The black one ) and a WiFi router ( the white one ). The modem itself also have 4 LAN ports so all together with the router, there are plenty of ports to use.

The cute guy did some test and paper work setting up the whole thing ...

another guy did a little bit praying in front of the computer, hoping I will not complain about the download speed.

This is the TV box. Surprisingly the whole TV viewing experience is great too ! Its really comparable to Astro (satellite cable TV) if not better.

Press 101 to see all the channels

and I have a new wireless phone too. FREE calls to all national land lines.

Tons of boxes left here for me to dive into the technical documents later should I feel like doing so ... but I don't have to cause everything works fine.

The whole process took about 3-4 hours. The tough part is pulling the line from outside into the house. Once that is done and the fiber optic line is 'cap' ... we could have done the rest of the installation in house ourselves.

Now, 5Mbps download speed is really nothing special but the UPLOAD is also 5Mbps !! For those who knows, this means we can host our own servers !!!

More details can be found at UniFi web site

At RM 149 a month with 2 years contract you get

a clear TV channels with Video On Demand ( Free 100 points equivalent to about 5-10 movies or 3 sets of TV series ),
a wireless phone with FREE national calls
fiber optic line 5Mbps, both upload and download !

It may not be the CHEAPEST deal in town but its definitely is a Value for Money deal. The only thing one does NOT want to take this deal is the 2 years contract. Just in case another better technology comes in next year, you are still stuck with this Unifi. But I really don't see that coming.

If you are already paying for your phone line, streamyx and if you only watch basic channels in Astro, its time to SWITCH !!!

Get offline FULL installation copy of IE6 SP1

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:09:05 PDT

If you still have a lot of OLD PCs running Windows 98, NT4 etc. IE6 is most widely accepted browser up to Windows 2000. So it may be a good idea to standardize IE6 SP1 as your web browser.

In order to download a FULL copy of IE6 SP1 so that you can install at multiple PCs within your network, simply download ie6setup.exe and then run this command.

ie6setup.exe /c:"ie6wzd.exe /d:1 /s:""#E"

Remote control your own PC for FREE

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Sat, 01 May 2010 07:34:29 PDT

If you are one of those who love VNC, a software that allows you to remotely assess your PC easily, then you will love TeamViewer even more.

The biggest problem for VNC is security. Basically you install the full suite VNC on a PC ( with server and client ) then you can assess to this PC anytime anywhere with a PASSWORD. But if you have heard a little bit about black hat hacking society, hacking your PASSWORD is as easy as running a password cracking software. So if once someone is on to you, you can bet that he can easily google around and get into your PC with less than USD 10.

The 2nd problem with VNC is screen resolution. If the server resolution is HIGHER than the PC you are assessing from, then you are controlling a screen that is larger than your physical screen. So you have to scroll here and there to get things done.

Apparently, TeamViewer has done a great market research on all the other competitors. They have incorporate a tons of features that make sense. Hence it doesn't have any problems mentioned above.

There is a whitelist and blacklist function. You can simply ALLOW one of your other PC to remotely assess your server. That way, there is almost impossible for any other people to get on your server. TeamViewer will also automatically change the screen resolution to match your client PC. You will never need to worry different resolution because you can always control your server easily from a window that is smaller than you current screen.

Just go ahead and try TeamViewer if you need to remotely assess your PC.

As of now, all personal usage is FREE! But any commercial use is chargeable. I really look up to this software provider and I wouldn't be surprise if they start charging even for personal use. So download it fast before its too late ....

Facebook Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 08:41:12 PDT

After much talks, the moment I use facebook for work .... its dead. :)

dated 22 April 2010 11:40pm ( GMT +8 )

Windows Search, Desktop Search, Desktop Search Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:25:32 PST

Windows Search, Desktop Search, Desktop Search Windows ... whatever you call it, most users are just not sure how to search in google when they have problems with Windows Desktop Search.

The idea is that as disk drives become cheaper, PC users tend to leave more stuff not organized in their computers. There is really no need to keep "everything" in order, just create a new folder and have a fresh start every time you feel lost. Especially whatever left behind is not something you use all the time but then again its important to find it when needed. So index search is created.

Google is well known for its searching capability so it is them who first came out with Google Desktop Search. Basically index search will first scan through your files and create a database about them. When you search something, it will read from the database first rather than searching from all the files and therefore the search result appears faster.

As usual, Windows followed suit, created similar function, build them into their OS distribution and claimed they have been having it since stone ages. Its just that they make it to public since XP. But their functions don't become stable until Vista and is really usable only after Windows 7.

One of the biggest problems of index search is to achieve its balance. If you think carefully, all it does is to search first or search in ahead of time, even before you need to search anything. Hence, its really a matter of wasting the resources first and then later give you the appearance that it is faster. If you are a guy who really doesn't search much, index search will basically waste more of your system resources.

In order to keep the index search database up to date, it will have to search anything that has recently been changed. So another process must be watching for file changes all the time. Again, wasting a lot of resources just to prepare to give you an illusion of speed.

For others who need index search, one of the biggest problems could be its speed. It may significantly slow down the system. When this happens, it is most probably you have enabled index search on the whole drive or even All the drives.

By doing so, you basically have created a duplicate of your original file system index. So searching from the new index is no different than the old index and yet the system will search both indexes. Hence slowing down the whole thing.

You should NEVER NEVER NEVER index search a whole drive. You should only index search your own stuff. Whatever directories and files you created yourself, those would be worth while to be indexed. The system already know where their system files are, there is NO NEED for you to help them index anything.

The #1 reason whey desktop search is slow is because users have enabled index search on the whole drive or all the drives.

keyboard shortcuts in Google Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:36:22 PST

I have found the following shortcuts that can be used in Google Chrome in a Windows PC. I hope you will find it useful too. For chrome in Linux and Macs, check out this source link.

Ctrl+N	Opens a new window.
Ctrl+T	Opens a new tab.
Ctrl+Shift+N	Opens a new window in incognito mode.
Press Ctrl+O, then select file.	Opens a file from your computer in Google Chrome.
Press Ctrl and click a link. Or click a link with your middle mouse button (or mousewheel).	Opens the link in a new tab in the background .
Press Ctrl+Shift and click a link. Or pressShift and click a link with your middle mouse button (or mousewheel).	Opens the link in a new tab and switches to the newly opened tab.
Press Shift and click a link.	Opens the link in a new window.
Ctrl+Shift+T	Reopens the last tab you've closed. Google Chrome remembers the last 10 tabs you've closed.
Drag a link to a tab.	Opens the link in the tab.
Drag a link to a blank area on the tab strip.	Opens the link in a new tab.
Drag a tab out of the tab strip.	Opens the tab in a new window.
Drag a tab out of the tab strip and into an existing window.	Opens the tab in the existing window.
Press Esc while dragging a tab.	Returns the tab to its orginal position.
Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+8	Switches to the tab at the specified position number on the tab strip.
Ctrl+9	Switches to the last tab.
Ctrl+Tab or Ctrl+PgDown	Switches to the next tab.
Ctrl+Shift+Tab or Ctrl+PgUp	Switches to the previous tab.
Alt+F4	Closes the current window.
Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4	Closes the current tab or pop-up.
Click a tab with your middle mouse button (or mousewheel).	Closes the tab you clicked.
Right-click, or click and hold either the Back or Forward arrow in the browser toolbar.	Displays your browsing history in the tab.
Press Backspace, or Alt and the left arrow together.	Goes to the previous page in your browsing history for the tab.
Press Shift+Backspace, or Alt and the right arrow together.	Goes to the next page in your browsing history for the tab.
Press Ctrl and click either the Back arrow, Forward arrow, or Go button in the toolbar. Or click either button with your middle mouse button (or mousewheel).	Opens the button destination in a new tab in the background.
Double-click the blank area on the tab strip.	Maximizes the window.
Alt+Home	Opens your homepage in your current window.

Google Chrome feature shortcuts

Ctrl+B	Toggles the bookmarks bar on and off.
Ctrl+Shift+B	Opens the Bookmark manager.
Ctrl+H	Opens the History page.
Ctrl+J	Opens the Downloads page.
Shift+Esc	Opens the Task Manager.
Shift+Alt+T	Sets the focus on the browser toolbar. Use right and left arrows on the keyboard to navigate to different buttons on the toolbar.
Ctrl+Shift+J	Opens Developer Tools.
Ctrl+Shift+Delete	Opens the Clear Browsing Data dialog.
F1	Opens the Help Center in a new tab (our favorite).

Address bar shortcuts

Use the following shortcuts in the address bar:

Type a search term, then press Enter.	Performs a search using your default search engine.
Type a search engine keyword, press Space, type a search term, and press Enter.	Performs a search using the search engine associated with the keyword.
Begin typing a search engine URL, press Tabwhen prompted, type a search term, and pressEnter.	Performs a search using the search engine associated with the URL.
Ctrl+Enter	Adds www. and .com to your input in the address bar and open the resulting URL.
Type a URL, then press Alt+Enter.	Opens the URL in a new tab.
F6 or Ctrl+L or Alt+D	Highlights the URL.
Ctrl+K or Ctrl+E	Places a '?' in the address bar. Type a search term after the question mark to perform a search using your default search engine.
Press Ctrl and the left arrow together.	Moves your cursor to the preceding key term in the address bar
Press Ctrl and the right arrow together.	Moves your cursor to the next key term in the address bar
Ctrl+Backspace	Deletes the key term that precedes your cursor in the address bar
Select an entry in the address bar drop-down menu with your keyboard arrows, then pressShift+Delete.	Deletes the entry from your browsing history, if possible.
Click an entry in the address bar drop-down menu with your middle mouse button (or mousewheel).	Opens the entry in a new tab in the background.
Press Page Up or Page Down when the address bar drop-down menu is visible.	Selects the first or last entry in the drop-down menu.

Webpage shortcuts

Ctrl+P	Prints your current page.
Ctrl+S	Saves your current page.
F5 or Ctrl+R	Reloads your current page.
Esc	Stops the loading of your current page.
Ctrl+F	Opens the find bar.
Ctrl+G or F3	Finds the next match for your input in the find bar.
Ctrl+Shift+G, Shift+F3, or Shift+Enter	Finds the previous match for your input in the find bar.
Click the middle mouse button (or mousewheel).	Activates auto-scrolling. As you move your mouse, the page automatically scrolls according to the direction of the mouse.
Ctrl+F5 or Shift+F5	Reloads your current page, ignoring cached content.
Press Alt and click a link.	Downloads the target of the link.
Ctrl+U	Opens the source of your current page.
Drag a link to bookmarks bar	Bookmarks the link.
Ctrl+D	Bookmarks your current webpage.
F11	Opens your page in full-screen mode. PressF11 again to exit full-screen.
Ctrl and +, or press Ctrl and scroll your mousewheel up.	Enlarges everything on the page.
Ctrl and -, or press Ctrl and scroll your mousewheel down.	Makes everything on the page smaller.
Ctrl+0	Returns everything on the page to normal size.
Space bar	Scrolls down the web page.
Home	Goes to the top of the page.
End	Goes to the bottom of the page.
Press Shift and scroll your mousewheel.	Scrolls horizontally on the page.

Text shortcuts

Ctrl+C	Copies highlighted content to the clipboard.
Ctrl+V or Shift+Insert	Pastes content from the clipboard.
Ctrl+Shift+V	Paste content from the clipboard without formatting.
Ctrl+X or Shift+Delete	Deletes the highlighted content and copies it to the clipboard.

account pay pal real cost

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:30:18 PST

As of early 2010, there are already 150 millions PayPal users over 190 countries. No doubt it is the BIGGEST payment service provider in the world, it is definitely one of the methods you should use too but is it the BEST you can have or should it be your primary payment processor ? What is account Pay Pal real cost ?

There is NO startup cost to sign up with PayPal, that is why they have so many users. But despite many confusion, there are actually charges when you receive payments in your PayPal account. In Malaysia a flat fee MYR 2 plus a percentage is charged on every transaction. The percentage fee will depends on your total monthly received funds ranging from 2.4% to 3.4%.

Monthly Sales	Price Per Transaction
RM0.00 MYR - RM12,000.00 MYR	3.4% + RM2.00 MYR
RM12,000.01 MYR - RM40,000.00 MYR	2.9% + RM2.00 MYR
RM40,000.01 MYR - RM400,000.00 MYR	2.7% + RM2.00 MYR
> RM400,000.00 MYR	2.4% + RM2.00 MYR

For example, if you receive a total of MYR 1,000 in ONE transaction in a particular month, you will be charged MYR 2 + MYR 34 = MYR 36. An equivalent of 3.6%

So the less money you receive in a month, the higher fee you paid: For example, if you receive MYR 100 in a particular month, your fee is effectively 5.4%

Its even more ridiculous if you receive less than MYR 10 a month, in which case you will be charged 23.4% fee. If you receive MYR 1 that month, not only you do not really get any profit, you will be charged 203.4% or you will have to pay PayPal MYR 2.03 in order to receive MYR 1 so you end with - MYR 1.03 loss !

The more number of transactions you have in a month, the more you will pay too. For example in below chart, assuming your month end total received fund is MYR 100 but the number of transactions you have are different. You will see if you receive MYR 10 in 10 times in that month, your cost of using PayPal will be 23.4%

So PayPal is only GOOD for VERY EXPENSIVE stuff that you sell ONCE A BLUE MOON. Its VERY BAD if you have plans to increase sale volume using pricing strategy ...

The numbers shown here is Malaysia specific but the derived concept apply in most places ...

ref

Can a blog spread virus ?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 09:13:36 PST

I came from those days where a text file will NEVER spread virus.

Most probably, a text file viewer will also NOT trigger any virus.

If I do NOT click or respond anything while viewing a file, I am quite sure I will NOT be infected by virus.

A blog is just a special type of web pages. A web page is basically just a text file on a server. You are viewing the content of the 'file' now using something like a text viewer called internet browser.

Unfortunately those simple days are long gone. Because internet browsers are also your file browser. Most often than not, the browser is the No.1 key element in your computer. Usually the First and Most important thing how your computer and you communicate. Without a browser, you literary can't use your computer. So your browser allows you to do almost Everything that can be done on the computer.

When you are just browsing a blog, you may be just reading of viewing some stuff. But your browser has done tons of other stuff you may never realize or will ever find out. So yes, virus could be spread in a blog even if you are just viewing it.

SEX - a computing word

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:05:15 PST

SEX

/seks/ [Sun Users' Group & elsewhere] 1. Software EXchange. A technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of millions of years ago to speed up their evolution, which had been terribly slow up until then. Today, SEX parties are popular among hackers and others (of course, these are no longer limited to exchanges of genetic software). In general, SEX parties are a Good Thing, but unprotected SEX can propagate a virus. See also pubic directory.

2. The mnemonic often used for Sign EXtend, a machine instruction found in the PDP-11 and many other architectures. The RCA 1802 chip used in the early Elf and SuperElf personal computers had a "SEt X register" SEX instruction, but this seems to have had little folkloric impact.

DEC's engineers nearly got a PDP-11 assembler that used the "SEX" mnemonic out the door at one time, but (for once) marketing wasn't asleep and forced a change. That wasn't the last time this happened, either. The author of "The Intel 8086 Primer", who was one of the original designers of the Intel 8086, noted that there was originally a "SEX" instruction on that processor, too. He says that Intel management got cold feet and decreed that it be changed, and thus the instruction was renamed "CBW" and "CWD" (depending on what was being extended). The Intel 8048 (the microcontroller used in IBM PC keyboards) is also missing straight "SEX" but has logical-or and logical-and instructions "ORL" and "ANL".

The Motorola 6809, used in the UK's "Dragon 32" personal computer, actually had an official "SEX" instruction; the 6502 in the Apple II with which it competed did not. British hackers thought this made perfect mythic sense; after all, it was commonly observed, you could (on some theoretical level) have sex with a dragon, but you can't have sex with an apple.

source

I earn money by using P1 Wimax ?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:15:13 PST

Although the connectivity is NOT GOOD but after one month of P1 Wimax usage, I have EARNED $28.74 !!

Someone actually PAID me to use their internet services !!

NOT !! This is called "Bait and Hook" marketing strategy. The contract is 24 months. If a user complain in early stage, it has a big effect to the supplier market and user also has higher chance to win in law suit or consumer tribal. The longer time it drags the less weight the user complain will become. So service provider "Bait" you up by offering one month FREE when the service is BAD and then still ended up "Hooking" or collecting the rest of the 23 months fee from you. It is Unlikely the service will be significantly improved when this strategy is used by your service provider.

P1 Wimax PingTest result ... F as in Fail ...

PingTest vs SpeedTest

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:20:06 PST

Thank god, finally someone cares more about quality and that is NOT just speed. As internet content becomes more lively ... not just flash and animation ... the key turning point is actually XHR, enable simple HTML web page to update partial of its content, giving a sense of Fast Response and It's Alive! effect.

Internet connectivity is no longer about just speed. Fast is nice but a fast connection that drops frequently is absolutely useless - like most of the 3G and WiMax connection now.

Simply because of a single introduction of XMLHttpRequest ,

traditional connection like GPRS or even dial up becomes useful again where once connected reliability is assured ( relatively ).

In order to test your interenet line quality, try pingtest.net. Below is a sample result of Streamyx 512kbps line

And this one is P1 Wimax 1Mbps line

snake oil IT businesses

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:00:03 PST

source

Infoworld reported TOP 6 IT businesses that they classified as Snake Oil ... I spotted 3 of them out loud (3-5), did not agree with 2 of them (1,6) and had some reservation on #2

AI - is FAKE intelligence really smart or just plain stupid ?
CASE - I am a supporter on this but Program for the Program ? I have to admit, not everyone gets it!
Thin Client - when a thick client is cheap, its a THIN client, period !
ERP - All in ONE ! All in ONE ! But what is ALL ?
B2B - One of the most stupid Internet terms of all time and yet still being bought by many investors.
Social Webs - Let's have a serious meeting over a not-so-serious coffee table

Artificial Intelligence may be vague by itself but through the journey, we can

know more about ourselves, how we think, why we act etc.
eventually come up with something that is more 'natural' than today's machines

so even if AI will never be achieved, its OK. We will get somewhere. We will still CREATE somethings even if we are NOT god.

Social web by itself is NOT an engineering break through, its NOT a business so they say, because it has NOT business ground ! But then again, the whole entertainment industry started out as FREE shows, some social events etc. Until idols came out and money started flowing big time in entertainment industry. Idols are already coming out in social web ... money already started flowing ... so what if we can't get something serious out of social web, we can just earn good money out of non seriousness.

1Mbps P1 Wimax vs 512kbps Streamyx

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:28:17 PST

In short, P1 Wimax is absolutely hands down pathetic. Most bit torrent downloads can't be use or need tedious and technical settings. Even simple stuff like downloading emails from TMNet POP3 servers is a problem. Their online knowledge database is practically nil.

Connection performance drops to ZERO 5-6 times an hour despite showing strong signal and strong connections.

This may not be exactly a lab test ie. apple to apple comparison but nevertheless a real life test scenarios.

2 machines are connected to 2 different broadband networks.

One is a notebook Centrino Duo running XP, 1.5GB RAM connected to 1Mbps P1 Wimax

Another is a desktop Athlon 64x2 Windows 7, 2GB RAM connected to 512kbps Streamyx

Streamyx connection

test on Streamyx server

Streamyx connection

test on P1 server

P1 connection

test on Streamyx server

P1 connection

test on P1 server

The video is set to play back rate 4x, actual total length is 6 minutes.

video link in YouTube

Again this proves that the technology behind is practically irrelevant; Business management, the balance between system performance and marketing effort is so much more important to end users ...

Below shows another angle of the connection line quality ... basically A is best and range down to Z.

Streamyx

P1 Wimax

POTONG my ASS !!

I haven't cut my Digi GPRS yet ....

Most comprehensive study in Malaysia Broadband service providers

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:29:17 PDT

There are literary unlimited choices of broadband services are available in Malaysia now ... yet almost not a single one is satisfactory.

Lets examine how to choose one among all these ....

First lets categorize them

unlimited usage : if you will surely use more than 10-20GB a month
typical business use : on the run, 10-20GB a month is enough for email etc.
cheapest : student, no money, just want to browse net sometimes
fastest : speed is everything, price and bandwidth are not problems

Unlimited Usage

Basically you are getting unlimited usage. You probably setup a machine running 24 x 7. So speed doesn't really matter. So lets just choose the cheapest among unlimited usage packages - so called value for money.

Digi $66 PRO: cheapest mobile, no string attached CON: GPRS, slow.

Amax $68 PRO: WiMax 1Mbps, 24 months contract FREE modem CON: Activate $100

Streamyx $66 PRO: no String attached CON: need a telekom line first

iZZi $66 PRO: 6 months contract CON: Activate $82.

Jaring $69 PRO: low users CON: Startup fee $160

Typical Business Use

You are on the run, you need ready access ... so you should choose one package that has the lowest $ per GB. This part is quite straight forward. There are only 2 competent service providers; P1 and Digi. The distinction is also clear; if you use notebook, goes for P1. If you use hand phone, goes for Digi.

P1 $99 PRO: WiMax 1.2Mbps, $4.95/GB CON: cap at 20GB, Activation fee but now FREE

Digi $168 PRO: 2Mbps, no string attached ? CON: cap at 20Gb

other P1 and Digi packages are also OK. Some cap at higher bandwidth, some have cap payment ...

Cheapest

You have no extra money so you would opt for whatever cost lowest for now. If you already have a phone line, use Streamyx. Else try Celcom.

Streamyx $20 PRO: no String attached, 256Kbps CON: Need telecom line, 10 hours usage only

Celcom $38 PRO: no String attached,128Kbps CON: 500 MB usage only

Streamyx $44 PRO: no String attached, 512Kbps CON: GPRS, slow.

Fastest

Almost all are nonsense packages .....

P1 $149 PRO: 10Mbps CON: Cap at 10GB

Time $528 PRO: 6Mbps CON: Half a thousand RINGGIT !?!?

What do you think ? What are your favorites ?

Online Voice Modeling

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:44:16 PDT

It is NOT exactly a new thing to put voice on a web site but this particular service provider has made it, I think. I talked about voice on web before and that was about how bad it was. Today, LiveFaceOnWeb has totally changed my opinion.

Instead of selling the online voice 'technology', they are marketing their models. As in fashion model, speak person modeling etc, this is online voice models. Although the system is almost the same but the whole point of view is different. The spoke person looks like a real person, good looking, carry certain weight in representing certain market segments etc.

Having said that, they did do a good job too on the technological side too. As far as their internal work force is concerned, this whole phenomena is enabled by their technological break through. Basically they are able to fix the body image while keeping only a small portion on movement ( the speaking mouth and head ), so that bandwidth is greatly reduced while keeping the reality of a whole body.

Charging a few hundreds to thousands for online voice may sound rediculous, espeically when it is FREE somewhere else. But paying the same amount of money for models is so much CHEAPER than real life ones.

http://www.livefaceonweb.com/

Garnet OS Developement

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:20:13 PDT

All the Palm OS are now called Garnet OS after a re-branding exercise. Not quite sure if Palm has been sold and re-sell how many times. But basically if you have a Pilot, Palm Pilot, Vx or even a Treo and you are hoping to develope NEW solution for your devices, the best is you look for Garnet OS platform ... Palm has since then moved on to Windows Mobile OS and created a WebOS, which are both neither nor a truly organizer OS like Palm OS.

These are the steps

1. Get Eclipse ( should have JRE - Java Runtime in it already )

2. From Eclipse, get CDT or C/C++ development tool kit ( Its important you do it from the Eclipse you installed, different Eclipse version will require difference CDT version, they are not cross-usable )

3. Get Emulator

4. Get Simulator

5. Get SDK then these updates

Download Garnet OS Dev Suite about 180MB ( should have everything above in it )

If you have cygwin installed, uninstall it before installing Garnet OS Dev Suite because it comes with its own cygwin.

6. Get Reporter for tracing and debugging

7. Get NetFront if you want to build web application

8. Get Desktop SDK if you want to build something with the deskstop application too

9. Get Conduit for Hot Sync solution, remember to update latest file

Developing solutions for old Palm OS

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:30:01 PDT

Palm OS is basically a dead OS but I was a huge fan and still have some units left with me. Its too nostalgia to sell them off at $1 so perhaps by now the development resources are easily obtainable and FREE ? Ooo... how wrong was I ...

You may need

CASL main installaer ( USD 299 each )

download all 4 below here

GCC ( cygnus B20 )
PRC tool
SDK ( now grouped into access dev net )
Prod Pak

an old writing on the concept

Software Development for the Palm OS

Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org>

[netmeister.org] [netmeister's PalmStuff]

A brief overview of Software Development for the Palm OS, Webclipping, Conduits, compiled from various websites.

Note: This document was written in 2000 and has not been updated since then. I simply don't have the time to keep it up to date. If you wish to maintain the document, please let me know and I'll add a link to your website from here. Other questions and problems regarding this document I will most likely no longer be able to answer -- not out of malice, but actually sheer ignorance; I have not kept up to date on the Palm topic.

1. Why Programming for the Palm OS is different

1.1 Screen Size
1.2 Quick Turnaround Expected
1.3 PC Connectivity
1.4 Input Methods
1.5 Power
1.6 Memory
1.7 File System
1.8 backward compatibility

2. Palm OS Programming Concepts

2.1 PilotMain
2.2 Event Loop
2.3 User Interface
2.4 Memory
2.5 Function calls

3. Tools

3.1 Coding Tools
3.2 Emulators
3.2.1 Obtaining ROM Image Files
3.2.2 The Palm OS Emulator
3.2.3 Other Palm OS Emulators
3.3 Conduit Development Kits (CDKs)
3.4 Web Clipping Development (WCA)
3.4.1 Two components to WCA
3.4.2 WCA Builder Tools
3.4.3 A WCA Example
3.4.4 Palm Query Applications (PQA)
3.4.5 A PQA Example

4. Hardware using the Palm OS
5. Wishlist
6. Main Resources

1. Why Programming for the Palm OS is different

Developing applications for the Palm OS is a bit different than developing applications for desktop computers such as the PC or a Mac. First off, the Palm computing platform is designed differntly than a desktop computer. Also, users simply interact with the device differently than they do desktop computers.

1.1 Screen Size
The Palm OS device's screen is only 160x160 pixels, so the amount of information you can display at one time is limited. For this reason, the user interface must be designed carefully with different priorities and goals than are used for large screens. Note that screen sizes of future Palm OS devices may vary.
1.2 Quick Turnaround Expected
On a PC, users don't mind waiting a few seconds while an application loads because they plan to use the application for an extended amount of time. By contrast, the average Palm user uses a Palm application 15 to 20 times per day for much briefer periods of time, usually just a few seconds. Speed is therefore a critical design objective for hand-held organizers and is not limited to execution speed of the code. The total time needed to navigate, select, and execute commands can have a big impact on overall efficiency. (Also consider that the Palm OS does not provide a wait cursor.)
To maximize performance, the user interface should minimize navigation between windows, opening of dialog boxes, and so on. The layout of application screens needs to be simple so that the user can pick up the product and use it effectively after a short time. It's especially helpful if the user interface of your application is consistent with other applications on the device so users work with familiar patterns.
1.3 PC Connectivity
PC connectivity is an integral component of the Palm Computing platform device. The device comes with a cradle that connects to a desktop PC and with software for the PC that provides "one-button" backup and synchronization of all data on the device with the user's PC.
Many Palm OS applications have a corresponding application on the desktop. To share data between the device's application and the desktop's application, you must write a conduit. A conduit is a plug-in to the HotSync® technology that runs when you press the HotSync button. A conduit synchronizes data between the application on the desktop and the application on the hand-held device. To write a conduit, you use the Conduit SDK, which provides its own documentation.
1.4 Input Methods
Handheld users don't have a keyboard or mouse. Users enter data into the device using a pen. They can either write Graffiti® strokes or use the keyboard dialog provided on the device.
While Graffiti strokes and the keyboard dialog are not as convenient as using the full-sized desktop computer with its keyboard and mouse. Therefore, you should not require users to enter a lot of data on the device itself.
1.5 Power
The Palm Computing platform device runs on batteries and thus does not have the same processing power as a desktop PC. You should keep this i mind when developing applications for the Palm OS and avoid using heavy calculation.
1.6 Memory
The Palm OS device has limited heap space and storage space. Different versions of the device have between 512K and 8MB total of dynamic memory and storage available. The device does not have a disk drive or PCMCIA support. Because of the limited space and power, optimization is critical. To make your application as fast and efficient as possible, optimize for heap space first, speed second, code size third.
1.7 File System
Because of the limited storage space, and to make synchronization with the desktop computer more efficient, Palm OS does not use a traditional file system. You store data in memory chunks called records, which are grouped into databases. A database is analogous to a file. The difference is that data is broken down into multiple records instead of being stored in one contiguous chunk. To save space, you edit a database in place in memory instead of creating it in RAM and then writing it out to storage.
1. 8 Backward Compatibility
Different versions of the Palm Computing platform device are available, and each runs a different version of the Palm OS. Users are not expected to upgrade their versions of the Palm OS as rapidly as they would an operating system on a desktop computer. Updates to the OS are designed in such a way that you can easily maintain backward compatibility with previous versions of the OS, and thus, your application is available to more users.

2 Palm OS Programming Concepts

Palm OS applications are generally single-threaded, event-driven programs. Only one program runs at a time. To successfully build a Palm OS application, you have to understand how the system itself is structured and how to structure your application.

2.1 PilotMain
Each application has a PilotMain function that is equivalent to main in C programs. To launch an application, the system calls PilotMain and sends it a launch code. The launch code may specify that the application is to become active and display its user interface (called a normal launch), or it may specify that the application should simply perform a small task and exit without displaying its user interface. The sole purpose of the PilotMain function is to receive launch codes and respond to them.
2.2 Event Loop
Palm OS is an event-based operating system, so Palm OS applications contain an event loop; however, this event loop is only started in response to the normal launch. Your application may perform work outside the event loop in response to other launch codes.
2.3 User Interface
Most Palm OS applications contain a user interface made up of forms, which are analogous to windows in a desktop application. The user interface may contain both predefined UI elements (sometimes referred to as UI objects), and custom UI elements.
2.4 Memory
All applications should use the memory and data management facilities provided by the system.
2.5 Function calls
You implement an application's features by calling Palm OS functions. Palm OS consists of several managers, which are groups of functions that work together to implement a feature. As a rule, all functions that belong to one manager use the same prefix and work together to implement a certain aspect of functionality.

3. Tools

3.1 Coding Tools
Development (commercial) tools for the Windows platform are:
CASL (Compact Application Solution Language): Compact Application Solution Language Tools from Feras Information Technologies is a Windows-based integrated development environment for creating high-level interpreted applications integrated with conduits to Windows desktop applications. Includes a development environment, a conduit, and sample code.
Satellite Forms: Satellite Forms from Puma Technology is a visual, rapid development environment for applications and conduits. Design applications via drag-and-drop. Develop event-driven scripts in a language similar to Visual Basic using custom controls, plug-ins, and Satellite Forms APIs.
Pendragon Forms: Pendragon Forms from Pendragon Software is a fast and simple way to create data collection applications and conduits.
Since Applications for the Palm OS are written in C/C++, you write the code in any environment and then compile it. You do need the Palm OS SDK, which includes the headers, libraries, and tools for Palm Computing platform development on Windows, Mac OS, or Unix/Linux platforms. In order to compile the sourcecode, you need a couple of tools, which are (for Unix/Linux and Windows at least) freely available.
3.2 Emulators
The Palm OS® Emulator is software that emulates the hardware of the various models of Palm OS® platform devices. It is extremely valuable for writing, testing and debugging applications. Create "virtual" handhelds by running the Emulator on Windows, Mac OS, or Unix/Linux computers.
Emulated devices can be loaded with new ROMs, so you can test your application with virtual devices, including different devices than you own, foreign language ROMs, and debug-enabled ROMs for extra error checking and debugging features.
The Emulator software does not include ROM images. It is like a computer without an operating system. There are two sources of ROM images: ROM images file or upload a ROM from an actual device. As a developer, there are advantages to using ROM image files because you can use "debug-enabled" ROMs that contain extra debugging code not found in shipping hardware ROMs.
3.2.1 Obtaining ROM Image Files
For legal reasons, you must sign an agreement with Palm Inc. to download ROM images. To obtain the Prototype License and Confidentiality Agreement, you must be a member of the Palm[tm] Solution Provider Program. After joining the Solution Provider Program, we recommend that you join the Developer Seeding Program, which requires that you return a signed agreement to us. This allows you to access ROM images and other valuable prerelease information. If you are based in the USA, you may also obtain images using a "clickwrap" agreement that does not require a signed agreement.
You can also download a ROM using the Emulator from a handheld device that has been placed into the cradle connected to your desktop computer.
3.2.2 The Palm OS Emulator
The Palm OS Emulator (or POSE, former "copilot") displays an on-screen image that looks exactly like a Palm connected Organzier. You can select which kind of Palm handheld device you want to emulate, and you can also specify that you want POSE to display the screen in double size, which continues to provide an accurate presentation and makes the Palm screen easier to view.
You can use your mouse on your desktop computer just as you use a stylus on a Palm Device. You can even use the Graffiti Power Writing Software with POSE and your mouse. You can use POSE to perform some debugging of your applications and you can use the Emulator with Palm Debugger to debug in exactly the same manner as with your application running in the actual hardware handheld device.
3.2.3 Other Palm OS Emulators
The Palm OS® Emulator was based on "Copilot", written by several different developers, and is available on the following platforms:
The original Copilot for Windows - http://www.hewgill.com/pilot/copilot/index.html
Copilot for Mac OS (PowerPC) - http://members.aol.com/illumesoft/copilot.html
"Zilot" for Mac OS} - http://www.pollet.net
"xcopilot" for Unix/Linux - http://www.isaac.cs.berkeley.edu/pilot/
"Copilot/2" - URL currently unavailable
"PilotCE" for WindowsCE - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Monitor/8604/Beta/PilotCE/
3.3 Conduit Development Kits (CDKs)
Conduit Development Kits (CDKs) are tools to develop conduits. Conduits are software plug-ins for the HotSync® Manager application. They exchange and synchronize data between a desktop computer and a Palm OS® platform handheld computer.
Most conduits synchronize data such that data on the handheld mirrors the data on desktop. Conduits also transfer, import/export data, or cause Palm OS® applications to be installed. Generic conduits are Palm Inc.'s future direction for conduits. The idea is to provide an API for conduit development to be compiled for Windows and/or Mac OS. The details for making it work on each platform will be hidden within the API.
The CDKs are available for the following platforms:
Conduit Development Kit - Windows C/C++ Edition (uses Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0)
Conduit Development Kit - Windows Java Edition (for developing Palm OS Applications in Java - uses Symantec Visual Café Pro for Java)
Conduit Development Kit - Mac OS Edition (uses Metrowerks CodeWarrior Pro for Mac OS)
All these CDK's are available to download for free from http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/conduits/
3.4 Web Clipping Development (WCA)
The web clipping architecture includes client-side applications that run on a Palm OS® device, proxy servers for handling translation between the web clipping application format and HTML, and content servers. The client-side application is called a web clipping application. It is constructed in HTML and translated into the web clipping application format. Once this applcation is installed on a Palm OS® platform device, content is delivered from the content provider's own web site as a subset of the HTML 3.2 standard.
If you do not have access to hardware that supports web clipping, you can use software to emulate the hardware with the POSE. When emulating a web clipping enabled device, you use your desktop computer network to emulate wireless access free of charge. Web clipping applications use a special proxy to get web pages and do not connect directly to web sites.
Web clipping applications are written in a subset of the HTML 3.2 specification. Many of the usual tags for things like tables, forms, checkboxes, radio buttons, select lists, and font sizes are supported. However, in order to work well even though constrained by the limited bandwidth available on the wireless connection, web clipping applications do not support more resource intensive features such as JavaScript, nested tables, frames, cookies, or Java.
Web clipping applications are designed to be small and to give users the information they need with minimum effort and maximum speed. Likewise, results coming from your server to a handheld device are designed to be small and to the point. Remember, this is not web browsing, but web clipping. Web clipping appplications should be written to provide users with only the information that they need without any extraneous items. Try to limit the size of your result pages to about 400 bytes.
3.4.1 Two components to WCA
There are two main components to writing successful web clipping applications: the web clipping application that you install on the device, and the backend server that returns results pages to the device.
Web clipping application - This is an application that you build using HTML, which is installed by the end user onto their handheld organizer. A web clipping application is like a mini-web site that is stored locally, so access to it is instant and free. The index page of the web clipping application usually contains either a form or a list of links, which are the gateways to the live data provided by your server. Static information, such as graphics, help, and "about" pages should also be placed within a web clipping application.
Results pages (clippings) - These pages are returned by your backend server after they receive a request from your web clipping application. They are written in HTML and will often link to images and HTML documents that are stored in the web clipping applicaiton so that this static information doesn't need to be transmitted over the air.
3.4.2 WCA Builder Tools
The WCA Builder Tools needed to build WCA'a (ie translate the HTML-like code into "Palmspeak") are available to download for free fromhttp://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/webclipping/
3.4.3 A WCA Example
The Code:
Used Mac Prices Search for the most up-to-date prices on Macintosh computers: About Us Help
We see that WCA's consist almost entirely of (very simple) HTML. The only thing that differs from pure HTML is the meta-tag } . Images, if used, are stored locally on the device, since it is not recommended to transfer images over the wireless connection (bandwidth!) - the WCA Builder will enter them into the appropriate database on the device.
After passing this code through the WCA Builder, the application would look something like this:

3.4.4 Palm Query Applications (PQA)
Web clipping applications are Palm record databases that are read by the Web Clipping application (Web Clipper) on the Palm VII[tm] handheld (or other device that supports web clippings). Pages and images are stored as separate records in the database, and the number of records listed in the Records view of the Applications Launcher Info screen correspond to the total number of pages and images that comprise the web clipping application.
With a couple of functioncalls you can enhance your WCA's easily with your C++-Programs, and vice versa (ie enhance your C++-Application with WCA's). You can:
create "pseudo-cgi's" on your Palm Device (e.g. parsing input from a URL)
process data from web clipping pages (e.g. graphing, updating databases etc.)
store data on the handheld for WCA's (e.g. preferences)
3.4.5 A PQA Example
The Code:
Special Function Palm Tester Memo Pad
After passing this code through the PQA Builder, the application would look something like this:

Please note that the above screenshots are all from the Palm OS Emulator (POSE)!

4. Hardware using the Palm OS
There are several types of hardware projects for the Palm OS® Platform:
Palm Inc. - http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/hardware/
Handspring - http://www.handspring.com/products/vindex.asp
Symbol Technology Development - http://www.symbol.com/products/mobile_computers/mobile_computers.html
TRG - http://www.trgnet.com/
Qualcomm (Smartphone) - http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/qualcomm/
IBM Workpad series - http://commerce.www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/CategoryDisplay?cgrfnbr=2035814&cntrfnbr=1&cgmenbr=1&;cntry=840&lang=en_US

5. Wishlist

To guarantee maximum efficiency every person involved in the actual coding process should be able to work in an environment (s)he is most comfortable with. While some people may preferr coding, compiling and debugging "by hand", others may preferr a complete Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The most widely used tool in Palm OS Software Development is the CodeWarrior Interactive Development Environment (IDE) from 3Com Corporation. Documentation for the CodeWarrior IDE is provided with CodeWarrior. Code Warrior is available for Windows, Macintosh, Solaris, Linux and Java. CodeWarrior is proprietairy software, currently priced approx. $90.

Even though almost all information and documentation one might need to develop applications for the Palm OS is available on the internet, many people preferr having a decent book (yes, paper!) as desktop reference handy. The one book most suitable for this purpose seems to be O'Reillys "Palm Programming: The Developers Guide" (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/palmprog/).

Needless to say that everybody involved should have a PalmPilot or other Palm OS based handheld device to familiarize themselves with the environment we develop for.

6. Main Resources

Programming Palm OS in a Nutshell - http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/docs/palmos/Nutshell.html
Developer Tools - http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/tools/

Mythical Thin Client solution

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:52:04 PDT

Thin client solution was promising cost saving and maximizing computer resources. Basically you buy ONE powerful PC and then a whole lots of thin client 'boxes' which allows you to run as-if 10 PCs with 10-30% cost saving initially. One of such company is called Sunde

The saving is not really that big so the thin client company would mention the cost saving is significant when you upgrade. For example, the next time you upgrade, you just need to upgrade the ONE powerful PC and all 10 PCs will become as powerful, so they speak.

Within less than a couple of years, windows XP moves on to Vista and now Windows 7. Guess what, all Sunde old devices CAN NOT support Vista and Windows 7, NOR will they do anything to make their old devices running. The best advice they can give is for all their users to keep using the un-supported XP. They don't even dare to promote their latest devices because it doesn't support Windows 7 and they DON'T KNOW when they will be able to do so. It is most probably another abandon old products totally and create a new product just for Windows 7.

If you go ahead to upgrade the powerful PC, you will need to buy 10 new Thin Client Boxes. Else you mean be left only one working PC. So you may ended up buying a NEW PC and NOT upgrading the old ones. That way, your thin clients are NOT sharing resources for the biggest investment you have just put in. In many ways, such a small one time cost saving comes with a small performance degrade and a huge long term damage.

Not to mention stricthen internal network security may also cause your 10 thin clients to totally stop working or sometimes degrade terribly.

Most of the thin clients sellers 1 year ago are all un-contactable today.

Thin Client .... NOT the way to go in future. Microsoft has stated very clearly that such a resource sharing is violating their license rights.

ROM upgrades for Dopod P800W and/or HTC P3300

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:59:21 PDT

http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Artemis_Upgrades

Delete Facebook for good ...

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:00:09 PDT

You cann't delete facebook completely from the user interface. The best you can do is to de-activate your account so that it cannot be found. Having done that, you have the option to re-activate it back anytime you want in future.

if you want to remove your account for good, you will need to click the following link ...

https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

Choose which windows 7 to install

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Tsen) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:31:16 PDT

If you delete the file

\sources\ei.cfg

in your Windows 7 installation DVD then you will be able to choose which package during installation ...

Mt In Tech : scratch pad

Who offers best iPhone Deal ?

Building more than ONE PC

Deadly Sins of YES 4G - especially Buzz Phone

yes Buzz 4G Phone Samsung SWD-V100

UniFi - Malaysia's High Speed Broadband

Get offline FULL installation copy of IE6 SP1

Remote control your own PC for FREE

Facebook Dead

Windows Search, Desktop Search, Desktop Search Windows

keyboard shortcuts in Google Chrome

Google Chrome feature shortcuts

Address bar shortcuts

Text shortcuts

account pay pal real cost

Can a blog spread virus ?

SEX - a computing word

I earn money by using P1 Wimax ?

PingTest vs SpeedTest

snake oil IT businesses

1Mbps P1 Wimax vs 512kbps Streamyx

Most comprehensive study in Malaysia Broadband service providers

Online Voice Modeling

Garnet OS Developement

Developing solutions for old Palm OS

Software Development for the Palm OS

Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org>

Table of contents

1. Why Programming for the Palm OS is different

2 Palm OS Programming Concepts

3. Tools

Used Mac Prices

Special Function Palm Tester

5. Wishlist

6. Main Resources

Mythical Thin Client solution

ROM upgrades for Dopod P800W and/or HTC P3300

Delete Facebook for good ...

Choose which windows 7 to install