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Envelope sent by LHDN (Inland Revenue Board)

A True story…

A taxpayer called up the LHDN (Inland Revenue Board) in Terengganu, and
asked for Form B. The LHDN clerk who answered the call asked for the address to send the form to. The conversation goes:

LHDN CLERK : ‘Boleh bagi alamat encik?’ (Can you give me your address?)

TAXPAYER : ‘Hantar ke Ranhill Worley.’ (Send to Ranhill Worley)

LHDN CLERK : ‘Ranhill… eja macam mana?’ (err… How to spell Ranhill?)

TAXPAYER : ‘R.. for Rumah…
A for Ayam (Chicken)..
N for Nangka (Jackfruit)…
H for Holland (country) …
I for itik (Duck)…
L for lain- lain(Others)….’

LHDN CLERK : ‘Ok.. nanti kami hantar ke alamat tu’
(OK, we will send to that address..)

After waiting for a week, the form arrived - have a look at the address on the envelope!!!

More than a year ago, it was all hoo-hah when Windows Vista came out. Back then I never really tried Vista, only installed it on my laptop computer just to give it a wing. I remember saying “meh…” and quickly reinstalled Windows XP on the laptop. I also posted this 10 Reasons You Don’t Need Vista Today and told myself Vista isn’t really worth it.

Just recently my desktop computer (WinXP) was infected with this dreaded spyware called XP Antivirus 2008, me of all people. And let me tell you, this little bugger is a real PITA. I had no choice but to format the whole hard disk, seeing as the spyware was really obstructing my work. And so thought to myself “I should give Vista another try”. Boy did I regret it…

Ok Vista sucks, it really does. And I’m saying this from a user’s perspective. I’ve only used it for a few days, but I can find so many flaws within it which makes me think it sucks. Here is a list of some of them:

1. Vista is Slow
Of course you need a powerful machine to handle this dumb beast. But even with that, this guy is still… slow! I’m not referring to the navigation and maneuverability, but with all the flashy/shiny/glossy interface and M$ - YOU EXPECT THOSE TO BE SLOW.
Now imagine you’d want to transfer a 20-50MB file from 1 location to another. Yes, simple copy/cut and paste. On WinXP, the transfer would be done in the blink of an eye. But on Mr. Vista (yeap you guessed it, using the same machine too), you’d be waiting and waiting while seeing some worthless file-transfer animation.
You’d be wondering why Vista is so slow. Moving/copying files is 1 of the most basic actions you’d be doing on a computer. Sure you can view the ‘remaining time left’, but when has Windows ever been accurate with the estimation? Those are useless anyway, we just to be able to use our computer quickly and efficiently.

2. Browsers Stall!
I’m talking web browsers. Like IE, FireFox… funny they tend to stall on Vista after you’ve left your computer on for some time! I leave my computer on 24/7. It’s a good way to keep your computer from dying faster trust me, and of course you can use it instantly when you want it. It’s been working well for many years and on WinXP too.
On Vista, after several days, all will still work fine except the browsers. You will get alot of timeouts and half-loaded webpages and it would seem like your network connection is having problems. For the life of me I thought it was a router/modem issue. And then it became a cable issue. But finally all it took was a simple restart, just to give dumb Vista a wake up call. WTF~

3. Folder Views
After you’ve organized your folder views, you’d want all folders to be the same. I myself prefer to view all files as a ‘List’, that way I can see more things at once. But on Vista, after you’ve set your folder views and ‘applied the view settings to all folders’, somehow some folders will still reset themselves like they have a mind of their own.

4. No Shortcuts on C:\ root.
I work with Windows Explorer the most. You can access virtually anything on your computer with Windows Explorer. As such, I tend to create some shortcuts at the root of drive C:
But nooo, Vista no longer allows you to do that. They will only let you place shortcuts on the desktop. I don’t want that!

5. Dumb Windows Explorer
In Windows Explorer you basically get a ‘tree-view’ of all your files and folders - left and right panels. But stupid thing, the left panel doesn’t have horizontal scroll-bars! Only vertical scroll bars.
If sized your left-panel thin/small, or if you’ve browsed way into a folder, you’d want to scroll left & right so that you can move from 1 place to another quickly. Nooooo, there’s no horizontal scroll bar. Vista only gives you this ‘automatic’ scroller, but you can never figure out how it works.

Next thing, we all know the keyboard is always faster than the mouse. But again in Windows Explorer, using your keyboard to move within folders (using the up-down-left-right keys) - Vista still doesn’t actually ‘go’ to that particular folder, even though it’s highlighted. You will still have to literally click on the folder for it to be ’selected’. This itself defeats the purpose of using the keyboard as a faster means.

6. Network Connection Icon
This fool is dumb icon just for show. The most it can do is blink once in awhile, in fact that’s the only thing it does. You can never tell whether your network is actually sending/receiving alot of data or not, or if you network is actually dead.

7. Slow Start Menu
Like most of Vista’s interface, the Start Menu is slow. Looks nice? Perhaps. But the way they organize it and it’s response time really bugs me. Even setting MenuShowDelay to 0 or 1 does nothing, it’s still slow.

The only good thing about Vista I can think of, is it looks good. That’s all, nothing else. What the hell was M$ thinking?! I’m starting to believe some of the rumors. People say that Vista is just a ‘transition’ OS (Windows ME anyone?), used to suck up money for the release of their version of Windows…

Like I’ve always said before, Google is taking over the world.
They’re the leading public corporation in Internet search, e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing. They also have plenty of other products (FREE!) which you can hardly imagine and they are highly top-notch. A good place to see what Google has to offer is here: http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

Google is always evolving and thinking ahead, no question about it. And just 6 hours ago I believe, Google released a beta version of their own web browser - Google Chrome. Heh, and you thought Mozilla is all you need.

Well well… it boasts quite a bit of features like speed surfing, dynamic tabs, incognito mode, crash control and safe browsing. Check out their list here: http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/features.html

I’m still testing it and surfing does seem faster. Some say it’s like the transition from dial-up to broadband, though that may be somewhat exaggerated. But I do like their simple, clean sleek interface. More importantly for me, firing up the program is hella fast - just like any other Google applications. I’m sure more features are to come for this browser so I’ll be using and testing it more. Does that mean bye-bye to our old friend FireFox? No, I don’t think so. Not with all the plugins and what addons for FireFox that fans love.

The downside of this again everything Google. What will happen to our lives if everything we see everywhere is Google. ::rofl:: And to use their browser, that means our privacy and surfing habits will be captured by them. ie. Google Chrome –> Google.com. That’s your risk to take if you use Google Chrome. But the browser is also completely open-source, so by all means please verify for yourself or modify the browser however you want if you don’t like what Google Chrome does…

Watch the Image Metrics tech demo below and tell me what you think…

Taken from the video description:

Yes you read correctly, TECH demo. She’s fake. She IS the demo.

Until the 1:30 mark when they revert back to the source (the real actress), her entire face is being simulated by the technology.

Seems like PhysX from NVidia is going to be the next step in graphic card acceleration technology. No doubt it is also going to be a strong marketing point for NVidia as soon as more games start supporting it.

For a better read up on PhysX, do check out Wiki’s definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX

Well it’s not Super Mario of course, but it supports 2 players… was the first multiplayer game ever, and the second game ever made.

First one ever made was the game named OXO it seems.

Taken from the video’s description:
Way back in 1958, William Higinbotham invented Tennis For Two to liven up visitor day at Brookhaven National Laboratory, his workplace. The game uses an oscilloscope with two control pads. It remained largely unknown until 1981 when a lawyer trying to break Magnavox’s patent for video games came across writings talking about the game.

Blueprints of it were found to predate Magnavox’s game, the case was settled out of court, and the game found fame as the second ever invented, since it was later predated by A.S. Douglas’ ‘OXO’ game from 1952.

Again, we are changing so fast we don’t even realize it.
Here comes Microsoft Surface…

Microsoft Surface (Codename: Milan), is a forthcoming product from Microsoft which is developed as a software and hardware combination technology that allows a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of natural motions, hand gestures, or physical objects. It was announced on May 30, 2007 at D5, and is expected to be released by commercial partners in November 2007. Initial customers will be in the hospitality businesses, such as restaurants, hotels, retail, and public entertainment venues.

Here’s a Microsoft Surface parody video just for laughs. Remember, this is just a parody.
Still cool though…

Anyway for real facts…
Surface is essentially a Windows Vista PC tucked inside a black table base, topped with a 30-inch touchscreen in a clear acrylic frame. Five cameras that can sense nearby objects are mounted beneath the screen. Users can interact with the machine by touching or dragging their fingertips and objects such as paintbrushes across the screen, or by setting real-world items tagged with special barcode labels on top of it.

Surface has been optimized to respond to 52 touches at a time. During a demonstration with a reporter, Mark Bolger, the Surface Computing group’s marketing director, “dipped” his finger in an on-screen paint palette, then dragged it across the screen to draw a smiley face. Then he used all 10 fingers at once to give the face a full head of hair.

In addition to recognizing finger movements, Microsoft Surface can also identify physical objects. Microsoft says that when a diner sets down a wine glass, for example, the table can automatically offer additional wine choices tailored to the dinner being eaten.

Prices will reportedly be $5,000 to $10,000 per unit.[1] However Microsoft said it expects prices to drop enough to make consumer versions feasible in 3 to 5 years.[2]

The machines, which Microsoft debuted May 30, 2007 at a technology conference in Carlsbad, California, are set to arrive in November in T-Mobile USA stores and properties owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.

Watch out for it…

Know the recent blockbuster 300, all six-packs, yelling, killing and especially stunning cinematography?
Well guess what. Adobe played a big role for the movie with its versatile After Effects and Photoshop software.

Adobe has posted a case study on its Web site detailing the use of After Effects and Photoshop in the VFX-heavy blockbuster 300.

Photoshop was used to create the concept and poster artwork, and for colour correction and rotoscoping of key scenes. After Effects was used to composite the live-action, bluescreen footage with the CG environments in some scenes.

The piece interviews the film’s visual effects art director, Grant Freckelton, and DFX supervisor Tyler Foell from Pixel Magic, one of the VFX houses that worked on the film.

The case study can be read here.

For Spaarta!!

Some freebies for you guys.
I found out about this a year ago. Back then, I used it to watch my favourite NBA channels. I also shared it with a few of my friends. Wonder why I never thought of sharing it with you guys.

TVUPlayer by TVUNetworks is simply phenomenal, a dream for Internet surfers as well as couch potatoes. It’s essentially a free software (beta) that streams live channels from all over the world directly to your PC.

There probably are many other players or networks that can do this, but I find the great thing about TVUPlayer is it’s quality. By quality, yes I do mean its amazing video and audio quality (you can’t expect more for live streaming). But not only that, the speed quality is just awesome. I fire up the player, select a channel, and seconds later I’m already watching live sports on my computer. These guys are fast!
I tried watching a live sports channel with it, and minutes later I turned on my TV to the exact same channel. The TV is a few minutes slower! Which also means the TVUPlayer gives you unedited live video.

And surprisingly you can really find different channels for all genres - fashion tv, sports, news, hollywood, mtv channels, comedy, cartoon, chinese, korean and hella more.
With this player you can watch free TV anywhere, be it at home, in the office, in a cybercafe, StarBucks, etc.

Good thing is that it’s free, fast and it rocks. Bad thing is that it’s beta now, and when it’s fully released it’s less likely to be free anymore. Also they removed my favourite NBA TV channel! There also seems to be more and more random channels coming up (I see a blog channel on now, what the…)
Some rubbish channels may also have bad quality, so don’t get your expectations up.

Hope more good stuff comes out of this. If you have a camcorder and want millions of people watching you, then you might want to try out going on TVUNetworks… cheers!

Microsoft on Monday showed video pros at NAB Silverlight, a new Mac and PC-compatible Web browser plug-in that provides interactive Web capabilities similar to how Adobe Flash works with streaming video capabilities superior to QuickTime, according to the company.

Microsoft will provide a beta of Silverlight later this month with plans for its general release to follow. A “technology preview” is available for download.

Silverlight lets content creators incorporate video and animation into their Web content. It provides a method for displaying vector-based graphics, text, animation, media and overlays. Silverlight doesn’t require any special back-end Web environment to deploy — it integrates with existing infrastructure tools such as Apache and PHP, JavaScript and XHTML.

Formerly code-named WPF/E, Silverlight is targeted at content providers who want to distribute video and rich media on the Web and designers and developers working with interactive applications. The software works on the Mac using either Mozilla Firefox or Apple’s own Safari Web browser. On Windows, it also supports Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7.

Already Microsoft has signed up some major players to distribute Silverlight content, including Akamai Technologies, Brightcove, Eyeblaster, Major League Baseball and Netflix.

The company has developed a companion toolset called Expression to help develop Silverlight content. Expression — Windows-only — has been positioned as an alternative to Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 software, and is expected to be released in June. Preview releases are available for download now.

Microsoft has previously positioned Silverlight as able to match Adobe Flash in more traditional rich media ares, but a recent statement from Forest Key, a director of product management at Microsoft’s server and tools division whose bona fides include a senior management stint at Flash developer Macromedia, suggested that Silverlight is superior on the video front.

Flash has “some video capabilities, and some success in that market,” Key said. But Silverlight offers “better video quality than Flash,” while the Expression tools will be “cheaper, faster and better” than Adobe’s offerings, he claimed.

Silverlight can play video at 720P high-definition quality — the same 720-line resolution used by DVDs. Depending on bandwidth, videos start playing either immediately or after a few seconds of caching. That ensures that picture quality doesn’t degrade, Key said.

Silverlight employs the VC-1 video codec originally developed by Microsoft as Windows Media Video 9, now available as an open standard. VC-1 is technically superior to other codecs such as MPEG-4, which is used by QuickTime, especially in the area of digital rights management (DRM), according to John Bromhead, vice president of marketing at Tarari, a San Diego-based maker of high-end video hardware that is supporting Silverlight.

Those content protection features make VC-1-based systems such as Silverlight and Windows Media Video more attractive to movie studios and others conscious about protecting their content and/or making money from it, said Kathleen Maher, an analyst at Tiburon, Calif.-based Jon Peddie Research. And while Microsoft is aggressively going past the PC to get cable set-top boxes to run Silverlight, she said, “that’s a race that Apple is just starting.”

System requirements for Silverlight call for a G3/500MHz or faster (Intel included) and Firefox 1.5.08 or later or Safari 2.0.4 or later.

View: Microsoft Silverlight Homepage (Some cool Wide/Standard screen wallpapers available)

News Source: Yahoo News