YouTube playlist no longer sortable automatically...

and this is making it very difficult to create or modify a playlist by the number of views or title alphabetically, especially when the playlist contains a large number of videos.

So I am limiting my music video playlist to 30 videos (one for each day of a month) and embedded it in the right panel of this blog.

Feel free to suggest videos to add or remove from the playlist. I want visitors to my blog to enjoy good songs :)

[Update (3 June): The playlist settings now has an option to sort!]

Mavericks killed my Wi-Fi?

Cross posted from the Projapps Propaganda

It has been more than two weeks since I upgraded from Mountain Lion to Mavericks on my old MacBook Pro. It is also more than two weeks since the upgrade broke my Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi actually worked for a while before it went dead. A subsequent reboot resulted in the indicator showing "Wi-Fi: No hardware installed".

I have tried all the advices and solutions I could google. I tried anything from resetting the SMC/NVRAM/PRAM to doing a clean reinstall of the operating systems. Downgrading to Mountain Lion or using a USB network adapter did not help too. These had me thinking whether Mavericks had killed my Wi-Fi or my Wi-Fi is no longer supported with any device driver. Maybe it's the VirtualBox update I did but highly unlikely since I reinstalled...

Hence in comes the TL-WR702N by TP-LINK, a 150Mbps wireless N portable router. My friend happened to have one on hand so we gave its client mode a try. The client mode allows the router to be connected to another device via Ethernet core and acts as an adapter to send/receive the wireless signal from a wireless network.

It worked! Therefore I went out to get myself one for S$34. It is supposed to be a stopgap fix but with no solution in sight, apart from buying a new MacBook, I think I may have to carry the router around with me for good.

Don't download Opera 12 if you value your flash

I killed my Firefox as it was behaving a bit slow and I thought I will replace it with Opera as my third browser, behind my trusty Chrome and Safari. Hence I downloaded Opera 12 to give it a try.

Bad move! Punishment for not reading this before I went ahead. Opera 12 evidently doesn't like Flash and will freeze cold when it encounters one; not reacting to anything. I had to force quit whenever this happened.

Hope an update to solve this problem comes soon. Or else I will remove it and stay away from it for some time. It is actually a pity as I kinda like the UI and ease of configuring the various settings...

Finally finished migrating my blog...

Since receiving an email from Friendster on the 15 April informing me that they will remove my blog after 31 May, I have started copying my blog posts to Blogger. Although Friendster has provided an application to download my blog in its entirety, the application failed to export it in Blogger's import format. Instead of waiting for Friendster to resolve this issue, I decided to move one post at a time, taking the opportunity to replace missing images and update old links. After almost three weeks of command-c and command-v, I have done it!

Mac OS X Snow Leopard!

I just installed it. I can feel that it's more responsive. I like it.

A disaster simulation game from the UN/ISDR

I came across this online game some time back called "Stop Disasters!" by the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction that educates people on preparing against natural disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. Besides the game, the website is full of information on spotting the signs of a disaster, how to be prepared as a community for it, what to do when it strikes, and how to manage after it strikes, etc.

ElectroCity Game

I came across this online game yesterday where the objective is to build a virtual city using various methods of generating electricity. You start with a small town, growing it by building different structures and feeding it with a steady source of energy while ensuring the environment is clean. You can see the cities I have built by doing a search on "James Ng" as the player's name. The great thing about this game is that you can play it without any registration.

HD DVD processing key

The HD DVD hidden key has been discovered and programs have been created to crack the DRM on the disks. The key is

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

and a sample source code is printed here.

News Reference:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/02/the_new_hddvdbl.html

What's your name going to be in Brazilian?

The FIFA World Cup may have been over but Brazil still remains one of the most favorite teams despite not winning. Are you one of their fans? If yes, have you wondered what your name is going to be like in Brazilian and printed on the famous yellow jersey?

I came across this website "BrazilName" which will generate a Brazilian 'equivalent' of your name and print it on an image of the Brazil jersey. You get to choose the jersey number too. Below is my jersey with the name JAMINCHA, generated from my name JAMES NG.

Phishing

I have received a phishing email yesterday and I nearly clicked on the link masquarading as a Citibank site. Thank goodness suspicion hit me and I checked the URL. It was close and phishing emails are really dangerous. Then this got me thinking. Isn't there a way that we can make the browser protect us? Can we have a warning system of sort?

I am reading this paper titled The Battle Against Phishing: Dynamic Security Skins and it gives me some ideas as to how to design a security alert system. However, nothing concrete yet. I am wondering whether it is possible to have 1) a standalone Firefox extension without any server change, or 2) a client-server alert generated on the webpage itself.

Extra: Red wine goes well with CSI...

Fedora Core 4 up and running!

After many days of trying out what to install and how to configure the applications, I managed to settle for a simple desktop for home use. I am running Firefox 1.5 for internet surfing, SCIM for chinese and japanese input, and kopete for my various messenging services. Now I will be putting in lighttpd, MySql and Ruby on Rails in to try a bit of web development...

Update: I am running Fedora Core 5 now...

SCIM breaks Firefox???

Spent the whole Sunday refurbishing my computer: replaced the hard-disk, added more RAM, and installed Fedora Core 4. (I know I know, Fedora Core 5 is out but I have yet to download it.) However, a problem has caused me to use most of the evening to find the cause but yet to understand and resolve. Why is it that Firefox 1.5 fails to start when I enable SCIM for Chinese input?

Next day update: The problem is caused by the fact that the new Firefox and SCIM used are compiled with different branches of gcc. I managed to find a workaround on the web and it should be working. Still trying to see what are the limitations...

[Online Game] Sleuth

I have been playing an online game called 'Sleuth' lately and I have to say it's good enough for me to be slightly addicted. Sleuth is an open-ended detective RPG where you solve mysteries by searching for clues, questioning suspects and interviewing witnesses. Every mystery is unique, with different victims, suspects and clues. All mysteries are solvable, in fact there are always two ways to solve any single mystery, but player skill and a small amount of luck are necessary to nab the guilty suspect. My detective has been doing okay, having 1960 experience points and 63 skill points in 105 days of game-play. You can play this game for free or pay to get more features and play more cases in different cities. Sleuth is found here -> http://sleuth.hypotheticalsoftware.com/.

Web Office Suites

I don't know whether I have shared this before but there is this blog written which gave a review of the different web office suites. You can read the blog entry here: Ajax Office Review.

The list of web office suites reviewed is as follows:
- gOffice
- Thinkfree Writer
- Writely
- Zoho Writer
- WriteBoard
- EyeOS

These apps have been tried out on Firefox 1.0.7 on Windows XP Pro and Ubuntu Linux 5.10.

DeepBurner and DeepRipper

Ever want to use a CD-burning or CD-ripping software without having to pay or carry the guilt of using p-version of the software (yah right)? Now you don't have to feel the pinch for both. You have DeepBurner and DeepRipper, both free for download.

"Create data CDs and DVDs on your PC. The
program lets you burn audio CDs, burn and build ISO images, and create
bootable CDs and DVDs. The program's design is similar to Windows
Explorer: you drag and drop the files you want into a queue, and then
they can be burned. This free version burns all types of data CDs and
DVDs, but it does not burn video DVDs, photo CD/DVD albums, or copy
from disk-to-disk. For those, you have to upgrade to DeepBurner Pro,
which costs (US)$25." -- PCWorld.com

Enjoy;

Two Special Linux Distributions

I will like to introduce two special linux distributions that I came across a couple of days ago. They are special because they are created to target small objectives. The first targets small computers while the second targets small people.

The first linux distribution is called Damn Small Linux, a.k.a DSL, and it must be one of the smallest linux distribution around, weighing in at 50MB only. It targets small computers and other computing devices. Given its small size, it can boot from a business card CD as a live linux distribution (LiveCD), a USB pen drive, and within Windows. So now you can carry around an operating system easily and not be afraid of using a non-personal computer away from home. Most importantly, you don't have to use Windows anymore if you dread to.

PS: This post is written using DSL.

The second linux distribution is called Edubuntu - Linux for Young Human Beings. It targets small people - kids between the age of 5 to 12 (adults are of course welcomed to use together). It basically is for school children to use in a classroom setting and at home. It is filled with applications which a school-going child can use to learn, do his/her homework, manage his/her time, and have fun. I certainly hope that such initiative for the benefit of children can continue and that more schools, teachers, and parents can help spread it around. I wish I can find people to help start a sort of community service to showcase edubuntu...

PS: A nice review of Edubuntu available here.

[網上所閱] 紅顔 & 知己

只想珍重這一份真摯友情
只想做你的一個紅顔知己
只想把你深深的收藏于心底

當你沉沒在迷津裏時
只想牽著你的手
帶你去看迷底

只想給朋友一份發自内心真摯地關愛
卻不願在迷失的目光中讓自己迷惑到底

我願意
願成爲你的紅顔
願成爲你的知己
也許這會帶著一點淺淺的愛情影子

不能縂圍繞在身邊纏綿
不能常常的俯首于耳邊思思細語

紅顔知己是一種神秘而默契的情意
為你的喜悅歡歌笑語 為你的憂傷迷離
給一份溫暖一份慰籍 一份愛心一份情意

會選擇默默地注視你行進的步履
在你失意的時候在你困惑的時候
我會用我的臂膀將你的脊梁托起

就讓我做你的紅顔知己吧！

MIT Media Lab: $100 Laptop

Finally, the big corporations of the IT world have come together to help M.I.T. and the U.N. in giving something good to the people of some of the poorest nations in the world. Children in extreme poverty can now get an opportunity to use modern technologies to learn and improve their lives. Read about this wonderful initiative in this CNET report or go to the M.I.T. website.

EarthLink IPv6 in the Home

The Linksys WRT54G router has a firmware built using Linux components (unannounced of course). Now the OS community has caused Linksys to open its firmware source code. A result of this is that a whole new list of firmware supporting various new functions and features has been written for the public. Now your WRT54G can be updated to have the functions and features comparable to a Cisco router. One such feature is the support for IPv6 and the reference link I provided below offers one such firmware for download.

http://www.research.earthlink.net/ipv6/

iPod Video...

Seriously, will you watch video while on the move? I know I won't. It's simply too dangerous lor. Plugging earphones has already deprived the music listener his/her sense of sound, hampering any hearing of danger. And now to be deprived of the sense of sight? I can sense more accidents happening... Anyway, I have to give credit to Apple for blending such a technology with portability. They didn't let a small screen deter them from promoting mobile video viewing;