Hosting for just $3.88/month! Find out MORE!

Monthly Archive for September, 2005

On to free development softwares

Published on 28 September, 2005 in Development, Free Desktop and Open Source. 0 Comments

Since software developers are typically people in the know and are more savvy, my angle will be more of sharing and exploring ideas, tips and experiences. This is something new I’m trying.

First a quick round up of free softwares I am using and where the strong holds are still to be broken.

Category
Currently using
Free?
Open Source?
 Alternative
Programming PHP
Y
Y
  
Programming Perl
Y
Y
  
Programming Ruby
Y
Y
  
Version control SVN
Y
Y
  
Version control client TortoiseSVN
Y
Y
  
Code editor Vim
Y
Y
  
SSH Putty
Y
Y
  
SFTP/FTP Filezilla
Y
Y
  
IDE Eclipse
Y
Y
  
Webserver Apache
Y
Y
  
Webserver package XAMPP
Y
Y
  
Compare/merging Winmerge
Y
Y
  
Design IDE Dreamweaver
N
N
 Nvu
Photo/Graphics Gimp Y Y  

Anything else I missed?

Technical Analysis Explained

Published on 26 September, 2005 in Investing and Readings. 0 Comments

Technical Analysis Explained
by Martin J. Pring

Started reading this book brought from Hong Kong. (Am surprised to find that books are relatively cheap in HK.)

Over the past few years I had been picking up technical analysis (TA) here and there and had thought of schooling myself more formally.

Happened that while browsing a bookstore in Lan Kwai Fong, I ran into this book which does have most TA topics covered. The price looks alright too.

From my initial flipping of the book today, the book content look dense. It might take a while to digest the content among the many things I’m doing.

Looking forward to pick up ideas and skill from this book and post some analysis soon.

Will Microsoft continue to reign in China?

Published on 25 September, 2005 in Business Models, China and Online. 0 Comments

An interesting article on ChinaTechNews.com - New Computing Paradigm For Google To Beat Microsoft?

Just looking at the way my Chinese colleagues and friends use applications, the observation that Microsoft had a huge advantage owning the operating system is right on. Coupled with the fact that copy of the latest operating system can be easily brought off the street, it will ensures that Microsoft have the mindshare of lay-users in the many years to come.

Google may have an uphill battle but like what the writer said, there is a possibility. Google maybe the best contender currently but the opportunity is wide open for anyone to take a shot. The writer concluded that a new paradigm is needed but has no answer.

I can think of two point of attack.

One, Operating System

I am putting the bet on open source as one of the paradigm that will break the strangle hold of Microsoft in operating system.

How? I’m not exactly sure. Open source is still in the stage of looking for a viable model.

However as Linux keep getting better and with some Government support, we could well see Microsoft displaced.

The other possibility is Mac OS, as mentioned in another post. This is quite possible in China as many computer users are first time user. There is almost nothing except the price to hold back someone from choosing a Mac over a PC loaded with Windows. Also in China, the angle of prestige and status can play well into the hand of Apple.

Once Microsoft lost strangle hold of the OS, the competition field is levelled.

Two, Office application.

This may not be a new paradigm but a line of thought. As long as Microsoft charge and sell Office separately, the advantage of bundling with the operating system is smaller. There is opportunity to counter Microsoft’s China advance

Already KingSoft is launching their own version of Office application - WPS Office and offering them for free download. According to review, it is a verbatim copy of MS Office look and feel. The open source Open Office is another candidate poised to create upset.

While
it will take years, even decade, to halt the rampant piracy in the home
user market, the business user market is getting more attention and
control. The market is sizable if one consider the growing number of
new businesses requiring office application.

Thanks to Word and Excel, everyone know what is a word processor
and spreadsheet. Though my colleague mistaken my Office Office
Calc for Excel, they can nevertheless use the function.

avarice

Published on 25 September, 2005 in Vocabulary. 0 Comments

avarice - extreme desire for material wealth

"Who in China ever thought that could-have-been, would-have-been companies like eTang.com and Renren.com would be consumed by their own avarice?"

Email proxy, any solution?

Published on 21 September, 2005 in Online and Travel tips. 0 Comments

Update: See Gmail is the answer.

I am travelling to Hong Kong. Nice thing is that even the small hotel (guest house) has wireless internet access.

But I have a problem and no solution in sight. Maybe someone can help.

The problem is that the ISP for the internet access has blocked outgoing SMTP connection (port 25). In order to send an email on a domain outside the ISP network, authentication is required. This is ok for personal use, but the owner of the guest house is not going to give username and password to all the guest.

There should be a way out of this problem. Certainly I’m not the first to encounter it.

One solution I have in mind is an email proxy.
I’m not sure it exist. A quick search did not reveal anything. It should just work if one can connect to a proxy on another port which then forward the stmp to the destination server.

If anyone know of any solution, let me know. Many others would love to know it as well I’m sure.

Remarkable Service - Singapore style

Published on 18 September, 2005 in Online and Singapore. 0 Comments

When remarkable things happened people are eager to share the story. With Internet and blog, it is so much easier to tell the whole world.

And my remarkable story? Remarkable service by the Singapore Immigration & Checkpoints Authority.

As a Singaporean, I am delightedly proud to sing the praise of my fellow countrymen. Here’s the story.

My China visa was due to expire soon (in 2 weeks time), so naturally I had to renew it. What I did not notice was that my passport is also expiring and did not have the necessary valid period to renew the visa. So I had to renew the passport first.

A call to the Singapore Consulate-General in Shanghai suggested 2 options

  1. Send them the passport and they will apply for me. Takes 2-3 weeks.
  2. Apply online and get it delivered to Shanghai. Takes about 2 weeks.

For me only option 2 is the only feasible option. I was adviced to follow up with an email to request priority processing. (But what happened suggests this is probably not necessary.)

Applying a Singapore passport online is really easy. Just follow the instruction on the website. With a digital camera a photo can be taken in no time. Stand a against a white wall, take the photo, download the photo into the computer and adjust the balance with Gimp. After that just upload the photo and make an online payment with credit card.

That was last Thursday afternoon.

The next day I received an email informing me the application had been processed and will be really for collection on Monday (if I am in Singapore).

On Monday, another email (from a real person, not an annonymous address) replied, telling me that the passport is on its way flying to Shanghai.

Click to see email text

Thursday a call to the Consulate confirmed that the passport had been received.

Friday morning, passport happily collected.

Now isn’t a remarkable example of excellent service combining technology, across different government departments, across country.

After hearing horror story of how visa application can be like, I am biased to conclude Singapore service is very much ahead.

Tell me any other remarkable or horror story you have.

To those that make this all possible, I thank you from my heart. Keep up the good work!

Being an entrepreneur is a job

Published on 16 September, 2005 in Entrepreneur. 0 Comments

Yes. Like any job there are good days and there are bad days. After working at it for a long time, experience are gained, leaving the industry becomes more difficult.

In a sense I’m on that critical point now. By going further down the road, my chances of getting back to the corporate world diminishes rapidly. Yet I felt enough experience had been accumulated that I can deal with whatever is to come.

In my mind, I know that

I had live in humble means and I have had the experience of prosperity, in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being an entrepreneur.

I shall not waver in the face of adversity though the road is a long and arduous.

Japan market

Published on 13 September, 2005 in Investing. 0 Comments

Despite the raising oil price risk, Japan market had been rallying strongly since May. It has broken new high since 2001 and still going north. Is this sustainable?

With so many false recovery investors are naturally wary but market pundits are bullish. A recovering Japan could bore well for Asia and China too.

I am happy too. My Japan funds brought early this year are doing well.

News and Entertainment, made at home

Published on 12 September, 2005 in Online. 0 Comments

Finding yourself spending more and more time online and less and less time on TV, movies and other form of news and entertaimment?

You are not alone. That makes two of us.

The Internet, technology and individual creativity had produced home brew entertainment and news source for every topics imaginable. Much more specific and narrowly-focused, these topics are typically not of the mainstream variant.

For example, I just discovered Everybody loves Eric Raymond. It is so crazily funny, who needs newspaper comic strip. But not everyone understand the satire. If this is not for you, just search for one that’s close to your heart, in two-clicksTM.

For news and catching up with the latest, there is blog and now Podcasting. Niche news on niche topics that mainstream media will not carry. For catching up on the grapevine and happens in the community there is no equal. And what more, you get to choose what you need.

I have not jumped onto the podcasting bandwagon but all the talk is making me all that itchy. But I am certainly spending more and more time on the internet, productive or not.

Gimp

Published on 11 September, 2005 in Free Desktop. 0 Comments

Undeniably Photoshop is a class of its own when comes to photo editing. Of course some people might disagree and suggest Fireworks or Paintshop Pro. For me it is GIMP.

GIMP is an Open Source photo editing software like Photoshop. Over the years GIMP had evolved and matured into an application that can rival Photoshop in functionalities.

GIMP is acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. As the name suggests it can be used for such tasks
as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.


GIMP is a big program with many powerful functions. That means it will take time to learn. However as you spend time you will learn that it does not take any more time than to learn a commercial software like Photoshop.

Of course for someone already familiar with Photoshop, many things had to be learn, unlearn and relearn. For me it is the keyboard shortcut keys and the multi-windows interface.

The advantage is the next time Adobe comes out with a new version, there is no need to fork out more money to upgrade. For a small time graphic user like myself, I do not use much of the newer functions.

It is simple to learn the basic to start using the GIMP. I had started to create many graphics and will continue to learn to use new function. For someone familiar with Photoshop, it should be relatively easy to pickup although some ways of doing things may be different and need getting used to.

The best place to find information learn is the GIMP tutorials. The GIMP project is constantly adding more tutorials and documentations. Books on GIMP are also starting to appear.

GIMP is seriously challenging Photoship and other commercial photo editing software. I certainly recommend infrequent, graphic user to try it and be free from commercial or pirated softwares.

For professionals that livelihood depend on creating graphics efficiently, it is certainly worthwhile to try GIMP out in free time. GIMP could prove to be a disruptive or competitive advantage in your field.

What I like about ?

  • Do all my graphical manipulation with less bloat.

Room for improvement

  • Support for font seems lacking
  • Usability

Where to get it?

http://www.gimp.org/

Current version: 2.2
Function: Photo editing software