I believe that most of us having our own Friendster account, and it was constant update. Nowadays, Friendster is like a social communication tool, for finding friends, find love, to write blog, and to show off photos.

S**t, the photo size exceed 1MB!
This is the most common problem faced by Friendster users. When they went for a vacation, or just style a new hairstyle, they snap it with digital camera and transfer it into computer. However, most cameras in the market nowadays was equipped with at least 3.2 Mega Pixel, and producing an image that greater than 1MB in file size. People will feel lazy to resize the photo 1 by 1 with other photo processing application and they lost the chance to show off their cool photos to the world.

Here is the easy solutions:
No more hard way to resize pictures! Microsoft Powertoy had developed a new gadget, called Image Resizer (quite simple name). Image Resizer is like a plugin for Windows Explorer. Once you installed it, it will embed into your right-click menu, like this:

*download Powertoy Image Resizer here.

How to use?
Simple! Just select the photo or photos you want to resize, right click it, then choose Resize Pictures. Then, choose the photo dimension which you prefer(Note: the smaller the dimension, the smaller the file size, however, resize from very large dimension image into very small dimension image will squeeze the image quality too). There are 4 default dimensions for you to choose: Small (640x480), Medium(800x600), Large(1024x768) and Handheld PC(240x320). Inside Advanced Button, you can customize your image dimension. If you afraid that the image you resized will damage, you can uncheck the "Resize the original pictures(don't create copies)" box. The box is uncheck in default.

Why this Resizer is the best?
Ask yourself: Every time you resized an image, will the quality of that image preserve when the file size reduced? no. But this seems not happen in this Powertoy Image Resizer. Try it yourself, resize a picture with the same dimension as the original picture. Then zoom to any level to make comparison. it's the same! But, the file size already reduced 60%++. Until now, I still don't know what technology that Powertoy Image Resizer using, simply reduce the file size without reduce the image quality.

Try it, it's free! No more excuse of why you don't update your Friendster!

Wish you all a Happy New Year Eve and a Happy 2007!! Wow!

Will continue my blog next year!

Welcome 2007 !!

Eric and his friend, Jun Chao (spell like that), came to MMU, and illegally trespassed into Ixora. They spent a night at my room, conquered my bed. The next early morning, we went to KL.

Places visited
This time, we visited a lot of places, like Petaling Street, One Utama(never been before this, it's damn damn BIG!), The Curve(this too), Mid Valley, Mines(also didn't been before). Some other boring places and malls like Berjaya Time Square, Sungai Wang, and Low Yat Plaza(Still the best place for IT stuff), and of course, Bintang Walk. I even watched Eragon and The Curse of the Golden Flower, by Chou Yun Fat, Gong Li, and Jay Chou. Good job, it's really a nice movie, but unfortunately, Tjun Kit and Su don't have taste at all.

During Christmas Eve, Countdown night.
This is the second times I went for Christmas Countdown in Bintang Walk, Kuala Lumpur. After having our dinner at Nando's Chicken, we started our so-called-snow-war. "4 cans for RM10!!". Snow-spray sellers are shouting. Each of us bought 4 cans as our weapon, and wait chance to strike or defense ourselves.

The World is small
That's somehow true. In a crowd, I still can met Yi Feng and Xi Jun. They are also active soldiers, holding cans of spray, ready for war. Suddenly, people aimed their spray cans to the sky, and sprayed it, a snowing scene appeared in my sight. Merry Christmas!! Even the monorail pass by at the top sounded the hon for the first time, haha! 

Damn boring KL lifestyle
Just few days of staying in KL, I started to feel sick of the rush and busy lifestyle. Early in the morning, had to wait at monorail for travel, and most of the time, we need to change line to travel to other places. Another thing: monorail fxxxing expensive. Just turn-another-road distance, they charged for RM1.00... I feel sick with the pack environment in all the malls, no matter as far as Mines, or as central as Berjaya Time Square, the crowd always there! And the sign board at all monorail and LRT that said: " Beware of pickpocket " make me nervous and always aware people around.

Compare to the first time, this time the countdown was more under control, unlike last year, 'countdowner' threw the snow-spray cans to vehicles around, strike police, one word to describe, crazy.

KL, a Hi-Tech City, but also a city that full of pressure.

I got some photo during the trip, and I will upload it later, due to the earthquake at Taiwan caused the Internet system down. Bless to those victims of 26 December 2004.

5 years of development, soon, Microsoft will release it's next generation OS (Operating System), Windows Vista, that will change the way you 'see' a computer, as Microsoft promised. How actually will Microsoft design the box for it's new Windows Vista? I search online for box designs of Windows Vista, and I found an article about the packaging design of Windows Vista and Office 2007. But the design is not available on most search engine result, and I am wondering whether the design is real or not. Who cares?! Just share it with you all la!

Each edition of Vista have their own color, quite cool, especially the Ultimate Edition. The cover is made of plastic, and the container design let you keep the disc and the documentation safely and neatly. Compare to the old paper box packaging, after you took the disc and the manual book, the box will be thrown away, and the manual book will be just put on top of the cd somewhere in your drawer...  This kind of packaging can protect the contents from damage easily. And one more function: it just looks cool!! Suitable to put on your computer desk as decoration! Hahaha! But will Malaysia import this package? As I know, most PC retailer in Malaysia don't sell paper box, they rather sell just a simple slim paperpack design, like this:

Besides, Microsoft also released the advertisement for Vista, take a look at here:

40 days to go, yeah! 

Technorati Tags: Vista - Ad - package - design

**Attention: This is not the summary that lecturer want us to do.

National Service
I still remember clearly, 1st January 2006, Happy New Year, I was sit on the bus, heading to Padang Besar, Perlis. What a far place, about 3 hours of car travel distance. Leaving my family, some of my friends, and my lovely computer, and went to ' service the national' (National Service) in Kem Guar Chenderai, Padang Besar, Perlis. There is real far, just a few kilometer away from border between Malaysia and Thailand. I met people, some very nice, some terrible, and I also met a person that can change my life. 2 and half months of training, some force let me feel that I want to stay back.

SPM Result
Not to mention much at here, some people who read my blog have results that better than me. And because of this result, I got a Sony Ericsson k600i as a present. That is my second handset in my life, I love it.

First time working experience
When I came back from PLKN (Project Latihan Khidmat Negara, means National Service Training Program), with the bald head, I search for job. The first job I found was working in a pirated CD shop. Damn terrible, the police will always come to check out, and when we received information about the arrival of police, we just shut the door, and walk around for hours, before came back to reopen the shop. It was so pressure, if I get caught, my future as Software Engineer ruined... Just work for 4 days, the police came twice! I quit the job and find for another job at Pacific Hypermarket, as a promoter for a branded man wear, John Masters. The supervisor was hectic, the air-conditioning was really really cold!! No chatting, no leaning against wall or anything, no this, no that.... That time, with the in-love mode, nothing can really scare me. I worked there for just 20+ days, until the Man Wear Promotion was over.

Choosing Right Course
Another head cracking problem occurred. Which courses I want to choose?!!! Let me said some cocky about myself: I feel confident to study in any fields. But, which one is the field that I really like? My dad hope I can study Ophthalmology, just because of the future is really bright, and I don't need to worry about finance problem, however, I don't like it. For engineering, after you graduated, maybe there was plenty of jobs you can get, but mostly you can only be a employee for your life, because to start up a business related with engineering needs a huge amount of model, and from my view, most engineering based graduates don't have business mind, they just know about robot arm and silicon. I repeat again, is most, but not all. At last, with my own decision, I choose IT, and will major in Software Engineer. After the course been chosen, it's time to choose the right campus. I failed to get Matriculation of Malaysia (not because of my result, its because of the Malaysian Policy, you know la). Thanks to the advancement in Information Technology, I search Google for the campus that suitable to me. With Google Blog Search, I found a ex-MMU senior, Tien Soon, and from 'her'(actually is him, but at first I really confused by his photo in his blog), I ask the information that I need. I afraid of discrimination. This is the first thing I ask him through e-mail, and luckily, he was kind enough to answer all my questions with polite words, thanks. For the first time, I travel myself, came down to Melaka, and explore my future campus, Multimedia University. After that, I travel to here again to search for accommodation, and I choose Ixora Apartment.

First Semester Study
In the first semester, I met friends, quite a number of friends, Julian, Aaron, Kok Ming, Ramesh, Eng Soon...... A little bit disappoint me is the number of students who study IT is far less than I can imagine, and just few girls love IT, take my group as example, my group just have 30+ students, and only 3 girls, and 3 of them are Malays... There are total of 8 groups that study IT, and half of it was International Students. Compare to other major, like Engineering, they have 20++ groups. Maybe the wound of 1997 Economic Crisis not yet recover... However, this seems benefit us, because when we graduated, there will be a shortage of IT Profession. The first semester result was not bad, at least got a Dean List, yea! At here, MMU prepared a platform for me to train my communication and group work skill, from the activity in club and event. I even got a committee post in Trinite 2007, I love that event!

What's going on next year?
For next year, 3rd Sem, year final exam, event committee, all strike towards me, but all still under control. Look foward to read my blog.

Technorati Tags: 2006 - summary - national service - IT - MMU - friends - k600i - job experience

Ok, just the title already killed my 2 minutes...
My friend Chia Syan show me this Google innovation (another creative but useless innovation)--- Google for Hacker. It works like normal Google search engine, just all the characters changed into other symbol that most Malaysian Online Community understand. I say so because I always saw some of my Live Messenger's contacts use that "language". For me, I need extra seconds to understand a words. Quite stupid, isn't it?

Original sentences:
In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 87 already displayed.

Google for hacker's version:
1N 0RD3R 2 5H0W j00 7H3 m05T r3L3V4NT r35uL7Z, W3 |-|4V3 0m1773D 50M3 3nTR135 V3RY 51M1L4R 2 7H3 87 4LR34DY |>15PL4Y3D.


Take some time.

Other languages of Google search engine can be found under language tools, include Klingon, a language spoke by Alien in Star Trek Series...

Google is cool!!

TIME

People said : Some people use lifetime to get on the front cover of Time Magazine.

I use 1 hour.

Actually, I had this idea a long time ago. Yesterday night, I sit in front of my laptop, suddenly this idea flow up to my mind! So I quickly run my Photoshop to achieve my 'dream'.

A few steps need to be follow:

1. Search for a most suitable photo in My Picture.
2. Open it in Photoshop and remove all the background with tools like Magic Wand Tool, Rectangular Marquee Tool, and Eraser tool.
3. Create a new paper and the size may vary. I use 5 X 7 inches.
4. Draw a rectangular at the center of the paper, left about 1cm before the border. Then, use Paint Bucket Tool to fill red color(usually red), at the white space outside the rectangular.
5. Use Magic Ward Tool to select the rectangular at the center and delete it. Now you got a red border of frame of you magazine.

   

6. Back to your photo, use Magic Ward tool to click on the white background around, and right click to choose ' Select Inverse'.
7. Cut or copy your "nicely background removed photo" to the red frame project.
8. Search online for some background that you prefer, for example: tower (like mine), sport cars, volcano, or any where you like. I suggest to use Google Images to search it. (Please search the photo that suitable for your project.)
9. If the background covered your photo and the frame, drag the background layer to a suitable level at the Layer windows (Window-->Layer, or shortcut F7). Remember, the highest layer will block the lower layer.

   

10. Use Horizontal Typing tool to type the word 'TIME'. Wow! This is the most exciting part! I am almost on the magazine cover! From my experience, I think Times New Roman is the most suitable font for 'TIME'.
11. Set the color of 'TIME' according to your background color. Most Time Magazine use red color as their title, but sometimes, they will change it to other color that can match the background. In this case, I choose gray, because my background is bright.
12. You are almost done! Think of headline that suitable for your situation. Use Typing Tool to type it at some where you like. Arrange it neatly. Change the font size and color to your preferable style. You can also include a barcode to make it look more 'real'.

The finish work will look like this. Cool?

This tutorial is suitable for beginner and on. Try it! You can look for some reference by Google it.

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My friend, Aaron just lost his phone. His Sony Ericsson w300i just 1 month old, with a 2 weeks old SIM card. He accidentally left his hand phone in the lecture room at FSE 4th floor. (FSE is a name of a building in MMU)

When he realized he lost his phone, he ran back to FSE with my handphone( in case he can call to search for his phone), but the phone was gone, we just left the room for 10 minutes!! Inside the room just has 1 girl, so he can't do anything, can't go to tell her, said: "My phone lost, let me check your bag.", right?

The whole day, he look so quite, so tired, so miserable. We friends eat together, but he don't eat...haiz... I tried to search online for IMEI tracking, but all the information are just bullshit.

This morning, he call to his phone, and surprisingly, the theft didn't off the phone (The theft damn stupid!) But what can he do? The theft don't pick up the phone!

Last week, I also found a handphone, a Samsung model handphone, but I gave back to the owner! Look like kind person in this world is getting less and less...

During 'blunch' (our gang's new term: breakfast + lunch = blunch) at mamak stall, my friend reminded me about this popular quote:

The world is not fair, try to adapt it.  Bill Gates

Microsoft Corp had announced the official release date of Microsoft next generation Operating System --- Windows Vista, on 30 January 2007. This project started years ago, that time I was just form 4, and the same time is the spreading of horrible virus, Blaster, that infected only Microsoft Windows, especially pirated version who cant download patch to cover the security hole.

That time, the OS development project started, and Longhorn was the code name of the operating system, now officially named it Windows Vista. ( Actually at first I don't like the name Vista, it sounds too normal at everywhere... ; but now feel cool of it! ) Along the development process, Microsoft development team released beta 1, beta 2, RC1 (Release Candidate 1) and RC2. Currently my PC at my hometown Penang is using Windows Vista RC2 Ultimate Edition, and the superior 3D graphics really impressed me! But even I didn't run any high graphic demand PC game or applications, it already filled up 240Mb of graphic memory, just graphic memory!

How much does it cost?

After some searching work, I found some retail price of Windows Vista:

 * source:

http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-6112260.html

For Enterprise Edition, it only available for volume licence.

For Malaysian, it seem very expensive, but that is not Malaysian price. Wal-Mart, the giant market, sell Windows XP home edition at $119.98, after conversion to RM, it cost about RM 443.93, but actually in Malaysia, it cost just RM300, and lower. The same, for Windows XP Professional, Wal-Mart tag it at $196.37, and after conversion is RM 726.57, but in Malaysia, you can get it with RM 490. Both OS are 32% cheaper than US price, so, the Windows Vista sell in Malaysia should have the same percentage of price reduction, hope so.

Since May of 2005, I start to write blog. That year, I just Form 5, and what motivate me to write blog, is to express my feeling, especially love. As time goes on, I started to write about things around, things I discovered or explored, experiences, show off my new stuff, and since I study IT, more and more technology stuff caught my attention.

Along these months until now, I had wrote a lot of blogs. I used to write and edit on the web, but I always face a fatal problem during publish my blogs. Sometimes, I finished my blog, and I want to publish it, the time I click 'publish' button, the browser lost connection with the server, and all my journal and blog gone, if the blog is short, I will retype it; if it was too long, I just forget it...... This was the most hectic moment during write blogs. After a few times, I will copy the whole passage to notepad or MS Words before publish it, to prevent the same incident happen again.

No more worry!

Until a few days ago, I found this Windows Live Writer . This is a Windows Live Writer design to write blog during offline mode for Windows Lve Spaces and other bloging services like Blogger

, and publish it when online. The interface look similar with Microsoft Office products. It having the same arrangement, tools names, and symbols. The theme color is same as Office 2007, and have a sidebar at the right side. For those who use Microsoft Words regularly, this is not a big problem for them to get use to this writer.

Beside that, this writer have more functions than the web-based writer. Normally, I host my image on my blog sub-domain, and the image will appear at the Photo Album column, which I feel this caused the blog looks messy. To prevent that, I host my picture at Flickr, but I had to insert the picture manually using HTML coding, this make my life irritating! In this writer, I can install a plugin that directly upload the image that I put inside my blog to my Flickr account without any touch of HTML code, this was cool! There are many others plugins that you can get at wlwplugin.com. For now, there is just a plugin, called flickr4writer, but it just support downloading, hope the next version can support uploading as well.

Other feature

When I installed this writer, I started to play around with the functions. Inside the tools>preference, you can set your preference, like spelling checking, plugins, proxy, and even ping the blog organizer, like Technorati. This application also allow you to view you blog in different view, like web layout, normal, web preview, and even in HTML code. To let other people search and find your blog easier, you can insert tags for each blog and each pictures you published. You can also insert a map from Live Local, but, this is Malaysia, the map is not detail enough to show the roads, if compare to other larger city, like New York. Compare to the web-base blogging era, now I can insert link with just 1 click, no more HTML coding.(I wonder I will forget the code after some time?)

Windows Live Writer is currently compatible with:

As a conclusion, this is really a good application to write, edit, and customize, blog. Click here to download Windows Live Writer. (Windows Live Writer is currently in beta-testing stage)

Technorati Tags: Windows Live Writer - plugins - flickr - map - ping -