Obama the Opensource of Politics

Yesterday was a historical day in American history. Obama won by a landslide. It wasn't even close, at least by electoral college votes. I was watching the result on CNN. When suddenly I hear one of the CNN commentator Alex Castellanos who is a Republican strategist quoting "The Cathedral and Bazaar". He explained the government functions using the old Cathedral model, much like Microsoft. And Obama wants to change from bottom up, which is the opensource movement. I just about jump out of the bed. The Youtube clip follows.

Nintendo Introduce DSi

Nitendo introduce a new DS model called DSi. This time it's not just new colors or minor tweaks. It's a major change. It has a larger 3.5 inch screen, VGA camera, built-in 4 GB of ram, a SD card slot. You can play mp3 and wma. It also removed the GBA slot, which means you can no longer play GBA games you have. You want to play it, you now have to buy it again and download it digitally from Nintendo. It also means you can't play games like Guitar Hero for DS or any other creative titles that has accessary you placed into the GBA slot. It will be $180.
Image here.

After The Beijing Olympics 2008

The Beijing Olympics of 2008 has come to an end. As I'm sitting here, watching the closing ceremony. I couldn't help but remember the entire production cost of the event is $44 Billion. And they did this out of their own pocket, without borrowing a cent from anyone.

China has also broken 50 Gold Medal count. The last time that happened was by USSR.

The opening ceremony for example, had 15,000 performers. Not a single one of them repeated any performance.

I think the declaration to the world is loud and clear. "We are here. We have a lot of people. We have a lot of money."

I don't know how many people will remember that China denied entry visa to Joel Cheek. Or that China's success in the game is due to "Project 119". A system where they find kids all over the country at the age of 4 with potential for certain sports, and remove them from the family to put them in the elite sport school. Or that China sent two women in the 70s to "re-education through labour" because they dare applied to protest during the Olympic games. That's right, they didn't even get to protest. Or the fact that the original dancer for the performance where she danced while more than 30 men carried the dancing stage that's 3 meter tall, fall off during rehearsal 3 weeks ago, and is paralised for life from waist down. When the real open ceremony started, the girl who was the real "Queen of Dance", and was in fact the real "Liu Yan" was lying in the hospital struggling to sit up. But they kept her name and her bio while at first cover up her injury then downplay it.

In some ways, I feel bad for London. How on earth are they going to be able to come close in terms of budget? Not to metnion everything is much cheaper in China. I bet to put on an event of similar scale in US would cost 10 times as much, or $440 Billion.

Because by 2012, all everyone will remember is, "Beijing 2008 was awesome, there were a lot of people, and there was a lot of money put into it. China won a lot of gold medals."

Always Use Https With Gmail

A new feature has been added in the account setting area of gmail to force all pages delivered under https. If you haven't done so, go turn it on right away.

There are already exploits out in the wild for capturing your gmail account in non-encrypted mode.

When A Name Is Not Just A Name

First, let's get this out of the way. There is no such thing as a country called Chinese Taipei, or China Tapei, or anything that's some strange mutation there of.

The name of the country is Taiwan. The flag of the country is not the silly Olympics generic flag. It looks like this.

The reason you may know otherwise was beacuse of China making it a condition to allow Taiwan to attend Olympics back in 1984. Taiwan wasn't allowed to use the true country name, nor the real flag. It was a compromise for Olympics, the end.

Now, I have no idea why South Korea feel the need to bully Taiwan at the World Cyber Game Asia in Singapore during 8-8-08. Taiwan team was competing under the country name Taiwan with the real flag. South Korean team filed a formal protest, claiming Taiwan has no right to use either the flag or the name. So the name was changed and flag was stripped. Taiwan team also filed a formal protest, but was ignored.

Last year the World Cyber Game event at Seattle, when the Taiwan player won 3rd place, the Taiwan flag was shown. As the result, players from China ran up and try to prevent Taiwan players from leaving the stage, while shouting "是狗生的" (SOB) at the Taiwan players.

Wei-Ling Chen(陳葦綾) Won First Medal For Taiwan

No, it's not Chinese Taipei. It's Taiwan. But that's for another post.

Her coach once told her "Your skill in weight lifting is the worst in the world" after watching her practice. But she won the first medal for Taiwan.

She placed 11th in 2004 Olympics. At the time, her coach told her "All you have is strength." He then told her, "I'll teach you everything else." She was in the position for the Silver medal. But her lift wasn't balanced. She tried to hang on, but in the end the weight fall on her. She was 1 sec away from Silver Medal.

Afterward, she said in the interview that she was quite nervous. For her final lift, she thought to herself. "即使折斷手臂，死都不放掉槓鈴" (Even if I broke my arm, or if I die I would still hang on to the weight).

She wasn't favored to medal at all, in part because her weight is far lower than others in the event. She is 0.5 kg lighter than the 4th place winner. When asked, she replied with "Honestly, I was eating hamburger yesterday. The person in charge of the weight control was very upset with me. But I was like 'I'm eating for my country!'"

When asked about her future plan, she said "As long as my coach doesn't give up on me. I'll be back for the next Olympics. My two assets are my youth and strength. I can do better."

iPhone App Store Brings Two Guys In A Garage Back

Among the launching titles, there are a few gems. Aurora Feint: The Beginning is one of them. It's a pretty good Puzzle Quest clone. Done by two guys in 10 weeks time. They are releasing it for free on App Store. My guess is they will release part 2 and part 3 for $9.99 each. Thus backing back the shareware model that made ID famous.

Watch out Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. A new enemy has just sneaked up through the backdoor, with the degree of openiness never before seen in the handheld console market. Backed by first class distrbution and profit sharing model.

Akihabara massacre

June 9 (Bloomberg) -- A man went on a stabbing rampage yesterday in Tokyo's downtown Akihabara district, killing seven people and injuring 10, Japanese news reports said.Tomohiro Kato, 25, drove into a crowd of pedestrians on the closed-off main avenue of the Akihabara electronics district about 12:30 p.m., Jiro Akaogi, a spokesman at the Metropolitan Police Department, told Bloomberg News yesterday. Kato left the vehicle and began knifing people, he said.

One of the dead was a 21-year-old woman, Kyodo News Service said. The other six were men aged between 19 and 74 years, the newswire said.

``I came to Akihabara to kill people,'' Kato told police after his arrest, according to Kyodo. ``I am tired of the world. Anyone was OK.''

The Akihabara attack echoes one in March, when a 24-year- old man wanted for murder killed one person and injured seven in a stabbing spree at a shopping mall northeast of Tokyo.

Japan had 1.1 homicides per 100,000 people compared with 3.5 in France, 3.2 in the U.K. and 5.6 in the U.S., according to Japanese government figures published last year. Japan's prison population rose 45 percent to 69,301 in the six years to 2006.

Eight elementary schoolchildren were slashed to death at a school near Osaka on June 8, 2001, by Mamoru Takuma, 37, who was on medication for a mental problem. Takuma, who told police he took 10 times the normal dose of his drug, had been arrested two years earlier for drugging four teachers at a different school where he worked.

There is also more on this at Wikipedia.

Apple Announce iPhone 3G

The long awaited iPhone 3G has been announced. Both the iPhone 3G and the iPhone firmware 2.0 gets a release ady. July 11th in 22 countries. Yes, K, Japan is one of them via Softbank.
The firmware adds following.

• adds PowerPoint file support. (previously only Word, Excel and PDF)
• adds complete iWorks document support (P would love this)
• contact search with real time filtering response, much like searching in iTunes.
• bulk delete and move for Mail
• You can now save image you receive.
• If you rotate the caculator in landscape now, it flips into scientific mode.
• full Asian language writing support

The above every iPhone will get. iPhone 3G also brings the following in hardware changes.

• 3G (the chip actually will support various HSPA protocols including what's commonly referred to as 3.5G) In its current implementation in US, it's very close to wifi experience on iPhone.
• GPS
• Battery with twice the juice. What does this mean? It means 10 hours of 2G talk time, or 5 hours of 3G talk time. 5-6 hours of high speed surfing, 7 hours of video, or 24 hours of audio.
• Flush headphone jack. (This was annoying for me whenever I try to use my studio monitor headphone.)
• 8GB model will be $199, 16GB model will be $299. There will be a white version of the 16GB. Apple is capping the max retail price of the 8GB version to $199 in all 22 countries.

To solve background app issue, Apple has come up with a server side push solution. More detail on this later. It will be launching in Sep.

How I End Up with Canon 450D

B and I were chatting about DSLR cameras. He was really into the 450D, I on the other hand, am much more into the 40D. So in short, I popoed the 450D.

Not even 12 hours later, I walked into BestBuy today. They have both the 450D and 40D on display. I played with both of them, and of course I like the 40D and the 28-135mm lens that came with the 40D kit way better.

One of the regular sales guy was working there. He said "What do you think?" I said "Well, I love the 40D and the lens." He said "Well, however I can get you a smoking deal for the 450D". A few minutes of chatting, I walked out with 450D kit and the 28-135mm lens for 50% off. I still like 40D better, but at that kind of discount, I'll pick 450D and ready to accept any harassment.

Nintendo Channel On Wii The First Console Spyware

According to this article, the Nintendo Channel on Wii once installed, will upload all sorts of data about you, your Wii settings including TV and Internet connections and your daily activities on Wii.

Whatever happened to consumer privacy?

Microsoft Helps Government Hack Your Windows

According to this report, Microsoft created a USB thumbdrive device in June 2006 to help governments in multiple countries crack your windows.

More than 2,000 officers in 15 countries, including Poland, the Philippines, Germany, New Zealand and the United States, are using the device.

Water Powered Cellphone By 2010 From Samsung

Today is Earth Day. So it's fitting that Samsung has announced they have a prototype fuel cell that's just water. The process is simple, the metal plate turns water into hydrogen gas . So it's technically hydrogen gas fuel cell. The current prototype can power a cellphone for about 10 hours of talk time. Samsung projects it will hit the market by 2010.

Found New Headphones

So I was doing my usual weekly bargin hunting. I was at Microcenter when P told me to come check out something.

Low and behold, they put a bunch of Audio Technica headphones on close out. I was like "No freaking way!". I bought a pair of ATH-EW9 and a pair of ATH-EM9r. Pictures below. I'll add more pictures of my own later. The cheery wood one is specially pretty and sounds lovely too. How good of a deal? I paid $51 for the $329 ATH-EW9, and $37 for the $299 ATH-EM9r.

New Samsung 24inch LCD 2493HM

Just got the new Samsung 24inch LCD 2493HM. It hit the market this week. It's 1920x1200, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 2-5ms refresh rate. It has VGA, DVI and HDMI connector.

The nice surprise was, it has a pair of built-in 4watt speakers. I found this out by accident when I hooked up the PS3 to test the panel's HDMI. PS3 is the most picky in terms of HDMI and DRM crap. I was pressing buttons on the controller, and heard the sound feedback. I was like "where is the sound coming from?"

Blizzard 2008

The snow storm known as Blizzard 2008 has come and gone. Breaking all sorts of records in its trail. With 20.4 inches of snow, it is the most snow since 1910. It also broke the record of most snow fall in 24 hours set in 1987. I remember having to go to OSU that day way back then.

Pictures here.

Creator Of Dungeons & Dragons Passed Away

E. Gary Gygax passed away on March 4th. He was one of the reasons I got into gaming. I remember when I first was trying to learn English, reading the AD&D manuals he wrote. I even played in one of his tournament games at GenCon. He killed me of course. His creation inspired many people. I was happy to see him again at GenCon 2007. We were trying to play a game of Shogi, but sadly neither of us have access to a board.

Just Voted In My First Primary

Got up early this morning to go vote in the primary. They were forecasting possible ice/snow, so wanted to get there while it's still just rain.

I had heard this will be the first time Ohio Democratic Primary will be an open primary. Being an independent, I was excited that I can finally vote at least on the democrat side.

Well, I heard it wrong. It's still a close primary. So it's either declare a party or just get to vote down the levy. I thought about it long and hard, and decided to declare Democrat so I can vote for Hillary. And yes, I still voted down the levy. :)

MS Launches YouTube For Gaming on 360

It's offical. Microsoft has announced community-developed XNA games will soon be distributed through Xbox Live. It works like YouTube. You download the free XNA Express SDK, make games, upload it to your profile on 360, and submit it to the Community Gaming section of Live Arcade.

And just like YouTube, they are using peer review to filter out copyright infringement and objectionable content. You can also rate each game. They are calling it "democratizing game distribution".

China Inflation Hits 7%

China's inflation has hit over 7%, the highest in 11 years. This has lead to companies exploring moving factories elsewhere such as Vietnam.

PS3 Harddrive Install Gone Wild

This is the latest trend on overcoming PS3's Blu-ray drive being slow, and streaming from the optical drive just isn't fast enough thus leading to terrible load time.

Install your game to the harddrive. This until now has been an optional thing to make your game run better. Devil May Cry 4 made it required. It's a over 20 minute install. This lead to this comic on Penny Arcade.

Now even Sony is doing it. Sony's own Hot Shot Golf 5 which just came out in Japan, also requires a 5GB install. This is not the trend I want to see for console gaming.

PC Games Down to 14% Market In 2007

The 2007 US sales number is out. PC game sales has dropped to just 14% of the market share.

Cellphone Novels Top Japan 2007 Bestsellers

Here in US, most people are still struggling to understand what SMS is and why SMS is useful. To most people, cellphone is really just a regular phoneline with no line. You use it to talk. The end.

In Japan, cellphone is your connection to the society. This article is the best example of how cellphone has changed the society in Japan. A cellphone novel is something you compose using your cellphone in SMS form, as blog entries into a site that publish it. It's written using cellphone, and being read by millions of readers using cellphone.

Dell Metal Laptop Shocks You

No, it's not a sticker shock. It actually shocks you. I like Dell's solution.

"The electric current on all Dell products have been measured and proven to be well within the safety limits per safety standards -- IEC950, EN60950, UL1950, etc, even with an input voltage of 240 Volts. The voltage (tingling sensation) does NOT present any risk of injury to the user. It is recommended to unplug the AC adaptor from the parent device before attaching any cables or accessories, as this reduces the possibility of experiencing the tingling sensation."

Oh good, so basically, pay no attention to the jolt. It's all good.

Oracle Buys BEA

Love of buying must be in the air. Oracle buys BEA for 8.5 Billion.

Sun Buys Mysql UPDATE

In a very strange move, Sun buys mysql. I have no clue why Sun thinks owning mysql is useful.

Meanwhile, I'll keep sticking with postgresql.

UPDATE: Wow, Sun paid a LOT. They paid 800 million cash, and assumed 200 million stock option from mysql AB side. Making it a 1B deal.

Weekly Japan Sales Number

Here is the console sales number in Japan for the period of 2007-12-31 to 2008-01-06 from Media Create:

1. Nintendo DS Lite - 266,568
2. PSP - 218,234
3. Wii - 207,797
4. PlayStation 3 - 64,183
5. PlayStation 2 - 32,010
6. Xbox 360 - 9,763

Something interesting is happening here. Ever since the release of PSP2000 and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd, PSP numbers has been keeping up with DS, which is an amazing feat in Japan.

Sony Announces Skype For PSP, Goes After iPhone/iPod Touch

Sony has announced Skye for PSP. It only works with the new PSP2000, also known as PSP slim. It will enable you to use Skype for voice call. Sony will also be selling the top mounted USB microphone that was originally designed for the Talkman auto translator software from 2005. As with all other versions of Skype, Skype to Skype calls are free. But you have to pay for Skype to regular number calls. You can also pay for a monthly service that gives you a number which will ring your PSP.

With this, Sony feels they have the iPod Touch/iPhone killer. They feel that PSP has widescreen, has wifi, has web browser, has mp3 player, has video player, supports external memory slot which currently is at 4GB, soon to reach 16GB ($300 from SanDisk), and of course it's a game machine, has video out (PSP slim one). Now with Skype, it's also a phone. All these at $200 price sticker vs $300 for 8GB iPod Touch, or $400 iPhone. Input a problem? Sony is also working on a USB keyboard for PSP for summer 2009. Sony even makes GPS and DBV TV adapter for PSP in Japan. The DBV TV adapter is also for PSP slim only. They feel PSP will be the new hip do it all gadget that everyone will carry.

I love my PSPs, yes I have several of them. But my money is on iPhone. No way I'd replace my iPhone with my PSP.

Don't Use Network Solutions To Lookup Domain

I've been a strong support of Network Solutions for years. So this come as a big shock as to how unethical this is. Basically, every domain you search using their website, they lock it and register it themselves. So now you can only buy it through them. I love their spin on this too, they are claiming that they are doing this to protect you. By ripping you off? Thanks for the protection.

Ayu Goes Public With Lost Of Hearing

This actually has been going on for a few years. But she has decided to announce to the public. So I'll just translate her blog entry. It pretty much speaks for itself.

===

This year, I have this crazy ambition.

Honestly, last year when I went to the doctor for the ear check up. My left ear had completely creased to function. The results indicate there is no cure.

Even so, I still want to continue to be a singer.

So I'll use the remaing right ear, and continue to sing until my right ear also fails. I'll sing till I hit the limit of the remaining ear.

I won't give up.

I won't give any excuses.

As a singer, I'll continue to perform the best music I can to all of you.

Ganbare(it's a cheering thing, it means to work hard), honestly, I don't like that expression at all.

Ganbare, I must go on.

Until the day comes.

Something Besides Word

I saw this article on nytimes.com. It reminded me very much of my search for alternative word processor when I first switched to OSX for most of my daily tasks. The one I settled on is Nisus. I like the fact that its native file format is RTF. Anything can open it correctly. It does a very good job reading/writing Word files.

These days for any documents I originate, I start in Nisus. The only thing I still use Word foe is when I need to participate in "track changes".