Watch it

Watch it. It's worth your time.

Probably Best Computing Joke Ever

Watch for yourself XDD

[Rumour] ASUS Windows 8 Mobile Devices

ASUS Reportedly Interested In Windows 8 Mobile Devices

Just read the news. If ASUS really makes Windows 8 Padfone (not Windows Phone 8, mind you), then the playground of computing is going to change. It's just like Ubuntu for Android that I was talking about in my previous post, except now it is Windows :D Let's see if it is really going to happen.

Ubuntu for Phones and for Android

New toys in town!!! Ubuntu for phones looks really cool (the video is long. Just go to the middle at around 6:35)

Ubuntu for Android is interesting, too!!

Now, these are interesting innovation. But there is one thing that Ubuntu or OEM that could look into: Asus Padfone. Why? Padfone is a phone where can be attached to the tablet dock to make it a tablet. How about this: put the Ubuntu phone into the tablet dock, and let it run Ubuntu PC OS? Would not that be amazing?

A Storage for NUS Students - Updated

There are a lot of foreign students in NUS, me included. This is not about the exchange students, but rather NUS students from different nationalities. And many of them stays in the hostels or halls in NUS. In PGPR, the  residents need to clear up their rooms every 6 months or top 1 year if they apply for vacation stay. They need to store their belongings somewhere, since it is impossible to just bring back home everything only to bring them back to Singapore after the holiday. Although there are storage area and other solutions, this could be a business.

The business is providing storage area. The fee should be competitive with all solutions of storage, internal and external of the PGPR. What makes it convenient is pickup and delivery service of the stored. Compared to bringing items to other hall, this should be more convenient. While other solutions may be much more convenient, this would be a good option when there is an emergency situation.

To cut cost, pickup and delivery could be done just at a given schedule, once a day or once every two days. Online system probably can be set up for orders of delivery. For efficiency, storing is standardized to a given cardboard box. If it is other than that box, extra fee is charged.

For the matter, this business model can work to more than just NUS, because of the overwhelming number of foreigners as students in Singapore who are staying in hostels which often needs to clear out things when those things are still much needed for the next year's study.

Indeed, demand may be weak if hostels are providing storage. But from my experience, some students have so many things that the provided storage is not enough. Also, demand can be increased by extending the service to the hostels directly such that the hostels can just not have any storage, although this may make a monopoly to the storage providers thus disadvantaging the students ultimately.

*Update:
There is already a working solution (though without the pickup and delivery service) for any storage! http://www.extraspace.com.sg/ (the website also indicates they are present in Malaysia and Korea) :)

Review: LostWinds2

LostWinds2 on iTunes Store

LostWinds2 is the best adventure game on iPad that I have ever played! I downloaded it when it was on sale for free. Great graphics, great control mechanics - though I wish the game has a virtual attack button. I must commend on its level design. This is the game that I have been looking for. The level design is in the level of Tomba 2: The Evil Swine Return, except on smaller scale. It has a great soundtrack, too. The game is quite short, but very addictive.

I wish I could make a game like this in the near future, touch-enabled or not.

Project Fiona: Razer Edge

At long last!!! Project Fiona is released by the name of Razer Edge!! (Though I prefer the name Fiona :p) Announced on CES 2013, Razer Edge is probably the only Windows 8 tablet (for now) with a discrete graphic card! What does it mean? It means  PC gaming coming into tablet!!!

Here are Razer Edge on the news:
- At CES, Razer rolls out tablet for hard-core gamers
- CES: Razer's Edge Brings Full PC Games to Tablets
- Razer Edge Tablet Hands On: This Gaming Rig Might Actually Be the Best Windows 8 Tablet
- Razer Edge vs. the competition: fight!

The third link is probably the most accurate description of Razer Edge: the best Windows 8 Tablet yet. And don't forget, Razer Edge also has keyboard attachment! While the device is intended for games, its market is actually a lot bigger, including graphic artists and game developers who wants mobility and power. A comment on Min-Liang Tan's post (that's Razer CEO) was that it was unfortunate that Razer Edge does not have a digitizer, meaning you could use proper stylus instead of capacitive stylus on the device, thus creating probably the best Windows 8 tablet yet for everyone; writing, playing, drawing. I, myself, would want it to come with digitizer, but I could not ask that to a gaming rig creator, unless there would be games requiring digitizer (which is so unlikely). I will be waiting for Razer Edge especially that currently it has no competitor in the powerful tablet market. With the mobile console mode, I can play my favorite action adventure games to my heart content! (Psst, the new Devil May Cry is coming up!).

For Razer Edge and Razer Edge Pro specifications, gallery and accessories, you could click the link below:

- Razer Edge
- Razer Edge Pro

Oh, for those of you interested in a free Razer Edge, you could click below (If you want without my referral, head to Min-Liang's facebook page):

Razer: The Edge Contest

A Souvenir from Hong Kong Disneyland

I got a souvenir from Hong Kong Disneyland! A puzzle keychain!

I must say it was a great 3D puzzle. I don't recommend it for little children, though. The framing feels fragile, and putting the pieces together requires a bit of force. Once done, It will be difficult to dismantle since no more openings.

Tagging System

For a while now, I have been adopting new, cleaner way of organizing my files in folders. Instead of having, for example, Documents/School/JC and Documents/School/University, I put them as Documents/School - JC and Documents/School - University. This is to reduce going deep down a hierarchy. Instead, I can just go down one hierarchy and find everything there, lists after the "-". I limit the "-" to two maximum, though, otherwise the window will be full of list. I have folders of Pictures, Musics, Videos, Documents (for work or school), Installers and Files (for any other files). Then inside there I will use the "-" naming system. In my Documents, I have something like "Documents/Computing - Blackberry Theme", "Documents/Computing - XNA Game", "Documents/School - JC", and so on.

Though this is easier for me to navigate, there is still one problem with the folder system. What if a file can be classified into more than one folder? Do I need to have two copies of the file? Or should I merge the folders?  Well, I thought of another alternative to the folder system: tagging system. It works similarly like Gmail tagging system. A file (email in Gmail) can be tagged with two tags, and the tags themselves can have hierarchy.

How does this work better than the folder system?

Firstly, a file that would fall into more than one category need not have copies thus consume less memory.

Secondly, faster search. The arrangement of files can be done by type of files/extensions, followed by name. Since there are no folders, all files are just in one big area thus searching should be able to be faster (since the search engine need not to explore into each folder). All this despite you can still using the navigation of folder system, just by exploring the tag hierarchy.

What are the possible downfall of the system?

Firstly, the User Interface (UI) change needs time for adaptation. The UI itself is not designed yet, such as what would you see after double-clicking File Explorer? The whole pool of files? Then, how do you add tags? Right clicking? It seems easier to Ctrl-C/Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V or even dragging files.

Secondly, programmers would have a headache since modular programming has been using folder system forever, and using tag system would destroy ALL programming syntaxes of using more than one file in different directories. If all application is put into one pool, application files of same name would be replaced thus one program will work at the price of another.

Solutions?

I can't think of any solution for the UI. For the programming part, possibly the tagging system is only deployed on personal files, i.e. the pool of files are divided into files added by user and files used by programs. This allows tagging system to work better with less interruption to programmers' lives. However, this again creates another problem. What about those people who like to mess around with the system (hackers) or developers? This is another headache. If the access to program files is removed so that people cannot mess around with the program files, then PC will just become like Mac OS X - dumb-proof.

Probably Chrome OS could try this system. Why? Google is an internet giant. It uses tagging system in many of its product, thus its familiarity with the deployment. Another reason would be that Chrome OS user is very limited that implementing tagging system would not disrupt majority of business as compared to implementation in Windows. If it could win the heart of users, then Google would reap the profits. Otherwise, dump the whole idea. Why not Linux? Because Linux is for those who like to mess around with system files, and as of above, this tagging system would not really work for those people.

In Research: New Laptop Cooling Technology

What a cool technique to cool off those laptops, especially being more silent and more efficient. Probably Razer Fiona should use this to compensate for the compact form it has.

Originally read at: The Verge

"GE says that, in addition to consuming half the power of a regular fan, its new tech is more than half as thin, enabling cooling systems that are only 4mm tall. Because of the comparatively simple construction, it'll apparently offer higher reliability rates than conventional cooling methods as well. The company says DCJ is virtually silent, and will enable "thinner, quieter, and more powerful tablets, laptops, and other electronic devices.""