Happy Birthday Google

Google has turned 8 today. Congratulations!!!

Just a few days before Google 8th Birthday, it released new features in Google Notebook and Google Calendar: Google Notebook now has sharing feature and a better Trash Bin which I have much wanted long ago. Google Calendar also has new calendars like Moon Phase and Google Doodle and Google has allowed its users to create their own web calendar using Calendar API. Cool!

There's one thing I want Google to do and have told them so. Why not integrate Google Notebook and Google Calendar and brand it like Google Diary or Google Daily Notes? Google intend Notebook to be used to quickly copy clips from web pages while doing research online. That's good and useful for me since I have to refer to the web often. But, I also use Google Notebook to note down important things in a meeting since using Writely to note down in a meeting is quite troublesome and unnecessary. So, why not let me add a date from Google Calendar and show the note on my Calendar, so that I can discover my notes together with my meeting plan on the Google Calendar and wholdn't it make things easier? Further, Google can let users specify the notebook as diary and show respective entry on the Google Calendar! Wow!!! We don't want to publish all what we feel to the Weblogs where all people can view (now with access permission) and search is not that powerful enough.

So, I really hope that Google will sooner or later integrate Google Notebook and Google Calendar. (In fact, apart from Notebook, there are other things Google can integrate into Calendar since we love to see our life as timeline.)

There's one other thing Google can do about its Google Reader: include a search within the Reader. It's very hard to find back a reader feed once it has been read and left unstarred.

Hope Google will thrive better.

Until then...

Justin

Technorati Tags: Google, Google Calendar, Google Reader,

Windows Media Player 11 Playlist

If you have used Windows Media Player 10 and recently upgraded to version 11, then you will find that after you close the Windows Media Player, you cannot see the last playlist that you have played before you closed it. In contrast, the Windows Media Player 10 keeps your last playlist in the Now Playing tab. But, if you go to the Now Playing tab in Windows Media Player 11, you will not see anything.

It is not true that the new Windows Media Player 11 does not keep the last playlist. It keeps it but does not show the users that it does. For any reason? Genuinely, I do not know. But don't care why Microsoft hides it from us. We just want to know how to get the last playlist we have played.

Well. You will feel funny when you are told to click play (the biggest blue button in the center of the bottomline of the player) to restore the last playlist. But that's the way to do it. First you open the Windows Media Player 11, and you will be taken to the library. It doesn't matter under which tab you are. Just click Play and your most recent playlist will start playing!

I love to play the last playlist whenever I start WMP since it is troublesome to navigate through the library to go to the songs I love. Though there is better search in the Windows Media Player 11, I just want my last playlist back with least effort.

Until then...

Justin

Technorati Tags: Windows Media Player, WMP11

Windows Vista 5728

The new Build of Windows Vista, as released from Microsoft recently.

Any improvement? I haven't tried it yet. But, chances are that it will have more bugs fixed and perform better than RC1.

You can download the ISO from here.

Until then...

Justin

Google Page - Many Sites

Google Pages will now let users create more than one site in one Google Account. Currently, users are allowed to create only one site with the url http://.googlepages.com. Now users will not be limited by the number of sites they can create but one limitation is that they cannot use other google user names to create the new sites.


Regarding the space limitation, there has been no mention of increasing the current 100MB which is very small, at least, to me.

One concern I'm thinking about is "if we will be able to change our current site name to a custom name now that we are allowed to have multiple sites".

Oh...to be able to create new sites, you need to enable Advanced Features from Site Settings.

Until then...

Justin

Technorati Tag: Google, Page Creator

Vista Vista

Vista's visual styles will vary depending on your computer's hardware: of course, some with high-end graphic cards will enjoy Aero Glass and for those unfortunate ones, Windows Classic may probably be set as default.

There is one thing I don't understand: why does Microsoft differentiate between Vista Standard and Vista Basic? It's very apparent that Vista Standard styles can be used on non-high-end graphic cards and there's not much difference in rendering these two visual styles. There really isn't a need to differentiate between them and I really want MS to remove Vista Basic which looks pretty ugly.

Another visual style concern in Vista is the Windows Media Player. Even if Microsoft can make it look sleek (all black and cool) in Windows XP, then why doesn't it make the same for those using Vista Standard and Windows Standard in Vista. As you can see from these screenshots, it looks very ugly with the menu bar at the top whose color is "stupidly" different from the body of the Player.

After all, I also don't like Aero Glass which is completely unnecessary, at least, for me. While MS can get away with Vista Standard on all its products, it is thinking that people will be more attracted by the Aero Glass, by advertising it as if it were the ultimate graphics which is, sorry, still inferior to Mac, and by saying things like Vista is the first ever Windows to take advantage of your hardware.

It is also funny to hear that Vista is the most secure Windows ever. I just saw the same old phrase when I reinstalled my Windows XP a few days ago, saying that IE6 is the most secure browser ever. What Microsoft says as most secure finally and usually turned out to be the least secure of all products in the market.

Vista also added some very basic applications like Windows DVD Maker, Windows Picture Gallary (which replaced Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in XP), Windows Calendar (who cares to use it while we can always use Google Calendar to share even across the world) and Windows Mail (which is but just another re-branding of ever stupid Outlook Express!). There are also new games added like Chess Titan which, when set to highest intelligence, takes forever to take a move, unlike Chess Master, and some childish games like cake baking targeted towards, imm..., a 3 year old child? If Microsoft is thinking that people will be tempted to buy Vista for Aero Glass, and those stupid built-in applications, it may not turn out to be true.

For me, all what I can do in Vista can also be accomplished in XP without extra pain, even faster since XP comsumes less rescources. I would rather stick to XP and do some jobs with some extra clicks other than be obscessed with Vista and be annoyed by User Account Control which, while it can be turned off, will give you a red critical icon on your taskbar which may miss your attention even when there is really a security problem since you will be thinking that the red icon is because of the turned-off UAC.

Until then...

Justin

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Vista

Cool FireFox Plug-in

What does it do? It helps you a lot when you are searching and browsing. I set my Google to show me 50 results per page (100 is too much?) so whenever I search, I middle-click a lot and a plethora of tabs open up and I can't remember which is which. With this cool cool plug-in, there's no longer a need for me to open all the links in tabs. I just move my mouse over the link and I can see a live preview (as big as a full view) of the page! I can read through the page and if it does interest me, then I can choose to open it in my tab and if not, I can simply ignore it.

If you are a heavy search man, for your research or homework, then this tool will help you a lot.

Until then...

Justin

Office 2007 Technical Refresh!!

The technical refresh is out now. Those who are using Vista RC1 are recommanded to use Technical Refresh for compatibility issues.

But are you gonna download it by paying $1.5???

For me, NO. So, I did a little search and Bingo! here's where you can get it free!

Enjoy it.

Until then...

Justin

Google Got Tabs

Google Homepage has gone through a change recently. It now has tabs to allow users to separate the modules into categories.

It's pretty much useful and now I can put more modules which I were not able to get on my one-page homepage due to limitation of space.

The initiative behind the inclusion of tabs in Google Homepage is obvious: to encourage users to add more items on their homepage. This was not feasible due to space limitation as I have said above.

Until then...

Justin

Windows Desktop Search

As opposed to Google Desktop Search, Windows Desktop Search doesn't seem much appealing to me. But, since I reinstalled my XP last night and while browsing MS website to get Windows Defender, I came across Windows Desktop Search and was tempted to at least download and try it.

Installating was fine and I had to wait about one hour for it to fully index my files. Then, I find that its functionality is not less than that of GDS. And, I love one more feature of Windows Desktop Search; when I search for, like, Westlife, it shows me all westlife songs and upon choosing each entry, I can see related tasks associated with that file and also I can see MSN-Music-like play button to directly play from Desktop Search. The interface is pretty cool.

I'm satisfied with Windows Desktop Search although it has crashed two times within 24 hours. I just have to wait to see whether it will happen again or not.

Until then...

Justin

Vista ==> XP

Finally finally...I went back to XP after enjoying the beauty of Vista for a few days. The reason was, well, the driver support for my LaserJet 1020. There is simply no driver for it. I used XP driver and it installed but never print a single sheet of paper.

I miss Vista. But, no choice. I gotta go back to XP.

But, it's not the end of the world. I want to hear the cute log-in sound of Vista on my XP computer too. So, I just do this search and downloaded the software to transform my XP into Vista styles. It is pretty much stable and very good at error controlling. Those who would like to get Vista icons on XP comps, it is for you.

Until then...

Justin

Disk Defragmenter

There are two ways we can defragment a volume in Windows XP: one, use the Disk Defragmenter under System Tools of Accessories menu under Start; the other is to use the command line "defrag [drive:]". Both of them, while running, slows down system performance; you'll notice that when you are playing music.

This is a small Disk Defragmenter tool which is faster than XP's Defragmenter and doesn't slow down the system performance while running.

Hope you will like it.

Until then...

Justin

PS: If you don't want to defragment your drive, please use Unix.

The Vista Venture

Wow...The Vista RC1 took only a little more than 30 minutes to install. Much faster than the XP Pro installation. And the good side is that I don't even need to install my drivers after Windows installation. Cool!!! In XP, it was like 40 minutes Windows installation and 15 minutes Driver installation. Now the time is cut to half!

And, unlike Beta 2, the preformance was much faster. I can multitask in RC1 while in Beta 2, when I use Word, I have to turn off WMP. But, WMP looks a bit ugly on Vista since I am using Vista Basic theme; I cannot see Aero coz of my Graphics.

Anyway, I'm glad that I can install Vista on my comp and get it running smoothly.

Until then...

Justin

Notepad Cheat

Open your notepad. Type "hhhh hhh hhh hhhhh". Do not hit Enter. Save it as a text file. Close your notepad. Go to that file and open it. Do you see your h's...??? Hush?

This is a flaw in encoding if there is exactly 15 alphanumeric characters and 3 spaces...I repeat Exactly. So anything other "hhhh hhh hhh hhhh" will do this trick. A funny phrase you can type in is "Bush hid the facts" :P

Until then...

Justin

PS: source

Vista RC1

Windows Vista RC1 is now open to public. A lot of reviews say that it has many improvements including performance. But, I'm not sure how it will behave on a typical laptop computer with specifications of 1.7 GHz Pentium M, 512 MB RAM. They still meet Microsoft's minimum requirement. But it could be considered as minimum requirement to run the OS alone :P.

Anyway, for those who want to try it out, this is the link to download.

Until then...

Justin

Copernic Desktop Search

This Desktop Search has been around for years. But, it has been shadowed by Google Desktop Search, probably due to the publicity.

I have used it for a long time and have loved it better than Google Desktop Search. Just try to use it and you will find that it has more options to search then GDS.

This is the link to Copernic.

Until then...

Justin

YouTube & Audacity

I recently talked about Audacity. There is one possible way you can associate your Audacity with YouTube. Sometimes, I realize that people go to YouTube to listen to music rather to stare at the computer screen, especially while they are studying.

You can indeed use Audacity to copy "wave" forms from YouTube. First click Record in Audacity and quickly move to YouTube to play song. If you cannot switch to YouTube first enough, don't worry; later you can edit your wave file and do cut-and-paste. After that, you can export your music file as wma or mp3 (for mp3, you need a plug-in).

This is for those who don't want to buy the music from online store and say it's OK to listen to the mono music from YouTube.

Until then...

Justin

Data Recovery

This is not a perfect solution to Real Data Recovery. It's just a small tool that can recover those files that you accidentally deleted.

I have tried it before when I deleted about 4 GB of movie files accidentally and was shocked thinking how to get them back. Then I came across this small tool and tried it as a last resort. Bingo!!! I got my movies back. Only 1 movie was lost and others were recovered in totality.

I think accidental file deletion is a daily problem. So, I just would like to share this small and simple yet powerful (relative to its size) tool.

Until then...

Justin

PS: I do not say it is a full data recovery. Don't blame me if you cannot recover all your files. But if you recover it just after you realize you delete your file, there is a .99 chance that you will get it back, not from your Recycle Bin (no joking).

WMP11 Yule Log

Not that I'm playing around with my WMP11. I just see that this visualization might be nice. It gives me a sense of warmth and, mildly, a recollection of the past; I say I'm sentimental.

Anyway, this is how the Yule Log looks like on WMP11. It also looks nice on WMP10 too. And, it doesn't consume as much CPU as Energy Bliss whose consumption can also be considered relatively low.


If you like a fireplace on your desktop, please download this fun pack from Microsoft.

Until then...

Justin

WMP11 Disguised

The WMP11 has the Vista buttons (minimize, maximize and close). But, it is not because it runs on different shell. It just disguise the default Windows XP buttons. When there is a high load on the CPU, I tried to capture the WinXP buttons appearing on WMP11.



Until then...

Justin

Energy Blue for WMP11

I just wrote about the Energy Blue for your Windows XP machine. Now, there's another Energy Blue for your Windows Media Player 10/11.

It's been out there for a few years. I just want to highlight that it is a cool combination with your WMP11 as can be seen in the picture. And, as far as I have checked, it doesn't consume a lot of CPU power as compared to other visualizations.


If you like that style of running clouds on the natural sky background, this is the link to download it.

Until then...

Justin

MCE 2005 Theme

We want a new theme like Aero from Vista, but can't still upgrade to it or can't get it due to graphic card? Tired of Windows XP Luna Theme?

This is a new theme that came with Media Center Edition 2005. It's a bit different from Luna Theme in that it's sleeker and more WMP-10-like. The theme is called Royale Theme. But in MCE 2005, we see it as Energy Blue.

Take a look at it below:


I have uploaded the theme here. You can download it and unzip it. Then copy the Resources and Web folders into Windows folder. To use the theme, go to Display properties > Appearance > Media Center Sytle. Ding!!!

Until then...

Jutin

Vista RC1

Windows Vista RC1 is now out but not to the public yet.

People praise Vista, but still I haven't found in Vista anything that is useful to me and what I find out is that what I can do in Vista can also be done in XP too.

So, why upgrade to that highly-priced OS? I wouldn't buy it unless it comes with my next computer (maybe 3 or 4 years later).

Until then...

Justin

WMP11 Beta2

Windows Media Player 11 is now in Beta 2 stage. I don't know when it was released. But, I just downloaded and it worked a lot faster than the previous beta.

• Performance-wise, it really improved a lot.
  
• Interface-wise, it maintains the original looks.
  
• Music-store-wise, it added a new (not really) MSN Store in addition to URGE which is available only in US (when I tried it).
  

You can now download it from Microsoft website.

For those who do not have a genuine windows, I have a good news. First download the file. Then, use a ZIP application to extract the installer package which is in .exe format. After extraction, install these three in order:

1. wmfdist11.exe
   
2. wmdbexport.exe
   
3. wmp11.exe
   

Note: Never ever touch this: setup_wm.exe

Hope you enjoy it.

Until then...

Justin