TwitterFon best Twitter app on iPhone?

Ever since I started using Twitter, I have wondered what the best Twitter app on iPhone is. Turns out Gizmodo covered this in a great article in late Jan 2009. The article reviews both free and paid apps for iPhone. It seems I am already using the best free Twitter app already as I am using TwitterFon . . .

Click on the link below for the full story.

iPhone Twitter App Battlemodo: Best and Worst Twitter Apps for iPhone.

Lifehacker Gina Trapani’s ideal setup

I’m always immensely curious what hardware and software other people use on a daily basis. Today I happened upon an interview on Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani covering her gear and ideal set-up at Waferbaby.

Interesting! Gina Trapani on waferbaby.

My first Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron install

Recently, I patched up an abandoned PC sitting in the back of my room and ventured into my first experience of a Linux distro.

Half a year ago, one late night, while surfing the web, my PC beeped, the screen went blank and the computer failed to reboot. After much trouble-shooting, I discovered that the SATA controller on the motherboard was fried. I ended up building a new PC around a more modern dual core CPU, and my old AMD single core system was left abandoned.

Fixing The Hardware
2 weeks ago, a friend of mine threw out an old PC. I promptly took that machine apart and salvaged the PATA hard disk. My guess was that the motherboard in my old PC was still functioning fine apart from the SATA controller, and I could probably get it to work with a older PATA drive connected to one of the IDE controllers. This turned out to be case and I now have a spare PC to play around with – so I decided to install Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron onto this system.

Before installation, my prime worries were whether Ubuntu would recognize all the hardware – which included an AMD 64 3200+ CPU, an ATI X700 series video card, and an Asus A8N-E motherboard – and difficulties in configuring the installation.

Installing Ubuntu 8.04
I am glad to report that my first experience of Ubuntu was a very pleasant one. Installation went without a hitch. Loading the OS via an installation DVD, I was taken through a simple 7 step guided process – all of the onscreen instructions were clear and easy to understand. The installation took about 15 minutes.

Upon completion of installation and a quick re-boot, I entered the Ubuntu desktop. Everything was working smoothly: keyboard and mouse were working, monitor was displaying in correct screen resolution, and broadband connectivity was present. As far as I can tell, all the hardware was working properly.

I was then prompted for 2 items : enabling drivers for the ATI video card (when I agreed, Ubuntu downloaded and installed without any problems) and system updates. A total of over 350 updates totalling 360+ MB were identified and this took roughly 40 minutes to download and install.

Next I launched Firefox 3.0.3 and was checking my mail in no time.

Overall, I am impressed with Ubuntu 8.04 and had decided to delved more into the OS.

My first Ubuntu Desktop : with Cairo Dock and Rainlendar

Ummagumma goes mobile!

Over the last half a year, I have become acquainted with 2D barcode and mobile content technologies. As a result, this blog now has a mobile version that can be conveniently viewed on mobile handsets.

On the top of right sidebar, I have placed a QR code that links to the mobile version of the blog. The first thing users need to do is install a 2D barcode reader onto their handsets. Once they have the reader, all they need to do is scan the QR code with the software, sort of like taking a snapshot of the code. The software interprets the QR code, launches the browser and loads the webpage. This helps bypass the gruesome task of inputing the URL into the handset browser (though of course you can do that too). Most modern handsets come installed with decently capable browsers and newer models with 3G and HSPDA connectivity would be ideal for this purpose.

There are many free 2D barcode readers on the market for mobile handsets, but unfortunately, the number of models they support vary greatly. The 2D barcode readers I would recommend at this moment are i-nigma (which performs incredibly well on Symbian Series 60 handsets) and QuickMark.

Another useful utility, or rather web service, that I rely on to produce a mobile version of the this blog is Mofuse. This web service offers a simple and rather brain-less way to create a mobile handset compatible version of any webpage or blog. Once registered (free), users can create pages from scratch or simply pointed their mobile site to the RSS feed of their blogs. Essentially, Mofuse loads and converts the RSS feed into a mobile friendly format, so once set up this way, users no longer have to maintain or fuss over their mobile blogs. The mobile version of Ummagumma is currently text only as I find this more efficient for viewing on handsets. Mofuse is a brilliant idea executed well. Highly recommended!

P.S.: the link under the QR code offers viewers a preview of what the mobile version of Ummagumma would look like on their handset screens.

My new phone : Nokia E65

I acquired a new handset after using my Nokia 3230 for more than 3 years. Initially, I was considering a few Sony Ericsson W series handsets, but at my new job, I need to be able to install a 2 dimensional barcode reader onto my mobile phone and the client works best on a Symbian phone.

I ended up comparing two phones, the Nokia 6120 Classic and Nokia E65. I actually liked the 6120 slightly more but the salesman said some customers had negative experiences installing software onto the phone. As a result, I ended up buying the E65.

I spent some time transferring my contacts over to my new phone and have been trying to get used to the menu navigation. Despite having used a S60 phone before, the E65’s newer 3rd edition S60 interface is different enough from the 3230 for me to need to refer to the manual.

First impressions of the phone are positive. It has a very nice screen, the menu is significantly nicer to look at and the default screen is indeed much more informative than the older S60 one. On the negative side, because the default screen has quite a few lines of info, using wallpapers makes it difficult to see anything properly – and the text blocks the images anyway.

MILK – fancy high end computer desk

The MILK desk is a sleek looking Scandinavian product. It features a clean aesthetic and helps transform your messy workspace into a work of art! The product’s web page is very well constructed and shows off the features of the desk – which includes cable and cord drawers, specialized bins and even powered elevating and lowering of the entire desk surface. Fascinating.

Product page

Game & Watch : pioneering portable game consoles

Nowadays, you can see kids playing portable game consoles all over the streets. Gadgets like Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS Lite are extremely popular – but back in the day, we too had pocket sized games: Nintendo’s Game & Watch series. I have fond memories of playing Manhole and Parachute.

Manhole

Parachute

Japanese print ad for Game & Watch

Ultima II : my first RPG

Back in the Apple II Plus days, apart from Lode Runner, my favorite game was the role playing classic Ultima II. My mother was very confused – to her Ultima II was a cosmetic brand. Anyway, I spent hours and hours trekking the world of Ultima II, searching for clues, exploring the dungeons and fighting the beasts. I hadn’t experienced the more advanced paper and pen version of Dungeons & Dragons yet (that would be a few years away), so I found the Ultima II world very expansive and engrossing. I still have fond memories of the game.

Lode Runner : still one of the best games I’ve played

And what did we do with the Apple II+?

Dad would study the manuals, input programs written in Basic (and published in magazines) into the PC as well as play Pac Man.

I would also write simple Basic programs to solve area, perimeter and surface area problems and play Lode Runner. Man, it was such a blast and did not require hours and hours to simply learn how to play.

The game was very simply: get your man to the top of the screen by digging holes to drop the enemies. The gameplay was very addictive.

Apple II Plus . . . actually a cloned version

The first real PC that I laid my hands on was my father’s Apple II+ clone. Bought and assembled in the infamous Golden Computer Center, the system had a 1MHz processor, 64K RAM, which was impressive for the time, and two 5.25 inch floppy drives (not the Apple brand drives pictured above). We used a green monitor. Dad and I would go to the Computer Centre nearly every Satuday afternoon to window shop – and Dad would marvel at the magnificent NEC color monitor every weekend.

After half a year, Dad installed an 80-column card and began playing around with the CP/M operating system (which can be seen as a precursor to Microsoft’s MS-DOS). I had fun with Pro Dos, which introduced the system of using folders and sub-folders to organize files – this is basically the same way we manage files today but without all the graphic icons and razzle dazzle.

Sharp PC 1500 : my first computing experience

As I was browsing the net a few days ago, I ran into an article about vintage personal computers. Which got me reminiscing about my first experience.

Back in my primary school days (circa early 1980s), my father bought a Sharp PC 1500 – the then cutting edge “PC” looks like a “powerful” calculator and could handle a rudimentary version of basic. I remember after setting some simple formulas, I had the PC solving some of my math assignments on area and perimeter. The PC 1500 could also be slotted onto a printer dock and output data onto a roll of paper (like a calculator with a printer).

Searching the web, I found it had a 8-bit CMOS processor and a whopping 3.5K RAM!!!

WATURBO: A hybrid CPU cooler from Sunon

Sunon has come out with a hybrid liquid-heatsink-fan CPU cooling solution called the “Waturbo”. Waturbo apparent stands for water turbo.

The Waturbo uses a mag lev fan on the top that not only blows down on the aluminium fins of the heatsink, but also moves the pump inside the liquid reserver tank. It features a copper base that transfers heat up to the liquid at the core of the cooler.

The mag lev fan is supposed to reduce noise levels and the liquid core is designed to improve heat dissipation. Whether it really works well and satisfies hard core fans is another matter.

Link to Sunon site