Dan’s Space on the Web

Aye, today be International Speak Like a Pirate Day! Meebo’s got a fine sense of humor to be makin’ yer mateys speak like yerself:

[14:47] Darth Chicken: can u help me fix a desktop?
[14:47] Cap’n “the Enhance” Dan: sure i guess
[14:47] Darth Chicken: i have it in me boat right now
[14:47] Darth Chicken: i can bring it o’er t’day
[14:48] Darth Chicken: whenever ur home
[14:48] Cap’n “the Enhance” Dan: but i have class in 1 hour
[14:48] Darth Chicken: ok, arrrr, what time u home t’day??
[14:49] Darth Chicken: when can i come o’er?
[14:49] Cap’n “the Enhance” Dan: hm.. probably at night

“I have it in me boat” wins 5 points

I missed most of the earlier parts, but anyway.

1. (this one is from a friend) “NATHAN’S GOT A PIMPED UP RIDE. CHECK THE RIMS.”
2. the lead skater guy tripped just as the tv commentator said “they were chosen for their amazing skills” (note that I pity the guy, and am not laughing at him)
3. President didn’t sing national anthem. =(
4. Singapore has the world’s largest floating platform. Yea, they repeated this like 103839372 times.
5. We also scored the record for most kites flying at the same time (or something like that). Good job!

I apologize if these are all rather… negative, but let’s just say that there are too many positive things to list. Negative things tend to be more obvious.

update bonus: here’s something from the same friend that brought you point 1.

“this year’s song has like
san francisco…
cairo….
the song is just trying to say kit chan is rich and she’s been to many places in the world “

Since I’m on holiday with nothing much to do, I’ve been checking out the weekly Straits Times feature “Digital Life”. While sometimes most of the articles are old news (hey, can’t blame a weekly feature when the subject is something that changes everyday), it’s still worth a flip through to learn what’s happening on the local Singapore scene.

Anyway, so today’s Digital Life had a segment on “Future Phones”, where they got a few people to say what they want in cellphones of the future. About half of them are ok – things like pedometers, holographic displays, but the other half is… simply silly. Well then, without further ado, here are some silly suggestions for the cellphones of the future.
note: the number at the end of each quote is the age of the person who suggested it.

“The ability to get money from your phone, just like an ATM!” (14)
- Uh…where’s the money going to come from? Well I don’t blame him, the kid’s only 14, so fair enough.

“I want a fully extendable mirror with my phone. Most phones’ mirrors are all really small and tiny.”
- why would you need this? Perhaps to look around corners while playing 007, or for girls to check their makeup, I guess.. except that the person to suggest this WAS AN 18 YEAR OLD GUY.

“I want a portable umbrella with my phone because I am always forgetting to bring my umbrella out!” (20)
- I’m really not sure if you can squeeze/fold an umbrella down to the size of a cellphone.

“A handbag that doubles as a phone – a handphone handbag.” (16)
- I wonder if she realizes that cellphones, as their name implies, are meant to be tiny.

“A handphone pencil case. So I can just bring it to school and use it both as a pencil case and as a phone.” (15)
- Same as the above. There’s usually a reason why certain things are kept separate..

And now, ladies and gentlemen, for the best suggestion for phones of the future.

“I lost my phone…I hope there will be a built-in snake in lost phones that will come out and bite the person who has taken the lost phone.” (16)
- When I read the first part, I thought he/she was going to suggest a tracking device. But no, it has to be a snake that will bite the naughty thief. Retribution, eh? A good idea, though – the thief would never expect a FRICKIN SNAKE TO JUMP OUT OF A CELLPHONE.
- Snakes can’t be “built-in”.
- Have fun feeding your snake – dead snakes don’t bite.

I’m pretty sure that most of these were a joke, especially the last one. I really hope they are, if not we have a serious problem. Granted, these suggestions weren’t from grown men and women, but they still are in at least secondary school.

Heh, from the product page:

”
Spill-resistant* design. Protects your keyboard from accidental drips or splashes, allowing liquids to pass through.

* Tested under limited conditions (max. 60ml liquid spillage). Do not immerse keyboard in liquid
“

Oh well, there goes my idea for an underwater gaming rig.

This came up in a conversation yesterday.

Here’s my list of the top 3 most annoying emoticons ever to be used against me.

Number Three
XD and XP
No matter how I try, I can’t picture anyone looking like this. This is just plain retarded. Heck, even retarded kids don’t look so stupid. Plus, I keep reading XP as ‘XP’ as in ‘Windows XP’. Oh man, now everytime I see a Windows XP logo I’m going to think of this retarded emoticon.

Number Two
=PpPp
I don’t think anyone uses this anymore, but I got quite a few of these back in the day. What is it, anyway? Super-multiple-chin-mutant?

Number ONE
(: and other upside down freaks
Why go through the trouble of trying to type stuff upside down? Why put me through the pain of having to decipher it?!

(as a bonus random fun fact, ‘!?’ is called an Interrobang.)

-FIN-

w00t, classes were canceled from 12pm yesterday and will resume tomorrow at 6am, as Purdue declared a snow recess. This is rather historical – I hear that the last time Purdue did this was 15+ years ago.
[some pictures here]
Note: I’m really bad at using a camera because I hardly ever use one.

The Zune releases tomorrow, so there isn’t many full reviews of it out yet.

However, based on the bits of information currently available, I don’t think the Zune is going to kill the iPod that easily.

via dapreview.net ,

”

• - Doesn’t support Microsoft’s own WMA DRM – the format used by most online music stores and subscription services
• - WiFi function extremely limited – can only broadcast single pics and tracks that expire in 3 days or 3 plays, no web browser, email client, etc
• - No custom EQ

”

These are the 3 main things that struck me the most.

First of all, how can the “Microsoft iPod” not support Microsoft’s WMA DRM?

Second, the WiFi capabilities are one of it’s main points that give it that one-up over the iPod – too bad its capabilities are so limitied.

Thirdly, no custom equalizer? In my opinion, a custom EQ should be a standard for today’s digital audio player. A player without a custom EQ belongs back in the day when MD Players were able to provide superior audio quality.

Of course, it also comes jam packed with a lot of proprietary restrictions, but that’s expected with a big company like Microsoft.
I can understand why you would want to force users to use you products. However, first make sure your products work.

Engadget: Installing the Zune… sucked

Not only can the setup process not possibly get any longer, the instability of this proprietary software – that users are forced to use – is unforgivable.

image from Wikipedia

Ah yes, the beloved BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). Now you can have it as your screensaver!
BlueScreen Screen Saver

Click Here
A quick “title animation” I did for a friend a couple of weeks back.

I was supposed to, and wanted to, help him out with a few more graphics animation needs.. but due to schoolwork I have yet to find the time to do that.

Anyway, the reason I’m posting this now is because he has finally finished editing the film, and has released it. Click link below to watch.
Countdown

To be honest, I’m not usually a fan of his productions, partly due to my natural dislike for amateur films. However this time, I think he’s done an exceptional job. Still not professional quality, of course, but worthy enough to be posted on my blog.

if you read the About page, you’ll see that part of this page is a dumping ground for me. This post is one of them, for my personal reference.

control userpasswords2

chkdsk /r
�- scans disk for bad sectors. use after doing Quick Format. [More Info]