Two Web Milestones for Me

I can now officially say that I have been blogging for two years because on 24 April 2007 I published my first post on this blog. Woo hoo!

On the other hand, today I went and deleted my old GeoCities website because Yahoo! is closing that service down by the end of the year. Here is what the home page of that site used to look like:

Ye Olde Homepage

I created this site on the free GeoCities web hosting service back in 1999 when I graduated from LUMS and realized that I would no longer be able to host my personal site on the LUMS ACM Chapter’s Student Sever (which, by the way, I was the administrator of). I’d had a site on the Student Server since 1997.

Want to Take a Look?

You can see archived copies of my very oldest websites thanks to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine:

Make sure you check out my Ameel’s Page o’ Links page from February 1997. Yep, that’s what the web was like back then. I still maintain that page, by the way, except it’s now called Ye Olde Page o’ Links :)

A Quick Trip Down Memory Lane

1997 was also when I became head of TeamWeb, the group of students responsible for maintaining the official LUMS website. There were many first for me in that year: my first job interview, my first professional website management job, my first website re-design project, and the first time I installed and started administering a UNIX server. Good times.

The late 90s, meanwhile, was a time of change with regards to how websites were designed and laid out. For example, when I started managing the LUMS website, the web design ethos was textured backgrounds and not too much colour. By the time I left, however, it was fill colours and information categorized into tables. Ah, the good old days of the web.

Back to the Topic

I stopped maintaining my GeoCities site when Nadia and I got the insanityWORKS.org domain in 2004. And now my old site – which was a very important part of my life on the web – is gone for good. Well, except that it’s still archived in the WayBack Machine.

But still, the shutting down of GeoCities will mark the end of the free website hosting era that began with sites like Angelfire and Geocities. These days, of course, the free web hosting sites of choice are blogging sites like Blogger and WordPress.org in conjunction with media hosting sites like Flickr and YouTube. Times change, eh?

Leaving GeoCities behind, though, I now move into my third year of blogging, my fifth year of running insanityWORKS.org, my thirteenth year on the Internet, and my twenty-fifth year of using computers.

How time flies.

TEDx Melbourne was Awesome

Saturday, 17 January was definitely “a day of TED” in Melbourne [1].

TEDx Melbourne

Over forty of us TED geeks got together at Monash University and spent the whole day watching our favourite TED talks, talking about those talks, and also watching a live talk on rebuilding faces (through engineering assisted surgery) given by Dr. Ninian Peckitt of ComputerGen Implants Limited. The video of Dr. Peckitt’s talk will be uploaded to the web some time soon.

What I loved most about the day, though, was meeting and talking to all the people who were there (search for #tedx or #mted on Twitter and you’ll find a whole bunch of them). In between the talks we managed to swap stories on how we got hooked onto TED, we talked about what each of us is doing personally and professionally – we’re a fun bunch doing a lot of fun things, by the way – and, of course, we talked about the talks themselves. [2]

So a million thanks to the organizers who did a wonderful job planning and then running TEDx Melbourne. I’m sure this event will becomes a regular feature from now on – maybe with groups of us taking turns to organize it each time – and I’ll keep you posted on this blog every time such an event does take place.

Meanwhile, Shawn Callahan has written about this on his blog as well so make sure you check that out. Also, keep an eye out for the post-event survey that Cheng is in the process of putting together.

- - - - - - - - - -

[1] This despite the fact that they didn’t include one of my all-time favourite TED talks: ‘Benjamin Zander: Classical music with shining eyes’. Oh well. Next time, perhaps :)

[2] My apologies but the over-use of the word “talk” in this blog post was inevitable!

TEDx Melbourne Details

There are ten days to go to TEDx Melbourne marathon! Thanks to Monash University entry to the event is now free and there are already over sixty confirmed guests :)

Here are the basics:

Date: 17 January, 2008
Time: 10am to 7pm
Location: Lecture Theatre H1.25, Building H, Monash Caulfield campus

For more details visit:

There’s still time to nominate your favourite TED talk on the TED Facebook app (there’s a link on the Facebook group page) so make sure you do that soon.

See you there :)

My HP Printer Driver has MPD

My HP printer driver has Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). Why? Because while my printer – an HP Deskjet F4185 All-in-One – scans and copies everything just fine, its printing functionality is seriously messed up.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say I want to scan a photograph: I’ll put the photo on the scanning glass, turn the printer on, wait a bit for Vista to recognize the USB-connected device, run the HP Solution Centre software, and click the ‘Scan Picture’ button. The scanner with then do a quick scan of the entire scannable area after which I will select the bit I want scanned and will click ‘Accept’. The photo will now get scanned and saved to the ‘My Scans’ folder. Nice and simple, eh?

Now, let’s try printing a document: I’ll start Microsoft Word, type in some text, and click the print icon. This will pop-up the print dialogue box and I’ll select ‘HP Deskjet 4100 series’ from my list of printers. I will then wait about 4-5 minutes while Word “connects” to the printer. Once it does, I’ll click ‘Print’ and my document will get printed immediately.

Yes, for some reason the scanner driver connects and communicates with the computer just fine (and pretty much instantaneously) but the printer driver takes ages to do the same thing. Now if that isn’t MPD – in the computer software sense, of course – then I don’t know what is.

The good news: This is a “known issue” that HP is working to resolve.

The bad news: They haven’t fixed it yet.

The interim solution: Either I be willing to wait 4-5 minutes to print every document (which will be a real pain) or I copy the document(s) I want printed over to Nadia’s netbook (an Acer Aspire One that’s running Office 2007 on Windows XP) and print them off in just a few seconds.

Such is life.

New Keyboard

I spend a lot of time on the computer and do a lot of typing so, as you would expect, keyboards are very important to me. Unfortunately, the keyboard that came with the new desktop PC that I bought was terrible. It was loud and clacky, it wasn't very comfortable to type on, its multimedia keys were both irritatingly-placed [1] and only minimally configurable, and its Home-End and Page Up-Page Down key pairs were in a non-standard location.

So today I finally got sick of it and bought myself a nice, comfortable keyboard that I am really enjoying typing on. I got the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 which is comfortable, well-designed, completely configurable (if you download the IntelliType Pro software that goes with it), and low-cost. I've used it in the past so I knew what I was getting though, in general, all of Microsoft's hardware products are pretty awesome.

Ah yes, life is good.

[1] For example, its sleep button (which would put the computer into the new Vista sleep mode) was located in the top-left corrner where you would normally find the Escape key. It took me a whole week to stop putting the computer to sleep when all I wanted to do was close a dialog box! Most irritating.

R.I.P. Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton, one my all-time favourite authors, passed away a few days ago.

I loved his books and the way he wrote them: they were exciting, inspiring, and a whole lot of fun. Indeed, I've read all his fictional works though I've only read one of his non-fiction ones (must remedy that). I've also watched almost all of his films and remember being blown away by 'West World', 'Jurassic Park', and 'Twister'. Heck, I even remember the ending scene from 'The Andromeda Strain' which I watched on TV back in the mid-80s! I must now watch the three films that I've missed.

You can read more about Crichton here:

Rest in Peace, Michael.

Tetris!

I love Microsoft: The original Windows 3.x version of Tetris (the one made in 1990) runs just fine in Windows Vista :)  I've actually been carrying that version of Tetris -- all 76kB of it -- around with me since the mid 90s. Of course it requires quite a bit of window resizing to get it just right on a 22" wide screen!

Why do I and so many other people care so much about this game? The good folk at Graph Jam said it best:

Reasons to Play Tetris

A friend and I even organized regular Tetris tournaments at our undergraduate college during the late 90s which were hugely popular. Also, Tetris is the only game I've ever bought for my mobile phone. Yes, I am addicted.

Though, really, Tetris is less like a drug and more like a good cup of tea: it's perfect for any occasion. Whether you want to wake yourself up, relax before going to bed, keep your hands busy while talking on the phone or listening to a podcast, or do something when you have nothing else to do, Tetris is always the answer.

So thank you Microsoft and, more importantly, than you Alexey Pajitnov for creating such an awesome game.

New Desktop PC!

Back in April 2007 (in my third post on this blog, in fact) I wrote that my laptop had died and that I was stuck using my mother's ancient, somewhat-battered laptop. My plan was (and still is) to get a job and then buy myself a nice, high-end tablet PC.

However, over the last couple of months, my mother's laptop started acting up so I had no choice but to find a replacement for it. I didn't want to buy a tablet PC because I don't yet have a job so I'd rather not dip into our savings too much (and I'm not willing to buy anything but a high-end tablet PC). Instead, I bought a cheap desktop PC that I could work on in the interim and upgrade in the future. I was always going to buy a desktop for home use, I just hadn't planned on doing that right now. But as plans tend to do, this one changed so now I am the proud owner of an HP Pavilion desktop PC:

New Desktop PC

It's reasonably low-end as desktop PCs go: with a 2.4GHz Dual Core Intel Pentium Processor instead of a Core 2 Duo and, importantly, integrated graphics instead of a separate graphics card. Fortunately, this isn't much of a problem because I don't plan on getting into computer games, high-end graphics editing, or power intensive computing just yet. I do plan on recording and editing videos and doing some basic graphics editing but all that will work fine on this system. In fact, this setup runs the Windows Vista Aero interface without a hitch so it's not like I'm suffering here!

In other areas, it's a pretty kick-ass system: with 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 360GB 7,200RPM hard drive, a CD/DVD reader and writer, and the usual set of ports, card readers, and networking options. The best part: it came with a 22" wide screen LCD with a 1680x1050 native resolution :)  After using a 15" screen for a couple of years and then a 12.1" screen over the last year this big screen is fricking awesome!

In fact, the whole system is pretty awesome and I'm having a great time using it. Woo hoo! :)

Tablet PC Update: Good & Bad News

If you've been reading this blog for a while then you'll know that I'm dying to get myself a high-performance tablet PC. I can't afford one right now but, as soon as I can (which I'm hoping is very soon), I plan on getting myself a Toshiba Portege M700. Regarding that, I have some good news and some bad news.

Exchange Rates

First, the bad news. I was planning on buying the M700 from the US (by ordering it online from Portable One) because the configuration available in Australia is both underpowered and overpriced. You can get a significantly more powerful configuration for an overall lower price (i.e. even after you add customs fees and international courier charges) if you order one from the US and have it shipped to Australia.

However, after the recent financial market "issues" and the US-Australian dollar exchange rate changing, ordering the M700 from the US will now cost me a few hundred dollars extra. Bummer. Here's hoping the exchange rate swings back the other way when I do actually getting around to ordering one of these :)

An Upgrade!

On the other hand, there's some really good news. Toshiba recently launched a follow-up to the M700: the M750! The new model is physically similar to the old one but, under the hood, the M750 kicks just a little more ass:

  • The processor (still an Intel Core 2 Duo) has been upgraded from the T8xxx line to the P8xxx line so instead of, say, a 2.4GHz T8300 processor you would now get a 2.4GHz P8600 processor. What's the big deal about that? The P8600 will let you use Windows Vista 64-bit and will give you access to all 4GB of RAM instead of the 3.2GB you had access to with the T8300.

  • The RAM has also been given a speed boost from 667MHz to 800MHz and the standard hard drive speed has also been bumped up from 5,400RPM to 7,200RPM (though I would've ordered the higher-speed hard drive with the M700 anyway).

  • The graphics engine also gets an upgrade so, instead of the Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, you now get the 4500MHD which is not only twice as fast it also supports full HD video (1080p) natively.

  • You also get a gigabit LAN connection, a newer Bluetooth version (which faster transfer speeds), and a combined USB/eSATA port (eSATA is great for external hard drives as its data transfer speed is much faster that USB transfer speeds) which is also a sleep-and-charge port (this lets you charge accessories plugged into this port even if your laptop is off).


All in all, the M7xx series -- which was already one of the most powerful tablet PC lines in the market -- now packs an even greater punch with the M750. And the best part? This new, upgraded M750 costs the same as the old M700! Awesome.

[Quick caveat: The M750 isn't selling in custom configurations right now and is, so far, available only in the US and Canada. Also, it doesn't yet have a multi-touch screen -- i.e. with both pen and touch input -- but I'm hoping they'll add that to this model very soon.]

UPDATE: According to Craig Pringle, the M750 has a dual digitizer that has both active and resistive touch. This means you can use both a stylus and your finger on the screen. Excellent.

James Nachtwey's story

In 2007, photographer James Nachtwey won the TED Prize which awarded him $100,000 and "one wish to change the world". His wish was:

I'm working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.

On 3 October, Nachtwey's story will break -- both online and around the world. Melburnians can view his story at Federation Square while the rest of you should check the TED Prize Event Location page to see if it's being shown at your location (it's on in 16 countries). If not, you can always view it online:

For more:

Digital Camera: More Research & Then a Purchase!

After conducting a second round of research and deciding that I really wanted an ultracompact (so some of the cheaper, chunkier, but feature-equivalent compacts dropped out of the running) I narrowed my list of digital cameras choices down to these three:

1. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3

Priced at $270, this camera has an 8.1MP 3x zoom lens, records 30fps VGA video (and also 848x480 widescreen video) in QuickTime, and has optical image stabilization, face detection, audio photo tagging, and an AV-out port. [CNET review]

I liked everything about this camera except that it records video in QuickTime, which is not a native Windows video format. This is an issue because my resource-strapped Windows XP laptop doesn't handle QuickTime very well. So, in order to edit videos recorded from this camera, I would first have to convert them to AVI (the native Windows video format) and all that would do is add is an extra step to the process.

2. Pentax Optio M50

Priced at $270, this has an 8MP 5x zoom lens, records 30fps VGA video in AVI, and has digital image stabilization, face detection, smile detection, and an AV-out port.

Though this camera lacks optical image stabilization, I almost liked it more than the Panasonic because it records video in AVI and the 5x optical zoom and smile detection feature are nice bonuses. However I wasn't able to find a good review of it online so I was a little unsure about getting it.

3. Canon IXUS 80IS

Priced at $320, this has an 8MP 3x zoom lens, records 30fps VGA video in AVI, and has optical image stabilization, face detection, face tracking, automatic red-eye correction, audio photo tagging, a speaker, and an AV-out port. [CNET review (with video), CNET Australia review, detailed Photography Blog review, technical Photo Review Australia review]

This was the most feature-rich camera of the lot and was also my favourite. However, it cost an extra $50 and that was an issue.

The Decision: Go for the Best

Fortunately, Nadia convinced me to go for the best -- this camera is her birthday present to me, after all (thanks a billion!) -- and convincing me turned out to be pretty easy so, as of yesterday evening, I own a Canon IXUS 80IS camera!

It looks like this and is about the size of a pack of playing cards:

Canon IXUS 80IS Brown (Front)
[Source: Canon website]

I've been playing around with it since I got it and it's really quite fantastic.

Also, the extra $50 cost turned out to be a non-issue because Canon is running a promotion that gives your four free movie tickets (priced at about $15 each) if you get the IXUS 80IS. Yaay!

Accessories & Warranty

Naturally, the first thing I did after buying the camera was to get some accessories for it.

I got three freebies from Ted's Camera Store (which is a great store, by the way):

  • a 2GB Lexar SDHC memory card
  • a Transcend USB memory card reader (for the computer)
  • a Ted's-branded memory card storage hard case

I then bought three more:

Finally, I bought a 3-year extended warranty from Ted's.

What Next?

Like I said, I've been playing with the camera since I got it (well, since its battery got fully charged) and it's a lot of fun. Its features are awesome and easy to use and I am now preparing for my first video blog post :) I'll post some photos and at least one video from it over the next few days.

Thanks, once again, to Nadia for this moste awesomest birthday present. 'Tis wonderful, indeed :)

Digital Camera: Second Round of Research

After setting a mostly arbitrary budget of "under $200" for a compact digital camera that can also record video, in my previous blog post on this topic I made a list of cameras that seemed to fit the bill. Since then I have done a second round of research, this time focusing less on price and more on my overall camera requirements (both photo and video related).

Video Blogging Requirements

I started off by doing lots of research on the web and found these two useful resources:

Different blogs suggested different brands of digital cameras for video recording, by the way, so they weren't all that much help. Of course, most of the video bloggers I know use camcorders or webcams anyway (while Robert Scoble uses a Nokia N95) so I wasn't expecting much from these sources in the first place.

Digital Camera Guides and Reviews

I then looked at review sites and camera buying guides:

  • Yahoo! Shopping has a great article from Digital Trends' David Elrich on buying digital cameras called 'Digital Cameras: Buying Made Simple'. This is very useful in assessing basic camera requirements.
  • CNET has an excellent 'Digital Camera Buying Guide' that also talks about recording video on digital cameras.
  • CNET's digital camera finder suggested a few cameras that would suit my requirements, though most of the top ten -- all of which were Sony or Canon cameras, by the way -- had a price tag of over $200.
  • That said, two of the CNET Editors' 'Best 5 Digital Cameras' (i.e. best overall) are in the sub-$200 range and most their 'Best Compact Digital Cameras' (most of which are, again, Canon and Sony cameras) cost around $200. (Can you tell I love CNET? Teh ossim.)

Local Retailers

Next I checked out a few Aussie retailer websites:

Then, I went both a Ted's outlet and a JB Hi-Fi camera store -- they're a few shops apart on Elizabeth Street in the Melbourne CBD (#235 and #261, respectively) -- and got these recommendations:

  • Ted's salesperson: Your budget should be a little over $200. Get a Panasonic Lumix FS3 for $267 (8.1MP, good lens, 640x480 30fps video) and, if you don't like it, you can always utilize our 14 day exchange guarantee to return it and get another one instead. [Official page]
  • JB Hi-Fi salesperson: Under $200 is fine since you probably won't notice a marked difference till you go over $300. Get a Panasonic Lumix LS80 for $148 (8.1MP, decent lens, 640x480 30fps video) and we'll throw in a 3GB high-speed memory card for free. [Official page]

This confused me at first because, after reading all those CNET reviews, I was expecting to be pitched a Canon or a Sony which both shops had plenty of. Then I realized how silly it was of me to think that. Of course they wouldn't pitch those: those brands probably give them the lowest margins and are mainly there to draw-in customers who are then pitched all these other brands that make the shop more money.

Still, this wasn't bad for a quick trip to each store: I learnt quite a bit and also picked up their latest catalogues so I have all the latest brick-and-mortal retailer prices for comparison.

Personal Suggestions

Finally, I got suggestions from a number of different people -- thanks, everyone! -- all of which were most useful though no I talked to had used digital cameras for video recording before. Oh well. I did get some good tips from Yahoo! Answers, though.

Next: Word-of-Mouth, Hands-On, then Purchase

Next up, I'll be hitting online digital camera forums to see what's being said about all these makes and models by the people who actually bought them and use them. 

I'll focus on the four brands that have come up most often in my research -- i.e. Canon, Sony, Panasonic, and Casio -- though I will look at others such as Pentax and Fuji which came up a number of times as well. I'm hoping this will help me narrow my final list down to 3-4 specific cameras.

Once that's done, it's back to the stores for some hands-on time. I'll try each one out to see what the results are like and, once I've thought about it some more, I'll go ahead and buy one. I'll probably buy it from Ted's since I really like their 14-day exchange guarantee.

Oh, and then I'll blog about all that too :)

Final Thoughts

Some final thoughts about my general preferences:

  • I'd much prefer a really compact camera (sometimes called a slim or ultracompact camera) to a regular compact camera. I'd love to have something that'll fit comfortably into the pocket of my jeans or jacket and I can take with me pretty much everywhere.
  • I'd rather not buy a Panasonic since that records video in QuickTime and I don't like QuickTime because it's a resource hog and generally makes life on my crappy old computer much more complicated.
  • If I have to choose between two similarly-priced cameras, I'll go for the one that takes great photos and average video over the one that's only above-average in both.
  • I need to factor in the cost of a carrying case, batteries, a big memory card (4-8GB), and a small tripod.

Help Needed: Suggestions for a Digital Camera

Before coming to Australia, I bought myself a mobile phone that would also double as a digital camera. This was a Sony Ericsson K750i and it had a 2.0 megapixel camera that could both take pictures and record video. I knew I wasn't getting much of a camera but I wasn't planning to do much more than upload pictures to my blog/website or e-mail photos to friends and family back home so it was sufficient.

The K750i's phone capabilities are still pretty much what I want them to be -- it stores all my contacts, syncs well with my laptop, has great reception and battery life, and so on -- but now I really want to upgrade to a proper digital camera.

My Basic Requirements

Fortunately, there are lots of good, cheap digital cameras out there that'll do the trick for me. My three basic requirements are:

  1. A resolution of at least 5 megapixels (MP); preferably over 7MP and ideally closer to 8MP
  2. The ability to record decent-quality video with audio (suitable for basic video blogging)
  3. A price tag of less than $200; preferably closer to $150 if I need to expand its memory, buy a stand/tripod, or get a good cover for it

Lots of Camera Options

Unfortunately, too many cameras fit this bill. Here's a list I compiled from some quick research on the 'net:

Make/Model Photo (MP) Video (px, fps) Price ($)
Canon PowerShot A470 7.1 640x480 20fps 150
Canon PowerShot A580 7.1 640x480 20fps 200
Sony CyberShot S730 7.2 320x240 30fps video 180
Samsung S760 7.2 640x480/320x240 30/15fps 160
Samsung L100 8.2 640x480/320x240 30/15fps 160 (online)
Olympus FE-340 8.0 640x480/320x240 30/15fps 200 (online)
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS850 8.1 640x480/320x240 30/10fps 190
Fuji FinePix F480 8.2 320x240 30fps 180 (online)
Fuji FinePix J10 8.2 640x480/320x240 30fps 180
Kodak EasyShare C813 8.2 640×480 15fps, 320×240 30fps 130
Kodak EasyShare M863 8.2 640×480 15fps, 320×240 30fps 180
Pentax Optio E40 8.1 640×480/320x240 30fps or 15fps w/sound 130
Pentax Optio E50 8.1 640×480/320x240 30fps or 15fps w/sound 180
Pentax Optio S10 10.0 640×480/320x240 30fps 180 (online)
Casio Exilim EX-Z9 8.1 848x480/640×480 30fps, 320×240 15fps 180 (online)
Casio Exilim EX-Z80 8.1 848x480/640×480 30fps, 320×240 15fps 200 (online)

Yeah. That's a lot.

Mobile Phone Options

And it's not just cameras that I need to look at since a couple of mobile phones, not only cover my requirements, but are awesome in many other ways:

Make/Model Photo (MP) Video Price ($)
Nokia N95 5.0 640x480 30fpx 150 up front + 2-25 monthly
Sony Ericsson K850i 5.0 (not specified) 150 up front + 2-25 monthly
Sony Ericss
on C905		 8.1 (not specified) (coming soon)

So I'm a little spoilt for choice.

Oh, and to make things more complicated: some of the cameras have quirks that are potential deal breakers. For example, some have limits to how long your video file can be (e.g. you can record only 10 minutes at a time), others need to reduce their frame rate if you're going to record audio along with your video (e.g. 30 to 15fps), and one or two may not be available in Australia at the listed price.

What Now?

So, what now? Well, after this preliminary round of research, I'll move on to doing in-depth research on each of those models. This will involve reading reviews, making more detailed comparisons, finding out exact prices and availability, and so on.

I'll also check online to see what other people -- particularly video bloggers -- are using and what they recommend. For example, which is better: a higher video resolution or a higher frame rate (or is there no simple answer to that)? And what frame rate is sufficient (whatever that means)? I'll also compare videos made with different resolutions at different frame rates to see how they vary.

Finally, I'll ask for advice, which is why I've written this blog post. So, does anyone have any advice for me? Any brand preferences, any previous experience with any of these products, any general suggestions? Should I forget the phones and focus on just the cameras (which is what I'm leaning towards anyway)? Any and all suggestions are welcome and thanks in advance for all your help!

Lifehacker's Outlook vs. Gmail

Jared Goralnick recently posted an excellent comparison between Microsoft's Outlook and Google's Gmail on Lifehacker.

Having recently shifted all of my e-mail to Gmail you can image which side I'm lean towards...though in all fairness I chose Gmail because I wanted all of my e-mail to be in the cloud and not because I thought Outlook wasn't for me.

I actually think Outlook is great. I don't like it's search capabilities all that much -- though maybe that's because we still use Outlook 2003 at work -- but otherwise it's got everything (and more) than I need.

That said, Gmail is awesome: I love everything about it and, now that Google is moving towards letting you bring some of its capabilities offline, I'm sure I'll soon like it even more.