Computer – Page 20 – Krunk4Ever!

November 16, 2006November 16, 2006

PS3 Pre-Launch

DENTIST HIRES 60 PEOPLE TO GET HIM PS3S (from Digg) – Murray Newlin, a dentist in Columbus, Ohio, wants to buy 15 PS3s this holiday season for his grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. A feat not even Santa Claus himself could accomplish. So he set out to do the impossible by paying 60 different workers to take eight hour shifts waiting in line in at four different Wal-mart stores in the Columbus area. Ouch! Similar to the Japanese business Eiji who paid homeless people ~$200 for each PS3 they obtained for him, but the difference being, he’s planning to KEEP these friggin’ PS3s.

I’m assuming these are legit workers who work for minimum wage (I’m guessing is around $6/hr). He could’ve also hired illegal immigrants for a lot cheaper, but I don’t think there’s too many of those in Ohio. But who knows how much he is paying. Let’s just assume the worse. The entry mentions he paid 60 people for 8 hours shifts each. So that means each PS3 probably has 4 person waiting for it and at $6/hr, that’s $2880. If the launch is at midnight, then they probably started lining up around 4PM on 11/15 since the PS3 launches on 11/17. If stores open around 8am, those people probably started lining up at midnight of 11/16.

Actually even though that $2880 might look like a lot, consider the fact that the retail of the PS3 is around $500 – $600, making 15 PS3s an investment of $7500 to $9000. If he buys in the aftermarket, where prices are ranging between $1500 to $2500, we’re seeing a savings of over $10,620.

However, not everything is happy and cheery for PS3 resellers either. PlayStation 3 fetching mostly ho-hum prices on Japan Net auctions (from Digg) – But some of the 4,000 PlayStation 3 consoles up for auction on Yahoo! Japan Wednesday were downright bargains. Some had game software thrown in with the machine, selling near the retail price of about 60,000 yen (US$510; €400) for the more expensive model with a 60-gigabyte hard drive, and 50,000 yen (US$420; €330) for the cheaper model. Ouch!

Sony taking big hit on each PS3 sold; Xbox 360 in the black – what’s interesting about this article is the fact that the Xbox 360 might not be sold at a loss anymore. Also, if you haven’t noticed, there might be a (BIG) chance that Amazon.com will be selling the Xbox 360 core system for $100 next Thursday. There will only be 1000 units and I believe the selling starts at 11am PST on Thanksgiving. Go to their homepage and vote for the Xbox 360 system.

Random Crap:

Owner claims kittens have dog-like traits (from Digg) – Brazilian student Cassia Aparecida de Souza, 18, claims her cat’s offspring has been born with dog traits last Friday, three months after mating with a neighbour’s dog in the Brazilian city of Passo Fundo.

(image from Yahoo!)

Ten things not to do with your data (from Digg) – Deaths at the hands of bananas, smelly socks and WD-40 are some of the unusual fates to have befallen innocent hard drives, according to a data recovery company that has released a list of the most remarkable cases of data loss witnessed this year. I original read this article on BBC, but it appears they have pulled the article.

And a university professor appeared not-so-clever when he heard a squeaking noise from the drive of his new desktop and decided to open the case and spray in some WD-40. Although successful in stopping the drive from squeaking, this was largely because he had also stopped the drive from working.

Easy Mental Multiplication Trick (from Digg) – How to transform a multiplication into addition through the drawing of a stool. It works with any numbers if you keep the right partition. You can verify with your calculator! an interesting trick, but I highly doubt it’s faster than straight out multiplication, especially when dealing with large numbers. What essentially the person is doing is straight multiplication. 2×3 = 6 because 2 lines intersect 3 lines 6 times. With the curves the person draws, that’s the addition part, where you’re suppose to add multiple lines together. The diamond shape is used for the shifting where if you recall, the each additional number in the bottom multiplier, an extra space you give it before you add.

November 12, 2006November 12, 2006

Microsoft Firefox

Microsoft(R) Firefox (from MS newsgroup) – a hilarious parody site. It’s actually changed a lot since I first saw it (when it was just one page). They now have multiple pages and even a video to show you how amazing it is. Definitely check out the features page. The idea they wanted to get across is that IE7 is just Microsoft’s version of Firefox. Even the download link sends you to the IE7 executable.

Random Crap:

Deadlock introduced me to a new comic: Questionable Content. The series is okay, but did the AnthroPC is just too cute!!! Please read this strip: Chicks Dig Disc Drives – “You don’t have my raw electromagnetism.”

Speaking of comics, Xyon introduced me to another one: Sinfest. The piggy is so cute!

Sketch your furniture in the air (from MS newsgroup) – Is it possible to let a first sketch become an object, to design directly onto space? The four FRONT members have developed a method to materialize free hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique method where two advanced techniques are combined. Some people mentioned that it’d be difficult without the tactile feedback. I think instead of feedback, I’d rather see what I’m drawing. How do I know where to connect the legs of the chair if I can’t see the edge of the seat? But its pretty neat how they could do this.

Passing of an old friend: (from MS newsgroup)

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community.

The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71. Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin.

Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, two children, John Dough and Jane Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

WiFi Speed Spray (from MS newsgroup) – Do you live in a polluted environment such as Los Angeles? If so, you’ve probably experienced the heartbreak of data transfer slow-down. WiFi Speed Spray™ can overcome the effects of pollution, increase fidelity, and provide you with the fastest wireless data transfer possible. Approved by the FCC, and 802.11b compliant! Compatible with Windows and most versions of Linux.

You’ve probably seen the GOW (Gears of War) ad using Gary Jule’s Mad World (song was also featured in Donnie Darko). If you haven’t seen the ad, you can watch it on GameTrailers – HD version / SD version. The game’s being touted as probably the best game this Christmas. I’m just waiting for it to be available in the company store. Anyway, people have been making spoofs of the commercial by timing it against other songs and some are pretty hilarious: Gears of War Ad Spoofs (from MS newsgroup).

Longhorn concept (from MS newsgroup) – The conceptual vision of Vista was pretty amazing. Yet our product doesn’t look like that at all. It’s amazing what you can do with flash.

November 11, 2006November 25, 2006

Virtual Earth

It appears Microsoft has an answer to Google Earth with Virtual Earth. Virtual Earth claims to work inside the browser, but requires ActiveX, so it’ll only work inside IE6 or IE7. Plus it requires you to download and install a plug-in, which makes it rather similar to an extra download like Google Earth. I will say that by incorporating Virtual Earth with Local Live, it becomes a lot more useful when I’m searching for maps in that area and want to see the 3D surroundings. Sort of like you don’t really care about aerial view, but it’s pretty neat that you can swap quickly between road maps and aerial view or even a hybrid when searching for directions. There’s a blog entry and a video that shows you how neat Virtual Earth can be.

Some more references:
Microsoft Releases Virtual Earth 3D (Beta) – contains screenshots of it
Virtual Earth 3-D – CBS news video
Microsoft Virtual Earth preview – CNET video

Random Crap:

Most Indian men want virgin brides: poll – Nearly two-thirds of young Indian men expect the woman they marry to be a virgin, but nearly half have had sex with prostitutes, according to a poll.

PRE-SCHOOL POLITICAL AD (from Cari) – This is a campaign ad for a pre-school class president race in Iowa. I thought it was a parody, but I guess it wasn’t.

Ky. officer shoots himself while driving – A Kentucky police officer trying to unload his gun accidentally shot himself while driving on an Indiana highway, police said. Reminds of of the video of where the DEA Agent accidentally shoots his own foot.

Pot users relying on home delivery – Among the legions of home delivery customers is Chris, a 37-year-old salesman in Manhattan. He dials a pager number and gets a return call from a cheery dispatcher who takes his order for potent strains of marijuana. Within a couple of hours, a well-groomed delivery man — sometimes a moonlighting actor or chef — arrives at the doorstep of his Manhattan apartment carrying weed neatly packaged in small plastic containers. Now, that’s what I call service! Though the price of $60 for 2g of marijuana seems a bit steep.

China families sue hospital for baby mix-up – Two Chinese families are suing a hospital 15 years after they took home the wrong newborn babies, state media reported on Tuesday. A very interesting question is now what? Are they going to swap kids, or keep their existing one. Chinese people are very concern about their bloodline, especially if it’s a son. It’d be interesting to see how this turns out.

Jet-lagged mice die young, U.S. study finds – Jet-lagged mice die younger, researchers said on Monday in a study that suggests that working unusual shifts and flying back and forth across time zones takes a permanent toll on health. Tests on more than 100 mice showed that old mice forced to live on a confusing schedules of light and darkness, simulating rotating shifts or international travel, died sooner than those on gentler schedules. Interesting… I wonder with me being nocturnal, would it have a toll on my health…

Bush owes troops an apology, not Kerry (from FuzzyWuzzy) – another great criticism on President Bush. Turns out he’s going to be president for not just 1 more year, but 2. I always thought when it said 2000 election, it meant the election was held on Nov. 1999 and the new president starts on 2000. Turns out both years need to be ++.

November 11, 2006November 25, 2006

UngsungBlog

Ungsunghero has a blog now! Check out his UngsungBlog. Tons of fantasy sport talk, but also a bunch random interesting stuff.

Random Crap:

It’s been awhile huh?

Are we sinning yet? – The United Church of Canada hopes an ad featuring a can of whipped cream and the question, “How much fun can sex be before it’s a sin?” will fill its pews as Christmas nears. You can check out their site: WonderCafe. The posters were interesting also:

Hundreds to compete for rock, paper, scissors title – Think rock, paper, scissors is a children’s game? Think again. Top players from around the globe will gather in Toronto this weekend to compete for a C$10,000 (4,636 pounds) prize and the title of world champion. Haha, guess the RPS tournament continues. I had previously posted this video of just how silly and hilarious it is.

Brit burns bum with firecracker – A 22-year-old man suffered internal injuries after lighting a small firecracker he had inserted into his buttocks, paramedics said Thursday. The incident took place Sunday, when Britain celebrated Bonfire Night, traditionally marked with fireworks to celebrate the Guy Fawkes’ gunpowder plot to blow up Parliament in the 17th century.

Robot Identifies Human Flesh As Bacon (from /.) – Upon being given a sample, he will speak up in a childlike voice and identify what he has just been fed. … But when some smart aleck reporter placed his hand in the robot’s omnivorous clanking jaw, he was identified as bacon. A cameraman then tried and was identified as prosciutto.

See where the Internet lives (from /.) – Take a tour of the data warehouse for the Web. With sites like MySpace, Yahoo, IBM, Microsoft, and Google buying co-locations at Equinix, it was interesting to see a tour through the actual data center.

China issues ‘one dog’ policy in Beijing – It’s the year of the dog in China, but it’s not a good year for man’s best friend: an effort to stamp out rabies has prompted authorities to limit families in Beijing to only one dog. Article wasn’t that interesting, just reminded me of their “one child policy”. Also, it reminded me this was the year of the dog and that means I’m going to be 24 soon (Chinese zodiacs goes by cycles every 12 years, unlike the American zodiac which cycles every 12 months).

Turn Your Nintendo DS Into A Guitar (from FuzzyWuzzy) – And for the latest innovation to grace the Nintendo DS we have a new title named “M-06” which basically turns your DS into a guitar. Do check the video out. It was actually pretty neat how he was using the stylus from strumming the guitar and the buttons to play the chords.

Diet Coke and Mentos make Dominos (from MS newsgroup) – the EepyBird.com gang is back and now instead of just Mentos and Diet Coke, they’ve added the domino effect. 251 bottles of Diet Coke and 1,506 Mentos later, we have this neat video.

“Office Space” Recut (from Deadlock) – We recut “Office Space” into a slasher/thriller trailer. Seems like someone took one too many staplers from Milton… What if Office Space was a horror movie. Hilarious parody trailer.

November 1, 2006November 25, 2006

Browser Keywords Evolution

Since the introduction of Firefox’s keywords, launching sites and doing quick searches have been a breeze. It’s awesome already, but I think there’s a way to make it even MORE awesome. Don’t believe me? This evolution really only pertains to people who use keywords for search (e.g. dict difficult) would launch dictionary.com querying for the definition of difficult. However, what happens when you type dict by itself. Since you didn’t pass in any parameters, it takes the %s literally and searches for the definition of %s. In this case, what I would’ve wanted it to do is to open dictionary.com’s homepage.

Multiple keywords generally don’t apply to search engines because there’s really no reason to ever visit Google or Live if you’re not going to do a search. But this comes in awfully handy for forums or blogs or generally lists that get updated. If I type /., it should open Slashdot, but if I type /. firefox, it should do a search on Slashdot with the keyword(s) being firefox. However, in today’s Firefox, only one or the other can take the /. keyword. I would need another keyword using a different letter/character combination for the other task.

Just a thought.

October 28, 2006November 25, 2006

Firefox 2.0

Firefox 2.0 was released a couple days ago. I don’t think the auto-upgrade will upgrade you from 1.5.x to 2.0, since it didn’t trigger for 2 days. I decided to go ahead and download and try it out myself.

A couple of my extensions were incompatible (i.e. Enhanced History Manager, Tab Mix Plus, FavIcon Picker), but the most important one (Adblock) was still working. In fact, I went and upgraded to Adblock Plus. They no longer call them “extensions”, as the tool menu has renamed them to Add-Ons.

The biggest feature I noticed is the spell checker. Now, whenever I type a response in a forum or even while I’m typing this blog entry, it’s filled with red wiggly lines. Not that my spelling sucks, but names and stuff aren’t in their dictionary. Okay, I admit, my spelling does suck. *sniff*

Overall, I haven’t notice much changes.

From Redmond With Love (from MS newsgroup):

The Microsoft Internet Explorer Team sent us a cake for the ~~upcoming~~ release of Firefox 2!

A big thanks to Redmond, Washington!

P.S.: No, it was not poisoned 😉

October 28, 2006

Rejecting Emails

I was sitting at my computer the other day, looking at my email, and I was wondering what I could do to let these spammers know my email address doesn’t exist, at least until a solution like DomainKeys is widely supported. I’ve also been getting a bunch of rejected emails from spammers who have using random_phrase@domain.com, since I have a catch all email address.

So I thought, how great would it be if Outlook or any other email client had a REJECT EMAIL function. When clicked, it would prompt the postmaster of that email server to send a error message back, similar to one of the common email errors:

Returned mail: user unknown
Returned mail: Insufficient permission
Warning: could not send message for past 14 hours
Returned mail: see transcript for details

Similar to how postal mail work, I should be able to write Return to Sender or Moved on the letter and the post office will send the letter back. I know probably most of return email addresses spam emails use these days are fake, but if I was a spammer and received such a message, I’d also probably removed the email address from the list I’m spamming.

October 14, 2006

12Mbps

Sorry about not posting for so long. Between work, WarCraft III, anime, TV series, and trying to catch some sleep, you can see where my blog priority lies.

Got a postcard from Comcast awhile back and they’ve bumped me to 12Mbps. Speed tests show a download rate of 8,000-10,000Kbps and a upload rate of 750-850Kbps. Pretty sweet!

Random Crap:

What FuzzyWuzzy has to go through in between seasons of the L word:

<zuFeht> damn i’m so addicted to l word again ><
<Krunk> haha
<pantsumimi> i love lesbians too
<Krunk> were you ever not addicted?
<Krunk> after you started watching of course
<pantsumimi> fuzzo was not addicted between seasons
<pantsumimi> when there was nothing to be addicted to
<pantsumimi> except re-runs
<pantsumimi> I never really got that show
<pantsumimi> I only remember one episode where some woman’s mother came over when they were fucking
<pantsumimi> and the vibrator wouldn’t turn off
<pantsumimi> so she put it in a small pot and told her mother it was a cactus
<Krunk> haha
<Krunk> so after every season
<Krunk> fuzzy goes cold turkey
<pantsumimi> lol, no choice really =P
<Krunk> thinks he’s off
<Krunk> but then immediately gets hooked on once the next season starts
<pantsumimi> i don’t think it’s cold turkey
<pantsumimi> i think it’s more like a period of forced withdrawal
<Krunk> ah
<Krunk> no more supply
<pantsumimi> yeah i can see it now
<Krunk> just pure demand
<pantsumimi> fuzzo is hugging his knees in the corner
<pantsumimi> shivering
<pantsumimi> mumbling about lesbians
<Krunk> sucking his thumb
<zuFeht> haha
<pantsumimi> yeah all that shizzaz
<zuFeht> totally
<zuFeht> i’m watching reruns ><
<zuFeht> new season should start in jan or feb

My Résumé (from MS newsgroup):

My first job was working in an Orange Juice factory, but I got canned. I couldn’t concentrate.

Then I worked in the woods as a Lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe.

After that, I tried to be a Tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for it — mainly because it was a sew-sew job.

Next, I tried working in a Muffler Factory, but that was too exhausting.

Then, I tried to be a Chef – figured it would add a little spice to my life, but I just didn’t have the thyme.

I attempted to be a Deli Worker, but any way I sliced it I couldn’t cut the mustard.

My best job was a Musician, but eventually I found I wasn’t noteworthy.

I studied a long time to become a Doctor, but I didn’t have any patience.

Next, was a job in a Shoe Factory. I tried but I just didn’t fit in.

I became a Professional Fisherman, but discovered that I couldn’t live on my net income.

I managed to get a good job working for a Pool Maintenance Company, but the work was just too draining.

So then I got a job in a Workout Center, but they said I wasn’t fit for the job.

After many years of trying to find steady work! I finally got a job as a Historian – until I realized there was no future in it.

My last job was working in Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.

SO, I TRIED RETIREMENT AND FOUND THAT I’M PERFECT FOR THE JOB. Man do I enjoy it !!!!

Some guy on the MS newsgroup was asking for advice on how to repel rabbits. Besides the regular advice, a funny conversation started:

Tobasco sauce. Just a little bit on the leaves. Works like a charm.
—
I had put pepper spray on my roses when rabbits used to eat them and it works great. They don’t come back ever.
—
How about just put out a bowl of rabbit food nearby? They will eat that and leave your plants alone.
—
Then you end up with friends for life.

OK Go – Here It Goes Again (from MS newsgroup) – a pretty neat music video which involves 8 treadmills. It doesn’t seem like the official music video, but the choreography was pretty neat. I like how they made it look like they were skiing.

MIT Sketching – RayAlome first showed me this video of this neat physics sketching software a week ago or so. It’s actually pretty neat. For more information, you might want to read about it on MIT’s website: Magic Paper. There was a email at work spreading around stating this was Microsoft Physics Illustrator (download / source code). It seems like this was a joint project between MSR and MIT.

For the last departmental picnic, management had decided that, due to liability issues, we could have alcohol, but only one (1) drink per person. I was fired for ordering the cups. (from MS Newsgroup)

Unnessary Censorship (from MS newsgroup) – One Year of Unnessary Censorship by the Jimmy Kemmel show.

Huge BUG found in Google Maps (from MS newsgroup)

peter callesen (from MS newsgroup) – I think I had actually saw this elsewhere, but I don’t remember. The papercut art is just amazing. Sometimes the cutout portions are like shadows, other times, they actually resemble things. They’re actually really pretty.

September 24, 2006September 24, 2006

Cute Bunny

My queue just keep getting bigger and bigger. I have like 20+ movies yet to be reviewed.

I also spent sometime this weekend migrating my old site’s blog over. Seems to be a long and arduous process. Only got a couple months in 2002. It’s hilarious seeing how my blogging (writing) style has evolved.

I was also burning off a bunch of watched “stuff” to free up space. While browsing for stuff to burn, I remember I haven’t watched the AIR – Summer Special yet. Unforutnately, Potato (the cute puppy) didn’t show up. This special was more about the past between the journey to find the little girl’s mom. However, they did introduce a cute bunny. Click the following images to watch the videos:

Random Crap:

What if Tequilla was a Prescription Drug? (from MS newsgroup) – hilarious advertisement/disclaimers for Tequilla.

Alan Cox’s ThinkPad battery explodes – For a moment, I thought IBM had fallen into the bunch of manufacturers with bad batteries. Fortunately, the title was very misleading and I quote: Telsa does note, however, that the battery was third-party and was bought on eBay, so it may not be an authentic IBM pack at all.

Polish woman caught growing marijuana for cow – A Polish woman who grew marijuana to calm the nerves of her cow　has been charged with cultivating a narcotic by police in the western town of Lobez.

Court says $32,000 is too much to fondle bosom – A fee of 25,500 euros ($32,000) is way too much for a woman to charge a man for fondling her bosom, a Finnish district court ruled.

White & Nerdy (MS newsgroup) – “Weird Al” Yankovic’s new music video, from the album “Straight Outta Lynwood” (in stores Sept. 26) Hilarious music video once again! However, as Weird Al notes on his blog:

I’m very sorry to say that the AOL “First View” Premiere of the “White & Nerdy” video has been cancelled.

Apparently, the video has already leaked online, and AOL doesn’t feel comfortable doing a “World Premiere” promotion for a video that a number of people have seen already. (I can understand songs leaking, but a video? How’d THAT happen?)

Anyway, it’s really a bummer… it would have been great promotion for the album… but hey, life goes on.

So…

I’ll be uploading the video to this page shortly. Tell your friends!

You may also want to check out his other music video (animation) for Don’t Download This Song.

worlds yo-yo contest 2006 1A 1st – Hiroyuki Suzuki (mickey) (from Tera) – I’m not sure if the title implies he won first place, but he was awesome. I obviously don’t know how hard some of these tricks are because there were certain parts in the oooohs and aaaaahs that I didn’t see to be that complicated. Then again, I probably couldn’t do 99% of what he did. The song in the background was actually rather amusing. I had heard the Korean and Japanese version by 이정현 (Lee Jung Hyun) called ワ-come on-. Then Mechy told me about the Cantonese version called 獨家試唱 by 鄭秀文. Now it appears there’s a Mandarin version too!

September 15, 2006

902kB/s

Just wanted to show you what my new modem has helped me achieved: 902kB/s download!!! That’s almost 1MB/sec.

I also got to watch the new Detective Conan – Movie 10 – The Private Eye’s Requiem tonight. Here’s a cute clip of Eri and her cat. It seems like Detective Conan – Movie 11 is already in the works and will be released in 2007. They didn’t mention which quarter though.

How is this fast speed and me getting to watch Detective Conan tonight related? *whistles*