Our peace of mind

AGPS – not a real GPS?

35 Comments

how-gps-works.jpg

Over the last few years, we have seen different technology labels from different GPS and mobile device makers.  InstantSIRF Fix, Enhanced GPS, aGPS, are essentially the same, or commonly known as Asssisted GPS (or AGPS). The technology has been introduced in the market for a few years, but it continues to confuse alot of people, thinking that it’s another variant of LBS (location-based service). When HP first introduced built-in GPS in their flagship iPAQ product, iPAQ 6515, it has not received much attention other than it’s just a phone with some GPS chipset. HP had not marketed the benefit of A-GPS then.  Neither were the reviewers, who probably don’t understood the purpose of A-GPS, judging by the number of reviewed articles on this topic.

Continue reading →

Q9h chinese revelation

1 Comment

In my last review of Motorola Q9h, I lamented about how Motorola (to be fair, quite a number of Windows Mobile Phone makers as well) could have launched a device without appropiate chinese input method editor (IME) in a multi-racial countries like Singapore.

 Wrote in to Motorola customer service department before, and as expected, I was given excuses like “We do not support third party software” or “None of our Q9h comes with chinese IME”, etc.

Hello? You mean Motorola is not interested at all in the North Asia Market? Plus, I was told that in Hong Kong, they do sell Q9h that supports chinese input. So the official reply, like all other official replies I get elsewhere, is just crap.

Recently, I “come across” a Q9h, which evidently dismiss the claim by Motorola that there isn’t a Q9h that supports chinese IME out of the box. Let’s just say I am 100% sure that the Q9h that I come across, is 100% stock and has no additional software installed.

Incidentally, the software is developed by GuoBi (国笔科技有限公司), the same company that partners with various phone manufacturers in the world for chinese input function, and the same software can be found in Q9h predecessor, Q8. 😉

Continue reading →

StayUnlock at your peril

51 Comments

18 months ago, I created a hack utility called Stayunlock, to overcome the security policy enforced by my company, which requires me to use device lock, and disable the ability to turn off the device lock option.

18 months later, I was forced to use device lock on my smartphone because the utility doesn’t work on smartphone platform, and I was too lazy to port it over.

Many weeks back, after I lost my Treo 500v through a theft, I suddenly appreciate the value of security policy. We always take thing for granted until the day the unexpected hit us.

Just yesterday, I ported the hack utility to the WM5/6 smartphone platform, since there has been some requests on the net asking for it. Even though I have the hack utility running now, I have yet to turn off the device lock feature. In fact, I have stepped up the security further by using a more sophiscated passcode. Such is a ‘success’ story of a change management.

sshot000.jpg

sshot001.jpg

You can download the smartphone edition from this link StayUnlock (Smartphone Edition).

谈“康熙来了之艺界破英文大集合”感想

Leave a comment

kangxilaile.jpg最近在报章上获知台湾的一个综艺节目“康熙来了”闹了一个风波，还是跟国人有连接的关系。话说节目的主题是关于艺人如何以“破英文”和外国人沟通。既然是“破英文”的主题，当然会联想起一些“鸡同鸭讲”的笑话。谈到申东靖在新加坡的经历时，所描述的一些例子，再加上其他艺人的反应，既然演变成一个风波的导火线。

Continue reading →

Darren’s creativity

Leave a comment

My first muppetLooking at the beauty and creativity of a child, it makes one envy how innocent and pure they are. They make what they see and feel, not interfered by any other happenings, politics, etc that lingers in the air for an adult. The child innocence is so beautiful and really worth to treasure… here are some creative pieces that Darren my godson has created.

Continue reading →

Data backup afterthoughts

Leave a comment

drive_image.jpgSpent two weekends to finally sort out my personal and work data. I had data backup regularly for more than 2 years already, but had always been doing it half heartedly. Instead of looking at the exact data I need to backup and archive, I usually take the easy way out by backing up the entire folder without having second look at the documents that reside in the folder.

Plus, I have used Fotki as a secondary digital media backup since subscribing to Fotki in 2003 and they offer unlimited digital image storage. Overtimes, again due to lack of discipline process, I always ended up uploading photos into Fotki without making a primary backup onto my home NAS. Lately, we have been taking alot of video as well, and because Fotki is essentially a photo gallery (unlike flickr or photobucket), most of these video media files reside in my own laptop. Result? Massive work required to synchronise the sources, a diaster waiting to happen should my laptop crashes (or touch wood, get stolen again) Continue reading →

听歌曲后的感言

3 Comments

        “伦敦玛莉莲　买了件旗袍送妈妈

　　　莫斯科的夫司基　爱上牛肉面疙瘩

　　　各种颜色的皮肤　各种颜色的头发

　　　嘴里念的说的开始流行中国话

　　　多少年我们苦练英文发音和文法

　　　这几年换他们卷著舌头学平上去入的变化

　　　平平仄仄平平仄

　　　好聪明的中国人　好优美的中国话” 

以上是S。H。E新专辑主打歌“中国话”歌词的小插曲. 话说“中国话”其实是要讨好中国市场，也因此成为了台湾社会议论的热门话题。既然能把歌艺和政治混合在一起，真的是佩服得五体投地。撇开政治一边，其实“中国话”里的歌词，其实满有意识的，也反映了国际的局势。一直以来，亚洲人都一直有崇洋的趋向，尤其是在我国，年轻人总把中文当成是犹如被遗忘的历史，是个毫无价值的东东，都把它当成是一种语言累赘。即使是历史古迹，也有它市场的价值，可惜国人都把中文置于比第三语言还不如重视的语言，可想象中文在国人心里的地位。当然，比起前几年（甚至是十几年前），国人对中文的热忱已经大有改善，而“中国话”这首歌其实也只不过表达了我的心声吧！ Continue reading →

Feels good …

Leave a comment

HandshakePhysically I’m drained after being down with a nasty flu and am still trying to recover from it. But what makes me feel better, despite the bitter medication and the blocked nose, is that I think the relationship with one of our neighbours have gone in the positive direction.

It was a long story, and I don’t think it’s appropiate for me to say who’s wrong, and who’s not here. Beside, that’s history and there’s no point raking it up again. Regardless, the misunderstanding has definitely strained the otherwise cheerful relationship which was built during the time when we were fighting together against our house developer. I guess the philosophy – “Effective communication starts with finding overlapping objectives among the communicators” has found a good case study here.

Nevertheless, I ‘m happy that we had our first handshake that day, after so many months (and years), and we greeted and parted with smiling faces. That make my day … anytime.

The Art of Answering Questions …

4 Comments

When we were young, we were taught to answer to the point. As we grow up, somehow, we started to acquire the art of drifting, as we answer any question …

Just this morning, I picked up a magazine and came across this reader column, where a reader asked about a certain fuel product found in our Northern neighbouring country. He was enquring about the difference between the said product and similiar product that is found in our local market. I guess it’s natural that one questions about the product differences, especially if the product informations are not forthcoming. So I thought the question was a legitimate one.

As usual, the company’s public relation department responded upon the interview, with an attempt to shed some lights over any potential product differences. Not wanting to quote the entire article, here’s a gist of what the PR guy replied;

Question: What’s the difference between the two products?

Answer: The fuel specifications depend on country-specific legislations and  requirements, and the addictives are formulated based on the actual needs of our customer requirements.

Question: Are you planning to introduce this product in Singapore?

Answer: We constantly review the needs of each market and if there’s a great interest in Singapore, we ‘ll consider introducing it.

Damn politically right answer. But informative? You decide.

 

Lonesome feeling

Leave a comment

A sudden pang of loneliness sudden surge over my face. Never before I felt that. Hubby travels quite often but never once it has hit me this hard. Maybe, it’s the stress that my bosses are coming the week after, plus the festive season is also coming.

Suddenly the house feel so empty and I am longing for his return.. count down to 7 days. I know he’s also afraid of his presentation but I know he can do it. He’s the most capable person that I have know, though never admit so as not to me him feel conceited. One must be humble.

 Darling, I am waiting for you to come home, meanwhile I will strive hard in my job and try to close more sales and prepare for the arrival of my 2 bosses the week after. Good nite… with love…