Category: Uncategorized

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New Music Update

Here’s a compilation of the new music I enjoy:

Another new song I enjoy is Framing Hanley’s cover of Lil Wayne – Lollipop. You can listen to it here: Framing Hanley – Lollipop. It’s basically a Rock/Alternative version of the original song, which I prefer. Then again, I’ve always enjoyed Rock/Alternative music more.

Have you guys heard of the new T.I. / Rihanna song: T.I. feat Rihanna – Live Your Life. I first heard it on the radio and thought, “Hey, it’s that Dragostea Tin Dei song by O-Zone!” Then they started to sing and rap in English and I was confused. Song’s decent, but I’m not really much of a rap fan, even if you add numa numa and ma-ya-hi, ma-ya-hu, ma-ya-ho, ma-ya-ha ha into the song.

Anyway, this topic came up again when I was in Oren’s car when the radio started playing Dragostea Tin Dei, but completely in English and in a female voice. Oren knew of an English version of the song, but it was sang by same group, which is comprised of men. The English version was pretty much a flop.

But the song we heard was apparently another remake: Alina – When You Leave (Numa Numa) (Basshunter Remix). Not bad, especially considering that Alina is a Super Hot Romanian model.

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XviD Playback Keeps Flickering

So for the past few weeks, I’ve been experiencing a lot of flickering with video playback. The funny thing was it only happened with MPC (Media Player Classic) and not VLC media player. However, I know VLC uses it’s own codecs for decoding and would often times skip what’s registered.

Anyway, I decided to try debugging. I installed the latest release of ffdshow, but that didn’t help. It doesn’t flicker all the time, but usually flickers the most often in dark or mostly black scene. I also notice the flickering only happens with .avi files (particularly Xvid). When I was playing some .mkv (H.264 encoded) files, they played fine. That’s when I realized that when I play .avi files in MPC, the little ffdshow system tray icon no longer shows up.

In MPC, I opened the context menu –> Filters and looked for the video decoder. Apparently it was using something called: FunBox Video Codec Filter. I don’t recall ever installing a FunBox codec and started to think maybe I had accidentally installed some malware.

Anyway, I did a bit of research and found the file that’s associated to this codec: FunVideoCodecFilter.ax. I started a system-wide search for this file while I continue searching for clues to how I got it.

I then landed on this page: AVI playback issues – weren’t even there days ago. It appears that the FunBox codecs came with a recent update of Samsung PC Studio 3, which I did update a few weeks back. I just never associated the two because I didn’t expect my cell phone software to be installing video codecs (overwriting the ones that were already installed), but I guess they do do some multimedia stuff. I just use it for my bluetooth synchronization.

Anyway, all the FunBox codec files are located under:
C:\Program Files\Samsung\Samsung PC Studio 3\

And I simply unregistered all of them:

regsvr32 /u FunAudioCodecFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunAviSplitter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunConvFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunDecFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunEncFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunEQFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunImgFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunMp3DecFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunMpgDecFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunMpgGrabFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunOggDecFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunSampleGrabberFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunSubFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunVideoAdjustFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunVideoCodecFilter.ax
regsvr32 /u FunVideoResizeFilter.ax

Things are back to normal now, and the little ffdshow icon shows up in my systray again. I still don’t understand why reinstalling ffdshow didn’t fix my codec settings. I even made sure the Xvid box was checked. Hopefully this post will help someone out there that’s experiencing a similar problem.

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Waiting Pet Peeve

So over dinner, Xyon and I were chatting as usual, and the topic of waiting came up. One of the things I hated as a kid, was when my parents would line up at the checkout line, decide they forgot something, and ask us (the kids) to man the shopping cart while they go pick up the items they forgot. As an engineer, I would agree this would be most efficient, but as a kid, I was scared shitless, always wondering if they’ll be back before it reaches my turned at the checkout line.

You know how you get that feeling where 1 minute feels like an hour. Yeah, I get that feeling when I at the checkout line and the person who’s paying isn’t. When asked what I should do if I’m next in line and you guys aren’t back yet, they say to just let the person behind me go ahead. And if they always came back in time, I’d probably have more confidence in them, but there’s been times I’d have to let 3 or 4 people behind me go ahead.

Being shy when I was younger (not that I’m that much more unreserved nowadays), it was an extremely horrible experience and I hated it every time. It’s also not like they’re in a hurry to come back. They seem to take their sweet old time deciding which one to get, which is a better deal, etc, meanwhile, poor little old me is here standing here shaking.

If they ask me to do that now and aren’t back by the time it’s my turn, I’d probably just pay and checkout on my own.

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Bloglines Alternatives

I’ve been using Bloglines for the past year or so as my rss aggregator, but recently it’s been a lot flakier than usual. So when it stopped updating feeds this past Wednesday and their forums were down again, I decided to scope out some different readers. I found the following list somewhere:

I heard some good things about NewsGator in the Bloglines forums some time back when Bloglines first started having problems. They mentioned it was quite easy to switch and that I can just export my feeds from Bloglines as an OPML file and import them into NewsGator. I gave that a shot and it worked fine. So the past few days, I’ve been playing with NewsGator and there are quite a few things I miss from Bloglines.

My biggest pet peeve of NewsGator is that it’s extremely slow and unresponsive. It takes like 5-10 seconds to load a folder, while it was extremely fast and snappy in Bloglines. Another feature that Bloglines has are keyboard shortcuts. After a few days of using NewsGator, I have to say I’m not a satisfied customer.

The one thing good about NewsGator is that it updates the feeds a lot more frequently than Bloglines. Things may take up to half a day to show up on Bloglines, but new posts generally show up within the hour on Newsgator.

They also have a client version, but I would rather not have to install an RSS aggregator client on all the machines I use.

I know a few friends who use Google Reader. Maybe I’ll give that a try. What do you guys suggest?

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Don’t Vote

Got this video off Digg: Don’t Vote (5 Friends Uncensored)

It features a bunch of Hollywood stars telling you not to vote if you don’t care about any of the issues (some reverse psychology thing). They ended up telling you to vote, but there were some funny parts in between.

They even teamed up with Google and provided a nice helpful site: 2008 US Voter Info

Registration closes as early as Oct. 4th.

I mean even Xbox/Microsoft is teaming up with Rock the Vote to convince people to vote, especially the younger generation which is nonchalant about voting and don’t really believe their vote has much power if any at all. I mean, the whole election process could be rigged, right?

But the matter of fact is, if you’re too lazy to even register to vote, coming up with any reasons is just a way of justifying to yourself why you’re not voting this November.

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Tendonitis

Could it be? Yet another post? I was planning to go into work today, but I’m still too tired from yesterday’s paintball games. It was my first ever paintball game, and thanks to Dan for setting that up. Overall, I came out not too badly damaged. But the first shot that hit me, hit me hard, leaving a bruised spot on my chest. I also got a few bug bites. On the other hand, it was extremely fun! I’ll probably talk more about it in a separate thread once Dan posts his photos up.

Anyway, onto the topic of this post.

For the past month or so, my right wrist had been hurting. It wasn’t searing pain, but it did hurt when I was using the computer for extended periods of time, which is basically what I do all day and all night. So I finally went in to get it looked at. I was diagnosed with “tendonitis,” which isn’t really as bad as it sounds. It just really means my tendons in my wrist area are inflamed. I was given a splint for my wrist and some exercises to do.

I also replaced my mouse both at work and at home with the Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000, which is slanted at an angle more natural for your hands and wrist. Overall, the mouse is nice. As Caleb puts it, it feels like holding a baseball. I still don’t like the wireless aspect of it as I can still feel the jitteriness from time to time. Also I hate the fact it uses the new tilt wheel, making middle click extremely hard to use (the same problem that plagued the Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000). Honestly, I never really have any use for scrolling left/right. Maybe I should just use the forward mouse click to be my new middle click. That wouldn’t be too bad.

I’ve got to say I’m impressed this time. In just 3 short weeks, I’m now completely off my splint and am typing w/o anymore pain. For some time, I was very afraid I had started to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

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New Microsoft Ads

You’ve probably seen the new ads Microsoft has put out, starting with the ones Jerry Seinfield were in. If you haven’t seen them, you’re not missing out on much, but if you’re curious, you can watch them here: Gates and Seinfeld: The future is delicious.

When it was first announced that Microsoft was having a $300 million ad campaign involving Jerry Seinfield, someone on /. posted this:

Elaine (with Apple-ish grin): I just bought a Macbook
Jerry (non-chalantly sipping his coffee in front of his Dell): So? I’ve got Vista.
Elaine (frowning): But this is a Mac, Jerry.
Jerry: But it’s not Vista.
Elaine: No, it’s not Vista. It’s a Mac.
Jerry: It’s very shiny. What’d that thing cost you?
Elaine (defensive): What does that matter?
Jerry: One thousand?
Elaine: Jerry…
Jerry: Two thousand?
Elaine: Stop…
Jerry: Three th–
Elaine: $2755.
Jerry: Inclu–
Elaine: Including tax.
Jerry: 1250
Elaine: 1250 what?
Jerry: Vista.
Elaine: But it’s not a Mac!
Jerry: It checks email.
Elaine: So does my Mac.
Jerry: Surfs the web.
Elaine: So does my Mac.
Jerry: Makes movies.
Elaine: So does…it does? I thought Windows didn’t make movies.
Jerry (shrugs and sips): Vista.
(Door explodes open!)
Kramer: Jerry! The Dell store down the street is selling computers with Vista for $1500!
Jerry: 1250
Kramer (walking over to Jerry’s laptop): Oooh, is that…
Jerry: Vista.
Kramer: Niiiice.

I actually thought that was quite creative and fit the Seinfield theme well.

When I saw the first commercial (the one with the shoe and churro), everyone down the hall at Microsoft was basically yelling “WTF”. I had to scratch my head and wonder, what the heck was this commercial about. Is it trying to sell shoes? or churros? Personally I wasn’t blinded by Bill Gates wiggling his butt, but I can understand if you were. Everyone at work was just wondering what the heck was this commercial about? We figured if anything, this was suppose to be viral and would get people talking about it. I guess they applying the philosophy that any publicity is good publicity.

Anyway, the 2nd commercial came out and at least this one I found it to be mildly amusing, but still nothing related to Microsoft or Windows. At least it wasn’t as WTF as the first one. All along the marketing team has called this “phase one” and it was meant to be an ice breaker to get people talking about Microsoft.

Then the new I’m a PC ads started showing up and I have to say that it was actually done quite well. I have to admit, I got a similar feeling watching that as when I saw Where the Hell is Matt? (the guy who does a funny dance around the world).

One thing I didn’t quite get was when Deepak Chopra says, “I’m a PC and a human being. Not a human doing, not a human thinking, a human being.” What does that even mean? I guess that’s why he’s the philosopher and I’m not.

Many people are claiming that Microsoft screwed up again and canceled the Jerry Seinfield ads because of the poor reception, but I think New York Times did a good article on it: Echoing the Campaign of a Rival, Microsoft Aims to Redefine ‘I’m a PC’ . If the Seinfield ads were indeed cut short, I personally feel that it was most likely done because it exceeded expectations on getting the number of people talking. As noted earlier, this was always phase 1 (an ice breaker) and if we can reach the target # of audience with 2 commercials, why make 5 (number I just pulled out of my ***)?

While reading Digg, someone pointed me to this comment made on the Penny Arcade forums:

Are you serious? A big part of the ad was a stab at Jobs, his controlling nature within Apple, and his famous “reality distortion field”. The old lady who’d been there for 12 years (the same number of years since Jobs returned to Apple) ran the whole show. She was doing the laundry, she was doing the yard work, she was fixing the car. She kept up the facade of a rather dated looking home full of people who were caught up in appearances (the neighbor’s car) and the pretension of useless things like Greek coins, wine mustard and leather giraffes. When the old lady croaks, the place will fall apart. They had shitty pong to play (Macs suck at gaming) while Bill Gates had the most incredible game ever for the kid.

The first ad was a rip on the Apple Store – the fact you buy your computers from a place in the mall and they don’t even fit you properly. Regular people pointlessly idolize them (the family staring through the window) and you don’t get much for your money “Why pay more?”

Keep in mind the entire purpose of these ads is that they’re a direct response to Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” campaign, it’s hardly a stretch to point out the statements being made about Apple vs. MSFT in them.

I never thought about them that way, but it’s an interesting way to look at the Seinfield ads.

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The Dark Knight – Review

The Dark Knight So it’s been over a week since I’ve seen this movie and and if you haven’t seen this movie yet, you should! If I know you and you haven’t seen this movie yet, do remind me to smack you a few times the next time we meet.

I’ll try to give you readers heads up before any spoiler, but if you’ve seen any of the trailers, you practically know the whole story already. Why should you watch the movie then? Though the story is important, the experience and execution was just fantastic.

By the way, I’m serious about reminding me to slap you if you haven’t seen the movie yet.

Continue reading the review…

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Rio, Real, Reel

Xyon and I were talking about mp3 players and I brought up that “Rio” used to make mp3 players and he said he didn’t think “Real” made mp3 players. It later occurred to us that we were talking about different Rios/Reals. When I spelled out Rio (R-I-O), Xyon goes, “Oh, RIO! Nope, never heard of them.”

So I tried enunciating rio and real, but it kept sounding the same to me and Xyon agreed I was repeating the same word over and over again. He tried enunciating the difference to me, but I keep hearing the same word.

Xyon then tries to describe to me the difference. Rio ends in a long o (oh) sound. Real ends with an ul sound, which I couldn’t really hear a difference.

When I got home, I talked it over with RayAlome and still got nowhere. I also realized there was a 3rd word I wouldn’t be able to distinguish without context: reel.

I looked up the pronunciation keys:

  • rio: ree-oh
  • real: ree–uhl, reel
  • reel: reel

Apparently there’s 2 pronunciations for real, one which matches exactly to reel. The only conclusion I could come up with is the rio ends with a higher O sound and real ends in a lower O sound.