who am i?

i had a deeply profound conversation with an office mate of mine on identity and direction a few moments ago. he amazes me. simple as that. one of his lines even went this way (and i quote): "i'm not working for the company; i'm working for myself."

it made me wonder all of a sudden, if i really know who i am. i find myself lost now, as i am pitched headlong into a whole new world of confusions and explanations, where defining my intentions in life is not as important as defining who i am and what i want for myself; where plans are products of a clear understanding of what my personal goals are, molded by who i am.

i'm glad i had that conversation.

wasted

i subjected myself to 10+ hours of video editing yesterday, and it was only then that i was reminded just how toxic it can be to a person's mind and body.

the worst part of this exercise is that we're not even halfway through the whole task, and we're set to get to work again tonight, and possibly tomorrow as well...

oh boy...

you got game!

i was looking for new stuff to stuff into my Clie NZ90, and stumbled onto this, which has a comprehensive list of every emulator available on the Palm.

now to see which ones i'll actually stick with. =)

be your own wireless ISP!

for about P7000 (for a Linksys WRT45G) and an hour or two of setup time, you can turn your broadband connection into a profit-earning venture! check the details here!

we're still wired here, since we really don't see any need to go unwired yet, but at least the option is available. =)

WiFi PDA showdown

ever wondered which WiFi PDA offers the best network performance? this link has a very detailed comparison between three Pocket PCs and a Palm. very interesting read.

another camera phone interaction tool

High Energy Magic Ltd. has released a public beta on a interaction system that uses your camera phone! this is similar to my earlier link on "barcodes" for the camera phone.

who knows, maybe someday someone's going to release a face recognition system for camera phones?

modern exercise methodology

i have just _got_ to try getting into this scheme! who knows? maybe i could lose a bit more weight (even if i already know i'm not exactly fat). i do have a rather short breath though, and i guess this form of cardio exercises should help me.

this should be of interest for all those DDR freaks that can't seem to find justification for pulling out the dance pad again. like me!

on the quest for "better" audio

now that i'm abusing my ears with all this audio testing, even with using somewhat-low-end equipment, i finally realise just how bad my MP3s sound. they all suffer a similar condition: lower frequencies become more pronounced, and higher frequencies become more compressed (the lower the bitrate, the more pronounced the effect, but more or less they're consistent across all bitrates).

i recently tried out a different codec, amusingly named "Monkey's Audio". nothing amusing with how it's able to keep the quality of a song perfectly similar to its original, though. =) the only bad thing is the size (we're talking about ~50% compression compared to uncompressed .WAV counterparts), plus there's no consumer product support for it. not exactly a better format in my opinion.

my idea of better audio is:
- sounds better than a number of lossy formats (MP3, OGG, AAC, etc.)
- maintains consumer product support (meaning there are products out there that will play back the format)

so i'm still sort of stuck with MP3, only that i'll prolly raise my bitrate bar from 192kbps to 256kbps now.

new gear!

my brother was so kind to buy me a pair of new headphones for my a/v editing work - the Philips SBC HP200. there really isn't much about it online, but testing it for the past 30 or so minutes has left me feeling very satisfied with the pair. and at only P800, it's pretty cheap. i'm listening to Usher and John Mayer, and i'm good... =)

that wasn't the only things they bought today - they also got a pair of cordless IR headphones (i'll write about it tomorrow), and incidentally, got a pair of computer speakers free, the BA160. i haven't tested them, nor have i seen any reviews for them, but they're active _and_ passive speakers, so they should be pretty good.

more on these stuff as the week goes along...

DIY Wi-Fi antennas!

i saw a link on G4TechTV's The ScreenSavers show recently on how you could build your very own Wi-Fi antennas that are not only cheap, but have a much wider range too (think kilometers).

this time i saw a link on how someone just made this concept even easier to build! cool!

now if only i actually have a Wi-Fi network laid here...

a glimpse into my busy life!

this is just one of the many tasks my illustrious job requires me to do - seriously!

(okay, maybe not seriously...)

proof of statement?

remember i talked about how it's sad to see people working towards these "easy" jobs?

apparently, these so-called "get-rich-and-abroad-quick" deals might not be so perfect as popularly thought of anymore, as local news reports.

btw, if my link doesn't work, i guess mailing to my blog still has some more limitations that i didn't see earlier.

update: (oops, i forgot to put the code in quotes.)

attention span

according to my accounting teacher in college, you can only hold the attention of a class for 1.5hrs, max. if there were rules like this set in place for all sorts of meetings, then we'd have meetings that have short breaks every so often... wouldn't that be great?

new counter in place

i didn't expect my search for a new site counter to finish this quickly... i guess i just found the kind i wanted on my first click.

now i'll be able to tell where all you visitors are coming from! mwahahaha!

the only downside i can see with the migration is that i lose the 400+ clicks i already had in the first place... hmm, but then again, maybe i ought to just edit the darn counter to reflect that number.

hmm... just a bit... *hacks* there yah go. =)

website counter woes

i'm beginning to realise that i want a website counter that will alllow me to perform more analysis. so i'm off to look for a different counter system.

be back in a jiff.

bad, bad developers

so much for software development Q&A... (taken from the WIDCOMM Bluetooth Software 1.4.2 build 10)

speaking of movements...

see the man inside the browser window! =P

for those American Idol fans...

... i offer to you, William Hung's official website! heheheh...

i tell you, i sampled a couple of his songs from his album, Inspirations, and i literally laughed my head off. =P

at least that gives all the bad singers out there a bit more hope. =)

The Gematriculator

have you ever wondered how good or evil you were? The Sect of Homokaasu might have the answer to your problem.

of course, if you don't believe in any form of numerology, this is pure hogwash for you. but then again, this _is_ just for fun, isn't it? =)

slow movements

what has happened so far to my day? hardly anything tech-related, to be sure.

i just remembered that a really good friend of mine way back in HS (who i incidentally got connected back with via Friendster) should be back from China by last Friday. i wonder how i'll get back in touch with her? i doubt she has internet access immediately, so i guess until she does get back online, i'll probably have to hope that she reaches out first. sucks.

hmm... what is all the excitement about the beta version of Yahoo! Messenger? i mean, much as i can see the fun with having these avatars and games and stuff, i'd rather have just one IM software running around on my workstation than have an odd number installed. okay, so maybe Trillian can't offer the same full functionality of these IM independent software, but there are only so many features i'd love to have that Trillian can't offer me now:

- SMS login (for Yahoo! Messenger) and SMS sending (Y!M, ICQ)

come to think of it, that's all i need that i can't have right now.

DVD ripping off the PS2

one of the projects i've been meaning to attend to was to be able to rip a DVD on my PC, using the DVD drive of the PS2, since the one i'm using right now is region-locked to Region 2. this, of course, has to go through the Linux kit (via Samba), connected to our network.

i think i have complete recipe for this exercise now.

ingredients:
- PS2 with Linux installed (via the PS2 Linux kit)
- workstation with a DVD writer, SmartRipper, DVD Shrink
- ~20GB HDD
- network connection between the PS2 and workstation
- any DVD movie disc of your choice

steps:
- enable Samba on PS2 Linux
- create a share for the DVD drive
- on the workstation, map the share to a drive
- run SmartRipper, and let it detect the share
- backup entire disc (or select which VOBs to extract)
- let run for a few hours (maybe)
- run DVD Shrink, and load ripped VOB files
- re-encode to DVD-5 (4.7GB per disc - if your DVD recorder only supports this much)
- burn, baby, burn!

you could use guides to help figure out some details, but essentially this is it. =)

right now, i'm also thinking that maybe the ~20GB HDD requirement can be moved to the PS2 instead of the workstation, by ripping from the PS2 DVD drive, and saved into the PS2 HDD. i'll give it a whirl someday.

wow! i just saved myself P2k for a new drive! (tho my brother spent lots just to get his hands on the PS2 Linux kit in the first place)

mobile blogging

okay, so maybe mailing my entry isn't exactly mobile
blogging, but at least it works as intended.

where am i right now, you might ask. in bed. =)

[i had to edit this post to remove the Yahoo! email tag, but that's a minor thing.]

photomosaic madness

my sister was looking for a way to make a simple, yet impressive creative page for her college yearbook a couple of months back. since she had been playing on the idea of creating a photo-collage, the tech nut inside me shifted into gear. so i told her, why not use a photomosaic?

naturally, i got a puzzled look from her. so i went off to demonstrate what Centarsia could do for her, and she was practically blown away by what it could do.

there are a bunch of other software that are available that can do this, but Centarsia is free (gotta love these software developers).

the only downside: you'll need to do your tweaking on your own, since it's not the most user-friendly piece of software you'll find. plus, you're going to need all the pictures you could possibly get for a really good photomosaic.

SmartMorph

for all you video editing nuts out there, this is one utility that will probably come in handy for you. it's not as featured, but it gets the job done. and it's free too!

in my case, its use came to me about two weeks ago when i was thinking of how i'll make a simple wedding video presentation (of the bride and the groom - from their baby pics and pics together), and then it struck me. morphing a pic of a baby to his/her adulthood would be a great thing to stick in.

verdict: they loved it!

noontime minglings

i'm glad i bumped into this guy way back in college - this guy's a tech nut like myself... might be even _more_ of a tech nut than myself. heheh. =)

now i've got many things in consideration as i start reviving (and snazzing up) this blog of mine, among which are the following:

1- subscribe to BlogRolling for easy link maintenance [put it in already, though i only have one post in right now - my friend's site]
2- consider signing up for a moblog
3- consider posting lots more, cuz my friend apparently got rewarded with a GMail account for doing so... *envious*

hmm, looks like i have my weekend all occupied with tech stuff now... we'll see as things come along.

top score!

here's my top score so far for the Flash game i just linked on my site. (incidentally, my brother beat my high score on his first try. but if at first you don't succeed...) can anyone beat me? =P

[update] btw, that score reads 950.9, in case it's too blurry to be readable.

Bloody Pingu Throw

check this game out!

the person who gets to bat those penguins' heads furthest wins a prize! (or maybe not)

early bird activities

i was at the market this morning with my mom (shame i didn't have a camera of any form with me), and i was kinda fascinated with how well a system of haggling and competition thrived in such a small, cramped and damp portion of land.

i have to be going before 9a to drive my sister off for work. and then i'll need to deal with other "chores" i want to work on for the weekend. mainly sleep. =P

photoblog post!

i wonder how this will look like on my blog?

update: cool! i think i'll keep this service... i can't wait to show this to other ppl... =)

i guess my digital photography hobby is about to get one heck of an exposure boost (to the public that is).

btw, that's Whiskers in my Snoopy knapsack on my table at the office - ain't he so cute? heheh... i'm sure to hold Whiskers close to my heart. heheheh. ^_^

photoblog

i'm going to try out this service partnered with by Blogger, Hello, a service that offers unlimited photo blog space - this is going to be cool!

of course, i can't really see myself using it that much yet, but at least it'll come in handy. =)

soggy noodles

i overheard a conversation yesterday about how fresh graduates these days place great emphasis on how much they earn from a job (in monetary terms), not how much they actually gain from it (in terms of training and exposure). and it is saddeningly true that this is the case these days - with college applicants to bank managers (yes, even them) taking courses in nursing to be caretakers and nurses abroad. it used to be IT, back in the glory days of the dot-com boom. then came call center careers. now we have these caretakers and nurses in demand. we're even seeing industries designed _specifically_ for these careers. amazing.

it's really depressing, thinking just how low peoples' aspirations have become. can we truly quantify happiness with salary/pay? i think not.

hmm. it looks like Blogger fixed the comments tagging for mailed blogs, though the forced line feeds are still present.

update: gotten things back in line

okay, i got my scripts back in place now. had to mess around with the settings a bit so that i could get the original counter hits back in though. =)

one other thing i've noticed with mailing my blog entry is that it produces these extra line feeds - ugly! i guess that means i'll edit my entries whenever i get back on my workstation.

btw, very interesting concept this site has - you generate a barcode image, you take a snap of it with your mobile phone, and the software you have on your phone will decode it into a URL and visit it. coolness! now that's what i call a practical mobile phone application!

i wonder if there are any more stuff like that - i'm hoping my phone has software like this...

getting things back in line

i forgot that i used a guestbook and counter script before on my blog page (courtesy of CGISpy) - i'll need to reacquire the code for them and put them in properly... that shouldn't be a problem.

weather woes

i wonder how bad the weather outside was - all i'm aware of is that it rained pretty hard all day today. hopefully the roads won't be all congested with traffic, though, to be honest, i think that's wishful thinking.

has anyone ever bothered to develop a flood-resistant car? a car that can run through knee-deep waters, maybe? even more importantly, would developing one be cost-efficient? i can only imagine how expensive cars like that will be initially.

limitations

one limitation i noticed with mailing my blog posts is that the comments tag won't show - at least for now. since i've configured my settings to publish my posts as i mail them, i'll just have to edit them later when i get full Internet access (which most probably won't come around until i get home). and one other thing i have to work on: i forgot to save the script i used to put in a guestbook and counter on my blog page before - will have to dig up the HTML codes to put those back in.

KnoppiXMAME and PS2 Xmame worked somewhat okay... i wasn't able to get my gamepads to work in KnoppiXMAME, and games were EXCESSIVELY slow on the PS2. at least it's a start.

i heard on the radio today on my drive to work that a man has been jailed for posting nude pictures of his 17-yr-old girlfriend he took with his mobile phone (i'll try to find a link for that later tonite). pretty soon we're going to start seeing how these camera phones will be mandated with some form of control to prevent things like this from happening, much like how the Internet's laws and stuff first started.

pending projects

i'm about to go restart this workstation to try out KnoppiXMame, a bootable Linux-based emulator of all sorts of old-skool games (i won't list any of them here - i'll let you figure it out).

on the other hand, over the time i wasn't posting, my brother bought the PS2 Linux Kit (available from the US) via e-2-door, and is now happily making things run off it, like XMame (just like the one i just mentioned above, only that it'll run off the PS2).

hmm. gotta do something about the hit-and-miss behavior of our PS2 DVD drive - must be because it's a much older model (15000 unless i'm mistaken).

i'm back!

i've decided to revive my blog - with a bit of reconditioning, of course.

interestingly, the features i've been waiting for ever since Blogger got acquired by Google are now available to all users! that means i get to post blogs via email! cool!

why elusive refractions? well, i've been meaning to find some sort of inspiration to kick start my life in a totally new direction, especially now that i'm approaching my mid-20s, and this seems to have been my problem for the past couple of months as it is. and i thought, maybe it'd be a nice name for my blog...

i'll also be trying to realign it to better reflect my personal preferences on technology and what-nots. i've been posting like this were a diary before. (i don't mind the archives of my past blog - they're better there to remind me of my past blog "methodologies".)

i'm looking forward to this "new" blog!