Apple is out of taste

Yes, I dare to say that! Apple is out of taste!

I just don't get it - How can they charge $99.00USD for a stupid iPod case? Yes, it's made of "genuine" leather. But many people can buy a leather JACKET for $99USD! I rather buy a leather jacket, rip off a pocket, and stitch the leather myself to make a stupid case for my iPod Nano.

This is just crazy! I'm alright with companies making lots of cash from technology - like Intel, Microsoft, Apple (MacBook), etc. But selling a leather iPod case for $99 is just not right...It's probably "Made in China" as well, and Apple probably paid less than $1USD for the cost.

Good luck to those who are in love with Apple's products!

~1000 clicks in ~3 weeks

This is why I like Opera...I started my blog posting at Opera on 2/07/2006, and my blog got >1000 clicks in about 3 weeks.


Thanks to everyone who read my blog in the last 20 days!

Fake unleashed

So...It was believed by many people that Mr. Jobs would release a "Mac Tablet", like this one:


Well, not exactly - why don't you check out this video. I guess it's getting harder for people to distinguish between a real camera shot and a P.S. makeup...

If you don't see the above video, please click here.

Yet another exotic car becomes trash - Ford GT

I don't know why I have to say the same stuff over and over again, but I couldn't resist when I see these pictures...I love exotic sports cars, and I hate those stupid who don't know how to drive them! Check this out and you will know what an idiot can do to a $200,000 driving machine...

"...He had this car only two days and had only put 9 miles on it....He decided to try out how fast it would go- and decided to punch the gas pedal. When he did… he lost traction on the rear wheel and lost control on a bridge next to golf hole #17 at a major country club (Mission Hills Country Club) which crosses a small creek....He nailed a steel and concrete pole..."

Blogger vs. Opera vs. MSN Space vs. Bokee...

Some friends asked me why I kept more than one blog accounts for the same contents. I just saw Jerry's Blog with similar questions to himself, so I decided to make a comment to him and create a new post to share my thoughts with everyone - I can be wrong, but here are my opinions:

Blogger is the best (and I started in 2003) because it gives you lots of "freedom", as long as you know how to write a webpage (HTML, CSS, JS, etc.), you have 100% control of what is showing on your site. However, the downside is blogger has less traffic for Chinese - it's blocked by the Mainland. If you write in Chinese (like I do), you don't have many audience.

MSN Space sucks (Microsoft just doesn't know how to make things work right, including their core product like Windows), but it alerts your friends via MSN Messenger as soon as your space is updated. This is the only useful feature. I don't update my MSN Space directly. I use my Blogger to sync MSN Space via email-publishing.

Yahoo is definitely sucking dust as they're running behind - Haven't see any nice feature about Yahoo 360.

Opera is a not bad. People in China can visit these blogs and it brings lots of traffic. The downside is Opera does NOT support HTML4.0 by default. So if you write a link like using " href", it does NOT work ALL the time. You just have to manually make corrections using "[URL=http://...]...[/URL]". However, two things I really like about Opera is
1) It can import Blogger posts - It was important for me as I'm a Blogger user, and I need this feature to setup my Opera account without losing my old posts. I'm sure the Opera team made this feature in mind to compete with Blogger and to attract Blogger users.
2) It can be visited by the people in Mainland China, and its server is OUTSIDE of mainland - stable and fast.

Now, Bokee is a little weird. It's nice as it combines lots of great features. But they are three catches:
1) Bokee's server is in China - Too damn slow for me who live in the US.
2) (I think) Bokee does not bring lots of traffic to your blog if you don't do a good job of writting porn stories or publising a blog every 30secs as there are too many users competing.
3) I recently tried to setup a Bokee account, but I realized later that I couldn't publish a blog. I tried to use both FireFox and IE, but the page had some problems - I suspect my IP was "blocked" by the Chinese government since I'm from the US. Maybe they don't want people from the West to register and publish something "unpeaceful" - This is to be verified by others, of course.

Ferrari Driving School vs. "头文字D"

Well, according to this news, Ferrari is offering "drive school lessons" to Canadians.

"...a two-day training session in F430s around the recently renovated Mont Tremblant track, with nights in one of the 30 largish suites at the Quintessence Hotel, all of which look out onto Lac Tremblant....There's a six-star price to go with this of course -- US$8,200, which hurts a bit more in Canadian funds but does cover a pretty good looking time on the track, where you will not -- wink, wink -- be trained to race, but to drive safely at high speed...."

$8,200 is certainly expensive, but I'm sure it's a small tap to pay for those millionaire Ferrari owners. For those "who don't own a Ferrari" (i.e.me), we will just have to visit this site to enjoy the pictures for now. =(

I've been watching "Initial D"(头文字D) these days, and it actually made me wonder if those sports-car drivers on the road have enough skills to handle those beautiful design works. Too many times on my way to work in the early morning rush hours, I had to slam on the gas padel of my (old, old, old) 1.8L Jetta to by pass a Lexus, BMW, Corvette or even Porsche - I just don't get it. Wouldn't it be a waste of EVEYTHING if a person buys a sports-car to show off, but that person doesn't have enough driving skill to handle the vehicle?

I remember one of my high school friend worked in a Dodge dealer as a part time. Once, he told me that his shop was working on repairing a transimission of a Dodge Viper. The transmission was "burned" (gears destroyed) because the guy who bought it didn't know how to drive stick-shift!

Anyways, I certainly do hope that all Ferrari owners cheerish whatever the stuff they get from the factory, since they paid plenty of cash for them. I guess the bottom line is, don't smash a F430 into a pole and cut it into half like someone did it recently.

Bill Gates went to University of Waterloo (in 2005)

I found these pictures from Flickr.

Not sure when this event happend, but it seems like Mr. Gates went to University of Waterloo to cheer up the Computer Science students last year (2005). I bet it was the 1st time he went to Waterloo, and I don't think he liked the weather very much. I know I don't.


I guess Microsoft hired too many Waterloo co-ops that their chairman likes to show some appreciation of the cheap labor...No, Bill, I'm just kidding...You did a great job of attracting people (I mean not only the females), and look how many people wanted to see you...me too!


I have a peer who graduated from University of Toronto, and we always argue against each other about which one is "better", Waterloo or Toronto. I don't know if Bill visited U of T also "on his way back to the airport", but I'm sure I just find another piece of argument....lol.

Slam Dunk 2006 - Robinson

Yes, I know the NBA Slam Dunk Contest was LAST week. And yes, I know that you KNEW N. Robinson won the deal. But I just have to say it ONE more time - He is 5'9" (or 175cm) on paper! Just look how damn high he jumps! I mean he's as tall (or as short) as I am, and he can dunk. I think his first dunk was when he's 14 or 16. And damn it - I can't even touch the rim for chrissake!


Chinese people cheer hard when Yao makes a dunk - But that's NOT impressive at all. Who gives a sh$t when a >2m high center dunks a basketball when the rim is only 3.3m high? People always say that N. Robinson tried a million times before he made the 1st dunk in the contest - Yes, that's true. But did I tell you that he's only 5'9"? I mean he's as tall as I am (or maybe shorter). Did I say that? Did I say that too many times? I mean, he's 5'9", you know!

Facts of California

Quite interesting statistics about State of California:

1.California Is the World's Sixth largest economy
2. California exports in 2003:

Wah - BRIGHT shoes!

Technology is going around everywhere now days...I found these "Red Dot Design Winner 2005" pictures at zanicdesign today...

As the person runs, the shoes convert the energy from the impacts to emitted light. Good stuff for runners!

提醒告知

今天在OPERA上闲逛,发现"和谐"的博客, 看到这样一个帖子:


真是汗啊...难道出门的时候都要把电脑内部零件拆下来装在包里?! 内存也就算了, 怎么怎么连CPU也要拆?! 是写告知的人不懂电脑, 还是...想不通...武汉大学的人都很牛吧...

Pornstar - Do I look like one?!

It's funny how creative people can be, and sometimes it's quite weird! I ran into this site today, and it generates Porn Star names based on your true name and sex...

So, here is mine - "Magic Johnson"!

Your Porn Star Name Is...

Magic Johnson

I mean, is this a PORNSTAR name?! I know (the famous) Magic Johnson has HIV, but it doesn't mean he makes woman horny on TV...(or does he?)

Anyways, the page actually generates different results for the same input. So "Magic Johnson" was the result of several repeats. I got names like "Sergeant Stiffy" or other gay names for the first a couple of times...Didn't fit my taste very much.

What? Oh, you want one as well? Sure, just click here.

Smash million dollar Ferrari into CRAP

Right after I posted my Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 blog, I saw this news from "The Local"...

... the 2003 Ferrari Enzo, only 399 of which were ever made,...The driver lost control of the Ferrari at around dawn when it careened up an embankment, probably became airborne and then slammed into a pole, slicing the vehicle in half, police said...."Whoever was driving the Ferrari and a Mercedes came out to Malibu for a little race," Sheriff's Department Sergeant Philip Brooks said. "The other car racing was a (500,000-dollar) SLR Mercedes," he said....

Appearantly, this is what the "Rich People" do when they have too much money to burn...


Anyone dare to P.S. the picture and make it look like how it ended up with after the crash?

Lamborghini Murciélago LP640

No, I don't really care how to pronounce the word "Murciélago", as long as this sh$t looks nice!

A 6.5-litre V12 engine lies at the heart of the LP640, where LP stands for 'longitudinale posteriore', which refers to the V12 unit mounted lengthways behind the cockpit.

With deeper and wider cylinder bores than the previous 6.2-litre V12, the new 6.5 ups power to an imperious 631bhp at 8,000 good-for-the-soul revs per minute.

Coupled to a new six-speed gearbox, which can also be ordered with Lambo's e-gear sequential paddle shift, the LP640 howls from 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds - 0.4 seconds quicker than the 6.2-litre model.

This is from Top Gear today - Note that Lambo plans to put this car into PRODUCTION. It means if any of you (certainly not me) is lucky enough, you will see one of these someday...Well, good luck!

Here are some pictures:

MacBook Pro 15" 2.0GHz Dissection Picture

I found the news from "OtherWorldComputing" today - a brand new 15" MacBook Pro been opened in record times - Quite Impressive!

Maybe I should change the title to "15" MacBook Pro ripped to nudity and exposed"...I guess that's a good way to attract visitors =)

BlogShares

无意中,进了BlogShares, 一个蛮有意思的网站. 它把每一个网络网络当成一个"公司",然后算出这个公司的"股份价值".

"BlogShares is a fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by incoming links."

看了一下, 我的博客股票价值好低啊...才$0.60...汗...

"The Island" and "The Hostage"

前两天看了两部电影 - "The Island" and "The Hostage"， 感觉不错，向各位网友推荐一下。 Island的拍摄片段有些地方有点露相，比如街上用的汽车都是美国现在路上跑的最新车型。 虽然导演有注意过没有把寻常的旧车照进去，不过对我来说还是一眼就认得出来。 既然是科幻电影，布景就要细心讲究吗。 不过整体故事情节和构思还是蛮不错的。我打6分。

"The Hostage"倒是一部很不错的Thriller，Bruce Willis是主演。有一点血腥，不过可以算是我看过的最棒的Thrill之一了。我打8分了。。。呵呵。

把MSN和Google Talk连结在一起的办法

今天终于找到一个可以把MSN和Google Talk连结在一起的办法, 和网友们分享一下.

先要下载并且安装一个叫PSI的软件, 然后:

"下载一个Psi，然后参考Google的说明，配置并使用Psi登录你的GTalk帐号。登录后，点击Psi左下角按钮，在弹出的菜单中选择"Service
Discovery"。输入并浏览"jabber.cn"，Psi将会列出所有此服务器支持的"Transports"，当然也可以选择其它不同的服务器。如果你有MSN的帐号，则右键点击MSN的节点，选择"Register"，输入你的MSN帐号和密码。关闭并退出Psi，打开GTalk，看到了什么？GTalk会提示有一棒家伙要加你为好友，这些好友就是你MSN上的好友哦。点击GTalk中的"Show Requests"按钮，展开待加的好友列表，选择"yes"将你的好友加入到GTalk中。Yahoo，AIM的也是如此。这样就OK啦，聊吧！"

试了一下还不错. 不过好象GT没办法传文件. 但聊天就方便多了, 只需要开一个软件就可以了.

爽!!!

糖葫芦

Tang Hulu,
originally uploaded by blakedefieux.

好久没尝到东北的糖葫芦了. 今天在Flickr里看到这张照片...馋!

Interesting Picture

1. Download the following picture (click on it for a full version) to your hard drive;
2. Open any application and try to open this file. BEFORE opening the file, choose "Thumbnails" view...
3. You will see that picture is different now - ONLY works with Windows XP.

I don't know why. Any comments?
上面的照片很有意思. 先把它下载到你的电脑里 (点击看全图), 然后随便选择一个可以开照片的软件 (比如Windows自带的Paint). 打开软件后选择"OPEN FILE"(打开文件), 找到你储存照片的目录. 不要打开图片, 选择"Thumbnails" (缩图), 你就会发现这张图片变样了 - 是一个电脑合成的女人.

Psiphon - 能有多大的不同呢?

刚刚在网上看找这条新闻 - 加拿大多伦多大学正在研发一个叫Psiphon的软件, 用来帮助对有互联网信息封锁的国家的人民突破封锁的限制 (文章里提到了中国和北朝鲜. 其实就是针对中国吗. 北朝鲜的人连饭都吃不饱, 哪有钱买电脑?)

与早期一些类似的软件不同的地方是, Psiphon不会暴露使用者的IP地址, 这样即使被官方发现也没办法找到当事人加以制裁. 不过这种软件要在国内的网站里是不会被介绍的. Psiphon真的会造成很大的Impact吗? - 能有多大的不同呢?

Google的Testimony (道歉信还是辩驳?)

两天前, Google自己的博客站上刊登了一片Google公共关系部总裁的一份声明, 谈论有关Google中国网"屈服"于中国政府过滤因特网内容的问题. 自从Google的中国网站接受了中国政府的条款之后, 在世界各大媒体都引来了关注(主要是不满), 所以看来Google的做法是想对强调"言论自由"的反对派一个解释.

我各人看来, 这种事情没有对错的问题. Google毕竟是一个公司, 赚钱是每一个公司的最终目的和生存的决定因素. 中国是一个大市场, 如果Google错过了杀入中国市场并且抢占市场份额的机会, 对它以后的发展是一个永久性的损失. 反过来讲, Google也希望自己的产品能够给中国人带来使用上和生活上的方便, 暂时屈尊一下也许是值得的. 也许Google也期待着有一天中国政府能够转变....更何况就象Google总裁讲的:

"...Even though we weren’t doing any self-censorship, our results were being filtered anyway, and our service was being actively degraded on top of that..."

忽然想起一个笑话: Google的总裁跑到上帝面前去问中国什么时候能够言论自由, 上帝掐指算了半天. 最后哭着说..."TMD, 我是等不到了"...

Google中国有版报了

Google中国办事处也搞起了一个博客. 有意思的是在2/14/2006开始的, 所以还是挺好记的. 又学了点知识 - 比如可以问 Google "2.6 美元每加仑等于多少人民币每公升".

有空看看...已经加了RSS Feed.

AntiSpyware transforms to Defender

Microsoft's AntiSpyware Beta 1 is transforming to Defender (Beta2). Defender will be the official name for this product, and an user needs to go through a rigorous process through Microsoft's website (using Internet Explorer, of course - FireFox does not work) to verify that the license of Windows is valid.

Defender is available for download now...

MSN Search 换样子了

昨天晚上MSN Search的主页换样子了. 看起来有点象GOOGLE老大哥学习的样子 - 连"MSN LOCAL"都有(就象Google的Local), 而且在BETA测试中. 听说MSN Search的搜索结果排列方式也变换了. 我试着查了一下自己的博客, 效果还不错...呵呵.

Measure Map

Measure Map(MM)几天前正式成为了GOOGLE的一部分. MM的好处是可以帮助写博客的人调查读者的来源, 点击的链接等等. 其实听起来有点象Google Analytics. 现在MM只分发邀请,所以要通过EMAIL申请, 我已经添完了... 等待ing.

Nissan Terranaut

I saw this news today from TechEBlog:

Designed for “scientists, geologists, archaeologists or adventurers”, Nissan’s 4×4 Terranaut features a “spherical laboratory” that is accessed from a 360 degree swiveling seat.

Nice car!

这个, 这个, 这个....叫什么?

呵呵, 小日本儿挺有意思, 搞出这么个东西来"撑嘴", 据说可以把脸变宽...这年头儿不都流行"瓜子脸"吗? 也不知道有没有人买, 还要$9.50刀呢. 日语版的介绍看不懂, 有懂日语的朋友给翻译一下吧(虽然自己在学, 不过只是半瓶子不到而已=)

可惜情人节是昨天, 否则网友看到了没准会给自己女朋友买一个? 哈哈...

A Hummer PC - 捍马军车的电脑版

I found an article from Stormeren today that someone made a PC Mod Case that looked like a real US Army Humvee.

It was started from scratch using plywood and completed into a glowing Hummer. Here are the specs:

芯片: AMD XP2400+
母板: Soltek KT880 Motherboard
内存: 2 x 512 mb Dual-channel kingston
显卡: HIS 9800pro 128mb, flashed to a 9800XT
硬盘2个 (捍马有备用油箱哦): 2 x Seagate harddisk (80 & 120 GB)
声卡: Sound Blaster Audigy
电源盒: Chill innovations 510 watts PSU
外接插口配置: USB & Firewire ports in the front
显示器: Winstar LCD display in the front


If you're interested about the detailed assemblies of how this thing was made, click here. It has 18 pages of explainations with progress pictures!

Kawasaki ZX-6R

Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja “Geometrik” Edition - 不知道这种车怎么开啊...估计直路上还可以, 上台阶和玩特技就难了. 如果能看到演示就更爽了...