Best YouTube Singer!

Here he is in all his glory - The next American Idol!

Here's more!

ShakeSMS Beta for donators released

Just wanted to drop a quick note that the much anticipated shakeSMS from TongRen is finally released for donators. i will try out this beta and give some feedback as well as overview here shortly.

Type rest of the post here

February Gathering -Awesome!-

Last Sunday's gathering was absolutely awesome and in my opinion the best so far. First of all I have to say good job Syquina and the others for choosing such a lovely location. Honestly the going to Pizza Hut and KFC over and over again over the years was getting kinda old, not to mention embarrassing since we usually leave the place in utter mess! The beach side was the way to go this time, and the weather was great too -sunny, but windy-. Scenery wasn’t amazing though and i was a little disappointed we didn’t wait for the sun to set, but still i managed to get some decent shots with my N95 (wasn?t great though). As usual we went crazy and started doing all sorts of ridiculous things, but i think I'll leave it to the photos to do the talking.

The weather was beautiful, and better yet the beach was not crowded at the time. would have been a better shot if there were more clouds around though.

Yup, things started going crazy when we decided to have a sumo match :D

Even the girls joined in and had fun...

...Well, maybe not those girls....

Then of course we just continued going more crazy and the day grew later!

We...

..Started dragging and chucking people in the sea. (well, not quite)

I'm the one in the striped shirt while poor CK is being carried to his doom in the first pic.

Loy Shine doing the Numa-Numa Dance... accompanied by... no one.

This is him again.. Starring at the others cycling in all his loneliness.

O-ow... He's gonna get into trouble if his mama sees that

My attempt of capturing a jump shot with the N95, unfortunately it was rather slow and captured the image when i was nearly on the ground. Pity.

it was a birthday celebration as well, and some of us just couldn't wait for the cake to be cut lah

but it was all good in the end...

Till next time guys! and remember, happiness means so much more than anything. -Zi signing out-

You can get a copy of the photos here.

The password for the file is "5a10", please note that the password is case sensitive.

*** NO one was hurt actually dumped into the sea in this gathering. Loy Shine is actually a very happy person with lots of friends and does not spend his life in loneliness. However, we are still fun loving people and will continue to do all sorts of crazy things. ***

What I Did During Chinese New Year (Part 1)

Hey guys, Zi here. Yes, as I promised here is a little something about what i did during the festive season. This year the holidays fell a little short -only 6 days to be exact- but anyway CNY is still CNY, and all in all this year was very enjoyable. My sis who has been studying in Europe for the past few year managed to make it back to join us this year, adding a little more kick into the new year atmosphere! ...and with this year being our last schooling year, Ck, Me and the whole gang decided to go crazy and visited more than 12houses in a day, by foot! it was quite an adventure, and we came across a bad omen along the way.....

Well, please read on if you'd like to know what i was up to the of Chinese New Year, I've put it in chronology to make it easier to read.

Chinese New Year's Eve....Cleaning Up!

Wednesday was all about cleaning up, chucking away old stuff, getting the new clothes ready, decorating and cleaning the house and so on. Had to get rid of some of my old things, was feeling a bit heavy hearted but oh well, gotta do it sooner or later, "out with the old, in with the new"! Despite all that business i managed get out during the evening for a bike ride, and snapped this along the way.

A little boy all geared up to help his family clean up for the new year.

Decorations that give the house that CNY feeling!

Chinese New Year' Day

Well, i had to get up super early to get ready for prayers and stuff. Wasn't really a fan of waking up that early to pray, but for safety purposes we didn't do it in the the previous night like some people did. Malaysia isn't really a safe haven i guess. ;-) Here are some pics i snapped:

Some kind of Chinese delicacy that we had for CNY (known as tang yuen)

The round balls are flour with a little sugar or sweet paste inside.

The alter... as well as offerings to the gods and our ancestors

Basically just fruit, cake, and some other vegetarian stuff

After everything was set up, we changed into our new year clothes and it was time to pray.

Praying... for happiness, health, and wealth

Praying that everyone prospers this year, and that i score 12A1s in my SPM! Well I'm actually not very religious and i'm not sure how effective this praying stuff is, but heck it's chinese new year and i guess there's no harm in asking god for a little favour eh!?

and finally, what's CNY without the ang pau's (red packets)

Money, money, money...... Woohoo!

everyone was happy and all that day.. but then at 2.00am my best friend Justin saw something that made us go "ghost hunting"... stay tuned, much much more to come!

Blog On Hold, It's Raining Tests This Week

Hi guys, this week we're just being bombarded with one exam after another. We're being tested on Physics, Chemistry, Biology, history, add math and basically every other subject you can think of. This is our first test in Form 5 so no doubt that it's a little tiring for us. And of course our workload of homework is almost triple of what we had last year, truely a grueling task for us to get it all done in time. What to do, SPM this year, so we have to suffer a little. :(

Anywayz, i will be sure that i keep this blog updated again this friday and as a little bonus i will even blog about what i've been doing the entire time during the Chinese New Year celebrations! Photos included of course. To all you Form 4's out there... You better enjoy while you still can!

World's Largest & Tallest Spanning Arch Bridge

The 6th crossing at Dubai Creek, Dubai, United Arab Emirates - FXFOWLE INTERNATIONAL wins major architectural design competition

FXFOWLE INTERNATIONAL’s proposal for the architectural design of a 1.7km and 205m bridge in Dubai was selected by the country’s Roads & Transport Authority in a major international design competition. The firm’s winning bridge design further advances the infrastructure and transportation initiatives in Dubai.

FXFOWLE’s design makes the 6th Crossing the largest and tallest spanning arch bridge in the world. Sudhir Jambhekar, Senior Partner, FXFOWLE INTERNATIONAL stated, “The bridge’s design was inspired by multiple sources, each evoking similar imagery – the rhythmic grace of Dubai Creek’s current, the elegant splendor of the sand dunes adjacent to the City, the lighting patterns of the lunar cycle and the design of the future Opera House. We believe that our bridge design is not merely to link the City’s cultural and commercial developments or ease congestion, but an opportunity to connect people both physically and emotionally by creating an iconic landmark, destination, and gateway between the old, the new and the future Dubai.”

S60v3's First Virus

Remember the days when you didn't need an anti-virus software for your S60v3 phone? Well, now with this virus set loose..... you still don't really need it. I guess in a way it's a milestone for this platform as now the Symbian S60 3rd Edition OS 9.x finally has it's own virus! Why am I still so enthusiastic? Mainly because this "virus" doesn't really pose a threat.

A little info on the little bugger:

SymbOS.Hatihati.A

Risk Level 1: Very Low

Discovered: February 6, 2008

Updated: February 13, 2008 10:07:33 AM

Type: Trojan

Infection Length: 23,643 bytes

Systems Affected: Symbian OS

SymbOS.Hatihati.A is a Trojan horse that runs on the Symbian OS. The Trojan is a pirated version of the anti-theft software Guardian v0.95.

Protection

• Initial Rapid Release version February 13, 2008 revision 035
• Latest Rapid Release version February 13, 2008 revision 035
• Initial Daily Certified version February 6, 2008 revision 003
• Latest Daily Certified version February 6, 2008 revision 003
• Initial Weekly Certified release date February 6, 2008

Click here for a more detailed description of Rapid Release and Daily Certified virus definitions.

Threat Assessment

Wild

• Wild Level: Low
• Number of Infections: 0 - 49
• Number of Sites: 0 - 2
• Geographical Distribution: Low
• Threat Containment: Easy
• Removal: Easy

Damage

• Damage Level: Low
• Payload: Sends SMS messages to a predefined number from the compromised device.

Distribution

• Distribution Level: Low

Writeup By: Robert Wang

Here's a link to Symantec's website where they have a more detailed writeup on this virus, including ways of getting rid if you actually got infected.

SymbOS.Hatihati.A -Symantec.com-

Jokes: Women

Women -You can't live with' em, you can't with without' em-

Some jokes about women... no offense.

...Woman as explained by a physicist:

...Woman as explained by an engineer:

...Woman as explained by a mathematician:

...Woman as explained by a radio operator :

...Woman as explained by a military tactician:

...and finally:

How to Make a Woman Happy

It's not difficult to make a woman happy. A man only needs to be:
1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynaecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined!
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate
44. compassionate

WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:
45. give her compliments regularly
46. love shopping
47. be honest
48. be very rich
49. not stress her out
50. not look at other girls
AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:
51. give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
52.. give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT:
Never to forget:
* birthdays
* anniversaries
* arrangements she makes
Not rocket science eh!!!

HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY
1. Show up naked
2. Bring food

Nokia Introduces 5 New Phones for 2008

Fuse a Nokia N95 and N81 together and what do you get? Well, an N96.

So the rumours were true, there is going to be a Nokia N96 coming out this year.... but along with it comes the N78, 6220 Classic, 6210 Navigator as well as the 3120 Classic. The design of these phones are pretty much "Nokia" if you know what I mean, and if you ask me it's really time for Nokia to add some chaps from the fashion industry into their phone-making business.

Anyway, here's the scoop:

1...................................

Nokia says: The Nokia N96 mobile device is a multimedia computer optimised for video and TV. It features a 2.8-inch screen, 16 gigabytes of internal memory (enough for 40 hours of video), and support for high-quality video in a wide range of formats, including MPEG-4, Windows Media Video, and Flash Video. Based on the S60 developer platform, the device also sports a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. Shipments are set to begin in the third quarter with a suggested retail price of 550 euros.

We say: Feh, looks like Nokia is making the better of the N95 and N81's spare parts. 16GB? Who needs that? Your battery will probably run out before you finish one movie (it has the same 950mAh battery as the N95). 2.8" QVGA screen means low resolution and sluggish graphics. You're better off getting an N95 if you really want all those features, and 16GB microSDs are expected to be out much sooner than this device. Copycat? Yes. Ground-breaking? Certainly not.

2.....................................

Nokia says: The Nokia N78 mobile device is a multimedia computer that combines music, navigation and photography. The device, based on the S60 3rd Edition developer platform, features integrated A-GPS navigation, 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, and support for a microSD memory card of up to 8 gigabytes to store music and media. The Nokia N78 device can also be used for "geotagging," the process of autotagging photos with location metadata. Shipments of the device are set to begin in the second quarter with a suggested retail price of 350 euros.

We say: It's an acceptable alternative for those who want to upgrade from the ever-so-successful N73 but don't seem to have a liking for the N82. Nokia should've thrown in a better camera, but we guess the N82 is there for a reason. Pretty much a mid-range do-it-all device.

3................................

Nokia says: The Nokia 6220 classic mobile device combines a 5-megapixel camera with A-GPS functionality to let consumers snap, tag, edit, and share high-quality images and videos online, phone-to-phone, or on a television. The device is set to ship in the second quarter with a suggested retail price of 325 euros.

We say: It tried to get into the Nseries family but just didn't make the cut. Perhaps it's time to call in the fashion police? This device relatively feature packed but navigating maps on a 2.2" screen isn't going to be a blast. 5meg camera, xenon flash, GPS navigation and all the little bits of extra functions for 325 euros, worth getting if you don’t mind the U-G-L-Y design. Still in love with the price though.

4...........................

Nokia says: The Nokia 6210 Navigator mobile device is Nokia's first global proximity system (GPS) enabled mobile device with an integrated compass for pedestrian guidance. The device comes with the recently announced Nokia Maps 2.0 and includes full voice and visual turn-by-turn guidance at no extra cost. Shipments are set for the third quarter with an estimated retail price of 300 euros.

We say: Excellent travel buddy especially if you're one who get's lost really easily. Not quite a shining star but the use of A-GPS and accelerometer sense direction you means you'll always have a fool-proof navigation system, ready to guide the way. Oh, and did we mention Nokia is giving away FREE navigation with this phone? No strings attached. LOVIN it.... perhaps Nokia should call it "it's what compasses have become".....

5........................

Nokia says: The Nokia 3120 classic mobile device lets consumers download and browse, take photos, listen to music, watch videos, and more. Based on the Series 40, 5th Edition, Feature Pack 1, the device features a 3.2-megapixel camera, support for microSD cards of up to 4 gigabytes, a video player, WAP 2.0 browser, Bluetooth stereo, and more.

We say: No price yet, but we expect it's going to be a "Low cost, High performance" device from Nokia.

............................. ........................ ........................... ........................... .....................

Judging by the looks and specs of these phones, it seems we're still going to stick with the N95 for some time. Perhaps S60 Touch UI will bring more promise??......

Put Music, Movies, and TV Shows Into Your Sweetheart's Pocket

Stuck wondering what to get this valentine for that special someone, how about this special pink little device from Apple? Surprise your valentine with a pink iPod Nano this year, heck Apple's even throwing in free laser engravings on the back so you can write her a special message -on her iPod-! With this you'll stand a pretty good chance of wining her heart (or the next "Beauty & the Geek" contest).

More info on Apple's site here:Valentine's Day Gift Guide. Free shipping included for a limited time only.

Happy Valentines Day guys, cherish the moments with that special someone.

Till next time... happy lovin!

RotateMe v2.1 -No, it's no joke-

It's probably getting a little tiring to uninstall and reinstall the latest version of rotateMe over and over again, but well, that's just how it is. Just after v2.0's final public release, today Samir has started work on a v2.1 Beta version. For those of you who still do not know what this is, rotateMe is a freeware application for symbian OS 3rd edition devices, which allow you to switch your phone screen from portrait to landscape and vice versa.

Changelog:
There is 2 new options:
- Slide behaviour: Check "disabled" to stop the default slide behaviour on the N95.
- Landscape 180: Enable this setting to rotate the screen also at 180 degrees, much like the N82.
But this option is in alpha phase, so:
* It won't work on old N95 firmwares (it will crash). Nokia added this 3 screen mode in newest firmware of the N95 8GB.
* N82 support for this screen mode is not confirmed.
* The keypad and softkey buttons are not rotated properly.

Don't forget to uninstall any previous version of rotateMe, before installing this file, and remember to install N95AccelerometerPlugin.sis (IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT ALREADY)

This is only available to donators for now so if you really must have it now you will have to donate some $ to Samir himself.

ShakeLock V1.0.4

It is questionable whether our lovely phones could survive so much shaking but accelerometer technology and motion based applications getting real hot in demand nowadays. As you may have already know Nokia N95 features Accelerometer (also known as Level or Tilt Sensor) but until now it wasn’t used that much, actually it was used only by the camera application to rotate pictures in the right position.

Since shaking your phone seems to be the trend nowadays, we have another accelerometer application released for ya! It pretty much does what the name sounds like actually, shake your phone to lock or unlock it. Shake that Nokia, Shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture!

Details :
Current release version - 1.0.4
Python S60 version - 1.4.1 or later.
Devices supported - Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N82

Notes :
Certificate Error: You will get a "Expired Certificate" error during installation for current release, to over come this follow the steps below:
-Change your phone date to March 2007
-Install the app
-Change back your phone date to current date.

Sensitivity settings:
Normal sensitivity settings are as follows
Lock - 2
Unlock - 2

The higher the value, the less sensitive the application is; that it the harder you have to shake your phone to lock or unlock it.

*Tip: You can set a higher value for unlock and a lower value for lock for best experience ( ie 1 for Lock and 3 for Unlock according to usage).

Download!

Happy Chinese New Year! -Year Of The Rat-

The colour red is seen everywhere, explosives here and there; but I'm not talking about war, I'm talking about Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year (simplified Chinese: 农历新年; traditional Chinese: 農曆新年; pinyin: Nónglì xīnnián; literally: "Agrarian Calendar New Year") or Spring Festival (simplified Chinese: 春节; traditional Chinese: 春節; pinyin: Chūnjié) is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. It is an important holiday in East Asia. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival (simplified Chinese: 元宵节; traditional Chinese: 元宵節; pinyin: yuánxiāojié). Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī (除夕). Chu literally means "change" and xi means "Eve".

Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had a strong influence on te new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, and formerly the Japanese before 1873. In Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and other countries with significant Chinese populations, Chinese New Year is also celebrated, largely by overseas Chinese, but it is not part of the traditional culture of these countries. In Canada, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Canada Post issues New Year's themed stamps in domestic and international rates.

Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon (some sources include New Year's Eve)^{[citation needed]} and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. This occurs around the time of the full moon as each lunation is about 29.53 days in duration. In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. This means that the holiday usually falls on the second (very rarely third) new moon after the winter solstice. In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.

The dates for the Spring Festival from 1996 to 2019 (in the Gregorian calendar) are at the right, along with the year's presiding animal zodiac and its earthly branch. The names of the earthly branches have no English counterparts and are not the Chinese translations of the animals. Alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese astrology, namely: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association alternates every year. The elements are thus distinguished: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, etc. These produce a combined cycle that repeats every 60 years. For example, the year of the Yang Fire Rat occurred in 1936 and in 1996, 60 years apart.

Hand-painted Chinese New Year's poetry pasted on the sides of doors leading to people's homes, Lijiang, Yunnan, China. According to legend, in ancient China, the Nián (年) was a man-eating beast from the mountains (in other versions from under the sea), which came out every 12 months somewhere close to winter to prey on humans. The people later believed that the Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the colour red, so they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of the colour red. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations. Guò nián (simplified Chinese: 过年; traditional Chinese: 過年), which means to celebrate the new year, literally means the passover of the Nian.

Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in a number of countries and territories where a sizable Chinese population resides. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. Also like many other countries in the world, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day when the New Year falls on a weekend.

It is also important to understand that informal celebrations, which may span a period of several weeks before and after the official holidays, are the time when many businesses operate in 'holiday mode', and generally aren't the time for making decisions or business negotiations. So remember, Chinese New Year is a time for fun and games, not work and studies. Happy Chinese New Year guys, enjoy the holidays!