Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Strange use of PDA

生性犯賤,一開筆電就很順手的去開 Youtube.com、Veoh.com、新聞網站、科技論壇、blog……等有的沒的,結果SOP拖很久還沒開始寫,paper也看得不夠多。
意志弱いな〜

索性正事搬到PDA上,寫的東西、看的東西還比較多orz

唉,沒想到MAC太好用、用得太順手,反而會墮落。本來以為離開Windows省下當機、防毒、解決電腦問題的時間可以做比較多事說。

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On the other hand, 正當我在煩惱申請學校太混的時候,UPenn 的 online application system 還沒開放呢 orz

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

夜拍月亮~

因為在 Mobile 01 看到這篇 中秋節拍月亮,一堆人拿單眼相機+長鏡頭拍月亮,覺得很有趣。

雖然我沒有單眼,但看到有人post H9拍的,我也拿我的Sony H9 來玩玩。
(以下全是光學變焦 15x 再加上數位變焦加持,共 23x 放大)

本來想用椰子樹當前景,結果相機只對樹對焦T_T (F=8.0, S=1/500 sec, ISO100)


相機架地上,用遙控器拍 (F=8.0, S=1/500 sec, ISO100)

相機架地上,用遙控器拍之2,ISO值改200 (F=8.0, S=1/800 sec, ISO200)

索性用手拿直接連拍,管他手晃,連拍總會有一張好的吧?
結果因為一開始為了要拍到月亮表面紋路,把快門調小了,結果都不會晃到。雖然還是不可能像單眼那麼好,不過還真不錯^^
(F=8.0, S=1/800 sec, ISO200)

嘿嘿,美國的月亮沒有比較圓吧XD

Amazon MP3 Dowloads!!

Finally an online music store without the DRM. No "iPod only", no share limits, they don't care what you play the songs with, the songs you bought are finally truly yours.

If I ever wanted to buy songs online, Amazon would be my first stop. One problem is that I listen mostly to Japanese music, and there's not much English songs that I like. Maybe someday if I come upon a nice song on Pandora.com, I'll buy it. Also, doesn't feel too good to pay to the music companies that goes on suing kids for MP3 downloads, that's another reason I have been staying away from English songs for the last 2 years...

On the good side, it's because Amazon doesn't carry the songs I like, and it's not as easy to get J-pop CDs here as in Taipei, so that I could save my money that used to spend on music :)

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Maybe some one would think that I like Apple, why not just buy from iTunes? Will, I am not an Apple fan boy, and I prefer Apple computers; when it comes to music players, I like Sony hardware better. Thus I prefer a music store that doesn't tie to iPods.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Switching...

I sent my newly bought old car to a repair shop to get some old parts changed. The planed 2 hour change turns out much longer then expected. They somehow screwed up and started debuging some weird behavior of the car's wiring... Now the car which I drove in without a problem is rooted in the shop for more then 24 hours.

If this $3400 old car can't even survive under my ownership for over 1 week, then I guess I am TOTALLY FED UP with this crappy sophisticated technology. I am going back to bikes for local transport. At least I know bikes in and out and can fix 80% of problems if I have the right tools and parts. There are not as much overpriced proprietary parts, no need to worry about all those fluids except chain lube, and best of all there is no worry about traffic jams, parking space, gas price and air pollution.

As for long distances, good thing we have trains around here. And there is also car rentals.

Modern transportation has evolved for decades, I expect them to be trouble free, not life wasting.
If car manufactures still can not do this, then die they should. I no longer have any sympathy for the big 3 in Detroit.

---Aftermath...---
It's all fixed after a 3 day overhaul. The car is now very quite, no more shakes, and drives almost as smooth as it's new. Alright, I changed my mind.

Yahoo mail should add a new function

I really think they should add a new button: "select all unread mail"
Or better yet: "Mark all unread mail as Spam".

Because 4 out of every 5 days when I check my Yahoo mail, all my unread mail in my inbox are spam. As Yahoo mail's Spam guard doesn't really block Spam any better then a crude black list, they might as well provide an easier way to get rid of the Spam.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

On the iPhone craze in TW

看台灣的論談上一堆人在哈 iPhone,有些人說很炫很想買,有些人說沒用過別說它只有炫,甚麼用過才知道它得人性化、簡單易用 bla bla bla...

來說一下我的看法好了:
1. 我很討厭一個把使用者當笨蛋的產品
2. 用過 iPhone才完全了解甚麼叫 Control freak
3. 除非錢太多,不然不要買不成熟的產品

別說我沒用過就開始開罵,這是我到這附近的 Apple store 玩過 iPhone 之後的結果,結論是,玩過 10 分鐘後,我又失望又怒的放下 iPhone,再也不想碰它第二次。

Here's why:
操作介面很炫沒錯,但與其花那時間看那些華麗的轉場,我寧願每次切換功能時能馬上完成。舉電話簿為例,你必須先按下面的按鈕回到主畫面->等畫面轉一下過去->到達電話簿,手指往下播阿播,或選個開頭字母再繼續播到看到聯絡人的名字->點下去->等畫面轉一下過去->再點撥號...
煩耶,連個搜尋都沒有,也不能設常用friend list 或單鍵撥號(沒鍵盤),每次打電話都手指播阿播,播過頭再回來... 撥到民國幾年啊?

筆記簿很難用。只能用虛擬鍵盤慢慢按,還又隨時檢查沒有按錯。觸控螢幕是裝假的是不是?為甚麼我不能直接用畫的還是寫的?

手機怎麼設定都要Apple管?換桌布圖片只能換待機畫面,程式選單一定要黑色背景。程式選單中重要的東西跟小程式(widget)混在一起,就算你對天氣沒興趣,那個天氣Widget的圖示永遠在那,拿也拿不掉。有強大的作業系統卻不能灌自己喜歡的程式,這我想大家都知道了。

iPhone據說是 "the best iPod yet" 恩,很炫,但會lag。據說有位移感應,只要把機器打橫,螢幕就會自動轉換橫向顯示,切到那個有一堆CD封面飄來飄去的"Cover flow"。好,我拿著機器往右一轉,ㄟ,怎麼不理我?打正,再轉!ㄟ,3秒之後,它老兄終於切換橫向顯示了。再打正,老兄卡住不理我,轉回橫向,iPhone切換了,卡在不對的顯示方位上...... 很好,最絢麗的 Cover flow 切換成功機率 33%, 平均要等3秒才能切換完成。乾脆加個方位切換按鈕不就得了?

「號稱」全世界手機中搭載最強完整瀏覽器。很好,來試試看。到Yahoo!奇摩一看,哇,整個網頁縮小到可以fit到那小螢幕中,那比螞蟻還小的字誰看得到啊?沒關係,Steve Jobs老大在展示iPhone時有說,可以點網頁得某一部份放大顯示那一部份,我點... 結果 iPhone以為我要點進連結,就直接進去了 orz 退回上一頁,仔細得觀察網頁中那一個地方沒有連結,再點,終於成功放大了,字也看得清楚了。耶,看完了,怎麼縮回去?不知道耶。iPhone不是號稱簡單到不用看說明書嗎?

接著最火大的不是 iPhone 本身的問題。iPhone綁了 AT&T 的 GPRS 來上網,而不是 3G。我知道有Wi-Fi,但Wi-Fi不是到處都有,而且當時它並沒有連上 Apple store 的 Wi-Fi。很好,Yahoo!奇摩花了約 2~3 分鐘,一小塊一小塊慢慢得「拼出來」,比以前的播接還慢。我當年用Sony Clie PDA 接電腦播接也比這好。再試內建的 Google maps,點下去,看到一片空白畫面,一小塊一小塊約 0.2*0.2 cm 大小的「地圖拼塊」從左上角慢慢得往右排,每2~3秒出現一小塊,第一行拼完換第二排...... 喂喂、我迷路了,我在哪裡?找路人問算了,等你拼完地圖,我車都已經開幾公里遠了...

當下丟下那個要價$600的東東。(就算現在殺到$400了,我也不覺得值得)

也許你可以說你用的經驗沒那麼差,也許我用到瑕疵品。但Apple在店裡擺了這東西給我最差的第一印象,讓我再也不想碰它。用Mac電腦超過一年了,電腦很好用很流暢,我再怎樣也想不到手機版的Mac OS X可以難用成這樣。

最後,說句好話好了。iPhone 比照片上看起來輕薄短小,只比一般手機大一點,然後比一般高階手機輕。不過軟體方面呢,我勸想買的人等出幾代產品再說吧!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Money problems

以前都認為美國人很早就自己工作養自己了。
...
...
...
喔,原來現在的美國人是很早就負債過生活啦XD
還有高中就開父母送的高級車上學的... orz
時代變啦?!

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另,電腦裝個 Widget 監控油價還頗刺激得,看著附近最低油價從 $2.65/gallon 一個禮拜漲到 $2.74/gallon... 可惡,車還沒買就油價狂漲了!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Sony Walkmans without restrictions!!!


Hooray!
Sony released in the US some new Walkmans weeks ago, saying that they are ditching their own format (ATRAC) and now you don't need to use their own Sonicstage software to send music into the players any more. A lot of people hated Sonicstage because they say it's unstable and hard to use. I fell OK with Sonicstage, but two main reasons I avoided it in the past: 1. It doesn't support Unicode, so Japanese song names got messed up if you are using a Chinese version of Windows; 2. Sonicstage is Windows only, and I am using a Mac.

Then Sony finally released Sonicstage-less Walkmans. At the time, I didn't report it here, because duh, they say you now have to use Windows Media Player 11 (WMP) to sync songs over. Isn't that Windows only again? Yet just as I was starting to consider iPods (I was starting to think that the only decent players that could be used with Mac are iPods, as most of them on the market are now WMP only, like what Sandisk offered), 2 things happened. 1. iPod nano suddenly became iFatty (eww, disgusting...) 2. People on forums are reporting that you can drag&drop files on to the new Walkmans just as you do with USB thumb drives, and Linux and Macs are supported!!

I don't like iPods as the old ones are too much plastic, the new ones too fat. (the last gen nanos are OK) And most of all, I don't want a me-too player as most people here in the US has an iPod now. Now, these Walkmans are just what I wanted.

One more problem though, Sony started offering these at a time when I am unemployed, and income-less... Darn!

Sony's Walkman site | Discussion on ATRACLife

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

To prove something works

1. Add inhibitor, see if it's turned off
2. Add activator, see if it's turned on, better yet, dose dependent
3. Over express the protein it self by insertion of expression vector, see again if it's turned on.
*. If possible, repeat in other cells/organism/protein analogue, see if results are situation specific or general.


Of all above, see if results are repeatable, and check if statistically significant.

iPods updated

Apple just renewed their whole iPod lineup.iPod nano

Shuffle: Just new colors, easy as that.

Nano: Added video and new UI, but it's grown FAT. I like how Engadget puts it: "It's the fatty!!!" I hate fat gadgets, so I'll pass on that.
See what I mean on the photo to the right?

Classic: The original HD driven iPods got a sub-name: the classic. Nano style metallic case (I like the plastic style better), new UI, bigger hard drive memory space and price drop. It basically looks like the new nano, yet without the "fat" look.

Touch: The rumored phone-less-iPhone is now official. Same iPhone like UI, lockediPod touch out mobile Mac OS X, coverflow, touch screen, WIFI+Safari browser. Yet just as it's starting to look like a good PDA replacement, it stops there. No 3rd party applications (an off line news reader like Avantgo is a must for me, as you'll never get WIFI when you're on a bus or train), no speaker (can't share music with others, and can't use as an alarm clock), and naturally, no alarm clock application. Also, no address book application. Alright, no speaker kills the deal. Good thing my Sony Clie TH55 is still going strong, and I take pride in that the iPhone has a design that looks just like my TH55, feels like I am using the grand daddy of the most hyped phone on earth :)

My TH55:

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

すげえ 一郎!

超強棒球,一球毀滅全世界!
Youtube | イチローのレーザービームで人類滅亡(ニコニコ動画ver.)

O....TL

動物物語

笨蟋蟀,跑道人家廚房裡叫,是求得到偶是不是?

看到垃圾桶被亂翻,一看也知道是誰幹的,還留一搓狗毛當證據是想證明自己有罪嗎?

我吃東西實做到我旁邊鄧著我看就算了,不必在我吞下最後一口時馬上露出失望的表情吧?