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THE END OF AN ERA Is our nice winchester-child spinning hard
2007-01-15 21:29:01
THE END OF AN ERA Is our nice winchester-child spinning hard drive nearing the end of its term? Will solid state technology ever take over our mechanical drive? Seriously food for thought… UNEASYsilence has a post about the Kanguru 32Gb Flash Drive that seriously gets some heads turning… but hold on to your seats… there ALSO a 64Gb version. If this ever kicks off (which it will) then the noisy spinning drive clunking away on our computer chassis has its days counted. Very soon, the only mechanical peripherals inside our pc will be the fan and our optical drive… and something tells me their days are also numbered.
More About: Hard , Chest , Spinning , Child , Spin

It amazes me that many people seem to encounter this problem
2007-01-15 21:29:01
It amazes me that many people seem to encounter this problem when using a theme other than the standard Windows XP or Classic themes. Problem : When switching theme, some programs; in my case all flavours of Visual Studio 6/2003/2005 and Opera browser, seem to insist on using the ‘very disappointing’ Fixedsys typeface rather than the more pleasing System Font of choice. From VS2003 Font P… Solution: Whilst there does exist one solution that I have come across on-line for this problem, this didn’t seem slick enough for me… hence I ventured to my display properties to check out what my current system font was… …and lo-and-behold… From VS2003 Font P… Turns out that the problem is that there is no system font selected after all… so the quick fix is… From VS2003 Font P… And voila… problem solved! From VS2003 Font P… —————— ; I hope at least SOME...
More About: People , Hat , This , Maze

Today I received the much anticipated DVD release of Microso
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Today I received the much anticipated DVD release of Micro soft's Office 2007 Beta 2… and in all honesty I got all the more excited when I discovered what they actually gave me… here goes… Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 {Word, Excel, etc…} Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007 {A must have for me} Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007 {Another must have} Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 {Standard and Enterprise Editions} Microsoft Office Groove Server 2007 Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 All in all… that is one hell of a software collection to go through… so I am going to make this as painful as possible and start off with just posting screenshots. I am starting off with Microsoft Office Access 2007 {a.k.a. version 12}… and I can assure that with these screenshots I am literally just 'skimming' the su...
More About: Today , Dvd , Release , Much

I have to share this, albeit being an old joke, I need to ha
2007-01-15 21:29:01
I have to share this, albeit being an old joke, I need to have it here for future reference, since every time I read it I am in fits! The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than German which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5 year phase-in plan that would be known as "Euro-English". In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the"k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have 1 less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20% shorter. In the 3rd year, publik aksep...
More About: Joke , Share , Have , Need

Today I stumbled upon this really wicked IQ test from Tickle
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Today I stumbled upon this really wicked IQ test from Tickle.com… no not the usual tickle IQ test everyone takes… there was another one hidden amongst the maze of tests, called the ‘Super’ IQ test.. anyway… all I think that is super about this is that it is longer… some 60 questions or so… anyway… I got a 147, which I don’t know if I should be happy or sad about… all I know is that it is 2am and I want to sleep now hehe :o) I’ll probably try it again some other time when I’ve given myself enough time to forget the answers I already came up with [will I ever?] So anyway, here is what my result was… Stefan Z, your IQ score is 147 Your overall intelligence quotient is the result of a scientifically-tested formula based on how many questions you answered correctly. But it’s only part of what we learned about you from your answers on the test. We also determined the way you process information. The way yo...
More About: Today , Stumble , Upon , This , Real

So… Google amaze us again! I am impressed at the rate
2007-01-15 21:29:01
So… Google amaze us again! I am impressed at the rate these guys roll out projects!! Here I am testing Google Spreadsheet; which although still at a very early stage, I have been using and can say it is a pretty impressive piece of code… as well as Google Notebook, which is slowly slowly replacing my bookmarks completely… …and now… they have just released Google Browser Sync ; a neat little extension for firefox that preserves your browser state across any number of computers… this is amazing for people like me who work on more than one pc concurrently… and guess what… IT WORKS!! Conspiracy theories will of course be fuelled by this as far as private data is concerned… it is true that technically google can gain access to sites they would otherwise be unaware of… or most bookmarked sites etc..etc… but it shall be pretty hard for them to do that since all the data can be encrypted using a key of any length that you dec...
More About: Press , Again , Esse , Maze

Today my schwag arrived!!!!!!! Unfortunately I am not in a
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Today my schwag arrived!!!!!!! Unfortunately I am not in a position to actually post any photos of it at this point in time since my digital camera is at my gf :( So anyway, here is a roundup of what I actually got movabletype keychain this keychain is, for want of a better word, BEAUTIFUL!!! I just love it!! perplexcity cards anyone who knows me knows that this is perfect for me… I love these games!!! livejournal.com pencil well in all honesty I don't use pencils of this kind, preferring clutch pencils due to their finer lead, yet being an ex livejournal user I really like this pencil and in fact don't really plan on using it since I want to keep it as is! goatse stickers i'm not really into the whole goatse thing, especially since each time I think of it I imagine that appalling picture on the site which kinda makes my stomach verrrryy uncomfortable… yet hey… they are stickers… so I'll definitely find something to do with them ...
More About: Today , Tuna , Arri , Fortuna , Fort

Most of us heard it as a rumour… Today it was all over
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Most of us heard it as a rumour… Today it was all over the blogs… As of now I have just started entering my first online web 2.0 spreadsheet as google has been kind enough to grant me access to the limited beta…. …comments for now…incredible…simply and utterly incredible…I do not event want to TRY and imagine how much js code is actually involved in this site… but whoever worked on it till now… CONGRATS!!!! {in all honesty I DO know how much code there is behind the scenes, long live Venkman ;o)} I'll post proper commentary about this after my last exam today week!
More About: Hear , Rumour , Over , Most

Haven't had much time to update due to exams, yet how ca
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Haven't had much time to update due to exams, yet how can I not update or at least write something today? The date is 6-6-6 and soon the time will be 6.6.6 :) Just love it :) In other news… my notebook is doing great… my exams are also going great… I feel confident to have aced at least 3 out of the 5 i've sat for till now… i do not know what shall happen after tomorrow… that exam is a nightmare {lambda calculus anyone?} but after that the rest should also be pretty nice-'n-easy. Then I am going to embark on a mission of translating valleyschwag.com into Maltese… which I am doing for two reasons The guys and the community there are AMAZING people… really fun… and I love promoting good ideas I realllllly need to brush up on my written Maltese, so this will be a perfect excercise …then there are the bonus reasons… i can promote the site more with Maltesers like me it is a web oriented task… and hence I ...
More About: Time , Exams , Update , Have , Much

Have you ever thought of scanning your entire hard disk for
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Have you ever thought of scanning your entire hard disk for virii, setting a filter in Photoshop, rendering a small scene in 3d Max and browsing the internet at the same time? If you have… and you’ve tried it… then you know what I am talking about when I say that your pc would ‘die’ right there on the spot… …not with multi-cores it won’t!  Stay tuned… I am no major reviewer… but I just got my first Dual Core T2500 notebook and will be describing my experience in layman’s terms shortly…. ..of course the above IS very possible… and believe me… everything is smoooooth :)
More About: Disk , Scanning , Your , Entire , Hard

Well, with a new notebook due tomorrow morning, and one hell
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Well, with a new notebook due tomorrow morning, and one hell of a heavy expenditure on it ( > ?2,300 ) one would of course need some form of protection… alas this doesn’t come cheap! The notebook bag supplied with my ASUS W2Jc is pretty neat, yet it is no better than wrapping your notebook in, say, 10 layers of film.  Obviously with a notebook cast out of Aluminum, and the sheer looks of this baby, one needs a case to match… and I therefore have been on the lookout {albeit casual} for a nice and sturdy Aluminum case… I didn’t know they made them in black too, which is ideal since it matches my notebook… so at first I was looking for a silver case, already aware that: these do not come cheap they are very hard to come across in Malta it is very hard to find one to fit a 17″ notebook they weigh a ton they are not thin..in fact, somewhat bulky and fat they get scratched very easily and dented …I had almost given up {i.e. stoppe...
More About: Notebook , Ebook , Book , Note , With

Fuss over the upcoming Windows Vista is increasing at a dras
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Fuss over the upcoming Wind ows Vista is increasing at a drastic pace… I can recall just a few years back when just a handful of us even knew that a new version of Windows was due (2003)… then codenamed Longhorn… …so many promises…so few kept…so many delays…so very Microsoft! But then again, with their market share, maybe they can afford to be ‘rude’ and delay their products at will…. though not for too long I can assure you… I personally see a day when Windows will no longer be the only viable solution… especially with the new upcoming KDE 4… it’s bound to be a killer. Of course, the next thing out is Vista, due in the last quarter of this year, and on shelves in the first quarter of 2007 (i.e. 4 years late).  Paul Thurrot keeps a keen eye on the ongoings of this product, as well as many others, so if interested hop over to his site, he sure can tell it better than I can :) Paul Thurrott’...
More About: Windows Vista , Asin

It was bound to happen… there has been a plethora of l
2007-01-15 21:29:01
It was bound to happen… there has been a plethora of lawsuits against other p2p networks on the net, and it seemed strange that nobody was trying to get a bite out of what is arguably the strongest p2p network used by veterans. The first torrent-related sentence has been penned… read more about it here…
More About: Hora , Here , Bound , There , Thor

All ye nerds who like me hold a respectable amount of..err&#
2007-01-15 21:29:01
All ye nerds who like me hold a respectable amount of..err…respect toward Alan Turing… you’ve got to see this….
More About: Nerd , Tabl , Respect , Table , Like

So… are you bored with the way your Windows XP theme l
2007-01-15 21:29:01
So… are you bored with the way your Wind ows XP theme looks? I mean, seriously, who likes that yesterday-looking fischer-price theme? It’s appalling and disgusting!! I was personally very happy when MS New Zealand released the Royale theme… stolen from Windows MCE of course, but likewise, it was a refreshing change from the plastic looking options we had before… …now they have gone one step further and released a Zune theme. It is no shocker, yet it is always a pleasant change… personally though I see myself using this theme for around a week, after which I will resort to my usual minimalistic setup. Good day to all :o) p.s. for those of you who didn’t see the link hidden above… here it is again
More About: Windows X , Bored , With

I guess it was inevitable that I post this here eventually!
2007-01-15 21:29:01
I guess it was inevitable that I post this here eventually! So many people have been asking me as to what my opinion is about the whole Saddam hanging and all, that I just want to lay it down here as lucidly as is possible. I am neither for nor against the fact that Saddam was hung, that was not my decision to make, he did not affect my family directly, I do not have an Iraq culture, and therefore I am not equipped to reason about such a thing… what I DO know is that according to the ethics granted to me to date, I would have been against it… but I am not, since he is not Maltese… so there. Secondly, as far as the videos are concerned… personally I find nothing wrong in recording a piece of history on video, I actually find it important and would have personally preferred a much higher quality recording… …and as for showing such video on Iraq TV, etc… etc… again, that is a cultural decision I am not qualified to judge. What I AM qual...
More About: Event , Post , Hat , Vita , This

Is this the first fruit of the infamous Microsoft + Novell d
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Is this the first fruit of the infamous Microsoft + Novel l deal? According to an article on CNET News, Mono; the once upon-a-time thorn in Microsoft’s side, is to support the 3rd incarnation of C#. This is undoubtedly good news of course for us mere mortal developers!! So, rejoice I guess :oP –> C# 3.0 support coming for Mono
More About: Fruit , Famous

Talk about a terrific death… err, surely I meant terri
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Talk about a terrific death… err, surely I meant terrifying :oP Now the weird part is that this 600 year old mummy was, of course, mummified (excuse the Bush-ism)… so, from my very limited knowledge of mummification techniques, I ask… did they actually mummify her like that? did they mummify her whilst still alive? (impossible since mummification also involves removing the brain through her nose… Hannibal… where are you?)… anyhow… it’s just somewhat of a troubling thought! –> Terri fied Amazon mummy
More About: About , Talk , Death , Sure

Paulraps writes “Notorious Swedish file-sharing websit
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Paulraps writes “Notorious Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is planning to buy its own nation in an attempt to get around troublesome international copyright laws. The organization, the world’s largest bit torrent tracker, has set its sights on Sealand, a former British naval platform in the North Sea that has been designated a ‘micronation’ and claims to be outside UK jurisdiction. With a target price of $500m it won’t be cheap, but Pirate Bay says contributors will become honorary citizens.” –> Pirate Bay to Purchase Sealand?
More About: File Sharing , Write , File , Webs , Ring

A few years ago, most Maltese people (Maltesers? hehe) used
2007-01-15 21:29:01
A few years ago, most Maltese people (Maltesers? hehe) used to download and make use of ’special’ type faces when they wanted to use specific Maltese characters like ? , ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, à, À, è, È, ì, Ì, ò, Ò, ù and Ù. This ’special’ font was such a pain to use! What they had done with it was essentially to hack a couple of fonts like Arial and Times New Roman (which I am not even sure is all that legal either for some fonts), and they replaced the vector data for keys like ‘[’ and ‘]’, or ‘{’ and ‘}’ with a Maltese character vector such as ?, etc… Of course this had one major problem, the key code for the character was still that of the original one, ex. ‘[’, so the minute you changed the font, all Maltese words like ‘A?barijiet’ magically became ‘A]barijiet’… not very nice! Well, way back then, this was excused since I.T. was very ‘fresh’ in Mal...
More About: People , Most , Years , Year , Ears

Windows X’s Shrine has a really cool article about the
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Windows X’s Shrine has a really cool article about the current TOP 300 Freeware software titles. Though personally I would debate how ‘freeware’ some titles are… then again, it’s an excellent list… and it even has hyperlinks!! [awww] –> TOP 300 Freeware software!
More About: Windows , Windows X , Article , Wind , Cool

We have all heard about nanotechnology; yes we all know what
2007-01-15 21:29:01
We have all heard about nanotechnology; yes we all know what it is… but have we seen it? It is said that to truly be able to appreciate something, you must see it from a relative perspective… So here it is… below is a picture of an ANT carrying a Nanochip!!! [source: www.theage.com.au]
More About: Technology , Nanotechnology , Techno , Tech , Note

“Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road cros
2007-01-15 21:29:01
“Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends upon your frame of reference.” [Albert Einstein]
More About: Chick , Cross , Chicken , Road , Crosse

…and the obvious has happened! Cisco, who have just ab
2007-01-15 21:29:01
…and the obvious has happened! Cisco , who have just about launched their iPhone, just weeks before Apple [finally], launch their own phone… wait, it’s also called the iPhone!!! (more…)
More About: Just , Have , Obvious , Pene

An Isreal company, Camera, has some serious plans!  A camera
2007-01-15 21:29:01
An Isreal company, Camera , has some serious plans!  A camera that can “see through walls”. I seriously don’t want to be living in a country blanketed with security cameras every other meter right now… Evidently, something like this has already sparked enough interest to generate the company $14,000,000 (yes, 6 zeros) (more…)
More About: Company , Comp , Plans , Serious

Apparently, MINI in the USA, has setup up billboards in 4 US
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Apparently, MINI in the USA, has setup up billboards in 4 US cities (Chicago, New York, Miami and San Francisco) and asked MINI owners living in those cities if they would be interested in joining a pilot program. It seems that these drivers will receive an RFID enabled keyfob; and whenever they zoom past such billboards, a personalized message (decided by the driver upon applying for the keyfob) will flash on the billboard! Talk about use of technology for innovative advertising!! (more…)
More About: Board , Mini , Setup , Billboards , Rent

Well, I have actually not been paying much attention to this
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Well, I have actually not been paying much attention to this blog for a few months now; primarily as a result of certain events occuring: I was becoming lazy… yes, I admit, me, lazy! Well, the reality is that as I kept adding multiple feeds to my netvibes start page, the time I actually had at my disposal for blog-updates was slowly being consumed by my having more and more feeds to read! Exams are yet again around the corner. Strangely enough, I think there should be some new law having the same merits as the famous Sod’s Law (a.k.a. Murphy’s or Finagle’s Law); something on the lines of “the nearer you draw to exam time, the more time seems to ‘virtually appear’ for non-study-related activities” (do note the emphasis on ‘virtually appear’)… and in such time, I shall now start updating this blog again… along with a multitude of other dreams and ideas, on the lines of actually coding my own blog, that in realit...
More About: This , Have , Much , Attention , Been

Looks like I am not the only one who is really excited to re
2007-01-15 21:29:01
Looks like I am not the only one who is really excited to receive my schwag for this month… just look at this link and you will see some of the buzz as it happens! The Chronicles of Valleyschwag » Blog Archive » The May Issue I also happened to check out a geomap of subscribers, looks like I am the only one from Malta who subscribed, so I hope that considering our size here the plane won't just 'pass by' and drop the package into the sea instead [joke] :oP powered by performancing firefox
More About: Real , Only , Like , Look , Really