teewe.com

Recently I started using Mac to develop …

william — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:13:06 +0000

Recently I started using Mac to develop iOS software and discovered a number of useful software to make our lives easier. The first one I would like to recommend is BetterTouchTool. It can enhance your touchpad or mouse (or even magic mouse) experience by adding gestures (swipes) and handy actions (including resizing windows when drag to screen edge) which ease my pain of resizing windows in Mac OS.

Making a blog looks like a micro-blog le…

william — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:00:22 +0000

Making a blog looks like a micro-blog lessen the burden to update the blog. Easy to start by typing a few words and eventually it will become a full entry. Hope this theme helps.

Does your web site or blog scare off your visitors?

william — Thu, 27 May 2010 05:56:45 +0000

Many people start their website or blog becuase they want to be heard (of their products, their own lifestyles, their point of views, etc). But many not aware that their website is committing a number of web design mistakes which can scare off their visitors. The following interesting website has a check list which can help you to figure out what the mistakes are and how you can improve.

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/does-my-web-site-suck/does-my-web-site-suck-checklist-part-one.html

Clearing cookies in your browser doesn’t really clear all tracking items from your machine

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:48:52 +0000

Wired.com’s article mentioned another kind of tracking cookies used by many sites which we may have overlooked. Many sites (like Google and eBay) are storing their local tracking objects with Flash plug-in. When you clear the cookies in your browsers, these objects is not removed. You need to manually delete these items, or if you are using Firefox, there is an extension to help.

Wired article: You Deleted Your Cookies? Think Again

Stopping Windows to install updates during shutdown

william — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:10:14 +0000

When I try to shut down windows of my netbook, it just try to install updates which stops me from closing it and put it into my bag. Therefore I did some googling and found the solution.

Start gpedit.msc (with run…)
Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Component > Windows Update
Change the setting of “Do not display ‘Install Updates and Shut Down’ option in Shut Down Windows dialog box” to “Enabled”
Done!

Source: http://www.tipsfor.us/2009/06/22/disable-the-install-updates-and-shut-down-option-in-windows/

Have your wallpaper filled with your friends’ photos!

william — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 07:51:33 +0000

You can keep up with your friends in facebook in no time with this wonderful piece of software, the John’s Background switcher. It helps you by refreshing your desktop’s background with photos of your friends’ albums, just like the screenshot my desktop.

This software supports a wide variety of online photo albums which you may have encountered: facebook, flickr, phanfare, SmugMug, Picasa, Yahoo images search, RSS photo feeds, or even your own folders!

You can make the desktop refresh for specified time intervals or every day at 0:00. You can make it a good use by linking this software with your facebook account and let it download photos from your friends’ albums and see what they have been doing recently.

You can download the software from the link below:
http://www.johnsadventures.com/software/backgroundswitcher/

Changing web hosting

william — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:22:01 +0000

This site has just got a new home! I recently found a real bargain of web hosting and subscribed it a few days ago. The new server seems to be stable. The whole process has taken me a few days to move all the domain names I have registered and setting up the email forwarding.

My previous web hosting (http://hostmonster.com) is not bad but seems to be generous only to those moving from other hosting companies. They are tying their customer for longer by offering 3-year and 2-year contract discounts (which of course is not as econormical as the offer for new customers). As a small website with no income, I decided to choose the hard way – moving to a new hosting.

My new hosting is webhostingpad.com and it has the cheapest plan you can found no where else. I got the new plan 3.65/month plus $25 dollar coupon code for registering for 2-year term.

The plan details are similar to the hostmonster’s plan – unlimited space, bandwidth and add-on domain names which can save you a lot of money (most hosting companies limits the number of domain name you can add to your account or you need to pay additional fee for adding). Hostmonster and Webhostingpad are even cheaper than most hosting companies in Hong Kong too.

Another reason for choosing Webhostingpad is because the regular plan price is cheaper (only $4.95). So when the 2-year term completes, I may renew the plan cheaper (they can raise the fee afterwards though).

Wish list for 2008

william — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:00:29 +0000

After a few months my bag was stolen, I have been buying new gadgets replacing the missing ones:

Nokia Internet Tablet N800 (replacing Creative Zen Stone Plus, Sony MP3 Walkman, and Dell Axim x51v)
Asus EeePC 901 (replacing EeePC 900)
FX Creation computer bag (replacing the stolen sumdex computer bag)

Still there are some lost items are not yet purchased:

Noise Isolating Earphones (Shure SCL2)
Stereo Bluetooth Headset (iTech S38)

Also there are some new stuff I want to buy:

Canon Powershot SX1/SX10 IS (to replace my Olympus SP550UZ)
Colour Laser MFP (Samsung probably, to replace my Brother MFP with clogged print heads)
Laser Mouse with micro receiver (replacing my Trust optical mouse with a larger reciver)
MSI Bluetooth Keyboard (to be used with Nokia N800) or Stowaway 4-fold keyboard (USB)

The following are much less likely to be bought:

Palm Treo Pro (though very sleek and handy but I think I can still use the combination: Palm Centro + Nokia N800 to do what Windows Mobile phones can do)
Asus EeePC S101 (very good looking and have much more comfortable keyboard but not yet convinced since EeePC 901 has longer battery life. The most important thing is Asus is keep pushing new models every month so I would prefer wait for a more compelling model)

What do you think?

Site revamped with a new theme

william — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:31:37 +0000

Have just found a good theme to change to. Not very difficult to customize the theme to match with current content. I need to put some pictures to liven up this page anyway.

Of course, the default colours will be changed also.

Do you proofread your blog post?

william — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:10:46 +0000

I have read some blogs whose owner don’t care about thier spelling mistakes and typos. I was irritated when reading such blog entries because I need to guess the correct word and how the words should have been typed. Reading such blogs is no longer a leisure but a brain exercise. Not bad though.

I would rather not requiring my readers to guess.

Eee PC 900 with 5800mAh battery!

william — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:00:03 +0000

Today, I receive my new Eee PC in white colour bundled with 5800mAh battery!

Centro in a cat :)

william — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:15:02 +0000

This was taken in my office

How to feel frustrated reading blogs

william — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 03:10:01 +0000

Never try this at home.

Subscribe to a number of high volume blog sites and try to finish reading. You will be never able to finish and the frustration will hit you.

Every day these sites try to stuff you more than 30 entries. If you have left the RSS reader a couple of days, you probably need to check them off as read or do a quick scan of it. Using google reader is recommended as you can quickly scan them. However, you will find reading is no longer fun and you may end up with unsubscribing such blog sites to get the peace of mind…

If you are a blog site owners reading this, you may consider how you can help relieve the stress of your subscribers by limiting number of post per day (5 posts per day can be much better than 30) or provide category feeds for subscription or you may lose quite a number of frustrated subscribers like me.

The wordpress plug-in you must install!

william — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:12:49 +0000

1ClickInstaller is simply awesome! After installing this plug-in, you will no longer need to use ftp to upload a new theme or another plug-in again! It will add a “OneClickInstall” button in your dashboard page and you will be able to upload the plug-ins or themes right in your browser. Or you can even provide the download link or the plug-in to let the server download the zip files itself! What’s more you can use the Firefox extension (optional) from the same author to make your life even simplier!

Whenever you have a new theme or new plug-in to try, you will never want to decompress the files and use ftp to upload the files again.

Never use a machine-translated document!

william — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:29:23 +0000

Recently, I need to refine a PowerPoint file which is already badly translated by software. It is even harder for me to translate it from original English version what badly translated is even uncomprehensible! Though there is an English version exist, but the version I have is newer and has many more slides. Spent a whole morning in doing this nasty job and only half of it is done. Uh~~~ Sigh.

So what I can tell you is that bad translation should be avoided to be used in real-life production! I will create more headaches than convenience!

Wallpaper for Wide-screen LCDs

william — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:05:14 +0000

If you are like me – have bought a wide-screen monitor – and have difficulties finding suitable wallpaper, you’d better check out the following web site. InterfaceLIFT provides wallpapers for all resolutions.
You can find it at: http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/

1 GB vs 1.2 GB.

william — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:25:15 +0000

Technology is advancing so fast and I have just found a Quantum 1.2 GB Bigfoot Harddisk in my office. You can see how big when it is comparing with a has-been world’s smallest 1GB thumb drive (Kingmax) I bought a few months ago..

Can anyone help it to boot?

william — Fri, 11 May 2007 14:35:14 +0000

I have just taken it from a KCR train. Please be assured – the thing that can’t boot up isn’t the train. It won’t crash anyway. It is just the Newsline Express (the TV set which show Cable TV News) can’t boot up. But it is so funny that seeing the disk boot failure screen shown on a TV set.

Wow so many people in MTR

william — Fri, 04 May 2007 10:50:12 +0000

I am now at MTR Admiralty station at the end of a queue. It is really hot here.Can you see how many people are waiting for taking the train? I have to wait for four trains in order to get on board!

Play Nintendo NES/Famicom in your browser!

william — Wed, 02 May 2007 07:49:10 +0000

Can you think of you can play the classic 8-bit games in your browser at any time you are online?

Try nintendo8.com! The games runs on any browser with Java Runtime Environment installed. You can even search for your favourite games!

It’s so cute!

william — Tue, 01 May 2007 18:30:10 +0000

Don’t you think this cat is cute? Why does this cat keep its tongue exposing? It is because it accustomed to do so when it had a decayed tooth before. It keeps this habit even the decayed tooth is fixed.

Career Change

william — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:55:12 +0000

I mentioned that I will change my job very shortly. And I did success in making the switch. I will be working with my new employer from 23 May. It will be my first job in IT field and will have a lot of opportunities to work with different notable companies, institutes, organisations and even with government departments. I will also be learning quite a lot of technologies and software which are new to me. I hope I will not only get more salary but also get more exposure in business environment and opportunities of personal growth.
My new company is located in Fortress Hill. If you also work nearby, feel free to contact me to have lunch together.

What’s wrong with this notice? (cont’)

william — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:45:01 +0000

Yeah, you have got them right. The writer of the notice got “cigarette” and “garbagge” spelt wrong. “Why are the people throwing their cabbages out of their windows?” What a joke!

Do you know what’s wrong with this notice?

william — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 15:25:12 +0000

CNET: Roll your own Adobe CS3 for free

william — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 01:26:15 +0000

The article really worth a look. It collects the open-source and free alternatives of the most wanted software, like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, even After Effects!

Take a look!

http://blogs.download.com/Daily-Download/post.php?p=1402&tag=fea_txt

Download YouTube Video easy and fast!

william — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:18:43 +0000

I have found an easy-to-use tool for downloading videos from YouTube and Google Video.

Though its homepage mostly written in language other than English, there are still some simple explanation in English available. You should be able to find the download link of the VDownloader easily.

The rest of the article contains the download links.

Here’s the link:

http://comunidad.uem.es/epuertas/post/2006/06/01/como-descargar-videos-youtube-google-video-y-grinvi

For those who have difficulties using the 0.3 alfa (alpha) version, like me (cannot save files), download the 0.2 Chinese version from the following site:

http://www.c1739.com/wp/archives/126

Macau Egg Tart

william — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:55:49 +0000

The egg tart is introduced by a taxi driver in Macau. Its shell is very crispy and it is delicious!

Hoping for a career advancement

william — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 09:55:12 +0000

Working in Education Sector for nearly 4.5 years, I am now actively seeking an opportunity to change my job nature in business sector. I am trying to find a new job which can utilitize both my technical skills and communication skills. Yesterday, a friend introduced me to have a job interview in the company he is now working for. I am quite interested in the position as I will have opportunity to learn new technologies from different software vendors and provide demonstrations and presentations to clients. I am now looking forward to the second interview with the General Manager. If the interview successful, I will get a raise in my salary, too.

Treo 750 now in store in Mongkok

william — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:05:12 +0000

But I still want to have Palm OS in it instead of Windows Mobile…

New Icon for my Internet Identity

william — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 12:45:29 +0000

The avatar is made with abi-station.com. If you know me in person, you may tell me if the icon looks like me or not. XD

Blog with my mobile phone!

william — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:00:13 +0000

If you have joined a GPRS service and you have Wordpress installed in your server, you can add blog entries with you mobile phone by sending an email to your blog’s email account (with help of Postie Plugin). This blog entry is written with my Treo 680 and send via GPRS. The photo was taken with my Treo 680 when I was crossing a road.

How I use Handyshopper with my Treo 650

william — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 09:08:46 +0000

[First posted on PalmAddicts] Recently, I rediscovered the loveliness of Handyshopper on my Treo 650 as an “array of alarm clocks”. I have been using Diddlebug as my alarm clock since it is quick and easy to add new tasks and alarms. However, it doesn’t use the notification manager of PalmOS 5 and it simply prevent other alarms from showing on screen. I then tried to use Tasks from Palm. But it is not as easy as Diddlebug to set alarms. Finally, I found Handyshopper can do a better job than Diddlebug and the Task app from Palm. First, it is easy to assign a category and an icon to a task and filter it by stores (I use stores as projects) and places (I use category as places). And It is easier and more flexible to set an alarm (with 5-way navigation key) than in the Tasks app. I hate using the Palm Tasks app because I cannot set the default number of days befroe the due day of the alarm so that I have to change the number to zero and set the time and I cannot have different alarm sound for different tasks. After I have integrated some lists (so that I don’t have too many lists in the Handyshopper), I now use Handyshopper as my default task manager. If you are like me want to set alarms for tasks and you want an freeware application, Handyshopper should be a good choice. (I still use Diddlebug to set countdown alarms, though)

Having incorrect date format for mail merge in Microsoft Word?

william — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 08:43:58 +0000

When you are like me have to do a lot of mail merge to create documents. You may find that you will get US format date merged to the documents even your date format of your system or in Excel file is set to UK format. Here’s the solution I have found on the web – Use DDE to merge Excel data.
For details, visit the following website:

http://wordprocessing.about.com/od/usingmailmerge/qt/exceldde.htm

OSD Clock 2.0

william — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 10:22:30 +0000

Added a big bunch of new functions:

24-hour/AM PM mode
An option to show today’s date
Procrastination Hack – (10 + 2) * 5
Customizable Timer alarm
Font Face/Font Size/Font Colour/Bold/Italics Selection
Changing Alignment (Left/Right/Centre)

Download OSD Clock 2.0.1

Do some programming to make your spreadsheets speak!

william — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 03:15:15 +0000

If you don’t have an English version of Microsoft Office (XP or 2003), you will find the Text-to-speech function is not working. I have just discovered the following website which provided a very simple way to make your Excel speak. But you need some programming work to make it really useful.

http://www.xcelfiles.com/TTS.html

P.S. You need to include the “Microsoft Speech Object Library” in your programm which is located in

your drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Speech\sapi.dll

Repair Internet Explorer 6

william — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 13:15:00 +0000

I recently found my Internet Explorer having a lot of problems while loading whatever pages! So I have done some research and found the following solution to repair my crappy Internet Explorer. It works and my IE is now back to normal!

http://www.theeldergeek.com/repair_ie6.htm

The Classics is back!

william — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 04:23:51 +0000

Do you remember the notable screensaver of the times of Windows 3.1 and Windows 95? Some techies online find ways to let you install them on your Windows XP. Will the toasters fly in your screens again?

Download After Dark and install it on Windows XP
http://www.uneasysilence.com/archive/2005/11/4694/

The Flying Toaster are Back (for free)!
http://www.uneasysilence.com/archive/2005/10/4418/

Quick fix for annoying dialog box of Windows Update

william — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 04:16:13 +0000

Windows Update is great to ensure your computer is updated but it usually prompts you to restart Windows when update is finsihed which is very annoying. Want to get rid of the prompt? The following link is a quick fix. Enjoy!

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/windows/get-rid-of-windows-update-restart-nag-183976.php

AutoHotKey is great!

william — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:35:06 +0000

I have been using WinKey (freeware) for month without any problem to create shortcut keys to let meÂ quickly launch programs on my computer (e.g. Win + W to launch MS Word). However, the program functions are just very basic (can launch programs, folders, and file only) and is no longer under development. Recently I have been searching for free alternatives which has more function and I found AutoHotKey!

Though it requires you to edit the text-based configuration file (autohotkey.ini) in a text editor (like notepad), its functionality is much richer than WinKey. Not only you can launch files and folders, you can also write scripts to automate your tasks, control your mouse, and even write GUI(!) to receive input from users!

The fun doesn’t end here. The most amazing thing is that you can compile your script as a standalone application! I have written a clock which ticks every second and is always-on-top, draggable, and customizable. It alsoÂ has a transparent background. It is also a handy stopwatch and slient timer!!

Try AutoHotKey (freeware): http://www.autohotkey.com/

Download OSD Clock 1.0Â writtenÂ in AutoHotKey!

How good are your ears?

william — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 07:05:12 +0000

The following website provides a test for your ears. I find it interesting. Give it a try.

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/hearing.html

Free File Conversion Tool Right in Your Mailbox!

william — Mon, 22 May 2006 04:54:51 +0000

Recently, I haveÂ the need to extract some texts from aÂ PowerPoint file at work. And I got to find out a website which provided a nice tip. You can also try this if you have a gmail account. Just simple mail the file you want to convert to your gmail account, then you can click “View as HTML” link next the the attachment. Hola! You got the text version of your files! Gmail supports viewing Microsoft Office Documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), PDFs, and RTFs as texts.

You don’t have a gmail account? You may ask your friends to give you an invitation to sign up!

I find the tip here: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/12/convert-doc-xls-ppt-rtf-pdf-to-html.html

Useful Utility Makes Your Life Easier

william — Mon, 22 May 2006 04:46:24 +0000

NirCmd is a small but very useful command-line tool. You can do some actions without using clicking your mouse, open up external apps… just a little command will do the job. For example, you can createÂ a shortcut withÂ the command, “nircmd mutesysvolume 1″, to turn off the sound card (much more faster than moving your mouse to the tray, clicking on the wrong icon in the system tray, closing the the wrong window, then click the volume icon, finally click the mute checkbox). NirCmd hasÂ loads of functions, such as logging off your computer, changing settings of the opened windows, changing the volume of different sound sources, etc. Making a shortcut forÂ a command and setting a shortcut key for the shortcut keys, will turn your keyboard to a multimedia keyboard at no cost. Did I mention it? It is a freeware! Try it.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html

Finally There Is an Open-source Photoshop clone!

william — Fri, 19 May 2006 10:10:07 +0000

Today, when I googling for a free Photoshop replacement for my office PC, I found GIMPshop, a mod of GIMP which aimed to provided a Photoshop’s look-and-feel for Photoshop users. It looks very promising and it is as powerful as the open-source GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program) which is already very famous. It already has ports for Mac OS X, Windows, and Solaris. Worth a try!

Â (click to watch the screenshot)

A Online Translation Website

william — Wed, 17 May 2006 07:19:59 +0000

Seems not bad. SupportsÂ bi-directional EnglishÂ toÂ Chinese, JapaneseÂ to Chinese and KorÂ Translation. It also has some useful tools such as English name finder.

http://www.mytrans.com.tw

‘Hollywood’ Treo coming! Running WM5!?!?

william — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 07:43:10 +0000

The treonauts.com website has some pictures of the upcoming ‘Hollywood’ Treo Phone. Sleek antenna-less design looks very cool, but it’s showing a Windows Mobie 5 screen…

http://blog.treonauts.com/2006/04/first_real_treo.html

Newer is not always better…

william — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 06:13:48 +0000

Newest software may seem cool but not always better than their previous versions. Sometimes they just go into a wrong direction — adding useless functions and make them become monster big and horribly slow. I have come across a website claimed that they have the old versions for popular programs. Quite promising but some links are just not working very well. Worth a look, though.

http://www.oldversion.com/

Keep your shoelaces from loosing

william — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 10:29:07 +0000

For those who wear shoes, you may share the problem of having the shoelaces loosing all the time. Being enough for that, I got to have a little googling recently. I come up with the following great website which saved my life from re-tying the shoelaces all the time. Check out the author’s picks of fastening shoelaces!

http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/

Need an alarm clock for Windows?

william — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 15:36:54 +0000

I have been looking for an alarm clock software for Windows to wake me up every morning recently. However, I can’t find a good one which: 1. is freeware; 2. can play songs randomly; 3. can repeat every weekday (Monday to Friday); 4. is reliable. Finally, I come up with a free solution by using the Windows XP built-in functions and a free utility…The recipe is as follow:

WinAmp
CLAmp
Scheduled Tasks (Windows built-in)
Notepad (Windows built-in)

First of all, you need WinAmp installed (don’t you have it installed already?). Then, you need CLAmp which can control WinAmp by command line.

After you have both of them installed (you can place the clamp.exe to anywhere you like), you can then start creating your own playlist (include the songs that will wake you up!). Save the playlist as a .m3u file (mp3 playlist). the write a batch file – a plain text file with a .bat extension. The content should be: (clamp.exe is being installed in c:\Program Files\Winamp\ in the following example, the playlist is “d:\alarm.m3u”)

@”c:Program Files\\Winamp\\clamp.exe” /start
@”c:Program Files\\Winamp\\clamp.exe” /plclear
@”c:Program Files\\Winamp\\clamp.exe” /pladd “d:alarm.m3u” /random on /play

Finally, add a scheduled task by draging the batch file to the scheduled task window. Then double click the task created (to view its properties). Finally, you can set the time of the alarm, make it repeat weekly, and check the weekdays you want the alarm sounds on. Click the OK button. Woo! You made it! You can test the alarm by selecting the “run” command after right-clicking the the task icon.

Best Windows Search Replacement

william — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 23:53:18 +0000

Locate32 is a powerful and fast file search engine for searching file by their names for Windows platform. If you usually find files by their names instead of by their content, Locate32 will be your fastest and best choice. Indexing and searching is lightning fast. The indexing process of other desktop search applications like google desktop search are much slower (since they index the file names and content). Searching critirea are very flexible. You may even use regular expression to find files! (Google desktop doen’t support boolean search!)

Download it from:

http://www.uku.fi/~jmhuttun/english/softwares.shtml

Less satisfaction with newer products?

william — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 04:32:08 +0000

Are we the ones among who want to choose the very best products? Waiting for the next Treo, the better Tungsten X, and even dreaming of PalmOS 6 or Linux-Palm devices to be launched . We may need to learn to choose “good enough”. We have many (and increasing) choices (like the Pocket PCs and Symbian Phones) in front of us and if we are usually nagged by the alternatives which we do not have time to investigate, we are nagged and delayed our choices. And this usually results in dissatisfaction. Scientific American says, “There is good reasons to believe that overwhelming choices at least contributes to the epidemic of unhappiness spreading through modern society.” It seems that people was happier with the products they bought when there are less choices. Think of the days of PalmPilot, Palm III and Palm V, users seemed more satisfied with the functionalities and accepted the limitations of the products. I am not criticising anyone’s attitude but I just want to voice my thought about how we will be happy (and satisfy) with which handheld we choose to use. We may think of what are our needs (essential) and what are actually only our “wants” (not necessary) and enjoy what we are using, and choose the products which are good enough to fulfill our “needs”. Nothing is perfect, anyway.