Well, the other day Kitkat wrote a post on viewing The Incredibles in ASCII format. Now you can watch Star Wars 4 in ASCII / text mode format too. It’s not as elaborated as The Incredibles, but the text representations of the characters are funny.

You can watch it here

OR

Type “telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl” (without the quotes) into your RUN prompt.

The first link will take you to an http website (would probably save you on bandwidth) and the second command line will connect your computer to telnet and open the text mode movie in your Command box.

Some sample images from the movie :

20th Century Text

R2D2 and C3PO

Luke Skywalker received his lightsaber from ObiWan Kenobi

Luke Skywalker practicing his lightsaber skills with ObiWan Kenobi

The movie will run until the scene where Luke rescues Lea from her cell or room or whatever. Now if only I have the patient to watch / read through all the scenes till it finishes. One tip though, the http one has rewind and forward controls that you can use to make the video goes faster, well useful in case you got bored. As you might have guess by now, the Command box does not allow you to fast forward or rewind.

I know it’s not in the same episode, but how I wish to see Jabba the Hut in text mode!

So if you are all ready to watch Star Wars in ASCII or text mode, sit back and enjoy the movie!

Media-Convert is a website that helps you to convert your file to another file type; in my case, from an .odt document to a .doc document. It’s a real breezy process too.

1. You just browse for the document that you want to convert.
2. Select the type of the original document (or you can leave it at automatic detection).

3. Then select your choice of output file type.
4. And then click OK.
5. Click Continue on the File Info page.

6. After successful conversion, choose either to download the file in converted file or a zip file.

You can even try to convert movie file types from one type to another, although I suspect that’s gonna take a long time for the whole process. You’ve got to upload it, then they will convert it and then you will need to download it again. It’s probably alright to convert sound or audio files, images, and also text files because of the file size.

Other than doing a file conversion, you can also use Media-Convert capture Website Screenshots and also use it to convert files directly from a given URL. You can also host files with Media-Convert for file sizes up to 150MB.

Another service that you can use is the Send File to Mobile function. You can just upload a file onto the website’s server and then it will return an address for you (or the intended recipients) to download the file via WAP or GPRS on their phones.

I’ve tried converting an .odt file to a .doc file and also a .pdf file to an .rft file. No more worries about getting the right software and the right plug ins or extensions anymore! It’s probably useful if you are stuck in the compute labs or the cyber cafe and you can’t view your files. And if you are, go to Media-Convert now to view your files!

You are using the PC at the computer lab in your college or university and someone sent you a picture that you really like, well, except that there is this idiot in the picture that you would like to cut out before you post it up in Facebook. Let’s face it, it’s a PC in the computer lab, what are the odds that this particular PC will have some simple image editing software? 50% chance? 10%? Or none at all?

Well, it’s not an uncommon situation to be in. To be honest, it happened to me a few times before, but it was my own laptop that has no image editing software. To be fair, I just format the machine and had no patience to download anything via a 56k modem.

But fret no more! Don’t bother with looking and downloading a software off the Internet just to edit a few photos. You can just edit them online.

There are a few image editing websites on the Internet now, and most of them are free of charge too! One of them is Phixr.

Phixr is one of Internet’s most used image editing site. They have a very simple layout and the design of the website made it easy to use too. You can upload a photo from your computer or transfer your photo directly by entering the link of you photo onto the form.

After the photo is uploaded, it will be displayed to you with a few menu buttons that you can use to edit your image. The options provided include photo rotation and also flip, crop and scale, change the picture to black & white or sepia, equalize the colors, brightness adjustments, add texts and speech bubble and a lot more on the website.

You will also be able to undo and redo the changes that you make to your photo. After you have finished with editing you photo, you will have the option to download and save you photo in a few picture formats i.e. the jpeg, png, gif, pdf and also ocr (text format).

If you do not want to download or save your picture, you can also opt to upload the edited photo to your image hosting server or email the picture to yourself or to your friends and family.

I think the best thing about Phixr is you don’t even have to register or login to use the image editing tool. I mean you can choose to login but if you are lazy (like me), you won’t even need to bother. I don’t know about professional image editing capabilities (I’m not a fancy image editor myself), but you can do almost ALL of the basic effects that you can think of at Phixr.

No Download. No Installation. No Login. No Payment Needed. Simply Use It!

Now, we all know about the licensing agreement that we have to agree to whenever we want to install a program right? It’s some long winded statements that tell us what we can’t do with the software and how we can be persecuted if we do this and that to the software. I don’t know precisely what it contains because I just never did have the time to bother to read them. I see a tick box and I ticked it, and then I press ‘Next’. Easy.

Well, looks like the malware and virus authors are lining up side by side with those legitimate software authors and companies with their licensing terms. They are now protecting their rights to their virus codes as well. Who would have thought? What an honest thing to do!

According to the news at wtopnews.com, there are professional virus authors out there that are selling a suite of software on the Internet with a highly unusual attachment; a detailed licensing agreement that promises penalties for redistributing the malicious codes without permission.

Okay, let’s take a step back now. If I were someone who wants to release a virus into the World Wide Web, what are the chances that I’d follow the agreement that came along with it? Will I or Won’t I?

The malware that came with the licensed agreement is a virus that infects computers to gain remote access to the computers. These computers will then be turned into ‘zombie’ computers and will be known as the bot nets. And apparently the authors put the following licensing terms (in Russian) in the software:

The Client:
1. Does not have the right to distribute the product in any business or commercial purposes not connected with this sale.
2. May not disassemble / study the binary code of the bot builder.
3. Has no right to use the control panel as a means to control other bot nets or use it for any other purposes.
4. Does not have the right to deliberately send any portion of the product to anti-virus companies and other such institutions.
5. Commits to give the seller a fee for any update to the product that is not connected with errors in the work, as well as for adding additional functionality.

And apparently, if the user violates any of the terms as above, the virus author will then report them (the user, not the author) to the antivirus company with the information on how to dismantle the user’s bot network and how to prevent it from getting bigger.

Needless to say, none of the antivirus companies have ever received any reports similar to the threat. It’s easy to threaten the users, but I don’t really see how the virus authors would make real of their promises. More salt on the authors’ wound, apparently the software is freely traded online. No justice for the virus coders?

A Chumby is a small little Linux computer built into a cushion. Yes, that’s what it looks like. Chumby is made to provide its users with Internet and LAN access via a Wi-Fi connection. It is actually a small touch screen inside a bean bag. If it’s not for the screen, it might even look like a bean ball. It also functions as an alarm clock to wake you up in the morning. And it does look like an alarm clock.

The Chumby Alarm Clock

Chumby has a 3.5 inch touch screen. Even though it is small, the screen is bright enough for easy reading. And then at the back of the Chumby, you can find the USB ports, the power jack, earphone jack and the on/off button.

The main feature of Chumby (other than it is a cute and cuddly mini computer) is the widgets that you can program into the Chumby. These widgets are the little applications that you set into your Chumby to do the things that you want it to do. It is kind of like Facebook and it’s applications.

There are 3 ways you can get those widgets into your Chumby; you can either ‘chumby’ it off your friends, program it yourself or download from the 500++ in 29 categories Chumby widgets available on its official website.

To use it, you can just plug in your Chumby, connect to your wireless network and then choose from your list of widgets, what you would like to do with it. There are many kinds of fun and interesting widgets to choose for your Chumby, ranging from news to games, and from videos to stock quotes.

Rear a dog inside your Chumby !!!

You can even play your iPod with your Chumby. All you have to do is to connect your Chumby and your iPod using the iPod charge or sync cable and then choose the music player widget from the Chumby to play your music.

The Chumby is currently selling for about $180 on its website, in the US but I wonder if I can get it in Malaysia.

Chumby Specs:
• 3.5″ LCD color touchscreen
• Two external USB 2.0 full-speed ports
• 350 MHz ARM processor
• 64 MB SDRAM
• 64 MB NAND flash ROM
• Stereo 2W speakers
• Headphone output
• Squeeze sensor
• Accelerometer (motion sensor)
• Leather casing
• AC adapter included
• Wi-fi connectivity
• Access to the free Chumby Network
• Over-the-air software updates

From here

What it can do:

• Catch the latest news headlines, sports, weather, stock prices.
• Play iPod® mp3 and m4a files through built in speakers. Charge it too. (Not currently compatible with Apple iPhone, iPod Touch or 6th generation iPods.)
• Enjoy your Flickr and Facebook photos as a digital picture frame.
• Stay updated on new Netflix releases or view your movie queue.
• Make and share e-greetings, photo mash-ups, goofy animations.
• Wake up to the multi-tone alarm clock.
• Track any eBay auction or Craigslist items.
• Monitor incoming email on any POP3 account.

From here

The little Chumby in your life

I bet that picture caught your interest. Who doesn’t want to get a free Windows yeah?

Now, before you go and search Microsoft’s website for a free edition of their their ‘over the top expensive and fairly new’ Operating System, you might just want to finish reading this article first. You just might change your mind about switching to Vista.

Have you ever wondered why every initial release of a Windows is never the best in quality and is always full of bugs? Now you can see what Windows Vista is clearly made of.

Some of you might have seen this lingering around the Internet, but I am pretty sure there are some who have yet to see this.

I saw this yesterday night and thought I’d share it with you guys.

Some people didn’t think that this was funny, but I not only thought it was a ‘bull’s eye’, it was a work of a genius.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Disclaimer : Just in case, this is a joke.

With the torch relay event just graced us last Monday, the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 is seems to be what people are talking nowadays. It is a hot topic in the kopitiam, on the television news, in the newspapers and of course, the ever reliable Internet. But the games is hardly what’s on everyone’s mind. It is the Pro-Tibet / Pro-China protests that are all over the news, sharing the limelight with the biggest sports event this year.

If you have yet to hear about these protests, or the Beijing 2008, I have to ask you this, which cave have you been hiding in? In a nutshell, Pro-Tibet groups have used this year’s Olympic Games opportunity to create awareness and to give pressure to the Chinese Government to free Tibet from its choking hold.

This article will not describe more about these protests but instead will concentrate on the latest news on Internet Security. Since hackers and Internet criminals always rely on the Internet trends of the moment to execute their illegal scheme, they have now chosen the China / Tibet controversy to target their victims and wreck havoc on the Internet.

Catching up with the news of the moment, the hackers knew that the Internet users will most definitely be interested to read news regarding the China / Tibet updates. With this in mind, they proceed to spam users’ inbox Internet-wide with emails containing false news about the protests but with a virus attached to it.

This virus or malware is called the ‘Fribet’. Emails with subject headings like, ‘Free Tibet’, ‘Proof of Tibetan Abuse’, and other similar varieties are being sent out to Internet users around the world, with a piece of a flash movie called the ‘RaceForTibet’ and of course , hidden from view, the ‘Fribet’ Trojan attached to it.

When the users’ click to download and play the short clip, the ‘Fribet’ will be downloaded onto the users’ computers and then it will install a keystroke logger onto the infected computers and transfer the stolen data to a server in China.

TechNewsWorld revealed that the ‘RaceForTibet’ is actually a short animation clip that showed a Chinese gymnast and some free Tibet images, and was initially sent out to Internet users’ on pro-Tibet groups’ mailing lists. And then the emails were unknowingly forwarded to more Internet users that might just include you and me. So if you have seen this clip, do run a virus-scan on your computer as soon as possible.

Fribet is also able to embed itself in hacked websites, and then download itself onto the website’s visitors’ computers. This Trojan has already attacked a few of the pro-Tibet websites, so users have been warned to not only expect this Trojan in their inbox but should also to be extra cautious when clicking on links to download executable files.

The F-Secure website also reported that emails with malicious attachments other than the ‘Fribet’ were also sent out to target members of the pro-Tibet groups. The Trojan from these emails will open a back door on the infected computer, and thus allowing the attacker to remotely access the data on the computer.

Examples of the attached files:

taken from here

Do keep a look out on these file names, so you won’t be unlucky enough to have your computer infected with a virus. It is very hard to avoid these viruses but we can definitely do our best to try. Update your virus definitions regularly, do not open emails from unknown senders and remember to scan any files that you have downloaded from the Internet.

We cannot control the fate of Tibet but we can definitely help our friends and families by not accidentally spreading any viruses to the people on our contact lists. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

I love travelling. I like going to see new places, experience new cultures. But I absolutely loathe flying. All the fuss about turning up at least 2 hours early at the airport, the check-in queue, the security checks, the queue to get to your seat, the babies crying, and the list goes on and on and on. Why do we put ourselves through this kind of torture? Is the destination even worth it?

Well, if you think the list is bad, you can add another ‘Things you don’t look forward to when flying’ onto it. Last Monday, the European Commission had introduced a new rule regarding mobile phone usage on the aircraft while it is airborne. Yes, you heard it right. They had finally relented and said ‘Yes!’ to passengers who wants to use their mobile phones during the flight.

Before this new regulation was approved, mobile phones were strict ‘No-no’ as soon as the passengers board the plane. Mobile phones were prohibited from being used on any flights, for fears that it could interrupt the navigation system and land the plane in a technical fault. And unfortunately for me, I vaguely remember a movie in which the navigation system on the plane was disrupted by a mobile phone signal. Paranoia, I know.

Anyways, for the new regulations to work, the European Commission reported that the passengers’ phones will be connected to the network through an on-board system (called the Pico cell). The calls are not allowed to be connected to the ground towers directly. Instead, the on-board system will route the calls to the satellite and in turn the satellite will then send the signal to the ground towers. Calls are also only allowed when the plane is at the height of at least 3000 metres. The calls will also be charged at International Roaming rates and for now, only 2G calls will be supported.

One good news though (at least for now), the European Commission is only implementing the rule over the European sky, and not worldwide, yet. Thank goodness for that! The European Commission has also given the 27 EU countries 6 months to comply with the new regulations.

One of the European airlines, Ryanair, has apparently agreed to abide to the regulations and knowing Ryanair (they are a budget airline like AirAsia but probably 100 times bigger and more successful than AirAsia), they will probably charge the passengers for using their own mobile phones on the flight. In mid-air, nothing is free with Ryanair.

With the new regulation in force, the airlines will eventually face a few problems. The first one will be the tranquillity (if you don’t count crying babies) during the flight, especially long-haul flights. I doubt that the person sitting next to a chatterbox would want to hear his next-seat neighbour’s voice for the entire flight. Will they introduce a quiet zone for those who wish to sleep the entire journey? It will be just like the smoking and non-smoking sections in the restaurant.

Then there’s the cost of the call. Should it be charged at International Roaming rate? And what rate will that be? Which country? Everyone wants to make a profit in this; the airline, the network provider, the country, so no doubt the calls will be much more expensive than a normal International Roaming call. Will this put passengers off making the call? I sure hope so, I have enough of aerophobia to last me a life time of flying. I do not need to worry about mobile phones bringing down the plane.

I really do not know why people would want to talk on their mobile phones during the flight. What could be so important that they cannot wait to make the call until the aircraft has landed on the runway and they are in the terminal building? Then there are those bozos that do not have the need to make a call but will do so just because it is a new thing. I can almost hear him now, “Yeah, they allow us to use mobile phones in the sky now.” For all we know, this could be another gimmick by the telecommunication operators trying to make more money by introducing this feature on the plane. In fact, I’m pretty sure that is the case.

The implementation of this regulation would probably be made in June 2008. If all goes well, the rest of the world would follow in Europe’s footsteps. Next, we probably would have power plugs on our arm rest for charging our mobile phones. And Ryanair will charge us GBP5.00 for 5 minutes of charging time. Or, even better yet, Internet in the sky! Now, for that, I wouldn’t mind flying.

Read the full article here:
The Horror at 37,000 Feet: EU Allows In-Flight Cell Phone Use.

Let’s check out what I brought back from the fiesta. Today, we don’t talk about tech, Streamyx broadband, Internet, make money online, etc OK?

First, say “hi” to the God of prosperity. Wish him Happy New Year and he will make sure your 2008 is filled with abundance of wealth and good health!

The emcee for the event. She was beautiful and very cheerful.

The God of prosperity gave angpows and oranges to the children. After that the stage was taken over by the Chinese acrobatic stunt show. What’s unbelievable was that it was performed by a pair of old folks! They could be a couple, although I wasn’t too sure about that.

Some of the tricks they performed include the above head balancing action which won applauses from the audience.

The above trick was pretty amazing too. You need very quick and trained hands and eyes to do something like that. Basically, he balanced not one, but 8 spinning bowls on 8 bamboo sticks! This had really got the audience on their feet!

After that we were really delighted to enjoy some great Chinese songs and dances from some children dressed in beautiful new year costumes.

Look at the concentration and dedication this girl showed! Glad she didn’t put the microphone into her mouth… haha…

Fan dance is a must for a fiesta like this. This girl performed gracefully… I just had to snap a picture of her to show you.

Next up was one of the most anticipated event, which was the Mandarin oranges eating competition. Each participating group had to finish the given oranges, and those who finished first win some great hampers. Some participants were seen galloping the oranges like he had just been released from a prison! Haha…

This uncle didn’t win anything because he was too steady… he took his time with the oranges. Uncle, let me participate next time. Sure win one!

Angpow dip. On such a merry occasion, Bukit Hitam Development, the developer of this township decided to share its wealth with the audience. Some lucky people walked away happily with some red packets filled with cash! Too bad I wasn’t called to go onto the stage to collect a red packet.

Anyway, do enjoy the following video!

There, that’s Timothy Tiah, aka Boss Stewie! Girls, he’s still available… It’s not usual for me to put a big portrait photo on my blog, but I do it now because I hope by doing this he will send some big paying advertisers to my blog… haha, I want to make big money online also!

And that’s Boss’ partner. Don’t tell me you don’t have good advertisers for me and only show your company’s logo on my blog, OK?

In the 25 finalists list, notice Paddy (Blog2u.sg founder) is also there? I wonder what happen to Josh of Advertlets?

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