How software development works in the real world

Nokia firmware updates - online, anytime!

Nokia's just released a new FREE service to keep your phone's firmware up-to-date. Bravo, Nokia - splendid effort!

Go there now!

In summary:

• Flash-based app
• Minimal support at the moment: N70, N72, 6131, 6630, 6680, 6681, 6682
• Update over-the-air OR via PC/USB (options differ depending on the phone model)

Where do you find tired people?

Excerpt from a Yahoo piece on how sunlight curbs afternoon drowsiness:

Tired people can be found in offices everywhere from the equator, where the sun shines down directly, to the Arctic Circle, where for half the year folks get much less direct sunlight.

Well, we're right smack on the equator! According to this article, we should expose ourselves to some ambient light throughout the day. This supposedly helps to keep us more alert and avoid an afternoon energy slump.

I'll add this to my growing list of mid-day boosters, which includes drinking lots of water, chewing on gum, and aimless surfing on askmen.com

An easter egg under my plastic cup?

Liss pointed out this interesting fact over lunch recently.

Look under your plastic cups, or just about anything made out of plastic. Chances are, you'd probably spot a Recycling Symbol with a number within it. That's known as a Resin Identification Code, and it can vary from between 1 to 7. The number indicates the type of polymer used, e.g. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polystyrene, etc.

While it hasn't changed the world for me just yet, it's good to know that something is being done about plastic recycling. Here's a shot of my favourite plastic cup (it's got Johnny Bravo plastered on it!) - the Resin Identification Code is blurred but it's definitely that little triangle on the right - it's got a number 5 marked within it, which means it's a Polypropylene:



While I'm no where near a specialist in recycling / waste management (thank you, Liss!), here are some good reads to start with:

• All about the complexities of plastic recycling
• All about the Resin Identification Code
• All about the recycling symbol

*p/s: here's another interesting fact - the recycling symbol has got its own dedicated character in Unicode: U+2672. (Now, let's all say WOW to Monday's fact of the day!)

How do I recycle a fried modem?

tipputih messaged me today asking me how to go about discarding her old modem (fried thanks to our tropical weather in Kuala Lumpur). I didn't have a good a answer for this one, and it got me thinking. Recycling hasn't taken off in KL, despite what the authorities may claim. We're still stuck with the worries of cost factors, and a poor level of public awareness.

Here's an interesting fact, thanks to The Malaysian Nature Society:

About half of the garbage generated from household is recyclable, including about 30% from newspapers and waste paper. Nationally, 43,000 tons of plastics, 57,000 tons of paper and 8,000 tons of glass are discarded every month, and all of these are recyclable.

It's got to start at home. Rather than asking where to go about discarding certain things, we should just be able to discard them into our bins, at HOME. The local municipalities ought to factor in the cost of placing these recycling bins in each home - find a way to incentivise the people to use it, and we could be on our way to doing our share for the environment. Whoever's in charge of things, should stop kidding themselves with the idea that public apathy is to blame - definitely not in a capitalist world.

*p/s: I'm not sure how tipputih eventually discarded her modem - it probably ended up in her trash; but then again, who's to blame?

Firefox extensions that rock my world

You've probably read countless blog entries elsewhere on the top must-have Firefox extensions. Well here's what rocks my world:

• Google Toolbar: the spell checker is good enough a reason
  
• MeasureIt: a ruler to measure any web element's height & width
  
• ColorZilla: stop picking colours out of screenshots in Photoshop - this one's a gem
  
• Dummy Lipsum: all the blind text you'll ever need for testing web apps
  
• Live HTTP Headers: excellent for debugging your web apps http traffic
  
• SoThink SWF Catcher: great app to grab Flash (swf) movies of any webpage
  
• Web Developer: a must have for any web developer
  
• Screen grab!: capture an entire webpage and stop piecing it together in Photoshop

Hush: Streamyx tip

Here's a handy tip if you're stuck with Streamyx for broadband. I recently experienced a billing problem which has resulted in the suspension of my account. This prevented my household from going online.

Here's a quick hack - I tried another valid account (e.g. username@streamyx), and it seems to work fine. Well, at least we know it's just a "soft" suspension, and no one's pulled the plugs on my bandwidth.

*p/s: don't shoot the messenger. Until another broadband service provider emerges in KL, I'll endeavour to sort out all billing issues (*sigh*)

Lefties don't like scissors

It was Left-Handers Day on August 13th. While my left-hand was busy lifting beer mugs, I'm sure lots of my fellow lefties would have rejoiced in the fact that we've got a special day for ourselves.

Yahoo Buzz posted an interesting insight that would make any lefty brag about their uniqueness. Eminem, Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts and 50 Cent are all lefties. Oh, and might I add that left-handed men were supposedly better earners, according to another one-in-a-million study (mental note: something to look forward to!)

While lefties are probably geniuses, I suppose righties will always be logical & rational beings. Well, at least the chart below seems to indicate so (source: lefthandersday.com)


Some interesting reads:

• Left-handed on Wikipedia
  
• List of famous lefties
• What's a Southpaw?
• Left-handedness & it's neuro-correlations

I can't smell the smelly smell of something that smells smelly

Yes, you read that right (Thank you Spongebob)

I'm an anosmic. Anosmics cannot detect scents of any kind. Paraphrasing from the Anosmia Foundation: the term anosmia is to smell, as blindness is to sight, or deafness is to hearing.

As far as I know, I have never had a sense of smell. It's never bothered me nor has it caused me any harm thus far. I spent the weekend reading up on this, and was surprised to find out that there was actually a term for it. What really amazed me what the fact that there were lots of others in the world experiencing a similar disorder. I was touched by a thread on Tom Coates's blog (here) which was posted in February 2003. Surprisingly, the comments are still coming in after over 3 years. Each comment is an insight into the experience of others and it's amazing how we share similar experiences. Some are ironic and humourous, and others are simply touching.

In my case, I've never felt depressed about it. However, I've read of cases where people lose their sense of smell mid-way through their life, and fall into a state of depression. It's got to be an awful feeling.

It's funny that we take "our" sense of smell for granted. Being an anosmic, I can only taste the 5 distinctive tastes. I'm missing out on flavour. This explains why I've always had problems distinguishing coffee! Hazelnut & vanilla are nothing but sweet & sweeter to me.

I've never thought of it as a disability. But it's something to ponder about. Having read many articles, I'm a little more cautious of my surroundings now. Safety issues such as gas and petrol leakages tend to bug me, as I'm unable to sense these.

As you can imagine, hygiene is a top priority for me (and possibly, every other anosmic). I'd shower regularly, and apply more deodorant than a sane cow. I also rely on close friends to pick the right cologne - undoubtedly, this is a sweeter experience when I'm out with a loved one.

In some ways I envy those of you that enjoy the sense of smell - after all, it's supposedly 10,000 times more powerful than taste. But I'm just thankful that I've managed to get past my life with the best of my senses so far. Perhaps I'm well-endowed in other departments (positivity rocks!)

Some interesting reads:

• The Anosmia Foundation
• Anosmia on Wikipedia
• Nothing beats laughing it off with a dosage of humour
• Tom Coates on people who can't smell

By the way, Ben (Cohen) of Ben & Jerry's is an anosmic. So was Michael Hutchence of INXS. It's reassuring to know that their disability never prevented them from achieving great success.

LifeLogger is hiring

It's about time we grew our merry band of bandits. Check out the listing over at http://lifelogger.com/jobs. Zap all resumes to jobs@lifelogger.com

We're looking for superheroes to join us on a fulltime basis. Here's a summary of the roles we're looking to fill:

• Application Developers -– Backend (PHP/Python)
• Application Developers -– Frontend (Ajax/Flash)
• Experience Architect
• Database Administrator
• Systems Administrator
• QA Lead
• Copywriter
• Non-exploited Intern

The last one on interns is something new for us. We're a huge believer that talent can definitely by cultivated, but it's passion that matters most. If you share an entrepreneurial spirit, we'd be happy to hear from you. And no, you don't necessarily have to be in school / college for this role - anyone that's looking to try something new or perhaps join in the fun of our weekly releases is more than welcome. We'd try our best to offer a package that suits your level of experience, and hopefully help to guide you towards discovering what makes you tick.

Caveat Lector:

• Wondering if you'd fit in? Check out our LifeLogs: ishsal, dinesh, stanch, spamela, eliza, prashant
• At times, we do have problems determining where to have lunch
• I scan through resumes - the one's that impress me the most are simple one-pagers ;)
• Sign up for a LifeLog before you even think about applying. We're not like Blogger!
  

I'd scream for ice cream too!

Hunter Walk of Google blogged about their secret weapon to beat the recent heatwave in California: specially-made Google ice cream desserts from IT'S IT. I'll make it a point to sample some of this the next time I'm in the Bay Area.

It's a pity we've got very few *real* choices of ice cream in Kuala Lumpur. The biggest chains that I recollect easily include Haagen Daaz, Swensen's, and Baskin Robbins. Gelato is slowly becoming a popular choice for the city folk, so as some other franchises from Australia/New Zealand.

Being an anosmic, I am a loyalist to a few selected brands and flavours (yes, vanilla & butterscotch are nothing but sweet & sweeter to me). If you ever need to please me, let's make it Swensen's Chocolate Peanut Buttercup. Alternatively, I'd be happy to settle for the new Drumstick teased with KitKat:



I'd have to agree with Hunter on ice cream being a secret weapon. For me, it's something I'd retreat to, especially under stressful conditions!

Cheers to a fun-filled Saturday laced with lots of tempting ice cream!

rhbbank.com - glitch on Firefox?

It seems like Firefox doesn't recognise rhbbank.com's index page. This is compounded by the fact that it dishes out a file download prompt (screenshot below)


Moreover, I don't see the downside for RHB to keep rhbbank.com as one of their trusted domains, while mapping / redirecting it to what is now their primary domain name rhbbank.com.my. Instead they've gone with displaying a one-pager that mentions the change of domain names. Even a simple meta refresh / redirect from this message would be sufficient. Or, for the paranoid, how about hyperlinks on the page? (Background: RHB used rhbbank.com as its primary domain name when it first launched, then decided to switch to rhbbank.com.my)


It's obviously Banking Friday for me - if only everything worked!

dig maybank2u.com - yikes!

Why doesn't maybank2u.com resolve to an IP address? It's silly. I can't imagine the problems they must be facing with users of IE6 and possibly other browsers. We're forced to make use of either www.maybank2u.com or the local variant www.maybank2u.com.my.

While I'm not keen on starting a flame war on the deprecation of www, it boils down to usability. Try hitting maybank2u.com on a default install of IE6, and you will be redirected to a search results page. That's just not right for Malaysia's largest bank.

You got me at Hello

Hello. It's my very first post after a long hiatus of scribbling online. So, here's to a more fruitful attempt after procrastinating for far too long (read: weakness!)