August 2004 Archives

While I was in the middle of work this morning, my mobile phone rang.

It was a lady who said she was calling from Macromedia. She noted that I had attended a seminar before and asked if I could update my contact details. Sure, I said.

She asked if I was still with Fynch, the dotcom company I used to work at. I said no and gave her my new company's name.

She then asked if my work email address was still xxx@fynch.com. I was slightly surprised at that question, because if I no longer worked at my old company, why would I retain my old address? Anyway, I gave her my new email address.

Then she asked me if I had purchased any 'Micro-Media' software lately. I became more suspicious.

"Micro-Media? You mean Macromedia??" I cut in. How could she not even know the name of the company she claimed to be working for?

"Oh yes, Macromedia," she said hastily. She proceeded to ask me what software I had purchased from Macromedia.

"Waitaminute. If you're working for Macromedia, wouldn't you guys have my software registration details??" I was starting to get annoyed. No time-share apartments for me, thank you!

(To clueless or non-Singaporean readers, we sometimes get phone calls from people associating themselves with a company you've registered with before. The phone call usually ends up as a sales pitch for an unrelated product.)

"My company is working on behalf of Macromedia," she clarified, sounding less sure of herself. But she probably wasn't an imposter because she did have my old details and the name of the seminar I last attended. It was highly unlikely that a company like Macromedia would sell customer names to third parties (I did however have an entirely different experience with a local supermarket chain).

I decided this lady had probably never heard of Macromedia until this task was assigned to her. And I figured Macromedia probably hadn't quite integrated their software registration database with the local seminar attendance records, and all they gave this agency was the latter.

So I decided to be nice and answered the rest of her questions. And no, she didn't try to sell me anything new. *Growl*

Thanks, folks, for your advice on configuring AirPort Express.

I tried many things, eventually disabling DCHP. Another thing which may be of note was that I set up a new wireless network between the AirPort Express and my G5. I am not sure exactly what did it, but the combination of my random tinkerings enabled me to play music 1) on my computer speakers, which I disconnected from my G5, and subsequently 2) in my bedroom. However, the living room was too far away to receive anything. Which was a shame because that's where our best speakers are.

1) The computer speakers played back music louder than when they were connected to my G5. Despite the AirPort Express being plugged into a socket right next to my G5, I could tell there was a split-second delay when I switched songs, stopped or played a song, or adjusted the volume. Not a big deal - it sounded fine. The AirPort Express didn't flash green though - just blinked orange. Strange, no?

2) Maybe it's the layout of our maze-like apartment but the reception wasn't that hot in my bedroom, as the powerpoint was behind a big shelf. iTunes/AirTunes found and connected to the AirPort Express; the music played, but it sounded like it was tuned into a radio station that was 0.5 points off the mark. So I used the alternative power extension cord that came with the cable set, pulling out the AirPort Express so it could have better reception. It worked. Similarly with my computer speakers, the sound was conspicuously louder.

The only thing is, now my Internet connection isn't working, despite re-connecting my ethernet cable to the router (in the futile hope that my G5's AirPort card could talk to the AirPort Express, while at the same time the ethernet cable connection would allow me to surf the Net). Numerous router restarts, G5 reboots, renewals of leases, and a re-enabling of DCHP didn't work. I'm only a beginner at networking and the crappy AirPort Express instruction manual doesn't help. The only consolation is that I know I'm not alone.

Many more late nights to come...

[Update: I read my D-Link manual again, and reset my Primary DNS address to 0.0.0.0. Now I'm back on the Net via the ethernet cable, and I'm still able to stream music to my bedroom stereo system via the AirPort connection. (Thanks particularly to Jamie for the detailed advice, which I will use later to fine tune the system.)]

I bought an AirPort Express last evening. Hurrah. But after a brief moment of detection (its presence was initially picked up by my G5 which has an Airport card), it could not be located again. This happened after the AirPort Express rebooted, which is how the installation process was supposed to work.

Up to this point, I was elated. Then I realised no sound was coming out from my stereo system. Then I noticed it was flashing orange, meaning it was no longer detecting any network.

A few complicating factors: Our D-Link wireless router was assigned the name 'default'. Later on I realised another wireless network with the same name had been detected as well. It could have been another neighbour's network - he could have just restarted his router or something.

So to be safe I renamed our network, renewed the lease on our wireless router (is that the right thing to do?), set my G5 to log on only to our newly-renamed network, and reset the Airport Express a couple of times, hoping to start again with the setup process. But it was still unable to connect to our network.

According to the manual (which I found barely useful as it only skimmed through all possibilities of connections), a steady green light meant the signal was picked up. It's been perpetually flashing orange, which means there is no signal pickup, i.e. it is out of range.

But even when I plug it into a power socket literally INCHES away from my G5, or into another socket two feet below our D-Link router, it flashes orange! 'Out of range', my foot. And plugging a network cable into it at the same time doesn't help either. At most, it glowed green for a few seconds, then went back to orange.

One possible theory is that my D-Link wireless router and the AirPort Express may have the same IP address, thereby causing some sort of conflict. I have no idea to find out if this is true.

I won't have time to figure everything out until next week, so if anyone has any prior experience with this sort of problem, your advice would be deeply appreciated.

It was delicious too! Filled with curry potatoes in the middle. Mildly spicy sauces (negligible by my Peranakan standards, really).

You love Macs. You use one at home. It runs on OS X, which is a breeze to use and a sight to behold. But over at the office, everybody uses drab PCs. Staring at the screen eight hours a day makes you want to explode. You feel that your productivity and creativity is slowly being whittled away. What do you do? You customise*!

1. Replace the Windows taskbar with ObjectDock. (Not advised for slower PCs. Also, stick with the free version. ObjectDock Plus looks like the product of some geek who tried too hard.)
2. Visit WinCustomise and re-theme your desktop.
3. Download some nice, Aqua-ish icons from sites like this.
4. Smooth your fonts by activating ClearType (Works in Windows XP. Fool-proof instructions for XP users.)
5. Download and install the OS X font set on your system

WindowsX looks like an interesting customisation site but the download link was broken. Maybe it got pulled by Apple. Contribute your customisation tips and links by leaving a comment!

*Warning: Not to be implemented in contravention of draconian IT security policies. Not a complete substitute for a real Mac.

Mixed happiness is watching the ever-so-hot Alan Smith score a spectacular goal... for Manchester United.

But frankly, despite all he's done for Leeds, he does deserve better than playing for a relegated team with a glorious past.

And with usual first picks Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha out of the action, now's the time for Smithy to shine.

ps. I hadn't checked out the Guardian in ages and look what I found - football funnies!

I decided to make use of a Borders gift voucher, and picked up a few titles this evening. Worthy of mention are the screenplay of Love Actually (which I've just finished reading), and Lawrence Lessig's latest book, Free Culture: How big media users technology and the law to lock down culture and control creativity.

I will probably take a much longer time to finish the latter book, and many others I have purchased and left, half-read. We've been living in the apartment for just less than a year, and already I've accumulated half a truckload of books. Good grief.

On Friday I had the privilege of catching the opening night of the play, 'For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again', adapted from the (Canadian) French original and performed by our very own Ivan Heng and Neo Swee Lin. I was not disappointed.

Literary buffs (or at least, former literature students) may experience some deja vu in the opening scene. The transition scenes were taken care of subtly. I particularly liked how the change of fashion and attitudes adopted by both characters indicated a new stage in their lives. I was tickled by Neo Swee Lin's impersonations. And what an ending! Contrary to expectations I did not cry, though I did shed a tear. That's enough. No spoilers from me.

On Saturday night, thanks to the persistence of friends, I did something I usually avoid: Karaoke. I felt as alien in a world of Cantopop as a fish out of water. The only song I knew how to sing was 'Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin' because at least I remembered the tune, if not all the words. However they did let me sing a few George Michael songs so it wasn't too bad.

Which makes me wonder if I am going through a culture shock in my English-only world. My colleagues speak a smattering of Mandarin and English and call me 'pantang' meaning 'potato', which is the equivalent of 'banana' (yellow outside, white inside).

Moreover, this Thursday's Alpha session was unexpectedly conducted in Mandarin because we had two guests who were much more confortable in the language, and they were giving wonderful testimonies to us. Made me wonder who was really learning - us helpers, or the newcomers!

And to top off the end of the week, I sat through nearly four hours of Mandarin and Cantonese songs. Phew! If I keep at this maybe I could bump my D7 grade back to a C6.

In the same fashion as Apple's Switch ads (to the uninitiated, a series of testimonials from ex-PC/Windows users who've left the Blue Screen of Death behind), someone's come up with a Switch ad for registered Republicans who want to vote for Kerry.

Wired has a comprehensive article about this radical political movement. A sample quote from a former Marine:

"We were given these ideas that there were weapons of mass destruction... It was just a lie. That wasn't a proper use of American troops. It wasn't a proper use of my life, or my friends' lives, or the Marines who I've seen die around me."

You can watch his video and other popular Switch ads here. On a similar note, there is also the Diplomats & Military Commanders for Change (DMCC).

Oklahoma judge resigns after getting caught masturbating and using penis pump during trials. I found this particularly funny:

The judge has denied the charges and did not refer to them in his letter of resignation.

"I have greatly enjoyed my public service and offer my gratitude for the public trust reposed in me during the terms I served," he said.

First, Beckham. Then, Owen. Now, Woodgate? What's Real up to, signing up big English names (who IMHO have already reached their peak). But I'm glad Vieira decided to stay where he is.

Mac users may notice I'm no longer using Verdana as the default font on this site ;-) Hope it looks a little smoother now.

The other thing is, this slight modification to my stylesheet has drawn to my attention the difference between how Safari and Mozilla Firefox (running on my Mac OS 10.3.5) renders text.

I noticed this a while ago but thought I might as well note it here: Safari capitalises the 'O' in Vantan.org, presumably in response to my stylesheet's .sidetitle { text-transform: capitalize; } command. The text in Safari appears to be smaller.

Also, Firefox is a little tight on my line height. Either that or my stylesheet's tight. Hmm. Anyway I'm still working on a redesign and waiting for MT3.1, so that'll be all I'm changing for now.

This piece of news is just too exciting to post in my Asides column.

Rumour is that Apple is going to commemorate its 20th anniversary (since it launched its first Mac) with a mind-blowing new product.

That product, says the Register, may very well be a Tablet Mac, because Apple has just filed a patent for a design that looks like a flat iPod or an iBook without the keyboard half.

That would be very interesting, seeing how Steve Jobs once pooh-poohed the idea of tablets, and discontinued the Newton in 1998 despite it having superior handwriting recognition capabilities. To be precise, he said:

There are no plans to make a tablet. It turns out people want keyboards. When Apple first started out, "People couldn't type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this... [Ha ha ha. Laughter, entirely my own. - vantan] We look at the tablet and we think it's going to fail."

"What would Steve Jobs do?" people wonder. Or more exactly, what would we do without Steve Jobs?

It's been a busy weekend. All I can say is, I'm pretty happy with my Airport card :-)

Visitors to Google today may notice this rather delightful tribute to the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

After having dinner with Ally, Paul and little Nate, I walked around Great World City and was inevitably sucked into the Black Hole which I call That CD Shop (because I can never seem to leave, and all my money seems to be going into one).

A sharp-eyed sales assistant spotted me and hijacked my aural attention with some recommendations. After listening to a few good mixes, I decided that buying one or two compilations would be fine.

I listened to a few more CDs on the big speakers.

Then I thought, well, actually three or even four albums would be fine. That would be it. Finito.

Then again there was that new Bebel Gilberto album I was planning to get. Surely it wouldn't count in my quota of four albums, would it?

Oh, and there were even more new compilations I had to listen to. French, Italian, Latin and Punjabi sounds were all calling out to me! The assistant listened to my critiques of each track, and fine-tuned her choice of music for me, so the music just got better and better!

Since it was nearing 11pm I was getting drowsy.

They solved that problem by grinding some beans and making me some decent coffee. They like to do that sometimes.

So after much cajoling and pampering I purchased El Latino, Saint Germaine's Cafe, G Lounge Milano, Latino Beats, and bargrooves al fresco. As well as Bebel's album. I am so glad I'm earning money again, because a good part of it seems to be sucked into That CD Shop (and Apple Centres).

In my defense I did throw back three more imported CDs which I felt were good but beyond my budget.

I got home and to my chagrin, found that most of the CDs were fingerprinted or slightly scratched. I am going back to the shop tomorrow to see if I can exchange them for unopened copies - they've done it for me before without asking questions.

Oh no. That means I might end up buying more CDS from them. What a sneaky thing to do! :-o

[Update: Good service prevailed, folks. They changed my CDs and I got to inspect each one of them. However I found that some of the CDs in fancier packaging, especially those with lots of paper sheets and booklets inside, were slightly 'dusty' - presumably from the folded edges. Also, be careful when opening CDs that have been tested before - sometimes they fall out of the casing when you re-open them, and get scratched. Something to note.

Of course, while I was there, the sales assistant who served me last evening recognised me.

"Oh, hi!! Ready to try some new CDs?" she chirped.

"Noooo-ooo!" I hollered, cringing at the cashier counter, my voice drowned out by thumping music.

They are truly very persistent.]

Visitors to my site on the 9th of August, 2004, +800GMT, should be able to see a Nationalistic version of this website.

Visit the official National Day Parade 2004 website.

Switching to a Mac has been a bittersweet experience so far.

Sweet, because:

• I love my crisp wide-screen display - how all connections are consolidated into one cable which I plug into my G5, which is neat.
• The G5 is so quiet, you hardly realise it's on.
• Mac-compatible hardware and software programs are really easy to set up and uninstall. I'm still not used to dumping an application in the Trash folder - it's almost surreal.
• My computer talks to me.
• Everything looks so good, dammit... what more can I say?

• The rest of the world hasn't quite caught up yet. Meaning that I can't access some applications and services properly.

My case in point today is the Citibank (Singapore) website. When I use their recommended browser for OS X, which happens to be Netscape 7, I can't get past the login page due to some silly Applet not loading. I tried every other browser in my collection (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Camino, Opera) and none of them were able to get past the login page. All have Java enabled. The Mac Operating system already has Java installed. Am I missing out on something here?

I did have more success with Safari, which lets me do everything except view my statements in PDF form. Since I decided to go paperless a long time ago, being able to download my statements this way is of great importance to me.

Citibank has in fact been encouraging customers to switch from paper to electronic statements. I hope they respond to the technical support request I filed, with a working solution.

What's cool: Democratic National Convention speeches by the likes of Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, John Edwards and of course, John Kerry, available for free download on iTunes.

What's not: You need a US credit card to download them.

Bah. Anyone has any better ideas?

Yesterday, two good things happened to me: I signed my new work contract, and Macromedia enabled me to re-activate Studio MX on my new Mac.

Today, I started my new job and things seem to be working out fine, with God's grace. The working hours are humane - I actually get to see the sun when I leave the office! It felt a little strange but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

This will hopefully leave me more time for Macintosh-related activities like music production, and designing new layouts (time to revamp!) on my beloved Studio MX.

Also, my house group (and many other house groups from different churches in Singapore) will be hosting Alpha. If anyone's curious about Christianity, I'd be glad to put you in touch with the organisers.

There are stories going about on how the iPod could pose a security risk. If that's the case, then make lemonade out of lemons, I say!

After viewing a few interesting shareware programs for personal use, I wonder if anyone's ever thought of using the iPod conversely as a mobile security key.

In order to access specific programs or data on a computer, an iPod with pre-installed software codes has to be docked and linked to it, acting as the second half of the jigsaw puzzle. I can imagine countless uses for it. Employees in high-security workplaces could carry iPods about town like any other civilian would. You wouldn't be able to tell these lean mean music machines were keys until you docked them with the right computer and, say, performed a special action on that computer.

To prevent the information from falling into the wrong hands, the iPod's ability to unlock data could be time-sensitive. Also, the key on the computer's side could be slightly modified so that docking with the iPod would no longer trigger a release of information.

Does it sound too much like something out of a James Bond movie to you, or am I making some sense here?

Since Macromedia hadn't replied to my request for technical support, I called their helpline, and after a few attempts, managed to get through.

I learnt that the reason that I was unable to activate Studio MX on my new Mac was because I am not supposed to switch platforms! I first activated the software on my PC, and according to the End User Agreement I am not supposed to transfer my licence onto another platform after that. That was why, even after de-activating Studio MX on my PC, I still could not activate it on my Mac.

Initially the support officer told me I had to purchase a brand new copy of Studio MX 2004 to install it on my Mac. How ridiculous was that! I told him I spent S$1600 on software which I now cannot use. He decided to make an exception for me, and I'm grateful for that. They now want to see my original proof of purchase, but since the receipt's a year old I might have shredded it. Argh! And they will charge me a US$25 administrative fee.

I am just wondering how companies can sell original software in the notorious South-east Asia region, when they make it so difficult for customers who've paid good money for their products to transfer licences! Why do they treat legitimate customers cautiously, when there are thousands of other people who are free-riding on pre-activated, pirated versions of their software? It is preposterous.

[Update: By a small miracle, I actually found my old receipt. But the fax numbers they gave me don't seem to be working. Trying again... Interestingly, the number I called for Singapore support, got me redirected to the Philippines. No wonder the support staff had American accents...]

This article was in our main newspaper today: Green cars are no longer sold in Singapore due to poor sales and lack of sufficient rebates (subject to special order for certain models).

After staying with my grand aunt and grand uncle when I was in California this May, I got to sit in a Toyota Prius 2004 which was nothing but impressive. It was a hybrid car, so you didn't have to charge the batteries, and it was pretty fuel-efficient. It was also amazingly quiet at red lights - you'd think the engine was turned off. Relying on the extra battery in the car, it would switch to fuel-burning mode only when you wanted to go fast.

It also had a clear computer screen where you could view your options and navigate your way using built-in street maps. You could even see a graphical illustration of which parts of the car were being used at the time.

Might I also add that the Prius was equipped with Bluetooth technology, so if you were listening to music on your stereo and your Bluetooth mobile phone were to ring, the music would pipe down and you could listen to the other person talking to you through your stereo speakers?

The Prius was also smart enough to emulate the signals from your garage gate controller. Moreoever, if you had the car key in your pocket, the car would detect your presence and if you placed your hand on the door handle, it would open. However, if you were to walk away and someone else were to try to open the door, it would be locked (this was fascinating though a little confusing at times!).

Briefly speaking: in our little 'technological hub' of a Garden City, there will be no more green cars in Singapore. Brilliant, isn't it?

I certainly hope this new blitz of publicity - better late than never - will convince the Government to rethink how it implements its policies. I for one was planning to switch to a Prius, but simply could not afford one. Considering how much I've earned (which isn't much), and given that one-fifth of my salary each month goes into a Central Provident fund, I calculate that I won't be able to afford a green car for several more years.

I'd think many Singaporeans my age would go for a cheaper, smaller, less fuel-efficient car. Many of us would be busy scrimping up enough money to get married and register for a Housing Development Board flat - who would cough up another S$40,000 or so to save the environment?

On the other end of the spectrum, I'd think that older, wealthier Singaporeans would still prefer flashing their Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs or Lexus(es) about town. For a bit more money, they get so much more power, a bit more leg space, and a status symbol to boot. Why not?

Either way, it doesn't make sense to most of us to buy a green car.

[Note: all links to the Straits Times will expire in seven days after publication]

I was browsing the Mozilla website and couldn't resist trying out Camino, a simple browser designed specifically for OS X. So far so good. Pages and images render pretty quickly, and since they use Apple's interface, all the buttons look like they're straight out from Mac OS X. It also has a Google search bar.

Bookmarks seem to be easier to manage than in Firefox, as I can drag them directly into subfolders, like in Internet Explorer (the only browser NOT to be installed in my G5 thus far) [Argh! The rogues ... they snuck IE in my Applications folder!].

When I hit Apple + T for a new tabbed window, the tabs appear in the centre of the panel, not from the left. They too have the Mac OS X look.

As I'm posting this using Camino, I can tell you that Movable Type 3.0's interface works fine - Bold, Italics, Underline and URL commands function as they should. However, the font size for my entry text fields is definitely smaller than what I'm used to.

While Camino's still in development stage, I'd say Safari has some competition in the Mac-only browser division :)

However, despite all these wonderful new browsers coming of age, I dislike the fact that one of my local banks doesn't allow me to log in if I don't use IE or Netscape for Mac. So I had to install Netscape on my Mac. Then, after installing Office for Mac, I suspect Microsoft threw in IE as well. So I now have Safari, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, IE and Camino. Phew!