T this moment I am delivering a series of 4 one-to-one demos to prospective Ph.D. students. This occupies my morning and afternoon and I must admit that I quite enjoy it. I still remember the day when it was me whose ‘role’ was a student awaiting interviews and seeing some astounding demos. Once you grow to fit the very same shoes that you admired, it all seems somewhat worthless nonetheless. That, I suppose, is simply the way of life as the nature of progression. Below is a presentation that I primarily use to reflect on work that I do at present. I re-use this internal talk from earlier this year:

Early 2005 Presentation – Ph.D. Students Talks

• HTML without videos
• HTML with videos

Presentation from April this year
UCL, London

Bill Gates arrested in his younger days (photo in public domain)

HE O/S industry continues to worry me. As a recent item suggests, if not practically reveals, Microsoft makes Windows-powered Dell computers cheaper than blank hard-drive computers, probably by subsidising hardware under the table.

This leads me to recalling a progmatic Ballmer reference to a $100 PC, possibly relying on kick-backs, lock-ins, steering of users towards MSN filled with adverts, not to mention extortionate Microsoft Office licences. When costs for hardware are being covered, it can be perceived as illegal practice if not bribery, which led to anti-trust lawsuits in the past. Software suffers the most from such legal loopholes due to (1) ‘duplicability’ and (2) compatibility, which make software different from most physical world analogies. Rules must adapt immediately to prevent a closed-circuit whereby competition is denied access.

If you are using Windows, be aware that 9 more vulnerabilities have been discovered today (check your favourite newsletter’s headlines for more details). Additionally while on the subject, Microsoft may soon be able to cash in on its own critical bugs, which is by all means outrageous.

OR the sake of some short comical relief, use this neat on-line tool to generate cyborg-like images from your first name.

Shown below is the image that got bound to “Roy”.

Other fun tools worth mentioning:

• Polaroid Images
• Name Popularity

ARLY this morning I bought iuron.com. The host was admirably rapid in its automated response and setup. Subsequently, after just minutes since the purchase I was able to access the domain (DNS was up-to-date already) and initialise things, e.g. content, passwords, customised error pages, siteinfo.xml, robots.txt, favicon.ico, etc.

In the intermin I created a site/project logo using The GIMP. It took me roughly 10 minutes to produce the compact GIF version, of which I keep a non-lossy version (bitmap) as often required.

A detailed but not yet comprehensive proposal is bound to go public in the brand-new domain soon. The specifications are not public and are password-protected for the time being. Let the title and excerpt give you a rough indication of where the project is headed. I am yet to seek funding opportunities so many more details are (hopefully) soon to follow.

The least hideous photo snatched by my sister
(against my will, I am urged to point out)

INCE I rarely post items about my personal life, I decided to make an exception today. On my very recent vacation, I taught myself a valuable lesson in bowling — a lesson that cost me an entire game that was filled with gutter balls and oddities. It was a game of exploration and experimentation.

I decided that I wanted to master ball curling, thus hitting the pins much like the pros while spinning the ball elegantly. This ended up far more successfully than I had imagined and I would like to share tips based on my amateur experience.

• Firstly, I count my steps (approximately 4) as I walk backwards to identify a good starting position, ensuring that I throw as my left foot stomps forward
• I approach the track by treading across the left side rather close to the gutter. This turns out to be helpful as I am right-handed, hence I must spin to the left
• Bending of the wrist gives the ball its spin. The grip with the ball is rather steady when the wrist is perpendicular with respect to the forearm. I was once told that by a childhood friend who played in the leagues.
• The ball must be thrown in a sharp angle so that it nearly collapses onto the right gutter. Otherwise, it may spin to the left too early.
• To give the ball little time to travel before it changes direction, the throw must be fast. The speed also gives extra power, which is crucial.

My main problems were often too much of a spin or reluctance to let the ball approach the gutters. It is simply adverse to instincts. Ultimately, I managed to consistently hit the pins at almost 30 degrees (towards the end of the track) and I had almost no gutter balls. As bowling is very repetitive, I need more experience. Nonetheless, I hit a few admirable strikes and spares that day, all of which involved a sharp spin and very powerful impact.

Up until a week ago I hit the pins by chucking the ball straight down the middle. At the age of 16 or thereabouts I hit 140+ at my best. Without hitting the pins diagonally it is rather hard to achieve high scores. I look at my transition to the spin as a form of long-term ‘investment’. I also find it much more rewarding to practice and for others to observe.

As a sequel to my previous reference to Linux-powered tablets, it is worth mentioning the Nokia 770.

When the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet hits the streets in the coming weeks, it will mark a technological milestone for the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer. The tablet not only is Nokia’s first non-voice Wi-Fi device, but it also runs on the Linux operating system (OS).

To me, this seems like an excellent (yet more expensive) replacement to Palm handhelds. Palm have recently lost their direction and their commitment to Linux appears to have been crippled.

Many on-line services incorporate RSS feeds these days. Briefly observe, for instance, the vendor-specific feeds management for this Web log.

It turns out that Google have joined that game with what they call Google Reader. GReader is bound to deliver quite a lot given what we know about Google engineers and their love-affair with Web applications (more latterly videos).

For feeds, I am still using RSSOwl (JRE, hence inter-operable), of which I am a tester. I am also a tester of the Web-based, AJAX-rich Feedlounge (screenshot below), but admittedly I never contribute immensely as a tester. I use RSSOwl (screenshot below) almost exclusively. I am rather loyal to RSSOwl though I occasionally take Feedlounge for a short spin. Feedlounge is somewhat irresponsive, is still in its testing phases, facing an uncertain future and boasts commercial aspirations.

Feedlounge in action

RSSOwl back in April (click to enlarge)