pisitch's Xanga

New Blog Is Here!

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:05:23 GMT

As mentioned in the previous blog post a while ago, I had started blogging at my new site at http://trollhattan.blogspot.com. Here are the new functionalities I'd like to feature here:

Slicker UI, nicer fonts, cool theme - just came out of the box from BlogSpot site.
World-class search engine - BlogSpot is owned by google so all a posting is searchable right after they it's published.
Ads are there, but surely not intrusive - Unlike Xanga that shows big ugly ads at the top of any free blog, ads on BlogSpot is customizable. So, I put small ones at the right pane and some at the bottom. When you click, the cut would go to the writer instead of Xanga.
More frequent postings - That blog is going to be my main personal page so more frequent blogging there. Promise!
HTML-enabled comment box - You can include some simple formatting HTML tag in the comments. Also, when you post comment, you can choose to automatically leave your Google ID on there, override the credential by adding your name and web address, or post the comment as anonymous. It's really easy so keep on 'menting, folks!
Integration with Google - Under "What I'm Reading..." section, I added Google Reader widget to share interesting postings from the RSS feeds I checked out several times a day.
Tags - I've tagged all the postings I wrote in there. See on the right pane under "My Tags" section. You can click "cars" to select only postings about cars I had in there, for instance.
All active social-networking buttons - At the right pane, you'll see a bunch of buttons of the social networking sites I'm currently involved in. If you're part of any of those and want me to join your network, just click it.
Amazon item preview and add-to-cart - For a lot of item pictures in the site, you can go ahead and hover your mouse over. The preview, star ratings, and current price from Amazon will appear right away. You can just click the Cart button to add the item into your Amazon cart. I'll get a cut out of the sales you give Amazon too. Feel free to let me know if you want me to split that somehow :P

Moving...

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 14:27:59 GMT

Again, I've decided to switch back to blogging at Google's BlogSpot. The feature I need right now is local blog search which Google has incorporated into BlogSpot pretty well. Also, its integration with Picasa makes it really easy to edit then upload the photos from my trip. Please continue reading...

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Funny Error Messages

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 02:35:03 GMT

This site aggregates all funny error messages you can find on the web (and other electronic devices). Nice list.

Internet is a series of tubes (Update 1)

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 02:20:16 GMT

This is huge. Senator Ted Stevens who is pretty active in pushing a lot of telecommunication and technology policies out just showed his understanding in internet... in public!

No further comments. You must listen to this...

Update: This is what I've been waiting for. Jon Stewart has put this into the Daily Show. Great stuff.

Introduction of the 1st-generation iPod

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 22:12:17 GMT

See the introduction of the product which turned Apple Computer around in 2001. Yes, I'm talking about iPod. People wouldn't believe that a music player can be this big of a hit at that time. That was when other hard drive based MP3 players were so expensive... and ugly (Look at Nomad Jukebox, or whatever it's called. MP3 player without CD but look like uglier and bulkier Discman... What were they thinking???) And people wouldn't think five years ago that Apple brand was going to be perfect for MP3 player landscape. It looked like Uncle Steve could foresee five years right then.

It seems to me from the first place that Apple was trying to get Mac users to get this iPod. However, it goes the other way around now. Based on the miraculous success of this music player, people think that it creates "halo effect" in Apple's product line. A bunch of people said that they want to convert from PC to Mac, after they've owned and experienced iPod.

More interestingly, Apple knows how great it is to lure people using "dumb little [Windows] box" to get on Apple products. The stock price rose from $20, when they opened iPod to Windows late 2003, to $90 when they did 2:1 stock split around mid 2005. And as you know, the stock is still climbing. It peaked at over $80 early this year before became stabilized at about $60-70 right now. I think this is exactly why they opened their Intel-based Mac to Windows. I wouldn't say that their current product line will be able to match the sales of other players like Dell. However, they should be able to significantly grow their 5% of personal computer market share with this. The recent survey shows that 20 out of 100 people would switch to Mac when it can run Windows, comparing to 7 people when I can't. I'm sure and can't wait to see many more innovations from this Cupertino-based company when it takes 10% more of PC market share. This will be exciting.

A side note here about Uncle Steve's product introduction: look at the last minute of the video I posted again. Who would think that he's got 1000 songs in his pocket from the start! That's really clever. I actually saw it first when he introduced iPod Nano. 1000 songs in this little jeans pocket. Listen to the audiences when he pull it out from this small pocket. He's a darn great presenter.

Before Sunset

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:15:42 GMT

I just got a chance to see Before Sunset today. Sure I remember seeing Before Sunrise before which I managed to find the blog post for that.

They were a set of very surreal movies. The sequel came nine years after its predecessor. The characters met again nine years after they first met and promised to see each other again. The same writers were nine years more older. Thus, everything in the sequel, including the look of actors, their conversation, and their perspectives of love, progressed at the same level... so smart and well done.

The movie opened as the guy came to Paris to promote his book about 'that night'. The girl knew that he was coming so she showed up. The first three quarters of this film is like seeing two people catching up which can be a yawn but I found it very entertaining. Then, it continued to its climax in the van and at the place they had their last tea together. (woops... trying hard not to be a spoiler here...) And that ending is just... great. I know that many of you who watched it must have shouted "what the heck..." at the ending like I did but they've told you how it means from the beginning... Very clever man... (no spoiler here!)

Julie Delpy didn't melt me down like in the prequel again. I don't know... maybe she's older and not that cute. Hmm... sorry to my dear reader. Although the movie got much smarter, my post is still kiddy and silly. ha...

Well... I'm just a year and a half older.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:50:51 GMT

There're so many Camries in 100 Mem parking lot... (the beeps when the car is unlocked are more pleasant than that of my little Saab though... which is good)

I Miss Someone...

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 22:30:42 GMT

I miss someone when I worked out at 100 Mem gym...
I miss someone when I jogged across Charles river...
I miss someone when I shopped at Whole Foods on Cambridge St. and saw Starbucks across the street...
I miss someone when I rode the T back from work...
I miss someone when I saw people sailing in Charles river from the balcony...
I miss someone when I saw the key to Edgerton in my key chain...
I miss someone when I chose Ben & Jerry ice cream but had no one to say she didn't like only a single ingredient in that one, so I had to give up...

(this is just when I have no friends here and don't eat out at all... There will surely be a lot more to come.)

I just miss you...

Craigslist Bangkok

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 12:26:12 GMT

I just realized that Craigslist has expanded to Bangkok.

Although not so many people have posted their stuff on this market place yet, this is sweet... Keep up Bangkoker!

Customer Service Nightmare

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 04:01:25 GMT

There was a big news recently about a guy trying to cancel his AOL account but the customer service rep was giving him a hard time. Luckily, he recorded his conversation (which is really hilarious) and posted it on the web. He became net celebrity over night... well not just net... I saw him on CNN this morning and heard that he was on several shows including Today's show.

I just also found out Comcast guy who slept on the customer's couch. How lovely! Not sure if it's real but the companies with big CRM plan and customer service budgets might have to think of revamping their strategy sometime.