Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011
January 1st, 2011
1. Goodbye MSN, hello GTalk.
2. Goodbye iOS, hello Android.
3. Less Facebook, more Twitter.
4. Goodbye procrastination, hello completion.
5. Goodbye layback, hello motivation.
Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011
January 1st, 2011
Chrome OS Experience #2
December 20th, 2010
As a programmer, I work long hours with the computer. I work best by having some music while I do my computer work.
My favorite radio station in the US is NPR (SCPR/KPCC). I listen to it everyday when I commute to/from work. Sometimes I continue to listen to it when I arrive at my desk.
As a Hong Kong native, I love to listen to RTHK and CRHK. I can listen to both of these stations through streaming over the Internet.
NPR, RTHK, and CRHK are all available to listen through any media players in the computer, such as Windows Media Player, Real Player, or VLC. So when I am surfing the Internet with the Chrome OS, I am out of luck running these media player because I cannot install any of these programs.
Luckily for NPR, they already develop a browser friendly web application called NPR Webapp. I can listen to any radio program on NPR with just my browser or Chrome OS device.
Unfortunately for RTHK and CRHK, they do not work well with Chrome OS.
RTHK radio programs stream through Windows Media player and Real player. Although RTHK gives another option on using Octoshape, it still cannot be installed on Chrome OS due to the lack of Octoshape plugin support.
The problem RTHK on Chrome OS goes the same with CRHK. CRHK cannot be streamed through Windows Media player nor Real player on Chrome OS. The HKToolbar by CRHK does not even support Chrome browser, let alone Chrome OS. I really dislike the HKToolbar, but it is not the focus on this post, I might say more on future posts.
So, there you have it. NPR stations works well on Chrome OS. Both of the major radio stations in Hong Kong do not work well with Chrome OS at this point.
Chrome OS Experience #1
December 19th, 2010
First off, among the important feature I look for an OS. Its ability to type Chinese.
That is what I did when I play with my wife’s OS X and my Ubuntu.
The language setting in the Chrome OS is under [Settings] -> [System] -> [Customize Languages and Input].
In there, you can add different languages to your need. For my preference, I choose “Chinese (Traditional Hans)”.
The “Chinese (Traditional Hans)” has three input method.
1. Chewing.
2. Cangjie.
3. Quick, or call Simplified Cangjie.
Switching between different inputs are seamless. From English to Chewing to Cangjie to Quick are using Alt+Shift key or Ctrl+Space by toggling the last input. For example, while I am typing in English, I can use Alt+Shift to change to Cangjie. I can switch back to English by Ctrl+Space. I think this can be done better and I will discuss about this at the end of this entry.
The Cangjie and Quick input screen is the same as you input in Chrome on a Windows machine. There are no floating input bar. The Cangjie keys are displayed on the input box. Nice and smooth. I have not run into any input problem so far.
Going back to the shortcut key on toggling the input method. I think it can be done better.
Right now I have Cangjie, Quick, and English input setup on the OS.
The sequence is the following:
[English] [Cangjie] [Quick]
So when I am typing English and switch to Cangjie, I hit Alt+Shift. If I want to switch back to English, I will hit Ctrl+Space because Ctrl+Space is to move back to the previous input. When I switch to Quick input from English, I will hit Alt+Shift twice, but when I want to go “back” to the English input, I will have to hit Alt+Shift this time because it will go to the next input method, which is English. So the experience is not intuitive to me.
I think the better way is to use Ctrl+Space to toggle between different language input and use Alt+Shift to switch input method in different language.
Or, maybe it is just my problem…
Chrome OS
December 18th, 2010
I just receive a laptop code name Cr-48 from Google that runs Chrome OS. If you do not know what Cr48 is, you can read it here. If you want to learn more about the Chrome OS, you can read it here.
I will blog about my experience with the Chrome OS. My review will not be about the Cr-48 laptop. It will be my experience with the Chrome OS itself.
Stay tune.
Facebook: Visualizing Friendships
December 13th, 2010
Facebook engineering team just release an image on how the world of the Facebook users connect to each other in the world.
The image is beautiful and you can see it here.
You can see on the right hand side of the map does not look familiar. Most of you probably knows why. If you still do not understand what I am talking about, just compare the map from the Facebook map to the real map.