There Is An App For That (Yes Really)…

I have been getting quite a number of dm’s on Twitter and a number of im’s asking about how I get by without my weekly dose of anime since I switched all my computers (be it desktops or portables) to offerings by Apple…

My response???

“I haven’t missed any!!!”

You see in Windows, one can watch a 720p soft-subbed MKV video file through the use of video or audio codecs that are readily available for download and easily integrated into a media player of choice…

As most Windows fanboys mostly have tunnel vision, they do not realise that the same codecs are available for OSX…

One such solution is Perian…

It will play anything that you throw at it with no fuss and integrates with the default Quicktime player (no need to download or Media Player Classic)…

If downloading a different player (ala Windows) is your thing, you can consider MPlayer OSX Extended instead…

So remember fanboys, the internet is a dangerous place, especially when you make assumptions…

If you need to ask a question but can’t bring yourself to ask someone, try google…

Tweet

Messenger problems: Cannot sign in, no error code - Windows Live Community

Messenger has been giving me some problems lately as it wouldn’t allow me to sign in on my desktop… It signs in just fine on my laptops and netbooks but it just wouldn’t sign in on the desktop eventhough all the devices were connected to the same network… Strange eh??? Thankfully I managed to find a fix… If you guys are experiencing the same issue, try out the link below and see if it helps…

Messenger problems: Cannot sign in, no error code - Windows Live Community

Humanity Has To Take A Back Seat…

Some technical problems are stopping me from folding properly (the SMP client worked fine in Vista but is giving me some problems in Windows 7) and I have to resort to a GPU client… Hopefully I can find a solution to the technical issues fast…

“Windows Live Writer does not load on start up” issue solved…

A few weeks ago, I was facing some issues with WLW and searching the various forums dedicated to WLW did not seem to yield any solutions and workarounds… However, I was lucky to receive a comment from one of the developers of WLW offering his assistance to solve the issue… 

It was through this interaction that I managed to find out that the issue was caused by a corruption of the Arial type font on my computer, which in turn led to the obvious solution of reinstalling the font… Since that was done, WLW has been working fine… So if you facing some weirdness with WLW, check to see if the fonts on your computer look weird, if they are try to see if reinstalling the fonts work…

Live Writer does not load on start-up

I am so miffed right now!!! Live writer on my desktop is just refusing to run!!! You see the splash screen and then boom… Nothingness!!! I poked around and I found out that several others have encountered this as well…

Live Writer does not load on start-up

Well I’ve tried everything they have suggested and it still doesn’t work… :( What ever will I do??? Do everything (but blog) on my desktop and then turn on a laptop just to use live writer??? There has to be a better way right???

Time To Update…

 

Have you updated your Vista to SP2 yet??? Well no point putting it off… I’m gonna turn on the rest of the laptops in the house and leave em on while I sleep… TATA…

Getting Organized…

After numerous complaints from the wife that it takes her forever to find what she wants on the desktop, I have remedied the situation (to negate future complaints and to give my eardrums a rest) by doing a little spring cleaning…

BEHOLD THE NEW CLUTTER FREE DESKTOP!!!

 

I just hope that it stays that way…

You can no longer access the CD drive or the DVD drive, or you receive an error message after you remove a CD recording program or a DVD recording program in Windows XP/VISTA: "error code 31/39"

Ripping your hair out because your CD/DVD-ROM just vanished from your computer??? At first you think to yourself that the drive just died.. so you’d start sourcing for a usb external drive to replace the void left by your “defective” hardware… BUT windows will say its unable to complete the driver installation!!! Then you will notice that anything CD/DVD-ROM related will not work!!! Then you try to be ingenious and look up what drivers are corrupted and you try to replace them… STILL NO LUCK!!! You start ripping out your hair…NO amount of system restore or reinstallation will help… what you need however is the following knowledge file…

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B314060

 

Just follow the regedit instructions and you should be home free… Now say hello to a redundant usb external drive… NIAMAH!!!

The Hibernate option is not available in Windows Vista

Ever used the disk cleanup wizard and find that your laptop is not hibernating anymore??? Well I had that nasty surprise last night...

It was a total MCB moment when I noticed that the hibernate function was not available, hence closing the lid did nothing except putting my lappie in sleep mode... sleep mode consumes very little power but it still consumes power... So when the juice runs flat, I lose all my unsaved work... NIAMA!!! Good thing I found the fix... Feast your eyes on the magic line that makes it all better!!!

powercfg /hibernate on

The Hibernate option is not available in Windows Vista

Announcement

It has come to our attention that some pre-prepubescent monkeys are of the opinion that we have infringed their creative rights by doing the YTBN show. In response to these highly ludicrous claims, MarauderzMY and Yoroi360 wish to remind these slanderous individuals that the YTBN show pre-dates theirs (27 January 2007 was the date of the pilot episode). Therefore, it would be appreciated if these unfounded claims stop.

The Song Of Silence...

I haven't been using the eeepc much so, its set up is still far from optimal... I have however just figured out how to enable sound alerts in Pidgin... I know you guys must be wondering, "Don't you just go to the tools>preferences>sound menu and click on the enable sounds checkbox???"... Well you guys forget that in linux, the experience is somewhat different... Because in linux the above is not sufficient to enable the sound alerts, what you have to do is set the "sound method" to "Command" and key in the text "aplay %s" in the command box... I'll never take vista for granted again...

Tags: asus eeepc, gadgets, yoroi360, Vista, pay4lei, linux, xandros, pidgin

Tech.Ed SEA 2007...

Tech.Ed SEA 2007 kicked of at the KL Convention Centre today admist all the fanfare and sparklers... too bad the tracks didn't live up to the hype of the opening... Good thing I can look forward to Chan Wei Min's lab, "AJAX for ASP.Net" tomorrow morning... I can safely say that it might be the only redeeming factor for this year's event...

Tags: yoroi360, Vista, tech.ed sea 2007, kl convention centre

Its Finally Done...

After putting it off for the longest time, the house is wi-fi-ed... Setting up the wireless router took less than 5 minutes (as compared to the damn wireless router in Jeanie's house) "Linksys one touch setup" FTW!!!

Arranging the router for optimum placement however, took 40 mins hahahahahahahaha... Ok time to go to sleep... I have along day ahead of me tomorrow...

Note: If you use the configuration cd with Vista you might get an error message that says the OS is not supported... Just press cancel and open up the setup.exe file manually from windows explorer... Note 2: The router interface doesn't seem to have a tab to show a list of all the connected devices and their mac addresses... A minor quibble for something which sets up so easily...

Tags: yoroi360, Vista, gadgets, xbox360, pictures, pay4lei, blog, pc gaming, pocket pc

You Can't Believe Everything You Read...

It goes without saying that you can't believe everything you read (especially on the internet)... Here's a brilliant example...

A couple months ago, I tried using the Xbox Live Vision (XBLV) with my laptop (running Windows Vista Home Premium)... and the installation failed because it was unable to find the drivers for it...

So imagine my surprise when I chance upon a blog that mentions that the XBLV works with Windows Vista!!!

Although I was highly skeptical I decided to give it a go and guess what???






YUP!!! It doesn't work!!! So you can't believe everything you read on the internet... Can you now??? Time for me to write to the blog owner and give him a piece of my mind... Better yet, I'll forward him the link to this post... Thank you Mr BS for spewing your crap all over the net...

Tags: yoroi360, xbox360, Vista, gadgets, idiot, xbox live vision, pay4lei, blog, windows vista, home premium, crap, pictures

Aijoh!!!

Whoever said using a hsdpa connection to surf the web is dumb, should look at the following numbers...

:::.. testmy.net test results ..:::

Download Connection is:: 1223 Kbps about 1.22 Mbps (tested with 1496 kB)

Download Speed is:: 149 kB/s

Upload Connection is:: 356 Kbps about 0.4 Mbps (tested with 579 kB)

Upload Speed is:: 43 kB/s

Tested From:: http://testmy.net (Main)

Test Time:: 2007/08/16 - 9:54am

D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-F7Y9BTOS2

U-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-ESOWPHLC9

User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 3.0.04506; InfoPath.2) [!]

Heck its even better than the broadband connections that some people have at home...

Tags: Pocket PC, gadgets, Vista, yoroi360, pay4lei, blog

On The Road Again (Yes Again)...

Being on the road sucks... BIG TIME... First of all, I'm out of my usual space... then I'm away from all the creature comforts of home... If that wasn't bad enough I have to meet people which I don't enjoy and to top it all off, its a long drive...

However, this trip seems a little more bearable as I have made some provisions in the form of my personal lappie and an unlimited data connection courtesy of my telco (the connection to the lappie is done via usb cable)...

Its a good thing that I brought a pair of usb speakers (Sonic Gear 2GO I-1500) with me, as it allowed me to catch Vacancy (and make the hours pass a wee bit faster)... Although the movie wasn't good, it sure beats sulking in the corner of a small motel...

As fate would have it, I need to cut my trip short... There 2 events in KL which I not only have to attend, but play host to as well... So I'm gonna go back to KL tomorrow evening after the meetings over here to prepare for the event... Its gonna be crazy as there is so much to do and we have not done anything yet... Well in a way I'm glad things turned out like they did... At least I can sleep in my own bed tomorrow night eh??? That's if I have time to sleep...

To make matters worse I am currently under-staffed so its gonna be wild... I have worked my team hard for the past couple of weeks and signs of strain are already showing... I do hope that they can bear with me for a while more... The last thing I need is for one of them to fall sick...

Tags: yoroi360, gadgets, Vista, pay4lei, blog

Why Nick Why???

OMG!!! Have you heard??? Kinky Nicky did the unspeakable (hmmm maybe because of this, I should call him Scary Nicky instead of Kinky Nicky... What do you think???)... Still don't know what he did??? Well he did a one up on MarauderzMY by actually buying a macbook instead of an item from a mac store...

What is wrong with him anyway??? You see I am Asian (or Oriental as some people like to say)... and I use an Acer (its an Asian brand in case you didn't know... Taiwanese I think it is) laptop... MarauderzMY is Asian and he uses a Fujitsu (Japanese) laptop... I think you guys can pretty much figure out where this is going... So why Nick??? Why have you whored yourself to the white man??? WHY???

Tags: yoroi360, Marauderz, marauderzstuff.com, idiot, pay4lei, mac store, blog

Its So Irritating...

There is an irritating bug in Windows Mobile 6 (WM6) thats driving me up the wall!!! You see if you're using WM6 and you happen to connect to a hotspot or wifi connection, you can surf the web via internet explorer, check your email and use skype... So it baffles me that when you click live messenger, it causes the phone to dial a gprs connection (eventhough a wifi connection is already running)... WTF is going on??? Why doesn't live messenger use the wifi connection??? WHY??? This is probably the dumbest thing I've seen so far (outlook 2002 not working properly in vista and windows mobile device centre comes a close second)...

Tags: D810, trinity, HTC, dopod, Windows Mobile 6, Windows Mobile 5, gadgets

Hmmm...

Hmmm it appears that my last post regarding Safari has hit several nerves (clearly evident from the 82 less than happy email messages in my inbox)... Well first and foremost, I would like to thank you for your feedback and your discretion for using constructive and well thought out arguments in your emails (although the same cannot be said about those individuals who chose to leave anonymous comments on the blog [gotta love comment moderation eh???])...

I am sure the arguments put forth have their own merits but this is a personal blog... not a community blog or an industry blog, so what I post are based upon my own observations... I need not be tactful nor do I need to justify what I say... I say what I feel and that is why this blog exists... Its a medium for me to express my thoughts... So it is unfortunate that some of you are agitated with my less than glowing take on the Safari browser...

I have used a mac for the past 6 to 7 years for both work and play... I've used Safari for a good spot of time even... but I have to say that from my point of view, I prefer ie and Firefox... Why??? I just do... Its hard to explain really... they seem to get the job done with minimal fuss and now that I'm on windows, I am still using ie and Firefox... They just seem better... I don't need facts and figures... I don't need reports and articles that tell me which one of the browsers reign supreme... I will just use what feels right to me... I hope you guys can understand that...




Oh and by the way... Safari sucks balls!!!

Tags: yoroi360, pay4lei, blog, safari beta, internet explorer, ie, safari, apple, osx, firefox, windows vista, public beta, gadgets, idiot

Safari...

Are you one of those guys that skinned their windows to look like OS X??? If you are, you might be well pleased to know that Apple, have released a beta of their Safari browser for Windows... Oh joy...

If you wish to download the beta, you may download it here...

Enough talk, lets give it a download shall we???


While you're downloading the beta, you will note that the product page states that Safari is "The world's best browser. Now on Windows too" and that it gives you "blazing performance" as it is "the fastest web browser on any platform" and its "elegant user interface" allows you " focus on the web — not your browser"... Oh joy... It must be the ultimate browser then...

If only that were the case... for starters I don't see how its faster than any other browser out there (I sure as hell didn't see any proof of the blazing performance"... Secondly, whats up with the user interface??? Thirdly, how can the "world's best browser" not load a page properly...



The first picture is a screencap of my blog with the Safari browser...



The second is a screencap with ie...



The third is a screencap with firefox...

You will note that the ie and firefox screencaps are similar... why is that??? ITS BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE PAGE IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE!!! I MEAN WHERE DID THE ADS GO??? WHY IS THE FONT LIKE THAT (AND BY LIKE THAT I MEAN ONE KIND)???

I may be overly critical... but I think Safari is not my cup of tea... why should it be??? Last time I heard, mac users were using firefox instead of Safari... Ironic isn't it...

Tags: yoroi360, pay4lei, pictures, blog, safari beta, internet explorer, ie, safari, apple, osx, firefox, windows vista, public beta, gadgets, idiot