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3D atlas of the universe

So I’d like to just say that what the world needs now is a sense of being able to look at ourselves in this much larger condition now and a much larger sense of what home is. Because our home is the universe, and we are the universe, essentially. We carry that in us. And to be able to see our context in this larger sense at all scales helps us all, I think, in understanding where we are and who we are in the universe.
Carter Emmart, TED2010, 2010.02

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2011 Sep 02, Fri | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | Print Print

    Văn minh vật chất của người Việt

    Buổi tối chúng ta đi ngủ, buổi sáng chúng ta thức dậy và đi làm, một trăm năm sống trên trần gian nếu cứ thế cuộc đời con người thật nhàm chán không có gì đáng nói. Nếu so với tuổi của trời đất, thì trăm năm của đời người chỉ là cái chớp mắt. May thay và không may thay, cuộc đời của mỗi cá nhân thường không mấy khi suôn sẻ. Không mấy ai tự nhận mình là người hạnh phúc. Và chính sự không suôn sẻ trong đời người phá đi cái nhàm chán mà ai nấy cũng vậy thôi. Người Việt sống trên dải đất nắng lắm mưa nhiều, sông và rừng đều nhiều sản vật, so với dân xứ tuyết và dân xa mạc, quả là có nhiều may mắn. Thế nhưng dải đất này chiến tranh liên miên. Nơi qua lại của nhiều nền văn hóa. Nơi các nhà nước phong kiến rất nhược tiểu và luộm thuộm trong nền hành chính của mình. Nên người Việt cũng thật đa sự, đa tình, vừa thực tế vừa ảo tưởng trong suốt hành trình của mình. Ý thức dân tộc thì rất mạnh mẽ, nhưng ý thức cá nhân thì rất nhợt nhạt.

    Phan Cẩm Thượng, Văn minh vật chất của người Việt (Nhà xuất bản Tri thức, 2011)

    Sách in cẩn thận (trừ cái gáy bìa), rất nhiều hình đẹp, đáng mua.

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    2011 Aug 29, Mon | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | Print Print

      Digital wallet and 4 dollars per SMS

      I’m reading the article about Visa, Google digital wallet on ZDNet and insulin pump hacking by Jay Radcliffe and recall this incident. Some time ago, our cousins and niece were shocked to find that their mobile bills went over the roof due to some mysterious value-added 4-dollars SMSs tagged with Ericsson Telecommunications name. A small search lead to various complaints from other people, for example

      I followed up with Ericsson and found that the ‘value added SMSs’ are actually not from Ericsson itself, but from operators (e.g., StarHub, M1, not sure about SingTel) using Ericsson IPX multimedia broker technology. This solution allows network operators to use “mobile messaging to connect directly with customers… giving them the ability to communicate with you and make purchases direct from their mobile phone…”, and some companies seemed to take advantages of the technology.
      Don’t think I will allow my wallet to go online soon.
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      2011 Aug 26, Fri | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | Print Print

        Readability for web pages

        Readability.com from Arc90 lab is probably the current best tool to remove distractions on web pages so that you can read comfortably or print out nicely (with links as footnotes). However, their default bookmarklet is not really good. Web2pdfconvert (web2pdfconvert.com/readable) provides a better tool to customize it.

        Talk about print, WP-Print plugin developed by Lester Chan is probably the best plugin to print out a Word Press page with list of links and references. I still wonder why many professional websites do not allow printing or still provide very bad print version. They really should learn the way Wall Street Journal does it.

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        2011 Aug 16, Tue | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | Print Print

          Some useful Google Chrome parameters

          • To enable incognito (privacy) mode in Google Chrome: –incognito
          • To disable print preview (a new feature in Google Chrome 13 which automatically converts web pages to PDF file to preview. It’s good as you like the default version, as you can right click & save the PDF file immediately. It’s pretty annoying if you want to customize your printing or use Readability): –disable-print-preview

          How to change it (note that there are 2 minus signs (–) before each parameter)

          1. In Windows, right click on Google Chrome short cut on your desktop or Start menu => Properties => Target. It would be something like this “C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”.
          2. Append a suitable command line switches at the end of the command, e.g., “C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe –incognito  –disable-print-preview “

          A comprehensive list of Chrome command line switches provided by Peter Beverloo from Google Chrome team could be found here: http://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches.

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          2011 Aug 13, Sat | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | Print Print

            Canon URF II vs PCL

            The problem: Windows 7 laptop couldn’t connect to our Canon network printer (iR C2880). Default driver installed by Windows 7 and Canon’s latest driver (PCL6_v6.85_WinXP-Win7_x64_INF.exe) didn’t work. The only visible setting difference between Windows 7 driver and Windows XP driver is that “Enable bi-directional support” in Ports setting is grey, which led to a number of dead-end solutions.

            Solution: Among dozens of drivers showed in Canon support page, only UFRII_v2.80_Setup_x64.exe works perfectly fine. It also turns out that UFR II (developed by Canon to distribute processing works between PCs and printers) is much faster than PCL (developed by HP a long time ago and relies on printers to process data).

            Show time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6iJUkRpn-U

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            2011 Aug 12, Fri | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | Print Print

              Access Facebook in Vietnam

              2011-06-19 update: I tried the previous trick in Hanoi this week but it no longer works. However, Tor Brower Bundle (torproject.org) works perfectly fine. Tor also works for Android and jailbreak iPhone (http://sid77.slackware.it/iphone). Another reason to jailbreak iPhone or move to Android phones :)

              I heard that they’re banning Facebook in Vietnam, probably to save time and prevent employees from playing with Facebook during office hours :)

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              2011 Jun 19, Sun | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | Print Print

                How to extend wireless LAN's coverage with 2 routers

                The objective is pretty simple: extending our wireless LAN’s coverage with a spared wireless router, so our devices can always connect to the same LAN with the same SSID. With that, our phones and laptops can be moved around the house and automatically connected to the router with strongest signal without any network interruption. Besides, being in the same LAN makes it easier to share resources between devices.

                A bit of searching leads to this Cisco’s article on how to cascade 2 Linksys routers together (so 2 routers belong to the same LAN) and this very good article on how to configure 2 wireless routers with one SSID. The Cisco article is very clear, but i always failed to continue at step 3 (LAN-LAN connection). I spent 2 nights talking with Linksys technical support, got 2 new replacements, only to suddenly realize my stupidity while setting up the second replacement (read the note below). Anyway, here are the successful steps.

                A. Setup Router A (the main router, connected to Internet modem). In our case, it’s a Huawei wireless home gateway, connected to Optical Network Terminal device from Nucleus Connect.

                • A.1. Assume that the Router IP is 192.168.1.1 (true for most routers). Open this address in your browser. Default username and password are the same (admin). Remember to change the password to make it more secured.
                • A.2. For LAN, enable DHCP server and set the IP address starting from 192.168.1.3 (so we can use 192.168.1.2 as Router B’s IP address). Save settings.
                • A.3. For WLAN, set wireless SSID, security mode, security key as you wish. Save settings.
                • A.4. Wireless settings: set Channel to 1 (keep other default values, e.g., Wireless mode = Mixed or 802.11b/g/n, Bandwidth = Auto or 20/40 MHz, Wireless band = 2.4 GHz). Save settings.
                • A.5. Test to make sure that you can access Internet via Router A (wired and wireless modes)

                B. Setup Router B (the secondary router, used as switch/wireless access points). In our case, it’s a Linksys E2000 router.

                • B.1. Disable your computer wireless access, so that it won’t connect to Router A. Connected Router B to your computer by an Ethernet cable.
                • B.2. Open Router B’s default IP address 192.168.1.1 in your browser. Default username and password are the same (admin). Remember to change the password to make it more secured.
                • B.2. Set wireless SSID, security mode, security key with same values for Router A. Save settings.
                • B.3. Wireless settings: set Channel to 11 (keep other default values, e.g., Wireless mode = Mixed or 802.11b/g/n, Bandwidth = Auto or 20/40 MHz, Wireless band = 2.4 GHz). Note that the Router B’s channel (11) is different and far from Router A’s channel (1) to avoid interference between 2 wireless routers (for detailed explanation, read this article). Save settings.
                • B.4. Setup => Advanced Routing: Disable NAT, Enable Dynamic routing. Save settings.
                • B.5. Setup => Basic Setup => DHCP Server Setting => DHCP Server: Disabled. This step is essential to avoid IP conflict, as only Router A will assign IP addresses to all devices within your LAN. DO NOT save settings yet*.
                • B.6. Setup => Basic Setup => Router IP: 192.168.1.2. Save settings.
                • B7. Turn off Router B, bring it to the place that you need stronger wireless signal. Connect any LAN port of Router A to any LAN port of Router B.
                • B.8. Turn on Router B. Now 2 routers are cascading in LAN-LAN mode. Router A will take care of assigning IP address and accessing to Internet. Router B will act as an additional switch and wireles access point. Your wireless devices can roam freely between 2 routers and will automatically connect to the router with strongest WiFi signal (normally, the nearest one).

                * Important note for step B.5: If you disable DHCP and save settings, Router B may refresh, then try to reconnect to your computer. However, it won’t be able to assign an IP address for your computer (since DHCP is disabled) and you will have no or limited connection error message, though the computer and Router B are still connected with each other via Ethernet cable. This is the problem i encountered when following Cisco’s instruction. So if you changed the router IP address to 192.168.1.2 and disabled DHCP, you will need to to manually assign IP address and gateway address for your computer’s LAN adapter (right click on the Local Area Network connections => Properties => Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) => Properties => Use the following IP address: IP address = 192.168.1.5, Default gateway = 192.168.1.2). Remember to change it to obtain IP address automatically after setting up.

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                2011 May 02, Mon | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | Print Print

                  APAC SMBs to spend US$16 billion on portable PCs, netbooks, and tablets in 2011

                  Small and medium businesses across Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan will spend 16 billion US dollars on non-desktop PCs (including portable PCs, netbooks, and tablets) in 2011, much higher than what they are going to spend on desktop PCs. While tablets have attracted a lot of media attention, especially after the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas early this month, most of SMBs’ spending on non-desktop PCs is still going to portable PCs and netbooks.

                  These findings emerge from a multi-year, biannual research by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, which is released in every January and August. According to the latest results, SMBs (companies with less than 1000 employees) in Asia Pacific are expected to spend on portable PCs (mobile computers that provides functions and performance similar to desktop PCs) more than 96% of the bulk US$16 billion. Meanwhile, SMBs’ spending on tablets (small-size touch-screen devices like Apple iPad, Cisco Cius, Dell Streak, HP Slate, RIM Playbook) only makes up less than 1% of their non-desktop PC spending.

                  “The PC industry is going through an exciting stage where consumer-oriented devices are getting into enterprises and enterprise-focused players are creating devices to cater for consumer needs, where mobile phones are getting more powerful and behave like PCs and traditional PCs are shrinking smaller to be more mobile. While tablets are useful for media consumption, entertainment, and communication, people will eventually realized that a small screen (says, less than 12 inches) is not really optimal for everyday work,” says Dr. Vu-Thanh Nguyen, Research Analyst from AMI-Partners. “For business purposes, we believe that many people will give priority to screen size, network connectivity, and portability. That’s why portable PCs – especially light-weight convertibles, hybrids, and large-screen slates – will continue to receive larger investment from businesses compared to small-screen netbooks and tablets.”

                  In the long term, as more businesses turn to virtualized desktop environment, cloud computing, and software-as-a-service model, the need for very powerful, PC-like end-user devices may reduce over time, and we may see large adoption of convergent devices like Motorola Atrix 4G, a pocketsize smartphone which can connect to external monitors to run browsers and applications on larger screens. Even then, portable PCs with integrated large screen will still be important tools in many business environments.

                  APAC SMBs to spend US$16 billion on portable PCs, netbooks, and tablets in 2011

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                  2011 Apr 07, Thu | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment | Print Print
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