Information Efficiency

Cybook vs. Sony Reader vs. Hanlin vs. Iliad vs. Kindle. Conclusion:

• Too much inconvenience to use Sony Reader and Kindle outside US.
• Non-optimised PDF display is still a hassle on a typical size e-Reader screen. I have a large repository of PDFs I want to read on an e-Reader.
• The range of book available at Mobipoket is still limited. I couldn’t find most of the last 30 books I read on it.
• Iliad is still too expensive.

I will buy a Kindle if I am in US.

From your 191 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 7,335 items, starred 15 items, shared 0 items, and emailed 4 items. Roughly stable over the last few month.

I have been enjoying fully automated 3-hour backups using cygwin+rsync with cron as Windows services for a few years and I almost forgot what is backup. As I just got a new laptop, I decide to try Mozy. After a week, I decide to switch back to my reliable rsync. The issues I have with Mozy including:

• Automatic backup during inactivity doesn’t work reliably.
• Scheduled backup doesn’t work reliably.
• Daily backup is the smallest interval for scheduled backup.

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Recently, I have been in a phase of moving all my applications online:

• Tiddlywiki -> Google notebook (still waiting for Jotspot/Google)
• Todolist -> Toodledo (updated: now back to Tudumo. Love the keyboard shortcuts and responsiveness)
• Collectorz Movies -> Facebook Flixster/IMDB voting history
• Endnote book collection -> Librarything
• IM -> Meebo (updated: but back to Pidgin)

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Places Visited

Map: ZeeMap
Yahoo Trip: Japan 2006
Photos: Flickr Japan2006

I have been enjoying my three screen setup (the third one through Maxivista). Today I use Innobec SlideWindow to turn my old iPAQ H5450 into the fourth one. My 3.2 screen experience lasted 10 mins including Gtalk and MSN live messenger on them.

Windows CE Boot Loader v2.2. Anything interesting here?

New boardgame for the weekend - Ticket to Ride Europe
10 game sessions in two days… very addictive but not as fun as the Carcassonne. I executed a very nasty strategy (two players only) in the last few sessions and it worked well. I have posted them here looking for some feedback. And all these have led us to our future plans. ;-P

My new dell 19 inch LCD (Spec in PDF) arrived last Thursday. I really love it:

• Very sharp contrast. It looks stunning when playing HDTV contents or scenic slide shows
• High flexibility of height adjustability (130mm up or down),swivel (45 degree left and right) and tilt (4 degreee forward and 21 degree backward).
• Now I can use a third extended screen (networked using Maxivista, very good response time) along with it. And a multi-monitor supported screensaver looks nice on them.

 

A few interesting points from the lastest Pew social trends reports.
Pew Research Center: Are We Happy Yet?

• People who have children are no happier than those who don’t, after controlling for marital status.
• Retirees are no happier than workers. (stop dreaming about retirement)
• Pet owners are no happier than those without pets……(a good excuse not to have one)
• The matters on the happiness front is not how much money you have, but whether you have more (or less) at any given time than everyone else. (The equally important question here is the definition of “everyone”. )

Technorati Tags: society, trend, happiness

Talking with my friend who maintains Mine Shaft Gap has opened my eye to the wonderful board game world (I was basically a MONOPOLY and RISK guy.). After ploughing through a few lists on “best 2 player games” at boardgamegeek.com, I decided to go for the Carcassone - The Castle. Unfortunately, it was out of stock at Games Paradise. So we settled for the classical Carcassonne with a free Carcassonne - The River expansion. The next thing we know is  6-7 game sessions over the weekend with heated debate on strategy.   My wife and I have really enjoyed the game. We even plan to try one new board game per month in the future.

Technorati Tags: board games, carcassonne

I got a GN6210 bluetooth headset the other day. A few things I like about it:

• It works with mobiles, bluetooth-enabled computers and, most importantly, landline phones through a base. This means I can finally multi-task during long landline calls with friends and families without holding anything and being confined to the desk. I did have a wired headset. But this wireless one really gives you much more freedom on the range of activities you can multi-task.
• Switching between the handset and the headset is very quick with one push of a button.
• Very good sound quality.

Though my wife initially hesitated about the usefulness of this gadget, she totally changed her mind after one long phone call during which she walked around the house and finished a lot of her chores. I love things that save your time.

Technorati Tags: headset, wireless, gadgets

Finally, we had the chance to taste the world well-known Chilli lager. (Anything on Internet is considered world well-known. But the the entry does rank number one if you google “chilli lager”.) I love it! Though I am not really a beer drinker, this one definitely tastes better than most of the beer I’ve ever had.

I remember that there was a call for reader input from Scott Adam on “realistic-sounding sentences that Dilbert would utter that is mind-numbingly technical”.. and the winner sentence just appeared on today’s comic. (It might be reused in other places, but I don’t recall). Is it mind-numbing? I reckon the lesson is that even the most simple technical sentence in one field can be mind-numbing for people from a different field. And I am glad Dilbert is working on Web services.

Technorati Tags: soa, comic, dilbert

I have never been a big fan of desktop wallpapers, widgets, sticky notes and web 2.0 desktops (protogage like) because I don’t have an extra desktop to spare for them. (I usually use two LCDs). Even I am one click/keyboard away from these nice goodies, I am also one click/keyboard away from my personal wikis and most suitable applications for the task. Since the distance is equal, I prefer the later. However, I have been enjoying 3 LCDs recently at work. And very soon I may have four or more on my desks. This has led me to think how to utilize the third and the fourth one.  I find the web 2.0 desktop is really a good fit in this scenario. Now I have google desktop sidebar and the Protopage open all the time on my third screen:

• free layout and multiple notes on the same canvas are better than switching between wiki pages, especially for things that are not worth wikifying seriously (at least initially).
• access from anywhere. So even I leave my 4 LCD environment, I still can access all the information.
• one 15 degree turning-head away. fantastic!

I think there must be many other better ways to utilize 4 LCDs. I don’t want RSS screen savers or news tickers (anything that moves) to distract me. I still want to make it a productive work environment. So my current optimizing criteria  is to reduce application switch as much as possible. Throw in some network-enabled copy/paste clipboard apps and synergy keyboard/mouse switcher, it’s heaven.

Technorati Tags: web2.0, desktop, productivity