Sunday, January 27, 2008

Google Maps "Apartment" View feature


You should have heard of Google Maps' Street View feature before. Here's a new "Apartment" View feature :P

Friday, January 25, 2008

一路向北 (All the Way North) - Jay Chow



後視鏡裡的世界 越來越遠的道別
妳轉身向背 側臉還是很美
我用眼光去追 竟聽見妳的淚

在車窗外面徘徊 是我錯失的機會
你站的方位 跟我中間隔著淚
街景一直在後退 妳的崩潰在車外零碎

我一路向北 離開有你的季節
你說你好累 已無法再愛上誰
風在山路吹 過往的畫面全都是我不對
細數慚愧 我傷妳幾回

我一路向北 離開有妳的季節
方向盤周圍 迴轉著我的後悔
我加速超越 卻甩不掉緊緊跟隨的傷悲
細數慚愧 我傷妳幾回
停止狼狽 就讓錯純粹

Really like the lyrics of this song.. It's like a poem :)

Monday, January 21, 2008

Bobby Fischer (1943 - 2008)

Just read the news about the death of Bobby Fischer, the only World Chess Champion from the US and was said to be the greatest chess player of all time. It's a pity that he didn't really play competitively in his last 30 years or so as I believe that he would have created a lot more great games.

To remember his greatness, the following was an ingenious play by him when he played against Donald Byrne in 1956

photo from chessgames.com

In the above, Fischer's queen was being attacked by the white bishop at c5. Instead of moving his queen away, he sacrificed it by moving his bishop to e6! In exchange of the queen, he gained massive attack opportunities with his minor pieces and finally won the game.

For those of you who don't know how to play chess, the queen is the most powerful pieces from your army and it's a big decision when you choose to sacrifice it. Despite this, Bobby Fischer had the insight to foresee that the sacrifice was worth it. (If you're interested in the complete game record, you can see it here)

Rest in peace Bobby!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Lemon Tree - Fool's Garden


Another good old song. Love the cute animation of this video :)

Friday, January 18, 2008

How come people don't read?

When Steve Jobs commented on the Amazon Kindle, he said
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”
I was in doubt. After googling for a while, I found that it probably is true:
  • http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html
  • http://newpairodimes.blogspot.com/2007/06/u.html
If 40% of the people read one book or less, it means that 60% of the people don't read at all. I love reading because it's a great way to learn new stuff and gain new perspectives. It's just kind of surprising to me that I actually belong to the weird group :P

Updates: I made a mistake; 40% of the people read a book or less doesn't mean that the other 60% don't read at all. But still, 40% is a pretty big number..

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Flash used in the right way

Although I generally hate it when websites use Flash, Etsy uses it creatively to let you find the products with the color your like. You can even throw the items you don't like outside of the color grid! Nice job :)

Monday, January 14, 2008

Dell XPS One - Dell's iMac

I always wonder why there's not a PC version of iMac. The idea of putting everything in the "monitor" is just great: it saves space and make your computer looks simple and elegant. I even thought that Apple somehow patented the idea so that other computer manufacturers can't copy it.

And today I saw the ad of Dell XPS One and love its look! (I know it was out like two months ago already, so pardon my slowness)

photo from dell.com

When my old desktop retires, I probably will go get one :)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Old friends are more genuine people?

From time to time I hear about people saying that old friends are more genuine so you should cherish the friends you have been known for long. I do love my old friends and feel blessed that I can still keep in touch with them after so many years.

Recently, a simple idea came to me and it helps explain why you feel that old friends are more genuine: not because they're more genuine people but that you're also treating them genuinely.

In other words, your genuineness brings up their genuine side. When you try to protect yourself by building a shell around yourself, people around you can feel it and thus they'll act the same way.

So, next time you say that some people aren't that friendly or phony, ask yourself: are you being unfriendly or phony to them too? I bet you're and if you care, someone will have take the first step by opening him/herself up :)

Sunday, January 6, 2008

A stand-up comedy by Vivek Mahbubani

Saw this stand-up comedy on Justin's blog and want to share with you guys :) If you don't understand Cantonese there's a English version which is also very funny hehe

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

La La La Love Song Piano version - Alex

In an old post I once mentioned that I will play the piano version of La La La Love Song and post it on YouTube. On the last day of 2007, I finally did it. (just to make me feel that I did something meaningful in 2007 :P) Here it is, hope you like it :)

Happy 2008!! (^___^ )

Just want to wish all my readers a happy and fruitful 2008! It's so late now, I'm going to sleep... (~___~ )