tech head

No Windows Mobile 6.5 update for Omnia I900

Eric — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:33:07 +0000

After some news that we are to expect a Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM update in the near future (which I doubted) — it’s finally official, according to the Samsung blog and this site, fellow Omnia I900 users will not get an official 6.5 update.

I suppose we’ll keep on relying on the cooked ROMS back at Modaco, or better yet ~ a new phone, but I wonder which..

Tools I can’t live without

Eric — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:44:34 +0000

Out of the blue post:

OS: Windows 7
Browser: Firefox 3.5
Search: Google
Email: Gmail
RSS: Google Reader
IM: Pidgin
Notetaking: OneNote
Antivirus: Kaspersky
Firewall: Windows
Calculator: Windows 7
Image: Paint.NET
Text: Sublime Text
Web debug: Fiddler2
Source control: Manual | Team Foundation Server
Diff/compare: ExamDiff
Media: VLC media player
Torrent: uTorrent
Burner: CDBurnerXP
Backup/sync: Microsoft SyncToy 2.1
FTP: FileZilla
PDF converter: PrimoPDF

Sexiest code/text editor ever

Eric — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:14:04 +0000

When I first saw this over lifehacker and downloaded it, I was just in awe and it has been my text editor across all my machines.

Forget Notepad++, even the Programmer’s Notepad I used to recommend — Sublime text is the best and sexiest light weight code/text editor out there!

It’s kind of pricey but no doubt you’d like it!

Link

Sublime Text

Lenovo U350 quick review

Eric — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:57:00 +0000

It’s been a while… I thought of sharing some information on my new gadget, the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 since there are limited reviews available, hopefully this will help some buyers.

Lenovo IdeaPad U350

Specs

Intel Pentium SU2700 1.3GHz (single core)
GS45 Express
3GB DDR3 RAM
Intel Integrated Graphics X4500
250GB hard drive
13.3″ WXGA 1366×768
4-cell battery
no CD/DVD drive

Pros

Really really light, around 3.5 lbs and just 1″ thin
Sleek profile and beautiful design especially the carbon fiber-like top
Speakers are amazing for a laptop
Good price, I got mine around 700 dollars at Fry’s last month

Cons

Fn key — it’s just me, I’m not used on how IBM/Lenovo put the Fn key on the low-left side most of the keyboard
Poor quality and annoying sound of touchpad left/right buttons
Display performance stutters on sites with a lot Web content and/or Flash

My take

The Lenovo U350 is your ultimate travel laptop! With a 13″ screen, 1″ thin and 3.5 lbs it’s pretty compact and isn’t heavy in your bag at all! Despite the 1.3GHz single core ULV processor, my day-to-day tasks performed well without a hiccup: Firefox browsing with multiple tabs, OneNote and iTunes at the same time.

The SU2700 isn’t your ordinary 1.3GHz processor from way back, although there’s very limited information about this I believe this is a new chip rebadged as “Pentium” (yes, Intel’s using this brand again) together with a modern chipset and a good amount of RAM — the performance is not bad at all.

To optimize the machine I’ve removed the built-in software and disabled a bunch of unneeded services. And instead of using Visual Studio/Expression Web or Photoshop, I’ve replaced it with Sublime Text and Paint.NET in case I need to a little work. No search indexers, no background software update, etc.

This isn’t a netbook, it isn’t expensive nor is very fast but it is the right balance of price, size and performance which I was certainly looking for when I travel. Despite the annoying touchpad buttons I am very happy with it.

Some more notes

Windows 7 upgrade is free but around 20 bucks for media shipping
I haven’t tested battery life, cannot comment

UPDATE:

I hate to say “forget this” but get the new U150 — it’s 11 inch, less than an inch and is dual core CULV for around $650!

Links

Lenovo Shop

Search for the ultimate free code/text editor

Eric — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 05:08:51 +0000

If you’re like me, constantly hitting your head on the wall while debugging applications without appropriate development environments, and relied on Notepad and/or many other freeware editors… but wish there’s one that can do it all…

Well… I’ve tried so many… really. But found only one that’s best for me… and it’s called Programmers Notepad (Programmer’s Notepad).

It’s lightweight and beautiful. It supports code folding, indention guides, tabs, highlighted editor line and syntax highlighting for many languages including:

C#
CSS
HTML
Java
JavaScript
Perl
PL/SQL
SQL
VBScript
VB
XML

And best of all… it’s free!

Many thanks to the developer!

Home page is here: http://www.pnotepad.org.

Exposé for Vista

Eric — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 17:07:59 +0000

Personally, I find Vista’s Flip 3D not useful at all. It’s just an eye candy for the pre-Vista and “Wow” campaigns.

For switching windows, I still use the good old ALT+Tab. Although its new live preview feature is welcome, I still end up envying Mac OS X users a lot with their Exposé. Exposé nicely tiles application windows so you can see them all at the same time.

Tonight, I found this very very nice application powered by C#, it’s called Switcher.

Switcher allows Vista (with Aero) users to have Exposé-like features.

Get it here: http://insentient.net.

Yes, I’m relieved. Many thanks to the author.

Pure Vista

Eric — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 18:09:45 +0000

I have been using Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit) for more than a week now.

And this, without dual booting from Windows XP, I intend to use Vista on my production system so I can head on straight to the problems and incompatibilities.

Everything’s good, from VS2005 SP1 (with Vista update) to iTunes 7.2 to WinZip 11.1. Except… *I knew you were waiting for this*

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0.2.621 “out of memory” problem when copying a lot of files, discussed here.

Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 still has invisible menus *sometimes*.

I’m excited to use the new YM for Vista though, previewed here.

Also, no overlay TV support for my videos utilizing ATI Catalyst 7.6 driver, discussions here, here and here.
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 quality *using any available driver on the Internet* is very very poor, I used my integrated nForce audio controller instead, although like Live!, only has left and right channels. Have to upgrade soon.
No “Folder Up” function from the Explorer toolbar or pressing [Backspace] on the keyboard. There’s no other way to do this than [ALT+Up].
And… 1GB of RAM is bearable but isn’t enough.

BTW, games? no games for me.

I’ll post more problems/incompatibilities soon.

Anand has info on quiet AMD

Eric — Sat, 12 May 2007 02:27:59 +0000

AnandTech got some vital and shocking information on the creator of the Athlon microprocessor, AMD.

Anand discusses:

ATI acquisition
sequential and parallel (CPU and GPU) processing
the Fusion processor
the delayed Barcelona processor

Here’s a quote…

“Needless to say, there’s more to come and this is just the beginning. The fact that we can say this about AMD is an absolute shock to us, and possibly to you as well. For the longest time it seemed like the only CPU articles we’d write were either disappointing AMD product launches or exciting new Intel announcements. AMD is changing, arguably later than we’d like, but at least it’s happening.

…Now, coming away from these meetings, we do believe that AMD may have a fighting chance. Over the coming months you’ll begin to see why; it won’t be an easy battle, but it will be one that will be fought with more than just price.”

More here: AMD – The Road Ahead.

Office 2007…

Eric — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:38:08 +0000

Hello, it’s been a while, I’ve been very busy lately and haven’t updated my blog.

What’s new with me? Office 2007! And it’s harder than I thought! I’m still confused where the buttons are, we’ve been used to the standard Office toolbar since version 4.0.

The concept is similar to Vista, it’s easier and more straight-forward… provided you unlearn what you’ve learned from its predecessors. It’s a new ball of wax.

Hint: To view the XML, open the .docx file with WinZip first

Vista grows on you

Eric — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 05:54:52 +0000

I found a nice article about Microsoft Windows Vista on Houston Chronicle.

And similar to my RC2 review, we share the same feeling towards this new operating system.

Quote:

“I’ve been using Vista for months now. My feelings have evolved from “Oh, this is not good” to “Hey, this is not bad” to, finally, “I’d rather be using this than Windows XP. … Would you be pleased with the results if you did go through the process? I think so. Vista grows on you.”

Link: It’s not a revolution, but Windows Vista grows on you

And here’s my review: Vista weekend! Windows Vista RC2 highlights