Echo Binary

It was a great experience eating with 16 of my officemates. Yesterday, our team went out to Greenbelt to have our lunch at Kitchen. It was my first time eating there so I was a complete n00b at choosing what to eat. Someone suggested that the “recommended” dishes were marked with the red “inverted K”, the logo of Kitchen. I ordered On Barbie’s Cue. I forgot the description but it’s like a mix between kebab and sea food cuisine. It looks creative and delicious. Then I ordered the bottomless pandan drink which tasted like sago and gulaman without the pearls. The minted water looks cool but I didn’t try it. Actually it was my first time seeing a bottle of water with “mint”. Someone joked that inside the bottle was oregano. I was not sure if it was true since most of those guys are a bunch of jokers. I refused to try it! LOL.

The serving was quite fast. The waiters only took several minutes before all of my officemates got their order. The cozy ambiance of Kitchen Greenbelt fits the surrounding so well. The ceiling of the room is very high which gives an impression that the room is very big as well. I have to highlight that the over-sized plates and utensils attributes the ambiance so well. It made my first experience in Kitchen so awkward yet so memorable. For the record, the size of the plate is about the size of an 18-inch supreme family pizza while the spoon and fork is about three times larger than the norm.

The food was tasty, just right to satisfy your taste buds. You won’t be disappointed because apart from big plates, the food has big taste as well. I guess it won’t be the last time we’ll eat at Kitchen

Technorati Tags: Greenbelt, Kitchen

Yesterday was Java in Manila 2006, the 3rd programmers conference organized by Sun Microsystems Philippines, Inc. It was fun and I believe that it is worth the money I spent. However, I have some disappointments. I’ll discuss it along the way. For now, I’m going to summarize what happened inside Rizal Ballroom, Makati Shangri La Hotel where the event was held.

I arrived 20 minutes before 8 o’clock. I immediately went to Shangri La to find where my schoolmates were. The delegates were already claiming the goods included in the package such as the event ID and a bag filled with brochures. Within few seconds I saw Victor, KC, Tina and Jed at the stairways. After I claimed my package, I joined them and we went upstairs. The light breakfast was served and I lead them for getting the food. I’ve attended several conferences and I know it’s useless to get shy. The food is served for all of us anyway.

The corridor is filled with exhibitors. There’s a yellow stub included in the bag given to us and we were supposed to get the stub signed by 12 major sponsors on the exhibit. Completing the stub entitles the delegates for one raffle ticket for the raffle draw later on the afternoon. I completed mine for about an hour. It’s really silly that most delegates put their attention on the exhibitors first, rather than the main event. I’m not sure if it caused the event to be delayed but the event was already behind schedule even before it started.

Matthew Thompson did the keynote speech. It was interesting but I already saw those facts and figures from Sun’s website already. After his speech, there were 2 demonstrations. I don’t really understand what the other speakers where trying to say. And I don’t have my eye glasses so everything is quite blurred at the projector screen. I could only understand Sang Shin even though he has a very oriental accent. Apart from him, I couldn’t appreciate most of the speakers so I’m quite disappointed at the presentations.

The whole afternoon was a battle between boredom and patience. I enjoyed not because of the talks but because of the food, accommodation and the booths at the hallway. Some exhibitors even gave away softwares and informative brochures about Sun products. I also wanted to finish the conference because I wanted to join the raffle draw. If I go home earlier and I’m not present when my name was drawn, I couldn’t get the prize. Unfortunately, the raffle draw finished and I didn’t get any prize. The consolation prize to all delegates who completed the feedback and Sun Developer Network forms at the end of the conference was a cool Java sport shirt. I think it was good enough for waiting until the very end.

Overall, Java in Manila 2006 is a success. I think that most professional Java developers really appreciate this yearly event. If the speakers had been more appealing to listen, it would be more inviting. I’m looking forward to attending another Java in Manila next year. Let’s hope it would be a better experience

Technorati Tags: Philippines, Manila, Sun, Java, Solaris

Two days ago I was accompanied by my father to Sta. Cruz, Manila to get my NBI clearance at Sta. Cruz NBI center. I can’t remember the name of the building but it’s beside Isetan. After an hour, we left the building with my NBI clearance and we strolled along Avenida. My father is a “Manila boy” as he spent most of his younger years in Manila when he was taking his degree in engineering, so he toured me from Quaipo to Carreido since I’m too peculiar in that area. I missed the good old times when we go to Quaipo just to buy electronics parts at Raon and go shopping for bargains at the nearby stores. That was about 10 years ago when our local area has not been developed yet.

We reached Recto MRT Line 2 (Megatren). My father doesn’t want to ride the train but I forced him anyway. Then we alighted from the train at Gilmore station. My next agenda was to buy an LCD monitor. My father was relunctant to buy, but I was able to pursue my interest. In order to save my eyes from degradation, I really have to buy an LCD monitor to replace my busted CRT monitor.

I immediately went to PC Express Plus. You can say I’m already a patron buyer (suki) because I bought my 160 GB Seagate HD, Linksys router and Radeon 9550 videocard at PC Express.

Right after searching the list of LCD monitors available, I was in a dilemma if I would buy a 17″ or a 19″ LCD monitor, and which brand. I did a prior research but it didn’t help. Typical 17″ costs around P13,500 today while a typical 19″ cost around P20,000. There is a P6,500 difference and it seems to be not cost effective. Again and again, my father insisted that I buy the 17″ LCD monitor only because it won’t fit my PC table at home. I argued that I could adjust the height of the racks, but it’s too troublesome. If I adjust the rack where my printer is located, it would be difficult to reach my printer and it would be very inconvenient to change ink, let alone open the printer cover. Therefore, I just decided to buy 17″ LCD monitor in the end. I used to have a 17″ CRT and it just right for all my needs after all.

My criteria for buying LCD follows the recommendation of CNET monitor buying guide. First I looked at the pixel response rate. I need 8 ms or less because I don’t want ghosting in my games and movies, although 12 - 16 ms will be good enough. I want a native resolution of 1280 x 1024 in 17″. In 19″ LCDs I expect to get a higher resolution, but all 19″ LCDs in Gilmore that I have reviewed feature native resolution of 1280 x 1024 only. If those 19″ LCDs had native resolution of 1600 x 1280, I would have chosen 19″. I also looked for decent luminance and contrast ratio. Surprisingly only one passed the 8 ms criterion — ViewSonic VA712. I thought Samsung 740N is better since it is priced slightly higher than ViewSonic but I was wrong. Although it has a very good contrast ratio of 1500:1 compared to VA712’s 350:1 (typical to most LCDs), Samsung 740N has a 25 ms pixel response rate, so I ditched it off my list. Obviously I chose ViewSonic VA712 because it is clearly the best available LCD monitor currently available. In addition, it has a good picture quality, no dead pixels, and comes with 3 years warranty. It does not have DVI connection though. I don’t really need it because VA712 has an automatic timing correction of analog signal. ViewSonic produces high performance LCDs and I believe in its quality. CNET also reported that most monitors do such a good job of signal conversion that digital connections are not as important as they used to be.

I’m using it right now and I’m very pleased with its performance.

Links:
ViewSonic VA712b
Response time: the faster, the better?
CNET Monitor Buying Guide: LCD basics
CNET Monitor Buying Guide: LCD vs. CRT
ViewSonic: LCD advantages
Technorati Tags: Viewsonic, VA712, LCD+monitor

There are many services that shorten URLs for links but why do you need them anyway? For instance you may have a very very long URL that you want to remember. You may bookmark these long and complicated URLs but you can’t bring your bookmarks anywhere unless you use del.icio.us or similar online bookmarking service. What if you want to include a URL to your emails? Chances are it will break easily if it’s too long. There are times you also want to hide a link if you want to be sneaky.

There are many applications of short URLs and there are many short URL services to choose from. Don’t ask me which is the best… just try them all and find out which one fits your needs. It really depends on how you use the short URLs. Some of them provide user-defined short URL, delayed redirection and URL masking which is very useful for some people. I currently have 34 short URL services in my list so far. I also provided a test link to MapQuest.com (Manila map) so that you can test how they work. The original URL was 233 characters which is really long. Now here they are, arranged alphabetically:

Digbig
Test:
http://digbig.com/4ftpq
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, bookmarklet available, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

Doiop
Test:
http://doiop.com/cl8mg3 (random)
http://doiop.com/urltest (user-defined)
features: never expires, random or user-defined short URL

elfURL
Test:
http://elfURL.com/134x
features: expiry unknown, random short URL

Goonlink
Test:
http://goonlink.com/iw
http://goonlink.com/m/iw (masked)
features: never expires, URL masking, preview long URL through Goonlink website

Hurl.to
Test:
http://hurl.to/4AO (at the time of my testing, redirection is not working)
feature: never expires, you can choose the number of random ID length from 3 to 16, you can also refer to sites using http://hurl.to/[domain] and it will redirect with 302 Moved Temporarily without passing the HTTP_REFERRER value (this does not make the URL shorter).

iURL
Test:
http://iurl.biz/urltest (user-defined)
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, supposedly can delete/retire a short url, but it seems to be not working yet, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

Ki7.us
Test:
http://ki7.us/nhoaf
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, delayed redirection

link.toolbot.com
Test:
http://link.toolbot.com/mapquest.com/13821
features: expiry unknown, random short URL with domain name, bulk (shorten several links at once)

Linktrim
Test:
http://linktrim.com/urltest (user-defined)
features: never expires, random or user-defined short URL, optional password protected short URL, optional email confirmation for short link, path forwarding, check long links in Linktrim website, bookmarklet available

Lyxus
Test:
http://lyxus.net/brr
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, bookmarklet available

MakeAShorterLink
Test:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?T30C1276C
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, by default shows a transition page for 5 seconds before redirecting, you can skip the transition page by saving preference in makeashorterlink website, bookmarklet available

NotLong
Test:
http://urltest.notlong.com
features: never expires, random or user-defined subdomain, private URL, each short URL generates password for editing and statistics viewing, bookmarklet available

Paulding.net
Test:
http://www.paulding.net/bin/url.cgi/13151.8
features: expiry unknown, random short URL

Qurl.com
Test:
http://qurl.com/9t1cp
standard features: six months default expiry, random short URL (?), private URL (not listed), bookmarklet available
advance features: registration needed to activate advance features — edit URL, extend URL expiry up to year 2010, sends email each time someone uses the short URL, integrates with del.icio.us.

Qurl.net
Test:
http://qurl.net/pN
features: expiry unkown, random short URL, can change redirect mode from Qurl.net website — delayed, instant and manual, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

Shorterlink
Test:
http://shorterlink.com/?WLWFBU
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, preview long URL within 3 seconds before forwarding, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

SHurl.net
Test:
http://shurl.net/pd
features: never expires, random short URL, monitor any known Shurl.net short URL

Shurl.org
Test:
http://shurl.org/wFTPE (random)
http://shurl.org/urltest (user-defined)
features: never expires, URL masking, random and user-defined short url, monitor statistics of any known Shurl short URL.

smcURL (smcURL.com and URLShrinker.com is the same)
Test:
http://smcurl.com/d5EQh
features: never expires, random short URL, bookmarklet available

SnipURL (snipurl.com and snurl.com is the same)
Test:
http://snipurl.com/urltest (user-defined)
http://snipurl.com/l8iu-code (random private short URL with keycode)
standard features: never expires, random and user-defined short URL, private short URL using keycode, six languages: English, Español, Français, Deutsch, Japanese and Chinese, bookmarklet available
advanced features: registration is needed to activate advance features — edit long URL and other settings, tract visits, send to email, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

TightURL
Test:
http://tighturl.com/81
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, bookmarklet available, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

Tiny2Go
Test:
http://tiny2go.com/1n/
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, generates password for every short URL for future editing and statistics viewing

TinyClick
Test:
http://tinyclick.com/?1s2p2p (random)
http://tinyclick.com/?URLTEST (user-defined)
features:

Tinylink (French version: Minilien)
Test:
http://tinylink.com/?wtLQYBLapv
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, bookmarklet available

TinyURL
Test:
http://tinyurl.com/9n4m9
features: never expires, random short URL, preview requires cookie and activation from TinyURL website, bookmarklet available, Firefox extension available, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

URL123
Test:
http://url123.com/3apr5 (random)
http://urltest.url123.com/cool (user-defined with subdomain)
features: never expires, random short URL, bookmarklet available, deterministic if anonymous user
advance features: can create subdomain, user-defined short URL, password protected URL, organize and edit links, view link hits

URLcut
Test:
http://urlcut.com/urltest
features: expiry unknown, random and user-defined short URL, bookmarklet available, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

urlSNIP
Test:
http://urlsnip.com/077009
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, bookmarklet available, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

url(x)
Test:
http://urlx.org/6542
http://urlx.org/mapquest.com/6542 (domain name in short URL included)
features: never expires, random short URL, uses AJAX, can include domain name for preview, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

w3t.org
Test:
http://w3t.org/?u=h85 (random)
http://w3t.org/?c=urltest (user-defined)
features: expiry unknown, random or user-defined short URL, bookmarklet available, extension for Firefox available

xrl.us (metamark.net and xrl.us is the same)
features: expires after five years or two years after the last usage - whichever comes later. If a link is never used, it will expire after two years (never expires if used ocassionally), random short URL, bookmarklet available, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

Yep.it
Test:
http://yep.it/?aqhfps
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

1Tiny
Test:
http://1tiny.com/3GO
features: expiry unknown, random short URL, there’s a 1 second ad before the link redirects, you can also buy this script

6URL
Test:
http://6URL.com/0B90 (random)
http://ww3.6url.com/0B90 (random and masked)
features: never expires, random or user-defined short URL, subdomain, URL masking, path forwarding, deterministic (long URLs should be unique)*

* NOTE: it means that when you have generated a short URL from a long URL and generate another short URL using the same original long URL, the short URL that was previously created will be given. So, if somebody else created a short URL for your long URL then you have to use his random or user-defined short URL.

Wow… that’s a long list. If I missed something please drop comment. If there’s an error I welcome any correction.

Technorati Tags: short+URL, URL, redirection, TinyURL, SnipURL

Ever since BitTorrent was introduced to me, I chose Azureus as my BT client not only because it’s feature-packed but also because it gave me the fastest download speed possible in my DSL connection (512 kbps downstream / 256 kbps upstream). Azureus is built from Java and thus uses Java Virtual Machine (JVM). I didn’t mind using Azureus on my desktop PC because it has enough DDR RAM to run Azureus along with bunch of other application all at the same time. One disadvantage is that Java applications tend to use a lot of RAM after prolonged use because of JVM overhead. On my laptop I had trouble using Azureus because JVM sucks most out of my Penitum M 1.5 Ghz processor and 384 Mb DDR RAM (My laptop actually have 512 Mb RAM but 128 Mb is shared with graphics card). I tried other BT clients such as BitComet but I couldn’t get all the features in Azureus. Some features in other BT clients are implemented in a different fashion to get the same result but I prefered Azureus’ way. In the end I gave up using BitTorrent in my laptop.

Lately, I tested the recent release of µTorrent 1.3 and I was surprised that I am getting decent download speed comparable to Azureus, sometimes even faster, without the ridiculous overhead of JVM. It does not need any installation at all. Just downloaded it and you’re ready to seed and leech. With such a small footprint, I wonder how µTorrent achieves this performance. My laptop will love this BT client.

µTorrent at a glance (taken from the official website):

• Multiple simultaneous downloads
• Smart bandwidth usage
• File level priorities
• Configurable bandwidth scheduling
• Global and per-torrent speed limiting
• Quickly resumes interrupted transfers
• UPnP support (WinXP only)
• Supports popular protocol extensions
• Trackerless support (Mainline DHT)
• Localized to different languages
• Typical memory use less than 6 MB
• Incredibly small: 115 KB (slightly varies from each release but is still very small)

Azureus is a very powerful BitTorrent client. I won’t argue because it’s true; however, I’m switching to µTorrent because I need a fast BT client without much memory consumption. I’ll miss some features of Azureus not present in µTorrent but most of the features I like in Azureus are implemented nicely in µTorrent too that’s why in just a matter of days I’m fully convinced that µTorrent is going to be my BT client of choice from now on. µTorrent is still very young compared to other BT clients and it is gaining more users because of its efficiency.

Links:
µTorrent official website: http://www.utorrent.com
Technorati Tags: BitTorrent, µTorrent, utorrent, torrent