Merry Christmas 2010!

Merry Christmas! It has been the third times for me to be right here giving out my earnest blessing to everyone since I set out to beef about my stuffs by blogging in Dec 2008.

Sprang out from my bed while whole of my family had gone for Johor Bahru for a shooting of new year stuffs, swayed back to my desk with the chicken rice that packed by mum, embarked on all the formality - Firefox, Gmail, Facebook, Wall Street Journal. It's the dawn of my little bit shabby Christmas Day. When all the tavern, alley and everywhere in the town were full with revelry, riot last night because of this domestic, gift-giving but getting more commercialized holiday, I was particularly immune. No boisterous count down, no mirthful celebration. Extremely quiet and ordinary.

Haha. I'm not being autistic. Neither has it distracted me from studying nor has it recalled my dreadful trauma. I just simply have the leaning to decamp from all the agonizing stuffs and indulge myself into a real relaxing state. Leaving my fingers down on my keyboard to think about what that hell I was doing recently.

I just wound up my first semester in Taylor's University - RMIT University Bachelor of Computer Science lately. People might wonder the weird part of my course - the name. Actually it's a twinning program or so-called a partnership degree program between Taylor's University and RMIT University. In simple words, it means that the course students are pursuing their RMIT University Degree in Taylor's University Campus. The course students are having the same study curriculum and privilege no matter they're studying in Taylor's Campus or RMIT Campus. Thus, course students are free to transfer to RMIT Campus if they have the bent.

Of course, like any Computer Science course in any other Australia universities, we're required to enroll in four subjects in one semester. I acquired three High Dictinction in Programming 1, Computer Organization and Maths for Computing subjects and one Dictinction for Database Concept subject for this semester. Nevertheless, unlike the high school caged-fixed study mode, I know how much that I learnt thoughout the whole semester which the grades are inept to truly depict them. Ok, for those who personally know me, you guys should know I do have some grumbles for the course and school. A little bit more cumbersome and tedious story, I will talk more about it in later blog post.

Otherwise, I was selected as one of the twelve winners in IT@Green Photography Competition which is part of the Taylor's Bario Community Project. My awarded photo will be printed with my name in a 2011 calender for the charity purpose and a press interview with New Strait Time (A local daily newspaper) regarding the Bario Project will be featured soon as well. Thanks for all kind of earnest attention, I have the inkling of surprise that my trivial contribution would turn out to be so imperative afterwards.

I will going back to job segment next monday in order to cope with my devastating bailout. And keep screwing up with few personal projects that I'm currently working on. Keep strengthening my own pillar and prop. It will be awesome if I got any chance to share with you all in later time. I need all your support, dude :) .Since I had completed the Oracle Database Workshop during the school semester, I'm now seeking the time(Frankly, the money) to proceed to the certification exam which will going to cost me USD125 in first paper but it's no doubt to be totally worthy after all.

Some mumbling: Actually I'm in the a roaring progress of cruising my direction to the other beacon of light which will going to be another trail-blazing and life-changing milestone for me. Desperate and desirous. Stay tuned :)

Right at the end of this fervent holiday, again, wish everyone Merry Christmas and all the best!

As there is a dream, so there is a hope.

Word Lens Promises in-Image Translation

here are plenty of applications and websites that can translate text to other languages, but if you're looking at a sign or something, you'll have to type it into a translation app. What if, instead, you could take a snapshot and have an app translate the text in the image? That's the idea behind Word Lens, and it seems to work.

The caveat is that for now, the app only works from Spanish-to-English and vice versa, and it is also an iOS only app.

It took 2 1/2 years for founders Otavio Good and John DeWeese to develop the app, which is free. However, each language pack is $4.99 (as an in-app buy), and that means to have it work both ways it would cost $9.98.

Using OCR, the app translates the text and draws them back, in the image, on the screen. Here's how Good described it:

“It tries to find out what the letters are and then looks in the dictionary. Then it draws the words back on the screen in translation. The translation isn’t perfect, but it gets the point across.”

For some translation, like "restrooms," that would be good enough.


Naturally, Good is looking toward other languages. Hopefully the algorithm can be translated to Android easily. In the 2 1/2 years that they have been working on this app, Android has overtaken the iPhone globally.

You can watch a demo video below.


source: hothardware.com

Facebook Overtook SouthWest Airlines as the Best Employer in US

Facebook employees think their company is a fantastic place to work. In fact, among users of the jobs site Glassdoor, Facebook was the top-ranked U.S. employer for 2010, scoring a rating of 4.6 out of 5.

Those smug smarties from Palo Alto (disclosure: my husband works there part-time, so I can say that with certainty) say they love the openness and cooperativeness of internal Facebook culture, according to Glassdoor (also the free food and commuter shuttles).

This is the first time Facebook has made the Glassdoor list. In second place is Southwest Airlines (which was last year’s winner), followed by Bain & Company, General Mills and Edelman, respectively.

As for other tech companies, SAS Institute placed No. 7, Overstock.com was No. 9, and CareerBuilder No. 11. Apple was No. 20 and Google No. 30.

Meanwhile, in more surprising news, Glassdoor reports that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is actually more popular now than founder Jerry Yang when he was in the top spot. Bartz has an employee approval rating of 56 percent, compared to 34 percent for Yang when he left.

Other comparisons: HP CEO Léo Apotheker has 62 percent approval, compared to Mark Hurd’s 34 percent when he left, and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has 71 percent approval, compared to Randy Falco’s 13 percent approval when he left.

The most popular tech CEO is Apple’s Steve Jobs, with a 97 percent approval rating. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Eric Schmidt are both at 96 percent.

The Top-50 List, here we go:

Microsoft Online Windows Phone 7 Developer Guide

After the splashy release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has vehemently poured tons of effort into advertising and promoting in order to batter its rivals, Google Android, Apple iPhone, RIM BlackBarry, to overhaul its losing market. Meanwhile, Microsoft is in dire need of ample and significant apps for its Marketplace, as the q&q, quantity and quality of the smartphone apps will inevitably be the crucial factor of determining the WP7 victory or failure.

The Microsft MSDN Library of Windows Phone 7 Developer Guide provide all of you with a free opportunity to dive into the Microsoft first-ever-handy software development platform, which hopping from the introducation of Windows Phone 7 to Silverlight Coding, XNA design and back to Marketplace interaction - a completed Bible for Windows Phone 7 App Developer to leave their fingers down with bunch of WP7 apps out of the whole cloth. All you have to do just bit the bullet, sweep through all the materials with hands-on works and churn them with your quixotic idea and ulitimate creativity. Of course, it does have some 'pre-requisite', like any other computer science courses in university, at least a little basic knowledge in object-oriented programming, such as Java, C++. If not, those codes might look terrible from you.

Are you interested to be the one to use apps to revamp the smartphone market? Check it out now: Microsoft MSDN Library

Google New Launched Program for Students: Code-In

Are you a computer geek? Are you in between 13-18 year old? Are you eager to have a real and hands-on experience on IT-related tasks? If you nodded your head right after those questions, Google Code-in is wholly suitable for you to stuff up your tedious and agonizing school holiday.

Google Code-in is an open source development and outreach contest targeted at 13-18 year old students around the world. Of course, it's not the first time that Google embark on this kind of program. Google had run a pilot program called the Google Highly Open Participation Contest during 2007 to 2008, which gave 400 students around the world an opportunity to help out open source projects on the following kinds of tasks:

1. Code: Tasks related to writing or refactoring code
2. Documentation: Tasks related to creating/editing documents
3. Outreach: Tasks related to community management and outreach/marketing
4. Quality Assurance: Tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality
5. Research: Tasks related to studying a problem and recommending solutions
6. Training: Tasks related to helping others learn more
7: Translation: Tasks related to localization
8: User Interface: Tasks related to user experiencec research or user interface design and interaction.

Since it was a huge success for Google at that episode, it's no doubt that Google fervently sets out to move its big stride to another milestone again with the contest with its new name, Google Code-In.

So, what are you waiting for? Check out its official website for more information.

P/S: Darned, I just slightly older than the age range of being the participant :(