Calendar for badminton open 2007

I key in the world class badminton cup schedule in Google Calendar, but in Chinese

每年都有很多羽球公開賽，像剛舉行過的馬來西亞公開賽，接下來的韓國公開賽、香港公開賽、日本公開賽，當然還有全英賽。

我收到一份羽球賽的賽程表，我選了一些比較重要的賽事，鍵入 Google Calendar 。 Google Calendar 真的很好用，我大概只花了十五分鐘就完成輸入了。

加入你的 Google Calendar 請按


使用 iCal 可以加入 Mac OS X 的行事曆當中。至於其他格式，請自行轉換。

這就是 web 2.0 的觀念，資源共享。

Switching to Intel

Did you notice, desktop computer (Apple) and workstation computer (Sun) is switching to x86 platform, one after another? Choosing the hardware platform and CPU is just a business decision, but making the software (including OS and Application) to work on different hardware platform, you need some technical effort.

Mac OS first develop on Motorola 68000 series CPU and later ported on PowerPC, it never runs on Intel (or x86) CPU before version 10. If Mac OS runs on Intel CPU, I think most poeple will buy an IBM compatible machine and install a Mac OS on it during the 80s.

Mac OS X inherits NextSTEP OS from NeXT Computer, which Apple acquired at 1996. Before Apple acquired NeXT, NextSTEP already available on Intel machine, but when OS X was released, it only runs on PowerPC platform.

I am not surprised OS X can runs on an Intel machine, because NextSTEP already did it before. I am surprised by Steve Jobs want it to run on Intel machine, Steve Jobs never want his product on Intel CPU. Even at NeXT, Intel platform is not his first choice.

Recently Sun Microsystems announce will sell Intel base server machine. Sun has a great OS product, the Solaris operating system. I have been using Solaris (on SPARC machine) for many years, it is very stable and performing well. I am not sure how well it will run on Intel platform.

Solaris on Intel is not a new product. SunOS has been ported to Intel platform as early as in 1980s, but the most popular version that I can remember is Solaris 2.6. A lot of users doesn't know Solaris runs on Intel, may be the Intel version was not so popular and it was lack of support.

What Sun did is just like Apple. Their product on specific hardware platform which is not Intel, but Intel is some company that you just can't ignore. The recent switch to Intel for both Sun and Apple already prove it.

Palm Dictionary

If you have a Palm PDA, definitely you are not using it just as a electronic scheduler and memos, because it can do more than that.

One of the most wanted features for me, is to turn the PDA into a electronic dictionary.

There two common dictionary software for Palm, KDic and ZDic.

Most early Palm users should know KDic, it was originally written for Japanese-English dictionary, but it is a universal dictionary, depends on what type of dictionary database you have loaded in.

KDic support DA hack, so you can call the dictionary as a pop-up from other application. KDic is a freeware, the latest version now is 1.46, it runs on Palm OS 3.x to 5.x.


KDic, english dictionary

The KDic development was slow down. KDic may have some memory leak as warning by Palm OS Emulator, but I am not very sure about it. I have been using an earlier version, which sometimes crash with CJKOS.

ZDic is a much newer application, updated quite frequent, written by ???. It can share dictionary database with KDic. ZDic is a freeware, it runs on Palm OS 3.x to 5.x, support DA, and voice support only on Palm with ARM cpu.


ZDic, list display

According to this Korean blog, the original 2.33 version can't run properly on Palm TX, so a blogger name zdyx, make a patch and corrected the problem. This Korean change some of the chinese message into english and provide a copy at his blog site.

KDic/ZDic database. KDic and ZDic are just dictionary software, it doesn't came with dictionary database. You need to install a database for the software to work. You can try this english-english, it is quite a big file. You can try english-chinse database too.

Gmail on microemulator

Can gmail mobile app run on Palm?

I hope the gmail mobile application can run on Palm, but I am not sure. Since I am able to get it run on j2me microemulator emulator, it should work on any midp 2.0 compatible vm.


Gmail App, running on midp emulator

This is how I do it. microemulator told me they are midp 2.0, but I encounter some problem while running the gmail application:

$ java -jar me-app.jar gmail.jad

I get a few error for class not found:
javax.microedition.pki.CertificateException
com.barteo.cldc.https.Connection (and a few other class)

I do a quick and dirty hack. I get CertificateException class from midp 2.0 from Sun, com.barteo package from cldc.jar (can be downloaded from http://www.littlespikeyland.com/mpp/ ).

The last part, where can I get the gmail mobile application? I download the generic program from:
http://gmail.com/app/v1.0.0/en/gm-Generic-Advanced_MIDP2.jad (rename to gmail.jad)
http://gmail.com/app/v1.0.0/en/gmail-g.jar

I get this 2 link from gmail help center.

Beyond wireless broadband

Thoughts for Singapore wireless@SG

Just after I graduated many years ago, I have an interview in NUS (National University of Singapore). There is a question from the interviewer, the professor ask me, "Malaysia have any vision plan?" (or something like that).

I don't know what he really means at that time, so the professor explain to me, like for Singapore, they have an IT2000 initiative (intelligent island). I think I was not able to answer the question well at that time, and I didn't get the job. Later I realized that the professor may refering to 'wawasan 2020'. (I think the MSC idea is not there yet)

Internet seems to be a hit in 90s, especially when US president Bill Clinton and Al Gore propose 'Information Highway' idea, all other country have a similar plan but with a different name, like Singapore's intelligent island, India's Technology Park, Hong Kong's cyber port and Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor. The idea is to have broadband network connection.

After year 2000, extend one step further than broadband network, with the wireless broadband. Recently Taipei city just win an awards for its WIFLY network. Singapore announces to have wireless connection coverage throughout the island, and it is free for the first two years (now extended to 3 years).

I read a article about WIFLY in Taipei, even they have 90 percent coverage in Taipei city, but not many users (40,000 out of 2.6 millions) willing to pay for the services. Definitely there is a reason behind it.

I think Singapore government is doing a good job, given it free for the first few years. They have spend million of dollars on implementing the wireless system, Wireless@SG. I hope they can do better, and all other country can do it better.

If you are familiar with personal computer history, you should know Lotus-123 is the killer application on IBM PC. Many users buy IBM PC not because they are IBM product or it is affordable, they buy PC just because they can use Lotus-123 on it. I hope all these governments who promote wireless broadband don't forget, a killer application needs to be there as the key to the success, be it a software application or web services.

Link:-
New York Times, What if They Built an Urban Wireless Network and Hardly Anyone Used It?
台北要怎麼飛起來？
台北無線網路新都，果真世界第一？ Free access to Wireless@SG network
Todayonline, Singapore, one giant hotspot
More Wi-Fi hotspots become free in Singapore

How to run j2me application on Palm

I skip my dinner today, which is not good.

Question: Is it possible to run midp application on Palm?
The quick answer is yes, but how?

This just give you some idea how it will work, but not showing the detail step by step.

You should know how to write an j2me midp application, there are many tutorial on the internet that you can follow. What you need to do now, is to convert j2me jar file to a palm prc file, after that install this prc file and midp VM to the Palm device will do.

Yesterday night, some web site told me, there is a jar2prc tools to convert a jar file to prc file. I was searching high and low, but can't find this utility file. Seems like this jar2prc file is not a standard utility, it came with IBM WEME (Websphere Everyplace Micro Environment), and not Sun wireless toolkit.

Seems like the j2me vm is still within the competition between Sun and IBM. IBM's j2me VM is the majority on Palm OS platform. I am more familiar with Sun's tools, because I was using it when I first develop j2me application.

My development experience on j2me is about four to five years ago, but I almost forgot everything now. Luckily I still keep some README note from other developers, and I take a quick browse. Sun wireless toolkit is using midp4palm to convert jar to prc.

(Please take note, the prc generated by IBM need WEME, prc generated by midp4palm need Sun's midp. I guess should be the ID generated by both tools are different)

Most website (which is very old), will point you to http://java.sun.com/products/midp4palm/download.html which already been removed by Sun. I am not sure how you are going to generate the prc file now, but since I still keep this midp4palm file, I use this 5 years old file to generate prc file.


midp4palm, convert j2me jar file to palm

If you really can't find midp4palm, you should use IBM as your development tools, now you know why WEME dominate on Palm platform.

My Palm TX

Welcome year 2007 and happy new year.

Finally I get a Palm TX + 1G microSD (Yes! 1G) for RM999 just before the last day of year 2006. 999 sounds like a good number, definitely 888 is even better.

Most people will not buy a Palm TX PDA, is a 2 years old product, is not a smart phone and it doesn't run windows. (Ya! Is a big deal for many users because it don't support Microsoft Office). May be these people will prefer HP rx5915, which has WiFi and GPS system.

For a technical (hardware) user, Palm TX is still not their choice. Palm TX storage (128M) can't compare with Palm LifeDrive (4G), TX is using an Intel XScale processor which already sold to Marvell. TX could be the last product which use XScale, Palm's future product could be base on TI's OMAP or other ARM core base processor (eg. Samsung) like Zire 21, Treo 750v.

I don't really like Intel XScale, I am not sure if you compare with XScale and OMAP, which will perform better, but the XScale product used by Palm support WiFi, so that's the reason I choose the product. On the other hand, XScale is a good product, performing with low power.

Software people like me, Palm OS definitely is my choice, Windows Mobile have performance issue, they need a powerful device which will drain battery quickly. Even though both Palm and PalmSource (acquired by ACCESS) is moving to Linux platform, but we don't know when. Recently Palm license Palm OS source code from ACCESS. Palm OS is still simple and easy to use.

I have tried TX WiFi connection, is easy to setup, but I have no luck on configure Nokia mobile phone as an internet dial-up modem. I have download the midp j2me VM (from Sun), and my 5 years old j2me program still work on the TX!

Many old Palm OS v3 program doesn't work well on TX, but some still working fine. I think Palm has do some home work on backward compatibility, those old program actually compile for Motorola cpu. I don't really like the Graffiti 2 handwriting system, but I think I will get use to it soon.

I don't have much time to try for the 'new' device, but definitely will write more in the future.

This is my homepage for Palm TX.

Not just mobile phones

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

These days mobile phone is not just a mobile phone. It is a phone, camera and mp3 player, whatever it is, you can't miss its basic function as a phone, which you can call and talk to others.

My friend get a smart phone, is a HP PDA phone, can be used as a phone, store a lot of SMS, plan daily schedule, play game, surf internet, and it came with a lot of software utilities like calculator.

After my friend has used it for some time, it can do everything except one thing, to received call. It was ok when my friend first bought it, after use for about a year, the smart phone is not so smart anymore. My friend get a lot of miss call, the caller ask my friend why didn't pick up those calls, actually the phone never ring for incoming calls.

It happen to many smart phone users that I know. They always have problems with receiving call or sending SMS. I think when they try to fit in too many functions into a phone, the software becomes buggy. Remember a phone is still a phone, no matter what, you still have to make the basic function working.


Sony Ericsson Cybershot

I match this concept with a business, you can diversified your business, but you can't forget your core business. Google core business is search, something google is very good at it. Google's revenue came from online advertisement, which tie to their search and keywords.

Yahoo start as a search engine and moving to portal. Yahoo slowly losing the war to Google (refer, Google passes yahoo...), but you can't blame Yahoo, no one knows search can be so precise and so important, until Google prove it.

Not all diversified business fail, Apple is selling iPod mp3 player now and making a lot of money.

Yahoo Taiwan to acquire wretch website

天大的消息啊！雅虎奇摩收購無名小站。


無名小站班底

雅虎最喜歡併購了，怎麼會放過無名小站呢？別以為這個無名小站，只是無名，或是小站，在台灣可是大有名氣。有美少女的地方總是可吸引人氣。

雅虎沒有宣佈收購金額，據說有兩千萬美金。

Yahoo!奇摩並購無名小站
新聞評析─雅虎買無名小站
交大簡志宇 締造「無名」傳奇
無名小站不放手 將成下個蕃薯藤?
forbes.com

Microemulator on Solaris 2.6

Microemulator is an open source j2me emulator, I find it nice and easy to use. It support applet, so you can access your midp application through web browser.

I have some problem running microemulator from Solaris 2.6, finally I found out why and solve the problem.


Microemulator run on Solaris

The binary that I downloaded from the internet was compile as java 1.4 binary, but I get this error when I run java 1.4 on Solaris 2.6:

libjvm.so: symbol getloadavg: referenced symbol not found

This error will happen to java 5 as well. I am not sure the problem can be solved by patching the Solaris 2.6, but I am using the java 1.3.

What I need is to do is re-compile microemulator with java 1.3, I download from sourceforge (version 1.0), change the build.xml file to generate 1.3 code (just change 1.4 to 1.3 will do).

I change AppRecordStoreManager.java
$ vi AppRecordStoreManager.java
(at line 166)
FileOutputStream(recordStoreFile, false) to
FileOutputStream(recordStoreFile)

In 1.3 there is not such constructor, so this is yet another quick and dirty hack.

$ cd microemulator
$ ant

This will create me-app.jar in target directory

$ java -jar mee-app.jar HelloWorld.jad

This will launch your j2me midp program in microemulator, is just easy.

j2me pre-verifier on os x

Development is not that difficult as you think.

I have work on j2me development back in year 2000, j2me is very new at that time. There is no such things as MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile), there is no available phone which support java. We use an j2me GUI call spotlet, running on a Palm device.

After that I have lost track with j2me development for a few years time, I almost forgotten how to develop a j2me application. I have tried to pick up some mobile development skills at the beginning of this year but the progress is very slow.

Recently I was inspired by Gmail java client, I think may be I should refresh my j2me development skills. A few years back I develop j2me program on Linux platform and this time I want to try it on Mac OS X, but I encounter some problems with the development tools.

A j2me program is just like your normal java program, it can be compiled by a normal (J2SE) java compiler. You need an extra step to create a j2me program, pre-verify the java class object, using the j2me pre-verify tools.

When a java program loaded, it must be verify (for security, valid classes etc.), but the verify process need a lot of resources (cpu power, memory), is difficult to implement on a mobile device. A j2me program need to be pre-verify before it was loaded into a j2me virtual machine, this can be done by a pre-verify tool.

SUN java wireless toolkit came with a pre-verifier, the toolkit is available on Windows, Linux and Solaris platform. Michael Powers have ported the toolkit on Mac OS X, if you are interested to know how to do it, refer to Do-It-Yourself MIDP on Mac OS X. The pre-verifier on OS X, need a X Window library to run. The X11 on OS X is a 43MB download, after installed is about 100MB, which I don't think is necessary.

I download j2me source, and compile it myself. The source is available at Sun website, you need a login account and registration is free, it was license under Sun Community Source License (I expect it will be release soon as GPL?).

The binary is about 160k in size, and it doesn't need a X11 to execute. This is a quick and dirty hack for my own use, it work for me, but not sure it will work for all time.

I am looking for some place to upload this file.

Web stickies

What ever I can think of, is already there.

After I change my view on web zip utility, I ask myself, what else can do for similiar web application. It quickly came into my mind, the stickies utility.

I never use stickies utility, not until recently. I found it useful to write some temporary notes on my PC desktop, so is easy for me to relate it to a web application. I can even create a browser addons for it, that's what I think.

Some how I have a feeling that such an application already exist, so I search through the internet and found MyStickies and its firefox addons.


MyStickies, web stickies application

You need 2 things for a start:-

1. MyStickies account, is free.
2. plugins for your browser, currently only plugins for Firefox is available.

Once you have register with an account and installed the plugins, use the following method to add new stickies:-

1. ALT + left click, or ALT + left click and mouse drag
2. click "New Sticky" on the toolbar
3. right click (context menu), My Stickies, and New Sticky.

I have tried the plugins (version 0.1.14 and 0.1.15), is not working, I think is still buggy. If you are in mystickies site, it is working.

Yahoo China CEO resigned

自雅虎中國與阿里巴巴合併後，周鴻禕離職，田健做了一陣子，又好像做不來，現在的謝文又閃電離職。據說是雅虎中國的理念與美國雅虎不合有關。


雅虎中國 CEO 謝文，閃電離職

看來雅虎中國大佬的位置真的不好坐。

雅虎中國總裁謝文閃電離職
競報：謝文離職揭開雅虎中國未來之危

CIMB to create world largest plantation company

CIMB (CIMB Investment Merchant Bank Berhad) propose to merge three plantation company in Malaysia-- Sime Darby, Golden Hope and Guthrie. This will create the world largest plantation company, worth 31.4 billion ringgit (USD$9.8 billion).

Sime Darby, Golden Hope and Guthrie are the legacy of Brithish colonie, all these company around hundred years old history, just like the Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, Jardine Matheson, Weelock and Swire Group.

Sime Darby remind me of Hutchison Whampao. Sime Darby was form by Middleton Sime and Henry Darby, Hutchison Whampao is a merger of Hongkong Whampoa Dock and Hutchison International. Both are conglomerate company. Hutchison Whampao investion a lot in telecommunication industry, especially 3G license in Europe.

Some chinese translation here:-
CIMB 聯昌
Sime Darby 森那美
Golden Hope 金希望
Guthrie 牙直利
Hutchison Whampao 和記黃埔
Jardine Matheson 怡和洋行
Weelock 會德豐
Swire Group 太古洋行

What a simple plan

No doubt DiGi has a very good marketing plan for it mobile package, no wander it's share price soar from RM4 to more than RM10, even higher than its long time rival Maxis. Maxis is still the leader now, but things could be changing.

It starts from pre-paid SIM pack. DiGi pre-paid selling at RM8.80 (now is RM8.50), it came with a RM20 talk time, Maxis hotlink follow DiGi foot step, selling with a cheaper price at RM8.50. Compare with RM88 a few years ago, pre-paid sim card never been as low as this price before.

DiGi is the first mobile telco came out with pre-paid services, then Maxis came out with its hotlink services. DiGi pre-paid top up value is flexible, it even can top up with RM1 value.

You though DiGi pre-paid packaging is good? It's post paid package is even better. Do you notice DiGi advertise it's 1 low flat rate, very frequent on newspaper and TV? I always confuse with those mobile telco charges, this sounds much better.

DiGi came out with other new call rates as well. RM0 call between family line, and is all free call from DiGi to DiGi number, once your call charges are above RM123. Monthly subscription for DiGi post paid is just about RM10 to RM20.

Maxis, DiGi and Celcom have unlimited data access package, about hundred RM per month, once you subscribe to the package, you have to pay every month.

DiGi give you an option with some flexibility, you can paid per used (about RM0.10 every 10K, which is very expensive), and once you data charges reach RM149, is all free. Getting confused? Even without subscribe to data access package, is still an unlimited access plan, but rate are higher, at RM150.

People use Maxis because they said Maxis coverage is better, but I believe things will changed.

TechCrunch and Krunch tech

Michael Arrington write TechCrunch, earning hundred thousand per month.

I write Krunch tech, my earning just two cents, from AdSense.

I know the reason, why?

Some people says, you can't make money from AdSense anymore. That could be true.

PS. Last line is just a joke.

Google on mobile

My friend suddenly remind me this.

Sooner or later, (I think) there will be Google Calendar on your mobile phone, this is not the SMS alert from Google Calendar, is a (java) application like the Gmail reader. I don't know Google will do it, but I just believe Google will do it very soon.

The impact of Google Calendar on your mobile is, you don't need your Motorola or Nokia calendar anymore. In another word, Google is going to put your PIM (Personal Information Managment) application (eg. calendar, address book) into your mobile devices (mobile phones or PDA), no way you can stop them, unless you can provide a better services than Google.

I have use Google Calendar and Google Gmail contact management, they are equally good, I have no complain, any complain will be on Yahoo's adress book. I am wandering why Nokia and Motorola not doing it earlier, what they are waiting for!? Google!?

Those who have used Treo smart phone before, I like one of the SMS application which group all messages into a chat log, similar as Gmail group those email with same topic into one. Image Google upload your SMS into Gmail, imagine Google Talk can send message to your mobile phone as SMS. Wow! I couldn't imagine further anymore!

FireFTP and Krunch

Some idea on web services.

FireFTP is a ftp client plugins for Firefox.


FireFTP, ftp plugins for Firefox

I didn't try it until today, it is quite useful, especially when I don't have a ftp client installed on my desktop.

Later it remind me of this website, krun.ch.


online file compress services

I thought it was useless, just like many others think that web base IM client is useless (too slow). You can install a 200k utility (eg. freezip, info-zip) which help you to do the job. After I have tried the FireFTP, I change my mind. Online zip/unzip services could be useful, especially when zip utility is not available and you are not allow to install extra program into your desktop computer (eg. for security reason).

If you are still not convinced, let me give another reason why online zip/unzip services is necessary. You can zip/unzip on your desktop computer, but how about other file format which was not supported like tar, Z, lha, gz, bzip2, rar? There are applications which support these compress format, but if there is an online service, it could be easier.

Online zip/unzip services might not be as useful as what I describe. Since bandwidth are always limited, you might have trouble to compress a large file (that's the reason why we want to compress it).

What other value-added services we can improve on top of the online file compress services? Remeber I blog on info-Zip? The zipnote can add a comment (or description) to the archive file inside the zip file. I was not able to do it using my desktop utility. If the online zip/unzip services have such a function, it add value to the web services, and make it different from the desktop utility.

Link:-
FileSquash.com

SUN plan for GPL Java

This is a BIG BIG news, and it sounds GREAT, if it is true.

SUN Microsystems set to use the GNU General Public License for its open source java. I am not too excited (but I am very surprised by their GPL license decision) about their open source decision. I am more concern that java have a better development path in the future. I hope java will still be stable and (backward) compatible.

For me the most valuable properties of SUN are Solaris operating system and Java, now both open source.

SUN have a long time struggling between open standard and open source, they always differentiate themselves with Microsoft by adopting open standard like Unix and XML. SUN still take a tight control of java, even though many parties urge them to release Java, especially IBM.

I think SUN has made a wrong decision to acquire Netscape server end product, but leave the browser to AOL. The Netscape server end product became iPlanet server and SUN One application server, but it was not a very successful product.

If SUN work closely with Mozilla foundation, java might not be diminish from the browser, but now is still not too late for SUN to strengthen Java platform in the internet back end.

Not sure what's the future of java, and where it is going, let's observe.

Thoughts on Firefox 2.0 release

I have written this quite some time back, but never get it posted until now.


Remember firefox put a 2 page advertisement on New York Times?

Is another year after the official release of Firefox 1.0, Mozilla Firefox 2.0 was released a few weeks ago (24 Oct), right after the release of Internet Explorer 7.0. The browser war continue.

Do you remember the very first browser war, Netscape vs Internet Explorer? Netscape browser was discontinue and rely on Mozilla code, but Firefox survive as an open source source software (now you can see the power of open source).

Firefox shares in the browser market just increase a little bit to 12 percent (and majority of the rest is IE). Firefox is one of the most successful marketing in open source software world. What is the success story behind it?

A browser is still a browser. Just a few years back, (Netscape) software developers try to put everything in one, functionality is much important than stability, especially in browser war with Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Netscape include email client, html editor into its flagship product--Netscape Communicator browser, later it became a 20MB bloatware. Firefox browser is a strip down from Mozilla browser, just about 4 to 5 MB in size. It do what it originally doing when it was first started, a browser. This seems to be a smart move for Mozilla.

It doesn't means package a few software into one is a bad idea. Lotus SmartSuite is a good idea, Microsoft Office is a good idea, but you must do it right.

Firefox sounds cool. Firefox originally was named Pheonix and Firebird, but changed its name to Firefox, because the 2 earlier name have some trademark issue. A good name and icon, help in branding, most open source software has a interesting name compared with commercial software.

Tab browsing and plugins. Other than branding and marketing, , a good product must exist. Firefox came with some useful function like tab browsing.

Personally I don't think tab browsing is a great function. "Open html link in new window" (other than tab) make not much different for me. A lot of the users I know, switch from IE to Firefox for the tab browsing. IE only add in tab browsing function in version 7, which is few years time after IE 6.

Firefox function are extensible through plugins and extension. There is a lot of extension available, which can be downloaded from firefox add-ons.

Partner with Google. Partner with Google is another good move from Mozilla Foundation. According to Mozilla Foundation CEO, Mitchell Baker, Mozilla earn 10 of millions through partnership with Google and other website like Amazon.

The deal with Mozilla and Google was not reviewed, but many people says that, when you use the google search bar and the Firefox Google homepage to search for information, Google paid to Mozilla. Some rumors even said Mozilla earn 30 million to 70 million.

Is still a long way to go for Firefox to fight against with IE, and i would like to see both software improve, provide a better life for users like us.