Published by 9527 January 31st, 2006
in 生活點滴 and 環遊世界.
Today is the last day to ski for this trip. We went to Niseko Grand Hirafu for skiing. I was with Terry (one of our teammates of this trip) for the whole day. At the very beginning we would like to try the Holiday course which is supposed to be a very easy one. Unfortunately, we took the wrong lift (No Name Pair) and went to the wrong slope (Jambo course). The maximum gradient of this slope is 37°! This is the very first time I experience this kind of gradient. I am still ok with that but this slope is too difficult for Terry. He had to ski very slowly and took about 20 mins to finish that slope. Luckily, we were able to head back to the mountain foot without the help from the rescue patrols. 
Terry, sorry that I took you to the wrong slope. I appologize for my mistake. 
Published by 9527 January 29th, 2006
in 生活點滴, 二人世界 and 環遊世界.
Today is my birthday. I got a very nice birthday gift, which is a key holder, from my girlfriend. It can hold all my keys and even my car key altogether. I love it so much. Thanks honey. 
As usual, we are spending my birthday and the Chinese New Year holidays (8 days) in Hokkaido (Japan) for skiing. I don’t really like skiing but it is not bad to go with my girlfriend and do something that she wants. I had 5 days of “intensive ski training” last year so skiing is not really that difficult for me this year anymore. I tried some of the red slopes in Furano in these 2 days and I was able to manage them easily without getting myself injured. However, my speed is still very slow when compares to my girlfriend. She skis very fast and is like a rocket. 
No matter I will go skiing again or not but if this is what my girlfriend wants to do then I will go with her again. 
Published by 9527 January 29th, 2006
in 9527.net and 生活點滴.
祝大家狗年事事順境，身體健康，學業進步，步步高陞，升職加薪，生意興隆，一本萬利，心想事成！
最要緊就係大家咁話！
Published by 9527 January 21st, 2006
in 生活點滴 and Volkswagen.
我架車終於番來囉！今日同亞 Ming sir 食 lunch，食完 lunch 之後就一齊去大昌攞車（佢攞佢𠴱架，我攞我𠴱架）。今次我架車入大昌嘅原因係：
- Key 番條新車匙落架車到：之前唔 Q 見咗條車匙，搵大昌配番（咁就無咗二千六），條匙到咗，比架車佢地 delete 番唔見咗嗰條，key 番條新匙落去
- 換 CD Changer：架車只係揸咗年半個 CD Changer 就壞咗喇，不過唔可以怪哂 Volkswagen，因為個 CD Changer 係 Sony 造嘅
- 有時撻唔著架車：自從大昌上次 upgrade 咗 ECU 個 firmware 之後（解決 idling 同埋 tiptronic delay 兩個問題），無論凍車定係熱車，十次就有一次半次撻唔著架車，要撻多下先得，大昌都試到，不過佢地話我嗰個 firmware 已經係最新喎，無再新啲嘅，所以要等 Volkswagen 覆喎
- 慢車轉右踩 brake 車頭有聲：之前試極都試唔到，上個星期就終於試到比大昌睇，佢地檢查完之後話右邊車頭有個 bearing 有啲聲喎，話同我換個新 bearing 喎，佢地定緊番嚟喎，不過又要等
- 司機位皮凳爆線：原來只係線頭，已經被人剪咗
等我去完日本番嚟先再搵大昌 follow-up 個 firmware 同埋個 bearing 啦！
Published by 9527 January 16th, 2006
in 時事新聞 and 人民講場.
在世貿部長級會議期間從電視上看到一幕幕示威者衝擊警方防線的驚險場面，我想當時大家心情都有點不安，因為大家自出娘胎後在一個和平的大都市中成長，重未經歷過戰爭或六七年暴動這種大場面。與此同時，大家都會擔心市民同警察的生命安全受到威脅，看見許多警察被示威者襲擊，我內心很難過。但當聽見香港警察最終都能控制場面，才放下心頭大石。在此，我要向香港警察說聲多謝。多謝您們在世貿期間緊守崗站，維持香港法治！專業、包容同克制的表現令我們香港市民及全世界非常欣賞！
我同情韓國農民，因為貿易不平衡令他們生活艱苦。我認同他們以任何和平方式去表達訴求，但示威者以暴力衝擊警方防線及襲擊警務人員試圖阻止世貿部長級會議進行就萬萬不能接受。香港是一個法治社會，所有市民（包括警察、示威者、外國遊客等等）都受到香港法律保護。相反，任何人士如果違反香港法律，就需要面對法律制裁，這就是香港的法治精神。古語有云：『天子犯法，與庶民同罪』，沒有人可以用任何藉口去違反香港法律，破壞香港法治及社會秩序。 我理解到韓國人同香港人有很大的文化差別，但當他們來到香港的時候，就要尊重我們香港人的法律，香港人的文化。我想大多數市民在今時今日的香港不接受任何方式的暴力。
以下是我對事件中某些人的一些微言：
- 韓國農民：您們的遊行方式令我大開眼界，可是您們所使用的暴力更令人髮指！
- 民間監察世貿聯盟主席鄧燕娥：我想您是真心幫助那些韓國農民，可是您好心做壞事，您未能使香港市民認同您的做法，但是卻令香港人認同您的無能。
- 天主教香港教區主教陳日君：不願置評，這是天父賜給我的智慧同勇氣。
- 在現場圍觀拍照的市民：您們真的很無聊，請做點有意義的事情吧。
- 在現場向警察喝倒啋或襲擊警察的香港市民：您們才是香港之恥！
如果大家想為我們的警察打打氣，請到 http://youtough.com/hkpolice/。到了這個網站之後您就會發現，原來有好多人支持我們香港的警察！
Published by 9527 January 11th, 2006
in 流動通訊.
Finally, I have my first 3G phone (a Christmas gift from my sweetheart). It is a SonyEricsson K600i mobile phone. I like this phone because it is light (105g), compact (a small candybar), feature-packed (too many functions and features), ease-of-use (the user interface and the overall design), and inexpensive.
There are a lot of choices of 3G phones in the market but only K600i can meet all my requirements. One of my (crazy) requirements is to use the mobile phone as a remote control which allows me to remote control my iMac G5. Most of the recent mobile phones from SonyEricsson have this feature and K600i is one of them.
I have been using this phone (with 3G service from One2Free) for 2 days. I have tried watching streaming video over the phone. The experience so far is very good. I haven’t tried making any video call yet. But I think it will be fun.
Thank you sweetheart.
Note: You can’t believe it. The phone costs HK$1,500 only (originally HK$2,480)! To what I have heard, SonyEricsson is going to discontinue K600i and now clearance them out at this special price. However, mine is already the last one available thru Sony Shop. If you wanna get one, try SonyEricsson shop then. Once again, thanks sweetheart.
Published by 9527 January 7th, 2006
in 資訊科技 and 流動通訊.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. and ATLANTA, Ga., January 4, 2006 - Lenovo and Cingular Wireless today announced plans to integrate wireless wide area network (WWAN) technology from Cingular in upcoming versions of ThinkPad notebooks. ThinkPad users will have built-in, immediate high-speed Internet access via the Cingular BroadbandConnect service without needing a separate PC card or additional hardware.
Through this agreement, ThinkPad notebooks will be preconfigured for BroadbandConnect, which delivers average mobile data connections between 400-700Kbps (kilobits per second) on the downlink and bursts to more than a megabit per second using Cingular’s third-generation (3G) network based on UMTS/HSDPA technology. With Cingular BroadbandConnect services, users can connect anywhere they receive Cingular Wireless data service and will no longer need to be centrally located near wireless hubs, or WiFi “hot spots,” an ideal situation for mobile and small business professionals who are on the go and often located in areas where WiFi hot spots are not readily available.
… more
3G technologies and applications are getting more mature. Especially when I first read this news, I was really excited and realised that it’s really the right time to get a 3G phone (not really because of this press release but mainly because of streaming TV news, Japan and Korea roaming, etc.). This is really a good example to let people knows that 3G applications are not limited to games, gambling and girls (that’s why we call it 3G!). A laptop computer with embedded 3G technologies is good for people to access the Internet (or private networks thru VPN) on the road at high-speed without the presence of Wi-Fi hotspots.
I guess this is an exclusive deal at this point so I don’t think we can get a 3G enabled ThinkPad until later this year or something. But this is already a good start to have a laptop computer embedding long-range packet radio technologies (most of the laptop computers nowadays come with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi which are classified as short-range packet radio technologies). If you are not familier with 3G technologies, the following references will provide you some basic idea of what they are.
References:
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Mobile_Telecommunications_System
Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W-CDMA
High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSDPA
Published by 9527 January 2nd, 2006
in 資訊科技, Apple and Freeware.
VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, …) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. VLC media player runs on multiple operating systems like Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BeOS, etc. I am currently using it on my iMac. Once I have this installed, I do not need to install anything else because VLC comes with everything that I need to watch my movies and videos in any format. And VLC media player is free.
Published by 9527 January 1st, 2006
in 9527.net and 生活點滴.
告別 2005，迎接 2006！新嘅一年新嘅開始，祝大家新年快樂，事事如意！
註：圖片轉載於 GT EYE 網站
