Disregarding the fact that women wear less during summer, I’d much prefer winter over summer mostly because I don’t like sweating from doing nothing. But during winter, my hands and feet get cold no matter how much I wear. Climate-controlled temperatures work for my body but not on the extremities. Having a space heater is good and all but it’s drying on the skin and it’s kinda bulky, especially around computers. So what’s a cold computer addict to do during winter?

USB warming thingies!

I’ve been reading Tokyomango and Gizmodo a lot and I have noticed there’s a lot of USB-powered warming devices available out there. Some are creative and some are very silly. I’ve picked out the top three devices that I would want for myself.

1. USB Heating Gloves for those cold clammy hands that can’t type for shit when they are cold and clammy (Gizmodo)
   
2. USB Heated Slippers for getting rid of cold feet - be careful when you get up and walk away! (Gizmodo)
   
3. USB Heating Hub for keeping your warm drinks warm (TokyoMango)
   

Honourary mentions include the following:

• USB Ass-Warming Cushion (TokyoMango and Gizmodo)
• USB Hand-Warming Mousepad Cover (TokyoMango)
• USB Hand-Warming Mouse (Gizmodo)
• Heated Keyboard - not USB-powered but same principle as these devices (Gizmodo)

Dishonourable mentions (because these are just ridiculous):

• USB Heating Body Blanket (Gizmodo)
• USB Warming Kneepads (Gizmodo)
• USB Eye-Warmer, or as Gizmodo likes to call it “Say goodbye to your friends” (Gizmodo)
  

Yes, a warm female body would work just as fine but how am I suppose to type at the same time?

With one simple action,
the world begins anew.

So begins “The Most Powerful Person In The World“, an ode to video games by Melburnian Thuyen Nguyen. With great gaming visuals, soothing chillout music and inspirational lines bordering on the pretentious, this high-concept piece would not be out of place in a classy establishment or at an art exhibit. And I love it.

(via Kotaku via GameSetWatch)

I work for a company that provides online services. And we take it for granted that not everyone is as net-savvy as us. But some people really do take the cake.

What is this “email” you keep talking about?

Me: Ok I will send these details to your email address. What would that be?
Customer: I don’t have one. Can you fax it to me please?

Customer: Why haven’t you got back to me regarding such and such?
Me: Oh I mentioned that I will send you more details to your email.
Customer: You did?
Me: Yeah.
Customer: Oh sorry I forgot. I only read my email if I know I’m getting one.

If I’ve built it, why doesn’t anyone come?

Customer: I’ve set up my e-commerce site just like you’ve instructed me. How come I don’t get any sales?
Me: Have you done any advertising? Promoted your domain name in magazines, newspapers, your shop signage etc.?
Customer: No, isn’t that what Google is for?
Me: Yes it can be used that way but you are selling something very common and there are hundreds and thousands of sites out there doing the same thing.
Customer: Hmph, well then how come I’m not #1 when people search for what I’m selling?

I’m just lazy, ok?

Customer: Hmm, I didn’t know setting up this online thing requires any effort on my part.

Customer: This is so difficult. Shouldn’t this be easier?
Me: It shows on our records that you declined our free basic training. Is there a reason why?
Customer: I don’t have the time.
Me: Ok, we do have an online user guide that you can …
Customer: I can’t be bothered. Just tell me on the phone now.

Maybe I’m just not cut out for this

Customer: Ok wait a minute. How do I browse the Internet again?

*oldie but a goodie*
Customer: I can’t see my website. Are you guys down?
Me: Not that I know of. Let me check. Yeah, nope … doesn’t seem to be our problem. I can see your website fine.
Customer: Are you sure?
Me: Yes. *hears old school dialup modem dialing out* Wait, is that your modem connecting?
Customer: Yeah I forgot to dial into the Internet.

So I discovered Videoegg 2 days ago, and now after more research I discovered Vimeo. The easiest way to describe it is that, like Youtube it’s a Flickr for videos - there’s tagging and there’s a community where you can have contacts and such. Compared to Videoegg which is extremely streamlined and purely for videohosting.

The quality of the videos uploaded to both sites is good, and is comparable to each other. Though Vimeo’s embed code displays the video at 400×300 compared to Videoegg’s 320×240, resulting in a slight loss in quality which is not that noticeable. They make up for it by making the original file available for download as you can see below.

Both these services produce better looking videos than Youtube. However, both cannot beat it in terms of traffic and exposure. So if you want to be the next Internet celebrity like lonelygirl15, you still need to use Youtube.

Me? I am using video to enhance the content here so I’m going for the better quality service.

Sample video from Vimeo below - it’s a slightly re-edited version of the one you’ve seen in my previous post.

Night out at The Deen from Marcus Ooi on Vimeo

Being stuck on dial-up speeds at the moment reminds me of using the Internet in the early 90s. The Internet then was a brand new thing, my computer was a Pentium 100, it was running Windows 3.11, and my modem was running at 24kbps (24000bps then, compared to 1.5Mbps or 1500000bps and above now). It was hella cool for the time, and I fantasised a lot about being like the Whiz Kids.

Back then the Net was predominantly for two things: chatting and discussions on the newsgroups. Website browsing as we know it today did not exist - it was too slow over the modems. Even then, the sites were very rudimentary and we only ever visited “homepages“.

Chatting was either done using “talk” and “ytalk” through a telnet terminal, or IRC. IRC was where all the action was. Although it is used much less now, it still exists today indicating how addictive it can be. Sex channels and all their variants (#sex, #netsex, #cybersex, #hottub etc.) were the most popular for the obvious reasons.

The discussions on the newsgroups were much like forums and to a certain extent, blogs today. People would write up an item and people would post their comments under it. Newsgroups would have names like “rec.culture.asian.american”, and “soc.culture.tv.australia” indicating what the group was about. And as with everything to do with technology, you can’t get away from the sex and sleaze: alt.sex.stories, alt.binaries.pictures.sex etc.

The primary reason the above were popular during those dial-up days was that they were mostly text and therefore fast through those put-put-putting modems. But modems have drawbacks.

The modems are connected via the same phone line as the house phone. Unless the line was dedicated for just modem use only, and most people did not think the cost was justified, the modem would cut off whenever someone accidentally picks up the handset. Or if you have call-waiting on the line and a call is coming through, that would kill the connection too.

“Sorry, I got disc” was a very common phrase.

What was most frustrating but really funny now was that the disconnections happen at the worst times.

Scenario 1: after trolling through countless newsgroups and actually finding some good porn in a 10-part bundle, and downloading 7 or 8 parts of it, you get disconnected. Noooooooo!

Scenario 2: after trolling through countless IRC sex channels, you finally got someone to go private messaging with you. Score! As you furiously type out your sexual fantasy, “I run my hand down your back and slowly pull you in closer, and I nibble on your … *boop* You are disconnected.” Noooooooo!

Both of which had happened to me more than once. Those were the good old days. Woohoo!

Getting a good game from eBay in brand-new condition for half-price off Aussie retail - sweet.

Getting the DVD scratched by your Xbox360, and thus made unreadable having only played it for 2 days - not so sweet.

In the midst of stewing over it, and after a few quick attempts at cleaning the DVD with a soft-cloth, I did some research on the matter. Turns out it’s quite a common phenomenon with Xbox360s that are used vertically.

You’d think that a big corporation like Microsoft would exhaustively test a product that is marketed to us as a vertical-use machine. Guess not.

If you use your Xbox360 vertically, and especially if you hear the DVD drive make a loud noise from time to time, be very afraid. Your disc might be getting scratched BADLY.

I’ve since put the Xbox360 horizontally and I’ve managed to repair the disc with a self-repair kit. But, lesson learnt indeed.

I have a question though: if one was to snort coke in a public toilet, and not that I would know anything about it *ahem*, why would you snort it off the toilet seat instead of on top of the cistern?

(via Gizmodo)