The Making of the Pixar Wall·E Picture book - Lots of Bots

sqrPhi The Making of the Pixar Wall·E Picture book - Lots of Bots.Design Artist | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Just found this. If you are interested in Wall·E it’s worth a look.[Link]

Google strikes a deal with..Family Guy?

sqrPi Google strikes a deal with..Family Guy?Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Which means “Ads in the show”. [Link]

Robert J. Sawyer on Sci-Fi

sqrPi Robert J. Sawyer on Sci-Fi.Sci-Fi Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

It’s a very good speech delivered by Robert J. Sawyer in Waterloo University. A brief history of Sci-Fi fictions and movies and also the impact on the society. [Link]

Windows OS X

sqrPi Windows OS X.Technology Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

“The best solution to the multiple woes of Windows is starting over. Completely. Now.” [Link]

Diablo 3 announced.

sqrPi Diablo 3 announced..Games Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Here comes the beloved Blizzard with the announcement of Diablo 3. The teaser is just as well done as the one for StarCraft 2. Totally worth your 2 minutes.[Link]

Rogers sucks

sqrPi Rogers sucks.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

57 positives; 1572 negatives. Update: 132 Positives; 3119 Negatives. →Link

Bill Gates’ career in flash

sqrPi Bill Gates career in flash.Technology Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Microsoft has put up a video devoted to the life and work of Bill Gates. An interesting OS interface appears in this video too. Warning: SilverLight required. [Link]

Return of the 70s Weirdos

sqrPi Return of the 70s Weirdos.Technology Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Microsoft in 1978 and 2008.[Link]

The disadvantage of Android platform

sqrPi The disadvantage of Android platform.Technology Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Which in turn is iPhone’s advantage. [Link]

About disk opimization with OS X

sqrPi About disk opimization with OS X.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

In this newly posted support page, Apple claims “You probably won’t need to optimize at all if you use Mac OS X.” [Link]

“I Hate Perfume”

sqrPhi I Hate Perfume.Fashion Artist | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

CB I hate perfume

We don’t like perfume. And even if we secretly do, admitting it is just as tough as telling your parents that you’ve been a homosexual for the last decade. Then here comes this “I hate perfume”(yes it’s the brand’s name), by which you can make your own perfume by mixing basic scents.
It turned out that the creator of “I Hate Perfume” has also worked for Kiehl’s, which happen to be my favorite cosmetic brand. The interesting bit is how he came up with this idea. Here’s a quote:

I worked at a great many odd jobs during the 80’s but driving a cab was perhaps the oddest. People are generally shocked when they find I did this. Still I drove for a brief period and this was when I discovered that I Hated Perfume. Women would get into my car in the evening wearing some horrible scent that made me sick. 12 hours later in the cold freezing dawn, my eyes would still be watering & my stomach churning..

Indeed, that’s perhaps the reason most of the guys hate perfume– too many women who wear perfume have no taste at picking scents.

Now you have a chance to mix your own perfume. Sounds like a fun thing to do even for me.

29468637b3302fca3cb5df3c7bcbe7e2 I Hate Perfumed515c188cdc9b1a7475722273dea663e I Hate Perfumec5b92a1ad564cf069f6264e4a5fa1525 I Hate Perfume


[Link:CB I Hate Perfume]

Bill Gate’s email on the Windows Usability

sqrPi Bill Gates email on the Windows Usability.Computer Science Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

The irony is, 5 years later, Vista managed to be a worse product than XP. It seems something is wrong with both MS and Windows that even Bill couldn’t fix it. Architecture, perhaps? [Link]

Jeremy Clarkson’s fuel saving tips

sqrPi Jeremy Clarksons fuel saving tips.Petrolhead Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

It’s how you manage to get more MPG in a BMW M3 than in a Toyota Prius. 56 mph seems to be the optimal speed according to Jeremy. [Link]

AFI: Top 10 greatest films in 10 categories

sqrPhi AFI: Top 10 greatest films in 10 categories.Movies Artist | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

The American Film Institute has released a new set of top 10 lists.
61020ebd08b3b71c21491c2e6fa5e8f5 AFI: Top 10 greatest films in 10 categoriesAnimation

  1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  2. Pinocchio (1940)
  3. Bambi (1942)
  4. The Lion King (1994)
  5. Fantasia (1940)
  6. Toy Story (1995)
  7. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
  8. Shrek (2001)
  9. Cinderella (1950)
  10. Finding Nemo (2003)

Fantasy

  1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  3. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
  4. King Kong (1933)
  5. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
  6. Field of Dreams (1989)
  7. Harvey (1950)
  8. Groundhog Day (1993)
  9. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
  10. Big (1988)

Read more

Some dreams fade over time

sqrOmega Some dreams fade over timeThinker | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment



I remember back in high school, Kevin Garnett was THE basketball player in my list, even though his team was losing badly. That’s partly because I had some kind of sympathy on him, that his dream was never even close to reality, and neither was mine.

I finally knocked that bully’s ass out. That’s what it felt like.

Garnett said in the conference.

It’s been 6 years since I first watched his game, today his dream has finally come true. Congrats, KG.

The Earth from Mars

sqrPi The Earth from Mars.Astronomy Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

The Earth From Mars

The Earth seems to be a little lonely in all that darkness. A bit fragile, too.

[Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona]

The sounds of Wall·E

sqrPhi The sounds of Wall·E.Movies Artist | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Wall·E

One of my favorite websites, Rottentomatoes, has put up a video in which the director of Wall·E, Andrew Stanton, and sound director Ben Burtt guide us through the sounds in Pixar’s latest movie. Ben Burtt is also the man who was behind the sound effect in Star Wars(R2-D2, for example). The download link is here.

[Photo via:andy castro]
Update: Surprisingly(or unsurprisingly?), the rebooting sound of Wall·E is exactly the same as the bootup sound in Mac OS X. I wonder if Jonathan Ive designed this or it’s from Ben Burtt too.

Update 2: Ben Burtt interview.

ZFS: why and how

sqrPi ZFS: why and how.Computer Science Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Jonathan Schwartz, the CEO of Sun, has posted an insightful article on the why and how behind ZFS. The link is here.

The vulnerability of the newscasters

sqrPhi The vulnerability of the newscasters.Shows Artist | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment


What happens when news broadcasters aren’t talking? We, the general audience rarely pay attention to such details. Yet, Jason Arber, director of London based motion graphics outfit Wyld Stallyons captured this phenomenon in his artistic yet eerie video presentations. Jason originally became interested in the way news broadcasters looked when their partner broadcaster is talking. So in a swift and brilliant idea, he put together footages where he removed the talking broadcaster and put in its place a non talkative one. Add in some thematic music composed by Ben Frost. We then have an artistic piece that captures the vulnerability of the newscasters in such a subtle and poignant approach.

Video option:

> Quicktime H.264
> iPod Compatible
> Watch in Flash

[Via:idents.tv]

The picture says it all

sqrPi The picture says it all.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | 3 Comments

1b1bd6e18717af62a6b8220d28d6910a The picture says it all

Apple

iPhone 3G

Twice as fast.

Half the price.

at&t

Well, not really

after we raised our data plan pricing to 30$/month

Click on the image to see large image.

So it’s clear Apple no longer takes a cut from the carrier, then it doesn’t really explain the 199$ price tag. My guess is the App Store will make up for it. 30% of the price of each app will be subtracted by Apple to pay their “service fee”. Thus if we have 20 million iPhone users at the end of this year(very likely), and say 50% of them purchase 10$ app in their lifetime(also very possible), Apple is then going to take 10$*50%*20,000,000 = 100,000,000$ away. While it’s far less than what the revenue share program with at&t might give Apple, it is however preparing for a huge future. And by huge I mean huge monopoly.
What? You may ask. Here’s a hint, imagine Microsoft invented PCs, and then it charges 30% of the price for each copy of your software selling to the PCs.
Greedy and evil. Ah well, time to get Apple shares again.

Update: Here’s a interesting article from John Gruber:

……According to Gizmodo, iPhone 3Gs will now require in-store activation, and Apple will no longer be getting a cut of the monthly phone service fees. The upside, though, is obvious: at $199, and with the expansion to 70 countries around the world, Apple is going to sell a shitload of iPhones.
……
So, step one: sell a ton of iPhones and grab a huge chunk of worldwide smartphone market share. That’s the new $199 iPhone 3G. Step two: introduce features that people and companies love but which tie them to the iPhone. That’s the SDK games and apps from App Store, and custom in-house apps for the enterprise market.

……The platform is the story. Platforms have staying power, and, once entrenched, are very hard to displace.

Don’t know if I quoted too much, but he got it right.
Update Two: New post from MacRumors:

No other mobile platforms provide as integrated a solution as the App Store to distribute applications directly to the customer. Despite some vocal concerns about the 70%/30% developer/Apple split on App sales, other carriers are said to take up to 60% of revenue on other platforms. One analyst projects that the App store could create a $1 billion-plus iPhone ecosystem by the end of 2009.

older posts