IE8 Standards Compliant?

It seems too good to be true… On a recent entry into the IEBlog, Dean Hachamovitch announced that Internet Explorer 8 has successfully rendered the Acid2 test.

This news is expected to be more significant to web developers than to the average web user. For the uninitiated, Acid2 is a test page for web browsers published by The Web Standards Project (WaSP). It aims to help browser vendors ensure proper support for web standards in their products. When correctly rendered, it would show a smiley face.
However, up to this point, none of the major browsers in use today (the non-beta versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer) can render the picture correctly.

The final release of IE8 is still unknown though.. For their part, there are subtle hints in the post regarding the final support IE8 will have… In a paragraph, it was said that:

When we look at the long lists of standards (even from just one standards body, like the W3C), which standards are the most important for us to support? ………… Many advances in web technologies, like the img tag, start out as unilateral extensions by a vendor. The X in AJAX, for example, has only started the formal standardization process relatively recently. ……………….. Different individuals have different opinions about different standards. The important thing about the Acid2 test is that it reflects what one particular group of smart people “consider most important for the future of the web.”

So we just have to adopt a wait and see attitude..

A pain in the OS (operating system)

Put my thoughts into action. Finally ditched Windows XP. Ok.. I didn't really fully ditched it yet. However, I finally got my long awaited dual-boot system.

Installed Ubuntu. Actually was planning to use fedora. However, without an easy way to configure internet access, I turned to Ubuntu instead. However, Ubuntu is not without woes. Sadly, it doesn't support WPA well as I'm using a USB wireless adapter and the linux driver doesn't support it.

However, the results have been quite satisfying. Other than the occasional freezes, usually due to the keyboard malfunctioning as the driver support isn't that fantastic. However, I don't mind pressing the power button to reboot again as unlike booting into Windows, it doesn't take eons just to see the desktop. In fact, it takes me about 15 minutes to boot into Windows, waiting for all the services to fully load. Compared to that, Ubuntu loads in under a minute. This is probably due to the lower level of requirements to just run the base system.

Moreover, from my point of view, my Ubuntu installation seems to have more desktop effects, especially since I installed beryl, which emulates some of the Windows Vista features like ALT-TAB preview switching, thumbnail preview when you have minimized applications and also a 3D desktop with as many virtual desktops as you want.

Currently still learning how to use as most of the things, even some common things need to be done in the console/terminal (command prompt in Windows). However, security is and has always been higher as you don't get root access to system folders, a feature Windows recently adopted in Vista. I don't think I ever felt safe to enter the net without a firewall and anti-virus.

Anyway, here are some screenshots:

Main Desktop


Desktop 3D effects (desktop cube)

Weeks

Exams are over and we get a 4 day break until Monday which is erm... youth day? Yeah.. Something like that...

Finally got my website up and running.. Manage to get two domains... my main one at: http://fusedthoughts.x10hosting.com and a secondary one at http://fusedthoughts.googlepages.com. Althought currently, the x10 one doesn't work. I assume that the uptime for the googlepages one would be better although, it lacks full server benefits.

I never thought my computer had so much files. My C:\ Drive, which has 40Gb now has only 15GB left.. And thats when most of my files are on another partition. I desperately uninstalled over 10 programs and my free space count didn't improve much. I concluded that its all due to the every increasing number of updates for Microsoft Windows and Office... Its really getting out of hand. A base install of XP can take up so much space....

I've been thinking of dual-booting my system. Windows XP and Ubuntu or Kbuntu. I've haven't decided what I like better. The GNOME desktop environment. or K desktop environment (KDE).... Moreover, I'm a bit hesitant as one wrong installation move would require a re-installation of not only the Linux OS but Windows OS as well....

On a sidenote, yesterday was the last day of June and also the last day when Goods and Service Tax (G.S.T.) was at 5%. Starting today, G.S.T. is increased to 7%.

I went Vivocity yesterday. Got a programming book. My only programming book in like 5 years... Been always borrowing from the library. Its on Adobe Flex 2. Wanted to know it as it is integrated tightly with the upcoming Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) and I thought it would be interesting to get to know more about it. Got a 24% discount on the book. So I don't think its such a bad buy...

Oh wells. 2 more days of bliss before going back to school....

Windows Vista vs Ubuntu with Beryl

This should be in my tech blog, but I thought it would be nicer here... seems interesting what the opensource community can do nowadays.

The question on whether there is a need to upgrade to a new OS is really quite pertinent...



The two OS here in question is Windows Vista using Aero interface and Ubuntu Linux running Beryl. I believe the same effects can also be achieved using Compiz which Beryl is based on.

Cheers

Free Alternatives

This post is quite random I think....

Well.. Recently, Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista will have even more restrictions.

For one, they will not be allowing it to run in a virtualised environment for the Home and Home Premium Editions which I think would form the majority of the market.

As many know, Microsoft hasWindows Genuine Advantage (WGA) programme which caused some privacy concerns. Now, according to an business technology site, InformationWeek , a new programme called the Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) has been launched. (source)
As published in InformationWeek, and I quote: "Beginning Friday, users of Office XP and 2003 must prove to Microsoft that their software is legitimate to download add-ons from the Office Web site. "OGA only gets invoked then," said Jaidka. To download a template, for instance, requires that the user validate Office."

Though I aren't affected by this ruling since I invested my allowance on their software... $400 bucks for Office XP..., it has nonetheless got me thinking about the future of using such proprietary software...

I've been slowly but surely, migrating to opensource (OSS) and freeware once I feel that my software has become outdated than their respective freeware and OSS competition...

Looking through, I was actually able to sorted some of the more actively used softwares on my computer into a few categories....

Online

Filezilla,
Firefox,
Thunderbird,
Opera,
Internet Explorer 7 (To test my websites and visit sites built with ASP - Active Server Pages )

Compression

Izarc,
Zip Genius,
KGB Archiver

Development and Graphics

Inkscape,
Visual Studio Express,
OpenOffice.org,
GIMP,
Picasa

Server and virtualisation

VMware Player,
VMX wizard,
Apache

Maintenance and Security

Starter,
FreeRamXP pro,
EULA analyzer,
AntiVIR,
ZoneAlarm,
Spybot Serach and Destroy,
Ad-Aware

Media

VideoLan,
Audacity

LOLx... Welcome to the world of OSS and freeware I guess... haha...

STOMP and others

STOMP

After much resistance, I've finally joined STOMP. For the curious, STOMP stands for Straits Times Online Media Portal. I must add, it is quite engaging.

One thing that I felt it could have improved upon is to tie the two forums, that is STink And Spill (the teens forum) and the main STOMP forum, Talkback together. Now it is 2 separate systems...

And this thread lead me to be utterly disgusted. Didn't even want to post a reply... heres a link http://stinkandspill.stomp.com.sg/forums/showthread.php?t=343

Chinese and PW

OH I can't believe the Chinese A level examination is just 2 days away... Really doesn't feel like it lor... And on that day there is also the Insights and Reflection submissions. So glad... After the I and R submission, we are left with the Oral Presentation and we can say goodbye to Project Work... YaY!!

Technology

Windows Vista, Microsoft's long overdue operating system should be coming soon. Release Candidate 1 has been open to the public for sometime now. Release Candidate 2 on the other hand is already available to MSDN Subscribers....

According to neowin.net, the packaging for Windows Vista as well as Office 2007 has been released... Below is a picture posted on neowin.net

The two widely used browsers have also released their next version. Mozilla has released Firefox 2 while over at the Microsoft's front, Internet Explorer 7 has been released. On that note, Microsoft has also released the 11th version of their Windows Media Player software.

Attaching tomorrow.... and 4 other things

5. Things in total.

1. IMCB

haha... Funny heading. But yar.. tomorrow will be reporting to the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) instead of school. Oh man... Its so far... all the way to biopolis... But I aren't going to complain...

Missing a few tests though... Have to do a make-up for those... (i.e. going back to school during the holidays to do)...

I already cleared my "tests deficit"... I sat for the this wednesday's Chinese test in advance last friday.... Then I sat for the long overdue biology test on eukaryotic and prokaryotic genome today. Going to do the economics test during the holidays... Don't know about the maths test though....

Whats more, I'll be missing teacher's day celebration... so sad... cannot go back to my secondary school as I'll be dismissed at 5pm from IMCB.

haiz... guess I'll just have to make do with an sms to my teachers...

2. Pluto

Yup. I'm sure many of you have read or heard about it by now. Our solar system has shrunk.. We have 8 planets now as opposed to what we used to believe. This is because of the demotion of pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet.

This demotion arised from the new consensus among astrologist/scientist who agree to a new definition of a planet. Thus although we have 11 objects of masses (inlcuding Xena and another dwarf planet), only 8 are full planets now.

So now, other than the sun, we have Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Urananus, Neptune. Effectively, the common way in which we learnt the planets of the solar system last time (i.e. My Very Excellent Mother Just Serve Us Nine Pies)have to go without the pies.

3. Fun with Firefox

It really marvels me the things you can do in firefox. haha... Was playing around with some plugins.

My google homepage:

My Gmail login page

Those photos are really screenshots of my computer.. and not an edited image... Lolx

Its quite fun playing with user applied stylesheets... Although they are visible only on my computer.. But the results are quite statisfying. You can actually turn certain sites which you find difficult to read, or sites that has layouts which you don't quite like into something visibly pleasing to you.

4 .About YouTube

I heard that youtube has revised its site terms... So its advisable for those who upload there to take a look at the site terms again.

5. Site design

I've been thinking of it for a while but haven't really got to designing it yet. I've got a few concepts currently in mind. Since its been so long already, I've decided that I will give a total overhaul to this blog as well as to my website.

This web will undergo base r-ecoding, which will re-shuffle everything into a hierarchical order, from masthead to navigation to content. All these are really part of semantic web coding. The current layout, has taken a step into CSS, but it hasn't really reached a standard which I like. There were still some workarounds which I employed. Moreover, it definitely has some accessiblity issues which needs to be ironed out. I was also thinking of using some AJAX to spice up the blog interactivity, or even add a portfolio of my past designs.

As for the main site, I'm still learning the ins and outs of a Content Management System (CMS). It the CMS system prove too much, I may just resort to wordpress, a blogging system.

oh well... so much to do, so little time....

求其上，得其中,
求其中，得其次.

A ring tone meant to fall on deaf ears

Yup... its on the Straits Times today.
Its was a small article though. However, this ringtone (here) has been on international news. New York Times published an article on it on June 12, 2006 (Article).

Handphones are supposed to be switched off in class. However, in these settings where cellphone use is not allowed, these ringtones which the adults supposedly cannot hear is perfect for signalling the arrival of messages. Studies have shown that adults (most) would gradually lose the ability to hear high-pitched sounds

The ringtone that is an the offshoot of an invention called the Mosquito, developed last year by a Welsh security company to annoy teenagers and gratify adults, not the other way around. It is an ear-splitting 17-kilohertz buzzer.

However in face of younger teachers, this method may fall short, only irritating the teacher further. I for one would not try it. I doubt this ringtone would work with our teachers who are only in their 20s.