The Geek Brewery

Woot. I’m still alive!

If I were to tell everything that happened to me from my long break here then it would make this post the longest post I’ll ever make. But I’ll better not tell everything because odds are you won’t care anyway.

Star Wars. I followed Randalism‘s suggestion to watch Star Wars starting from The Phantom Menace (Star Wars 1) to Return of the Jedi (Star Wars 6) instead of the “usual” Star Wars 4 to 6 then Star Wars 1 to 3. I still haven’t started Star Wars 5: The Empire Strikes Back up to now due to lack of focus. Yes, I prepare myself before I watch movies. I guess it’s due to my short attention span.

After watching Star Wars 1 to 4, I now want to be Master Windu, Luke Skywalker or Han Solo although my favorite character is Jar Jar Binks. Liz made a “Konrad Skywalker” cartoon as seen above. Out of my addiction to Star Wars there were days when I plurked in Gungan Basic. LOL.

After 19 months, I now have Windows on my laptop again. I installed Windows 7 just to play the games I used to play. I missed the fun during the North Alliance’s last overnight party. I didn’t have Windows installed on my laptop so I wasn’t able to join them in X Hero Siege (a WarCraft 3 game, it’s actually a downloadable map). (more…)

USERS OF PIRATED MICROSOFT WINDOWS, read this!

I’ve used Microsoft Windows as my primary operating system for around eight long years. But last year, I tried Linux. I was so amazed of my experience that I made the switch. I left Windows which was worth big bucks for a free and open source piece of software and never had any regret.

Here are some of the good reasons why switch to Linux!

• We don’t have any virus in the wild, yet. There could be in the future but to date, there is no Linux virus in the wild. In Windows, despite religiously checking removable devices for viruses and making sure the antivirus is turned on, odds are you’ll still get a virus. And once it’s there, there’s no turning back. Your antivirus may delete the infected or infectious file but the damage it made may remain unreversed. You know how tiring it is to reformat a hard disk over and over again just to maintain a clean system!
• There are Linux counterparts of most Windows programs. But if you really can’t find one, you can use Wine (Windows emulator) to run most of your Windows programs.
• It’s far more stable than Windows. Most web servers run on Linux. It’s because Linux is far more stable than Windows server (aside from the cost factor).
• Free support! Windows gives you a perception of support, but with Linux you get real support. For example, you choose Ubuntu – there’s the very reliable Ubuntu Forums. Once you’ve got a problem, chances are another person have asked that problem too. If not, you may ask it and receive answers in a matter of minutes to days.
• It’s ready for the typical desktop user. For the past decade, Linux had a reputation that it’s a “for-geek-only” OS. It’s not true anymore, promise!
• No need to commit another crime! This is applicable especially for those who use pirated copies of Windows. Since most Linux distributions are free, you don’t have to commit another crime!
• There’s Compiz Desktop Effects. You can apply desktop effects to your machine such as Desktop Cube, 3D Windows, Rain, Fire and other astonishing effects even with normal hardware. Also, they don’t eat that much RAM! Below (and one at the top) are some screenshots I took on my screen. I use Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) on my laptop.

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Good news Windows Vista users because Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is now released. More security holes are now patched, but still a greater number of them are left undiscovered or unpatched. Compatibility is now better than ever, the way software should be (backwards compatibility, doh!).

So head on, users of legitimate Windows Vista users and grab your copy of Windows Vista SP2. And did I say you need Windows Vista SP1 installed on your computer before installing this one? FAIL!

Tidbits about Windows Vista SP2

• Installing SP2 won’t make your hopefully legitimate copy of Windows Vista immune to viruses.
• You need SP1 to install this.
• Is a relatively small download compared to previous service pack. Download size is 43 to 60MB for computers with Windows Vista SP1.
• The Windows Service Pack Blocker by Microsoft still works for SP2. This tool is for people who doesn’t want their pirated installations of Vista to be detected.
• With SP2, you may now record on Blu-Ray discs.

UPDATE: It’s confirmed. The new name will be Bing (http://bing.com). Rumors are spreading that they will launch it on May 29, 2009.

There are various reports in the Internet that says Microsoft is doing a rebrand of Live Search, their very own search engine. Live Search lost its luster in the search engine game, just as how Internet Explorer lost the consumer’s trust. Microsoft’s several failed attempts to buy Yahoo may have led them to do the rebrand.

Rumored potential names of the search engine reboot are Bing, Kumo and Hook. Both bing.com and kumo.com are already on the hands of Microsoft, while hook.com is still owned by another party. (more…)

“It’s fine to say ‘don’t use Internet Explorer’ for now, but other browsers may well find themselves in a similar situation”, these were the exact words of Darien Graham-Smith, PC Pro security editor.

Recently, Microsoft discovered a new security hole (vulnerability) to all released versions of Internet Explorer. Being the default Internet browser on most Windows workstations, this issue undoubtedly placed Internet Explorer to the spotlight.

The security hole was discovered by hackers before Microsoft did. In return, malicious websites that install programs that steal passwords for online games were already on the cloud (Internet) during Microsoft’s discovery. Even nongamers should be worried about this as the same security hole could have been used to steal more sensitive information.

Even though Microsoft already released a patch to the vulnerability, not everyone is vigilant enough to download it. I guess Microsoft has to give this issue more publicity. Internet cafes and maintainers of public Internet terminals should know the issue as the general public’s safety is on stake.

Personally, I’ve quit using Internet Explorer 5 years ago. I’ve been overwhelmed with the large volume of security holes that install malicious software. I switched to Mozilla Firefox and was very satisfied.

Related reads:

• Critical IE7 fix is now available — All About Microsoft (ZDNET Blogs)
• Internet Explorer security flaw leaves millions at risk — LIVENEWS.com.au
• Internet Explorer security flaw is identified — Suite101 Browsers section

After performing a full format on my Windows Vista partition (I have a separate one for Linux), I reinstalled the usual Windows applications I use — specifically those software I use for freelance projects that doesn’t have a good Linux alternative. Obviously, I did not settle with my project essentials. I still installed my favorite time wasters; Instant Messaging software, games, etc. I installed the latest version of Google Talk and the Vista-version of Yahoo Messenger.

Choosing the “Yahoo Messenger for Vista” instead of the old version 8 (which had no ads embedded to it) I always loved was one of the greatest reversible mistake I did. Yahoo Messenger for Vista, was indeed, a crap — worse than the previous versions of Yahoo Messenger.

Yahoo Messenger for Vista is a memory hog (memory pig, memory hoarder). Running the program is almost the same as running a decent PopCap or Yahoo game. On a rather average machine, everything just turns sluggish once it logs in. But on a pretty fast one, it’s doing okay.

It has a trying-hard eye candy interface. The term trying hard is there as eye candy is not a right term basing on it’s definition that is visual images that are pleasing to see but are intellectually undemanding (wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn). I bet Yahoo’s designers tried their best to make it as attractive as possible; but mind you I was never astonished by it. The heavy typeface applied on the items of the messenger list just suck, plus the bad choice of font.

The notification popups are no less than annoying. Previous non-Vista versions of Yahoo Messenger has this small notification popup whenever a buddy signs in or out. This feature has not been removed in the Vista version, but instead made it a lot bigger and more distracting. It just annoys me the way it is, I hope Yahoo would revert it back to the smaller ones on the next releases.

The visual effects were good. The effects are attractive and soothes the eyes. The windows are non-rectangular; unlike the typical windows we have. Translucency (partial transparency) is also evident especially whendealing with popup menus.

Most of the features are not outrightly visible. To change the chat text font, one still has to click the intuitive “A” font icon on the conversation window. To add a friend or perform other contact-related options, one still has to click the very unintuitive downward pointing arrow. Everything is unfamiliar.

Given all those observations, an assumption that Yahoo tried to concentrate on the visual appeal to the extent of compromising stability (yes, it’s unstable plus it’s nature of being a memory hog) can be concluded.

They should also consider putting the essential features outright on the window and not hide them behind menus. Yahoo should redesign the said application putting balance on the visuals and stability.

Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Friendster, Plurk and Twitter.

First, there was Yahoo. A lightweight portal and search engine. Then came the n00b search engine Google. Yahoo could have been threatened by Google’s birth and so they bloated themselves with lots of unnecessary services. Google struggled to fit the mainstream, and eventually it did.

Years later, Yahoo was used by millions of users. In fact, Yahoo is the most-visited website in the Philippines (and the World). Meanwhile, Google remained the choice of the so-called “Internet elites”.

The “internet elites” tried they’re best to persuade people to use GMail (Google Mail), but the “internet masses” preferred to stay with they’re “user-friendly” Yahoo with all those eye-candy RAM hog interface (which slows down your computer to death). A few adpoted the minimalist yet very usable GMail — and ended up super-satisfied with it.

Following the flow of the story were Friendster and Facebook. The “internet elites” first liked Friendster but eventually adopted Facebook when it was released out in the World; while the “internet masses” continued to patronize the very Asian Friendster.

Facebook, during it’s Global release (it was initially available in US only), was like Google – simple yet usable. But through the years it started becoming Yahoo. To date, it is bombarded with tons of unwanted applications that fills your inbox like flashflood.

Out of the blue, Twitter joined the party. Twitter introduced itself as Google way back in 2001. Again, a simple yet usable website. Then came a competition which surprisingly was not a super-bloated Yahoo. It was Plurk, a present-day Google. A very usable but not bloated, improved version of the 2001 Google. No doubt it was better to Twitter for some, like me.

The_ ______ ______ ___ ______.

The Web 2.0 Tales’ pages started to become unreadable as the trying-hard, capitalist Microsoft tried to join the story. And this concludes my Web 2.0 tales.

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I know it’s crap, but deal with me. You may not agree with my binaries: the “internet masses” and “internet elites”, the “Yahoo” being associated as bloated and “Google” as minimalist, and the likes. This post is based on my opinion, the opinion of Conrad Miguel E. Gozalo.

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I hope present-day “Google” websites will remain “Google” and not evolve as “Yahoo”.

IE sucks.

I just realized that my blog is not rendering well on IE. I’m still not sure if I’ll make a new layout this weekend.

That’s all, just a short stub post.