Archive for January, 2006

Accessing and testing google.cn

Published on January 28, 2006 in Google. 1 Comment


If you live outside of China, you probably don’t have access to the much controversial google.cn because Google redirects you to the mirror site of your country for faster access and options to display only local contents. To test google.cn out, use this address: http://www.google.cn/intl/zh-CN/.
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Websites removing Adsense in protest over China

Published on January 26, 2006 in Adsense and Google. 0 Comments

Following Google’s decision to “omit Web content that the government of the People’s Republic of China finds objectionable’, several websites have removed Google Adsense, the contextual advertising program by Google in protest.

Blogger News Network, one of the websites that acted almost immediately after Google’s announcement has posted the following in their blog:

In response to the decision of Google to gain access to the Chinese market by censoring its search content, Blogger News Network has reached the difficult decision to discontinue running Google’s ads on our service. As a news organization with aspirations to earning public trust, BNN must act ethically in its financial dealings. Accepting money from a company which is putting profit above its ethical obligations to stakeholders would represent a lapse in that ethical stance.

Baseball musings is another website that has their Adsense removed.
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Google News is now out of beta

Published on January 24, 2006 in Google. 0 Comments


Google News has officially been taken out of Beta. The announcement was made via their official blog:

We’re taking Google News out of beta! When we launched the English-language edition in September 2002, we entered untested waters with a grand experiment in news browsing - using computers to organize the world’s news in real time and providing a bird’s eye view of what’s being reported on virtually any topic. By presenting news “clusters” (related articles in a group), we thought it would encourage readers to get a broader perspective by digging deeper into the news — reading ten articles instead of one, perhaps — and then gain a better understanding of the issues, which could ultimately benefit society. A bit more than three years later, we offer 22 regional editions in 10 languages, and have a better sense of how people use Google News.

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Dbtel M50 - the iPod phone

Published on January 18, 2006 in Gadget. 0 Comments


No, you are not looking at an iPod, and you are not looking at a secret cellphone from Apple either. The new Dbtel M50 from Dbtel of Taiwan does not only look very much like an Apple iPod, controls are almost intuitive if the user is well versed with the iPod.

Via Begadget.

Microsoft dumps Windows Media Player for Mac OS X

Published on January 17, 2006 in Apple, Microsoft and Software. 0 Comments


Following the decision to stop supporting IE for Mac, Microsoft has officially announced that the company would cease the support for Windows Media Player for Mac OS X.
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Bottle cap tripod

Published on January 17, 2006 in Gadget. 0 Comments


Always hate it when your tripod is not around when you spot some nice scenes and slow shutter speed is inevitable? This bottle cap tripod has come to rescue.

Designed to screw on to the mouth of common-sized bottles, this bottle cap tripod works best with small compact cameras. A full bottle can of course give better stability - the main factor that affects the quality of the image.
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Proton Waja Campro

Published on January 15, 2006 in Cars. 5 Comments


Proton Edar recently unveiled the new Proton Waja that is fitted with a 1.6-litre CAMPRO engine, the first automotive engine ever built by Proton (the name Campro is short for Cam Profile).

Available in Burgundy and Quick Silver, the new Waja CAMPRO comes with minor interior cosmetic changes, including front and rear leather seats, improved circular shaped air-conditioning vents, new meter cluster and a 2DIN CD player that plays MP3 discs.
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Proton Chancellor

Published on January 15, 2006 in Cars. 2 Comments


I do not quite understand this, but a “modern luxurious” car that looks like a Waja and sells at RM130,000 (~US$35,000)? Not to mention it doesn’t even come with airbags? I really doubt how likely we’ll be able to spot a Proton Chancellor on the road.
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Thunderbird 1.5 released

Published on January 12, 2006 in Software. 1 Comment

Months after Firefox 1.5’s official release, Mozilla today announced the availability of Thunderbird 1.5. If you are already a user of Thunderbird 1.5 RC1, it will soon be automatically be upgraded to the final release. Users of 1.5 RC2 already have 1.5 final.

Thunderbird 1.5 introduces several new features including a software update system, spell check as you type, built in phishing detector, auto save as draft, and support for deleting attachments from email messages. Message filtering has also been improved with new filter actions for replying and forwarding. Saved search folders can now search folders across multiple accounts.
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MacBook Pro

Published on January 11, 2006 in Gadget. 3 Comments


Apple has finally released what we’ve been waiting for a long time - an Intel processor-based laptop. Dubbed MacBook Pro, it is the first Intel-based portable powered by Intel Core Duo processor, which gives 4x faster performance over the PowerBook G4.

Via Begadget.