tab tab tab space

one of the gripes that i mentioned about migrating from windows is the inability to use less of the mouse. i am a self proclaimed shortcut keys junkie – i hate the fact that i would need to move the pointer with a mouse at the end filling up a form in os x. in windows its usually tab fill up field repeat tab to go to the next field till alls done and finally tab and space at the “submit” button at the very end – cant seem to do it on os x. until now (yeah i know i am slow to find this out).

apparently the ability to do that has been inbuilt in os x all the time, its just not turned on (why not is beyond me). to be able to tab onto buttons :-

1) go to system preferences

2) double click on “keyboard & mouse”

3) near the button of the window set “In windows and dialogs, press Tab to move the keyboard focus between:” to “all controls”.

4) done.

p.s setting can be accessed via ^fn F7 too

windows seven

right….for the record, i’d like to make known that i am no fanboy of windows neither am i an evangelist of microsoft’s products & solutions. as far as the current state of OS market share goes, it’s near impossible to find a business that has absolutely no microsoft (”ms”) products what-so-ever (perhaps linux & unix solution providers, apple doesn’t count, they have office 2008 :p). as a person cursed with the interest of technology, its hard not to run one’s hands down the body work when its offered free. as a consumer – as long as it allows me to be productive and work with anything i throw at it, i don’t care who its made by or whats its called (but i’ll scream bloody murder if someone took away my somethings called os x and linux).

as first impressions goes, the 7th incarnation of windows has a lot to like. contrary to the reported issues ms faced with its download service not being able to handle the sheer volume of requests, the 2.8gb download was somewhat speedy for its size. i fired up vmware fusion and trodded along with setting up a new vm to attach the iso to. a few clicks later, while the screen shows “installing”, i headed over the kitchen to fix up a mugfull of caffiene. i was pleasantly suprised that when i got back to a welcome screen awaiting password entry. ok, installation is fast, mighty fast (anyone remember the “39mins” text on the left side of the windows xp installation? – heh).

as expected by way of all the os level competition that ms gets, visuals on windows seven are stunning (perhaps because it is running on a mac while i am writing this). flowing graphics and translucence are concepts of choice for providing users with the visual stimuli to make them proud to have one. one thing to note, the “windows sidebar” (its called “windows gadgets” in the 7) from vista is gone and gadgets will now float freely on the desktop when activated from the control panel. they were a hog to resources in the vista but its cool to see that them code monkeys at ms were smart enough not to make them load default at startup.

one thing vista was notorious for was resource utilization – it was an absolute pig. so much so that a machine with 2gb can somewhat make one think that the cpu & ram burglar has struck again . memory utilization for the 7 , i am glad to say, is very much similar to what you see on the xp. i haven’t taken taken it out for a real spin just yet to be able to comment on its performance at full tilt (outlook + word + 3 excel 2007, 5 rdp sessions, itunes, internet explorer and firefox with >5 tabs are common day to day where i work) but so far its looks positive.

its only been a few hours that the 7 was installed on vmware fusion, so far its been living up to its hype. then again, it bsod-ed on me while i was typing out the first paragraph – perhaps it needs to cement the fact that this is still microsoft (i think blue is the ms colour of the 90s). or, it could be due to other reasons :p

nonetheless, professionally at least, i’d recommend the 7 over vista or xp. no release date announced yet but do look out for it.

no really…just why?

why is it that microsoft sharepoint makes creating cms driven content so darn complicated and difficult?

i fail to see why anyone would want to go through manuals, how-to guides and extensive training just to create a publishing outlet in the cloud. ok, so they might say its targeted to the enterprise crowd, but even that is a huge chore for any users to adopt. its tough enough to keep up with the amount of work just to be productive, let alone taking the time to learn the complications of sharepoint just because a driven i.t. department convinced company heads to adopt the latest and the greatest. i’ve had users having problems understanding the operations of an ipod, i bet they’ll probably go mad when someone shoves sharepoint into their faces.

its funny that the biggest (maybe) software company in the world is unable to provide a solution to web content publishing and web collaboration when there already so many other solutions that are a lot more simpler, manageable, user friendly and tons more beautiful out of the box. compared to WordPress, Drupal and even the mere CMS Made Simple, sharepoint looks like an expensive swiss army tool that can’t cut properly with its knife, can’t grip with its mini pliers and it looks like a cheap copy that’s usually sold in street markets beside pirated DVDs. granted that the rest of the mostly open source solutions is not as complete as sharepoint is, but while it only serves a part of what sharepoint can offer, it serves its solution millions of tons better in all aspects of that small part.

more comical is the fact that microsoft knows extremely very well the value of making things easier to understand, easier to manage and the power of visual attraction are instrumental to getting more acceptance of its solution which translates directly into more business and more money. running down the history of its OSes, every new release is always better in many aspects compared to the previous one and chief amongst them all are the visuals. just take a look at the marketing material of the windows desktop over the years. 3.11 was blah, 95 & 98 were a little better, XP was wow, and Vista was “ok-i-have-to-get-it-NOW” with its visually attracting wallpaper, start button, aqua and even the addition of the desktop pane. ok, its unfair to compare the older ones as display and graphic technologies are not up to the task yet, but what about sharepoint now? others have hit the ball of out the park with it and they don’t even have such experience , integration or wealth as microsoft has.

so…..just, why?

still alive

weekday – 3 am.
empty winding road.
on leave the next day.
orbital’s kein trink wasser plink plonking on the stereo – loud, but not overly.
all the lights were green… all the way home.
parked and stepped out to the sound of nothing except for the collectively quiet hum of aircon units.
no voices, no juvenile screams, no talking, no barking, no honking …. nothing.
then you get home and you think back
- that was a bloody good day that has just passed.

the things i do to find joy – sad.
but hey, i’m still alive

shadows

saturday streets

was bright and sunny on the eastern side of the country when i actually got off my lazy arse and headed down to sim lim square to grab some  hard drives and memory (pc repair for a mate). sgd$47 for a 4gb sandisk extreme iii was too much of a bargain to ignore, also it might help put to rest the issue with my current compact flash not able to keep up with high fps shots. alas, after much walking around the techno-heaven, i loaded the brand new cf and stepped out only to find the sky awash in boring gray and the sun nowhere to be seen.

nonetheless…

stumbled upon an old barber shop in the alleys of rowell estate in serangoon. had a chat with the barber to find that he has been in the business since 1970 – with the same two chairs, tools of the trade and address. with almost everyone making a bee line to supercuts and quick 10mins haircut joints, not to mention the rapid modernization to the surroundings, i was ecstatic to find a piece of old singapore still alive and well.

there seems to be issues with my compact flash and the cam. i spent a good afternoon out on a bright sunny day walking around flexing “the finger” with street shots to get acquainted only to find that they’re all blanks when i fired them up into lightroom. not sure whats causing it. net searches attributed compact flash card’s speed that was unable to keep up with fast sequence shots – but 4fps bracketed 7 shots came out fine when tested at home. guess it’s just too shy to work in public :p

nonetheless – late sunday night, marina barrage, cold windy sea breeze and i found out my rust levels. 30 shots, and only one i am marginally happy with. damn i need more practice.

walking the dogg

getting back into the game

those who would know me well enough, knows that i am never one for 2nd-hand purchases. i just prefer to buy brand new and use them till its natural death ( or give it away for a good cause ). the need for snappy happy fingers just got too overpowering as a mate sent me a link to an online advert of a d200 selling for a steal ( least, i think it was ). i voiced my intent to the seller, met him, parted with seventeen pieces of fifty dollars and got meself a new old camera. a step up from my previous setup, though it’s not really the latest and greatest money can buy. nonetheless, a small part of me was smiling that the bigger part actually made inroads to getting back to something i enjoyed doing alot.

was working all night on presentation slides for work ( apple keynote bloody rocks! ), thought i’d step out to welcome the sun on its shift for the day – to get aquinted with the new device. rusty exposures, stiff compositions – need loads of work before i get to what I am personally happy with. nonetheless, here’s the step into the right direction ( i hope! ).

men performing a hindu funeral – they’ll scatter the ashes of a loved one out into the sea

reverted

right.

looking back at the months without any posts and such :-

• photography – i gave my beloved recreational tool away to a mate and the plan to procure an upgrade fell through. therefore, no new photographs to speak of
• smoking – i gave up giving up, pushed to the “to be attempted again” pile
• running – got lazy, took a break. work takes up most time now, so still on a big fat pause
• cycling – my red bright towel calls my $2k ride it’s “favorite hang out”
• drawing – was in 3rd gear at one point, now i just draw out designs in the dust on the wacom with my fingers
• wordpress.org – 24/7 computing from home is expensive (current financial state of the world doesn’t help one bit). so, goodbye .org, hello again .com

that brings it preety much up to speed.

damn i need a holiday.

three weeks plus

smoke free for almost a month. woot! *does the matt dance*

weird things happen to you when you drop a daily habit of 16 years overnight:
- i get “high” for no reason at no specific pattern of time (mildly irritating)
- gain loads of kgs in 3 weeks (not unexpected due to replacing food whenever i wanna smoke, but a little irritating)
- i get breathless easily  (bloody irritating, one would expect that your breathing would improve with smoking cessation)

exam season is upon us again. a week more to the paper and i’ve only convered half of the text. heh.