Friday, December 5, 2008

Blue Screen of Death




For a long time, I did not get Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) on my computer. I got one last week. As I recounted, I did not install any thing on my laptop. The last software installed on my laptop was Google Chrome about two weeks ago. Now, BSOD appeared twice yesterday and one this morning.
stop 0x0000008e (0xc0000005, 0xBF952937, 0xa854cc00, 0x00000000)
win32k.sys - address BF952937 base at BF800000 DateStamp 48ce513a

Hit F12 on restart to diagnostic. Nothing wrong. I guessed it could be the memory card. Time to shopping for a new memory DRAM.

Update 01/04/2009: After I uninstalled Google Chrome, BSOD went away.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Free Rice

FreeRice has two goals:
  1. Provide education to everyone for free.
  2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.
Click here to learn and to help the hungry people.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Netbook vs. laptop vs. smart phone

From BusinessWeek "Netbook Sales May Be Cutting Demand For Laptop PCs"
Netbooks typically cost $300 to $500, but prices may slide. Wireless companies such as AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless may subsidize netbooks if customers sign up for service contracts, just as they do with mobile phones. That could drop netbook prices to as little as $100. AT&T says it's "looking at" making such offers; Verizon Wireless declined to comment.

Yes, the netbooks may cut the demand for laptop for small screen size 14 inches or a desktop but not with the large screen size laptop. If I have a smart phone like iphone with me, why bother to carry with additional devices such as netbook, ipod and digital camera?

Monday, November 24, 2008

Playing with Microsoft SQL Server 2008

First, try to download SQL Express 2008 from Microsoft web site. Tired of waiting, click cancel. Back again to the Microsoft SQL Server homepage to looking the DVD. After logged in, filedl out some information, abort when the USD$ 5.00 shipping charge appeared.

Let fool around the other place!

From Microsoft web site:
Which edition of SQL Server 2008 Express is right for you?
SQL Server 2008 Express is available in the following 3 editions (each is available from the Install Wizard):

SQL Server database engine - create, store, update and retrieve your data 

SQL Server database engine - create, store, update and retrieve your data 
SQL Server Management Studio Basic - visual database management tool for creating, editing and managing databases

SQL Server database engine - create, store, update and retrieve your data 
SQL Server Management Studio Basic - visual database management tool for creating, editing and managing databases 
Full-text Search - powerful, high-speed engine for searching text-intensive data 
Reporting Services - integrated report creation and design environment to create reports



Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Microsoft TechDays 08

Huh. It took me about 15 minutes to drive around for a parking space. I learn something new and useful such as NET 4.0, SQL2008, VS2010, ... from TechDays. I love it.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Cell Phones in Vietnam

Nếu bạn dùng cell phones của Verizon, Alltel, US Cellular với kỷ thuật CDMA2000 qua các tần số (frequency) 850MHz hay 1900Mhz như những chiếc dưới đây, bạn có thể dùng tại Việt Nam. Để hòa mạng S-Phone, bạn cần cung cấp Electronic Serial Number (ESN) của máy muốn dùng và cách program NAM (xem ở đây).

If you're using the cell phone from Verizon, Alltel, or US Cellular that support the frequency 850Mhz, you can using it in Vietnam. In order to join the S-Phone network, you need to provide your handset's Electronic Serial Number (ESN) or a Mobile Equipment Indentifier (MEID) and manual to program NAM (Read more here).

Motorola RAZR V3m
Band / mode: CDMA 850 / CDMA 1900
Release Date: Q2 2006
Phonecoop.com Mobiledia.com
This handset worked in Vietnam using S-Phone network.

Samsung A670 Dual band.
Band / mode: CDMA 850/CDMA 1900
Release Date: Q2 2004 - Discontinued
Phonecoop.com Mobiledia.com CNet
This handset worked in Vietnam using S-Phone network.

LG V VX-9800
Band / mode: CDMA 850 / CDMA 1900
Release Date: Q3 2005 Discontinued
Phonecoop.com Mobiledia.com

Audiovox CDM-8900 (Verizon Wireless CDM 8910)
Band / mode: CDMA2000 1X 1900/800 / AMPS 800
Phonescoop.com Mobiledia.com CNet

Motorola V265
Band / mode: AMPS 850 CDMA 850 / CDMA 1900
Phonecoop.com Mobiledia.com

Theo trang "CDG: CDMA Worldwide" có ba công ty hiện đang xử dụng kỷ thuật CDMA ở Việt Nam: S-Fone (đầu số 095) và EVN Telecom (đầu số 096) và Hanoi Telecom. Thực ra, Hanoi Telecom (hay HT Mobile) đã chuyển từ kỷ thuật CDMA sang GSM (Ericsson to take over HT Mobile) từ năm 2009. S-Phone hoạt động trên tần số 800Mhz (như Verizon, Alltel). EVN Telecom hoạt động trên tần số 450MHz (theo CDG).

S-Phone Hỏi & Đáp: Máy di động mang từ nước ngoài
Các kênh phân phối của S-Phone
Mở mạng dùng mạng Sfone các máy xách tay

Các công ty điện thoại di động hàng đầu tại Việt Nam:
  1. Viettel Mobile chiếm 41% thị trường với 5 đầu số: 097, 098, 0168, 0169, 0166
  2. Mobifone chiếm 29% thị trường với 5 đầu số 090, 093, 0122, 0126, 0121
  3. Vinaphone chiếm 24% thị trường có 4 đầu số: 091, 094, 0123 và 0125
  4. S-Fone chiếm 5% thị trường có đầu số: 095


GSM:
Điện thoại di động dùng kỷ thuật GSM có 4 tần số: 850Mhz (USA), 900Mhz (Internationally), 1800Mhz (Internationally) và 1900Mhz (USA)

Trích từ Dual, Tri, or Quad Band GSM Phone?
Two frequencies are 'must have' frequencies - 900 and 1900 MHz. The other two bands are nice to also have, with 1800 MHz typically opening up more of foreign countries than 850 MHz would open up in the US.
Ideally the best solution is to get a quad-band phone with all four bands.
Nếu bạn dùng phone của AT&T hay T-Mobile có cả bốn băng tần (quad-band) 850, 900, 1800, 1900Mhz qua kỷ thuật GSM, bạn có thể dùng tại VN. Cứ việc mua SIM của Viettel, Mobilfone, hay Vinaphone ở Việt Nam gắn vào là alo, alo :)

Một số Quad-band world phones (850/900/1800/1900 MHz):

On the Net:

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Beware this: AntiSpyware XP2009




AntiSpyware XP2009 (or 2008) is a fake software. It purported anti-spyware application but actually it, itself, is a rogue anti-spyware program. This is a scam to trick you into paying $30 for some useless software. Remove it immediately. How? See below link.

You should install a good anti-virus, anti-spyware program from trusted companies such as: Symantec, McAfee, Computer Associate, Trend-Micro on you computer. Don't use any software from an unknown company.

If you don't want to pay for Norton Anti-Virus from Symantec or McAfee VirusScan® Plus 2009, you should use these well known free programs avalable from Download.com (again DO NOT DOWNLOAD these programs from other unknow web sites):
Free online malware and virus scanners:
Related articles/links:

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Adobe Flash Player

Adobe released a new version for Flash player. To check the current version of Adobe Flash player, click here. To test both Adobe Shockwave and Flash players after installed, click this.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Math Links

Play some extreme math! Practice math concepts using eXtreme Baseball, Football, Soccer, or Basketball. We have played this game in class, and the scholars love it!
Multiplication Flashcard game - a fun way to do flashcards on line!
Multiplication Games
Math Manipulatives
Ask math questions and get good explanations!
Want to get some additional practice before a Math test?
Try this test prep page (5th grade textbook).
Want to practice 6th grade problems?
Try this page.
Math is cool
Brainteasers and Chapter practice problems
Math Facts online or worksheet generator - choose levels for addtion, subtraction, multiplication, and division!
Flashcards! Make and print your flashcards online!
Metric conversions - this site helps with conversion of metric units as well
as metric to customary units
Video lesson on converting metric units of length (shown in class on 5/5/08)
Virtual Fractions!
This website helps with all operations with fractions and helps with equivalent fractions as well!

Spelling Bee Game

Science Links

Science Fair ideas
http://www.scifair.org

Check out the Yuckiest Site on the Internet! Sponsored by Discovery
Kids,
this site allows you to plan games and be entertained by science!
http://yucky.kids.discovery.com/noflash/index.html

Ask Why!
http://whyfiles.org

Healthy Kids
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid

Weird Science Guy
http://www.sciencebob.com

Views of the Solar System
http://www.solarviews.com/
 
Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program
http://www.arm.gov

Science News for Kids is a new Web site devoted to science news for
children of ages 9 to 13. Their goal is to offer timely items of interest to
kids, accompanied by suggestions for hands-on activities, books,
articles, Web resources, and other useful materials.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org

Atoms and Elements
http://www.chemicalelements.com

Chemistry for Kids
http://www.chem4kids.com

Fun with Elements!
http://www.yahooligans.com/games_popup.php?g=fcs_ds2&56&90

Help with Periodic table and Elements
http://www.webelements.com

National Weather Service
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/

Astronomy info
http://www.earthsky.com/

Exploring Science
http://www.explorescience.com

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A.)
A website recommended by Ryan D. to track forecasts, weather, and storms
http://www.noaa.gov/

Fun Science games at nobelprize.org!

"You don't have to be a genius to understand the work of the Nobel
Laureates. These games and simulations, based on Nobel Prize-awarded
achievements, will teach and inspire you while you're having FUN! Students,
teachers and non-professionals of all ages will enjoy testing and building
their knowledge in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature,
peace and economics. So, go ahead, Explore and Learn!"
Thank you, Cole, for recommending this site!
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/

Land and Sea Breezes....check out this animation!
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es1903/es1903page01.cfm

FRONTS: check out this animation about warm and cold fronts
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2002/es2002page01.cfm

Kid's page on climate change from Dr. Robinson's visit!
http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/cc.html

Link to respiratory and circulatory system
http://www.sickkids.ca/childphysiology/cpwp/Lung/LungAnatomy.htm

The Bloodmobile! Here's a link to download
the song we've sung in class.
http://www2.fi.edu/exhibits/permanent/giant-heart-bloodmobile.php

The Bloodmobile! on youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy4ltrdGoVI


Other links

Renzulli Learning: A website we are currently piloting to explore enrichment
activies through the web that are tailored to each scholar's interests and
learning style.
http://www.renzullilearning.com

FREE Typing program
Scholars are encouraged to develop keyboard skills now!
http://www.typing-lessons.org/

Go Geography! Start practicing for the annual Geography Bee!
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/

Math and Science Literature
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/scimathlit/index.html

President's Council on Physical Fitness
http://www.presidentschallenge.org

Reading Lists using STAR test results
http://www.cde.ca.gov/statetests/star/readinglist.html

Fun problems
http://www.transience.com.au/

Spelling Help through music
http://gardenofpraise.com/spell1.htm

Online Poetry Contests
http://www.poeticpower.com

Daily Word Play
http://www.agameaday.com

Great Books and Authors!
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/books_authors.htm

Great search engine-education approved sites!
http://www.nettrekker.com/

Word of the Day Games
http://www.m-w.com/game/

Neat Visual/Spatial Games
http://www.setgame.com

Awesome Book Lists
http://www.ala.org/parents/index.html

California Association for the Gifted
http://www.CAGifted.org

Ology! Every -ology you can think of to investigate!
http://www.ology.amnh.org/

Kids' Castle by the Smithsonian-another great investigation site
http://www.kidscastle.si.edu

States & Capitals review site
http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/usaquiz.html

More fun with States & Capitals
http://www.quia.com/jg/65799.html

One of the coolest book review sites created by a student of CLUB ED!
http://www.kidpinion.com

A very fun and unique way to familiarize yourself with the states and
capitals!
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com

A history of names...
http://www.behindthename.com

Open Court Anthology Link-learn about our current theme!
http://www.sra4kids.com

Creatove Communications Home Page-a great site with writing contests that we will participate in throughout the year!
http://www.poeticpower.com

Scholastic Books-excellent resources when looking for your next book or to recommend one to someone else! They also have great writing contests as well.
http://www.scholastic.com

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Friday, August 22, 2008

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.
(http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html)



I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Stanford News Service
© Stanford University. All Rights Reserved. Stanford, CA 94305. (650) 723-2300.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Monster

Just logged in to Monster.com to delete my resume and deactive all job search agents. Feel good.