ThinkingNectar

We learn something new everyday. Sometimes it is something not pleasant about ourselves.

Ze Frank impresses me.  The clip is a episode from The Show with Ze Frank.

A very happy Lunar New Year.

Popped a bottle of sparkling white over reunion dinner with my family and did a simple work of the cap and cork to create a miniature chair.

A Miniature Chair from a Champagne Cork and Cap

Greatly inspired by this article over at Lifehacker.

Somebody over at SingaporeDaily.net have a wicked sense of humour. Not to mention a high awareness of current affairs, both reported by the conventional media and social media.

The picture explains it:

Reunion Dinner Poll

I think it is rather funny. It will be interesting to have Tan Yong Soon preparing the reunion dinner, French style that is.

The Singapore Budget Website provides a update service for the public. Do subscribe to the updates should you not enjoy the luxury of sitting infront of the computer or televsion from 3:30pm to around 5pm on the 22th of Jan 2009.

For those on the go, get the SMS updates. And at the same time, have the statement emailed to you at the end of the speech. Save the wait for the local media to report the 2009 Budget the next morning.

Subscribe here.

Impressive presentation by Andy Wilson to demostrate what is brewing over at Microsoft Research.

A hack, in terms of the hardware used and the image recognition algorithm that powers the demostration.

Around 2:50 the interviewer goes: Can I give the computer the finger?

What was he thinking?  That aside, a rather elegant hack to show what day to day technology can be used to enhance user experience.

The concept of time management to me is more of task management than managing time.

Time Management... NOT!

TIme is fixed, we have only 24 hours a day and nothing more and we cannot control how quick the passage of time, unless we are travelling at the speed of light physically.

So I decided to optimise my working style by revisitng both David Allen’s GTD and Tim Ferris’ 4-hour work week. I enjoy David Allen’s GTD and that style fits me while Time Ferris’ approach, is just fresh and out of the box. And I believe I will get some more insight by re-reading both books again.

Just so, I came across this blog post that tells of what was learnt from hating TIm Ferris.

What jolts me is the last item, and to quote the blog post:

5. Time management is about making time to connect with people
The idea of time management only matters in relation to how important the stuff is that’s competing for your time. The stuff that makes time management the most difficult is relationships. Which Tim does not excel in.

Fine. Not everyone has to be good at making real connections.

But Tim runs around telling people who have lots of relationships competing for their time how to think about work/not work, forgetting that in the real world, where people are not assholes, time management is not an equation or a semantic game because relationships really matter. And figuring out how to judge time in terms of competing values is the hardest thing of all.

Tim is all about time management for achievement and winning. But there are not trophies or measurements for relationships. There is only that feeling that someone is kind. And good. And truly connected.

And Tim is not.

Time management is about making time to connect with people.

The statement hits me and I can really relate to it. Personnelly I believe I am introverted. I cannot really click right away with people but I am making headways in that direction. And looking back at the past year, I attended a lot of meetups and events, all with the daily juggling of work.

The experiencce is that juggling work related task to make time for meetups and events was very rewarding, if not a tiring experience. But the connection made and relationship forged was well worth it.

Of course, I also juggled work only to make time to do personal projects (like this blog) on the side, and that, to a extend, some  might define as work. But of course, this blog have enabled me to make some connections with people whom I could never have crossed path with.

First lesson learnt in the first offical work week of 2009:

• Time management is about making time to connect with people.

Creative’s Zii Website have given some extra information on what Zii is all about. It is in summary a Processor and in their words, Media Rich.

Zii

In their data sheet:

fully programmable, media-rich application processors capable of delivering high-performance application, graphics and multimedia capabilities within a low-power environment

And the applications that is can be used in:

The performance, flexibility and low power consumption of the ZMS-05 make it ideally suited to a broad range of portable and embedded applications.

• Portable Media Players
• Mobile Internet Devices
• Portable Navigation Devices
• Video Conferencing
• Video Surveillance
• Automotive Infotainment
• Smartphone and PDA
• IP Media devices
• Digital Signage
• Embedded Systems

It looks like exciting times for Creative.

national library board singapore

It come as good news from NLB that they will be removing the 50 cents renewal fees for users who want to renew their books.

As a rather heavy user of the local library system, I welcome the news greatly. The library system is one of the best public service that my tax money is supporting. I am a strong believer that a good public library system can do wonders for society.

The news is from NLB press release.

Together with the news is that users of the library can no longer accumulate fines or fees come April. When fines and fees are accumulated, their borrowing privileges will be suspended. It should not be an issue for me but I wonder if such a move will pose a problem for the younger portion of the population.

Also in the press release:

From April 2009, members who have incurred library fines and fees above $0.30 and outstanding for more than three months will receive reminder mailers. An administrative charge will be levied on recipients of repeat reminder mailers.  In addition, NLB will display reminder messages on loan receipts and on the screens of borrowing stations and library eKiosks to remind members of unpaid library fines and fees. Members are also encouraged to sign up for NLB’s free email or SMS notification and reminder services to receive alerts on impending due dates and overdue borrowed items.

The part where extra administrative charge will be levied on recipient of repeat reminder does makes me a little uncomfortable. It does not make sense to me that NLB should impose extra charges on repeated reminders. What is the rational of sending extra reminder while the user refuse to pay up and expecting the user will pay for the extra charges on top of the outstanding fines and fees?

It appears that it is some Utopian dream that the extra reminders’ cost can be recovered together with outstanding fees and fines when extra charges are leveraged on the user.

I do not have a solution on how to get deadbeat users to pay their outstanding fees and fines, but asking such users to pay extra for the reminders just come across as no optimal.

Maybe NLB can have a O$P$ campaign? Just kidding!

A Developer is a Machine that turns Coffee into Code

Sometimes I amused myself.

2008 came and go. It was a year of changes for many and to me, a year of many changes.

Moved from a startup and settled down to a 9-5 job rather smoothly. Looking back and reflecting, several hard decisions were made and in the process, were good decisions both for myself, my previous team at Ablewise Classifieds Solution and for my loved ones.

Moving forward, opportunities are waiting, as were the risks given the current uncertain economical times.

I have friends who embarked on another round of paper chasing, while others are taking the safer choice to stay put and lastly, another group who are just happy to have a stable job to wake up to.

People have to make the decision that fits their situation best. I have contacts from the banking sectors, engineering, sales and lastly those who are into startups and development. Especially for the latter, most decisions were hard and critical, irregardless of the economy.

I have received many advices, some even without the knowledge of the person who gave it and I share selected ones:

• You can always get a bank loan for your education, but the desire and opportunity to study does not align all the time.
• Human does not regret what we opted to do. More often then not, we regret what we had not opted to do.

2009 will be uncertain according to the news, but that does not means that dreams should be put on hold. During such times, it is more important to feel alive and only by chasing dreams that one can feel alive, both at work and at play.