Rare keyboard layout series - 7

To read other article of this series, click here.

Finally the last post for this series, the summary. I know some of you glad that it is finally over, hahah.

So why do Dvorak, Coleman, Maltron, NEO, and Fitaly (and many more) failed to take over QWERTY even if they are much more better and much more effective or faster than QWERTY?

1. Time
Some of these keyboard layout come out during great depression (example Dvorak), people just don't have the money to invest in it. Others are too late to the market, the world already get used with QWERTY layout, so will just ignore these new keyboard layout.

2. Implementation
Shortcut key that we used for example Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V for copy, cut and paste in Windows are difficult to use when switch to these rare keyboard layout. For UNIX, text editor like vi and vim, the key to move around text H, J, K, L are not at at the right place anymore with these rare keyboard layout. Also for video games, we usually use W, A, S and D for movement, they are not at the right place anymore with these rare keyboard layout, no consumer would want that.

3. Supports by manufacturer
Most big players in PC industry do not want to support it because not a big market for these new keyboard layout. Most of the world already used to QWERTY and QWERTY do not need a lot of resources to train people to use it.

4. Cost
Another reason PC manufacturers do not want to adopt keyboard layout other than QWERTY is because of the cost. It is much more expensive to change the hardware and the customers also not wanting these new layout.

5. Training
Another reason manufacturer, typing school (during old time - the pre-PC era) and PC training center (the PC era) already have training material and courses for QWERTY, why do they want to spend money and resources to change if most of the people just want the QWERTY training?

6. Vicious cycle
Since very few PC manufacturers want to adopt these new keyboard layout, the less training center and school would want to teach them. And even less corporate and consumers would want to use it because lack of training and supports. And with that, even less PC manufacturers want to adopt them. And the vicious cycle keep on going and going, until 99.99% of PC and smartphone users don't even know about these rare keyboard layout.

Even though it is much easier to implement these rare keyboard layout nowadays with soft keyboard (no hardware change require) because of popularity of touch based devices (iPad, tablet and smartphone), 99.99% of these users will continue to use QWERTY keyboard layout.

I will continue to use QWERTY anyway. How about you? :)

btw, Happy National Day to all fellow Malaysian!

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source: I wrote this article!

How Black Hole Devouring a Star

It is holiday week for Malaysia, yeah! Nevertheless I am still aiming to have a new post everyday. So here it is, see the video from NASA, how a black hole eat up a Star. Of course this is just simulation. But nothing can escape the black hole. No one and nothing. Just wonder what happen at the other side of block hole. :)



Happy Eid ul-Fitr to all my muslim friends and readers.
Have a nice Tuesday! :)

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source: NASA and youtube

Rare keyboard layout series - 6

To read other article of this series, click here.

Also invented to type faster than speeding bullet QWERTY keyboard layout, FITALY keyboard layout minimize distance traveled while entering a word.

z	v	c	h	w	k
f	i	t	a	l	y
		n	e
g	d	o	r	s	b
q	j	u	m	p	x

Was implemented on very old generation of pocket PC and Windows Mobile and also table PC (NOT iPAD OKAY?). This guy also never take off, I mean this keyboard layout. Pocket PC and Windows Mobile are the ancestor of iPhone and iPad, apple fan boys, don't laugh, without these ancestor, you don't have iPhone and iPad okay?

See why these rare keyboard layout failed at the summary post. (coming soon [link here])


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source: I wrote this and pictures/table and some sentences from wiki.

Rare keyboard layout series - 5

To read other article of this series, click here.

From wiki: The Neo layout is an optimized German keyboard layout developed by the Neo Users Group, supporting nearly all Latin-based languages, including the International Phonetic Alphabet, the Vietnamese language and some African languages.

Looks like the software keyboard layout for layer 3 (second image) that we usually use on smartphone nowadays after we press "special characters".

See why these rare keyboard layout failed at the summary post. (coming soon [link here])


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source: I wrote this and pictures and some sentences from wiki.

Rare keyboard layout series - 4

To read other article of this series, click here.

Another type of rare keyboard layout is Maltron. Designed for ergonomic but still based on QWERTY, and I am too lazy to elaborate more, go read at wiki yourself. :P
Maltron wiki.

See why these rare keyboard layout failed at the summary post. (coming soon [link here])

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source: I wrote this and pictures and some sentences from wiki.

What if Web Browser were celebrities

Running a series sometime can be very boring. So to break away from rare keyboard layout series for temporary, I found an interesting infograph regarding web browser. I had run a series of rare browsers last year, click this link to see them.

I use a few web browsers everyday. Here is the list in usage chronology:
1. I use FireFox the most, I tried to move to Chrome some time back, but seem likes Chrome does not fit into my need yet. I like Firefox because of the add-on, but there is one add-on the FireFox don't have but Chrome has, that is Angry Birds! I am using FF5 btw.
2. The second most browser that I use is Chrome, part of it is Angry Birds add-on or Chrome apps to be exact. Another one is the Anti-like apps for Chrome, which I use it to view those pages that locked with Facebook like button, why do we need to like it first before we can read it?
3. The third one has to be IE, duh. I have to use IE in the company that I work with because some in-house tools still need IE.
4. No.4 should be Rockmelt, because of Facebook. Boy, I am so hardworking, coz I seldom login to Facebook. :P
5. Safari is No.5, because I use it just because I feel that I want to use it. But somehow I don't have that feeling a lot. Hence it is at No.5. :D

Okay, now to relate the web browser with celebrity. I like the last one, which is Keanu Reeves. And yes, Samuel Jackson is seems everywhere. :D
Click on the image to see it in full size.

Have a nice day!

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source: infograph from http://dailyinfographic.com

Steve Jobs resign from Apple

Steve Jobs have resign from Apple today. What is that mean?

He is an icon, in fact, Steve is Apple and Apple is Steve. Just like tablet is iPad as the world know it. Actually it was Intel and Microsoft and some other PC manufacturers that invented tablet, but Steve made tablet become iPad or iPad replacing tablet? Whatever.

Apple's share price didn't went down just like the recent world wide share market crash, because the company still earn a heck of money every hour every minute because iPhone, iPad and iPod. Anyway, lets see how the world accept upcoming Apple products, the one in the queue is iPhone5 (September maybe?) and iPad3 (2012?). I think people would still buy these products, because these still came from Steve, but not sure about products that come out not from Steve's idea. Remember Apple sucks big time after the board of directors fired Steve from the company he founded? And Apple come back big time after Steve came back to the company.

It is like Star Wars without Darth Vader, it will be super boring without him.

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source: I wrote this!

Rare keyboard layout series - 3

To read other article of this series, click here.

The second rare keyboard layout is Colemak keyboard layout.

Build upon the QWERTY layout as a base, changing the positions of eighteen keys while retaining the QWERTY positions of most non-alphabetic characters and many popular keyboard shortcuts, making it easier to learn than Dvorak for people who already type in QWERTY.

Once again, this layout also invented to allow us to type faster and less hassle. But it still not being very popular. See why at the summary post (coming soon [link here]).

More on Colemak keyboard layout at wiki.


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source: I wrote this and pictures and some sentences from wiki.

Rare keyboard layout series - 2

Yesterday I wrote about QWERTY and a bit of story. Today let begin the rare keyboard layout.

First one is Dvorak Simplified Keyboard.
You can either read the 19700 lines of Dvorak in wiki page, or just read my blog. :P

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak and Dr. William Dealey.

Dr Dvorak discovered that the QWERTY layout has too many disadvantages (fingers have to travel far far away, single finger typing for too many times, etc), hence slowing down the typing effectiveness using QWERTY. Therefore Dr Dvorak invented the Dvorak keyboard layout.

It supposedly boost the typing speed for xx% to xxx% compare to QWERTY layout. As I wrote above, to read the full story, go to the wiki page. :)

I will discuss why the rare keyboard layout failed at end of the this series.

update: to read the summary of this series, click here!

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source: I wrote this and pictures and some sentences from wiki.

Rare keyboard layout series - 1

Writing blogger post daily is hard, but I still committed to write or just copy and paste some time (okay okay, most of the time :P ).
Lack of ROI as well because nuffnang income is so pathetic, I haven't reach the amount of allowable claim after more than 1 years of adding nuffnang in this blog.

Anyway, I will write something (or copy and paste :P ) no matter how.

We are stuck with QWERTY keyboard in most part of the world. There are also AZERTY, QWERTZ and HCESAR, but they are based on QWERTY. So that's why I said most part of the world use QWERTY keyboard. heheh.

Why QWERTY? I heard the story of inventor of QWERTY just jumble up the key, so that it will stuck less when typing on type writer.

Lets talk about the first rare keyboard layout tomorrow then, the Dvorak layout.

update: the summary of this series, click here!

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source: I wrote this!

Take control of Gmail inbox

Monday again. If you don't check email on weekend, usually you will get lots (tons for some people) of emails inside your inbox, update emails from Facebook, Groupons and some other websites/blogs that you subscribe to. But how do you organize them?
Usually we heard of 4D (sorry, not 4D numbers gambling in Malaysia, Singapore and some other countries :P)
1. Delete it
2. Delicate it
3. Do it
4. Defer it

But how do we sure this is really working? To help with that, TaskForce can help you to do more with this 4D, for Gmail specifically. Not sure has it is working for other web-based email like yahoo mail, or hotmail though.

Basically TaskForce help us to convert emails into tasks, so that we can save time and stay organized.

Here is how:
1. Install the add-on on FireFox or Safari or Chrome (and RockMelt).
2. Restart the browser.
3. Log-in to Gmail.
4. TaskForce converts emails to tasks and clear the inbox.
5. And then you can delay tasks that you can deal with them later.

For more detail, go to this RSS or mailing list or follow me on blogger or twitter. :)
source: I wrote this!

WP7 app: malaysiakini news reader

A member of XDA community, shawchyn wrote an useful WP7 app that can read malaysiakini news.  At version 1.0.0.0 now, here is what the app has to offer:

Malaysiakini is unique in the Malaysian context as it is one of the few independent media organisations in Malaysia. It is not linked to any political party or commercial interest. Malaysiakini news reader for WP7 (mkapp7) make reader life easier on Windows Phone platform.

mkapp7 news reader features :
- This reader provides articles feed from News, Columns and Letters sections.
- This reader feeds contents from English, Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia version of malaysiakini website.
- Provide login to view complete contents for subscriber.
- User can save their favourite articles into their collection.
- Share your favorite articles via email the links to your friends.
- Automatic update articles feed from source.
- Simple and easy UI.
- Data Service Required.

For more detail go to this link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1213200

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source: http://forum.xda-developers.com

Goodbye WebOS, Goodbye Palm

HP announced that they are giving up their PC business and WebOS and Palm. So goodbye Palm, goodbye WebOS. Now left iOS, Android and WP7. Did I miss out anyone?
Anyway, things like that keep on happening, during golden era of PC, there are thousands of PC manufacturer and hundreds of PC brand, but now left a few big names only.

Have a nice weekend. :)

Read the full article from pocketnow.com:
Today's news from HP marks what looks like the end of an era, with the company deciding to throw in the towel on webOS-based smartphones. The platform has only been around for about a couple years, starting with rumors of something called "Nova" that Palm was working on. We got a proper name for the project with Palm announcing webOS and the Palm Pre at CES 2009.
By summer, Palm had launched the original Pre QWERTY slider. The Pixi gave users an option with a non-slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

Early 2010 brought news of upgrades to the Palm and Pixi, both getting Plus designations as part of a hardware and software refresh.

That April, HP and Palm revealed that HP would acquire Palm, along with webOS, in a $1.2 billion transaction. Would the new owner be able to shake things up and make webOS a success? We were to find out over the next sixteen months.

After learning of the pending HP acquisition, we wondered about how HP would brand its new holdings. Ultimately, it chose to drop "Palm" altogether, putting that part of the line's history to rest.

As HP took the reigns, we started to get a little optimisitc about the new direction its leadership might lend to webOS. A contest announced by HP and Palm sought to drum up interest in development of webOS apps, but ultimately the numbers just weren't there to compete with Apple or Google.

October of 2010 brought us the announcement of the Pre 2, along with webOS 2.0 running on it. The Pre 2 showed a steady evolution of the original Pre's hardware, keeping the increased RAM from the Pre Plus, and boosting the processor to 1GHz. On the other hand, there wasn't much "wow" to the phone's specs, and incremental spec bumps may not have been what consumers were looking for.

At the time, webOS 2.0 was supposed to come to all previous devices. Later, HP revised those promises, severely scaling back its update plans. For users who had taken a chance with webOS as an alternative smartphone platform, this was a bit of a kick in the face.

For a little while, it looked like HP was ready to expand the reach of webOS, and rumors pointed to the company planning at least half a dozen devices, including both smartphones and tablets for 2011. In reality, we only got half that.

The first webOS phone to land in 2011 was the miniscule Veer. Even in a tiny package, HP was able to give the phone some decent hardware, with the processing power of much larger Androids. The magnetic adapters needed for headphones or USB might have been prone to loss, but they showed that HP was really thinking outside the box with webOS hardware.

Just like any other mobile operating system, webOS had its hackers pushing the limits of what was possible. If you were so inclined, you could even squeeze Android onto the original Pre.

It looks like webOS's swan song will be the Pre 3. Announced back in February, the smartphone is only starting to arrive now. The handset saw another of the line's incremental updates, boosting CPU speed but not doing anything about memory, with the same 512MB the Pre Plus had. If you're curious to see how webOS ended up (on smartphones, at least) after its short life, this is the phone to check out.


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article source: http://pocketnow.com/webos/the-life-and-death-of-webos-from-palm-to-hp

M-Disc - Writable disk that store data forever?

Developed by Millenniata, Millenial Disc would store data in it for forever, or at least 1000 years. Not sure how true is it. The video below demonstrated how durable it is. But somehow when engadget give it a try, it still break. Read more on the engadget link after the video.



http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/15/m-disc-holds-your-data-forever-we-go-hands-on-for-a-few-minut/

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source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/15/m-disc-holds-your-data-forever-we-go-hands-on-for-a-few-minut/

The truth of Google buying Motorola Mobility

Larry (G's CEO): Ms secretary, could you buy me that Motorola?
Ms Secretary: Already bought it.
Larry: Which model?
Ms Secretary: Excuse me? Which model? I thought you to want to buy the whole Motorola Mobility?
Larry: !@#$%^&*


Okay okay, it is a joke only. Have a nice day! :)


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source: saw this at facebook

Build your Chinese Website for free

It is like Geocity all over again. But this time at China.
Opps... Some might not know what is Geocity, you can read the history at this link at Wiki.

Anyway, back to this free Chinese Website, tab.cn.
One big drawback that it is in Chinese only, Simplify Chinese to be exact. So for those in Hong Kong and Taiwan and other part of the world that not so used to Simplify Chinese, it would be a bit hard to use also.

Lets talk about the advantages:
1. Lots of template to choose, well, not as many as blogger and wordpress.
2. Can change to your preferred name, like uncle.tab.cn, but just one time only.
3. Have forum template, for those who wish to create a forum, it will be an easy job, just pick the template, do some mod and ready to launch your forum.
4. Sufficient plugins, enough for most of us. :)
5. Customization of website is WYSIWYG.

Other disadvantages [and workaround which I recommend in square bracket and italic font]:
1. Limited to 2 website to build for each user. [use another email to register :P ]
2. It is in Chinese only, remember? :)

I hope tab.cn will continue provide the free service for many year ahead, don't end up like Geocities please.

Here is the link:
http://www.tap.cn/


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source: saw this at http://www.portablesoft.org

Bill Gates saves up for a Lamborghini

How long it takes for Bill Gates to saves up for a Lamborghini? Scroll down to find out.

Got it? Happy Tuesday! :)


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source: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/jg59w/a_new_lamborghini/

Find Dimension for Angry Birds Chrome

Monday again...... Shall we play Angry Birds on Chrome? Dimension is the golden egg that we usually try to find out on regular Angry Birds. Here is how to find the Dimensions in Angry Birds Chrome.



If you prefer not to be noticed by anyone else in office, try this instead:
How to play game in office without being noticed

Have a "productive" week ahead. :P

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source: youtube!

YouTube teach you to pronounce

Pronunciation Book is a YouTube channel that shows you how to say various words in American English.

See some example:








Happy Sunday! :)

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source: youtube!

British Roit - Even Prime Minister can't stop it?

The UK Prime Minister, Cameron is back from vacation to stop the riot once and for all. Or has he? See video to find out. :P

He speak in front of his official house for PM.



Okay, okay, it is a fake video. But these people are just too creative or too free? :P


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source: youtube!

How to play game in office without being noticed

First of all, you should not be playing game at office.
Secondly, your boss will notice when you play game. Or some co-workers would report to your boss.
But now, without anyone noticing, in fact your boss and co-workers would think you are more productive than before. How you might ask. Here is how:
go to this website
http://cantyouseeimbusy.com

There are 4 game at this website:

1. Crash planning - which looks like an Excel spreadsheet of weekly planning. Just rearrange 3 or more same block together to remove the blocks [remember ZooKeeper?].

2. Breakdown - which looks like you are writing on a report or reading/reviewing a report on Word but actually you are playing Arkanoid. :)

3. Leadership - which looks like you are analyzing graph charts but actually you are playing Moon landing Game. :P

4. Cost cutter - which looks like are you analyzing bar charts but actually you are playing game similar to Collapse game. :D

Flash required, so for iOS users please use browsers that support flash.

Hope you able to relax with the game and don't tell others in your office so that everyone think that you are super hard working! :)

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source: originally saw this at http://www.misterleaf.com/1649/%E8%AE%A9%E8%80%81%E6%9D%BF%E8%A7%89%E5%BE%97%E4%BD%A0%E5%BE%88%E5%8B%A4%E5%8A%B3%E7%9A%84%E6%B8%B8%E6%88%8F/
http://cantyouseeimbusy.com/

Can we meet at Gspot?

Excuse me? G Spot? Are you sure?
Yes, at G Spot
Are you sure?
Yes
Okay, I will try to look out in GPS......

Okay, I made that up. :P
But seriously there is really a place call G spot in Penang. Don't believe it? See this:

To confirm, you can use your favorite web browser to go to that website, see the link at picture above.

Ahem...... for those that wish to know what is commonly Gspot known as:
G-Spot

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source: I wrote this!

Attacking Facebook by Anonymous

Anonymous, the famous hacker group is planning an attack on Facebook on Nov 5, 2011. They called it "Operation Facebook". I hope they don't steal the Facebook users' password, otherwise everyone just have to change their password right after the attack. That is what I plan to do after that day. Even though I don't have anything critical to hide on Facebook, but Facebook account nowadays serve as an identity of myself on the world wide web. I would suggest everyone to change your password after the attack.



Btw, if you have not change your Facebook login to be always using https, please do so. It have more protection. And always logout if you are sharing your computer/laptop with your family/friend/etc.

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source: video from youtube and I wrote the rest la.

What can Internet do to make the world a better place?

I have said this many times, but I want to say it again. Internet is amazing place!
You can do a lot of amazing things with Internet and with the speed that we cannot imagine 10 years ago.

Even though this video is Google Chrome advertisement, but look at the story, you will be amaze that how Internet helps to make the world a better place to live.



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source: youtube!

Facebook vs Google+

Facebook vs Google+, who is better? Find out the detail in the infographic below. How many of you already using Google+?

Click the picture to see in full size:

If you still don't get Google+ account, leave a comment so that I can invite you. :)

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source: http://dailyinfographic.com/

Mobile Gaming is huge!

Mobile gaming is huge, or I would say it is gigantic! If you are developer for apps or games for iOS or Android, or any mobile platform, you would want to share a piece of the money right? Good luck! :)

Click to see in full size.

Btw, I have lots of posting regarding Angry Birds, check them out:
http://outdatedpenanguncle.blogspot.com/search/label/angry%20bird

Happy Sunday!

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source: the inforgraphic is from http://dailyinfographic.com/

Actual reason email was is invented

The actual reason email was is invented, is it true? HAHA.
I am not sure, but it make sense when you see this video. :D



Happy weekend! :)

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source: http://www.misscellania.com/miss-cellania/2011/8/3/why-email-was-invented.html

Smiley Sun

Opps... Initially I thought I don't have anything to write on Friday. But here you go, our Sun is smiling at us. Life is good. :)



NASA captured this video not too long ago. Life is still good after all. Most of the time it depend on how we think. :)

Have a nice Friday and weekend! :)

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source: NASA

I am back :)

Hi everyone, I am back. Boy, it was a tiring trip. Not really a vacation, I went to a training.
I hope everyone enjoyed my posting that I line up before I went away. I don't have anything to write today and tomorrow as well, because too many emails and stuffs to deal with at the moment.

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source: I wrote this!

Waste time Wednesday

I think I haven't post any waste time post for Wednesday, so here it is:



Nyan Cat played by a real orchestra. Neat? Now I have wasted your 2 minutes and 35 seconds on Wednesday! :D


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source: youtube!

How to waste your time everyday?

How to waste your time, everyday? Well it is not playing games on Facebook, that is too normal. Here is a website your can go and waste all the time you want to. :)


Watching Grass Grow
Got nothing else better to do?




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source: I saw this somewhere in WWW!

Men vs Women shopping online habit

Lazy Monday again? Here read this infographic, it is about Men vs Women shopping online habit.Click the image to see in full size.

Hope you will enjoy this post, subscribe to my RSS or mailing list or follow me on blogger or twitter. :)
source: http://dailyinfographic.com/men-vs-women-online-shopping-infographic