Software Galore: Cleaning Wizard, Belvedere

 

Picture courtesy of Blenderguru and modified by Ray Tan

Few months back I cam across an article in Lifehacker by Adam Pash. He was talking about a software called Belvedere, which is suppose to help you clean up your messy computers. Without any hesitation, I clicked on the download link and have it installed on my computer. It was left completely untouched for several weeks. 

How does it help me ? 

My computer stores a lot of archives in the folder Compressed and it is really annoying to delete the content every once in a while. The task is so daunting for lazy me; eventually the folder grows so big that I have a hard time cleaning up. Then an idea came  to me, why don't I give Belvedere a try ? 

The Installation

1. Visit this link Belvedere  
2. Please read the whole article to get good review on the software and proceed to the download link
3. Just click on the + sign to add  the folder of your choice. For example, I have added my Compressed and Programs folder

 

Creating your own rules

1. Give your rule a name, I call mine "delete" because it erases all archives over the period of one day.
2. Then, you can set several conditions which when met will trigger the action selected by you.
3. Remember to click recursive, if you want it to loop
4. Finally you can click the test button to see the files which met the conditions created in step 2

  
Something more for you...

1. For your information, you have to add Belvedere to your startup or else it won't start by itself.
2. Here is the link to some tutorials on Belvedere:

• Lifehacker  
• Butterscotch: How to self-clean your PC
• How-To-Geek:Make Your System Clean Up Old Downloads Automatically 

  

Edume: Do We Blame Textbook ?

Do we blame textbook by Ray Tan 

It rains heavily today when I was wide awake at 6.20 a.m. As usual, I'd browse my favorite websites with Morning Coffee. This is no ordinary coffee you find in Starbuck or Coffee Bean; it is a Firefox add-on which allows you to save a bunch of websites you read everyday and launch at the click of a single button. I think our cover this add-on in the future. As I was browsing some of the websites, there is one with the title "Judging Books by Their Covers". In the article, Mr. Richard Feynman told the story about corruption in textbook adoption when he was invited to join the State Curriculum Commission in California. The commission is responsible to review and select textbooks for the younger generation. During his time with the commission, he was approached by representatives who were enthusiastic to "sell" him their textbooks.

However, their effort was deemed useless because he refused to listen to these "salesmen", instead he was determined to go through all the textbooks by himself. Most of the textbooks did not meet his expectation. He was disappointed by all those books as in his own words, "They were teaching something they didn't understand, and which was, in fact, useless, at that time, for the child."You can read the rest of the article here which is an excerpt from the autobiography of Richard Feynman. 

I think our country really need an expert with the caliber of a man like Mr. Richard Feynman. Authors of textbooks are not perfect and they have little experience with the application aspect of their teaching. For example, a Chemistry writer can write all about Mass Spectrometer but, how many times does he or she get to use one ? An experience chemist would provide a better insight on how the information should be relayed to the students. Besides that, I think all of us would agree that tone and style at which the information is presented in our textbooks is rather dull and obtuse. That is the reason most students fallback to reference books like Pelangi, Oxford Fajar or Longman as their primary reference and discarding our text books aside. A textbook should be designed to be the primary resources for all students, while reference books are only used as supplementary reading.

I have seen  foreign book like Fundamental of Physic which present their information with a very interesting story and relationship with our daily activities. At first some might be astounded by the size of the book, but behind the gigantic size it contains a lot of information. More importantly, the book cultivates interest and stimulates curiosity of every student to learn. I am not saying all foreign books are better than local books, but they certainly did a great job in relaying information and attracting my attention. 

What do you think can we do to turn the table around ?

 

Music on Demand: My 86 GB of music

 My Itune Library

Looking back, music is not part of my life up until Form 3. When I was a kid, nothing surpasses my passion for gaming and Yugioh card game. Day and night my life revolves around game , card game and computer. Music is a foreign entity which I feel unnecessary at that time. However, things started to change when I was 16. Suddenly, I was eager to explore this unknown world which seems to provide a sense of tranquility and excitement. The real question lies here, how do I go from zero to 86 GB of songs in my computer ?

Getting started 

I owe my initial interest for music to my cousin because he was the one who asked me to find him some songs for him and burned into a CD. As I search across the Net for songs; I started to liking some songs a long the journey. I managed to download songs that i like from the music streaming site, Imeem which eventually got taken over by MySpace. The software that I used, FreeMusicZilla allows me to download streaming song from the website into my computer. The process is seriously slow and it took me quite a while to download all the songs I want. I spent 2-3 hours everyday to download songs from animes. game and also bands. 

Grooveshark 

Imeem has a very limited music database, albeit I move to Grooveshark which has one of the largest music database in the Net. I would really like to compliment the team behind Grooveshark for doing such a good job designing an elegant interface and keep the content updated. You can also create your own customized playlists of different genres. Please visit the website and give it a try. 

 

Friends

I still remember stealing about 16 GB of music from my friend Aliff. Thank you Aliff. When you own collection is pretty limited, start looking for friends with loads of music. Once you have quite a collection, you can start sharing songs with your friends.  

 

Last Fm 

Sometimes finding the right song can be really difficult. therefore, I resort to Last Fm which allows you to search for artists discography and reviews from its user across the world. This saves me a lot of time from downloading bad songs. I often use Last fm to find artists with similar style to the ones in my playlist. This feature really expands my collection very rapidly. You can't always rely on reviews and comments to help with your choice of music. Therefore, use Grooveshark to listen to the songs before you start your download.

Itune Genius

Itune is not only a great music player but it also provide a great way for songs recommendation. The genius feature is really 'genius' because it analyze your music library with great precision and provides you with artists with similar style. I can tell you the recommendation is really accurate and most of my songs were discovered with the help from Itune.

Latest tricks... 

After knowing what songs you want, boot up the almighty Google and search for the name of the album + mediafire or megaupload. These two sites are the most reliable sites to download music from the Net. I averagely download about 3 albums per day, but occasionally when my music hormone is high, i can download up to 10 albums per day. 

Let's share with me your tips and tricks to download music 

Something more for you... 

Here I share with you two albums by Olivia Ong. If you watch the video from facebook, that's her singing the song, Girl from Ipanema. Enjoy.

1. A Girl Meets Bossa Nova

2. A Girl Meets Bossa Nova 2

Webified : HTML 5 Vol#1 Introducing HTML 5

HTML 5 has indefinitely change our view and conception of Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML 5 has surpassed all its predecessor like HTML 4 and XHTML in terms of flexibility, usability and also not to forget simplicity.

What HTML 4 fail to do ? 

In my opinion, HTML 5 has opened the much complicated world of web design with codes that only make sense to those who breathe and live web design. The <div> tag is one of the element which befuddles many amateurs. They simply could not comprehend the usage of so many <div> tags and the working principle behind the sophisticated look. Even web designers have a hard time deciphering the role of <div> tag i a piece of web layout. As far as I know, we use <div> tag for the header, navigation, content, footer and practically anything that requires a container for further styling in CSS. That's why the habit of commenting your code is very important so that each <div> tag makes sense to you and others who tried to view it.  

Why HTML 5 is better ? 

The new generation of markup language, HTML 5 brings a plethora of new tags like <header>, <footer>, <nav>, <article> and many more which brings a whole lot meaning to our code. In fact you can call a block of code a masterpiece which can be enjoyed people outside the design community. In conclusion, HTML 5 brings what we geeks call - semantic ( meaning ) to the language.

What are you waiting for ? 

Let's get started with some videos which will get you going:

Introduction to HTML 5

This is a brief introduction of HTML 5  

Learn about HTML 5 and future of the web

This is a lengthy video but i will say is worth every second spent. This is suitable for those who really want to know in depth about the new markup language

 


Something more for you...
These are the links to the websites I find very useful:
1. Smashing Magazine
2. 1stwebdesigner

Pandora Hacks : Capture your tasks Vol#1 GTD style

Here is another tips to a productive week; start capturing all your tasks into a notebook or any medium you prefer. Some prefer to use to-do-list applications such as RememberTheMilk, Ta-Da-List, Todolist etc, but for me a good old notebook is just fine. In fact I will recommend an analog style of recording your tasks because the act of writing it down holds more weight compared to typing it out. There is actually an article on this at Lifehack. Let's get started with GTD:

The man behind GTD....... 

David Allen is the man behind Getting Things Done ( GTD ) system which has created a big hype among productivity fans. The GTD system is a simple and elegant solution to many people who struggle with their to-do-list. Just to share with you some videos of David Allen below to get a better look at the man himself.

         

  
What is GTD ?  

After watching the videos above, I think you already have part of the answer to the question. Let me provide you with some guidance and let you decide what is GTD all about. The principle behind GTD is to dump all your tasks, meetings or anything that worries you into the notebook. The main objective of the system is to develop a capturing system where you no longer depend on your mind to organize your tasks. This will help you to make your mind clutter-free, enabling your mind to work on creative problems instead of trivial matters which will only stress out your mind. 

Enough with the clues, now I will layout some basic steps to develop your own GTD system:

1. Collect all the tasks that bothers you on a blank piece of paper. Just write down anything that runs across your mind and don;t worry about the mountain load of tasks. This step is extremely crucial because it helps to de-stress your mind. 


2. Consolidate the tasks into different categories. For those tasks which you can take immediate actions, then group it under a folder named Next Action. Scrape away tasks which you think will not bring you any benefits or not of great importance. You may be surprised that there are so many nonsense cluttering your mind. There may be also some tasks you wish to do someday, you can group those under Someday


3. Plan your tasks according to priority. How do you determine the importance of the tasks ? Simple, just ask yourself what good will doing this tasks help to fulfill my personal goals. We often try hard to accomplish as many tasks without knowing which tasks contribute the most to your development. 


4. Review at the end of every week on your performance. For example, how long do you take to complete a certain tasks ?, what can you change to make your system ?


5. Act. Take actions immediately after carving out the plan. It is best to start working to build the momentum. By the way, that is just my own two cents.


Something more for you....

I have added some links which are very useful when I started to learn about the Getting Things Done system:

1. 43 Folder: Getting Started with "Getting Things Done" 
2. ZenHabits: Zen to Done ( ZTD ) 
3. 7P Productions: 7 Mistakes to Avoid for the GTD beginners 

 

  

Study Bytes : Mechanical Exam Preparation Part 1

A few weeks ago, while reading the blog, Study Hacks by Cal Newport; one article entitled Mechanical Exam Preparation caught my attention. Upon reading the article, I felt that my exam preparation is so flawed and filled with loop holes. Therefore, I think it is only right that I share with you guys my personal view and rendition of the “Mechanical Exam Preparation”.

Traditional

Looking back at my 5 years of study in Penang Free School, I have experimented my way through each and every examination but the techniques that I employed were al based on this flawed concept; time spent = score better in exam. Many students including myself were used to schedule long hour of revision every day. The only alterations in these five years were the number of hours and amount of subjects to study per day. When the plan has been laid out, it’s time to start reading and re-reading the particular chapter designated for that day. Sometimes, I might throw in some exercises here and there and often I will lose sense of time. To tell you the truth, the planning only come when the exam is around the corner and to those who know me; now you know why there are so many papers with me when the examination is getting closer. 

Why this doesn’t work ? 

The reason is pretty simple, lack of focus. When you study continuously for more than 1 hour, you tend to lose focus. The question is why so many people schedule such a long hour of study. There are two reasons:

1. The examination is around the corner and they haven’t covered the entire syllabus yet. 
2. Those who have started early but ‘feel’ that devoting long hour is a must to achieve success

Consequently, the former kind of students will burn out during examination and the result may not be so good either. In my opinion, the second group of student has landed in a bigger trouble than their counterparts. Why am I saying this? This is because they will develop the illusion that their success derives from the long hour of study. Once this happen, it is actually very difficult to shift their study habit. They will stick to their way of study and develop a comfort zone around it. If the habit were to be carried on, they will face a big problem in university because they will be so occupied with assignments and presentations. The result is; they will be stressed out and depressed.  

Before I reveal the mechanism behind the Mechanical Exam Preparation, I will really like to hear your personal strategy to ace school examinations.

Jinified : What happend to Jinified ?

I will like to begin the post with a sincere apology to the readers of this blog. Don’t worry and rest assure that Jinified is still operating like usual. Many of you might wonder how come Jinified has been inactive for almost 5 days ? That’s is the motive behind today’s post; it is intended provide you guys with the direction and momentum of Jinified. 

Why the slow down ?

 

1)The primary reason for the inactivity is because I realized Jinified is slowing down and going to the wrong direction. My mission is to provide a platform where everybody can share and access information on web design, programming etc. After some careful assessment, I realized that there is a lack of awareness among the tech community about Jinified, which prompts me to my next project for Jinified; Social Media Branding. When you have the content, it is time to show it to the world. Therefore, for the past few days, I have been conducting research on social media marketing and reading some free ebooks by marketing gurus. 

2)The inactivity of this blog is also because I am busy doing research for my Form  6 life on forums such as Recom.org and Lowyat.com. This is entirely my fault because I turned into my obsessive mode where I discard my usual schedule and rules. 

So what is going to happen next ?

I will spend some time playing with social media tools and then only will I register account for Jinified. We will resume posting and continue with the Jinified’s Routine. For specific day, there will be a post on specific topic.

Pandora Hacks : Using Pomodoro Technique

History of Pomodoro Technique

This ingenious technique to boost productivity has been developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. The word 'pomodoro' is actually derived from the Italian word 'pomodori' which means tomato. According to Francesco Cirillo, taking multiple breaks during a task will seems to improve mental agiliy. 

How does the Pomodoro works ?

Normally this technique will require a timer to set the duration for each session. 25 minutes for one activity and 5 minutes rest is the norm among Pomodoro followers.After 4 sessions, a longer break will normally take place. However, anyone has the power to alter the duration and set the length of a break. The short break between each session will function to improve mental agility especially for activites that demand hard fodus

How does Pomodoro relates to Productivity ?

The amount of time committed on a task does not necessarily bring you result. Instead, one produce result when he or she combine focus and time. This is where Pomodoro comes into the equation. Basically, pomodoro forces one to take a short break no matter how enthusiastic they are. The moment of detachment will provide one with incredible insight on his/her task. Suddenly, you are able to see the problem in a different angle. Short break also helps your brain to refuel itself with energy to handle more complex problems. 

How to apply Pomodoro technique effectively ? 

1. First and foremost, you have to select a device to time yourself. You can use your alarm clock, mobile phone, watch or even software timer such as Focus Booster. My personal favorite will be my mobile phone I bring it everywhere I go. 
2. Now you have chosen your timer, it is time to set the length of time for one pomodoro. I will usually set mine for 30 minutes and slot in a 15 minutes break between each session. The amount of time really depends on how long are you able to remain focus or should I say sane while doing your task.
3. The most crucial step will be the aftermath. The true power of Pomodoro Technique lies recording the amount of time spent on a particular project. The number of pomodoros is takes to complete a certain task shall be recorded for future planning.

Creative way of using Pomodoro  

Take a quick nap between during the short break. This is my own customization in the Pomodoro system. The thought of sleeping in the midst of a task seems to be counter-intuitive but trust me; this is my Swiss Army Knife to get better result. 

Looking forward to hear your results and experience from using this technique

References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique
2.  http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

Study Bytes: Study = Game

Study Bytes talks about the tips and hacks to a easier and enjoyable education, be it high school, college or university. This series will be aired every Monday to share with guys and gals who are concerned with their academic life. Any techniques and tips released in Study Bytes are extracted from other study blogs such as Study Hack, Lifehack and HackCollege. The materials presented here is the combination of hacks that have been experimented by myself and they are been altered to suit my personal lifestyle. Therefore, feel free to twist and turn the tips given to your own delight.

Introduction

Before you begin to tackle your studies, having a plan beforehand is extremely crucial. It is the foundation which determine the amount of hours taken to truly master a particular subject. For instance, you have two friends who devote equal amount of time to a subject. Obviously, both will perform on a different scale and this has to do with their strategy. Let us put aside factors such as genetic makeup, maturity and tuition of course. You may disagree with me but here is my analogy to explain the scenario:

The Story 

The entire test system is comparable to a strategy game like D.O.T.A or Command & Conquer. Each player will begin the game with equal amount of resources. The initial stage of a game is similar to the moment when everyone is born into this world with zero knowledge. However, different players will choose their favorite Heroes; some each with their pros and cons. Besides that, they may even decide to emphasize on different aspects of his/her army. Some are the offensive type, while some take their time to carry out their plan. If you look into the board game right now, some players may appear to progress more swiftly compared to their peers but soon both will reach a plateau where the head start no longer carry any benefits. The result of the game really depends on the judgements, strategies and decisions of each player after hitting their plateau. What I want to say here is that, natural factors such as talent, upbringing or resources does not determine the success of a student. Some of you might argue that the atmosphere and other external factors would have been enough to create a huge gap which leaves the student no chance to catch up. This statement is bullshit to every gamer out there. A player with true grit will turn the terrain, pace and disadvantages into power. The resistance will only fuel the player with surge of energy to think of a better plan. This is also true for any students who think they are no good at their subjects. 

So, how do you turn the table around ?

The gamer in you will tell you to stop, breathe and think of a plan. You may ask what sort of plan do i need ? The answer is plain simple, it depends; every student needs different approach. The best way is to derive your strategy from existing strategies such as the ones compiled by Study Bytes and altered for my own battles. 

Prologue

The tips and tricks presented here are only for your reference and feel free to mold them to fit into your style. Here i would like to thank the author of many study blogs that inspired the birth of Study Bytes. Lastly, to begin this journey you must follow my quote:

 "Treat it like a game"

Jinified: The System

Finally I am ready to make an appearance after coming back from Taiwan. I believe many of you wonder what have Jinified been up to for the past one week of inactivity. Don't get me wrong, is not like I have forgotten about the readers. In contrast, during the one week;I have came up with a system for Jinified. From today onwards, Jinified is going to release a post everyday based on the following system:

Monday - Study Bytes
Tuesday - Pandora Hacks
Wednesday - Webified
Thursday - Code Block
Friday - Creative Feast 
Saturday - Software Galore 
Sunday - Sunday Ritual


There will be more projects coming up soon. For now this is the plan for Jinified.

Jinified going on holiday

I will be leaving for Taiwan this afternoon. Hopefully this journey will open my mind to more mind-blowing places and make a mark in my memory. Bringing my little notebook to jot down any creative sparks along my journey. One thing I really miss is all my computers. The friction between my fingers and the keyboard makes me feel like home. I really look forward to my one week holiday in Taiwan. I have some projects for Jinified over this weekend but the momentum is just isn't there anymore. Hopefully, this trip will refuel myself and finally push me out of the idea plateau.

Good bye.

My Manifesto

          -  Manifesto  -  

Do no harm to yourself, your friends, your enemies, your country and your environment.

Remain stoic under any circumstances.

Remember that life is suffering, and there is nothing negative about it.

Make more mistakes and embrace them.

Seek solitude and listen to your inner voice.

Start playing when you are stuck with a problem.

Persevere through resistance and fight for your idea.

Use pen and paper to express your ideas and thoughts.

Put your ideas at risk

Do something because you want to, not because you have to.

Do not feel embarrass with failures, be proud of them.

Stay addicted and obsessed to your dream

Stay hungry, stay foolish