Hong ⁽²³⁰⁾

Reinventing the wheel is usually undesirable. However, when it comes to creating application icons, it may be an option better than reusing what is out there. Application icons that are as tiny as 32x32 pixels are usually, and should be simple. Some platforms have special…

A while ago, I had a post titled "Webclient and HttpWebRequest - two "time-saving" classes can kill more time than they save". That is about Microsoft's platform (.Net). Apparently Android is no exception. Classes such as AndroidHttpClient, URLConnection together with HttpGet and HttpPost look so…

I have lived in the US for 20 years, I still keep learning various cultural aspects of this country. Since the country is so diverse, I have never been able to construct the image of "the typical American". It seems there are always two opposite…

It was 11 °C around noon on 2012-02-23. The winter has been exceptionally mild this year. It was very pleasant to enjoy a meal with Freddie accompanied by a flock of turkeys.

Google's Android Design is a very good resource intended to target Android apps. The site is designed with the principles preached by itself. Its application can be expanded far beyond Android apps. Any software application design can draw useful tips from this resouce.

The COO of Facebook seems to indicate that they want to create jobs by going public. I wonder how big a factor the desire to create job is for their filing for IPO. Facebook was created by college kidsfor college kids, and initially driven to…

(updated 2012-05-17) This winter has been exceptionally warm. The ground has been free of snow most of the time. I have been able to ski only twice by now (2012-02-17). The warm days have been surprising, but nothing has surprised more than the scene of…

FreeDNS is a noble endeavor to offer free Domain Name Service. It is free, though users are encouraged to become paid premium members whose fees are used to pay for the hardware and bandwidth used by FreeDNS. Generally speaking, it works quite well. It is probably sufficient for non-critical personal use.

Chengdu -> Beijing (CA1426: 21:15 - 12:05) Beijing -> Newark (CA819: 9:20 - 10:20) Newark -> Boston(CA7419 /UA2045: 12:17 - 13:28 or United 1202: 15:23 - 16:30) 

Auto body rust is preventable and manageable. Wire sheet, then 120 grit sanding tool (sandpaper or sand sponge) to remove rust. Use chemical rust converter(e.g. Loctite Extend Rust Neutralizer) or dissolver to convert or remove rust residues in pits, let it dry 10+ hours. Apply…

It seems to have become a fashion to bash Microsoft in the tech world since Microsoft dominated the desktop OS world. There are two types of Microsoft bashing: 1. from people who have been immersed in Microsoft technologies, and got sick of some matters; 2. from…

Amazon Mechanical Turk is great for crowdsourcing jobs to workforce all over the world. One may think it is ideal for testing software under very diverse conditions (different machines, operating systems, network environment and locations). Unfortunately, it is prohibited to ask workers to install applications.

There is no doubt that Kiva.org is a well managed organization running well managed micro-financing programs. Its 685.903 volunteer lenders, $281M in loans and 99% repayment rate (as of 2012-01-30) speak to it. Its average loan delinquency rate is 1.76%. The average delinquency rate on…

Json is the data language spoken universally. HTTP is the network protocol supported universally. A web service using HTTP and Json is naturally the most interoperable type. Web services and their clients are often strongly bonded - clients must send and receive specific type of data required by their…

My American mom, Sarah Clark, left us to see her Lord on 2012-01-29 at the Sunday church service time. This world lost a truly extraordinary person – loving, caring, kind, charming, bright, forgiving… Mom was an eternal optimist full of youthful spirit. She showed us how to…

I have been a regular user of Wikipedia not long after its inception in 2001, and made my share of contribution in editing and financial support. Wikipedia has become a de facto monopoly of online encyclopedia. No other online encyclopedias are even remotely close to Wikipedia…

It is sad that Aptera shut down on 2011-12-02, less than a month after my previous post on Aptera. The company stated the close of business was due to lack of funding. The company certainly excelled at marketing. Over 5000 people in California sent Aptera refundable…

Hitler, Stalin, and Mao are the three biggest monsters in human history. They killed people in mass via various ways. Among the three, Stalin and Mao naturally share more than them with Hitlter because they were communists. Mao effectively followed Stalin's orders on major issues…

If MVVM pattern is used, a data entry form (e.g. email form) can be generated with a simple statement - EditoForModel (Model). Usually, the format of the output is not exactly what one wishes. Formatting is often necessary. The orthodox way of doing this is…

Microsoft Silverlight Analytics Framework is supposed to be THE technique for Silverlight analytics, but unfortunately, it appears to be fading away. Even the tutorial videos on its home page are not available anymore, and no one seems to care. There are other services such as…