hongjun's Blog

New official statistics revealed by the social networking giant reveal that 0.06% of the more than billion or 600,000+ logins that they have each day are compromised. This is noted by security site Sophos.

Is this a lot?

Google+ social networking site latest update push adds 4 key features.

What’s Hot on Google+: see what everyone’s talking about

Basically knowing what is the world excited about.


Google+ Ripples: watch how posts get shared

Shows how posts are shared in spider view style in a timeline period.


Google+ Creative Kit: have more fun with your photos

A fast and friendly way to make powerful edits to your photos. And since Halloween is here, there is even a template just for that to add some spook to your photos. Do share them publicly on Google+ with the hashtag #gplushalloween.


Google Apps customers can now use Google+

Google+ is now made available to all Google Apps customers worldwide.

» Google+: Popular posts, eye-catching analytics, photo fun and... | Official Google Blog

Samsung AMOLED flexible phones showing coolness - ability to bend. Separately, Nokia also demonstrated their futuristic flexible mobile device that are able to be twisted and bend.


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Futuristic flexible Nokia mobile device able to twist and bend

The LifeHacker published 2 tips to on what to do if you forgot your iPhone or Android passcode.

The new iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S2 were put to a free fall drop test to test out if how durable they are. The experiment showed Samsung Galaxy S2 significantly more durable than the obviously fragile iPhone 4S.

Futuristic Nokia mobile device showing ability to twist and bend phone.



» Nokia Shows Off Flexible Mobile Device of the Future | Mashable

Related Readings
Samsung flexible phones - able to bend

Latest Google Chrome 15 comes with a redesign of its Chrome Web Store, several bug fixes and other new features. It is now eaiser to manage (add, update and remove) your apps using the new Chrome Web Store.


» Making Chrome even more app-ealing | Official Google Blog

Google Buzz service is going to be terminated, however, it is still possible to view and retrieve your posts.

Your existing content will remain accessible in two ways:

You can view it on your Google ProfileYou can download it using Google Takeout

60 Minutes has posted its two-part interview with Walter Isaacson, the authorized biographer of Apple founder and the late CEO Steve Jobs, which aired last Sunday evening. The transcript of the 2-parts interview can be found here.

Steve Jobs, Part One


Steve Jobs, Part Two

The new task manager that comes together with upcoming Microsoft Windows 8 is going to be quite different as compared to earlier versions. The new task manager comes with fewer details and with options to show more details.



Some of the key new features offered by the new task manager:
Closing applications from cleaner view with fewer detailsIdentifying resource issues with the HeatmapGrouping by applications, background processes, and Windows processesGrouping top-level windows by appDisplaying process friendly names
Quick demo on the new task manager for Windows 8:

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video.
» The Windows 8 Task Manager | Building Windows 8

Google has added more than 60 new features to its Google Docs Presentation including several popular requested features:

Transitions to move between slides with simple fades or spicier 3D effects
Animations to add emphasis or to make your slides more playful
New themes to create beautiful presentations with distinct visual styles
Drawings to build new designs, layouts, and flowcharts within a presentation
Rich tables with merged cells and more options for adding style to your data

These new features are still slowly rolled out to all its millions of users. To see the new features before they are rolled out to you, click on the gear icon in your document list, and select Document settings. Then, from the Editing tab, check the box to "Create new presentations using the latest version of the presentation editor".

» A fresh start for Google presentations | Official Google Blog

Right now, a search on Google search engine has started redirecting logged in users to the secured SSL (https://www.google.com/) page, without having to use their encrypted search service (https://encrypted.google.com/).

The implications of this switch to encrypted search are many and SearchEngineLand has an article on the fury from SEOs. Read this article on the reactions from SEOs that come out loud, fast & often angry to Google’s switch to encrypted search.

» Making search more secure | Official Google Blog

A comprehensive article with details on how Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi was killed and also the life of the dictator.

Google's new "Good to Know" website is a resource for everyone to learn more about online security.

» Google Explains Online Safety and Privacy at Good to Know | LifeHacker

A leaked product demo reveals a few great changes Google has in store for Gmail, including a redone action bar, a new conversation display, an improved search interface and a screen-friendly layout that automatically adjusts depending on your window size.

According to the demo, the conversation view is getting an overhaul to better show the details, and profile pictures will start showing up in contacts to help you keep track of who's who. The entire window will also be resize better than it does currently. The video snuck out of the Googleplex a little early, as we're not seeing any changes yet.


» Gmail Getting an Interface Overhaul with Better Conversation Display, Search, Auto-Resizing, and More | LifeHacker

Longtime Libyan dictator Colonel Gadhafi has been killed and many were seen in jubilation, celebrating and dancing on the streets.


You may also be interested in the dictator's story.

» Gadhafi killed, Libya's interim leader says | CNN News

Google and Samsung together launched the latest Samsung Galaxy Nexus that runs on Android 4.0 codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), bringing the many Honeycomb features to smartphones.

With a super slim profile, Galaxy Nexus features a 4.65” Contour Display with true high definition (720p) resolution and a lightning-fast dual core 1.2ghz processor combined with 4G LTE or HSPA+ technology. Galaxy Nexus also features the latest in software: Ice Cream Sandwich makes Android simple and beautiful, and takes the smartphone to beyond smart.
Starting in November, Galaxy Nexus will be available in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Check out the Nexus website for a product tour and more info.

Some of the key new features are:
Face UnlockAnroid BeamVoice TypingGoogle+ IntegrationSingle-Motion Panoramic CameraHD DisplaySlim and Curved DesignFast & 4G


» Unwrapping Ice Cream Sandwich on the Galaxy Nexus | Official Google Blog

One way to find your public IP address is to search for either one of the keywords using Google.

my ipmy ip addressshow my ipwhat is my ip

Twitter recently updated its API to enable the new Status ID generator - 'Snowflake'. With that, the new unique Tweet IDs are now 64bit unsigned integers, which, instead of being sequential like the old IDs, are based on time. The full ID is composed of a timestamp, a worker number, and a sequence number.

The implications of this change is that some programming languages like Javascript cannot support numbers with >53bits. To allow javascript and JSON parsers to read the IDs, a string version of any ID is now included when responding in the JSON format. What this means is Status, User, Direct Message and Saved Search IDs in the Twitter API will now be returned as an integer and a string in JSON responses. This will apply to the main Twitter API, the Streaming API and the Search API.

For example, https://twitter.com/status/user_timeline/hongjun.json?count=5 now returns you both "id" and "id_str". We should now be using "id_str" instead.

The foll…

Should we be using MsSQL user defined data types (UDDT)?

One advantage of using is that the same type can be standardized across similar fields across several tables. For example, we can have a UDDT defined for Email. However, the headache arrives when we need to alter the data type of the UDDT. There is no alter type yet to do the job.

What are the options to solving this problem? Do we really have to drop all objects (tables, stored procedures, etc) that use the UDDT, re-create the UDDT with the new type, and then re-create all tables, stored procedures, etc? That sounds quite a lot of work to do isn't it? What if we have existing records in tables and dropping tables sound way too risky.

Luckily, there is a workaround without dropping objects that use the UDDT (credit to a post on stackoverflow)

/* Create a new UDDT */ exec sp_addtype @typename='myUDT', @phystype='varchar(100)' go /* Create a table */ create table myTable (field1 myUdt) go /* Add a 'tempora…

Interesting article on Site Architecture for SEO.

A post made on SGsearchsite provides valuable information on the credit card promotions offered for movies in Singapore. An extract from the post as of now is as follows:


SG Credit Card

Movie Discount
Cathay
Eng Wah
Golden Village
DBS Credit Cards

(Live Fresh DBS Visa pay/Wave Platinum Card)
-
-
S$8.50 on weekends (Fri, Sat, Sun, eve of P.H. & P.H.) and S$6.50 from Mon-Thu

(Valid till 31 Dec 2011 – More Details)
DBS/POSB Credit Cards

(All)
-
-
S$7 from Mon-Thu (excl. eve of P.H. & P.H.) and S$8.50 on Fri-Sun (incl. eve of P.H. & P.H.)

(Valid till 31 Dec 2013 – More Details)
HSBC Credit Cards

(All)
-
-
S$75/card with a stored credit value of 10 GV movie tickets redeemable on both weekdays & weekends

(More Details)
OCBC Credit Cards

(All)
-
S$8 on weekends (Fri, Sat, Sun, eve of P.H. & P.H., Sneaks & Openings) and S$7 from Mon-Thu. Min. 2 Tickets.

(Valid till 30 Apr 2012 – More Details)
S$8.50 on weekends (Fri, Sat, Sun, eve of P.H. & P.H.) and S$7 from Mon-Thu

(Valid till 30 Ap…

The "Occupy Raffles Place" a call for public protest, which seeked to replicate the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in Singapore on Oct 15 supposedly, was a no-show. This is the group that talked really loud, showing fury and managed to gathered 70+ potential protesters, at the same time slamming those who were not in support of such actions. And now, a no-show from them have blamed anything, everything, all things except themselves, apologising for inconveniences.

Hmm... In my opinion, one should never apologise for inconveniences if he/she wants to demonstrate.

#OccupyRafflesPlace commented that

just because we didn’t talk to the media doesn’t mean we weren’t there. We are obviously very disappointed with the lack of ground support, We take the blame for lack of logistics and planning, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Really want to Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loudest.

Google+ search feature will now update its search result real time and supports hashtags.

For instance, a search on the keyword Android will simply return you search results and update it real time.

If "Most Recent" is selected, there will be an option to Pause the real time update and Play it back again.


Another feature introduced is the support of hashtags. I just made a post with #android as part of my post.


Clicking on the hashtag will perform a search on it.

Tapping onto MapsGL technology, Google Maps now brings a much smoother 3D experience and let you swoop into street view without the need to install plugin. All you need is a modern browser that supports WebGL e.g. Chrome 14+ and Firefox 8+.

Visit Google Maps at http://maps.google.com and then click on "Want to try something new".


After you have enabled WebGL, zoom in to a location to switch to street view in 3D view.

Google Translate for Android now includes conversation mode feature, supporting more than 14 languages. Using conversation mode, you can now choose a pair of languages, speak into the mobile device and get them translated between the 2 languages.

This new feature is certainly going to be extremely helpful when you are trying to communicate with someone from a different country speaking their own language.




Download Google Translate for Android here.

» Start the conversation with Google Translate for Android | Official Google Blog

Jokingly, Google finally hired designers and empowered them to do something bold.

Oh okay, it came to my surprise that the recent big change in Google's flagship products is an idea of co-founder and CEO Larry Page.

Google's three techniques when it comes to design: Focused, Effortless, Elastic

Just last month, Blogger announced a lightbox (slideshow) effect for images without consulting bloggers, eventually causing an uproar. The uproar prompted Blogger to remove this feature almost immediately.

Now, this lightbox feature is back and enabled by default. However, it is now possible to disable it from Settings.


I have disabled it. Have you?

Microsoft Corp has officially completed its acquisition of Internet communications company Skype for $8.5 billion.

The Internet has changed video calling for millions of people. Explore some of the numbers and stats showing the scope and impact of how Skype is helping people stay connected.


Skype CEO Tony Bates will assume the title of president of the Skype Division of Microsoft immediately, reporting directly to Ballmer.

A quote from Tony Bates:

By bringing together the best of Microsoft and the best of Skype, we are committed to empowering consumers and businesses around the globe to connect in new ways. Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype's goal to reach 1 billion users daily.

» Microsoft Officially Welcomes Skype | Microsoft News Center

This is how crowded a train station platform in Singapore can get.

Thousands were stranded on a Friday evening during peak hour after a train broke down. The cause was an SMRT train which had broken down on the East-West Line, resulting in a 20-minute delay that affected some 6,500 commuters in total. A hind train had to come in to "rescue" the faulty train, pushing it away. Though the delay was mentioned to be just 20 minutes, the backlog of passengers were so great that many were unable to board, including myself from Tiong Bahru towards Joo Koon direction at around 1830hr. To make matter worse, the entire train timings seemed to have messed up. Even at 2200hr, trains towards Joo Koon direction at Clementi station arrived at more than 7 minutes interval but trains at the reverse direction were regular at 2 minutes interval. Needless to say, many poor commuters were unable to board trains towards Joo Koon.

Poor quality service all at a recent 1% increase in transport fare days ago. Unacceptable!

Opera Mini Browser is a fast mobile browser that can save you money on data by compressing webpages using Opera's servers before serving to clients. According to Opera, it can result in as much as 90% data savings as compared to normal browsers.


Download Opera Mini web browser from Android Marketplace at https://market.android.com/details?id=com.opera.mini.android

What is CircleMe?

CircleMe is a platform that helps you keep track of and engage with all your true likes in one place. On CircleMe, you own your likes.

The service lets you import your favorites from other services, add or remove items from your library, and feature in a visually compelling way the things you love for the benefit of others.

Rather than catching dust, the likes you “shelve” on CircleMe help you connect with like-minded people, track related news and trade curated recommendations and future plans with your social circles.

It’s all about the cool and interesting things you like and the people who share your tastes. Give it a try and start enjoying your true interests!


CircleMe is still in private beta but if you are interested, Mashable readers can sign up to get early access to the service.

Related Readings
iOS 5 for iPhone and iPad walkthroughAll about Siri on Apple iPhone 4S

A complete feature guide to Apple’s iOS 5 software update for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

» iOS 5 for iPhone and iPad walkthrough | TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad and iPod touch blog

Related Readings
Everything You Need to Know About iOS 5 in Seven MinutesAll about Siri on Apple iPhone 4S

Siri, the intelligent personal assistant for latest release of iPhone 4S, is actually been around for the past eight years. Siri was only recently been acquired by Apple in Mar 2010 for an undisclosed sum.

History of Siri

2003: DARPA awards SRI with a five-year contract to create an “enduring personalized cognitive assistant.” It would go on to invest $150 million in the project.

SRI calls the project CALO, short for Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes. The stated goal: “To create cognitive software systems, that is, systems that can reason, learn from experience, be told what to do, explain what they are doing, reflect on their experience, and respond robustly to surprise.”

Jan. 2008: Siri, one of the consumer-branded products inspired by the CALO project, spun out of SRI as its own company.

Oct. 13, 2008: Siri announces it has raised $8.5 million in Series A funding in a round led by Menlo Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures.

Nov. 24, 2009: Siri announces it has raised $15.5 mil…

Microsoft Hotmail characterizes an email as "graymail" when the same message that one person thinks is “spam” could be really important to another person. It’s not black and white, hence the name.


Despite the drastic decrease of true spam in the inbox, we found that most customers are still seeing newsletters, product offers, and other clutter. In fact, 75% of email identified as spam by our customers actually turns out to be unwanted graymail that they receive as a result of having signed up on a legitimate website. And because of inbox clutter, it’s easy to lose track of the really important messages in your inbox that you want to get back to.
Some features are:

1. New newsletter category

A new special category for newsletters. Using the same SmartScreen™ technology that helps Microsoft fight spam, email are categorized correctly as newsletters 95%. Every time you categorize an email manually the remaining 5% emails as a newsletter, the filtering just gets better.

2. One-clic…