Cyberbaguioboy

My dust-collecting PC is alive again (No, not the one in photo). This was after months of snobbery. It was left on its own after its power supply finally gave up. Apparently, the regular hard resets (turning on, off the power switch), which I used to reset my PC, have affected the power supply (and the exhaust fans). So I bought a new power supply, a new casing (looks better) and additional fans. And when I fired it up this morning, it was back on tiptop shape–save for two malware discovered during a long system scan.

By the way, I’m using ESET’s Nod32 antivirus software now. Looks fine so far after I installed it. Somebody told me that I should consider Windows 7 for this unit…But that means I have to backup the whole system in case something goes wrong.

Maybe not.

When Nintendo introduced the Wii, a lot of people were amazed at simplicity of the idea of allowing gamers to use–other than their fingers–motion to play  Tennis, baseball, etc. I remember one of my colleagues brought another gadget called the Eye Toy for the Sony Playstation. It  sensed motion, and I had a good time jumping, boxing, and dancing around to play simple games.

This week, software giant Microsoft enters the motion-sensitive controller wars, promising a better experience (I hope) for gamers. And as expected, almost everybody jumped into the discussions aboutthis this amazing motion-sensitive controller, dubbed Project Natal (as evidenced by the Trending Topics at Twitter this week). 

My take on this: this is good. Now, imagine playing exclusive Xbox 360 games using the Natal. Perhaps not Gears of War series but something a lot simpler, like NBA Live? Hmmmm. For now, my vote goes to the Wii-mote. Its simplicity and the complimenting games work. Project Natal, on the other hand, promises a lot more-which is good–like voice recognition. But are we consumers ready for such an experience? Also, another question is cost. Will this cost us more or will it be bundled with the hardware.

With that in mind, I think it’s time to flex those gaming muscles–not just those overgrown thumbs and let’s play on! 

After watching that video, you can now make a decision whether to buy the new Guitar Hero or The Beatles Rock Band edition…

This blog was inaccessible for the past days due to some technical problems. But it’s back

Anyway, been catching up on some reading. I recently picked up this book called “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, same co-author of the Built to Last.

This is an easy-to-read business book that is really based on empirical evidence picked by the author and his researchers, as they tried to answer one question: What makes a great company or organization. His premise is not theoretical, as he claimed. He gathered enough evidence from existing organizations and made his conclusions. What struck me is that his stories (yes, he does have a lot to tell) could be applied not just to organizations but also to different situations. If you have time, pick a copy of the book and read it. You might not agree with what it’s saying and dismiss them as common sense. But I believe it’s still worth the read.

Another Filipino director Brillante “Dante” Mendoza has won the Best Director award at Cannes, Ruben Nepales reports at INQUIRER.net. Mendoza won Best Director for his film called “Kinatay.” This is his second entry in the prestigious awards.

Excerpt:

From a virtual unknown to world acclaim.

“Ako lang ang walang pangalan,” Brillante “Dante” Mendoza wrote in an e-mail a few days before the start of the Cannes Film Festival, where his “Kinatay” (meaning “massacre”) was going to be in competition with films directed by well-known directors and previous Palme d’Or winners Quentin Tarantino, Jane Campion and Lars Von Trier.

In a stunning dark horse triumph, Mendoza won the Best Director prize in the world’s premier festival on Sunday.

Here’s the official list of 2009’s winners.

Information overload, that’s what you get with today’s RSS and social networking mashups. But recently I’ve found this nifty and intuitive RSS feed called Streamy. It’s interface is simple and organized. And it includes all the basic social networks you want to connect to (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr). YouTube is not yet in the list but I think it will be soon.

Just a few notes: The dashboard breathes. Unlike Google Reader (but I’ve come to love it initially), Streamy presents RSS feeds in a way that makes you want to read further. And it’s easy to share online finds. With just a few clicks, it will send that website, article to your Twitter, Facebook, etc.

As more information is created on the web, more and more web apps are going to “organize” content and presenting it in a manner that makes it more sticky to users. Also, one factor that makes web apps like Streamy good is this: it’s fun to use.

What about you? Do you have any recent online finds?

While it doesn’t want to be called to a “Google Killer,” Wolfram/Alpha was unveiled recently to make Internet search more relevant. According to this report, Wolfram/Alpha is a more specific engine that searches facts or knowledge that we actually need, instead of just links to these facts–which Google does. In fact, it only limits its searches in its “internal” database using mathematical algorithms (You can read the FAQ here).

For example, I just typed, “June 19, 1973″ to see what would come out. And here are interesting results: That day falls on a Tuesday, and that happened 35 years, 10 months and 28 days ago. The sun rose at 5:28 a.m. that day and set at 6:27 p.m. But there were no significant events listed on that day. 

Let’s try some more. I typed “YouTube,” and found these interesting web stats: 4.2 billion page views, 260 million visitors and the domain was acquired on February 15, 2005. 

You can play around with it and find interesting facts–in short, the bare essentials minus the keyword advertising and sponsored links. I find Wolfram/Alpha interesting and, well, fun to use, as one author puts it. Fun because when I typed “Swine Flu,” statistics of infections worldwide, including deaths, were produced immediately. Then it added that there were no infections or cases in the Philippines. Obviously, this search engine recognized my IP address, and produced the most relevant knowledge I needed including statistics in the country. You don’t get that in Google.

You can read some initial reviews here. 

Here are more examples on what this Internet baby can do. 

Also do check out their blog.

A study has shown that monkeys learn from mistakes.

An excerpt of the story posted on INQUIRER.net

CHICAGO–Monkeys are able to learn from their mistakes and will take risks to potentially win better rewards when playing games, a study published Thursday has found.

“This is the first evidence that monkeys, like people, have ‘would-have, could-have, should-have’ thoughts,” said Ben Hayden, a researcher at the Duke University Medical Center and lead author of the study published in the journal Science.

Can we humans do the same? Of course. But history and psychologists tell us that we humans are bound to repeat our mistakes, and often never learn from it. In fact, making mistakes is habit-forming because we humans neglect details, thus we end up in the same hole we fell into, this article explains. Thus, the saying, “A little neglect may breed great mischief,” the article concludes.

It’s been a while since I’ve really done anything radical on my computer.

I was initially thinking of just getting a new wallpaper. But I was led to this freeware that gives your desktop a new look. So I found Bumptop. Just to give you an idea what it is, think of a 3D desktop. And it’s also intuitive. I’ve been using it for sometime now and it’s a welcome break from the boring and disorganized desktop of mine.

You can watch this quick review on YouTube or you can start playing with it.

Okay, let me say it, it’s a cool way of organizing your desktop especially if you’re as disorganized as me. And did I say that it also comes with different themes?

Do you have similar discoveries? Let me know.

Let’s admit it. After his fight with Hatton, Manny Pacquiao is more popular now. Imagine posing with an ex-president of the United States. Read the rest of the story here.