hongjun's Blog

Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal to win Australian Open

2012-01-30T20:53:00.000+08:00

Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Sharapova to win Australian Open

2012-01-30T20:48:00.000+08:00

'Dr Doom' Nouriel Roubini predicts financial meltdown to last a decade

2012-01-29T15:28:00.001+08:00

Economist Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed 'Dr Doom', who successfully predicted the sub prime crisis in 2008 is now predicting the current financial slowdown could last a decade unless Europe radically reforms itself and the United States gets serious about its own overwhelming debt deficit.

He painted a grim picture of the euro zone in recession and key emerging markets in China, India, Brazil and South Africa slowing down. The biggest uncertainty is the possibility of a conflict with Iran over its nuclear programme - which could lead oil prices to spike to US$150 per barrel, and lead to a global recession, he said.

Calling for a major change in policy priorities, Dr Roubini said: "We have to shift our investment from things that are less productive like the financial sector and housing and real estate to things that are more productive like our people, our human capital, our structure, our technology, our innovation."

Slow growth in advanced economies will likely lead to "a U-shaped recovery rather than a typical V", and could last up to 10 years if there is too much debt in the public and private sector, he said.

At a panel discussion yesterday, Dr Roubini also said Greece will probably leave Europe's single currency within 12 months and could soon be followed by Portugal.

» Fallout from financial meltdown could last a decade, says 'Dr Doom' | TODAY Online

Northern Lights (Solar Storms) Auroras in Northern Norway

2012-01-28T13:20:00.001+08:00

Northern Lights (Solar Storms) Auroras in Finland

2012-01-28T13:20:00.000+08:00

Google prompting all to read new policy when log in

2012-01-28T12:02:00.000+08:00

When you re-login to your Google account, Google is now prompting you to read its new unified privacy policy. Come Mar 1, 2012, Google will be unifying its current more than 70 privacy policies into one single privacy policy. Google urges us to take a few minutes to read its updated Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service now.

Infographic: Apple's billions

2012-01-28T10:01:00.001+08:00

McDonald’s 1-for-1 Prosperity Burger

2012-01-28T09:29:00.000+08:00

McDonald is now offering a time limited offer from 27 to 29 January 2012 for its 1-for-1 Prosperity Burger. To redeem, simply flash the coupon on your mobile device.

Twitter able to block tweets and accounts but tweets must still flow

2012-01-28T09:26:00.001+08:00

Twitter announced on Thursday that it is now able to block tweets and accounts from appearing in specific countries to comply with governments' request to censor information. Before that, Twitter can only block globally.

As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

From Twitter, it will not block tweets and will stay reactive. It will review and will withhold specific content when requested and necessary.

When an account is blocked in a specific country, users of that country will see that blocked profile as below:

And when a tweet is withheld instead, the tweet will be seen as below:

What If Twitter has misidentified your country? You will then have to update your country in the Account Settings.

For more information, read Twitter's policy.

» Tweets still must flow | Twitter Blog

More options for Google+ badge

2012-01-27T10:14:00.000+08:00

Google+ announced more options for Google+ badges.

You can configure a badge with a width that fits your site design and choose a version that works better on darker sites. You'll also see that Google+ badges now include the unified +1 and circle count that we added to Pages last month.

Start creating your Google+ badge now.

Bill Gates annual letter shows his philanthropy work

2012-01-26T22:39:00.003+08:00

I always admired the current chairman of Microsoft and co-chair of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates. He is a man full of heart for the world. Yes, I believe many know this man - once richest man in the world but lost, or rather gave away, the title to a Mexican business man. If not for his giving away billions dollars for charitable effort so far, he would have retained his richest man title.

In his annual letter, he pledged to give more in 2013, investing in agriculture hoping to feed the still many poors in the world, without enough food to pass a day. In effort in polio was noted to be a success with only one such case reported in India in year 2011.

Apart from his annual letter, you may also wish to watch the video below on an exclusive interview by the ABC News.

video platform video management video solutions video player

Google unifying 70+ privacy policies into one

2012-01-25T09:47:00.001+08:00

Come Mar 1, 2012, Google will be unifying its current more than 70 privacy policies into one single privacy policy.

We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.

For current privacy policies, click here (specific product policies at the right side. New coming unified privacy policy can be found here for preview.

» Updating our privacy policies and terms of service | Official Google Blog

Facebook, Twitter and MySpace launch "Don't be Evil" bookmarklet

2012-01-25T09:32:00.001+08:00

Social networking sites Facebook, Twitter and MySpace together launched the "Don't be Evil" bookmarklet in response to Google including its Google+ pages in its search results. Google+ integration into search results has been criticised by competitors that it is not displaying the most relevant social network for an individual, and rather, it's simply promoting their (often less relevant) Google+ page.

The "Don't be Evil" bookmarklet attempts to put focus back to the user, looks at the three places where Google only shows Google+ results and then automatically googles Google to see if Google finds a result more relevant than Google+, and showing them instead.

There are two methods to trying out the "Dont' be Evil"

As a bookmarklet

Go to Focus on the User (www.focusontheuser.org), click on the "Try a More Relevant Google", and then drag the "Don't be Evil" bookmarklet to your browser's bookmark toolbar. Next time you perform a search that displays social results, click the bookmarklet for improved social results.
As a Chrome extension

Install this browser extension to automatically run our bookmarklet every time you go to google.com.

Watch walkthrough here.

» The Don’t Be Evil Bookmarklet Makes Google’s Social Results Useful Rather Than Simply Promotional | LifeHacker

Apple's unbelievable first quarter earnings

2012-01-25T08:58:00.001+08:00

Some numbers from the Apple's first quarter earnings as summarised by Mashable.

Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the quarter, a 128% jump over the comparable quarter in 2010.
iPad sales hit 15.4 million, a rise of 111%.
Mac sales were 5.2 million, an increase of 26%.
Apple sold 15.4 million iPods, a number which is down 21% as the iPhone cannibalizes sales of more limited-function devices.
Apple now has $97.6 billion in cash on hand.
Revenues from iTunes hit $1.7 billion. More than 140 million apps and pieces of content were downloaded on Dec. 25.
There are 1.5 million iPads being used by educational institutions.
iCloud has 85 million users. There are now 550,000 apps available. Developers of such apps have earned more than $4 billion, $700 million in Q1.
Apple Stores produced $6.1 billion in revenues for the quarter. The average revenue per store was $17.1 million vs. $12 million last year. There are about 22,000 visitors per store per week.
Apple’s revenues for the quarter were higher than the company’s revenues for its entire fiscal 2009.

» Apple’s First Quarter Earnings: The Unbelievable Numbers | Mashable

YouTube statistics - 4 billion daily views, 1 hour of video uploaded every second

2012-01-24T23:09:00.000+08:00

Wonder just how much content YouTube is generating? According to the latest statistics, daily views is at 4 billion and in every second, an hour of video is uploaded.

To put all these numbers into perspective, YouTube has launched a new website - onehourpersecond.com. Here's a short sample:

» Holy Nyans! 60 hours per minute and 4 billion views a day on YouTube | YouTube Blog

IMAX Born to be Wild

2012-01-24T08:33:00.002+08:00

Shown on the Omni-Theatre here. Just too bad that it is only 2D.

Screening Period	Showtimes	Duration	Film Format	Official Website
15 Aug 2011 to 29 Feb 2012	Showtime Listing	Approx. 40 Mins	IMAX 2D	Website

How to extract tar ball (tar.gz, tgz) using command line?

2012-01-23T23:17:00.001+08:00

If you have a tgz or a tar.gz archive, you may use the following to extract its files using command line interface.

Extract to current directory.

tar -zxf yourtarball.tgz

Extract to a different target directory.

tar -C ~/owndirectory -zxf yourtarball.tgz

Starhub: 140 channels free-of-charge for 6 days

2012-01-23T12:53:00.000+08:00

Starhub is offering over 140 channels of exciting entertainment from 20 January (12pm) to 26 January (12pm), all for FREE in conjunction with the Lunar New Year.

Do enjoy!

SingTel: Free mobile calls, SMS, MMS and mio TV during Lunar New Year

2012-01-23T12:49:00.000+08:00

SingTel announced on its website 48 hours of free local mobile calls, SMS and MMS from 23 Jan 0000hrs to 24 Jan 2359hrs.

守岁的含义

2012-01-23T12:32:00.001+08:00

中国民间在除夕夜有守岁的习惯。守岁，俗名“熬年”，是从吃年夜饭（团圆饭）开始，一夜不睡，以迎接新年的到来。

为什么称作“熬年”呢？民间世世代代流传着这么一个有趣的故事：相传，在远古的洪荒时代，有一种凶恶的怪兽，人们叫他"年"。每到大年三十晚上，年兽就要从海里爬出来伤害人畜，毁坏田园，降灾于辛苦了一年的人们。人们为了躲避年兽，腊月三十晚上，天不黑就早早关紧大门，不敢睡觉，坐等天亮，为消磨时光，也为壮胆，他们就喝酒。等年初一早晨年兽不再出来，才敢出门。人们见面互相拱手作揖，祝贺道喜，庆幸没被年兽吃掉，这样过了好多年，没出什么事情，人们对年兽放松了警惕。就在有一年三十晚上，年兽突然窜到江南的一个村子里，一村子人几乎被年兽吃光了，只有一家挂红布帘、穿红衣的新婚小两口平安无事。还有几个童稚，在院里点了一堆竹子在玩耍，火光通红，竹子燃烧后"啪啪"地爆响，年兽转到此处，看见火光吓得掉头逃窜。此后，人们知道年兽怕红、怕光、怕响声，每至年末岁首，家家户户就贴红纸、穿红袍、挂红灯、敲锣打鼓、燃放爆竹，这样年兽就不敢再来了。在《诗经·小雅.庭燎》篇中，就有"庭燎之光"的记载。所谓"庭燎"就是用竹竿之类制作的火炬，竹竿燃烧后，竹节里的空气膨胀，竹腔爆裂，发出噼噼啪啪的响声，这也即是"爆竹"的由来。可是有的地方，村民不知年兽怕红，常常被年兽吃掉。这事后来传到天上的紫微星那儿，他为了拯救人们，决心消灭年兽。有一年，他待年兽出来时，就用火球将它击倒，再用粗铁链将它锁在石柱上。从此，每到过年，人们总要烧香，请紫微星下界来保平安。

» 守岁 | 中国政府网

Double rainbow in Singapore just before Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T12:16:00.002+08:00

Hope double rainbow just before Chinese New Year will bring better days for Singapore.

Brave ball girl catches bug at Australian Open

2012-01-23T09:39:00.001+08:00

During the match between home favourite Lleyton Hewitt and Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, an unwanted insect invader became the centre of attention as Stebe asked for the bug to be removed before continuing.

This ball girl picked up the bug quickly but dropped it while running away from the scene attempting to throw it away. Her brave action attracted much cheers from the crowd.

» Brave ball girl catches giant bug | Yahoo! Sports

Happy Lunar New Year （新年快乐）

2012-01-23T09:28:00.001+08:00

Wishing all our readers a Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year of the Dragon.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

2012-01-22T23:18:00.000+08:00

According to the Wikipedia,

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.

The following articles by Experts-Exchange provide a quick but comprehensive guide on tips to SEO.

sudo apt-get commands

2012-01-22T23:10:00.000+08:00

From the Ubuntu documentation,

The apt-get command is a powerful command-line tool used to work with Ubuntu's Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) performing such functions as installation of new software packages, upgrade of existing software packages, updating of the package list index, and even upgrading the entire Ubuntu system.

Update the Package Index - Run this command periodically to make sure your source list is up-to-date.

sudo apt-get update

Upgrade Packages - This command upgrades all installed packages.

sudo apt-get upgrade

Upgrade Packages with "smart upgrade" - The same as the above, except add the "smart upgrade" checkbox.

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Install a Package

sudo apt-get install <app name>

Remove a Package

sudo apt-get remove <app name>