hongjun's Blog

What to look out for for responsive adaptable web design?

2013-05-09T14:58:00.000+08:00

An article on the Smashing Magazine website - How Much Has The Web Really Changed? discusses what has changed for the past one decade or so in web development. A lengthy but easy-to-read article.

Up until not so long ago, we used to base our designs on some rather general assumptions about screen size and input type. With the rise of devices with various screen sizes and alternative ways to interact, these assumptions have turned out to be unreliable. We need to upgrade the defaults that we use when we start designing our websites.

Google Doodle for Malaysia On Polling Day 2013

2013-05-05T16:20:00.001+08:00

Google doodle for Malaysia as the Malaysians go to the poll today.

GS1 Prefix List - How to Determine Origin of Food From Barcodes?

2013-05-05T11:26:00.001+08:00

Do you know that it may be possible to determine the country where a food product is manufactured bought from a supermarket by reading the barcodes on the package itself? However, do note that the barcodes do not provide identification of country of origin for a given product though hopefully the manufacturer can put our mind at ease if certain countries are in our blacklist.

How to read the barcodes?

Turn over the food product and look for the barcode.
The first 3 digits of the barcode will reveal the GS1 Prefix.

Tally with the list below to find out the country where the food product could have been manufactured at.

GS1 Prefixes do not provide identification of country of origin for a given product. They simply provide number capacity to different countries for assignment from that location to companies who apply. Those companies in turn may manufacture products anywhere in the world.

ASSIGNED GS1 PREFIXES
000 - 019	GS1 US
020 - 029	Restricted distribution (MO defined)
030 - 039	GS1 US
040 - 049	Restricted distribution (MO defined)
050 - 059	Coupons
060 - 139	GS1 US
200 - 299	Restricted distribution (MO defined)
300 - 379	GS1 France
380	GS1 Bulgaria
383	GS1 Slovenija
385	GS1 Croatia
387	GS1 BIH (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
389	GS1 Montenegro
400 - 440	GS1 Germany
450 - 459 & 490 - 499	GS1 Japan
460 - 469	GS1 Russia
470	GS1 Kyrgyzstan
471	GS1 Taiwan
474	GS1 Estonia
475	GS1 Latvia
476	GS1 Azerbaijan
477	GS1 Lithuania
478	GS1 Uzbekistan
479	GS1 Sri Lanka
480	GS1 Philippines
481	GS1 Belarus
482	GS1 Ukraine
484	GS1 Moldova
485	GS1 Armenia
486	GS1 Georgia
487	GS1 Kazakstan
488	GS1 Tajikistan
489	GS1 Hong Kong
500 - 509	GS1 UK
520 - 521	GS1 Association Greece
528	GS1 Lebanon
529	GS1 Cyprus
530	GS1 Albania
531	GS1 MAC (FYR Macedonia)
535	GS1 Malta
539	GS1 Ireland
540 - 549	GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg
560	GS1 Portugal
569	GS1 Iceland
570 - 579	GS1 Denmark
590	GS1 Poland
594	GS1 Romania
599	GS1 Hungary
600 - 601	GS1 South Africa
603	GS1 Ghana
604	GS1 Senegal
608	GS1 Bahrain
609	GS1 Mauritius
611	GS1 Morocco
613	GS1 Algeria
615	GS1 Nigeria
616	GS1 Kenya
618	GS1 Ivory Coast
619	GS1 Tunisia
620	GS1 Tanzania
621	GS1 Syria
622	GS1 Egypt
623	GS1 Brunei
624	GS1 Libya
625	GS1 Jordan
626	GS1 Iran
627	GS1 Kuwait
628	GS1 Saudi Arabia
629	GS1 Emirates
640 - 649	GS1 Finland
690 - 699	GS1 China
700 - 709	GS1 Norway
729	GS1 Israel
730 - 739	GS1 Sweden
740	GS1 Guatemala
741	GS1 El Salvador
742	GS1 Honduras
743	GS1 Nicaragua
744	GS1 Costa Rica
745	GS1 Panama
746	GS1 Republica Dominicana
750	GS1 Mexico
754 - 755	GS1 Canada
759	GS1 Venezuela
760 - 769	GS1 Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera
770 - 771	GS1 Colombia
773	GS1 Uruguay
775	GS1 Peru
777	GS1 Bolivia
778 - 779	GS1 Argentina
780	GS1 Chile
784	GS1 Paraguay
786	GS1 Ecuador
789 - 790	GS1 Brasil
800 - 839	GS1 Italy
840 - 849	GS1 Spain
850	GS1 Cuba
858	GS1 Slovakia
859	GS1 Czech
860	GS1 Serbia
865	GS1 Mongolia
867	GS1 North Korea
868 - 869	GS1 Turkey
870 - 879	GS1 Netherlands
880	GS1 South Korea
884	GS1 Cambodia
885	GS1 Thailand
888	GS1 Singapore
890	GS1 India
893	GS1 Vietnam
896	GS1 Pakistan
899	GS1 Indonesia
900 - 919	GS1 Austria
930 - 939	GS1 Australia
940 - 949	GS1 New Zealand
950	GS1 Global Office
951	GS1 Global Office (EPCglobal)
955	GS1 Malaysia
958	GS1 Macau
960-969	Global Office (GTIN-8s)
977	Serial publications (ISSN)
978 - 979	Bookland (ISBN)
980	Refund receipts
981 - 983	Common Currency Coupons
990 - 999	Coupons

Samsung Galaxy S4 Commercial Video - Going Wireless

2013-05-04T10:32:00.003+08:00

Official Chrome Extension for Google Keep

2013-05-03T09:50:00.002+08:00

Google has released an official Chrome Extension for Google Keep - a task keeping minimalistic app. The Chrome extension can only be installed from the link above i.e. you won't find the app from doing a search.

As quoted from the Google Drive blog post,

The Google Keep Chrome app launches in its own window, so you can create notes, cross out your to-do lists, and attach photos to tasks while you work on other things. And if you don’t have an internet connection, don't fret: the Chrome app works offline because we all know that ideas (big and small) can be sparked at any time.

The Re-Imagining of Microsoft

2013-04-29T09:47:00.001+08:00

Bing, Skype, and Xbox rebranding plans revealed in Microsoft design presentation.

WAKE UP! Malaysian Rapper United (Namewee / Ashtaka / 5Forty2)

2013-04-28T13:33:00.000+08:00

Information on setting up two-step authentication for Outlook.com / Microsoft account

2013-04-27T23:26:00.003+08:00

Read on for more information - Outlook.com gets two-step verification, sign-in by alias and new international domains.

ASP.NET fails to detect IE10 causing _doPostBack is undefined JavaScript error

2013-04-27T23:13:00.000+08:00

Should you encounter _doPostBack is undefined JavaScript error on IE 10, it is because there is a bug in the browser definition files that shipped with .NET 2.0 and .NET 4.

Scott Hanselman published two ways to fix this: one is a machine-wide fix, the other is a way to fix individual sites. The replacement of the "fixed" ie.browser file will supposedly resolve the problem but it somehow didn't quite work for me. If that file didn't work for you, you may wish to use the below instead.

~\App_Browsers\ie.browser

<browsers>
    <!-- Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4325) -->
    <browser id="IE6Plus" parentID="IE">
        <identification>
            <capability name="majorversion" match="^[6-9]|\d{2,}$" />
        </identification>

        <capabilities>
            <capability name="ecmascriptversion"    value="3.0" />
            <capability name="jscriptversion"       value="5.6" />
            <capability name="javascript"           value="true" />
            <capability name="javascriptversion"    value="1.5" />
            <capability name="msdomversion"         value="${majorversion}.${minorversion}" />
            <capability name="w3cdomversion"        value="1.0" />
            <capability name="ExchangeOmaSupported" value="true" />
            <capability name="activexcontrols"      value="true" />
            <capability name="backgroundsounds"     value="true" />
            <capability name="cookies"              value="true" />
            <capability name="frames"               value="true" />
            <capability name="javaapplets"          value="true" />
            <capability name="supportsCallback"     value="true" />
            <capability name="supportsFileUpload"   value="true" />
            <capability name="supportsMultilineTextBoxDisplay" value="true" />
            <capability name="supportsMaintainScrollPositionOnPostback" value="true" />
            <capability name="supportsVCard"        value="true" />
            <capability name="supportsXmlHttp"      value="true" />
            <capability name="tables"               value="true" />
            <capability name="supportsAccessKeyAttribute"    value="true" />
            <capability name="tagwriter"            value="System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter" />
            <capability name="vbscript"             value="true" />
        </capabilities>
    </browser>

    <!-- Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0;) -->
    <browser id="IE6to9" parentID="IE6Plus">
      <identification>
        <capability name="majorversion" match="^[6-9]$" />
      </identification>
    </browser>

    <!-- Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0;) -->
    <browser id="IE7" parentID="IE6to9">
        <identification>
            <capability name="majorversion" match="^7$" />
        </identification>
        <capabilities>
            <capability name="jscriptversion" value="5.7" />
        </capabilities>
    </browser>

    <!-- Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729) -->
    <browser id="IE8" parentID="IE6to9">
        <identification>
            <capability name="majorversion" match="^8$" />
        </identification>
        <capabilities>
            <capability name="jscriptversion" value="6.0" />
        </capabilities>
    </browser>

  <!-- Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729) -->
  <browser id="IE9" parentID="IE6to9">
    <identification>
      <capability name="majorversion" match="^9$" />
    </identification>
    <capabilities>
      <capability name="jscriptversion" value="6.0" />
    </capabilities>
  </browser>

  <!-- Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0) -->
  <browser id="IE10Plus" parentID="IE6Plus">
    <identification>
      <capability name="majorversion" match="\d{2,}" />
    </identification>
    <capabilities>
      <capability name="jscriptversion" value="6.0" />
    </capabilities>
  </browser>

  <gateway id="IEbeta" parentID="IE">
        <identification>
            <capability name="letters" match="^([bB]|ab)" />
        </identification>

        <capture>
        </capture>

        <capabilities>
            <capability name="beta"    value="true" />
        </capabilities>
    </gateway>
</browsers>

Extend Your Microsoft Office Trial for Five More Months

2013-04-27T23:02:00.002+08:00

Microsoft offers free 30-day trials of Office 365 and Office 2013. After your free month is over, you won't be able to use some major features of these office suites. There is an article on LifeHacker extending Microsoft Office trial for five more months.

I didn't try it though. Let me know if it works.

Skype Facing Problems Signing In Using Microsoft Account

2013-04-25T15:31:00.000+08:00

It's confirmed that signing into Skype using Microsoft Account is facing problem as indicated on Skype Heartbeat.

Skype Heartbeat Announcement

It seem to be affecting only Skype for Desktop.

Error message after attempting to login using Microsoft account

In case you do need to connect with your MSN friends urgently, you may explore the following options:

Skype on mobile
Third party IM e.g. imo.im or eBuddy.

[UPDATE Apr 25, 2013 18:15 GMT+8] The issue has been resolved - at least for myself.

Xiang Yun (向云) Euology On Huang Wenyong (黄文永)

2013-04-25T10:50:00.001+08:00

Quoted from the Wikipedia,

Huang Wenyong (25 July 1952 – 20 April 2013) was a Malaysia-born Singaporean actor, musician, and former teacher of Chinese descent. He was an actor for MediaCorp from the early 1980s until his death. Appearing in more than 100 television programmes, he was among the first few batches of locally-trained actors to enter the local entertainment industry and considered to be one of the "pioneers in local Chinese drama". Huang died on 20 April 2013 of Lymphoma.

Soon after his death, several fans and fellow colleagues pour in their consolation and regret to have lost an invaluable asset to Singapore local film industry. Long-time working colleague of Huang Wenyong's (黄文永) - Xiang Yun (向云) penned an euology on the passing of her friend.

Xiang Yun (向云) penned an euology on Huang Wenyong (黄文永)

"永别了！我的挚友。你真的很风光！"
第一代阿姐，悼念第一代阿哥，一段情真意切的肺腑之言，感动千万心。
昨天午夜，“阿梅”向云在FB写了一篇长文《悼文永》，令数万名网友感动，不少人更说，读了情不自禁落泪。
今午，永远的“阿水”已经出殡，《联合晚报》谨此与面友分享这篇动人的悼文，向文永大哥致敬。

【悼文永】
文永，30多年的战友，要写他，点点滴滴，能记得多少？

我们从青年，壮年到黄金年代一路走来，面对着不同阶段的人生、事业和健康的挑战。

之财常形容我的“象一头牛那样会吃苦”，那文永就像牛和雄狮的结合。他不只很会吃苦，还很固执的坚守岗位。

许多农历新年的时段，大家忙着拿假回家庆祝，但是只要公司开口要求他留下开工，他从不拒绝。看他忙完这个戏，就接下个任务，马不停蹄，年复一年的苦干。

文永性格老实憨厚、正直，画画唱歌都是他的擅长。对于弱势者会特别的照顾。

在我眼中的他是一个孝子，好丈夫，好父亲。在与他共事这些年里，虽然他不提，但我也知道他在不同阶段曾为母亲离世前的病重担忧，承受失去母亲的悲痛，妻子患病时的忧虑，以及为孩子们成长的操心，我只能默默给他打气。

《雾锁南洋》是我和文永在演艺圈的一个转折点。文永很用心，很卖力的演，许多危险动作都自己来，病了也继续拍，很敬业。而我却是糊里糊涂的跟着演。

那部戏消耗了我们许多体力和连续开早晚班的睡眠时间，但是那时我们还年轻，有本钱。

之后他就一部接一部的拍下去。看到文永工作时一丝不苟，及与导演配合的专业态度，我从中学习了许多，尤其是他原本是教师的背景，对他是又敬又畏，后来一起工作久了熟悉了，从他天天说不完的笑话中感觉轻松多了，慢慢的无所不谈，但还是不敢在他面前放肆，到现在还是一样。所以他与我是亦师亦友。

到拍摄新年歌mtv时，听到同事说文永暴瘦10公斤的消息时，赶紧给他一个电话问候，他说不知原因，还在想要不要带家人去台湾度假？我鼓励他一定要去，一家人出游是最开心的事，别担心工作了。

在“戏剧情牵30年”那天总算看到他了，相信我那一愣认不出消瘦了的他的那个惊讶表情是伤了他，他紧握我的手，小声说：这次不太乐观！我马上阻止他胡思乱想。当晚我彻夜难眠，发了个信息给他，要他一定要去找出病因。

之后因不敢打扰他，久不久才发个短信慰问他，要他加油！他也回复我，要我好好照顾自己。但在新年后的简讯他就没回复了，我心里开始着急，后来得知他在医院的那段日子，我几次想探望他的要求都被拒绝了。

我了解，因为我也是艺人，希望大家都留下美好的印象，而不是被病魔摧残了的病容，我也知道他明白我的心意。

近年来我很健忘，许多记忆都常常需要文永来提我，他走了，记忆忘了就忘了，人生还是要往前走。

看看身边的同伴，不是每个都会与你同行到老，有些会先告别，也许有一天……这就是人生。

文永60年的岁月是精彩的，他照亮自己，也照亮大家，让每个认识他的人都快乐。

永别了！我的挚友。你真的很风光！

Samsung Galaxy S4 (Corning Gorilla Glass) Scratch Test

2013-04-22T19:03:00.002+08:00

Coming Samsung Galaxy S4, equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass, is put to scratches under knives, keys and coins, pass with flying colours.

See for yourself.

Yahoo! Mail New Re-thought iOS and Android App

2013-04-20T23:17:00.000+08:00

Ever since Marissa Mayer came on board as the CEO of Yahoo, its mobile strategy seem to have taken quite a bit of a lift. Once slow and sometimes buggy Yahoo! Mail mobile app has now been revamped and re-thought.

Quote from Yahoo! corporate blog post Unbox Your Mail with Yahoo! Mail For Tablets,

Today, we’re excited to introduce the Yahoo! Mail Apps for iPad and Android tablets - a full-screen experience that gets rid of the noise. There are no folders, no buttons, no tabs - just you and your mail - and you can easily flip through it like a magazine. We've designed Yahoo! Mail to take full advantage of the tablet making reading your email faster, easier and just a little bit more fun.

Download Yahoo! Mail for iPad and Android tablets now.

Flat Design Language Makes It to Facebook Too

2013-04-20T23:10:00.003+08:00

Facebook redesigned its icons moving from a more 3D-like icons to flat icons. The changed icons which also include its logo are as below:

Get Facebook Home on Any Android Phone

2013-04-18T08:09:00.001+08:00

Facebook Home is live but is available only on selected phones for now. Lifehacker has a tip on how to Get Facebook Home on Any Android Phone.

A first look on Facebook Home.

Constant "Check Disk" After Windows Update 2823324

2013-04-16T20:23:00.001+08:00

You may be encountering constant prompt to perform "Check Disk" on boot-up after performing the recent Windows Update. Microsoft Security team has confirmed a problem with security update 2823324 and has since pulled it off from the pipe.

Should you have unfortunately installed it, please read this Microsoft release on the steps required to uninstall 2823324. I personally experienced the problem and resolved it using the just-mentioned instruction.

All the best.

Control Postback Only On Second Attempt After Validation Error

2013-04-16T20:16:00.004+08:00

Recently, I encountered a problem whereby my DropDownList in UpdatePanel didn't AutoPostBack after a validator control return failure. The PostBack only happen after I tried to change the SelectedIndex the second time.

Reading from a blog, I learnt that resetting Page_BlockSubmit back to False in client side will resolve the problem.

What is Page_BlockSubmit?

When the user clicks on a button causing a full post back, after running Page_ClientValidate ASP.NET runs another built in function ValidatorCommonOnSubmit. Within Page_ClientValidate, Page_BlockSubmit is set based on the validation. The postback is then blocked in ValidatorCommonOnSubmit if Page_BlockSubmit is true. No matter what, at the end of the function Page_BlockSubmit is always reset back to false.

If a page does a partial postback without running any validation and Page_BlockSubmit has not been reset to false, the partial postback will be blocked. In essence the above function, RunValidation, acts similar to ValidatorCommonOnSubmit. It runs the validation and then returns false to block the postback if needed. Since the built in postback is never run, we need to reset Page_BlockSubmit manually before returning the validation result.

Video: Accident Near Bugis Involving Mercedes Driver

2013-04-16T17:30:00.000+08:00

On 15 April 2013 before 8:30pm, an accident involving up to 7 vehicles occurred near Bugis at the junction of Victoria Street and Middle Road. This accident is said to be the result of a drunken or fainted Mercedes driver.

Investigation is still on-going. Thank goodness, passengers in the taxi are unharmed.

Facebook Home "Launch Day" Video Ad

2013-04-14T22:33:00.001+08:00

What do you think of the Facebook Home "Launch Day" video ad? What message is Facebook trying to convey? Did you having a better understanding what Facebook Home is all about after watching this video? IMO, the video seems to suggest Facebook Home is a great potential for creating distractions.

Apollo 11 summarised in 100 seconds video

2013-04-14T17:15:00.004+08:00

Presented here is the first manned mission to the Moon by the Americans, July 1969, in 100 one-second increments. Enjoy the voyage.

PSY - Gentleman

2013-04-14T12:14:00.000+08:00

South Korean the Gangnam Style man has just released his new music video - Gentleman. Will this new Gentleman video break previous Gangnam Style record 1.5 billion YouTube views? Currently, the Gentleman video has recorded 6.9 million views so far.

What do you think of this new video? IMO, I find it rather clown and non-gentleman.

Tim Ho Wan (添好運) Opened in Plaza Singapura

2013-04-12T18:24:00.000+08:00

Michelin Star dim sum (點心) restaurant from Hong Kong, Tim Ho Wan (添好運), is finally opened in Singapore, Plaza Singapura.

View Larger Map

Address : Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Rd #01-29A
Tel. No.: 6251 2000

Boost Your Facebook Privacy

2013-04-12T13:37:00.000+08:00

An interesting article from the LifeHacker How Facebook Uses Your Data to Target Ads, Even Offline will guide you how to boost your Facebook privacy.

How to Disable Chrome New Right Menu?

2013-04-10T20:15:00.000+08:00

If you somehow or rather don't like the latest Chrome's right menu, there is a way to disable it.

Look for the shortcut where you usually start Chrome e.g. on your Desktop.
Right click on the shortcut and then Properties.
Make sure the Shortcut tab is selected.
In the Target field at the end of "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" after space add "–-disable-new-menu-style" without quotes. (note we have got two hyphens before disable).
Click OK to apply changes.

Done! The next time you click on this shortcut, the good usual familiar right menu will be used.

» Don't like Chrome’s New Menus? Here is how to Disable Them | TechDows