iCopy is a free and open source software that lets you combine your scanner and printer into a powerful, yet easy to use photocopier by only pressing a button. It let you tweak scanner and printer options (eg. brightness, contrast, number of copies) in a simple interface in just a couple of seconds in a small and no-installation-required application.

Features

System requirements

Download from here.

I lots of files in my hard drive and i burn out gigabytes of data every month to keep my already overcapacitied hard disk from blowing. This translates into hundreds of CDs/DVDs. One thing I’ve noticed is that there is only so much space on the disk label to write down what files are contained within and I hate searching through CDs/DVDs and popping each one in to search for a particular file (despite my best efforts of labelling).

If you are having the same difficulties to locate a file in a CD/DVD and placing then removing a CD/DVD from your CD/DVD Drive a couple of time before you finally found what you’re looking for then Visual CD is the fast and easy way to help you out. What Visual CD does is to help you manage your CD/DVD collection by indexing/cataloguing your CDs/DVDs. You can also catalogue floppy disk (if you happen to still use them), hard disks (thought I think Google desktop should be your default search tool). You can then either search or explore the disk catalogs, searching for files and folders without actually having the physical disks in the drive. It has an intiutive explorer-like interface.

Visual CD is freeware. Download from here

Unfortunately, I absolutely loathe iTunes (slow and clunky) and am already perfectly happy with foobar2000 as my music player. Thankfully, I’m not the only one with that mindset..

One software which I’ve been using for quite awhile now instead of iTunes is called YamiPod. An acronym for ‘Yet another iPod manager’, it is a freeware application with versions for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. It does not require any installation and basically runs straight after extracting it to a location of your choice.

For the first start of YamiPod, you would be prompted to select the type of iPod you have (and/or the generation). This would only have to be done once and it would remember the next time you connect your iPod. Once that’s sorted out, you would be presented with a simple interface which supports drag and drop from Explorer/My Computer (for Windows). Screenshots of it can be found here.

A list of other iPod managers can be found here. I have yet to try any others, so if you have tried another which you think is much better, feel free to let us know. :)

And for those of you who think iTunes is the best music player, do try out foobar2000. It’s highly customisable, extensible and not bloated with crap. You can check out the configuration I’m using here.

First off all, download the plugin from here and extract the content to your root of your UltraVNC folder (defaulted to “C:\Program Files\UltraVNC”). Note: extract to the root of the folder and not the plugin folder (that’s just a container).

Server Configuration
Now on your UltraVNC Server and you should see MSRC4Plugin in the DSM DSM plugin drop down box.

Check Use and hit the Config button.A MSRC4 Plugin Configuration window will pop up.

You will notice that there aren’t any encryption plugin keys present(naturally since we haven’t created any) so make your first key. Select the default 128 bit hit Gen Key.The configuration tool will close after generating the key and this key will be used from now on on every client computer to allow you to view your server running on that specific key-based encryption. You will notice a new file in your UltraVNC installation folder called rc4.key.

Important: Make sure you bring along this key file (rc4.key) along with your UltraVNC or the client will not be able to interact or see the server.

Client Configuration
Copy this rc4.key to your UltraVNC client’s root directory as with the steps in the Server. When you launch your UltraVNC client, check the box called “Use DSMPlugin” and enter your server’s IP address. Click on connect, enter your password.Done!

Here’s a quote from Wikipedia’s entry on quality control of LCDs:

Some LCD panels have defective transistors, causing permanently lit or unlit pixels which are commonly referred to as stuck pixels or dead pixels respectively. Unlike integrated circuits, LCD panels with a few defective pixels are usually still usable. It is also economically prohibitive to discard a panel with just a few defective pixels because LCD panels are much larger than ICs.

I’m not going to bore you with more explanation of what stuck and dead pixels mean (click on the links to check the Wikipedia entries on those), so I’ll get on with the nifty tool which would allow you do easily test your new LCD monitor you just got is free of dead/stuck pixels which is called Dead Pixel Buddy.

It’s a small zip file download which just contains the executable and does not require any installation. Just unzip and run it and an application similar to what is shown below should appear:

A hassle free way to test is just to hit ‘Test Cycle’ and it would cycle through all the colours from 1-6 every 10 seconds (default value, can be changed to whatever you want). Alternatively, you could hit the numbers on your keyboard one by one to go through all of it or by clicking around with the mouse.

Happy testing! :)

Sporting a similar interface to Windows Update, Microsoft Update not only is able to do the job of finding updates for Windows but also for other Microsoft software on your computer such as the Office suite or Visual Studio if you’re into software/web development using Microsoft technologies.

Once installed, Microsoft Update integrates into the standard Windows Automatic Update which most users would have been prompted to enable once you have Windows set up and running. There aren’t any additional settings or changes once it’s installed so there’s no added complexity, if you’re worried on that. ;)

Unfortunately, not long after installing it, my laptop started freezing up for prolonged periods on start up (which was extremely annoying since it reduced my battery life by a lot). I originally blamed WGA for it, but the problem recurred after I removed WGA and found the symptoms listed in the MS knowledgebase.

If you have installed Microsoft Update and are experiencing these symptoms, you could either persevere with it, disable it or install the hotfix listed here. I decided to disable it instead of installing the hotfix, so I can’t say for sure the hotfix works, but disabling it does. Here are the steps, followed by the screenshots:

1. Go to the Microsoft Update page.
2. Click on ‘Change settings’.
3. Scroll down the page, check ‘Disable Microsoft Update software and let me use Windows Update only’ and click on ‘Apply changes now’ button.

If you do decide to disable Microsoft Update but still want to keep your MS Office up to date, you can use Office Update instead. ;)

As promised, I’m writing a review for W880i, the replacement of my lost K800i.

W880i is the latest addition to Sony Ericsson’s famous Walkman family. Let’s start with the specs of this phone – it has a 1.8″ QVGA screen, 3G Support, Walkman 2.0, unbelievable dimension of 103 x 46.5 x 9.4 mm, 2MP camera, flight mode, M2 support and interestingly, the package also includes a 1GB M2 (which isn’t that cheap in retail). There are two choices of color for W880i – Steel Silver (the one I’m using now) or Flame Back.

Design

The form factor and build quality of W880i are probably the main reasons why I opted for this phone. At 9.4mm of thickness, carrying this phone in pocket is never an issue – it’s so slim that I find it extremely hard to resist. The phone enjoys a metal faceplate, and the back of the phone utilizes soft-touched plastic, this clearly distinguishes W880i from the rest (which most of them have the “plasticky” feel). I personally feel the buttons look OKAY but maybe it’s not for those with big thumbs, for me it’s still acceptable. In short, Sony Ericsson W880i’s design is revolutionary (compare to those phones like W810i, W800i, K750i that look almost similar) and targeting fashion-conscious users.

User Interface

UI of W880i is similar to other modern SE phones, other than that, it supports flash theme that allows you to see the visualization, artist and song name in the main screen when you’re playing song with the Walkman 2.0. Navigation of menu items is pretty smooth, and I can see some major improvement in speed compare to K800i (for example, it takes shorter time when I copy all the phone contacts to sim card, or when I delete all the SMS).

Because of the overall similarities with my previous K800i, I find it very easy to adapt in operating W880i.

Display and Audio

With 240X320 resolution fits in the 1.8″ screen, the display is crystal clear. Of course it’s not as great if compare to K800i simply because it has a bigger screen, but it’s rather understandable because W880i is meant to be a compact phone. When maximum brightness is used, the display is still clear under direct sunlight (at the expense of shorter battery life of course)

Audio quality from the speaker is probably the major disappointment of W880i – playing a MP3 at maximum volume results in leaky sound from the speaker. However, when stereo headset are used (HBH-DS970 and HPM-75), the sound quality is great. In conclusion, though it’s a “Walkman” phone, it’s not ideal for playing songs directly from the speaker.

Camera

W880i has a 2.0MP camera – without flash, without macro mode, without auto-focus. You really can’t expect much from the camera quality, it’s unfair for me to compare it with the previous K800i which is a cybershot phone. While it’s good enough for casual, outdoor photography under bright condition, it’s not an ideal package for delivering quality picture especially under restriction condition like low brightness. The video camera has no surprise either, it only allows me to record at QCIF resolution.

The message from Sony Ericsson is clear – it’s a WALKMAN phone, and not cater for photography enthusiasts.

Others

At only 9.4mm of thickness, one would expect that this phone will have limited functions, but this is definitely not the case. Not only that it’s a 3G phone, it also supports stuff like RSS, A2DP, bluetooth, flight mode and comes with Netfront web browser – the functions of W880i is pretty comprehensive.

But if you think W880i has all the features that one could possibly expect, then it’s wrong. Many would notice the absence of radio and infrared. As bluetooth is pretty common nowadays, it’s acceptable not to have infrared integrated in it, but IMO everybody would like to have radio function in a Walkman phone.

Lastly, I’d like to talk about the battery life. It’s reasonable for people to assume that W880i would have relatively shorter battery life because of its slim design, but this assumption is incorrect. SE claims a talk time of 6.5 hours (which is only 0.5 hour shorter than K800i). For me, a normal phone user (3-4 calls, 20-30 SMS and around 5 songs per day), the battery lasts around 3-4 days, which is really decent IMO.

The bottomline

Pros:

• Slim and elegant design, excellent build quality.
• Bundled with 1GB Memory Stick Micro (M2)
• Packed with features
• Decent battery life

Cons:

• Camera lacks auto-focus
• No FM radio
• Leaky sound from the speaker
• Small buttons (not for big thumbs)

My rating: 8.5/10

This is an interesting site I’ve come across in India. After seeing a lot “MouthShut.com” advertisement being shown on taxis in Mumbai, and attracted by its unique name, I couldn’t help but to visit the site.

Apparently, it’s a portal for comparing prices, reading consumer written product reviews on movies, gadgets, books, music, cars, shopping malls and million of other products/services. It is something like CNET Reviews but it covers a much broader scope other than just tech products.

The site layout is pleasant and organized, it’s pretty useful as sometimes people would just like to seek some opinion on some specific stuffs that’s difficult to look elsewhere (for example, airlines, colleges, hotels or restaurants). The quality of reviews are not that bad either, of course as a community-based portal you can’t expect it to be perfect, but there’s a review rating column anyway, in which you can rate the review as “Somewhat useful”, “Useful”, or “Not Useful”

I’m wondering if there’s such website in Malaysia too, where you can find reviews of foods, clubs, books and basically everything in Malaysia under a centralized portal like MouthShut.com. Do let me know if there’s any.

Got myself a iPAQ recently and I choose not to go down the converged smart phone-PDA route. It was a tough choice between an iPAQ rx4540 and an iPAQ rx5750. I settled for the rx4540 after much deliberation comparing the trade-offs in their various shortcommings. The rx4540 was small enough (size, price and features-to-cost ratio) and capable enough to satisfy most of my needs at RM1288. (Actually it was the lack of WiFi on the rx5750 that did it in – despite being RM400 more).

Pitched as a ‘Mobile Media Companion’, HP is touting the iPAQ rx4540′s multimedia capabilities over its productivity features. The complete funky styling redesign also seems to sell its ‘lifestyle’ sales pitch. A laminated silver finish silver body (some say it feels plasticky but I appreciate it as it isn’t prone to displaying fingerprints) with maroon side panels is certainly a break away from the standard PDA designs out there, as with it’s landscape orientation as default (though the display orientation between landscape and portrait can be flipped by a hardware button on the side). Holding the rx4540 in either screen orientation feels good in your hand thanks to the rounded edges and smooth finish.

The rx4540 is small. It measures 102mm x 63.5mm x 16.75mm and weighs 127g – that roughly the same size as an iPod. Now while small is good on a portable device, inevitably it is this, that leads me to one of three grouses, I have so far about the rx4540 – the 2.8″ display. It’s smaller than the older standard PDAs display, especially on a device that calls itself a “Mobile Media Companion”. It is still however reasonably good for watching videos with it’s 320 x 240 pixel resolution and 64K color depth. The QVGA anti-glare transmissive display is considerably bright and has good color saturation with excellent viewing angles – good for videos but terrible for reading. (I’ve made this grouse known during the registration survey). Running your stylus or finger over the screen, I notice that it is very responsive and has a hard coating (non-squishy texture).

The rx4540 is powered by a 400MHz Samsung processor and operates on a Windows Mobile 5 that comes with a quite a number of productivity applications, including Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, Messaging (for push and POP email), Internet Explorer, Calendar, Pocket MSN and Notes to name a few (too bad Windows desktop OSes doesn’t).

A SD card slot supplements the rx4540′s generous 1Gb (128 MB ROM and 64 MB SDRAM, Up to 1,088 MB user available including 1 GB iPAQ file store) built-in memory is ample for storing my PDF files, documents, videos and music. Having an SD card slot also means the ability to read SD cards from digital cameras and picture-viewing is done via HP’s Photosmart Mobile which is a (emphasize: very) basic image application that has slideshow, setting-as-screensaver and sending via email or Bluetooth features but lacks any image editing features. You can, however, annotate photos with text or voice (courtesy of the built-in mono microphone).

Video and music playback is taken care of by Windows Media Player 10 Mobile which can sync with the desktop version of Windows Media Player 10. While transferring movies and videos may be a lot faster using a memory card reader, going through Windows Media Player lets you set up smart play lists, automatic synchronizing, smart shuffle and automatic conversion of formats not supported on the pocket PC. While music formats supported natively are obviously the standard MP3 and WMA, video is however limited to WMV. Transferring via WMP 10 greatly reduced a video’s file size but doesn’t retain the aspect ratio but fortunately doesn’t degrade quality noticeably during conversion.

For Internet access, the rx4540 has built-in 802.11b/g WLAN and Bluetooth 2.0, the latter of which lets you go online by connecting to a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone and GPRS/EDGE (though I don’t have a Bluetooth cell, luckily there’s a lot of hot spot available in the Klang Valley to hitch on to, when I actually need Internet access). HP’s has added a neat OEM application called iPAQ Wireless which sits on the today screen and enables you to active/deactivate either WiFi or Bluetooth or both with a tap of a button. It would have been great if it had GPS though to help the mobile traveller navigate the big city streets.

The rx4540 has a 3.5mm audio jack and bundles with a mediocre set of ear buds, but one thing the rx4540′s audio isn’t is mediocre. The audio playback sounds fantastic with the audio applet providing a customizable equalizer with six presets and a remarkable 3D surround sound setting. External speakers are drown-able by ambient sounds though, even on maximum volume.

The final grouse i have about the device is the lack of a directional pad which limits my choice of the many action games offering for Windows Mobile 5 – disappointing as its two-handed design makes it perfect for game play. Luckily though I’m a RTS and RPG centeric in my game choices so stylus control is all I need.

I think that HP would have expounded the potential of both these 2 series by combining them which would have offer a even better rx series minus the aforementioned shortcomings and the elimination of an extra production line. Scouring the net, I found that they eventually did, in this in rx5900 series – not available in M’sia as of yet. Maybe it’s the the next logical choice upgrade after a year or two? XD

While this review is obviously not as complete or professional as other articles that you could find elsewhere, it gives you my very own and neutral opinions on this Microsoft’s flagship product.

Introduction

Windows Vista is the first major OS product from Microsoft since the release of Windows XP, more than 5 years ago. During this period, OSes like MacOS X and some Linux distros have been released and offering much more than what Windows XP is capable of, and because of this, the release of Windows Vista is often being considered “over-hyped”. However, the hype given to Windows Vista is understandable, as Microsoft is still the biggest software company in the planet, and Windows is still the most popular operating system around.

In this article, I’ll concentrate on the improvements compare to its predecessor (Windows XP), rather than comparing it with other OSes such as Linux or MacOS X. It will also not cover each and every aspect of the OS, but only the functions that deserve a mention IMO.

My Windows Vista is being tested with the rig specified here

User Interface

With the introduction of new stuff like Aero, Flip 3D, higher resolution icons, Windows Gadgets (to be further discussed) etc, Windows Vista is indeed an eye candy. Whether or not Windows is copying the idea from other OS (you know it), doesn’t appear to be a problem to me (who cares?) The most important thing is, those functions are eye-pleasing as well as practical.

Anyway, the eye-catching user interface comes with a hefty price (literally), it requires relatively higher hardware requirements. To check whether your system is ready for Windows Vista, you can download the upgrade advisor here. With a low-end graphic card like Nvidia GeForce 7300GS, it only gives me a 3.7 experience index in “Graphics”, however, I’m still able to run Aero smoothly.

For those who are complaining the hardware requirements are too overly high, or Windows Vista is taking up their system resources especially their precious RAM, you always have the option to disable Aero or Flip3D, it’s not like you have no choice. To enjoy the bells and whistles, you must pay for the price, simple as that.

Windows Sidebar Gadgets

Despite the claim that this is a rip off from MacOS X, it is probably a good news for Windows-based Desk modders, since they don’t have to use third party software from Stardock anymore, as it has been integrated into Windows itself.

Windows Gadgets are basically small applications that can be attached to the sidebar, like RSS feeds, calculator, calendar, CPU meter, weather and whatnots.

I personally think this is a great and definitely a nice to have function for users with good system spec (high RAM, to be precise). It’s not only just visually appealing, but some of the gadgets like calendar and clock are also practical to be used.

What’s more, you can always download extra gadgets from the Internet for free, and the installation of gadget is nothing but just a mouse click. This gives users some kind of flexibility.

Security

With the widespread of Internet access, security has become a major concern not only to business users, but also to home users. Microsoft has definitely learned the lessons in WinXP and IE6, and has substantially improved its security in Windows Vista by offering Windows Defender, IE7, a proper Firewall, Bitlocker* and Encryting File system* (in Business and Ultimate version only). However, unlike Microsoft’s previous plan, no Antivirus is bundled with the OS, meaning to say, you’ll still have to look for a third party antivirus elsewhere.

While Microsoft’s effort in improving security is much appreciated, they might have overdone it. By default, Windows is asking the user for confirmation each and every time an executable file is being executed. I understand that this function is good for inexperienced users as well as preventing EXE files from being executed automatically, it does not change the fact that most of the experienced users find it extremely annoying. Anyway, this can be easily gotten rid of, by turning off the UAC (even though Windows Vista doesn’t recommend it)

Compatiblity

The main reason why I go for 32-bit is that, it really takes a long long time for 64-bit to get common. But still, due to the fact that Windows Vista is a new OS, and compatibility issues is inevitable.

Anyway, most of the things work well, I’ve managed to install these applications without any problem (all are latest version to date):

7-Zip, K-lite Mega Codec pack, Paint.NET, Avast!, CCleaner, Flashget, Firefox, OpenOffice, Skype

However, I was facing some problems with my D-link USB Wireless adapter, and the onboard soundcard. It took me a really long time to get those issues resolved (you know, those minor issues).

And also, while there are wide range of free antivirus to choose from, Avast! is probably the only free antivirus that works well in Vista as of now.

What we can do is really just wait, as I’m pretty sure that applications and drivers in near future will definitely cater of Windows Vista.

For the full list of applications/games compatibility, please read here.

Stability

Despite Microsoft’s claim that Windows Vista is the most tested software ever from the software firm, the stability of the system has not yet been convincing. I’ve encountered several situations whereby applications stopped responding, and needed to close.

For example, when I’m configuring my mic with WLM and configuring speech recognition at the same time, the system will hang and I’ll have to end the task by going to task manager. I’m also encountering stability problem with VMWare player that I’ve chosen to uninstall it.

While Windows Vista is working fine most of the time, what I’m trying to say is, stability is really something that Microsoft needs to improve and I hope hotfixes will be released ASAP to solve all these.

Windows Search

Yet another major improvements in Windows Vista is definitely its search function. While it probably takes you 10 minutes just to search a file, you can do it instantly in Windows Vista (a.k.a search as you type).

While this function has been offered by other third party software like Google Desktop search, it’s always good to have it integrated in the OS instead.

Windows Anytime Upgrade

Purchased Home Basic edition, but find out that you REALLY need the functions offered by Ultimate edition?

Rest assured, while not denying that it is a marketing strategy from Microsoft, Windows Anytime Upgrade provides you the flexibility of upgrading your current OS to a more powerful version, without having to buy the full version again, and without having to re-install the whole OS.

Just for your information, this function is not available to Malaysian users yet, as of today. But I’m considering upgrading it to Windows Vista Ultimate whenever it is available.

Untested features

Readyboost, Readydrive, Superfetch etc. Feature like Readyboost is pretty hard to test as it requires a really big USB drive and the difference might be too small for me to notice especially when I’m having 2GB of RAM. However, I might post separate articles regarding these features in future if I’ve found a proper way to test them.

EDIT: Added an article about Windows Vista Speech Recognition here

My Final Say

Some of you might be thinking, I’ve just got my OEM Vista yesterday and it only takes a day for me to fully review it? It must be kidding! For your info, I’ve been testing Vista since the Beta stage, and it took me a whole night to explore the improvements in the final build.

My verdict is, Windows Vista is a much better version if compare to Windows XP, however, considering the rather long development and testing duration, Microsoft could have definitely done much better than this. But anyway, the first service pack is scheduled to be released this year itself, and I’d expect it to be more robust and stable OS by then.

If you insist me to rate it, I’d give a 7.5/10 for now :-)