My D70s kena jampi by n00bs!

think my Nikon D70s SLR camera has a curse/spell/jampi. Probably one of those special built-in features that Nikon doesn’t tell its consumers. Like how certain old Nintendo games have this Konami code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, enter; konamicodesites.com), so famous was the code amongst geeks & nerds that even Google Reader has it. LOLz!

Back to topic,
Lets just call it the built-in jampi in my camera. Or maybe so many n00bie hands have touch this magical light box, that it instilled a special power to the camera… No, wait. I mean:
…so many n00bie hands have touched this magical light box, thus automatically placing a super-duper-terrijible-horrijible-vegetable curse on the next n00b that dares puts his/her n00bie finger on this powder-coated-black shutter release button.

So what’s this curse all about?

Every n00b (well, almost every) that I have lent my D70s to, have shot a photo of their feet/toes. Not just a shot, sometimes even mulitple-machine-gun-like shots have been taken too. *slaps forehead*

Don’t believe me? Here are a few samples.

theCAmera-man

Guide: Batch watermarking photos in IrfanView 4.20

Cut the crap & get to the point:
File > Batch conversion… > Advanced > Add overlay text > Settings
__________________________________________________

Numero uno: Get IrfanView and its plug-ins. <–clickety click!
(note: Download the “ALL Plug-Ins as one large EXE” as recommended by IrfanView.)

Now install IrfanView. Then install the plug-ins. Very simple process.

Why IrfanView? I’ve mentioned a little about it in my ‘killer softwares I use‘ post.

IrfanView has been one of the most powerful but simple softwares out there. It’s only 1.3MB + another 8MB of codec plug-ins. With this, it can almost play any media there is out there. From various photo format including RAW to videos to MP3s. If I have an unknown media that I want to play, I always run IrfanView first. Though its prowess and main function remain in photo viewing and editing. There is just so many neat tricks that it can do. All there is to do is search the web, or explore it yourself.

Back to batch watermarking. (Here’s for you, Debbie and other debutantes)
__________

Run/start/open IrfanView.

File > Batch conversion/Rename…  B (or just press the ‘B’ shortcut button)

__________

This is the batch conversion dialogue window.

Top right is to select the photos you want to process. Bottom right is the photos added that will be processed.

On the left side now. The top: ‘Batch conversion’ is to do the conversions and replacing the original file. ‘Batch rename’ will copy the files with new names into the folder you specified (it will replace your original file if you choose to use original name in the same folder). ‘Batch conversion – Rename result files’ will do whatever conversion you specified, and then put them into a folder you choose with a new name.

Looking at screenshot 2, the file name I used was ‘xw$N’… ‘DSC_4754 Viennese Ball KL 08 – 62’ —> ‘xwDSC_4754 Viennese Ball KL 08 – 62’.
__________

Google Chrome: n00b review

I created this list while reviewing Chrome. I’m too damn lazy to rewrite. This post will be updated with more screen shot and more points as I use Chrome.

Do check out Marktrix’s personal review of the Chrome too! <–clickety click!
He’s a nerd. Nerd’s review is different from a n00b’s review. And he’s totally into Safari, so a different point of view.
Why would anyone want to use Safari in Window or Linux is so beyond comprehension & logic. Seriously, like… WTH?! (Heh heh, can’t resist taking a sarcastic swipe at you, Mark!)

—FIRST LOOK—
The layout is clean and easy to look at. The colour used is contrasty and easy to distinguish from one menu/panel from another. I like it more than Safari’s (and Mac’s) default layout which lacks contrast, every darn thing is in some shade of grey. It ran Grow Cube (a Flash game) magnificently, probably due to Flash being ran in a separate process.

—TABS—
-Links clicked appears next to the original tab, while new empty tabs appears at the end of the row. This makes surfing easier because links from one tabs are grouped together.

Corrupted card… lost memories

I just had my trusty Sandisk Ultra II CF died out on me. The bl00dy card decided it was a cute idea to corrupt the files inside. Diu. Maybe I bought a fake Sandisk, or maybe I put the card on top of a HDD and kena all the magnetic damage.

I sometimes don’t download files into the PC after a photo shoot. Hey, there’s still lots of space in the card… so I malas lah.

One find day, I removed the card for a few days. When I re-inserted it into the camera, there was no photos in it despite it showing less memory space. I suspected some thing wrong… but the heck with it, I was rushing off to the Viennese Ball practice. So I went ’round shooting the practice session. Setibanya di rumah… I couldn’t open the files. Had to connect through the camera and copy each file one-by-one. Then try to open them to check their integrity.

Well, the Viennese Ball practice photos are all A-OK. But photos taken during Hui Shan’s wedding was corrupted beyond my salvage. Arrrrgh…!!

In desperation, I connected my Nexto back-up HDD to the PC and check if any of previous photos were backed-up. Nasib baik I’ve downloaded the files. I tell you… the Nexto is a superb device.

— Neat trick: I used the laptop’s screen to light up the Nexto beautifully. —

See the CF card being inserted into it for back-up/transfer purpose? There’s another slot at the left side (of the device) for Memory Sticks and SD Cards; and a USB port at the bottom to back-up from cameras or USB sticks. And look ma… only one button. Every thing is done through that 1 button! One Ring Button to rule them all!

I’ve tried backing-up files from my phone into it. It works! Though it only backed-up the MicroSD in the phone. It can even transfer files from the HDD (inside the device) to USB sticks or memory cards — saves me the trouble of burning CDs for everyone.

Beside wiping your arse after you poo, there’s nothing the Nexto can’t do. As long as the other device has a USB plug, it will work its magic. (If your arse has a USB port, it’ll gladly back-up your arse too! X^D ) And, oh… the speed in which it would back-up your arse…

It’s a d@mn useful device, considering that flash memories are very prone to data corruption. While other external HDD casing will only cost about 80 Ringgit, the Nexto will burn a 499 Ringgit hole in your wallet for the SATA version (without HDD) from Shashinki.com.

the AMnesiac/

P.S. Have I mentioned that the Nexto M1 is a heck of a beauty too?

Killer software I use

I reformatted my laptop 2 days back. It was running way too sloooowww to do anything productive. There’s too many security softwares and various junk I installed (antivirus, anti-spyware, trojan hunter, anti-rootkit, anti-this, anti-that… anti-productivity).

After the reformatting, is the re-installing of necessary software. I’m going to list a few software so good, you’d piss in your pants. And that includes some pretty cool Microsoft software too!

GASP!! Microsoft?! Good and perfectly recommended apps by the Evil Microsoft?! (Marktrix, I can hear you. X^D )

Drop me a comment to ask me questions, or tell me the killer software you use. =)
Here goes:

Windows Live Writer
(independent download page; Windows Live webpage)

 
If you write a blog, this is DA SOFTWARE. End of story. This post was written using it — offline. Compatible with Blogger (Blogspot), WordPress, TypePad and a few others. It is also possible to add plug-in s like Flickr plug-in, Facebook photo plug-in, etc…
[Just click the links and read yourself.]

IE7Pro

If you have Internet Explorer 7(IE7) on your PC, just shut up and download it already. It’s an add-on to IE7. It’ll turn your IE7 into IE7 “on-double-shot-steroids” Pro. It’s got session management, an independent download manager called MiniDM (I love this little piece of app, you can open it without IE7. In fact, I make MiniDM start with my WinXP), mouse gestures (almost as good as Opera’s — I can’t live without it), etc…
The first thing I always do to a new computer is to download Opera and make it the default browser. It’s been 3 days, and I’ve yet to install Opera. The only downside: it is still IE7 no matter what. Haih…
Do the IE7Pro team a [monetary] favour by using IE7Pro Search (Google based) as the default search engine.

Opera
The fastest browser on earth

“The fastest browser on earth”. Really. Well… they’ve changed their tagline to “Simply the best internet experience”, and rightly so.
The only thing Opera can’t do is wipe your arse after you’ve pooped.

Session management, mouse gestures, cached back/forward button (especially useful when you are filling in forms as it retains everything you typed when you go back and forward, and there’s no lag), rewind+fast forward (this is a superb feature: Opera will search for ‘next’ button and click it to go to the next page of a website. The best part is it works with mouse gestures too!), RSS reader, Bit Torrent client, Widgets (you know Mac OSX’s Dashboard Widgets or Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets? All those weather apps, calculator, converter, notes. Opera has them too! Is this crazy sh!t or what?!), reload picture (no need to reload the whole page just because 1 stupiak pic refuses to load), masking/masquerading as Firefox or IE, etc…
Die hard fans of Firefox or Safari (or Safari on Windows <– WTF… har har har!) or IE have no clue about the awesome sh!t they are missing.

Cons: Opera support major Web standards… and some websites make their themselves cacat by using non-standard IE code. Still a bit of kinks with Yahoo!Mail, and Flash applications (this one is Adobe/Macromedia’s fault).
I’m still figuring out which of the 4 browsers eat the most RAM.

Microsoft PowerToys for WinXP
(and other WinXP featured downloads)

Ahhh… the PowerToys. I have the Tweak UI, Calculator Plus & SyncToy 2.0 on my laptop. Tweak UI allows me to tweak various Windows features and usability to my preferences. If you like tinkering with Windows, but takut terkacau the Registry, use Tweak UI. Calculator Plus is an enhanced calculator that has a conversion and scientific function (what the original calculator should have been in the first place). SyncToy 2.0 is efficient and pretty powerful, but I seldom use it.
Another is the Photo Story 3. Google it to read what others say about it. Word has is that for a free software, it’s panoramic stitching tool is simply superb.

Resize.exe by Peter Bone

A stupidly simple photo resizer. If you don’t know how to use it, you need to have your brains removed and replaced by one from a chimpanzee. It’s small (<1MB), it’s simple, it’s speedy, it works… and it works perfect.
You don’t even need to install it. Just download, unzip, use. I have multiple copies of it all over my harddisk.

Irfanview

The granddaddy of all media apps. There’s no media in this world that Irfanview just can’t open or edit. Photos, videos, RAW files, Adobe Flash files, some music files (as long as you have the codecs). Simple to use, but with a bit of learning and probing and trials… you are able to harness it’s full ‘powah’.
Links: Ten things you can do with Irfanview

Windows Defender

A pretty decent anti-spyware. It’s free… so why not?

Technorati Tags: computer,software,app,download,Opera,Resize,ie7pro

Wi-Fied

My home has been Wi-Fied. Just bought a Belkin wireless router. Now I can even surf/blog/chat while shitting in the toilet!

That’s the Belkin 54G Wi Fi router, next to my third Aztech DSL modem in 2 years. The first modem simply stopped working for no reason one fine day. The next one got fried together with the network card on one stormy day. The router works like a charm. It better be, I paid 170 Ringgit for it. But it heats up pretty quickly. After running it for about 10 minutes, it’s almost hot enough to cook an egg. Wonder why it has holes on its bottom instead of on top to dissipate the heat.

Something funny I noticed is that the connection drops a wee bit when I overturn it to face down (so that the holes face up).

Oh by the way, ‘router’ is pronounced as ‘roo.tuh’; not ‘rah-oo.tuh’. Check the dictionary. I keep hearing people who sell computer stuffs pronouncing as rah-oo.tuh. Stupid Americans can’t pronounce properly. And we are stupider to ‘main ikut saja’.

My home is wi-fied! Is yours?

Yours Sincerely,
the Toilet Blogger.