nice IE 7 shortcuts

Although there are dozen of web browsers out there, but Internet Explorer is still my cup of tea.
Here I have captured some very useful IE 7 shortcuts.

Tabs:

Open links in a new tab in the background : Ctrl+Click

Open links in a new tab in the foreground : Ctrl+Shift+Click

Switch between tabs : Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab

Open a new tab in the foreground from the address bar : Alt+Enter

Close other tabs : Ctrl+Alt+F4

Open quick tabs : Ctrl+Q

Zoom:
Increase/Decrease zoom (+- 10%) : Ctrl+(+) /(-)

Original size (100% zoom)* : Ctrl+0

* If you are using the recent Windows Vista preview you might notice that the 100% zoom hotkey changed from Ctrl+(*) to Ctrl+0

Search:
Go to the Toolbar Search Box : Ctrl+E

Open your search query in a new tab : Alt+Enter

Bring down the search provider menu : Ctrl+Down Arrow

Great new mouse actions in IE7

Open a link in a background tab : Middle mouse button

Close a tab : Middle mouse button on the tab

Zoom the page in/out 10% : Ctrl+Mouse wheel Up/Down

Tip:
My favorite shortcuts are the middle mouse button actions to close a tab and open links in the background (Those make using tabs fast and easy).

(quoted from http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/02/08/527702.aspx)

30" LCD new comer

Dell has just announced to release a new 30 inch LCD monitor UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC to the market.

Their highly-coveted 30-inch monitor also got some modest, yet very welcome upgrades from the existing 3007WFP. The UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC now has a 92 percent color gamut which means it can display 92% of color defined in ntsc triangle while existing LCD monitors are just a bit more than 70%, and Dell claims will deliver brighter, crisper colors. It also has a faster 8ms grey-to-grey response time (vs 11ms on the old panel) and better contrast ratio 1000:1 (vs 700:1 on the old panel), in addition to all the features found on the original panel (like a 9-in-2 card reader and 4 USB ports).

The only weak point that worth mentioning is the input options, there are just 2 DVI ports available. I think users are demanding for HDMI / composite and even more.

最新消息

海底光纜折斷令互聯網服務受阻，和記環球電訊表示，現時的互聯網服務，已回復一個可接受水平，用戶基本上可正常上網。

香港寬頻已經修復(經過其他線路，如EAC)近80%，MSN等IM都上到。
但係月費高過香港寬頻既網上行竟然依家都未得。

**同一時間測試** (quoted from hkepc)
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香港寬頻BB100 100Mb去台灣，經日本
網上行ADSL 8Mb 去台灣，環遊世界
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香港寬頻BB100 100Mb去台灣，直接去
網上行ADSL 8Mb 去台灣，經英國
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香港寬頻BB100 100Mb去日本，一樣直接去
網上行ADSL 8Mb 去台灣，經澳洲

(轉)深入了解"和記"用的海底電纜網絡

和記環球電訊會使用澳日海纜系統、東亞聯網海纜(EAC)、FLAG-FEAC電纜系統、歐亞海底電纜三號(SMW3)、亞太電纜網絡2號(APCN- 2)、FLAG-FNAL北亞光纖環系及C2C海底電纜網絡等電纜系統。至於橫跨太平洋地區，則會使用太平洋聯網海纜系統(PC-1)、日美海纜系統(J -US)、中美海纜系統(C-US)等電纜系統。此外，和記環球電訊會利用AC-1電纜系統擴展其網絡連接至歐洲。

中美海纜(China-US)和亞太光纜網路(APCN)南北路全斷，法新歐亞3號(SMW3)和亞太光纜網路2號 (APCN2)南路中斷，只有北路可繼續通信

Not for Ipod lovers!!

 




Just wonder how ppl would do this on an Ipod. They better just give it to me rather than destroying it.

PSU calculator

Recently I need to migrate a nvidia 6600GT from one computer to another. The main concern that comes up is whether the PSU(power supply unit) is capable of handling this new device.

6600GT is known for its power comsumption and as I am using prescott 3.0E, I really need to make sure my PSU is with all components. Otherwise, unstability will be introduced and finally I am the one to suffer not enjoying it.

Here is what I did, i use a Power Supply Calculator provided by http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine . This tool is pretty easy, just input all components in your computer and it would suggest a amount of power that your computer needs. And you will have enough idea of what PSU you need. A great tool...

System Type: Single Processor
Motherboard: Regular - Desktop

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 E 3000 MHz Prescott
CPU Utilization (TDP): 85% TDP
RAM: 2 Sticks DDR SDRAM

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Video Type: Single Card

IDE HDD 7200 rpm: 3 HDDs

SATA HDD: 1 HDD

DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive: 1 Drive

PCI IDE Controller Card: Yes

Additional PCI Card (avg): 1 Card

Fans
LED: 2 Fans 120mm;

Motherboard, keyboard and mouse: Yes

PSU Utilization: 90 %

Total: 266 Watts

3D Desktop II (Mandriva is just a joke!!)

I have talked about 3D Desktop in those popular linux distro before, and the last one i have tried is Mandriva 2007 Free.

Here comes my comment first: Mandriva 2007 Free is not for human beings!!

Let's see what happened to me. Ok, the whole installation is nice and user friendly. I choosed to get it auto login to "guest" with "drak3d" (this is how mandriva calls the 3D Desktop).

In the first boot, I would expect it enter X with xgl enabled. But nightmare comes. When X appears to me it asked me to provide root password, then it pops up a dialogue box and tells me that 3D desktop is not supported without a hint and reason. Then X restarted, the same thing i mentioned happened again. root password and then dialogue box.

I tried to google for a reason, WTF, there are ppl suggesting that we need to install "compiz". For those who of you dont know what is compiz, compiz the core component of 3D Desktop. What? It is not installed ?? @#XYZZ@$%&

I tried to google for some more manuals in the web, but you know what? Mandriva materials are mainly non-english, languages that you can think of over europe.

Finally the one that help is written in italian. OMG!

Luckily with a lot trial and guess and luck, i managed to make it work.

Let me repeat my comment for Mandriva 2007 Free: it is not for human beings!!

Bet your luck if you would like to try Mandriva. And may the god bless you.

22" LCD monitor

Currently I am thinking of replacing my existing 17" Philips LCD to a larger one.

I am not considering 19" LCD , coz a 19" 16:10 LCD is only a few percent larger and it will be running at 1440x900. No much gain, so it is out.

What about 20" LCD? oh well, 20" 16:10 is just one inch larger the former 19". But the resolution will be 1680x1050, i dont want to buy a magnifier for that. Again it's out.

What about 24" LCD? 24 inch is large enough, it is running at 1920x1200 which will be capable of displaying HD content, not only 720p/1080i but even 1080p. Sounds very nice but 24" costs a lot of money, a popular Dell 24" 2407 costs HKD5600 here...... I better invest this money on something else.

That means 30" is out neither. Dell 30" LCD costs ~HKD9999 here and Apple's 30" costs even more.

Here is my coming target, 22" LCD. 22" LCD's native resolution is the same of 20" which will be 1680x1050, i hope i wont need a magnifier for that. And the price is so attractive, Dell is selling a new 22" LCD for just HKD2688. And Viewsonic also provides you a good choice at HKD2690 now.

Here it is the Dell 22" E228WFP.

Water cooling ram

This picture is from anandtech.com

For those who of you dont know what it is, let me tell you. It is a pair of ram just like what you have in your computer.

But what's so funny about this? It is something really new to me and it does look like an armor, it is a pair of water cooling ram. In computer DIY world, water cooling is no longer a new term, is is not a difficult thing either. There are pre-made water-cooling systems outthere for newbies. And now ram finally joined this series.

Look at the pic again, it is a pair of ram made by OCZ of PC9200 which is marked to be running at 1150MHZ and it is expected to be overclocked further.

hope those diy enthusiasts would enjoy this.

Sim City 星際節

This afternoon i went out for a walk in mong kok. Mong kok is such a funny place that it is filled with people there through out the day.

After finishing my personal stuff at the telco, i tried to find a place to get my christmas gifts ready. I walked along and stepped into a small mall sim city.

Sim city is famous for selling pirated softwares, games and adult videos. This mall has tried to evolute to become a trendy mall selling digital products. But unfortunately it failed to succeed.

This time is the biggest joke ever. The mall tried to hold a 4 day event and invite different vendors to set up their booth here.

If a picture worths a thousand words, then i can end here. Take a look at the pic and see what is going on in this mall.

ps. the man in the pic is innosent, and it is not me !!!!

3D Desktop

Recently, I have played around different linux distro to see what kind of 3D Desktop they provide. Namely they are Ubuntu 6.10, OpenSUSE 10.1, Debian Sid, Fedora Core 6 and Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.

For all of these candidates, ONLY Novell SLED is under commerical license when other are free. And another fact is that only Debian Sid is not at production stage (Debian Sarge is not capable to get XGL enabled).

Im not going to comment in a developer's point of view. What I emphaze is the the EASE of use. I dont see any point when we need to configure a lot with a dozen of commands to make a simple feature works.

I used a pretty old machine to carry out the test myself. What is important for 3D Desktop is actually the display card, what i have here is an ati radeon 7000 .

Among all 5 distros named before, one scored very high marks and one failed to start 3D desktop. Guess what?

SLED scored the highest in my scoreboard. 3D Desktop is so simple here. Just one click to enable is what I really need after installation. And the control panel is easy to use and feature-rich. This really fits what novell's claim -- Your Linux is ready.

OpenSUSE managed to pass. Although 3D Desktop is not installed in default settings. There are pretty enough documents inside opensuse's community and once setup is finished, it looks more or less the same like SLED.

Ubuntu, the most popular distro right now, is also ok. Just like OpenSUSE, 3D Desktop is not installed in default but there are tons of documents on the web, u just need to find a right one for yourself.

Debian, the well known server OS, only the testing version sid is capable to get 3D Desktop enabled. What you need is to upgrade your sarge to sid and also a lot more steps.

Fedora Core 6, another popular distro, I am not able to get 3D desktop work on my radeon 7000, but it works great on my nvidia 6600GT. Although it works great on my 6600GT, it seems to be lack of features to me. There is no panel to config effects, no guide on how to use different effects.