Batterway: กุมภาพันธ์ 2010

วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 25 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2553

Internetsite of theWeek

Published: 24/02/2010 at 10:38 AM
Online news: Tech Scoop

My friend Marty Salin sent in this week's Internet Site of the Week. He says, ``Onelook.com offers a dictionary search better than Google's. As a writer, I often have to look words up. For years, Onelook.com has been my go-to tool. Whenever I need to look up a word, I use Onelook to directly search dozens of dictionaries, both plain English and specialised. The results page links directly to the entry I looked up in each dictionary, and getting multiple definitions is just a matter of Ctrl-clicking each of my favourite dictionaries to open them up in new tabs.

``The service searches established dictionaries such as Merriam Webster, Encarta and American Heritage, as well as much more obscure sources such as The White House's Drug Policy Street Term glossary. Each resource is categorised, so if you're looking for the drug-related definition for `finger' you can immediately skip down to the Slang section in the results.

``Another useful feature is the `reverse dictionary lookup' which lets you look up a word by its meaning. It's a very no-frills website, but it gets the job done better than Google's `Define' search each and every time.''

I should add that, according to the site, it has 14,952,061 words in 1,047 dictionaries indexed.

When you look up a word, it also gives definitions by category as well as displays expressions that word is used in. You can even listen to the word being pronounced (in an American accent) and look up the word's origins, which I love to do.

As Marty said, not such a flashy site, but certainly very useful for wordsmiths.

About the author

: Writer: Gotfried. K; Position: Writer

Blogs for the trendy

Published: 25/02/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Outlook

When designer Marc Jacobs created a special collection of handbags and named it after Bryan Boy, a 22-year-old fashion blogger from the Philippines who has became one of the most influential figures in the fashion business, it was among other evidences - especially in the cyberworld - that the force of online critiques are behind the driving force of the up-and-coming fashion trends.

Browse the following links of selected top male fashion bloggers to update the fashions do's.

- http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com

Selected last year as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential designers, Scott Schuman and his blog has became one of the most powerful fashion critiques through his eyes and digital camera since 2005.

Schuman captured ordinary people with extraordinary sense of fashion and grooming in major cities around the globe, from his hometown New York to Milan and Paris. In 2008, Schuman appeared on the US fashion brand GAP as a model for its Autumn/Winter collection.

- http://www.jakandjil.com

Twenty-five-year-old photographer Tommy Ton from Canada, who still lives with his parents, is now a rising star in the Canadian fashion scene for his talent and eye on street fashion, especially in footwear. With almost 30,000 hits a day, Ton's blog - Jak & Jil - has became worldly admired. So much so, he was hired by fashion brands to photograph a fashion set that recounted the similar ambience to what he captured in his blogs.

- http://www.whatisjameswearing.com

Lauded by ELLE Decoration UK magazine as one of its possibly most favourite blog of all time, interior designer James Andrew has constantly prepped himself up with his thoughtful choice of outfits and accessories, and then posting his portrait with comments to acknowledge to the world the epitome of style!

About the author

: Writer: Yanapon Musiket; Position: Outlook Reporter

How to make your own e-books

Published: 24/02/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Database

Some never listen properly to Apple's announcements. Several criticisms of Apple's new online book store that commented on probable copy protection failed to mention that current book readers do this, or that Apple is embracing the ePub format: an Open Source file type for publishing.

The meta-data editor in Calibre, one program that makes it easy to publish on e-book readers.

On the iPhone, I use Amazon's Kindle App and the Stanza reader, which I downloaded when the App Store first appeared here. As the iPhone supports the .epub format, I examined some software that would help me make my own examples. If, as an ordinary user, I can do it, then others can, at little cost, highlighting content and not packaging.

None of the software I have will convert files to this e-book format: Apple should add this to Pages and Text Edit. Instead I looked at Open Source software, focusing on three applications: Sigil, Stanza Desktop and Calibre.

The Sigil interface reminded me of an early version of Netscape. I found it easiest to copy the file (.pdf or .html), then paste it into Sigil. What appears in the working panel is unformatted text. Headings and other limited effects are added and each image needs to be imported. The process needs some organisation before starting. Click and drag of images is not possible (http://code.google.com/p/sigil).

One advantage (showing its Open Source roots) is the option of a split window to display coding. A URL may be added here, not in the main window. I did find it was easy to make mistakes and the "Back" command was not reliable, so saving before playing about with code is essential.

The default file format is .sgf (Star Office format with Graphics). This did not open in NeoOffice or Open Office, nor could I save in that format from these applications. In Sigil, the file can also be saved in the .epub format and then used in readers.

The e-book I made was based on a series I wrote for Database on System Preferences in OSX 10.5. It gave me the source of several pages to test in .html, .pdf and .txt formats. The result is available online as a .zip file at http://www.extensions.in.th/diary/pdf.html.

There are several readers for computers of all platforms, but the iPhone was the file's intended destination. I tried two applications for this. Stanza's desktop software will read a file, but will not display included images. It is also easy to import text directly and use that. With the Stanza app active on the iPhone, a link is made and the file downloaded. Although images are not displayed in the desktop version, they are included in file transfers (http://www.lexcycle.com).

Calibre is listed on the Stanza website and has more features than Stanza. As well as the e-book, Calibre can handle several other file types and should convert them. A panel allows adding of metadata, including title and author name. It also has several features over and above the basic reader. I found that Calibre has some idiosyncrasies, like Command + H for "Find and Replace": this command is more often used for "Hide" (http://calibre-ebook.com).

With Calibre, I was able to add data in .epub format, but not all file types, (e.g .html) worked for me. As this is in its early stages (version 0.6.40) and was updated while I was trying it out, this should improve. Adding files is not a fast process. A sample .pdf file was imported easily and then converted to .epub in a few seconds. There are 11 conversion formats, including .lit (Microsoft readers) and .mobi, which is similar to the Kindle format (which adds .drm as well).

Once converted, or imported to the Library, the transfer to a device is a little more complex than with Stanza. A user enters a password and activates a server to connect. Once done, it is simple to download to Stanza on the iPhone.

Where Calibre scores, despite its unfinished feel, is the range of features the user has, while Stanza is quick, easy and light, and Sigil allows the user some flexibility with setting up input.

There is another scenario that may be attractive to those with publications: the standalone app. In the first days of the App Store, many were surprised to find the top download was Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers. The e-book is now even more a feature. This, however, needs Developer registration and familiarity with the SDK. Some developers will provide the service to create an app from user input. I am looking at some of these. When I have more information, I will pass it on. What better way to advertise the modernity of your corporation or university than your own e-book or e-book app?

Graham K. Rogers of Mahidol University's Engineering Faculty, has OS X flavoured web pages, with links to an RSS feed and a weekly podcast at
http://www.extensions.in.th/index4.html

Relate Search: Apple, iPhone, online book store, e-book

About the author

: Writer: Graham K. Rogers; Position: Writer

วันจันทร์ที่ 22 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2553

S.Korea to deploy more patrol planes against N.Korea

By Manager Online

22 February 2010 13:11

A South Korean marine is seen during a military drill on an island in the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea. South Korea's navy will deploy eight more advanced maritime patrol aircraft this year to guard against any military threats from North Korea or elsewhere, the navy said Monday. (AFP/File/Jeon Young-Han)

February 22, 2010
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's navy will deploy eight more advanced maritime patrol aircraft this year to guard against any military threats from North Korea or elsewhere, the navy said Monday.

The first of eight refurbished P-3CK aircraft from the United States will be delivered to a naval unit on Tuesday, a navy statement said.

The countries' disputed Yellow Sea border has been tense since a firefight last November left a North Korean patrol boat in flames. In late January the North fired some 370 shells into the sea near the borderline.

Last week it announced new naval firing zones off its shores, banning shipping from them until Monday, although no firing has so far been reported.

South Korea, a close US ally, already has eight P-3C Orion aircraft built by Lockheed Martin in service.

The navy said the more advanced P-3CKs would carry better surveillance equipment and weaponry, like Harpoon Block II air-to-ground missiles, to hit "the enemy's coastal artillery units or missile launchers."

No cost figures were given. Yonhap news agency said the eight new planes would cost a total of 550 million dollars.

The Yellow Sea border was the scene of deadly naval battles in 1999 and 2002.

Despite the tensions, North Korea on Monday proposed that military officials from the two sides hold talks on March 2 on ways to ease access to a joint industrial estate just north of the border.

The South had proposed holding the working-level talks on February 23 and has not yet decided whether to accept the revised date.

The military talks would consider ways to ease cross-border communications, customs clearance and passage to the estate at Kaesong, where 42,000 North Koreans work at 110 South Korean-funded light industrial factories.

Frozen donor embryos may often go unused

Frozen donor embryos may often go unused: study

By Manager Online

20 February 2010 15:19

This photo retrieved February 19, 2010 is from http://www.pixmac.com. The NYU fertility center offers patients the option of using an "exclusive" or shared anonymous donor.

February 20, 2010
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many women who successfully have a baby using donated eggs do not try to achieve a second pregnancy with the excess embryos they've chosen to store, a study at one fertility clinic suggests.

The findings, say the researchers, suggest that more fertility treatment centers should consider offering "shared donor" programs - in which eggs from a single donor are given to two women seeking in-vitro fertilization (IVF) rather than one.

The approach means fewer eggs go to each patient, but it also means lower costs -- and, the current study suggests, potentially fewer unused embryos.

The cost of IVF varies from clinic to clinic, but in the U.S., the average cost of one IVF treatment cycle is $12,400, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

The cost is higher when a woman must use donor eggs rather than her own; compensation to donors also varies, but is typically in the neighborhood of $5,000.

Insurance plans may not pay for fertility treatment, though some U.S. states have laws that require some degree of coverage.

The new study, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, included 829 women who underwent IVF using donor embryos at the New York University (NYU) Fertility Center between 2000 and 2004.

Overall, more than half -- 54 percent -- had a baby, or multiples, after the first attempt. Of those women, 177 -- or 40 percent -- had also elected to freeze and store any extra embryos that were not implanted during the first IVF attempt.

But by August 2009, only 21 percent of those women had returned to the clinic to try for a second pregnancy using the stored embryos, according to Dr. Jaime N. Knopman and colleagues.

This photo retrieved February 19, 2010 is from http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk. The cost is higher when a woman must use donor eggs rather than her own; compensation to donors also varies, but is typically in the neighborhood of $5,000.

The picture was different, however, for women whose initial IVF attempt failed. Of the 128 who had elected to freeze their excess embryos, 87 percent returned for a second try.

The findings, according to Knopman's team, suggest that most women who conceive using donor eggs "are satisfied after experiencing only one successful outcome."

They add that many women who give births to multiples may be especially likely to feel this way; of 81 study patients who had twins after their first try, 74 did not return to try again with their frozen embryos.

The NYU fertility center offers patients the option of using an "exclusive" or shared anonymous donor. In the second case, two women receive eggs from one donor, as long as there are at least 12 eggs available.

According to Knopman's team, the current findings suggest that exclusive-donor approaches, with their higher number of unused embryos, "may not be very efficient in terms of necessity or cost."

With the number of women who want donor eggs growing, and the number of donors being limited, "centers should consider a shared donor program," the researchers write.

Shared-donor programs, they suggest, "will maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and achieve fertility for a larger number of infertile patients."

They add that such policies "would also markedly reduce the number of unused frozen embryos."

SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility, online January 7, 2010.

วันศุกร์ที่ 19 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2553

Thailand to extradite Briton to UAE in fraud case

By Manager Online

18 February 2010 16:48

A court in Thailand has agreed to extradite Briton Michael Bryan Smith, pictured right, to the United Arab Emirates on charges of embezzling 150 million dollars from a Dubai company. (AFP/File/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul

February 18, 2010
BANGKOK (AFP) - A court in Thailand agreed Thursday to extradite a Briton to the United Arab Emirates on charges of embezzling 150 million dollars from a Dubai company.

Michael Bryan Smith, 43, was arrested in Bangkok's red light district in May last year after spending eight months on the run.

"The court has decided to extradite him to the UAE," a judge at Bangkok criminal court said.

"Even though Thailand and the UAE do not have an extradition treaty, the UAE has expressed the willingness to do favours if Thailand asks in future."

Smith allegedly siphoned off other workers' salaries into his own bank account while working as a personnel manager at a Dubai property company, Thai police said in May, citing the warrant from the UAE.

Police said Smith, who is married to a Thai woman, had travelled extensively through Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Thailand after fleeing Dubai in 2008.

Twitter dating for tech-savvy singles

By Manager Online

19 February 2010 15:27

This photo retrieved February 19, 2010 is from http://www.vlemx.com. All senders must end the tweet with the word "Flitterme."

By Irene Kuan, February 19, 2010
TORONTO (Reuters) - For tech-savvy singles who are unlucky in love, shy or just looking for a new way to meet people, Flitter could be the answer.

Hundreds of singles attended the first Flitter parties across Canada last week in the latest dating game which is a play on words of the microblogging site Twitter and flirting.

Each guest wore a white sticker with a number and gazed closely at their iPhones and Blackberrys in a dimly lit room in Toronto, their thumbs tapping away at their mobile devices on Twitter.

They were Flittering and trying to catch the attention of other tweeters who were flying solo on the eve of Valentine's Day.

"#129, you're so fine, but #152, you're hot too. Man oh man, what will #72 do?" tweeted one guest as the comment showed up on a giant projector screen set up inside the venue.

Will Lam, a 27-year old banking professional and Twitter fanatic, attended the event because he was interested in seeing how Flitter worked.

"I was just wondering how they would leverage Twitter and facilitate interaction between people," said Lam, who found the tweeting to be awkward and distracting in his attempts to strike up conversations with women.

"I actually tweeted #19 was really cute, but I can't even find her anymore," he said.

A man keys in a message into a phone in a file photo. REUTERS/Daniele LA Monaca

But Halley Trusler, a 23-year old event co-ordinator who recently moved to Toronto, found Flittering to be a great way to meet people.

"It allows people who are a little more shy to put themselves out there," she said.

Trusler received plenty of tweets offering to buy her drinks and revealed she may have someone in mind by the end of the night.

The tweeter can choose to sign off with his, or her, assigned number or send an anonymous message or compliment. The recipient can respond and meet the tweeter if interested, or just read the anonymous compliment and move on.

All senders must end the tweet with the word "Flitterme."

Justin Parfitt, founder and CEO of Fastlife, the Canadian-based dating service provider, originated Flitter singles events in Australia and introduced them to North America.

He thought there must be some way of getting people to interact using work devices, such as their Blackberrys or iPhones, to make people feel social as oppose to anti-social.

The Flitter parties, which were also held in Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal, were advertised on the Internet.

(Reporting by Irene Kuan; Editing by Patricia Reaney)

Global cyberattacks hit firms, governments: NetWitness

By Manager Online

19 February 2010 13:52

This photo was taken in November 2009. Business and government computers had been plundered of information including log-in credentials for banking, email and social networking services, according to NetWitness.

by Glenn Chapman, February 19, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Hackers have created a "dangerous new" network of virus-infected computers in 2,500 businesses and government agencies around the world, a US Internet security firm warned Thursday.

NetWitness dubbed the army of 75,000 zombie machines the "Kneber botnet" and said it was made using malicious ZeuS software that lets its masters steal information ranging from passwords to corporate or government secrets.

ZeuS malware has been increasingly used to siphon cash from financial institutions, with kits for customizing the larcenous programs hawked in the cyber underworld.

The code is usually slipped onto machines by tricking people into opening booby-trapped email attachments or clicking on tainted Internet links.

"These large-scale compromises of enterprise networks have reached epidemic levels," said NetWitness chief executive Amit Yoran, a former national cyber security division director at the US Department of Homeland Security.

"Cyber criminal elements, like the Kneber crew quietly and diligently target and compromise thousands of government and commercial organizations across the globe."

Computers compromised by the botnet let attackers take remote control of systems as well as mine them for valuable information about people's identities, financial transactions, and company activities.

NetWitness said it discovered the Kneber botnet in January while deploying an online monitoring system.

Investigation revealed that business and government computers had been plundered of information including log-in credentials for banking, email and social networking services, according to NetWitness.

Yoran said the scale of the attacks dwarfs the recent "Operation Aurora" cyberassault on Google and dozens of other firms.

The sophistication of the attack on Google has prompted suspicions of national level espionage although the culprits have yet to be identified.

Computer industry specialists subsequently said more than 30 companies were hit by those attackers.

The apparent online espionage prompted Google to vow it would stop bowing to Chinese censors and shut down its China search service if it cannot operate unfettered.

Google continues to filter searches in accordance with Chinese law while trying to negotiate a compromise with officials there.

"While Operation Aurora shed light on advanced threats from sponsored adversaries, the number of compromised companies and organizations pales in comparison to this single botnet," Yoran said.

More than half of the machines in the Kneber network were also infected with a Waledac code that instructs zombie machines to communicate with each other, making it harder to stamp out by essentially dispersing the command structure.

"It is 100 percent certain that many organizations have no idea they are victimized by these types of problems because they're just not tooled to see them on their networks," said NetWitness principal analyst Alex Cox.

"The Kneber botnet is just one category of advanced threat that organizations have been facing the past few years that they are still largely ignorant or blind to today."

Yoran told the Wall Street Journal that the hacking operation apparently began in late 2008 in Germany and grew to include using computers in China.

Evidence cited by NetWitness indicated the culprits may be Eastern European gangsters.

Workers at companies were tricked into visiting websites or opening email attachments that promised to clean viruses from computers but instead infected machines.

Indonesian jailed after losing at Singapore casino

By Manager Online

19 February 2010 12:04

This photo retrieved February 15, 2010 is www.freakingnews.com. The 49-year-old Indonesian was jailed a day after he was caught stealing a mobile phone from a woman at Singapore's Changi Airport.

February 19, 2010
SINGAPORE (AFP) - An Indonesian man who turned to crime after losing all his money at Singapore's first casino has been jailed for four weeks, just days after the gaming resort opened, court officials said Thursday.

Singapore, famous for its hardline stance on crime, has vowed to be vigilant against offences often linked to the gaming industry in Asia.

The 49-year-old Indonesian was jailed on Wednesday, a day after he was caught stealing a mobile phone from a woman at Singapore's Changi Airport.

The court heard that Paulus Djohar, who came to Singapore as a tourist, had turned to theft after losing all his money at the casino.

Among the other people to fall foul of the city's tough regulations was a Mongolian teenager who was arrested on Monday for using another person's passport to get into the Resorts World Sentosa casino resort, police said.

The minimum age for casino players is 21 years.

The 18-year-old could face up to up to five years in prison as well as a fine if convicted of "cheating by personation".

Five other people were caught trying to enter the casino without paying the 100 Singapore dollar (71 US) levy imposed on

Singaporean citizens and permanent residents to discourage lower-income people from gambling.

They face a fine of up to 1,000 Singapore dollars.

The casino, owned by Malaysian gaming giant Genting, opened on Sunday in time for the start of the lunar new year, a major Asian holiday.

More than 60,000 people visited the casino in the first three days of its operations, Resorts World Sentosa spokesman Robin Goh told AFP.

A second casino resort owned by US-based Las Vegas Sands is scheduled to open in April. Singapore says its decision to lift a ban on casinos in 2005 was aimed at boosting tourism.

วันจันทร์ที่ 15 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2553

Woman savaged by shark on Great Barrier Reef

By Manager Online

14 February 2010 11:28

An Australian woman has suffered massive blood loss and has been airlifted to hospital after being savaged by a shark off an island on the Great Barrier Reef, officials have said. (AFP/File/Greg Wood)

February 14, 2010
SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian woman suffered massive blood loss and was airlifted to hospital Saturday after being savaged by a shark off an island on the Great Barrier Reef, officials said.

The 60-year-old was dragged under the water by the shark near Dent Island on the popular Whitsundays around lunchtime, losing several litres of blood from deep leg wounds, the Queensland helicopter rescue service said.

"She has severe lacerations to her buttocks," a Queensland government spokeswoman said, adding that the victim's condition was "serious".

The woman was taken by dive boat to nearby Hamilton Island for an emergency blood transfusion before being airlifted to the Australian mainland for treatment, the spokeswoman added.

It is the second shark attack in Australia in a week, after a man was bitten whilst surfing with his young son by a normally timid wobbegong, or carpet shark, on Thursday. He was left with a tooth fragment in a leg.

According to records, 194 people have been killed by sharks in Australia over the past two centuries, but researchers point out that more people die from bee stings and lightning strikes.

Overseas Filipinos send more money home despite crisis

By Manager Online

15 February 2010 18:09

This photo retrieved February 15, 2 010 is from http://www.trabahophilippines.com. Remittances from abroad in 2009 accounted for 10.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Countries in the Middle East that were not so badly hit by the crisis, Saudi Arabia in particular, were also able to absorb many of the Filipinos who lost their jobs elsewhere around the globe.

February 15, 2010
MANILA (AFP) - Cash sent home by Filipinos working abroad rose a stronger-than-expected 5.6 percent to 17.3 billion dollars last year as jobs remained plentiful despite the global crisis, the central bank said Monday.

Remittances from abroad in 2009 accounted for 10.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the bank.

"Remittances remained resilient amid the recent global financial crisis, providing strong support to domestic demand," it said in a statement.

Many analysts had predicted that remittances from the roughly nine million overseas workers would drop in 2009 as many were expected to lose their jobs amid the global financial crisis.

But the 2009 total exceeded even the government's original target of 17.1 billion dollars, or a 4.0-percent increase over 2008, the central bank said.

Remittances in the month of December alone hit a record high of 1.57 billion dollars, an 11.4-percent increase over the same period in 2008, the central bank said.

Filipinos are the biggest source of merchant marine workers in the world, while many also work as nurses, doctors, teachers, construction workers and entertainers.

The central bank said there was a sustained demand for Filipino workers overseas throughout the crisis, specifically skilled workers such as engineers, medical practitioners and teachers.

It also cited government efforts to find more job openings for Filipinos abroad and the increasing number of ways the workers could remit money back home.

Countries in the Middle East that were not so badly hit by the crisis, Saudi Arabia in particular, were also able to absorb many of the Filipinos who lost their jobs elsewhere around the globe, the bank said.

However the United States remained the biggest source of remittances in 2009, followed by Canada, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Japan and Singapore.

World Bank country director Bert Hofman told reporters in Manila on Monday that the Philippines avoided the worst of the global crisis in 2009 "thanks to higher than expected growth in remittances".

Even so, the Philippines' economic growth was just 0.9 percent last year, which was the nation's worst performance since the Asian financial crisis caused a contraction of 0.6 percent in 1998.

Batterway

วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 25 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2553

Internetsite of theWeek

Internetsite of theWeek

About the author

Blogs for the trendy

Blogs for the trendy

About the author

How to make your own e-books

How to make your own e-books

About the author

วันจันทร์ที่ 22 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2553

S.Korea to deploy more patrol planes against N.Korea

Frozen donor embryos may often go unused

วันศุกร์ที่ 19 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2553

Thailand to extradite Briton to UAE in fraud case

Twitter dating for tech-savvy singles

Global cyberattacks hit firms, governments: NetWitness

Indonesian jailed after losing at Singapore casino

วันจันทร์ที่ 15 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2553

Woman savaged by shark on Great Barrier Reef

Overseas Filipinos send more money home despite crisis

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