Sudoku Cube at Landmark

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Sudoku Cube,
originally uploaded by nightfox.

Whilst roaming around Landmark (Trinoma), I was looking for a 4×4 or 5×5 Rubik’s cube when I found this Sudoku Cube sold for a cheap price. I tried inspecting, figuring out how to solve it, and comparing its difficulty to solving a Rubik’s cube.

It seemed hard at first but when you try outlining how the numbers were arranged on some sort of matrix, it becomes easier to solve it, theoretically. I have not even tried playing it for more than 15 minutes because its tiles might come off for they were just made of low quality paper.

In fairness, I was able to buy something from a department store that I had visited for the first time and that rarely happens (to me, duh). Also, Landmark was big enough and somewhat cool because I was able to find some products there that were not available in its neighboring malls.

The last time I visited there was when I was with a friend and Landmark has this “Grand Bazaar” thing. Well, I just hope that I’d be able to catch those bazaars and great deals when I have the moolah already.

Going Gutsy Gibbon!

Image taken from questchile.wordpress.com

Sometimes a user experiences a dilemma in which the situation is between keeping the current system the user has or upgrading to a version that is full of new features (and new bugs as well). A few days ago, I was in that state and was caught in deciding between keeping my current Feisty setup, upgrading my Ubuntu to Gutsy via Synaptic, or going for a fresh install.

For about 2-3 days, I reorganized my files and archived them in external hard disks, online storages, and DVDs. So what was the final decision – I did a fresh install and I was really satisfied like crazy. It was obviously faster than my current setup for I reformatted some partitions of my drive and as expected, there were some new stuffs such as:

• Leave Message feature on Login Menu, that enables you to leave messages to users logged in
• Enhanced Desktop Eye Candies, that can be easily accessed via the Appearance menu which shows up all of the components such as themes, backgrounds, fonts, and it even includes the settings for desktop effects
• Tracker Search Tool (daemon), for file indexing
• Fast User Switch Applet, which enables an easier user-switching transition
• Preset User Folders, that are automatically created in every user’s folder
• and a lot more!

Although I got impressed with most of its new features as a whole Linux distribution, there were some minor problems that I had encountered during its installation (and first run). On its first boot, a Sync Out of Range error appeared after the boot loader text and the resolution was on 800×600. For the boot image problem, I just installed startupmanager to be able to correct the configurations for the bootup process. I thought the monitor was correctly detected but it wasn’t so I just adjusted it to support a 1024×768 resolution by selecting the corresponding monitor model-driver.

The installation time took me about almost an hour with a hardware of Athlon XP1600+ and 757.4 MB RAM. As of this post, I have not yet encountered any case of system crash – it was very “gusty” indeed!

So what are you waiting for? Go get Gusty Gibbon now!

My SE P990i Experience

[Image taken from www.248am.com.]

Yesterday, my Ubuntu (Feisty) system crashed for some reason (I’m too lazy to read logs) and it was almost hopeless because I had a hard time reviving it. Why? My system boots up but it stops to the part where it loads the hardware specifications, the frame after the BIOS summary and before GRUB loads its menu. My monitor’s acting weird too for the screen seems to reset itself every time I use it. Or perhaps, my desktop was just jealous with my not-so-new toy, the Sony Ericsson P990i, which I bought some months ago?

That day I bought the gadget was a week before the launch of the Apple 4GB iPhone. I was desperate to get myself a new phone when my Sony Ericsson K750i had its LCD problem that looked like a television with an irritating interference. I really had a hard time working with its blurred screen especially with its faulty joystick. Scrolling the up, down, left, and right of the joystick results to an “enter”, so just imagine the times when I missend messages. Eeek.

I couldn’t imagine my reaction by the time the iPhone was launched and was released with the price ($299) almost the same as the cost of my SE P990i which I got for around P14k at the SM CyberZone. I was disappointed at first but after some time (of reading reviews), I learned to appreciate my new toy more than craving for an iPhone. I tried upgrading the 64MB Memory Stick Pro Duo to 2GB that I got for only P1,300 while maximizing the gadget’s full potential.

So what are the Pros and Cons of the phone? Here’s a summary that was based on my experiences:

Random Flashbacks

So how was the September-October weeks of haggardness? I was able to participate into activities like:

[*] Bloggers’ Kapihan at Pisay Diliman, where I saw the Filipino Librarian along with the other organizers of the event as well as Pisay students that were celebrating their Family Day during that time. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to vonjobi’s edition of the Carnival of the InfoSciences (COTI)

[*] Apple Campus Tour, where there was a discussion of introductory topics on Mac OS X

[*] Y4iT 2007, where I manned the Sun Microsystems / JEDI Booth, organized the volunteers from UP ACM, and as usual the event ended with a Victory Party for volunteers that was held at the UP ITTC.
      

[*] PESO Challenge, in which our team, ALERT (Alternative Learning & Education Resource Technology) was included on the 21+ semifinalists, and we’re now working on our entry to get to the finals round.

[*] Roundtable Discussion on the FOSS Act of 2007

[*] and recently, AyalaTBI Tech Boot Camp, which was a training course designed to transform your ICT idea into a technology venture. Team ALERT delivered its Business Plan Pitch for the first time:

originally uploaded by rom

…and here’s a video of teammate Ann’s delivery.

      

Whew! These were just the co-curricular activities during those hell weeks while balancing with numerous academic requirements like:

[*] Socio 101 research paper, where we spent numerous hours in the General Reference section of Main Library and passing the paper in the nick of time – it was almost 5pm and I was still finishing the analysis part of our group paper right in front of the Sociology department. Cramming at its best? Nah. I should’ve compiled my groupmates’ contribution to the paper for I was online most of the time. Well, obviously it’s too late.

[*] Psych 101 portfolio, where I wasted a lot of time (75%) thinking of the theme. Perhaps I was just too OC? Well, it was a fun class with a fun prof.

[*] LIS 163 System Analysis and Design report and presentation, where I just finished the report an hour after the presentation had started and I was able to make my presentation while the other class (LIS 190) was delivering their presentations.

[*] LIS 140 Project, that includes project specifications that change over time – yes folks! this was the most difficult part of the project! Obviously, the lesson learned here was to take down notes of the details, or if possible, record them.

Starting this semestral break, I’ll be working on my (new) thesis proposal…again! Ohnoes!~

Rejuvenated!

Woot! I’m back! It feels so good to return here! It was almost a month since my last post. So how was the long break from blogging? It was a haggard experience!

Well, stay tuned for fresh new updates and the aftermaths of the past – nightfox is back, alive and blogging!