Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Why not grow your own furniture?

Yes... grow your own furniture! I was going through my RSS feeds and after going through several layers of links, I found an article published a while back about an artist, Peter Cook (or "Pook" as he is well known as). Pook is from Australia and working together with his partner, Becky Northey (a fellow artist), they set out to grow their own furniture.

Check out their beautiful work of art below... you can imagine how long it takes to shape and mold the branches and trunks into pieces of furniture... and these furniture are still growing too... LOL.









More information:

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Google's "Project 10 to the 100th"

Google wants your ideas! This latest initiative by Google sets out to encourage the world to contribute their ideas for the betterment of humankind. In their words,
"Project 10100 (pronounced Project 10 to the 100th) is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible. Here's how to join in."
Google will then short-list 100 ideas and let the public vote for 20 semi-finalists. Out of the 20 semi-finalists, only 5 ideas will be chosen to be developed. Google has committed USD10 million to implementing these ideas into projects that will help as many people as possible.

So if you have any ideas that you want to submit, do it here. The deadline for submission is October 20th 2008. Voting starts on January 27th 2009. Good luck!


Project 10100 promotion video.

More information:

Sunday, September 21, 2008

LifeStraw, an invention for Life!

This has got to be one of the most important invention in recent years! LifeStraw is a portable water purifier. It is an award winning invention from Vestergaard Frandsen.



This European company's goal and philosophy to "develop innovative products that prevent the transmission of waterborne and vector-borne diseases in developing countries," is very noble and inspiring.

In Malaysia (and most countries in the World), we take drinking water truly for granted. Most of the daily choices we make with regards to drinking water are what or where to drink. It has never been about whether if the water is safe to drink or not.

Below, we can see how the LifeStraw helps to provide safe drinking water for all those in need.







I am very happy to find out that a device like LifeStraw exist. It must have saved countless of lives since it was introduced. Other life saving and innovative products from Vestergaard Frandsen includes the following:
  • PermaNet - Curtains and bed nets that fight vector-borne diseases such as chagas, dengue, filariasis and leishmaniasis.
  • ZeroFly Tent - "ZeroFly Tent is a disease controlling shelter making use of long-lasting insecticide impregnated materials. No other refugee tent offers this long-term disease controlling effect."

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Cool AnswerTips from Answer.com

My company will be going for our annual trip and this time the destination is Hanoi. Someone mentioned that we should consider Ho Chi Minh City as an alternative destination and so I decided to do some research.

I googled for "compare Hanoi versus Ho Chi Minh City" and received 100,000 plus of results. I was reading this blog post, "Comparing Hanoi with Ho Chi Minh (well sort of)," when I accidentally double-click on a word in the post with my mouse. To my surprise, a pop-up appears and provided me with the meaning and related references to that particular word!



This service is provided by AnswerTips from Answer.com. I think this is a great service and that all bloggers should have this in their blogs. Basically, what AnswerTips do is that it provides definitions, translations, Geography information, weather, maps, time, etc. depending on the context of the word you selected.

I have subscribed this blog to the AnswerTip service. Here... double-click on this word: Hanoi, and you will know what I mean. Here is another word, Bangi (that's where I currently reside). (For some reason, the tip does not show up on the main page. You have to go into the article to see it in action.)

A must-have tool for any sites!

More Information:

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Twitter, Twitpic and 12seconds.tv

I was invited by Vijay to join 12seconds.tv today. He sent me an email invite and twitted that I should subscribe to it so that I could send in video updates when I go cycling... LOL. I think it is a great idea!

The first time when KC introduced me to twitting about 2 years ago (2006 I think), I was not keen, and it did not catch on with me. I only started twitting heavily when I started blogging and when Twitterfox was released. Now I could easily twit from my Firefox browser and it just fit right in.

Later, I found Twitpic (a Twitter mash-up) and started photo twitting. And now video is mashed-up with Twitter as well. I am pretty sure, I will be sending more than my 12 seconds worth... LOL. You can check out my first 12 seconds here.

In any case, while I blog about this, I could not help it but think about the potential and possibilities of a project I had been working on back in 2006. The project was called Kamicast (the domain kamicast.com has since expired... :-) now it's running on a different domain hosted by Google webpages).



I submitted Kamicast to a Malaysian Government grant contest and I won RM50k to bring the idea into reality. Initially, Kamicast was meant to be a web-based platform, but the grant was only for mobile phone related ideas. So I had to tailor the project to suit the mobile platform.


The winners of the RM50k grant. I am the very happy guy standing second from the right... :-) So happy... LOL.


The Kamicast video showing how it worked, that was submitted after the delivery of the final project milestone.

Anyway, Kamicast reminds me very much of the current mash-up of Twitter, Twitpic and 12seconds.tv. Very cool!

If anyone is interested in getting Kamicast up, feel free to let me know... LOL.

More Information:

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Amazing Sculptures From Recycle Parts and Materials

Two days ago, I received something really interesting in my Inbox, but I did not have time to write about it. As usual, by way of Sean, I received an email with a series of photos. What was depicted in the photos were just amazing. The photos showed miniatures sculpture of motor cycles made from recycle watches by a South American hobbyist called Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau.

As usual, I googled around and discovered quite a number of similar artists that produced really fantastic work of arts from recycle parts, including computer parts! Simply Amazing. See below and be amazed... LOL.

The Work of Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau


Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau featured in a South American magazine.





The above amazing bikes sculptures are made from recycled watch parts.


These bikes are made from recycled glasses. Amazing!

The Work of Alexandro Meda



Alexandro Meda's work are all made from recycled computer parts. The above 4 photos are © Copyright alexandromeda.com

The Work of Metal Dude Studio




All made from bits and pieces of recycled materials.

The Work of Michael Ulman



Recycled materials are turned into complete work of art!

More Information:

Friday, July 25, 2008

Money Not Enough (Qian bu gou yong) - Part 2

George emailed me this video today. It is just too good and must be posted in the blog... LOL. The original movie was released in 1998. Money Not Enough (Qian bu gou yong) - Part 2 is going to be release end of this month, July 31st.

You have got to view the following videos. Btw, the dialogue is in Mandarin.


The promotion video that George sent me... LOL.


Money Not Enough (Qian bu gou yong) - Part 2 Trailer.

Some related information:

Amazing Dogs Without Front Legs

Just before lunch, I received an email from Sean with the subject, "Willpower". The email showed photographs of an amazing dog walking on it's hind legs in a very human-like manner.



Faith, the totally amazing dog.

It was born without front legs and has since been taught to walk like a natural born bipedal... :-) The name of this amazing dog is Faith. Jude Stringfellow, the owner, has written a book about this amazing dog.


Jude Stringfellow explained how they found Faith and how it was taught to walk bipedal.

While searching for more information on Faith, I found two other amazing dogs, Hope, the Maltese pooch and Kandu, the Jack Russel.


Kandu the Jack Russel.



Hope the Maltese pooch.

More information about these amazing dogs:

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Momofuku Ando, the Man Who Fed the World

Just a couple of minutes ago, I received my daily dose of junk email from my all time favourite junker. Out of the three emails, one of the subject caught my attention immediately. It says, "Re: The correct way of cooking instant noodles".


Rows of Instant noodles at the supermarkets.

I am a big fan of instant noodles and have been consuming it since the 70s. I think I have mastered all the methods of cooking instant noodles. Generally, I think Malaysians are one of the biggest champions of instant noodles. We even manufacture "Instant Noodle Snacks", called Mamee. Yes, it is a 100% Malaysia Boleh invention.




The Mamee snacks that requires you to add seasoning to the noodle before you eat, just like the instant noodles. Like what the Americans like to say about their snacks, "Crunchy!" LOL.

Unfortunately, being a true blue believer that instant noodles should be cooked before consumption, I avoid eating Mamee and discourages everyone to do likewise.... personal bias... LOL. If you really want to know, I am fighting a loosing battle as my wife and kids, and friends love the stuff. Sigh.

Anyway, getting back to that email, I have the feeling that it is a hoax, because it just does not make sense. If MSG boiled at high temperature turns toxic, I think many people would have died from eating at all Chinese restaurants, which almost always use MSG and high pressure flame to cook their dishes.

Further research via the old reliable Google turns out these results:
There are tons of information on the subject of MSG, but enough to say that UN, EC and American food safety related organisation have labelled it under "safest category of food ingredients".

While still on the topic of instant noodles, it's inventor, Mr Momofuku Ando passed away on January 2007. He lived up to 96 years old!


Mr Momofuku Ando.


The Chikin Ramen invented by Momofuku. Introduced to the market in 1958.

After the second World War, Japan was suffering from food shortage.
Momofuku saw the need and the opportunity and so he
... decided to develop the production of noodles by himself. The experience convinced him that "Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat." - Wikipedia.
Btw, Momofuku Ando was a Taiwanese before he became a Japanese citizen some time in 1933. His instant noodle legacy lives on. To me, he is the man that fed the World!

Viva Instant Noodles!

Some Instant Noodle Patents :-)