I just spent the weekend re-formatting my computer to install a clean version of Windows 7 (as opposed to me quick an dirty upgrade a few weeks back). I love re-formatting my computer, because it organises the harddisk, cleans out the registry and gives me a chance to download and reinstall the latest version of all my software. I must admit that it was more fun when I was a college student with 100 Mbps compared to the measly 1 Mbps I am surviving on now.
Over the years, I've amassed a collection of what I call my software essentials - the free software that I will reinstall first after each time I wipe the slate clean. I thought it would be useful to list them out here, maybe some of you will find them useful, or even better maybe you will have other software to suggest to me!
Startup Essentials
Things to install before anything else ... essential for surviving in a wired world
Avast Antivirus - Always the first thing to install, even before connecting back to the internet. I switched to Avast early this year because it was one of the only AV at that time that supported Windows 7 RC, and it's so good I've never looked back.
Google Pack - This is a collection of starter software endorsed by Google, and it is definitely a great way to get started. The system also automatically updates all the components. Google Pack includes Google Chrome, Spyware Doctor, Picasa, Firefox, Google Desktop, Adobe Reader, Skype, Google Apps, Realplayer, Google Earth and Google Talk. Talk about value for effort, a few clicks and they are all automatically installed. The ones in bold are the ones I always install.
While I love all Google stuff, the ones I use most extensively are Chrome and Picasa. Chrome is lightning fast and is my main browser. Picasa is a superb photo/video viewer and organiser, and also automates all my photo uploads to Facebook and Smugmug. (One thing I'm puzzled is why it comes with Picasa 3.1 rather than 3.6)
Windows Live Essentials - Microsoft now also has it's own collection of starter software. Theirs includes Messenger, Mail, Writer, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker and Family Safety. I don't use quite as many as I do with Google, but this is a nice collection nonetheless. The Windows Movie Maker is probably one of the easiest to use, although I personally find this Live version a bit more confusing than it's predecessors.
Java - You can't do without the Java Runtime Environment if you want to run any of the multitude of applets that keep the web going.
Adobe Flash - Similarly, you can't surf half the websites out there if you don't have Flash.
Media Players
For watching all kinds of media
VLC Player - This is by far the most powerful media player out there, although it may not be the prettiest. If VLC can't play your movie, there's probably something wrong with it.
iTunes + Quicktime - You'll need this if you have an iPod, and many cameras take videos in either MOV or MP4 quicktime formats. Some websites embed quicktime videos too. Personally I have always preferred Winamp, but since I became an iPod owner it kind of limited my choices.
Youtube Downloader - For saving your favourite Youtube videos, Youtube Downloader can save them to your hard disk and convert them to a variety of common useful video formats.
Mobility Aids
Useful software for road warriors
Windows Mobile Device Centre - I really loved Windows 7 RC when it was launched, but had to switch back to Vista because my Windows Mobile PDA didn't work. I'm glad they finally fixed this problem with the new WMDC.
Nokia PC Suite - This allows me to back up my phone book and send sms from the PC, if I am so lazy. There is a new Ovi Suite but this still seems the more practical option.
Keepass Password Safe - The modern world requires us to remember a thousand and one different passwords. I encrypt mine on the PDA using Keepass, which also allows me to access it from the PC by synchronizing. This has saved me many times when I visit obscure sites.
Dropbox - Allows me to synchronize selected folders across different computers, as well as make them available online via web access. Great for mobile people who use multiple machines.
Free Trials
Software that isn't exactly free, but provides free trial versions with good functionality, mostly full functionality for a trial period that should be enough to accomplish a one-off project.
WinRAR Archiver - Compression tool for ZIP, RAR and any other format you are likely to come across. Supposed to be a limited time trial but seems to last forever.
Magic DVD Ripper - For converting those DVDs to DivX for easier storage.
dBpoweramp - For ripping audio CDs to mp3 or a variety of other formats.
Corel Video Studio Pro X2 - A superb video editing tool that works with multiple video formats and gives you a 30-day free trial that should be enough to complete any small project.
Sothink Movie DVD Maker - Puts all you videos onto a DVD complete with menu systems and choice of background pictures and music. The free trials has a green screen before each video, but much more tolerable than the watermarks imposed by other similar software.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The Name Game
It's interesting how people attach different associations to names.
Wife likes names like Hannah, Naomi and Noah. But they sound really archaic to me.
I like Ariel, which means "Lion of God". It's also the name of a celebrated Israeli commando, general, and prime minister. Wife says it just makes her think of "Under the sea..."
I suppose the associations we attach to names are a product of our various life experiences. Probably the most universal association for these Christian names are the characters from which they are named in the bible. That is why Hannah and Noah remind me of a stooped old woman and a man with a shiny white beard.
Slightly stronger would be the names of characters we have seen on screen, or celebrities. That's probably why Ethan is so popular nowadays. And I quite like the name Delilah even though it's an evil character in the bible, and I attribute it to liking the Plain White T's song Hey There Delilah so much. But even though Wife makes me watch Hannah Montanna every night, I still can't get the image of the old woman out of my mind. I'm sure it works for others though, which is probably why Hannah ranks #9 on the most popular names in the U.S.
Of course the strongest association would be with people we know. I know a lot of Kevins, and I like all of them. That's probably why I like the name Kevin. And there's quite a few names I like that Wife rejected because they bring back distasteful memories. On the other hand, she likes names like Blake and Giovanni which probably sound normal to her, having grown up in Western societies. But to me they just sound so foreign and wrong.
So I suppose if any of the people around me gives their kid my name, I will take it as a pretty high compliment. Not because I'm so egotistical as to think they are naming it after me, but because I will know I have not sullied the name in their minds.
Wife likes names like Hannah, Naomi and Noah. But they sound really archaic to me.
I like Ariel, which means "Lion of God". It's also the name of a celebrated Israeli commando, general, and prime minister. Wife says it just makes her think of "Under the sea..."
I suppose the associations we attach to names are a product of our various life experiences. Probably the most universal association for these Christian names are the characters from which they are named in the bible. That is why Hannah and Noah remind me of a stooped old woman and a man with a shiny white beard.
Slightly stronger would be the names of characters we have seen on screen, or celebrities. That's probably why Ethan is so popular nowadays. And I quite like the name Delilah even though it's an evil character in the bible, and I attribute it to liking the Plain White T's song Hey There Delilah so much. But even though Wife makes me watch Hannah Montanna every night, I still can't get the image of the old woman out of my mind. I'm sure it works for others though, which is probably why Hannah ranks #9 on the most popular names in the U.S.
Of course the strongest association would be with people we know. I know a lot of Kevins, and I like all of them. That's probably why I like the name Kevin. And there's quite a few names I like that Wife rejected because they bring back distasteful memories. On the other hand, she likes names like Blake and Giovanni which probably sound normal to her, having grown up in Western societies. But to me they just sound so foreign and wrong.
So I suppose if any of the people around me gives their kid my name, I will take it as a pretty high compliment. Not because I'm so egotistical as to think they are naming it after me, but because I will know I have not sullied the name in their minds.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
google toys
This is a pretty hilarious article, I couldn't resist posting:
Geniuses At Play, On the Job
By DAVID POGUE
Published: February 25, 2009
"But any time you cram some 20,000 of the world’s smartest people into one company, you can expect to grow a garden of unrelated ideas. Especially when you give some of those geniuses one workday a week — Google’s famous “20 percent time”— to work on whatever projects fan their passions."
This is a guide to some of the best and lesser-known features developed by google, ranging from the ultra-practical to the hilarious, and a little bit of both. This is one of my favourites:
GMAIL LABS Gmail is already the world’s best free Web-based e-mail service, with terrific organization tools and a superb spam blocker. But if you click Settings and then Labs, you find a huge list of on/off switches for cool enhancements.
There’s Text Message in Chat (send text messages to your friends’ cellphones from within Google Chat or Gmail); Offline Mail (work on Gmail when you’re not online); Canned Responses (build a menu of stock answers to your mail); Multiple Inboxes (manages mail by auto-creating multiple mail folders); and the delightful Send & Archive (one click sends your reply and removes the original from the list).
Here, too, is Mail Goggles, which is intended to avert the kind of personal disaster that can result when you send mail while drunk. During periods that you specify (for example, weekend nights from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.), this feature prevents you from sending mail until you’ve answered five mental math problems in 60 seconds. (But those Google geniuses can probably do it even after a few pitchers of margaritas.)
And here are another few nifty tricks:
SECRETS OF THE SEARCH BOX Usually, whatever you type into Google’s Search box is treated as a quest for Web pages. Certain kinds of information, however, get special treatment.
For example, you can type in an equation (like “23*9/3.4+234”); press Enter to see the answer.
Think of Google, too, for conversions. For example, type “83 yards in inches,” “500 euros in dollars,” or “grams in 3.2 pounds”; then press Enter.
Google is also a dictionary (type “define:ersatz”), package tracker (type your FedEx or U.P.S.tracking number), global Yellow Pages (“phonebook:home depot norwalk ct”), meteorologist (“weather san diego”), flight tracker (“AA 15”), stock ticker (“AAPL” or “MSFT”), and the world’s best movie-listings site (type “movies:10024,” or whatever your ZIP code is).
Sunday, February 15, 2009
stock market stocktake II
The market has been trading sideways for almost two months now, and most of my expectations have not been met. I expected a correction in December to cash in my shorts, but that didn't happen. Then I expected a rally on Obama's inauguration, but that too was muted. And although the market did reject Geithner's initial rescue plan, the effect on the markets is still dubious. Nevertheless, I have also begun the process of slow accumulation, because I think we are bottoming out and it is time to start building my portfolio for the long haul again. I'm going slow, because I still think there might be one more major correction, but as yet it hasn't materialised.
So this is a chance for me to review the logic of the stocks and funds that I intend to accumulate over the next few months. This is really to capture a snapshot of my thought process for personal reference in the future ... read on at your own peril.
China
I really don't expect consumer growth to pick up in the U.S. (or even Europe) anytime soon, which is why I'm not particularly optimistic on Singapore's near-term recovery. It looks like the engine of growth for Asia will be China, so since everyone's growth will depend on China I might as well just invest directly in China. China has also been putting out some very aggressive stimulus packages to build up domestic demand, so although they have huge unemployment problems with all the factories closing, my money is on our motherland to recover first.
India
I'm pretty confident in India as a long-term bet (like 10 years) although I'm not entirely sure how it will fare in the next year or two. I just saw a report yesterday that the only three countries in the world to grow by more than 8% year to date are Brazil, Russia and China. That's the BR and C in BRIC. India has dropped almost 2%. So maybe instead of India I'll just focus on BRIC.
Vietnam
I first got interested in Vietnam when I visited it about 7 years ago. Back then, I wasn't into investing but applying the logic of Jim Roger's The Investment Biker, I was sure that this hardworking people just escaped from the grip of Communism would surely do well in the next century. They have potential very similar to China a decade ago, and they can also rely on China as a hinterland of sorts. The Singapore government evidently thinks so too, because they have invested in commercial districts in both Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi. My interest in Vietnam was rekindled with another visit to Hanoi last year where it was evident they have already come a long way. So now that prices are down, it's time to do a little shopping.
Australia
Australia has been badly hit by the current economic crisis. As the commodities boom ended, their exports have dropped tremendously. And in the current climate of fear, investors pulled out all their Aussie dollars and dumped them in the Yen instead for refuge. So Australia has been doubly-hit. In the months ahead, I expect both trends to reverse, so a strong recovery (at least in the stock market) should be on the cards. Maybe after all the fires go out.
I've been a big fan of Google since I first read about it in 1998. Perhaps it is finally time to buy its stock. Firstly, tech stocks in general have high cash levels, which is why the NASDAQ has been doing pretty well. I'm also tempted to test the economic theory that periods of high inflation are good for employers because they reduce the real cost of wages. It looks like America's money-printing is finally catching up with it, and if there is any company that pays out most of it's operating cost in wages, it is Google - they hardly make any physical products (no raw materials) and 40% of their workforce are PhDs. The downside is that precisely because Google's ad sales continue to well, their stockprice hasn't been impacted as much so there is less upside potential. But I figure it is a decently safe bet. Reading Google Planet now reminds me why I have always been enamoured of this company.
Berkshire Hathaway
My Jan 2008 edition of Fortune said to buy BRK because in an economic downturn, you can trust a smart person like Warren Buffet to know where to put his money. Sadly, when the entire market crashed, there really was nowhere to hide. Good thing I didn't buy then, but I'm thinking now the time is becoming ripe. (I'm still really sore that I missed the boat when I tried to buy BRK.B for 2650 some months back. I think it hit an 52-wk intra-day low of 2651 that day.) And reading Warren Buffet's biography now, I really do get the feeling this is a business genius I don't mind putting my money on.
Apart from these, most of my previous stock picks still hold. The exceptions are CHK which I have liquidated, and NVDA which I anticipate will weaken in the near term due to weak consumer demand, so I may wait a while to buy more. I am basically in accumulation mode now, trying to put all my money into the market over the next 3-6 months so I can just sit back and enjoy.
Monday, February 09, 2009
accounting 109
Over Chinese New Year, I finally found the time to update all my investing records for the past 18 months. The trading has been so fast and furious, especially the last 6 months, I really lost track of my progress. Now I finally know how much money I've lost. Interestingly enough, it wasn't all that bad.
From the time I started investing in 2005 until now, I still have a slight net profit. So I actually could smile.
More interestingly, I realised that 2/3 of my losses came from my two financial managers. Considering that they manage less than half my assets, that's pretty damn pathetic! They weren't making as much money as me in the good times either ... so I thought they were risk averse and would weather the downturn when it finally came. They were supposed to be my hedge against my own brashness and inexperience!
Ok, no more money for them. I guess I shall be going solo from now on. And looks like pretty exciting times to come :)
I also realised that the lions share of my profits really came from investing in mutual funds. I invest mainly in country funds based on my understanding of geopolitical events. It's how I first started investing, and it looks like it is still the most profitable. So for the next few years, my money is on China, India, Vietnam and Australia.
It's been a bumpy ride, I hope we take off soon!
From the time I started investing in 2005 until now, I still have a slight net profit. So I actually could smile.
More interestingly, I realised that 2/3 of my losses came from my two financial managers. Considering that they manage less than half my assets, that's pretty damn pathetic! They weren't making as much money as me in the good times either ... so I thought they were risk averse and would weather the downturn when it finally came. They were supposed to be my hedge against my own brashness and inexperience!
Ok, no more money for them. I guess I shall be going solo from now on. And looks like pretty exciting times to come :)
I also realised that the lions share of my profits really came from investing in mutual funds. I invest mainly in country funds based on my understanding of geopolitical events. It's how I first started investing, and it looks like it is still the most profitable. So for the next few years, my money is on China, India, Vietnam and Australia.
It's been a bumpy ride, I hope we take off soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
