Wang Kai

The Windows 7 Beta 1 that was supposed to release on January next year now can be obtained through several torrent sites.

This beta version expires on July 1, 2009, and as far as I know, it seems to be  very stable, performs much better than previous build like 6801. The memory usage has been improved, together with some previously hidden features – like the iconized task bar – being activated.

Would like to get a copy? Click the link below:

Download: Microsoft Windows 7 Beta 1 (Build 7000)

Nero is a flexible, reliable, and easy-to-use application designed to write both data and CD audio to CD-R and CD-RW discs. It supports ISO 9660 images as well as ISO mode 1 and XA mode 2, and allows for on-the-fly disc recording in addition to overburning (if supported by hardware). It also supports multisession and mixed-mode recording, HFS, ISO/HFS hybrid, UDF, PSX, OFAS (optimal file access speed), track-at-once (TAO) and disc-at-once (DAO) writing, digital audio extraction, and more. In addition, Nero can dynamically disable automatic-insert notification, offers support for multiple languages, and works with all major models of CD-R and CD-RW drives. This also contains a standalone Cover Editor for designing and printing CD covers.

Download : Nero Burning Rom 9.2.6.0

I found it very annoying that phpmyadmin after a quite short amount of time they needed to authenticate again.

If you use cookie authentication method in your phpmyadmin, you might probably find it very annoying as you will automatically be signed out after certain period of idle time. This is because the lifetime of the cookie itself is set to 1800 seconds (30 minutes) by default, after which you need to authenticate again to log in.

To remedy this, simply edit the configuration file config.inc.php and add the following line:

$cfg['LoginCookieValidity'] = 3600*3;  // 3 hours, or 10800 seconds

This sets the cookie timeout to 3 hours, which is usually long enough.

One component of my QA search engine (part of my research work) actually needs to employ information on the semantic relatedness between words, and recently I plan to use GIZA++ to fulfill part of this job. GIZA++ is actually a statical machine translation toolkit for IBM Models 1-5 training and HMM word alignment.

This project is NOT documented very well, and I do have some difficulties at the very beginning, for both compilation and execution. After several hours trial-and-error, and with the help of Google, I made it finally, and I’m here to wrap this up. Probably it would be helpful for you.

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The “static” and “final” modifier in Java are somehow confusing, especially when they interact. Here is a good explanation on how to understand these two modifiers:

You DO NOT have to assign a value to a final variable when you declare it. The “final” keyword just means that you can (and must) assign its value exactly once. Where you are allowed to assign the value depends on if it is static or not (as well as its access modifier).

private final int j;
The value MUST be assigned ONCE, either here in the declaration or in each constructor. It is NOT automatically assigned a value of 0 (zero). Also, since it is not static, there is a distinct value for each instance object, so it makes sense that it must be assigned in the constructor.

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Last few days I was dumping some MD5 hashes into my database, so that people may find the corresponding plain text by looking up the cipher text in the database, if he is lucky enough.

The current database contains all MD5 hashes for numbers with length less than 8. That means, if the plain text is purely composed by ≤8 digits, you may be able to revers its cipher text by looking it up on our database.

This input form below is for both calculating and reversing (by looking up in our database) MD5 hash. I think it will be a great way to see if your password is strong enough, or weaker than it should be. If our database can find it, so can those evil hackers, and probably you need to do something towards your password

If you have any comments, feel free to leave me a message. Enjoy!

Most of the time, after Windows Update system update the OS, it will ask you to restart the Windows, either now or later. The restarting dialog will pop up once in a while, which is quite annoying. The most disgusting thing is that it will automatically restart the computer without your consent, if there is no user interaction for a certain period.

Although this mechanism might enforce the Windows Operating System to be applied with the latest patch in due course, it is very annoying if I’m currently working on this computer, or having some programs running. I need to run my program regularly when I’m conducting research works, where each program is likely to take a few days to finish. This Automatic Restarting mechanism has really screwed me (and my lovely programs) many times. Therefore, finally, I’d like it to be turned off so that the restarting time would be totally under my control.

How To Remove/Disable the Automatic Restart After Windows Updates?

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Visa is introducing a revolutionary new credit card allowing users to use their PIN for online card transactions.

Aimed at savvy internet users, the Visa PIN card features an alpha-numeric display and a 12-button keypad built into the back of a conventional credit, debit or prepaid card. The card, developed using technology from Australia-based Emue technologies, promises a three-year battery life, and much improved protection from online fraudsters.

Customers enter their PIN code onto the keypad and this generates one-time password. The one-time password is then used to authenticate online purchases.

MBNA, a Bank of America company in the UK, Cornèr Bank in Switzerland, Cal in Israel and IW Bank in Italy will each begin limited pilot trials of the new card shortly.

Recently I’ve recorded a 12-hour long Discovery TV program – Man vs. Wild. As it was recorded continuously, the video file turns to be very huge (around 3G, maybe not that huge ). I would like to cut the file into 12 small segments so that each piece may just contains an one hour program. Therefore I begins to hunting for a good tool that may help me resolve this, and finally I find one: Boilsoft Video Splitter.

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