iQuest Studios

Hey,
I managed to get Sim’s Pool on my iPod. It’s uber cool, seriously. But I am going to have a hard time resisting the temptation to play it when I am supposed to be studying! A couple of screenshots to prove it is real:

Isn’t it cool? Oh, I wrote my second entry for the competition at blog4biz.sg

Firstly, while the author of the post “Some Ideas” gave a few excellent suggestions, such as the possible use Virtual Private Network to improve collaboration between employees, there is major flaw in the first statement of his post.

“There are many collaborative softwares around in the market that are specifically aimed at [incorporating] IT into improving business productivity” is actually a statement that is very untrue. Firstly, there aren’t much collaborative software in the market targeted towards business. They are actually mainly targeted towards the personal user and hence may actually be unsuitable for business use.

However, the idea of using Virtual Private Network is actually a rather good suggestion, although I wouldn’t actually go with the suggestion of using Hamachi. Yes, while Hamachi is easy to use, and actually rather cheap, businesses should not rely on third party software to build a collaboration network.

This is because security is a major issue in business operations. While reliance on third party software is still acceptable in maybe inter-business operations and collaboration, I believe that in intra-business operations, business should stick to their own IT infrastructure as much as possible. Anything going through other’s servers may be exposed to unauthorized personnel. In this highly competitive business world, this can endanger even a huge organization. Also, employing a third party solution actually places the business in a very risky position, especially when it concerns networking, servers and the Internet. Should there be a sudden surge of users, these third party servers may not withstand the load, causing possible lag in the network, or even complete downtime. Moreover, these servers, which are used by many, are easily the targets of computer crackers. Should these malicious users launch a DoS (Denial of Service) attack, the entire business collaboration system will be crippled.

Moreover, there is again the problem with integration into the current IT infrastructure of the cooperation. With external software, businesses cannot actually integrate their IT infrastructure, possibly wasting resources and time trying to maintain something that is out of control.

So pretty much, with these serious problems, instant messaging through MSN, AIM, Yahoo , GMail services are actually out. So is usage of Second Life and Hamachi, though businesses can emulate these services and running a much more customized solution with the security of their own servers.

I don’t understand the fascination with Facebook and blogs under intra-business collaboration. Firstly, both of them do not actually provide ANY collaborative tools. While they may be acceptable in B2B (business to business) connections and B2C (business to consumers) connections, they definitely cannot be used within the organization as they do not provide the model of intra-business collaboration. And again, there is the issue of security.

I would suggest a tightly secured and closed Virtual Private Network hosted on the company’s own servers and a set of customized collaboration applications to facilitate any intra-business collaboration.

Till next time,
cheers

With the end of this school term, the long awaited results are finally out!

To my part-pleasure, part-disappointment, I managed to score an MSG (mean subject grade) of 2.125 (the lower the better, from a range of 1.000 to 9.000)

A breakdown of my results:

• English: 75 (A1) - I still don’t understand how I can top the class in English
• Chinese: 59 (C5) - So close to B4, but never mind, I expected it
• Integrated Maths: 89 (A1) - Topped the class
• Chemistry: 78 (A1) - Not bad, but could have been better - ranked second in class
• Physics: 63 (B4) - I am so ashamed of myself, seriously..This is usually a subject where I would get A1
• Integrated Humanities: 70 (A2) - Not bad, considering the top is only 77 and I did not do much revision

Over all, I ranked second in my class, though again, I must comment that our class did rather badly this term.

Anyway, I got an desktop External Harddrive (also known in shortform as “ext hdd” - there are some people I know who don’t know what I am talking about when I typed “ext hdd”). 250GB space for S$139. It was on a $10 discount at an IT “fair” in our school yesterday. So, one item less from my To buy list (but also S$139 less in my balance)

I also realised I am blogging less and less now. (A good thing actually - for me, that is) From like 2 posts everyday at my peak period (around 9th August), I have dropped to 1 post every two days. I am really sorry about this, but I really need to focus on my End Of Year Exams, I cannot jeopardise my carefully crafted and calculated plan to get Outstanding Student Award. So till mid October, you will hear very little from me (hopefully)

Till next time,
cheers

P.S Wish my luck for my End Of Year Exams

I don’t know what about you readers out there, but I am personally a big fan of Lego.

Ever since 5(?), when my Dad brought my first Lego set (a fire truck of some kind) while he was in Singapore (I was still in China then), I fell in love with that toy.

After that, when I came to Singapore, I demanded a Lego set every year while I was in primary school. Sometimes, I might get lucky and my parents would buy one of those sets on discount during the annual Lego fair in Singapore every June. (I am not sure if they are still holding it annually). When I was in primary 5, I joined my school’s robotics club (that’s when my passion for programming began) and was exposed to the wonders of the Lego Mindstorms series.

When I graduated from primary school (with outstanding results, if I may add), I managed to:

1. Get a Lego train set
2. Get a Lego Mindstorms Robotics set!
3. Get my dad to quit smoking (Ok, I admit, that was completely random)

Yea, but unfortunately, my busy secondary school life leaves me with barely enough time to play with my Lego toys. And I think 2 years ago, when I last played with my Lego robotics set, I forgot to remove the battery when I kept it in the store room, so all the chemical inside the battery actually leaked out. (I only realised about a month ago =P)

Even though I cleaned out most of the chemicals, I think it damaged the internals of the main brick (what was it called? I really forgot), so yeah, pretty wasted.

But hey! With me earning some extra income from teaching a little maths tuition, I got a much bigger budget to spend on things I want. (My needs are taken care of by my parents). So, at the end of the year, I may just be getting one of the newer series of Lego Mindstorms, Mindstorms NXT. (check it out at http://mindstorms.lego.com/)

That is after my long list of things I want:

1. External Hard Drive
2. A secondary battery for my Laptop
3. Road Bike + Biking equips
4. A decent camera
5. Leopard OS X
6. A thumbdrive
7. PSP

Why am I writing about Lego Mindstorms and things I want? Oh yeah, I just remember, because of this article: “Lego Mindstorms NXT to support Intel Macs”

Oh, I just remembered, I got some great news (for me, that is). My school is actually looking into buying UG Portal (you know, my school project). I offered them a starting offer of S$2000 and hopefully they will not play it down. But if they do buy it off me, that will mean a rather busy holiday during Nov and Dec. But $2000 is just about enough to cover all the things I want, plus a little left for a treat to my friends for my success. And I will still have a little savings from my Maths tuition fees. Haha, my economic outlook doesn’t look so bleak now does it? (plus I am entering the blogging competition I mentioned 1 post below)

Ok, I am going to have a long day tomorrow.

Till next time
cheers

This post is in response to the currently ongoing competition at Blog4biz.sg, about Intra-Business tools. Check out the entries at the Blog4biz site

I would think that some of the contributors here over-estimate the power of the Wiki script, maybe because of Wikipedia’s popularity over the net. Let me explain why Wikipedia isn’t the way to go.

As a past time web developer myself (I work mainly with PHP and MySQL), I have played around with Wiki several times, installed it across multiple servers and played around with the administrative panel much more times than I would actually like. I have even dived into the lines and lines of code that make up MediaWiki (which I assume is the script you mean when you say “WIKI” - MediaWiki is used to power Wikipedia). I have also examined many other Content Management System (CMS) which may be suggested here. (eg. PHPNuke, Joomla, PostNuke) etc.

MediaWiki definitely does not do well as a collaborative tool. Why? It is simply not designed to be a collaborative tool for business use. Its power lie in displaying the information to the rest of the world, not in collaboration. Do you see Wikipedia users collaborating THROUGH Wikipedia about what they are going to write? No, they, in very simple terms, just overwrite other’s content. Even though Wikipedia now exercise much more stringent rules about overwriting content and maintaining the content on its sites, the basic concept of a Wiki is as such listed above - overwriting other’s content in the name of “sharing information”.

Don’t get me wrong - I do use Wikipedia excessively, and the inter-linkage of related topics is actually something that can be adopted in a intra-business collaboration tool, but one must understand, MediaWiki is definitely not suited as a collaboration tool on its own. I would think even a forum will do better. Morever, there is the issue of security. MediaWiki is designed to display information to the general public, and not designed to contain cooperate secrets in the database. Imagine what would happen to the company if someone managed to steal some new business idea from the company Wiki. MediaWiki is, after all, not designed to be secure, and unless one goes in and close all security loopholes and develop additional security for the script, there is the danger of exposing all your cooperate secrets to the rest of the world. Moreover, MediaWiki does not support multiple power levels of the users, maybe except administrators and contributers. It means that anyone can edit the contents of anything. A factory worker can actually edit something posted by someone on the Management team, if he was given access to the Wiki. And he can also steal ideas from the Wiki and sell to other rival companies. So again, the security of the MediaWiki, or rather, the lack of security of MediaWiki is actually a major issue that must be tackled before using it in the business model.

Another point against MediaWiki is the lack of flexibility. Yes, there may be quite a number of “Extensions” for it, but compare this number with those of other scripts like Joomla or Wordpress. Strangely, with such a huge user base, the number of plugins designed for it remains relatively small when compared against other popular scripts. Hence, we can conclude the MediaWiki is not designed to be flexible. After all, it is designed to be just a very simple way of displaying content. Different business have different ways of managing, and without this flexibility, MediaWiki cannot be a suitable tool to promote collaboration within the business.

Moreover, there is the issue of jealousy. Let’s say for a moment, you are an employee in the think-tank of Company A, and you just came up with a brilliant idea that will propel the company’s dropping sales figures. You are confident it would work and you thought through it thoroughly. So you post on the Company Wiki this brilliant idea, confident that you would get a promotion. But a fellow employee sees it first on the Wiki, decides it’s going to put his job at risk, and goes on the Wiki and overwrite your content or comment on it such that it actually looks like the stupidest idea in the world. There goes your promotion.
As for storing meeting notes and lessons learnt, why use MediaWiki when any Content Management System will actually do? Even the blog authoring script, Wordpress will do a much better job than MediaWiki. Moreover, MediaWiki will not integrate well into the current IT infrastructure, as it is designed to be a stand alone tool for displaying content to the rest of the world. It will just stick out like a sore thumb in the exist IT infrastructure of a business. Also, who would ensure the integrity and the accuracy of the content posted on the Wiki? Remember, the Wiki is meant to encourage free expression and correction of ideas and contents. Who will really be responsible to ensure no one abuses the system in one way or another? The management?

In conclusion, because of the way MediaWiki was designed for, and the function it is supposed to serve, MediaWiki will not serve well as an intra-business tool.

So then, which is the right way to go?

I believe to really develop a successful intra-business collaborative tool, business can only go for a custom web application. Only then, they can ensure that the security needed to protect cooperate secrets are in place, and that it actually works like a collaborative tool to pool business ideas, lessons learnt and other knowledge together. Moreover, such a tool can be integrated tightly into whatever existing IT infrastructure they have, instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. Such a tool can integrate elements from the popular blogging script, Wordpress, other Content Management Systems like Joomla, forum software like phpBB and Project management software like Copper. Different companies have different ways of running the company, and only through developing a customized web application can one company ensure the perfect balance to actually run the organization in the most efficient manner.

Yes, the price is one setback. Such an application will cost at least tens of thousands of dollars, plus much more for maintenance. But, to just increase the security of MediaWiki, the company would also have to pay quite a huge sum, especially if the protection required is very complicated. And that is just to increase the security of the script. What is a business tool without something to manage projects or sales report? Add another few thousand. Sooner or later, the price will reach about the same as a customized application.

In conclusion, MediaWiki definitely cannot be a suitable intra-business tool, and only through the development of a customized web application, can companies actually take full advantage of their IT infrastructure.

I am rather proud of it. Took me about 45 minutes to come up with the entire essay. (I want to win that Nokia phone, my current phone is really screwed up)

Wish me luck

Till next time,
cheers

Ok, I don’t want to turn this blog into a Mac blog (there are many out there: like my favourite: The Unofficial Apple Weblog), but this is something really too cool to be ignored.

SOMEONE JUST RELEASED A SOFTWARE ONLY HACK FOR THE iPHONE

Ok, it is not really released, but a few major technology news sites got their hands on it through the developers, and it seems that it actually works, without having to make any hardware adjustments. (It even appeared in The Sunday Times today - our local newspaper)

What does this mean? I can probably bring the iPhone back to Singapore and use it with one of the local service provider. (Of course, Data Charges will probably go sky high, and there is the risk that it might not work - currently only proven to work with US provider T-mobile, though I see no reason why it wouldn’t work)

Of course, the bad thing is that it is not free. (What happened to encouraging open source software). Also, it is not yet released to the public for purchase. (If it is not too expensive (i.e. falls in the range of about USD$10 - USD$30), I may just get someone to get an iPhone from the US. (any US readers want to donate one to me? ) Otherwise, looks like I will just have to wait till next year for the iPhone to be released in Asia.

Check it out at http://www.iphonesimfree.com/

And check this out: The welcome video of Leopard (not sure if it is real - you wouldn’t believe to what extent some people go to create fake stuff)

On a side note, ALS v0.02B recently passed the 900 downloads mark, and v0.03B Preview is nearing the 800 downloads mark. The number of patch downloads still remain at a very low 229 (as of writing time). This greatly worries me. So DOWNLOAD THE PATCH IF YOU STILL HAVEN’T DONE SO!

And I really recommend bookmarking my RSS feed if you are a script user, cause I will be announcing all script updates through my blog.

Till next time,
cheers