sneakyBlog

A memorable day: the launch of sneakyBlog (or imaged: blog)! Well, we’ll see later how memorable this blog will be… Let’s just assume the ‘memorability-part’ for now . This will be a blog in its original concept: a website where you can track the evolutions in someone’s life and the weird (and not-so-weird) experiences of a person. Just anything that’s worth telling the world.

First let me explain this blog’s title. It’s obviously the contraction of sneaky + blog. (Don’t expect illegal things .) But where did that ’sneaky’ get from? Simple. My nickname on all websites is Bâshrat the Sneaky, a nickname that I’ve once created through some nickname generator. I never stopped using it or turned to another one, because I really really liked it. Don’t you? Bâshrat the Sneaky’s blog would, well…, sort of disturb the unique sound of my nickname, wouldn’t it?

Some of you may know me thanks to my project “Bâshrat the Sneaky’s DriverPacks“, from uAwiki.org or from one of the many forums I’m a member of. Others may know me by… no, you can’t possibly know me by anything else .

Well, I think this is enough for my first post!

Technorati Tags: blog, nickname, DriverPacks, unattended Windows

Today I stumbled on the PSone LCD mod again. Equally excited as the previous time(s), I went to eBay immediately. And was lucky this time! There I saw it…. A PSone LCD for sale from someone in the U.S.A. for just $24! 30$ including shipping to Belgium. A bargain! So I bought it immediately… And if I never get to use it, I can still sell it without much loss!

Update
Apparently the shipping time was 4-6 weeks. That’s a bit too much . So I paid another $7.60 to get it within a week. Not that I need it so soon, but in 6 weeks alot of bad things can happen…

Earlier today I stumbled onto this: a dual channel USB flash drive, with lifetime warranty and a fancy aluminium chassis. The OCZ Rally 512MB Flash Drive. No, I’m not a fanboy, nor am I sponsored by OCZ: I’m just amazed by its quality. But what I truly don’t understand, is how OCZ can offer a lifetime warranty on a flash drive! As far as I know, flash drives just stop working afer n1000 write operations. Well… if I ever buy a new USB flash drive, it will be this one! Did I mention it’s FAST? 28MBps reading speed…. not bad… not bad at all!

Last but not least, a picture for the curious ones:

Every once in a while I feel this ‘urge’ to submit or complete an article about unattended Windows installations at uAwiki.org. Today I had that feeling . I’ve completed one of the articles I started: the article in the unattended Windows XP section of the uAwiki that explains how you should use GUIRunOnce. I’ve added an in-depth explanation about the syntax and the identifiers and added alternative methods of using GUIRunOnce: through .inf and .reg files. Hopefully some people will find this article useful.

Technorati Tags: deployment, guirunonce, windows xp, unattended windows

Today I went to a cellphone shop, to ask how much rebate I would receive if I’d hand in my cellphone while buying a new one. Amazingly enough, it seemed that it was still worth EUR 20! They even advised me to sell it on eBay, since it’s so new and it’d definetely be worth more than 20 euro’s. Yeah right . What I didn’t tell them, is that the signal strength with this Sony Ericsson T105 was sooo bad that I am not even capable of making a phone call from my own house… Nor did I show them the back of it - a completely scratched and just-not-tooo-heavily damaged surface shows the real state of that sucky mobile phone…

I’m still doubting if I’d buy a new one: I could also just use my dad’s old Siemens … whatever model it is. It’s ANCIENT, that’s for sure: when you’re reading an SMS, it’s only capable of displaying ONE line at once - and that’s not even a long line… LOL If I’d buy a new one… I wouldn’t know which one yet. All camera’s suck, with the exception of some phones (Sony Ericsson K750i… drooool), but those phones are over my budget, or at least the budget I want to spend on it. I’ll consider any suggestion you post

Technorati Tags: cellphone, Sony Ericsson, T150, K750i

This newsitem at Slashdot did not stay unnoticed: “Ajax Sucks Most of the Time“. It quotes an article at Usability Views.

I strongly disagree with the Jakob Nielsen, the author. He does not write from a truly professional point of view and over-simplifies the entire matter. In fact he assumes everybody who’s currently using AJAX technology in his/her website, does it only for the bling-blang and does not think of the negative consequences.

(more…)

Creative is about to release a new product, according to an Engadget entry of yesterday : the Zen Vision:M, which will obviously try to compete with Apple’s latest iPod (the fifth generation already… time flies by ). The specs are in general very comparable: both feature a 2.5 inch screen at a 320×240 resolution and a 30GB HDD. But there are also differences: Creative’s newest is double as thick as the 5G, though that also allows a better batterytime: the double of the iPod’s video playback, yet the audio playback is 11 hours versus 14 hours for Apple’s 30GB iPod. Of course Creative still includes their FM tuner, but that’s not the only advantage: the Vision:M supports a wider scala of supported audio (most important: WMA) & video (most important: DivX/XviD) formats! That might be the most important advantage, since the price won’t do it: it’s estimated at 330$, while the 30 GB fifth gen iPod is currently selling at 299$ (when buying from The Apple Store). Today there’s already a MonsterNet.org early review available! And last but not least, the looks: they’re not bad! Judge them for yourself:

Technorati Tags: Apple, Creative, iPod, Zen Vision:M

Yes! I’ve finished all my exams! Well… I still have to do the last one: English. But that shouldn’t be too much of a problem . To elaborate, here is my general impression: the first exam was French, both the written and the oral parts went great. Monday I’ve had to complete an exam of such a pesky language called… Latin. Believe me, if ANY language is boring, it’s Latin! But on the bright side, it went surprisingly good! Next on: geography and physics: easy as hell. Then biology, Dutch and history, all single exams (only one exam on one day). Biology was … well… weird. I have no idea how well I did it, but I’m quite sure I’ve passed it. Dutch was sooo easy, and history too, though history had some tricky questions. Monday again. Such a DARK monday! MATH! 4 hours, eleven questions, 10 minutes of free time in-between. Hell. Difficult. First part: relatively good, second part: … let’s not go there… Then today: chemistry, an average exam I think. And tomorrow: English.

I’m so glad I’m through with this! Now only my finals in June and byebye highschool . Yet… hi university… but at least I’ll be able to choose something I’m truly interested in! (Suprise, surprise… ) Enough about school for now…

Yesterday, 2 PM. Went to get my grades. Shivering. NOT . Though I did know that math would be close, since the exam was truly insane. It seemed 9 of my class (out of twenty five) had failed on math, on their total. 2/3rd had failed on the exam. That leaves 7 people who passed the exam. That speaks for itself, IMO ! BUT there are 4 people who take 8 hours of math each week, the others (including me) only six (which is more than enough if you ask me). These 4 people obviously did pass their exam, since they had the same exam as the rest of us! (Unfair, but…) That leaves 5 students of ‘my group’… and it includes me! I had 35/60 on my exam and 60% in total for math. Close, but I did pass!!! It’s our teacher’s fault, not ours. She always tends to create exams of a level that’s significantly higher than during the year. All other subjects were no problem.

And it’s just pas midnight here, so I wish a very happy christmas to all my readers! Ho ho ho!

Technorati Tags: exams, math, christmas

I did not mention it here, but since Monday I went on vacation at the Belgian coast for a midweek (that means till Friday). Too bad we already had to return on Wednesday: my mum got sick! I didn’t get to post it here right away. Though it was short, it was nice to be somewhere that’s very different from the place where your daily, often boring (school…) life is. I guess you could kind of say I ‘revived’. Our camera decided to consume all battery power in 20 minutes or so, so we couldn’t make alot of pictures (I had recharged the batteries the day before we left and under normal use they last a week without a problem). I was able to make one nice (well …. for a phonecamera at least) picture of the dunes, with an almost fairy-like sunglare. In real life it was awesome to see!
Now I see something else! I forgot to tell this, but I got myself a new cellhone after my math exam, last monday. A sparkling Sony Ericsson T630. More than good enough for my needs (I don’t care about the camera), excellent reception, excellent battery, good screen, fast navigation, superb design. This one should last for a couple of years at least!

Technorati Tags: vacation, sea, t630