Show In A Box. Nuff said.

If you want to improve your WordPress blogging experience instantly, just visit this site and download the plugins.

• http://showinabox.tv/download/ - Show In A Box

Pretty cool, eh?

Posted in show in a box, wordpress plugins, wordpress video plugins | No Comments »

Free AIMS Math Tutoring Still Available at Primezero Research, New “Super AIMS” Math Test In Development

The Arizona Department of Education recently stopped free AIMS tutoring due to lack of funds.

• AZCentral - Phoenix, AZ
• Arizona Daily Star - Tucson, AZ
• Kikonews - Miami, AZ

Haha, no comment.

On the bright side, every year since 2003, students have been using my annotated solutions manual for the sample tests to practice and improve their test-taking strategy for the AIMS math test at the high school level.

• http://www.primezero.com/aims/

You can download two sample tests and latest PDF version of the 2005 Annotated Solutions Manual for the Arizona AIMS High School Math Sample Test.

Pass that test and get’r done!

Is a “Super AIMS” Math Test In Development?

There is a fresh, new test prototype under development. The working name is “Super AIMS”, but it will be much better geared towards students.

Posted in aims math test, arizona aims math test, primezero, primezero learning, primezero research, super aims math test | No Comments »

Fantastic Outfit

never being boring

Originally uploaded by softestthing

One of the coolest outfits I have seen in a long while. Just rad!

Posted in from dual | No Comments »

Four Loaves of Bread Per Gallon of Gasoline — Hyperinflation makes you decide: work or eat

We are now at Four Loaves of Bread Per Gallon.

Just as you may owe more on your house than it is worth, you may start experiencing diminishing returns from driving to work everyday.

Feed your car? or Feed your family?

What say you?

Posted in from dual, gasoline, hyperinflation, inflation, loaves of bread per gallon | No Comments »

William F. Buckley Dies at 82, a critical thinker from a more civilized age

This is so sad.

William F. Buckley is from a better time when people were rewarded for critical thinking, a more civilized age.

When he first spoke out, people rejected him, but upon reading his various writings and commentaries, they discovered he made common sense, whether you agreed with him or not.

Political pundits who have never read anything by William F. Buckley will remain in the dark.

WFB understood that to educate was to “bring people into the light”, even if they are kicking and screaming.

Posted in author, conservative, liberatarian, william f. buckley, yale | 3 Comments »

This is not the Second Great Depression, this is the First Not-So-Great Depression

It is slowly sinking in.

Movie stars are doing fine.

Singers and entertainers are doing fine.

Professional athletes are doing ok.

Politicians are doing just swell.

You, on the other hand, … not so hot.

You may not have enough gasoline to drive to the ballot booth on election day. You need to choose which car will be repossessed. You need to make sure you have a roof over your head and air conditioning during the summer.

$170-$200 per barrel oil is on the way and we are experiencing a dangerous wheat shortage worldwide.

Not-so-great, eh?

Posted in economy, great depression, not-so-great depression | No Comments »

Venture Capital dries up as municipal bonds make “new-money” more susceptible to the credit crisis

I already warned you about this problem in Decemeber.

Before you can understand what I am talking about, let us look at Mark Cuban. Why am I picking on him? Well, Mark Cuban is a smart, intelligent business guy. He started a company based on someone else’s idea and cashed out quickly. I didn’t say he was a geek. I said he was smart. Hold on to that thought.

Then, the dot-com collapse arrived. He looked doubly smart. Everyone else thought they could ride their mule to untold wealth. Well, all of their mules died. Mark Cuban shot his mule early and sold it for glue.

What’s my point?

Exit strategy. Everyone who executes their exit strategy before March 1 of this year is OK.

The rest of you? Find bidders quickly because the venture capitals firms cannot go to the private equity firms or banks for bailouts. Their industry is filled with risk! As municipal bonds become JUNK, those firms may not be able to make those tax-free investments liquid. No cash on hand?

No deposit. No return.

Then you tell me, “Oh, I’ll just use my American Express card for quick purchases” …

Then I say, “bwahahahahahahaahahhah!” …

“sure, if the account is still open after March 31″

Posted in bank failure, from dual, hyperinflation, venture capital, web 2.0 failure | No Comments »

Chinese Seal Chop Google Gadgets Now Available In Directory

Woohoooo!!

Chinese Seal Chop is listed in the Google Gadgets Directory.

Judging from the feedback, 8 out of 10 users of the Chinese Seal Chop Widget for WordPress actually prefer the Chinese Seal Chop Google Gadget since it is faster to install and doesn’t require futzing with settings from a dashboard or re-uploading updates and patches every month.

I think the vision at Google is to completely relieve end-users from the burden of updating their software all the time, so they can focus on content development.

Try it out!

Hope this brightens your day!

Posted in characters, china, chinese, chinese seal chop, chop, gadgets, google, google gadgets, seal | No Comments »

In other words, airline is cutting corners on safety for profits … hmmm… sounds familiar?

Both oxygen tanks were empty, so she died.

While you are taking off your shoes for your safety, and being frisked for your safety and being searched for your safety, the oxygen tanks for in-flight emergencies are not working .

Money. Money. Money.

Everyone wants money. That’s why they call it money.

What a sad story.

Posted in airline, equipment, oxygen, safety | No Comments »

February 24, 2008 in Mandarin Chinese is .. 二〇〇八年二月二十四日 or èr líng líng bā nián èr yuè èr shí sì rì — it is the actual DAY in February added during a leap year

February 24, 2008: This day is very interesting because it was the one added to push the number of days in February to be 29 days.

二〇〇八年 - 2008 year

二月  - February Month #2

二十四日 - Day #24

Posted in calendar, china, chinese, dates | No Comments »

If you only see blocks, when you try to view Primezero i18n Terminal Results, here’s a primer I wrote a while back

Microsoft Windows XP never thought that users would need to read the Chinese language on the computer out-of-the-box. So, they made it more complicated for you.

If you view the Chinese results in Primezero i18n Terminal and have not installed Chinese characters, you only see blocks…

… then, check out this Installing Chinese on Windows XP Home tutorial I wrote up a while back…

Posted in characters, chinese, microsoft internet explorer, msie, primezero, viewing chinese in internet explorer 6, viewing chinese on windows xp, windows, windows xp, xp | No Comments »

Girlfriend in Mandarin Chinese is — nǚ péng yŏu — But how do you prononce it? Use the Primezero i18n Terminal

How do you pronounce girlfriend in Mandarin Chinese? Well, we already read it from the title, but do we understand how to say it.
For your learning methods, you have a choice:

• the usual visual method with Hanyu Pinyin — nǚ péng yŏu – like in textbooks. that’s boring and you are not sure if your pronunciation is correct.

  -OR-

• the audio method using the Primezero i18n Terminal: nǚ péng yŏu, where you can go at your own pace and practice the pronunciation. As you practice more, your kinesthetic learning style is also used.

  this audio method that i call “pinyintype vocalization” is useful for documenting rescue languages.

More features coming soon…

Posted in characters, chinese, classroom, college, hanyu pinyin, instruction support, k-12, learning, learning 2.0, mandarin, pinyin, pronunciation, teaching, university | No Comments »

Steve Balmer’s Moby Dick Is teh Google, his spear is Yahoo! and Microsoft employees may head for the lifeboats if Steve puts all his assets towards beating Google, methinks

Here comes more psychobabble. Of course, I could be wrong.

But, Herman Melville may have been right.

Steve Balmer should be focusing on improving Vista and bringing Microsoft into the new age of network computing and mobile productivity, but he’s still pissed.

He’s still pissed that Google stole so many Microsoft rockstars and gurus that he only wants to hunt down Google even if the ship goes down.

What are you talking? Yes, what am I talking about?

Microsoft will enter proxy battle for shareholders’ hearts at Yahoo! … This will take money from an already contracted market capitalization.

So, the total revenue of last year, minus the amount of people will not buy Microsoft Vista this year, minus all the people who will not buy Microsoft Office this year, minus the mount of people who will not buy a Dell or a Gateway times some fudge factor means….

… Microsoft might be putting all the chips in to get Yahoo! oh, dear. that socks, so…

If this bid fails, Microsoft will not have enough capital or clout to block foreign acquisitions of tech companies. (well, Microsoft has infinite money. … haha, no it doesn’t. if you hypothecate real estate that is equal to $0.00, you need to pump up the stock and reduce costs — fire them, fire them all — to survive until the next quarter)

So, you see… Steve must capture his whale. Poor guy.

Posted in babble, microsoft, yahoo | 2 Comments »

Google’s distraction from search may be opportunity for niche search market leaders to shore up positions

Semi-Random Incoherent Thoughts:

Google was benefiting from organized chaos during the recent real estate boom since retailers only needed to flash advertisements in front of buyers to convert targeted advertising click units.

Google continues to innovate in advertising, but … what about search?

Google appears to have its sights on productivity.

Analysts where not worried about Google Docs.

Now, they are pushing for the Microsoft — Yahoo! deal to grab Yahoo!’s market share in China…

… more on that later…

Posted in business, business model, google, product development, search, semantics, software | No Comments »

Flattered and grateful on news of PrimezeroTools implementation at Internet companies large and small

For me, The biggest thrill of being one of the smallest companies online is when your tiny, insignificant contribution to web development is actually used by a leading Internet company AND applauded or critiqued by notable researchers.

Just as big a thrill (if not bigger, ya, that’s right… bigger than biggest) is the use of PrimezeroTools by a small workshop or student in school, where the development time has been significantly reduced.

You can download PrimezeroTools 0.9.4 from PZPHP Google Code Site.

http://pzphp.googlecode.com/

This is an honor beyond honors and very exciting, for me.

I am so lucky to have a great support group of beta testers and content providers. This honor is their honor, too.

Posted in chinese, language processing, primezero, primezerotools, semantics | No Comments »

Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese Conversion Now Available on Primezero i18n Terminal

Convert your articles from Traditional To Simplified Chinese Characters quickly (Includes Rare Chinese Characters). — Primezero i18n Terminal

Posted in characters, china, chinese, conversion, primezero, simplified, traditional | No Comments »

You now have your Primezero translation results, now where do you take them? — Google, Baidu, YouTube, Flickr? Why not?

After you find your translations on the Primezero i18n Terminal, here are links to Chinese Web Searches on other sites such as:

1. Google
2. Baidu
3. YouTube
4. Flickr

For starters…

What?

Yahoo!?

Nope, that doesn’t ring a bell.

Posted in baidu, characters, chinese, flickr, google, primezero, search, youtube | 1 Comment »

Bill Gates + Yahoo! — Using Primezero i18n Terminal to learn how to read the news in Mandarin Chinese

Yahoo! is in the news again.

There is an article discussing the Yahoo! takeover offer by Microsoft, and on top of that, Bill Gates has intervened. The rest are just details, blah blah blah… but you want to learn how to say these characters in Mandarin Chinese.

So, you copy the text,

新浪科技讯 北京时间2月20日消息，据国外媒体报道，微软董事会主席比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)周二表示，雅虎之所以价值400亿美元以上，并不是因为丰富的产品线、庞大的广告客户群体、或者市场份额，而是因为优秀的工程师团队。微软目 前正致力于在网络搜索和广告市场追赶谷歌，因此对雅虎的技术团队可谓求贤若渴。

Then you visit the Hanzi To Pinyin Converter on the Primezero i18n Terminal.

Paste the text in the leftbox form. Then click “hanzi-to-pinyin”.

Developer’s Notes:

- Firefox 2 for Mac OS X not displaying some Chinese characters

- Safari ok, but no ruby support built-in

Posted in from dual | No Comments »

Hanzi to Pinyin conversion (converter) now available and printable for studying on that long ride home

Simply copy and paste the Chinese characters into the leftbox and get a printable pinyin annotation on the rightbox.

Developer’s Notes

Introducing online Hanzi To Pinyin Conversion from Primezero i18n Terminal. You need to have a web browser (Firefox with Ruby XHTML Support Add-On, MSIE6 or later) that can read Ruby Characters. I am working on another version that will display the characters nicely for all web browsers. I wanted to get this version out.

Release early, release often.

Posted in characters, china, chinese, conversion, converter, hanyu pinyin, hanzi, hanzi pinyin conversion, hanzi to pinyin, learning, learning chinese, learning mandarin, pinyin | No Comments »

People hear what they want to hear, Everything is going to be OK, Your economy is not failling apart

Posted in economy, network | No Comments »

Heat Exchanger In Mandarin Chinese — rè jiāo huàn qì — Now let’s use that in a sentence.

Sample Sentence: ##%@#! You want me to pay how much for that rè jiāo huàn qì ?

Learn more Chinese little by little on the Primezero i18n Terminal.

Posted in characters, china, chinese, from dual, heat exchanger, mandarin | No Comments »

I Have Been Awake For 84 Hours. I need to sleep… U_U

I Have Been Awake For 84 Hours. I need to sleep… I’m logging off until the spots in my eyes go away …. the mind needs sleep. if no sleep, then mistakes happen and work becomes a chore and no longer fun

Posted in sleep | No Comments »

We Lost Fei-Fei To Cancer; 沈殿霞 Lydia Shum Dies; She Was Only 60

Apologies for those who do not speak Cantonese, but this is one of the best tributes I have ever seen for her with her friends and family singing classic songs while she sat in the wheelchair clearly weak from the cancer.

She was like Gilda Radner + Carol Brunett + Lucile Ball.
Bubbly and very funny. Extremely talented.

Posted in cancer, fei-fei, lydia shum | No Comments »

Threading In Java (Programming) and DJ Beat Matching (Mixing) IS EXACTLY The Same

Posted in Java, beat matching, dj, musik, threads | No Comments »

President’s Day in Chinese is zŏng tŏng jì niàn rì — or zŏng tŏng jié for short — here is why today is a great day become familiar with some translations

Today is the President’s Day holiday.

Markets are closed, but that doesn’t mean it is time to completely relax. You can take some time today to find some translations using the Primezero i18n Terminal.

Today you can learn how to say a few words for your next business meeting in Hong Kong or Shanghai. I’ll show you how: jump on the Primezero i18n Terminal and type away.

That’s it.

When you first arrive at the terminal home page, you will notice that there are no instructions yet. This is because I am still designing the terminals features around you.

I want this tool to be so easy to use that you can FIND the translation you need WHEN you need on your desktop or (soon) your mobile terminal.

Here are a few features some users have discovered:

1. Smart Hanyu Pinyin Dictionary results
2. Contemporary results, with names and places in the news
3. Fast and clickable Chinese dictionary results
   
4. Powerful Chinese Number Conversions (e.g., time, money, dates, fractions, etc)
5. Some words that are ‘not found’ today are available the next day

Posted in chinese, chinese dictionary, chinese-english, english chinese dictionary, english-chinese, hanyu pinyin dictionary, hanyu pinyin lookup, primezero, product development, terminal, translation | No Comments »

Removing (Uninstalling) FunInputToy Chinese Input Method Editor on Mac OS X Tiger 10.4

Task #1: You need to close the FunInputEngine.

1. Open Activity Monitor.
2. Select FunInputEngine
   
   
3. Click Quit Process.
   
   
4. Then, when asked if you would like to stop “FunInputEngine”, select Force Quit.

Task #2: You need to move all the FunInput* items to the trash.

1. Use Spotlight and search “funinput”.
   
   
2. All six items must be placed in the trash can. FunInputEngine, FunInputToy.bundle, the PKG file, the PLIST and both FunInputToy folders from user and root libaries. All 6 items. Gone!
3. Empty the trash.

Logout and re-login. All gone. You can re-install this great program whenever you want.

Posted in china, chinese, chinese characters, funinputtoy, input, input method editor, removing, uninstall | 1 Comment »

Installing FunInputToy, a Chinese Input Method Editor For Mac OS X

We are going to install FunInputToy v 1.5.10 for Mac OS 10.4.



Should be easy, so let’s get to it.Double-click the installer package to get started.



Just breeze through the install… ok?


\If you want a translation, I’ll do that later…



English? Are you sure?



Continue!



Install… then logout after installation is complete. Well, that was the easy part. Now comes to the hard part: Uninstalling FunInputToy!

Posted in china, chinese, funinputtoy, input method editor, install, mac os x, mac osx | No Comments »

Slow Start For Factories After Chinese New Year Holiday, Some No Longer Accepting U.S. Dollars

Several factories are having difficulty finding replacement labor for the migrant workers who refuse to return to the work after Chinese New Year holiday.

This is going to put further stress on logistics companies who rely on constant flow of export goods with business models that are tooled for razor thin margins. Several vendors have shut down in Mainland China, no longer able to keep furniture or home decor operations afloat during the U.S. economic downturn.

Consumer electronics factories will soon be floating without customers as demand comes to a screeeeeeching halt. Yes, that’s right. Your cell phone may not have the replacements parts available. Funny.

Comments: I do not think Americans are ready to see empty shelves at Wal-Mart, because that’s what’s next. If you cannot produce the product, and the people who ship the products go out of business, how does your product get to the store shelves? … Teleportation?

Oh, btw, I can only pay my vendors in RMB, Hong Kong Dollars, Yen or Euros… those are my choices. F**k!

Developing…

Posted in china, chinese, consumer, economy, electronics | No Comments »

Brainstorming Articles To Write… Hmmm…

From Developer’s Notes:

• php i18n tools (e.g., PrimezeroTools, shameless self-promotion)
• using Google Code SVN to share PHP code quickly
• scrum, XP, agile, and sonic-the-hedgehog-style rapid development (wireframes, greenfield, etc.) 
  • spoken today, done tomorrow
  • jetson! where’s my sprockets?
• bikeshed interior decorating
• teaching  _____LIFE_LESSON_HERE_____ using PHP / MySQL
• How Not To Send A Great Technology Crashing And Burning By Endless Infighting

/* –crickets– */
 

Posted in articles, brainstorming, development, php | 1 Comment »

I don’t like the English to Chinese dictionary thing, so why do I write software for it?

Good question.

I am not really focusing on English to Chinese, actually I am focusing on Chinese as the pivot language and allow translators from all over the world to use this application for hopefully better understanding of language and culture.

If we understand each other, then we can have some world peace and quiet.

I am trying to develop a completely new way to provide translation to non-speakers and students learning of Chinese. There is a lot of scribble on the paper so please be patient whilst I bring the ideas from paper to production.

The concept is called the Primezero i18n Terminal. The platform is based on years of user feedback. You can start creating your own translation engine if you want using PrimezeroTools, freely available open source code at my Google Code Site, pzphp.

More details about Primezero i18n Terminal coming soon…

Posted in characters, china, chinese, english chinese dictionary, english to chinese dictionary, hanzi, primezero i18n terminal, primezero terminal | No Comments »

Happy Valentine’s Day in Chinese — qíng rén jié kuài lè — Ok, Now what…?

Wishing someone a Happy Valentine’s Day is nice, but what if you want them to be your valentine? Good question … how do you get that started?

Sample Query: I really like you.

Posted in characters, chinese, from dual, love | No Comments »

Primezero i18n Terminal Character Click Demo

Here is the YouTube clip:

Here is the BlipTV clip:

Posted in characters, china, chinese, chinese dictionary, i18n, primezero, terminal | No Comments »

Overlapping Archetypes In Firefighter Foam Slide

Posted in firefighter, foam, slide, youtube | No Comments »

Awwww, This is Adorable and Cheesy. Perfect.

Posted in youtube | No Comments »

Introducing Primezero i18n Terminal For Professionals, Something New

Posted in character, characters, chinese, chinese dictionary, chinese translation, dictionary, english chinese dictionary, information architecture, language, product development, quality function deployment, search, semantic web, semantics | No Comments »

Where did the 1.6 Billion Dollars Google Paid For YouTube Go?… Really…

I just uploaded a high-resolution video on YouTube:

Looks. Like. Shit.
Google paid 1.6 Billion Dollars for YouTube. WTF?

I posted the same high-resolution video on BlipTV:

• http://blip.tv/file/667384

Clean and readable. Nicely uploaded.

Posted in bliptv, google, video, web 2.0, youtube | No Comments »

My Approach To Troubleshooting Precisely Defined Here

Posted in media, youtube | No Comments »

Semantics of Searching Search on Search Engines

who is using the following names for PHP files? (you’ll be surprised)

• search.php (quite a few)
• find.php (much less than quite a few)
• seek.php (way less than i thought …)
• peruse.php (fohgetaboutit!)

search, i feel is just like shaking a magic-8 ball

find, i feel has more promise

seek, i feel it a quick look around then gives up

peruse? .. like i said, fohgetaboutit. …

Posted in google, search, semantic web, semantics | No Comments »

WordPress Coupon Plugin OR Open Coupon Maker API … OR Both

I started playing around with the idea about using a WordPress blog for journalism and for business. For journalism, the plugins are difficult to design because the “core” code continues to change.

Relatively stable would be Joomla, where the core does not change all that much, but the extension do cause conflicts from time to time … (which reminds me, WordPress and Joomla both need a program similar to Conflict Catcher for Mac OS Classic, ahhh the memories) …

I want to make it as simple as possible to add or update coupons for non-technical clients.

Here’s a screenshot:

Posted in blogging, business, coupon, plugin, wordpress | 12 Comments »

Recently Completed Reading On MIT OCW Language and Mind

MIT OCW Language and Mind

MIT Open Courseware is quite interesting. It levels the playing field. If you take the time to read, you learn what other learn minus the tuition and pressure to do mindless homework assignments.

Recently, I finished Language and Mind.  It is totally awesome!

Nothing further because it doesn’t matter what i say after this. You have the gist of the post and will now move on to another portion of the page and shortly to another website. It’s not your fault. It’ my fault. I haven’t placed your attention as my top priority, so my language is dull and mundane. To scare you way.

Posted in chomsky, language, mind, psychology | No Comments »

This Summarizes My Job Outlook for 2008, Why You Must Buy Some Gold

Listen to this and understand.

Posted in ecommerce, economy, jobs | No Comments »

Add Chinese Character Images To Your Blog Using IMG tag. Easy Cheesy!

You can add HanziBlox, a Chinese Character block image service thingy to your webpage or blog easily by using the IMG tag, with very simple HTML markup. Here is some sample HTML code for your reference:

<img src= http://www.primezero.com/labs/hanziblox/build?h=我>

Give it a try. Cool eh?

Posted in characters, chinese, from dual, hanziblox, product development | No Comments »

Five Applictions To Install On Your Brand New MacBook First and Fast!

The following is a list of the first 5 applications I feel you should install on your MacBook right away.

1. BlackTree’s Quicksilver - so you can clear out your Dock and desktop
2. X11 - so you can run linux apps like Gimp (from your Mac Install DVD 2)
3. Gimp - why use Photoshop when you have GIMP?
4. VLC - to play, copy and translate various file formats
5. Panic’s Transmit - so you can have seamless FTP for you GUI people

Posted in apple, from dual, gimp, macbook, quicksilver, transmit, vlc, x11 | No Comments »

Forgive Me For The Following Neologisms: Pinyintype and Hanzitype

Let me start off by saying: Forgive me for coining terms I have no business coining. however….

• Coin #1: pinyintype
• Coin #2: hanzitype

I have found no other way (yet) to describe romanization and phonetics OR the various Chinese character sets OR several groups of data I have been processing, interpreting and converting in various applications.

Furthermore, this is not directly related to PrimezeroTools. I am just discussing abstract concepts of pinyintypes and hanzitypes.

A pinyintype is any romanization or phonetics used to help a user pronounce a Chinese character in any given dialect.

I am thinking about creating a series of getters and setters (force of habit from writing Java) and allow users to simply move between all the various pinyintypes without effort like we do with typecasting.

• $newtype = (int)$variable;
• $newpinyintype = (zhuyin)$string <— like this? (not too far-fetched)

Hanzitypes describe the various sets and subsets of Chinese characters. Any group of Chinese character can be a hanzitype. For example, you have the simplified character set as a hanzitype. You can switch to traditional characters (ftz) just with this expression:

• $newhanzitype = (ftz)$string;

or back to simplified characters (jtz) with this expression:

• $otherhanzitype = (jtz)$newhanzitype;
  //(difficult because this would be a one-to-many relationship)

or if I want this expression in characters only used in a given culture or context, that would be a hanzitype:

• $context_type = (culture)$otherhanzitype;

Posted in character, chinese, from dual, hanzitype, pinyin, pinyintype | No Comments »

Google Continues Onslaught On Microsoft Office With Spreadsheet Forms Feature, Kills Access and Infopath

Microsoft should be afraid.

No, wait …. Microsoft should be very afraid.

Google Office is nearly complete:

• Google Docs Word Processor - replaces Microsoft Word
• Google Docs Spreadsheets - replaces Microsoft Excel
• Google “Outlook” (Google Calendar + Gmail) - replaces Microsoft Outlook
• GoogleTalk - replaces MSN messenger
• Google Docs Spreadsheet forms - replaces (Microsoft Access Infopath)

Why pay more than free?

Posted in goffice, google, google apps, googletalk, information architecture, microsoft, product development | No Comments »

Adsotrans Unveils New Chinese Annotation Engine, Introduces Improved Input Method For Editors

Adsotrans makes it easy to annotate Chinese articles and read them inline with context.

David’s new engine is faster and click-friendly.

I have added the new link on Primezero Chinese Tools search results.

Sample Query: Happy New Year

Click Adsotrans link to get your annotation.

Click on the characters to reveal an edit window. Neat!

Posted in character, china, chinese, chinese dictionary, chinese translation, english chinese dictionary, from dual, product development | 1 Comment »

Another Recessionary Chain Reaction Begins As Chinese Migrant Workers May Not Return To Factories After Chinese New Year Holiday

It is becoming more likely that several Chinese migrant workers from the rural areas will not return to factories after the Chinese New Year. Reasons may include one or more of the following:

1. Stagnant wages are not meeting inflationary needs in the big cities. It may be cheaper to stay at home to raise pigs and chickens and grow wheat (which is is short supply).
2. Workers in Southern China have been on strike for several weeks and may not want to return to uncooperative factory management, in light of China’s new labour law.
3. Middle class people in Southern China are competing with working class people from Hong Kong and Macau for the same resources (food, water, medicine, housing).
4. Lack of production on the mainland will devastate Hong Kong consumers. Lack of factory/vendor investment will not attract the migrant workers back to the factories. Why?Everyone is playing the stock market.Students are dropping out of school to play stock market. Grandparents are playing the stock market. Parents are playing the stock market.This is an unusually high exposure to “market conditions”, which at some point will decline disorderly when investments banks begin to stop lending money — period. Food is the only thing “produced” in Hong Kong, … well actually it is processed.

Developing…

Posted in china, chinese, economy, finance, recession | 1 Comment »

Thinking of Positive Energies To Relieve Bottleneck at WordPress Forums

Here is something I’m playing with … it’s called “salugi” (try out the quick demo) ..

:)I am  trying to help WordPress users figure out:

1. Where to get help
2. How to self-troubleshoot some stuff before asking for help
3. How to properly ask for help for free on the forums

Well, here are some ideas from the napkin:

Posted in blogging, product development, wordpress | No Comments »

Geezuz Beezus GoogleTalk Smilies Up The Waaazzooooo

Gmail + GoogleTalk is nice.

I keep forgetting the GoogleTalk smilies. So, here is my quick reference sheet.

:- ) .. or .. : ) — happy
: D .. or .. :- D — smile
;- ) .. or .. ; ) — wink
:- ( .. or .. :- ( — sad

:’ ( — crying
:- o — shocked
:- / — grimace (meh …)
x- ( — angry

>.< — doh! (wince)
:- | — speechless
B- ) — cool
:- P .. or .. : P — pbpbbbbbtttt (tongue)

<3 — love
< /3 — broken heart
}:-) — devil
+/’\ — ring that bell!

\m/ — rock on, dude ~ ~
:(|) — monkey
;^) — pointy nose wink
=) — very happy smile

EDIT (apr 11 2008):

:(:) — piggie

:-* — kiss or kissing

Posted in blogging, from dual, google, googletalk, googletalk smilies, smilies | 1 Comment »

PrimezeroTools Chinese Dictionary Plugin Overview Now Online

As a capstone to my milestones, I like to create PowerPoint presentations.

(Geez, what a geek).

There is something quite Zen-like when developing with PowerPoint on Google Docs. Simple yet just what I need.

They give me a chance to reflect on the product description and whether I met the basic requirements of a project. Under 10 slides of course — 9 to be exact. I just wanted to explain PrimezeroTools and cast it as a Chinese dictionary plugin. I was going to say “helper class”, but that is not as smooth as “plugin” … however plugin is WAY overused today like FRAMEWORK … *shivers dow