Bytes and Bites - Tech, Internet, How Tos, Reviews, Food and Life

Top 10 Must-Downloads of 2007

Written by Christopher Kia on 5:19 AM

If you have always wondered which applications or softwares are a must to download for your PC, well, here are my picks! For more information on the following softwares, simply google it in the search box provided in this blog ;)

1. Mozilla Firefox
- The best Internet browser I've ever used. I must say I am an Internet browser junkie, having tested the likes of Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari for Windows and even the good ol' Netscape Navigator, but Mozilla Firefox is the only browser that has brought my Internet browsing to another level :). It's much faster, safer, more customizable and its tab browsing is really very convenient. It's FREE too! So if you are still using good ol' Internet Explorer, try Mozilla Firefox today and see its wonders for yourself! Download link on the right sidebar of this blog

2. avast! Antivirus
- A very good antivirus software. It has never failed to detect a virus in my computer and it doesn't eat up your computer's resources like Norton or McAfee Antivirus. Another great FREE software.

3. Windows Live Messenger
- Need I say more? ;) Currently the most widely used instant messenger. I remember how it killed off the ICQ "uh-oh" days.

4. WinRAR
- Nowadays many files are not only archived and compressed in the .zip format, but also in the .rar format. WinRAR is better than WinZip as it handles both .zip and .rar files.

5. Nero Burning Rom
- How could you not let Nero burn your CDs? It has never disappointed me. Oh btw did you know that it got its name literally from the phrase 'Nero (a Greek character) Burning Rome'?

6. Adobe Reader 8 (a.k.a. Adobe Acrobat Reader)
- .pdf files are very commonly used and their reader only gets better and better. I use it a lot to view my university lecture notes and documents.

7. Windows Media Player 10 with DivX support
- Though I hate Internet Explorer, its brother Windows Media Player is my favourite media player especially for videos. Great for watching Heroes ;) DivX is a popular video format, more popular than the .wma format.

8. Ad-Aware 2007 Free
- This is ESSENTIAL for you to detect and remove adware and spyware from your computer from time to time. Your computer and internet will be less secure if you allow adware and spyware to accumulate.

9. LimeWire
- My favourite program to look for my favourite music :)

10. BitComet
- To cap it off, this torrent client is my favourite as it is very user-friendly and speedy! Sze Liang introduced this program to me and I've not changed torrent clients since.

There you go! My Top 10 must-downloads for this year. What are your favourite programs or downloads?

Happy New Year 2008 everyone!!!

The Art of Bargaining

Written by christine on 2:34 AM

let me start by enticing you with the products first! :) so u know i'm not buying cip-lak, ugly, cheapskate stuffs.

a very reliable method, learned from first-hand experience under a respectable si-fu -> my mom! hehe..

you will not be cheated anymore. moneyback guaranteed!

3 rules to follow:
1. never stay too long in one stall/shop. unless you want to kena marah.
2. only ask 2 questions if you're interested in the item. how much? what is your best price? after that, leave! [ask with the intention to expect a 50% slash (at least)]
3. don't bother asking for size/new stock if you just want to "see", and not buy.

ok, let me give you an actual scenario...

say, for instance, my bag. the moment i set my eyes on it, i knew it was what i've been looking for all along! nevermind the fact it has no brand :P

i walk past a shop..

me: eh uncle, how much is the bag?
seller: 280! very cheap! real leather you know? whips out a cigarette lighter and demonstrates that it is "fire-proof"..
me: ahh, best price please?
seller: ok la, for you. 200!
me: ok thks! i'll go look arnd first.

walk away, don't even look back. this is where the magic starts...

seller: ok 180..
me:*walks 5 steps*
seller: ok ok!!! 150! last price!! very cheap already!!
me:*goes on walking feeling triumphant and makes a mental note to come bck later because i'm actually quite happy with the price already*
seller: tell me how much you want la. i give! ok, my last offer, 120!
me:*punches fist into the air, makes a little u-turn, and buy the bag!* mission accomplished!

this is after i kena marah from don't know how many stalls because i'm afraid to "offend" them, and i shopped as if i was in a shopping complex, trying everything i want and see.. but i realize that's not the way street market works. the hard way.. my mom taught me the better way, but after she let me try out on my own. so.. don't learn it the hard way! now that you know how to.

happy bargaining.. comes with practice though :)

you can try out your skills at places like petaling street, low yat, bugis street etc. please don't do it in cK or DKNY or something like that. it doesn't work :P

I Am Officially A Pig

Written by Christopher Kia on 8:10 PM

I write this post upon waking up from my SECOND nap of the day. I woke up at 12.30 p.m. today, went to brunch with my dear parents at Beaufort Restaurant (they serve the best Beaufort Mee! A specialty mee found only in Sabah!). Upon reaching home after brunch, I slept on the couch while watching TV! Then I was awaken by my mum who called me to pick her up from her facial treatment center. We went to buy 'Polo Buns' at Kedai Kopi 10 before heading back home. I ate another TWO 'Polo' Buns before sleeping on the couch again watching TV! Mind me, the time interval between the brunch and the 'Polo Buns' was only two hours. So I am officially a pig now! Dinner in an hour's time! *Snort*

Top 10 Moments of My Life 2007

Written by Christopher Kia on 12:12 AM

They have got to be (in no particular order):

1. Being able to study in Adelaide with my dear Christine :)

2. Touching down in Adelaide for the first time. It was a hot, burning morning! We (Christine, Su Chuen, Stephanie, Shiau Cern, Rahul and I) were greeted with a 40°C morning! That aside, Adelaide felt like home to me eventhough I have not been there before.

3. Being able to be part of Paradise Community Church!

4. Being admitted into hospital for appendicitis. How I diagnosed myself the night before with confirmation from Christine dear and Dr. Jason Chan (my good friend who was so nice to give me a lift to the hospital...thanks man!). Christine dear even gave me a special blackhead removal treatment while I was lying in bed waiting for the doctors to attend to me in the Emergency Department. My nose was shining clean after that! :D I even watched UEFA Champions League Semifinals 2007 Liverpool vs. Chelsea in my hospital bed at 3 a.m. in the morning after the surgery. How unforgettable is that!!

5. Hearing Ps. Michael Rowan speak. He has taught me and made me realized that to be happy in life is to be true to yourself. Simple yet we forget sometimes. He wears bling-bling! Exceptional one-of-a-kind speaker!

6. Life Group! Being part of it IS being part of a caring, loving and truthful closely-knitted family who sticked and will stick with me through thick and thin. You guys rock! Thank you Jia Ching and Ernestine for being such great Life Group leaders!

7. Getting so many pimples on my face for the first time in my life! (*Chris nods in total agreement with himself)

8. My first trip back home in June after my surgery and mid-year exam. I've been studying away from home for almost 4 years now and that was the first time I felt so homesick that I decided to fly back for my mid-year break.

9. Passing my 4th year exam! (*everyone nods in total agreement)I'm through to 5th year! Thank God for His grace!

10. Basketbaaalllllllllll in Adelaide! Every single moment was an effective stress-reliever!

2008 is going to be a great year for me :).

*Mini Project* I'm compiling 50 top moments in 2007 by 50 people for my future post. Tell me ONE unforgettable moment you had in 2007 by posting it in the comments and it may appear in my future post!! Pictures can be sent to my email as well! Help me complete this project now!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Written by Christopher Kia on 1:13 AM

We've heard that Christmas is a time to give and a time to call up friends and family members to wish them a merry Christmas and also a great year ahead. We've even heard that Christmas is a time for Santa Claus and presents, but do we really know the true meaning of Christmas? Christmas is the birth day of our Saviour Jesus Christ who humbled Himself to come down to earth so that He could be with us. He has come to give us hope, peace, joy and most importantly an eternal life! That's the true meaning of Christmas! In the midst of celebration during this festive season with family and friends, remember that 2007 years ago, baby Jesus was born in a humble manger :). Merry Christmas everyone!

I will be talking about my Top 10 Must-Downloads for 2007 and also my Top 10 food and moments in 2007 in the days to come! Stay tuned and come back for updates!

Avoiding Spam - Be Spammi-Cautious

Written by Christopher Kia on 8:11 PM

NO, not THIS SPAM :)

Tired of getting increasing amount of spam (also notoriously know as junk mail) in your inbox? Well, I've got two great tips for you :)

Spammers reach us when:
1) we show our email addresses publicly on a website or blog; spammers use their software (known as bots) to automatically search the web for publicly listed email addresses and starts spamming their preys!
Hot Tip 1: Never show or post your email address(es) publicly on your blog
or websites.

2) we submit our email addresses to websites which did not promise that our submitted email addresses will not be given out to third parties, which may often by spammers.
Hot Tip 2: Be cautious when submitting your email address to any websites. I understand that it is sometimes unavoidable and that it is necessary to to do so e.g. for subscription of a service or to verify that your email address is valid, that is why it is important that you trust the websites before trusting them with your email address. Some websites guarantee a spam-free email submission. Another great tip is to notice how the website asks for your email. Websites with a lot of advertisements, pop-ups and products/services subscription offers should make you more suspicious when submitting your email address to them as they are great candidates to be spammers.

Be spammmi-cautious everyone :). Oh btw, subscription to my blog is 100% spam-free, guaranteed!

How To Create A Sitemap for Blogger To Work With Google Webmaster Tools

Written by Christopher Kia on 8:55 PM

Hello peeps, welcome to my first how-to article :). This article is for those who are using Blogger to blog, Feedburner for their feeds and wish to add their blog to Google Webmaster Tools for better indexing and site visibilty on Google. In simpler terms, by adding your site/blog to Google Webmaster Tools, your site/blog will be more 'visible' in Google search results when user searches are related to items or articles in your blog. Conventionally, a sitemap is a .xml file that you have to create for Google Webmaster Tools so that Google can 'better understand' your articles and track links in your site and hence better index or list them under its search results. By using Blogger to post your articles, you are not hosting your own site and as a result you cannot create a .xml sitemap file to be uploaded to Google Webmaster Tools. However, you can use the feed URL for your blog as a sitemap for your blog. Sounds hard? I thought it was initially, until I got my blog indexed in less than an hour :).

To index your blog under Google to improve site visibilty and traffic to your blog, just follow these steps: (credits to Timothy Broder)

1. Use Feedburner to create feeds for your blog. Create an account in Feedburner and add your blog to it. Identify your Feedburner feed URL. For e.g. my feed URL for this blog is http://feeds.feedburner.com/bytesandbites

2. Now add your Feedburner feed URL to Blogger. In Blogger's Dashboard, go to Settings > click on Site Feed > then add your feed URL in "Post Feed Redirect URL"

3. Next, sign in to Google Webmaster Tools with your Google Account and add your blog to it. Next, Click on Sitemaps in the sidebar > Add Sitemap. Choose "Add General Web Sitemap" and under "My Sitemap URL is:", ADD THE FOLLOWING VALUE:

rss.xml?orderby=updated in the box after
http://yourblognamehere.blogspot.com/

For e.g. http://bytesandbites.blogspot.com/rss.xml?orderby=updated

4. That's it! You have now successfully submitted your blog's sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools. After Google has successfully indexed your blog, your sitemap status should change from 'Pending' to 'OK' under Sitemaps > Overview. Be patient as this process may take a while.

Have a good weekend everyone :)

A Quick One For University of Adelaide Students

Written by Christopher Kia on 5:41 PM

1. Did you know that..as a University of Adelaide student, you are not only entitled to free coffee and unlimited supply of drinking water (from the water dispenser, of course) but also a free download (100% legal) of McAfee Antivirus software for your personal computer? All you have to do is fill in a form to verify that you are a University of Adelaide student and you are ready to download the software! Get it now if you do not have an antivirus software installed! Hey, it's free! Get it here. Alternatively, use the ever popular and my all time favourite, free Avast! antivirus.

2. For MBBS Students, results are now out on Access Adelaide, and you can check your bands in the MLTU website under 'Course Assessment'.

3. I had a great first year as a University of Adelaide student! All thanks to my IMU mates and my new batchmates who are ever friendly and helpful! You guys rock ;)!

chinese = food?

Written by christine on 2:07 AM

guest blogger signing in :P

after all these years, being Chinese (albeit Malaysian), I've come to realize that FOOD plays a very important role in our culture! we always find a reason to get together and eat... whether it's chinese new year, new addition to the family, birthdays, festivals (eg. mid-autumn, winter solstis etc.) or simply just for the fun of it...

being a true chinese (ie. big FOOD enthusiast), i thoroughly enjoyed my recent HongKong trip for reasons none other than the excellent food (not to mention variety) that pleased me, gastronomically speaking!! and of course, the shopping too. haha.. but that's another topic altogether.. :P

So if you're heading to Hong Kong anytime soon, here are my top recommendations:

mIRC Days Way Over?

Written by Christopher Kia on 5:05 AM

Is mIRC 'obsolete' nowadays? Well, it probably is to most with the likes of newer and fancier instant messengers like Windows Live Messenger (better known as MSN Messenger). Today, I'm going to tell you a very good reason why it is still worth downloading and keeping this handy internet relay chat client around on your desktop. Though it may not appeal to most people as a chatting client anymore, it can still be used to get real time technical support and help for just about anything related to your computer from a group of experts who have happily volunteered themselves to answer any of your technical problems. To do so, simply connect to any DALnet server and head on to the channel #windows95 where you can start asking questions. It's like a call-for-help line. I've been using this untold feature of mIRC for a long time now and I must say the guys in the channel rarely disappoint, if ever. How often can you get free, real time and interactive technical help?

Change In UK Registration Framework For Doctors

Written by Christopher Kia on 3:07 PM

I can't help it but to announce this to the world! The General Medical Council of the United Kingdom has apparently abolished the registration criteria which was previously heavily criticised by international doctors and medical graduates, as of 19th October 2007. Before this, the criteria gave doctors from the EU countries preference for jobs and specialist training programs over international doctors and medical graduates. It has been heavily criticised ever since as it has left international doctors fleeing to other countries in search of jobs and also medical students like me to deter from studying in the UK in view of bleak future prospects. Quoting from the GMC's website - 'The GMC introduced a new registration framework on 19 October 2007. Key changes include the abolition of limited registration and the introduction of approved practice settings. The aim is to assure public protection and equality of treatment for doctors – and to make our registration system clearer for patients and employers'. Definitely good news for those who are thinking of practicing in the UK :), for the moment.

Hello World!!

Written by Christopher Kia on 4:22 AM

Hello World!! I'm officially a blogger now :). This humble little site is created by Christine and I with a sole purpose to share our lives and passions with everyone. You can expect geeky posts regarding technology; what's cool and what's not, from me :P. Do come back frequently for more updates!! Lastly, do help us improve on this site with your comments :)