I.N: A rating based on age

According to BBC News, UK was considering giving websites ratings as what countries would do to movies. It is to ensure that Children would be protected from content that is deemed undesirable for them. In the report, UK Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said that “clearer signposting” is required for the “confusing (online) world”.

The move is definitely a pertinent one. Many could see it happening in the near future. In fact, I think no one expects the internet content to go relatively unregulated for long. In fact, I am sure that many other countries are considering the same kind of measures. The only limiting factor is the implementation and its reception.

I really wonder how effective such a implementation would be. The most a site can do would be to display the rating prominently on their sites. After that, whether or not the person acknowledges the rating is a whole different matter. In fact, there may be reverse psychology invovled (as in movie ratings), where the young, seeing a rating which advices them not to enter would be more likely to enter the website.

Furthermore, it is hard for a single country to get jurisdiction on any website that is hosted in servers out of its own soil… A solution to that would be to implement a ISP level proxy filtering for sites that are not conforming to their rating systems or modify the websites by adding the ratings before serving up the pages. I am sure many would provide a leeway for this without protesting or using the old “deprivation of human choice/rights” argument against this…

I think ultimately, the best move would be develop something like a plug-in for web browsers, leaving the choice of whether to be filtered to the end users.

Merry Christmas 2008

To everyone out there, today is the day for festivities and celebrations!

A Very Merry and Joyous Christmas to all

God bless you’all. =)

Cheers!

Movie: Twilight (2008)

It was with much anticipation that I went to watch “Twilight” in the cinemas and I left it with very mixed feelings.

Twilight Movie Poster

A little background: Based on the wildly popular book series written by Stephanie Meyer,  Twilight is a tale about the forbidden romance between a mortal (Bella Swan) and a Vampire (Edward Cullen).  When Bella’s mother remarries, she moves to Forks to live with her father. Attending the school there, she meets Edward and his family who have a foreboding presence and are all too gorgeous to be true. Bella finds herself wondering why he has a seemingly immediate disdain for her, and this curiosity eventually leads to her falling “unreservedly” and “irrevocably” in love with him.

In the movie: Starring Kristen Stewart (as Bella Swan) and Robert Pattinson (as Edward Cullen) doesn’t really deviate much from the book which would statisfy fans of the book series. Both Stewart and Pattinson are not new faces to the movie scene, with Stewart having starred in the “Panic Room” (2002) as Sarah Altman and Pattinson having starred in “Harry Potter” movies as Cedric Diggory.

While the overall result of the movie may satisfy extremely devoted fans, I feel disappointed in how the show played out especially when compared to the book. Though I understand the need for cuts from the book to fit into the budget and time constraints of a movie, the way this movie was set, the mood and the choice of cuts to the plot really made the it lose the appeal that the book have.  Thus, the movie may do little in getting more people interested in the book.

Much of my displeasure seems to stem from the fact that the movie has been too hyped about, especially after the success of the book. Moreover, the way the book was written made the characters  (like the Cullens) too perfect, which made it hard to actually get perfect real life characters. Moreover, character portrayal was somewhat inconsistent with the book, with Bella seemingly more confident than Edward (and sometimes paler than him).

Though I am displeased with this movie (and really hoping that the follow-up: “New Moon” would be better…), the local newspapers here have reported that there are some fans who actually watched the show more than once, with one girl watching it 10 times in two different countries. So, I can’t really say it was totally bad…

Overall Notes:

The good…

• Carlisle was shown as expected
• Charlie acted his part and actually gave a refreshing touch to the movie.
• James acted his part
• Alice was gorgeous
• Screenplay was good for such a small budget.
• The ending of the movie was a saving feature for the movie as it closed the first part of this Twilight series quite well, though it would be better if Bella threw as big as a fit as in the book. She seemed quite agreeable to Prom compared to the book.

and the Bad…

• Plot progression was OK at best.
• Didn’t like the lighting in certain scenes.
• hmm.. I thought Jessica Stanley has lots of question for Bella after seeing her and Edward together after Prom shopping?
• At Bella’s house, Edward seems more furious than restrained, especially at Bella’s reaction to the kiss.
• There were moments where Edward asks questions out loud which should have been answered by his mind reading.
• Edward in the sun (and in fact, any of the Cullens) was suppose to be spectacular.. But the movie was not even close. It only showed him glittering (like he had dipped himself in glitters).
• On screen chemistry between Edward and Bella wasn’t as profound as in the book. Though this point has to be overlooked somewhat as we can’t really expect a total replication of feelings from the book.
• Supporting characters like Angela and Jessica didn’t really get enough screen time, though that can be overlooked also due to movie constrains.

The above only represents my view. In fact, the only few things my friend and I could agree on was that the casting of Ashley Greene (as Alice Cullen) and Peter Facinelli (as Carlisle Cullen) was 2 things that the movie got right.

(This post was updated on 23/12/08)

FTI: Freeware, Shareware and now Guiltyware

Was just having my daily dose of Google Reader… Took longer than usual to clear my feed items today… The picture shows why…

Overload

Anyway, that’s not the main point. I came across this article about “Guiltyware” on Digital Inspiration Blog. It seems to be a rather interesting concept. Instead of locking up the software, the software will accept the pirated key and tries to appeal to the user’s guilty conscience as shown in the screen shot taken off DI:

You should be ashamed

This approach is definitely more subtle in nature and may even be more effective… it can be likened to talking to a child/person as to why they have done wrong rather than scolding them. However, the true effectiveness of such an approach is too dependent on the person sitting in front of the computer screen… In my opinion, if the software developer, by doing that, is able to convert a “hand-countable” number of people from pirates to full-payers, then this approach of appealing to the pirate’s “guilt” can be considered as successful, especially if you consider that these were already “lost sales”. Kudos to the developer.

I.N: Increasing Net Crimes

I read this CNET article stating that web site-based crimeware is hitting all-time high.. I must add that I am definitely not surprise by this development.

An excerpt from the article:

“The number of URLs with hidden code for stealing passwords nearly tripled between July 2007 and July 2008, to a record high of 9,529, while the number of malicious-application variants hit a high of 442 this May, the APWG reports in its quarterly report (PDF) issued this week.”

With the current generation all internet connected and the older generation starting to move online, with more seeing it as an avenue to connect, it is not surprising that the percentage of crimeware would increase.

As population increases, I a proportional increase in the number of online crime would be expected. However, I think that this does not mean that more people are turning to crime, rather, the increase in online population is an incentive for current perpetrators of online crime to become more active. With more people online, the chances of having someone fall prey to them would increase. Furthermore, according to the CNET article, the current recession is also making things worse…

So what should we do? I guess the usual “do not be click happy with our mouse” applies as well as always. With online applications become more sophisticated, direct attacks (some of which are quite simple in methods) like SQL injections would become increasingly common.

In the end, I guess our best option is to hope that developers test out their applications thoroughly enough, and trust our own intuition when it comes to submitting information online…

Opinion: Desk Space and Time

In this age where online space and computer space are relatively easy to come by, many fail to see the need to clean up the access files. Sometimes, our habits from our virtual life “overflow” to our real, physical life, resulting in a very messy physical desk space.

I too, fall prey to such untidiness sometimes. Weirdly enough, I think my Windows desktop (screenshot) is more organized than my physical desktop (no pictures here). It’s much simpler to clear your virtual clutter compared to real life. You could just drag your unwanted files in your virtual desk space to the “Recycle Bin” (with a click of the mouse), as compared to the real world, where physical work is needed to compile, bag and dispose your stuff at a common bin somewhere outside your house. Sigh… I guess these are nothing but mere excuses. Just for the record, I do clear up my physical desk space once every two months while my virtual desktop about once to twice a month.

On that note, I wanted to highlight the following montage, which consist of photos taken from a BBC News “picture showcase” on chaotic work spaces…

Cluttered Desktop Collage (Original Images from BBC News Website)

Looking at those pictures, I really wonder how they manage to work with that kind of environment. I can honestly say that though I am not an extremely tidy freak, I definitely would not reach that degree of cluttered-ness. I would lose my sanity working through that….

Reading the write-up on each of the pictures, one common factor among all of them is the lack of  “Time”. Needing more time is definitely an issue every one of us have to grapple with. In certain occasions, I do wish that I would have more time… But, its my opinion that, the act of wishing for more time is actually a sign that my time management needs more work…

What do you think?

[via BBC News]

FTI: Gmail As Task Management

Adding a task management list is definitely one of the most requested feature of Google Mail.

Up till now, users have had to resort to workarounds like emailing themselves with  “+notes” attached to the end of their user name, setting filters and labels, or using third party applications like Remember the Milk for task management integration. Thus,  the introduction of a “Tasks” in Gmail Labs is a much awaited news for many.

However, its worth a note that the new lab feature is far from a full featured task management service, YET. As quoted from the Official Gmail Blog its a

“lightweight way to keep track of what you need to do, right from within Gmail.”

Therefore, it would probably be more suitable for people with simpler task management needs. I am sure that, by the time its fully released from labs, it would be featuring more functions like sync options or integration with Google Calendar. With that said, I must add that Tasks in Gmail is still in development and has no guaranteed release. However, I am quite sure that this feature has a high chance of reaching release status due to its popularity. For now, if there is any feature you think may improve the service, users can suggest it at Gmail’s Task listing in Google Groups.

One of the features of this new lab feature is the conversion of email to tasks: select one or more messages and go to “More Actions” and then “Add to Tasks” (Or turn on keyboard shortcuts and use + t). The interface feels a lot like Gmail’s Chat feature, allowing you to “pop-in” or “pop-out” when needed.

Check out the Official Gmail Blog for screen-shots, or try it out by enabling “Tasks” in the  “Labs” tab of the “Settings” page in Gmail.

[via Official Gmail Blog]