Tong Family (richtong.org sync)

As stocks fall around the world, I’m using the Apple OS X default widget from Yahoo. Main issue is you can’t sort the entries and it doesn’t allow you to look at overseas markets. Fortunately, “Maba”:http://maba.wordpress.com/widgets/ adapted a version that uses Yahoo’s international feed and “Qing Wang”:http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/business/chinastockwidget.html has a dedicated Chinese Stock market widget. Powered…

“Outbackphoto”:http://www.outbackphoto.com/CONTENT_2007_01/section_workflow_basics/20071213_ToopTools_2007/ has a good review of phototools on top of the standard Photoshop. I just tried “Photomatix”:http://www.outbackphoto.com/workflow/wf_a106/essay.html and have to say it is easy and amazing. Just get a tripod, take five bracket exposure, then you generate an HDR and map it. Comes out easily. What does it do? Well, it makes really amazing color…

Brett says, the “Western Mountaineering”:http://westernmountaineering.com bags are really the best for light and warm. The “Highlite”:http://www.westernmountaineering.com/index.cfm?section=Products&page=Sleeping%20Bags&cat=ExtremeLite%20Series&viewpost=2&ContentId=16 is an amazing one pound in weight yet works down to 35F is a good example. Or for two pounds, you get the “Alpinlite Super”:http://www.westernmountaineering.com/index.cfm?section=Products&page=Sleeping%20Bags&cat=ExtremeLite%20Series&viewpost=2&ContentId=28 which is two pounds and good to 20F. Powered by ScribeFire.

Well, if your wallet does get stolen, it used to be folks worried about the money in it. Now the game is different, it’s about identify theft. So here’s the check list: # Cancel your credit cards. In the US, every credit card issuer has a cancel number. Do it right away. But in any…

Someone was asking me about sleeping bags. Good reviews are at “Outdoor”:http://outside.away.com/outside/gear/gear.tcl?gear=sleeping-bags&gear_cid=10589 and they have some good synthetic bags including Mountain Hardware UltraLamina 32 for $175 and a three season synthetic bag from North Face called Cat’s Meow. Then there are some bags that are ultra lightweight. For instance, the REI Kilo Flash +40 at…

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The state of the world for “iPhone”:http://www.iphone4world.com/?p=82 firmware is very confusing. The things to understand is that there are three parameters, the version of your firmware (1.0.3, 1.1.1, 1.1.2 and the new 1.1.3) and different versions of the firmware that run the GSM baseband chipset (4.01.xx and 4.02.13_G) and different boot loaders (BOOT03.09_M3S2 and BOOT04.06_M3S2).…

By the way, according to “ParisLemon”:http://www.parislemon.com/2007/11/64-gb-solid-state-drive-macbook-pro.html you don’t have to wait. You can actually get a 64GB solid state drive for any computer. !>http://bp0.blogger.com/_AxkcVrlp8Qc/RzaKagomB1I/AAAAAAAACUo/s9K9FTim0Ho/s400/Picture+4.png! “Ryan Block”:http://www.ryanblock.com/2007/11/the-first-macbook-pro-with-a-64gb-ssd/ cracked a PC with a solid state drive and stuffed the drive into a Macbook Pro. It is too bad that the “Samsung”:http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/08/samsungs-6 4gb-sata-ii-ssd-drive-hands-on/ Solid State Drives aren’t available…

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Finally got this “Fenix L1D-CE”:http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/fenix_l1dce-l2dce.htm from Amazon seller. I have to say it is amazing. It is expensive at $50, but man, is it bright. Nothing like it and it runs for hours on a single AA. Anyone who needs something for emergencies should get it. It is amazing because it uses a Cree XR-E…

When crossing from the US and Canada, you don’t need to have a passport, but you do need an “Enhanced Driver License”:http://dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/edlget.html which is a new identification form. Kind of nice for dummies like me who are always scared that losing a passport means that you are really stuck, so why not get both. Its…

Well, these addresses keep changing, but “wikipedia”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateways has a pretty good list of SMS gateways. The main ones connected directly so for the big US carriers they are: | Carrier | SMS Address | MMS Address | | AT&T | _number_@txt.att.net | _number_@mms.att.net | | T-Mobile | _number_@tmomail.net | | | Verizon | _number_@vtext.com |…

If you love spirographs when you were a kid, you’ll love this program. “Geometry Sketchpad”:http://dynamicgeometry.com is a program that let’s kids understand mathematical relationships. The site has an evaluation copy that you can try. There seem to be quite a few online resources to learn hwo to use it. You get to pay for some…

Hey this is a fun game, identify the places in the world at “Travelpod.com”:http://travelpod.com

We just had one of our computer’s firefox slammed. Somehow a script has taken over and now when you type a legitimate URL, it gets hijacked by onestepsearch.net. Sigh, even with running antivirus and antispyware, it doesn’t matter. You really need to install adblock and noscript and turn on cookie checking int he new internet.…

Yikes, mail to Comcast was just “rejected”:http://www.comcast.net/help/faq/index.jsp?faq=SecurityMail_Policy18628&cookieattempt=1 because it looks like I’ve been sending spam. It is the IP address that is blocked, so it could either be my servers or from the shared server that I used. You have to send a removal request to “www.comcastsupport.com/rbl”:http://comcastsupport.com/rbl. In the mean time, its time to tighten…

With the new Mac Os X 10.5’s backup plus ever more photos I’ve been scanning, I seem to keep needing more hard drives. So what is the latest from “Storage Review”:http://storagereview.com in terms of getting more. Well, the big news is that all of the big vendors, Hitachi, Seagate, Western Digital and Samsung now have…

Hey this is actually a great idea. There are bumper stickers all over town saying, I’m carbon neutral. Basically you buy packages for things like wind farms to have a zero footprint for all your driving, flying and your home. A great idea from “Terrapass.com”:http://terrapass.com. It is way more efficient in truth to offset a…

!>http://www.steves-digicams.com/images7/aa_nimh_batteries.jpg! We’ve had rechargeable batteries for a long time. I mainly use them to run my bicycle flashers, but with the advent of LED flashers, I don’t use them much. The big use we have is for various kids toys and also walkie talkies where AAs and AAAs are in high demand. After five years…

Almost no one I know travels with these things, but I’ve used my jumper cables and also flashlight. The main thing to do as “About.com”:http://cars.about.com/od/adviceforowners/a/ag_winterkit.htm and “Minneapolis.About.com”: http://minneapolis.about.com/cs/transportation/qt/wintercarkit.htm says is to get: # Emergency hazard triangle. Personally I don’t like flares as things are flammable obviously and they have a shelf life. Easy to get…

Well the market for steering wheels and joysticks for the PC has pretty much collapsed. Most folks are using consoles for games like this. I tried to resurrect an old Microsoft Wheel and Joystick, but they use the old analog input with the DB-15 plug. It costs $25 to get a DB-15 Game Port to…

I got the MDX stuck in the snow. I didn’t think it could really happen with a big burly SUV, but that’s learning. It was a little bit of a strange situation. Snowing heavily and I tried to park in a spot that had 2″ of snow. Got stuck because there was ice under the…

!http://photos-356.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v79/6/97/505253356/n505253356_57356_4479.jpg! Skis have gotten fatter and fatter. Five years ago when I bought my first set, the “mid fat” was a very chunky 78mm at the waist (the narrowest part of the ski under your foot). Now you regularly find people with 90mm and wider that you can use for every day and carving. And…

Someone asked me about radar detectors. I’ve actually never gotten one, but have looked over the years, but haven’t had the patience to use them, plus I don’t go fast too much. That being said, the state of the art has really improved. “007radardetectors.com”:http://www.007radardetectors.com/tests.htm runs an annual test and while expensive at $400-500, the very…

I’ve been using “Thule”:http://thuleracks.com for years and Yakima before then. They are both great. Just depends on what you started with. The old !>http://www.thuleracks.com/images/logo.gif! Volvo used Thule, so switched to them a while back. It is hard to get discounts on the stuff, but typically you can get 10% off of list. We’ve used “Rackwarehouse.com”:http://rackwareshouse.com…

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Well, it certainly is snowing and raining a lot in Seattle. Most folks just use the tires that come on their cars, but having dedicated snow and rain tires really make a difference. “Tire Rack”:http://tirerack.com is an amazing source of information about winter tires. For instance, they explain the basics of those crazy “tire size”:http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=46…

If you have a 1.0.2 phone and you click on itunes and take the 1.1.1 or 1.1.2 update, you will unfortunately have a bricked phone that won’t make calls but will work on Wifi. There are a host of ways to fix this, but here are some folks who can help: iPhone 1.1.1 Special Report:…