含蓄的张扬

The new Macbook Pro has been released not long ago. There are a few problems I have noticed and listed in the following:

Problem No1. Automatic graphic card switching.

The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro models come standard with two graphic cards — Intel HD (low performance and low energy consumption) and Nvidia Geforce 330m (more powerful but more energy consumption). Both computers support automatic graphics switching. Quote from apple official website "It’s a breakthrough technology from Apple that switches graphics processors on the fly to give you performance when you need it." and "MacBook Pro transfers the workload between the powerful discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor and integrated Intel HD Graphics so seamlessly, you won’t even notice." But when I start to notice which graphic card I'm using. I am surprised that I'm always using the Nvidia card (which is the high performance one) simply because I have skype (and some times 1Password) open. I don't see why skype is a graphic intensive application nor 1Password. Common apple, if you cannot implement such function correctly, at least give users the option. My guess: the graphic switching function is implemented depend on whether an application use some part of the API. If it does turn on the NV graphic card, otherwise use Intel. This is not smart, and not a smart judge if an application is graphic intensive.

Now gfxCardStatus v1.6.1 has a experimental function that force the graphics card switching, which is good news.

Here is a incomplete list of applications that triggers the Nvidia Graphic card:

Tweetie
HyperSpaces
Skype
iWeb
iMovie
GarageBand
Parallels 5 Desktop
Microsoft Office 2004
Microsoft Office AutoUpdate daemon
RapidWeaver
PathFinder
Mathematica
Warp
Droplr
1Password
Clips
NetNewsWire
Koolclip
AppZapper
uTorrent

You can find complete discussions of this issue from apple support forum and macrumors.

Problem No2. Auto Sleep

I have noticed that sometimes the auto sleep for display or computer is broken. The system does not sleep when it is supposed to be. E.g. I set the auto display and system display to 1 minute, after half an hour, the display or computer still wouldn't sleep. After a bit of experimenting we found that this may be caused by running a full screen mode application (e.g. Need For Speed, World of Warcraft).

Problem No3. Trackpad Scroll Momentum

The new macbook pro came with a new feature called momentum scrolling. I like this idea in iPhone, because we have limited screen. Glad Apple have the option to turn this off. However, everytime I restart the computer, the momentum scrolling function are back on. It just won't go away! Of course I can turn it off manually every time after restart, but it is really annoying. Please have it fixed apple!

Google left China “中国政府表示拒绝政治化的Google，Google拒绝了一个政治化的互联网”

Google published the blog entry “A new approach to China: an update”. Then google.cn are rerouted to Hong Kong domain. After google quits, Wikipedia founder praised Google over China decision and called on other major U.S. companies, including Microsoft and Facebook, to follow. Some domain name registrars stops registering .cn domain names, this comes after the Chinese government has demanded that the registrar provide photo identification, business identification and physically signed registrar for all .cn domains.

Some blog posts in China about Google left China had been either deleted or the site entirely blocked by the Great Fire Wall.

The reactions of Chinese government: China defends censorship, plays down Google harm on US ties.

The Chinese official press: Google breaks promise, totally wrong to stop censoring .

Opinion: Google’s China decision ignores conventional wisdom.

Mean while, a new so called “sacred creature” has been created in the Chinese internet 古鸽, which follows 草泥马.

Apple/Mac

If you’re a firefox user, but envy the elegant and clean interface of safari, you can use this GrApple, which is a firefox extension to make it more “Safari-look”.

If you really need the audio or video chat in MSN and you are using a Mac. Now Microsoft Messenger for Mac 8 beta adds A/V chats.

Personally, I don’t like Apple’s newly introduced iPad. At least there is no use for me. But when will Apple update the MacBook Pros? one MacRumors reader emailed Steve Jobs directly about concerns about how long he’s had to wait for the new MacBook Pro updates. Jobs responded with a short replay that simply said “Not to worry“.

Ubuntu and Open Source

Switched from Ubuntu to Mac some time ago. I still miss a lot of features Ubuntu offer. This looks promising: Hands-on: Ubuntu One music store will rock in Lucid Lynx.

Education

Harvard puts lectures, podcasts and more on iTunes U — I really love iTunes U. Not only Harvard, but many top Universities (e.g. Stanford University) have put their lectures online for FREE!

Other

A Real Boston Duck Tour — This is cute and funny.

Arena Patio Furniture — Would you like to seat on the Bird’s Nest Statium?

PHD Comics: The Box — PhD candidates may found this fun.

Something in China

“通海大地震亲历记” 1970 年云南省通海县发生7.8级大地震，史称“通海大地震”，这是新中国成立以来首次死亡人数超过万人的大地震。“通海大地震”隐匿了三十余年，“云南大旱灾”只隐匿了三个季度，我们的社会在进步么？From Twitter: “RT @王冉: 一个星期前，如果那位云南省委宣传部的明星伍部长利用自己的微博影响力帮助家乡更多的人喝上纯净水，而不是沉浸在与好莱坞合作成一个电影项目的喜悦里，我会更敬重他。//伍皓啊伍皓，你还真是和章子怡有一拼”。

郑渊洁：我从1995年起就不信任疫苗。我小时候好像也打过不少奇怪的疫苗，很庆幸活到了现在。小学的确是一个能捞钱的地方，老师和校方说什么，家长基本上都唯命是从。正像郑昀说得：“生养一个孩子不容易”。

It’s been a long time since I have returned from Seattle, but I have just been very lazy recently. Well that’s my first conference trip, and I am really enjoy it, at least that’s one nice thing about doing PhD or research (going to different nice places and meet different brilliant people).

Seattle is a quiet place, it rains a lot. At least rains a lot during the week I was there. Below is the hotel I live.

There are Microsoft buildings everywhere including this one:

Athenian Seafood, the place they shot “Sleepless in Seattle”:

Me in front of the poster:

We had dinner there

The famous space needle:

The complete set can be found here

Well, today is my last day at Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA). It has been 3 months, 3 months of hard work, 3 months of really hard work. This  afternoon I stopped work to have some fun, surfing the net. I have to say having some relief after hard work is soooo enjoyable… I’ll post some pictures later in this post… enjoy

Update (21/04/2009): I don’t believe that it took this long (5 months) to upload the photos. Well, all I can say is better very late than never ever…

My work station:

My ID:

Me:

The Microsoft STC team has the 1st Windows Live Search with the Chinese Spring Festival background image (a little bit earlier than expected though). You can move your mouse over the 4 hotspots and click the links. Start from today, there will be 30 different images showing great Chinese landmarks, celebration of Chinese New Year.

There is also one site that is special for the 2009 Chinese New Year, looks quite good. It also shows the traffic information for annual “Chun Yun” (春运). Please follow this link (http://2009.cj.live.com/), if you’re interested

Below is a screen shot of the Chinese New Year themed Live search.