HTNet - A Notepad of Tech, Business, Science and Self Improvement

comScore has released what it calls as a comprehensive review of Internet usage behaviour. The study covers ten countries in the Asia Pacific region.

One of the most interesting bit of information presented by the report is that Asians overwhelmingly frequent Yahoo! sites more than Google ones. Out of the ten countries surveyed, Yahoo! ranks number one in Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.

Aussies, Kiwis and Chinese prefer Microsoft domains.

An interesting thing to note is the fact that in South Korea, the most Internet-enabled country in the survey, NHN Corporation web sites are the most visited, followed by Lycos and Microsoft sites. Lycos?! Who would’ve known!

The survey also shows that Malaysia has a 45% Internet penetration rate. Not bad, right? But it could definitely be better, especially when Singapore has 58% and Australia 62%.

I was reading Coding Horror’s How to Clean Up a Windows Spyware Infestation, and it struck me as surprising that someone of Jeff’s calibre could get himself in such a situation. However, I’m very appreciative of the fact that he shared his experience.

I have done a few Windows XP installations for friends as well, and I would like to share a two tips to make the process less painful:

1. Always perform the installation offline! Do not even connect to your local network
2. Always have a Windows Protector USB Toolkit in hand

In case you’re wondering why you should be performing a Windows XP installation without having an active Internet connection, you might want to read this article. Apparently, an Internet connected fresh Windows XP installation could be infected by malware in as soon as 12 minutes!

And what about the Windows Protector USB Toolkit thing? Well, that’s just a fancy name for a thumbdrive that has essential Windows applications that will help your installation be more secure.

Read the rest of What You Should Have In Your Windows Protector USB Toolkit »

One of the wonderful things about FOSS is that anyone can use it in any way whatsoever. A good example would be web applications. This has always been a forte of open source software.

Love it or hate it, Apache is the de-facto web server software; PHP and Perl are established web scripting language (Ruby and Python are also gaining web credibility at a very quick pace); and MySQL is very much a synonym for “web database”. One thing worth noting is that all of the software named above, runs on Microsoft Windows as well.

With this in mind, Mårten Mickos (CEO of MySQL AB), reminded Microsoft that it should work with, rather than against, the Open Source movement. By taking an anti-Open Source approach, Microsoft risks sacrificing developer support and credibility among customers - even Windows loyalists:

According to Mickos: “If you won’t work with MySQL, PHP and Ruby then you are lost - that’s always been our message.”

Microsoft is clearly aware it must ensure open source languages, middleware and applications run just as well on Windows as Windows-only languages, middleware and applications, otherwise open source developers will deploy on Linux.

As such, Microsoft has technology deals with SugarCRM, Zend Technologies, JBoss (now part of Red Hat) and Novell, while it’s devised versions of Python and Ruby for the .NET Framework. MySQL, meanwhile, last year joined Microsoft’s Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) program and developed a Visual Studio plug in for developers building applications for its database.

There’s plenty of scope left to help developers using Visual Studio for MySQL and to improve data, analytics and application interoperability between MySQL, SQL Server and other Microsoft server and Office applications.

I finally found out what the “mystery product” from Microsoft is: Microsoft Surface. It doesn’t come cheap though, expect to cough up between US$5,000 and US$10,000. So what is this “surface computer” thingy from Microsoft?

Microsoft Surface, which has a 30-inch display under a hard-plastic tabletop, allows people to touch and move objects on screen for everything from digital finger painting and jigsaw puzzles to ordering off a virtual menu in a restaurant.

It also recognizes and interacts with devices placed on its surface, so cell phone users can easily buy ringtones or change payment plans by placing their handsets on in-store displays, or a group of people gathered round the table can check out the photos on a digital camera placed on top.

The world’s largest software maker said it will manufacture the machine itself and sell it initially to corporate customers, deploying the first units in November in Sheraton hotels, Harrah’s casinos, T-Mobile stores, and restaurants.

Cool, eh? This will probably be the first generation of those computers you see in Minority Report.

A family from Illinois is suing Microsoft, claiming that an XBox 360 overheating power supply sparked a fire that killed their infant son:

According to the suit, the wiring that connected the Xbox 360 to an electrical outlet became so hot that it started a “catastrophic” fire at a house in Warsaw, Illionis. The victim, an infant named Wade Kline, died in the inferno.

“The fire was a direct and proximate result of the overheating of the game’s power supply and wiring,” claims the lawsuit, which was filed in State Circuit Court in Illinois. Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and an unnamed power-supply maker have been named in the suit.

Hmm… what an event to preceed Microsoft’s planned launch of a “mystery product”. Perhaps the mystery product is a fireproof power supply unit for the XBox 360