whitelotus

4G Cell phone and New Era?

whitelotus — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:16:00 GMT

What exactly 4G will bring us? ---- I still can’t figure it out. What do you find in this picture, guys?

4G mobile technology is the name given to the next generation of mobile devices such as cell phones. 4G system is anticipated to revolutionize the functioning of communication networks with comprehensive and secure IP based solution facilitating voice, data and streamed multimedia Anytime, Anywhere and with much higher data transfer rates than its predecessors. Read more…

Generally speaking, high-bandwidth data capability is often accompanied by a greater communication system transmit power. The industry’s concern about the problems caused by electromagnetic radiation in the 3G era will be even more prominent in the 4G system. Moreover, there will be many more problems such as these in the future 4G system. How to technically achieve its function parameters and the effective shielding its drawbacks will be an inevitable challenge for 4G.

OMG, this is way too complicated to find out what will constitute 4G mobile, and what kind of new ear on earth 4G will bring us? Ericsson has described for us: a person’s glasses suddenly flashes a friend’s call, he blinks his eyes, his friend’s face appears on, and then comes his friend’s voice from the glasses legs; simply point with your fingers, signals can be transmitted through the phone on your glove or your home appliances will get well under control immediately; Through the virtual reality equipment (telephones?) on the street, you can look around any attraction or visit remote places…

Mobile phones of the 4G era, whether its form, or function, will have a big difference with the present ones.

From the morphological point of view, 4G phones will be various: It could be a cell phone held in your palm, or a camera, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a pair of glasses, a watch, an earplug, or a pair of gloves, a mask, a wallet, a brooch, or a string of key ring…any paraphernalia we can imagine could become a 4G mobile phone, which will provide us with call and information browsing services.

From the view of function, the intelligent degree of the 4G phones will be pretty high. For example, according to the environment, time and other factors, remind the phone owners timely; multimedia applications will be more extensive, which will not only achieve mobile transactions, mobile downloads, mobile multimedia entertainment, multiplayer video conference, etc. like an 3G mobile phone, but also better meet everyone user’s individual requirements, like helping the user to select a different mobile phone company. In addition, the advantage of the 4G mobile phones is more obvious in speed. For instance, it takes 200mins to download all the music on a CD from the internet through a 3G cell phone, but only takes a few seconds to do so through a 4G cell phone. Wow, how amazing it could be!

Windows 8 to Support 32, 64 or 128-Bit?

whitelotus — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:36:00 GMT

Windows 7 is not even officially released yet; rumors are already circulating about Microsoft’s next OS, Windows 8. One rumor is that Windows 8 will support 128-bit architecture only, dumping 32 and 64-bit compatibility completely based on the linkedin profile of Microsoft employee, Robert Morgan. The profile in question has been taken down, but thanks to Google cache, users can still access it and read info about the 128-bit work done at Microsoft for Windows 8 and Windows 9 right from the source. I believe some of you have read this info on other sites, believe it or not.

Let’s review what he has revealed: “Working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and long term projects. Research & Development projects including 128-bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP, and IBM.

Robert Morgan is working to get IA-128 working backwards with full binary compatibility on the existing IA-64 instructions in the hardware simulation to work for Windows 8 and definitely Windows 9.”

Okay, he is working in a "high security" dept. at MSFT; this info tells us exactly what he is doing there? WOW! However, I still don’t think Microsoft have fully unlocked the potential of 64-bit software. It’s true that AMD and Intel are working on 128-bit chips; this is something that’s been out there for a while now. But Windows 8 can’t possibly be 128-bit only or else it will become a nightmare when you consider that you have to maintain compatibility with 32-bit applications.

Windows 7 still features its editions both in 32-bit and 64-bit and it’s the fact that almost every modern processor supports 64-bit computing. More important, this is to maintain compatibility with older software primarily in Microsoft’s business market. XP Mode, the virtualization plug-in that allows you to run older software in a licensed copy of XP, goes some way towards addressing this and many people are hoping that 32-bit support will be dropped from Windows 8 completely. Unfortunately, it can’t happen, because you need hardware virtualization support on the motherboard to make XP Mode work for you, but nowhere near have motherboards supported this yet. By the time Windows 8 comes out (probably in 2011 or 2012) it might be possible that all motherboards will, but still they can’t guarantee this will happen.

Also, you can’t seriously expect everyone, especially the notoriously slow to upgrade corporations to abandon their 32-bit hardware. Are vendors and developers going to have to support 3 versions of their programs? GOD knows.

In my endless search with both Google and Bing, I found most rumors were about “Windows 7 only supports 128-bit”, which all came about due to Morgan’s story. Well, it seems pretty pointless to me. Most people will still only just be going with 64-bit, and will not really need so much RAM in desktops or notebooks to justify the additional memory space. Anyway, what do you learn from these rumors? Is it possible that Windows 8 will concentrate on 128-bit version? Or will things simply be like they are today, except instead of people running 32-bit applications on 64-bit machines they’ll be running 32-bit apps on 128-bit machines? And what do you think of the idea that Windows 8 might ship in 32-bit AND 64-bit AND 128-bit versions simultaneously？Ha-ha, I am confused now.

Apple, what’s your next product?

whitelotus — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:01:00 GMT

Okay, let’s say Apple had the most stylish and the most useful and arguably the most profitable products in the history of mankind. Particularly its iphone, at a mere 2 years old, is inarguably the best computer and media device, ounce for ounce, which has ever graced the globe. It so surpasses previous notions of what a telephone, media player, handheld computer, pathfinder and personal gaming device could be that it continues to astonish owners and observers alike.

Of course, Apple is much more than the iPhone, and its earnings report last month showed that it’s desktop and notebook Mac sales continue to enjoy a halo effect as consumers worldwide continue to seek out the ease with which it marries technology with functionality.

"Well, then," the stock market would say. "That was nice. What else you got?" That is the dilemma faced today by Apple.

Oh yes, the new little Nano with video capture is said to be remarkably good, extremely simple to operate and takes decent video, and the total bit rate of its movies is around 2,500 to 3,000, making the output files portable and compact, and well-suited for online use…blah…blah… This is good to hear and definitely another nice shot of Apple. Some reviews even say given that the video recording feature of this new Nano doesn't cost any premium over its previous generation, it will be effectively dumping millions of free video recorders into the market. Nonetheless, this is far more than enough, like lots of people, I’m kinda disappointed too, and I was actually expecting more from Apple in the first place. But, it’s ok; let’s give our hope to its next announcement. I want a netbook from Apple and hopefully it will be cheap enough that everyone can afford one. Speaking of this; I got to mention a couple of rumors swirling around recently.

One thing the rumors have in common is that the new device will have a 10" screen. Could that be an oversized iPod Touch? I don’t really care that much. Whatever it is, it will have Touch technology built in. One rumor is that it will be a tablet-based eBook reader (with iPod Touch features of course). This is tantalizing. Will that be a competitor to the relatively successful Kindle 2 from Amazon? Let’s keep tabs on it. Another rumor is that the new Apple will be a netbook based around iPod Touch technology. In this instantiation it would be a clamshell design, complete with keyboard. If I had my wish, this is the one I’d like to see come true. But God knows what it will be.

I’ve posted a tread here to collect thoughts on Apple’s next products, someone wants a portable Apple TV, someone wants Apple to make iTunes better for Windows OS. Me? A cute inetbook. What do you want then? BTW, what do you think Apple’s next product would be? XD

Understanding&Dealing with Computer Error Messages

whitelotus — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:11:00 GMT

Okay, I don’t want to start my blog with this, but I got to say it once again that I hate computer error messages. I hate seeing them pop up repeatedly on my screen. I hate I could never know when they will happen. They are so much gibberish and even hieroglyphics appear easier to understand than them. But, yes… I know that we cannot simply ignore them and take it for granted that they would go away on their own without affecting the computer performance or even causing malfunctions in the hardware devices like the monitor and CPU.

It would be wise if we could take a moment to write down the message or take a screen shot while it is happening so we can refer back to and see exactly what it said, which will go far in giving us some idea of what might be wrong and what we need to do to fix it. Since there is such a wide range of errors that can occur, some of which can lead to a major system crash, gaining a little knowledge about them could save us lots of headaches later.

Computer error messages can be caused from the registry through to an incompatible driver. For registry errors we could handle them by downloading a registry cleaner and usually they are freeware all over the Internet, but the only problem is that we need to do a bit more research to select the most reliable and effective one. It would be nice to know what tools you guys are using. However, the truth is most error messages can be solved by rebooting, or by turning the system off and then on again. So basically we don’t need to know about every error message. Nevertheless, there are still some that we should be wary of and some that we need to get help with.

Windows Protection Error - This error appears when there is a VxD or a virtual device driver problem. The best we can do is boot the computer in safe mode and uninstall and then reinstall the device driver that has the problem. This error message can also be caused by other problems like, memory, or a registry error.

KERNEL32.DLL - Poor Kernel32 receives a lot of flack and there is just no hope for it. The problem is that the KERNEL32.DLL file deals with a lot of different processes. When we have a Kernel32 problem, we may have damaged files, bad registry entries, problems with the microprocessor, bad software, corrupt drivers, a virus, and sometimes even low hard drive disk space could cause it. The first option in trying to fix this problem is to use a registry cleaner and see if the problem doesn't lie therein.

Blue Screen Errors - These are major computer errors and usually the computer doesn't bother sending us a cute error message here. We just get this big blue screen which scared me a lot the first few times I got it. Not knowing what to do, I just turned my laptop off and then on again. Luckily, I get the program back. So in the same case, you may wait for program or press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to reboot. Sometimes the blue screen only informs us that we have unplugged some device and need to plug it back in. You know how to deal with it, right? The only time we ever need to worry about the blue screen is when it keeps recurring and won't go away, and then there probably is a hardware problem and we should call a repair service provider.

Therefore, we should never just ignore any error messages our PC displays for us, even if they seem difficult to diagnose and understand. It is always a good idea to keep ahead of any PC error codes, so we do not end up with the heartache of losing our precious personal data.

Here are the most common error codes we may encounter while using Windows and its basic components and some solutions for us to try to solve them. Click here to see the most detailed information.

What Classic Games Have You Played?

whitelotus — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:43:00 GMT

With the recent economy being how it is people seem staying indoors a lot these days. Games nowadays are boring. Not much is holding my interest. I got to thinking about a few games that I used to play back in the day. Here is a couple that I still remember.

Does anyone remember a game called MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat published by Activision in 1995? The game is a combat simulation that puts you in a giant walking Battlemech. It involves a war between two clans of the Battle tech universes. I remember playing it during the summer for hours and hours everyday trying to beat both of the campaigns. My favorite Battlemech would be the 75-ton Timber wolf. I remember customizing that sucker with a couple PPC cannons, medium pulse lasers, 20 pack of LRMs and two machine guns to round out the weapons. I was truly addicted to the game. I would happily waste my summer break playing instant action and trying to beat the campaigns. At the time the game had pretty good graphics. I would play Netmech online with other players. Well, it’s a shame that Microsoft has not released a new MechWarrior game after 4. Instead we got the ***** MechAssault which is ok but doesn’t have the feel of the MechWarrior series. I also played the follow up expansions, Ghost Bear, Mercenaries and All Hail Clan Jade Falcon. Those were the days.

Another game I used to play is Command & Conquer. That game had everything. It had Full Motion Video, nice story and kick a** units. I remember fondly playing it till 2am just to beat one more mission. Ha-ha, you know there was always one more mission until you go to bed. Besides, The Brotherhood of nod was truly awesome to play. It had a better story than just paying GDI. I would always root for the underdog. But one thing I really hated about Nod was its lack of heavy fire power. I would take for light tanks to take out GDI’s Mammoth tank. It was pretty hard to win multiplyer matches most of the time… I recently played Command and Conquer 3 and it is pretty good. I think it’s a lot better than Command and Conquer 2, which sucked, pretty bad! I only remember the crappy third person acting and horrible unit balance. It makes me wish Command and Conquer 2 had never happened.

I know there are many other good games that I never got to play. I never played Master of Onion 1 or 2 which I heard were pretty good. They recently released Master of Onion 3 which sucked. A game released called Galactic Civilizations pretty much killed that game, I guess.

I haven’t played too many bad games back then either. So do our eggxperts remember any pretty bad games that I may have missed? What classic games, either good or bad, have you played in the past? I am happy to share with you, big gamers.

Universal Health Care in America?

whitelotus — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:55:00 GMT

Open the newspaper or turn on the TV and you hear about healthcare reform in America. President Obama wants to pass healthcare reform in the form of Universal Health Care. At first glance, this seems like a good idea. Why not give everyone that cannot afford health care universal health care? Not so fast this may not be a good idea. First, Americans will pay more taxes to support Universal Health Care; Second, do Americans really need Universal Health Care? Third, will Universal Health Care improve Americans’ treatment options?

l hear that Europeans pay through the roof in taxes to fund socialist health care. If we implement universal health care, where will the money to fund this come from? It will come from you and me in the form of billions to trillions of higher taxes. California already pays outrageous taxes on everything from income to gas taxes. Why would I want to pay more taxes that I already have to? Taxes are already going to support free health care for the illegal aliens. California is forty-two billion in debt thanks to gross mismanagement and now the socialist model of California would be applied to the United States as a whole. I do not think the United States will survive the tax increases but at some point bankrupt the nation.

They say Americans need universal health care but who really needs it? Forty-two to forty-seven million people are uninsured but that is a lie. According to several sources, it hovers around ten million people. I find it hard to believe that ten million people do not have access to some sort of health care such as Medicare or cheap insurance plans. Universal health care sounds like it promotes the agenda of bigger government. Bigger government after the model of California’s failed state government would do wonders to our deficit.

A quick scan of Google shows numerous articles resulting in gross mistreatment by doctors and long wait times in countries with socialist medicine. I do not believe Americans treatment options will improve just because everyone has access to insurance. Lines for treatments and procedures will get longer and longer and the quality of healthcare will diminish. Doctors will have more patients to see and less time per patients which will result in lower quality of care. Universal Health care is not the answer to our health care needs. A complete overhaul of the health care system from HMOs to doctors will be required to support our future needs.

In an era of increased spending and bigger government, everyone is asking for universal health care. I do not think this is a good idea. First, everyone is going to pay increased taxes; Second, do we really need healthcare? Third, will Americans get better treatment options on universal health care? I think universal health care is a socialist pipe dream that will never get off the ground. We need sweeping major overhauls of the health care system not bigger government.

Don't Play When It Comes to Your Hearing

whitelotus — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:02:00 GMT

Hey Eggxperts, what’s on your mind when seeing this topic?

Do you often listen to music while working, writing a blog, walking, running, driving, reading, etc? I bet most of us do. So have you ever thought about your hearing? Seriously I had never thought of it until my ears started itching when I used ear buds or set the volume level a bit higher than my usual level (50 percent of full volume or so). Since then, I set the volume level low as long as it is not too quiet that is ok for me.

What about you? I know some of my colleagues love listening to their MP3 players at 80 percent (or higher) of full volume at work. They probably feel a louder volume level could help them concentrate on work or make a better sound effect, or they just love being an isolator in office. However, the bad news is having the volume up to loud can cause both temporary and permanent hearing loss.

“Hearing loss means a person can't hear as well as other people do. For some people, that means not being able to hear at all. If the noise around you is so loud that you have to shout to be heard, there is a chance that the mechanism inside your ear can be injured.”

“Temporary hearing loss can happen after you've been exposed to loud noise for any duration. If you have temporary hearing loss, you won't be able to hear as well as you normally do for a while. You may also have tinnitus”(quoted from Kidshealth), which is the ringing or buzzing in your ears. Ever heard that? Too bad, I heard it before. Luckily, not any more. I’ve been protecting my hearing for a couple of years since my ears started itching. If your ears are fine now, take better care of them and don’t listen to loud noise or music over and over again unless you wanna lose the music finally.

“If someone is exposed to loud noise over a long period of time, like every day, permanent hearing loss can occur. This means the person's hearing won't ever be as good as it once was. That's why construction workers and factory workers need to wear ear protection” (quoted from Kidshealth). Likewise, we need to pay a bit more attention to our hearing than before.

I wear ear plugs most time to prevent damage to my ears. I know it looks uncool, but what’s uncool about protecting our hearing? When the sun comes out we protect our skin and our eyes, so why are we not doing the same for our ears? Just do it anyway. When I wear an ear phone, I always set the volume levels right. Follow me, my friend if you feel it is necessary. Our ears will adapt and adjust to the sound. Besides, please remember to take breaks from listening when using headphones for a long period of time. Also make sure that if you're mixing using headphone to cut the mics off because the feedback can ring your ears like a telephone call.

Moreover, I want to draw your attention once again to my topic “Don't Play When It Comes to Your Hearing” because I hear that hearing loss is one of the most common occupational illnesses in the United States.

·10 million Americans have already suffered irreversible hearing damage from noise;

·30 million are exposed to dangerous noise levels each day.

·The effects of noise on hearing are often underestimated because the damage takes place so gradually.

To learn more about preventing hearing loss, visit the Better Hearing Institute.

Okay, I am gonna stop here, feel free to leave a comment if you are one of those who

spend most of the day with the MP3 players glued to your ears. What symptoms have you got in your ears btw?

"Criminals" under the law

whitelotus — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 13:07:00 GMT

My boyfriend, a common IT worker in the Network field, gets a lot to complain lately. Due to the recession, he does not have much to do at work and feels empty most time. I feel sorry for what he has been through until after I read this news, I was shocked. Pregnant women are the first to be laid off during economic crises??!!!( according to a study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and figures released separately by the Israel Women's Network and the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry's Equal Opportunities Employment Commission) What? How could this be happening?

On this International women’s day, at this happy moment when our HR department is passing out gifts to all the female workers in the company, I am told that more than 50 percent of employers who fired pregnant staff over the past few months did not follow the legal channels. I completely agree with this new term “criminals” under the law. “According to the Women's Law of 1954, any employer who wants to dismiss a pregnant woman must first present the case to the ministry for it to decide if the intended redundancy is fair - e.g. if the company is struggling financially - or if is discrimination based on the woman's condition.” But let’s see what has happened in the past three months. “The Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry's Equal Opportunities Employment Commission reported days ago that 29% of calls to its report center claimed unfair dismissal on the grounds of being pregnant.” This is absolutely gender discrimination. Why are women always the last person to be hired, but the first person to be fired, especially, during the economic recession? While men seem always well protected and stable?

I hear that women in the developing countries are facing poverty caused by economic recession blowing out of proportions. Lacking of work opportunities and immense poverty, some women are forced to enter into prostitution and white slavery. Nevertheless, here in the United States, one of the world powers, we are cutting off pregnant women to reduce expenditure. Are we really here already?!!! What are we doing? “Women bring home about one-third of family income” said Carolyn Maloney, Democrat of New York and vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee. We shouldn’t be treated this way though a recession may not be inevitable.

Women are still the vulnerable groups in society which has been proved once again. What should we do to get out of this situation or at least take better care of ourselves? It’s nice for our government to open a hot line ((02) 666-2780) to help those unfairly treated pregnant women. But what else can we do? To improve our skill set? To watch our attitude? Or to always go beyond what we have been told to do at work? …. Will all of these actually work? What do you suggest, eggxperts? Have you also been affected amid recession? What or how have you been doing to keep your job? Oh, poor pregnant women, I feel so bad for what you have been through now, not for my boyfriend anymore, ha-ha… Hopefully, things will get better under the support of the government.

King of Destruction

whitelotus — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

I noticed an interesting poll on line “How many keyboards have you broken by spilling something into it?” last night, which typically reminds me of my glory history of being the King of Destruction.

I still remember my first Sony walkman my father sent to me after I went to high school. It looked dumb and huge. I have forgotten its exact model, the only thing I can remember is that it got great sound quality and strong broadcasting signals. I loved it so much and always had it in my schoolbag. But since it was not auto-reverse, I had to hold it in hand to listen to music or radio while I was riding a bike. I don’t know why I didn’t put it in the pocket then, guess I was just too lazy to take it out repeatedly. Because of this, I disfigured her by accidentally dropping it like eleven times in two years. I really did a great job! Now this old fashioned but firm and durable friend is in my drawer safe and sound. I am not using it anymore.

Afterwards, I went to college. My father bought me the second electronic staff in my life, a Panasonic walkman. This one was an auto-reverse cassette recorder. I did not need to bother to hold it in hand or put it in my pocket. I bought her a little cute bag and threw away the ugly original bag. I cherished it like my best friend, but accidents still went around. One afternoon, I was reading as listening to music in the classroom, but I somehow slumbered and slept with my dear friend staying beside my hands. All of a sudden, I was awakened by the bell (to dismiss class). Just at the moment I stood up and turned around, my beloved Panasonic walkman flew away from the desk and finally hit the wall in front of me, dead. I did not have it repaired because I don’t like it anymore. It stays quiet in my drawer now.

Then it’s my third electronic staff, a language repeater. It’s not some famous brand; I bought it to learn Japanese at that time. But it did not live too long either, the motor stopped itself after I used it for less than a month, and I don’t know what I did wrong. It’s just broken. Later on I bought myself another one. Luckily it is still working fine today.

In the following years, I have broken several earphones, cell phone batteries, several keyboards, one language translator and the loudspeaker of my HP PDA, etc. Besides, I have also broken over 10 pens, two cups, several mice, some shoes (I usually got them scraped the first several days after I bought them), the chair I am sitting on, and my necklace three times. So my boyfriend always warned me to stay at least three meters away from his computers when I was in his room. I understand he just wanted to protect them from his girl friend---- the King of Destruction. So, ha-ha, how many staff, and esp. electronic ones have you broken all of these years? I hope that one day you could uncrown me and become the new King.

Prepaid Cell Phone Seems a Nice Choice

whitelotus — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:56:00 GMT

Have you got a prepaid cell phone, my friend? The news from NYTimes.com caught my attention the other day. I am not yet of a prepaid cell phone user, but I hear that more and more people are now giving up their cell phone contracts and choose prepaid phones. Well, what are prepaid cell phones then? I learn from some materials that prepaid cell phones allow you to purchase all of your minutes and extra services ahead of time. In this case, you don’t have to worry about your poor credit history and have no monthly bill to pay. Using a prepaid cell phone allow you a flexibility of purchasing services dependent on your budget. It seems a really nice choice.

I know that some teenagers have been nagging their parents for over years to get a cell phone, but they don’t understand that their parents actually cannot afford to pay another cell phone bill, especially when they run up the bill and it goes over their minutes. You know that could be a real headache for the parents. However, with a prepaid cell phone you don’t have to sign a contract and parents could simply buy the phone and the children can purchase the minutes they need at most local convenience stores, department stores or pharmacies. Moreover, you don’t need to worry about any hidden fees tacked on by Cell Phone carriers who offer the prepaid option and just be a happy parent and stay in close touch with your children throughout the day.

Now, let’s look at some excellent news that accompanies the idea of prepaid cell phones. “With a prepaid cell phone you have many of the same features that are available to you with standard cell phone plans. Many prepaid phones offer those features such as text and picture messaging, voice dialing, and call waiting which all come standard on cell phone plans. The idea behind prepaid cell phones is that you consider how much air time, messaging, and other optional features you need, and then apply as much of that as possible with your budgeted amount.” See the complete news here.

Besides, quite a lot of resources say that you can save a considerable amount of money using the prepaid cell phone in the long run. “In the last couple years, prepaid prices have come down quite a bit as more and more cell phone users go prepaid. The expiration periods have also become much longer. It used to be that you had to use up your minutes in 30 days. But now a number of plans give you minutes that last a whole year. You could have a cell phone for less than $5 a month in some cases.” See the complete story here.

Prepaid phones are obviously becoming a more and more appealing financial option as careful household budgeting becomes paramount in a tight economy. “The number of U.S. prepaid wireless subscribers is estimated to have grown by some 19 percent as the economy slowed last year, a climb of nearly 8 million to 49.5 million” (quoted from Kansas.com). Wow, should the rest of us simply follow the trend to get a prepaid cell phone? I think it’s time to give it a real shot, but I am not much good at calculating. I use around 500 minutes and send less than 50 messages per month. I have no idea which plan to choose. You suggestions are welcome! BTW, can you share with me your favorite cell phone plan for reference? Thank you!

Internet Addiction:A Mental Illness orA Bad Habit?

whitelotus — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:41:00 GMT

About a month ago, I was eating outside with my friend Sophie and she suddenly asked me: “How do you feel after surfing the Internet for hours every day?” I felt it’s not even a question. I did not say a word and just kept eating. She mentioned that some medical experts said people who stayed online for fun for more than six hours per day were considered to be mentally ill. “What? How ridiculous” I said, “I use computer for eight hours at work every day. When I get home, I start watching movies, reading news, or chatting with friends, etc. for another 3 or 4 hours. How do you see that I’m abnormal? Please forget this nonsense.”

Since that day, we never talked about that anymore until recently I read some news about Internet addiction. “Oh my God” I exclaimed. I cannot believe that Internet addiction has been listed as a mental illness requiring treatment in China. I have also found that people who have, for more than three months, stayed online for fun more than six hours per day with symptoms of showing no interest in other things and feeling restless if stopped from using the Internet, could be diagnosed as having Internet addiction. I kept reading about a Chinese doctor who said more than half of Internet addicts could be cured with psychological counseling, military training (or a regular routine with lots of exercise) or other methods which required no medication. People with depression and anxiety need medication and if they don't receive medical treatment, they cannot recover from Internet addiction. I think it is no easy job for China to take care of its huge online population.

Additionally, I found something more interesting here. Internet addiction including "excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations and e-mail/text messaging" is taken as a common compulsive-impulsive disorder that should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders. A new medical study printed in the American Journal of Psychiatry says, if you send too many text messages, it may be a sign of mental illness.

It points out four warning signs:

1. Feelings of withdrawal when you can't text
2. An increased need for better equipment/phone
3. Need for more time to use it
4. Experiencing negative repercussions of their texting addition

What do you think of this? I doubted it when I came across it few days ago. I posted it on Eggxpert.com shortly to see how the eggxperts will respond to it. The result is within all my expectations. People think it is funny and no one seems to believe it. But the truth is more and more researches are being done by those psychiatrists or experts and some of them have brought out the facts in full confidence in front of us. Facing those facts, I tried to dispute, but the emptiness inside me somehow stopped me.

I was starting to miss those reading days I had in the past. I miss feeling filled and at peace while reading. Ever since I started using computer, I quit reading and feel so hard to pick it up day after day. I have got addicted to surfing the Internet every day, chatting on line, watching movies, listening to music, browsing pictures, checking everyday luck, etc. I don’t go out for a walk on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the park any more. In most of my rest days, I sit in front of computer from the crack of dawn to midnight if there is not a have-to-finish task waiting for me. I couldn’t imagine such a great change has happened in my life. I am not sure whether Internet addiction is a mental illness, but I believe it’s absolutely a bad habit not to limit the time using computer.

I remember some researchers say computer users’ use the Internet like they would drugs or alcohol as a way to escape reality and addicts may turn out to be addicted to everything from the sheer act of typing, to chat rooms, online shopping or three-dimensional, multiplayer games users. However, can we simply say that they are mentally ill? I don’t think so. As said previously, if we could simply define computer users using the Internet as a way to escape reality, then I want to say: “Don’t hesitate again, give yourself a holiday and be close to the nature, there is a more beautiful world out there. Kick that bad habit or keep it as is if you don’t mind being called a mental patient.”

Will America’s greed take down the global economy?

whitelotus — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:29:00 GMT

Time and time again it seems that America keeps on shooting himself in the foot regarding financial stability. You would think after the bio-tech bubble, and the dot-com bubble, America would start getting a clue about its financial stability. With the housing bubble, the greed of banks and the blindness of the people who signed mortgages they could not pay may now bring America down. With a blessing of resources that God has granted America, people still cannot live in their own means. People are in debt up to their heads buying meaningless c**p just trying to keep up with everyone. Why can Americans not live in their own means?

The American government just gave Wall Street seven-hundred billion in funds to prevent several major banks from collaps, but should they do that? I say just let them die. Why did the government give money to the banks that were financial irresponsible. I do not think the government should give any money to the people with bad mortgages either. Why my taxes should be given to someone who could not even do basic math and see if they could afford their payments?

It seems ever since the sixties Americans have been spending more and more and saving less and less in the meanwhile. What are driving these financially risky habits? New TV, bigger cars, bigger houses and more meaningless junk for people to buy. Two thirds of the American economy is dependent on people consuming. What happens when Americans can no longer consume like they did in the past? We are going to see a lot of dark times ahead until it gets better.

I hope that Americans will slowly realize that it is better to save money and plan for the future than blow all your money on shiny new toys without a backup plan. I say they should require economic classes to be mandatory in high school so we do not get into this mess again in the future. The age of easy credit is gone. Now you will be forced to use responsible credit. What do you think? What can America do to prevent this mess in the future?

The sounds of Bandari

whitelotus — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:04:00 GMT

What music are you listening to now? My choice is music by a group called Bandari. I always love their beautiful, sensual sounds. Where I am or what I am doing it does not matter. Their music always gives me courage and strength.

They hail from Switzerland also known as the garden of the world. They blend beautiful scenery of mountains and lakes into abstract images. Every note touches the listeners to the deepest core and gives them warmth and tranquility. I am reminded of faraway places while I feel a beating in my heart every second I listen. Bandari’s music will make you forget your daily stress and worries and take you back to a place forgotten. You will be reminded of old friends that once stood beside you. Pleasant heart to heart conversations are all you remember as you slowly forget this beautiful melody.

Bandari’s music can purify even the dirtiest heart and light bright white candles in the darkest chambers of your heart. A beautiful fairytale of a land will open up to make peace in your soul. The charming brilliant sun of Switzerland will take your breath away as you listen to Bandari’s dream-like melody.

In this age of modernization and alienation marked by the threatening, omnipresent shadow of civilization, my desire and need for inner peace and harmony becomes increasing urgent. Bandari’s mystic sonorities convey a sense of peace and security. Like wearing a big, comfortable pajama, you come to realize your true self. The essence of the music embraces every fiber of your being. A moment passes you by as mediate on this truly unique experience.

If you love soft music then my dear friends choose Bandari. They are busy collecting the sounds of nature in the Alps. You can feel Bandari’s music as a thin veil covering the eyes in your mind. These sounds are invisible and of no smell. They smell better than the mellow wine; they are more fragrant than fresh flowers; they are the sounds of Bandari.

Just be yourself

whitelotus — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:27:00 GMT

One minute ago, my best friend told me on the phone that she just quit her job. “Ok, but why? You only worked in this company for 3 months, you can’t be this impulsive.” I asked her immediately. “I can not be myself in this company, I couldn’t breathe. Everyone is hypocritical in my company and they are killing my passion, I need to find a new environment where people are sincere and full of passion, so I quit.” She said these calmly and hung up.

Nevertheless, I could not just be as calm as her. I am thinking what’s wrong with these lovely and sincere people and I have to ask you, my friend: “Are you being yourself every day?” Don’t hurry to give me a “yes” or “no”. Someone says: “He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.” If this is what you are doing, I have got your answer then, but why is it so hard to be yourself? Just be yourself, my friend.

You can’t really be yourself when you are worried about how other people look at you. We all care about what other people think of us more or less. In some ways other people do have power over us, but the truth is that it doesn’t matter at all. As long as we are happy doing what we are up to, we are as great as we are. Sometimes, you will be in a spot light; sometimes you might be public enemy number one. Just keep your head low at this time. You know you cannot control what other people think about you, so why even try? Just let them go. Wasting your time on other people’s opinions is only to make your own life miserable. Stop giving your power away to other people, your life will be so much lighter and easier. To genuinely not care what others think is an amazing and enlightening experience. Try it, my friend.

Sometimes, for some reason, we cannot or are not willing to be true to ourselves. We hide ourselves in public, either as a defense mechanism or to get a promotion, certain benefits or to make money, etc. We might be able to succeed in some senses by being dishonest and duplicitous, but in the end we will be unable to face ourselves, some people might be able to, but never I. As far as I am concerned, if you cannot look in the mirror with a clear conscience, how can you be yourself? Just think about it, my fake friends. I miss the integrity you used to live with.

We feel safe when we get things in control, but sometimes, no matte how hard we try, we just can’t. So I am thinking that why not try to accept things as they are, and learn to dance in this stormy rain. This is actually a wonderful experience. Try it, my friend. We spend so much time trying to change our world, but whenever have we been successful doing this? In reality we can only change ourselves. If the rain is coming, it will come; if the sun is setting, it will set. If all the bad things are meant to happen on me, you are welcome! Accept these many, many things which are outside our control and, whatever comes along, learn not only to live with it, but to embrace it, to get used to it, to love it.

Do whatever you like, my friend. Don’t let other people tell you what to do and how to live. In the end, you are responsible for your experience of life, and if you don’t follow your dreams, you only have yourself to blame. Don’t be a puppet. Don’t let the world around you pull your strings. Don’t do it! Don’t…Be true to yourself and live with integrity, honesty without fear, and you will get a true friend and feel happy to be true to yourself. Just do it, be yourself, my friend. I am here waiting for you with a sincere smile.

Apple Iphone: Bumpy Road?

whitelotus — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:49:00 GMT

The Apple Iphone has taken the American market by storm. Everyone wants an Iphone no matter what the cost. People have been lining up at apple stores and AT&T stores hoping to get one. It is not all roses for Apple. There have been a few snags.

Activation

Apple now requires people to activate their phone in stores now. Gone are the days that people can activate their brand new Iphones using Itunes. It now requires waiting hours to play with your new phone. Apple decided to crack down because of rampant piracy with the first generation Iphones. Hundreds of thousands of phones have been shipped to foreign countries. I can see we Apple wants to stop this but this really sucks.

SIM lock

AT&T currently locks the Iphone so no one can use it on a different carrier. This is a move to force everyone into obedience to AT&T with a contract. Since AT&T has exclusive rights they will make it so no one can use the Iphone on any else’s network. There is software to unlock the Iphone but who knows when Apple will release a “new and improved” firmware to block that ability.

Reception

This is a big issue with many people. Apple in their infinite wisdom decided to release the new Iphone with an immature 3g chipset. Many people report that their reception blows big-time. Why Apple decided to release a defective product into the market place is beyond me. Supposedly Apple is going to release a fix for this issue but I would not hold my breath. Is it not too much to ask of Apple to release a phone that I can actually use?

Third-party Applications

I hear third-party developers are not happy with Apple. They feel they are chained into using Apple’s digital signature. I can see the developer’s point of view. To develop software on the Iphone is probably not cheap. I feel developers should have more freedom when it comes to how they want their software to run.

I do hope that in a year’s time they will actually release a mature product into the market place instead of one I can barely use.