I remembered during my school days, people use to talk about I-Mac (1st Gen). Whoever got hold of those devices will certainly kick start their graphical works in no time, best of all peripherals were pretty simple in use, no CPU but just a complete core with a screen – The G3. Expensive but it's pretty cool to say a reflective dawn of apple's product line and came forth, The Ipod devices.

Apple's revolutionize their products for years and the sleekness had proven positive with remarkable feedbacks on simplicity, usability and feasibility. Apple later made a leap onto the phone industry and came up with I-phone in 2007 cling with affordable price plans offered by AT&T and attracted the world's attention, threatening Nokia (biggest player at that time) & Motorola's sales. If I were they, I would get a pine before apple launch their products and re-engineered it. That'll make the industry dodgy! Oh, too bad there weren't any spies known of yet.

Back then, everyone was eager to hold an I-product – whatever! Say I-Phone! I don't know what's so fancy about but I was attracted with those features never be seen; the retina display, zoom in/out with a pinch, and those illegal jailbreaking process. I must highlight that apple will not even improve without the help from the DEV Team which develop missing features from the I-phone OS. Millions of users complaint that copy and paste / message forwarding features were missing in the phone which trigger massive wave of jailbrken phones. New firmware updates with added features was released in OS3 a year after i3G was launched – that would be i3Gs.

While the Iphone frenzy continues, the I-pad was launch recently, baiting bunch of I-freaks (fans) into the queues overnight just to grab those cool looking gadgets. It's currently out of stock across asia. Marketing gimmicks created wonders and could be a powerful tool to benefit business around indeed.

Needless to say, the apple products has been dominating the market for quite sometimes; to home entertainment, business needs and played major role on today's lifestyle. Incoming, the I-phone 4 introduced amazing features like Facetime & high definition video recording can be even more tempting. I believe many out there are looking forward to possess it albeit the antenna woes surfaced a few weeks back. Have a look into the peers and see which phone these days doesn't come with a touch screen with incredible features? Those who failed to achieved what consumer wants will be phase out eventually. The competition is menace no doubt!

Last but not least, take a look on the collage of Steve Job himself with his kingdom of devices. (Image acquired from web) Whoever did this is a genius.

[ Zoom ]

( Windows Section )

I believe a lot out there is looking for an exact answer & explanation of the soft volume after installing Windows XP. I've had enough with Windows XP SP2 which I found tons drivers defects specifically on Audio part and decided to try out Windows XP SP3 (OEM) instead. As for Windows 7, it's proven to be a lil' laggy for dual OS & mid-range games, still, XP is preferable. Never use Parallel for your secondary OS as it drains memory fast and the more you install, the more retarding the system goes. Experience told me. So the best options still goes to bootcamp.

(Menu bar)
Go > Utilities > Boot Camp Assistant

You might came across those X audio drivers that you've downloaded is not working normally like what you've expected. I.E : Intel High Definition Audio Driver or REALTEK High Definition Audio. Finger's crossed! Apple uses Cirrus Logic chipset which unfortunately, is less popular in this region. The driver you should be looking for in this range is Cirrus Logic CS4206 but with CS4206A as hotfix for soft volume issues which is available for download below, originally from here.

Before I start off, I'd like you to have a clear understanding of my specs.

2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo,
13.3 inch, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphic processor

It is advisable to use the latest boot camp driver for your windows platform. If you experience driver defects, google the results with the strong keywords; Nvidia GeForce 9400M driver download – and install away, as simple as that.

I've read tons and tons of craps in the forum but eventually didn't get the thing that I wanted and users tend to bring you merry go round. Now here's some print screens for you in case you wanna standardize your system volume at the right order. 

Note : This driver update applies to Macbook Pro user, with Microsoft Windows XP SP3 installed (or if you experience soft volume, you may give this a try)

Watch the video tutorial here.

Download Driver Here

Step 1 : My Computer > Properties

Step 2 : Under Sound section, look for Cirrus Logic & Update driver

Step 3 : Advance

Step 4 : Manual select

Step 5 : Have Disc, find your driver

Step 6 : Make sure you choose the first driver

Step 7 : Continue Installation

Step 8 : Now boost your volume to the max..

Hope the above instructions helps and no more woozy text / post.

Joe.

Based on the internet concensus, where age is not an issue of limiting one’s social networks, that some would spend 10 or more hours in front of their screens to jabber, to kill time, and ply on miscellaneous activities online but some prefer keeping their own circles active, from time to time. The nudge of internet has just begun as reliable source pointed netizens soared daily, and the use of broadband increased yearly. Likely, this is the 21st century dynamic digital convergence.

A blatant example of the world’s most popular online social networks (SN) – Facebook (FB). Yeah! I’m now blogging about facebook. LOL?

You’ve probably heard of it. If you are to rate the world most populated country, the fifth goes to Facebook alone. Why so? FB engaged attentive user interface and page designs that is adaptive enough. Likewise, most users prefer straight forward information access, the status update for example, and direct linkage towards crucial information, handy for mobile users. We’re talking about niche here. And digg.com on the other hand, plays similar role here but preliminary focused on headlines or summarized version of short news. And both were established in the year 2004. How these two giants (one networking, the other – an informant portal) got into the similar mechanism I wonder. For me, a momentary swap late 2007 from friendster to facebook where I found positive responsiveness of data (pictures or albums) loads, and ease of information exchange (share) and decided to leap forward to this site that’s totally alien to me, gave up the old SN and moved in to a new net loft of mine. Well, a new provision towards online social mechanism.

I speculate the common 5 that facebookers love to use often – status, photos, links, videos & notes to deliver their message, but also tons of free applications, quiz and games  the site has to offer (most relied on third party developers / creators). Doesn’t matter with the popularity though, as long as the application is simple and straight forward for people to click on. Even commenting had became a trend there. Other SN rivals that you might have heard of – Windows Live Spaces / Myspace, Habbo, Friendster (asia), Multiply (asia), HI5 etc. Again, the internet has become a better place for everyone on earth, with micro-blogging like twitter, robo.to and plurk that pick up fast along with these social websites to keep the flow on pace and update users with the first hand info.

But what’s more annoying than those advertisements visible on site that is unnecessary but ironically those were the main streams of revenue for blooming social sites, to keep them alive. Eliminating them doesn’t seemed quite right but with the right techniques, the turn over would be tremendous. Some games for example would implement credit system for players to buy rare virtual items, and trigger sales unconditionally. Quite often, users will ignore any online payment involved but still, the potential market is there for users aged 15-30. At least, now you have a brief idea of how these social sites work.

Hang on, that’s not all. Our privacy is a major concern too. So, in order to protect your information from being reaped, you have to revise your settings. This is the address : http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?ref=policy , click on News Feed & Walls. Choose Facebook Ads. Select ‘Only my friends’ to ‘No One’. Save your changes. Also, this address : http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?ref=policy#/privacy/?view=platform&tab=other and start uncheck ‘photos taken by me’ , ‘photos taken of me’, ‘notes’ etc. There you go, your photos & notes are no longer searchable on the web unless you logged in or your close friends who have the special privilege to view it. Also, disable ‘Beacon’  too in case if these affiliate sites ‘borrowed’ your information and post it on theirs. How would you know if they didn’t? Check around the privacy settings for your needs.

Done with FB talks & understanding LOL!

I am never a ‘lover’ nor a ‘buffer’ (neutral it sounds) and non of any of my experience explained this but it just came into mind that prevalence is essential to deal with idealism. Not a father yet but I think kids these days are exposed to all sorts of influences albeit abundant technologies that were part of their cognitive that’s present. My earnest times were in the 90s’ where parents were formidable of their children’s act in schools, tuition centers, and befriended individuals. I was easily mugged with trends and schemer around but still prefer to be a dingbat. It was never easy when you’re being pressurize with results, parents and revere. No means No and if vouchsafe still, the room’s limited.

Today, we’re talking about teen’s defiance and their proximity level of socials, that should extra highlights be given to them in their circles? Likewise, children also possess freedom of speech like the adults but forby on certain consensus. Say, pornography. Ever since pornography surfaced the internet back in the 90s’, issues of parents concerning their children’s activity were preserved and monitored very closely but still possessed threats on their sex perception and children attempting palindrome were part of the challenge as well. Despite the fact that some children below 12 were curious about human bodies, it is undeniable hard to evaluate their intentions if they don’t speak out, instead of looking for answers themselves. 

I’ve got some perfidious example (my epoch) back when I was 15, when sex knowledge was merely elusive and vague but would love to find out more of it. I accidentally found some disc in the wardrobe of my uncle’s room and watched it. Some orgy scenes, seductions and amychesis. The worse thing was I watched it with my cousins (aged 7 and another aged 5) which they found it disconcert with part of their hands covering their eyes. Well, I did asked them to dismiss that session and eventually I stopped it after 5 minutes, being anxious that I might inflict them in any means. Well, forgive me father for I had sinned but pardon of that, I was still a buddhist. Oops… but that’s true from the heart. Another example was being retard of distributing those disc around, sharing it with my fellow friends, not knowing what consequences that we might faced, being farce.

After all, Malaysia’s sex education were discreetly enclosed. But ideally, Singapore’s open sex education served better understanding,  and perceiving actions but too compelling could arouse problem and therefore, encapsulating disciplinary actions (from superior) on palliate. Neutral mindset should blends well. While one’s capricious are often a debate when crime rates in Malaysia soared, probability goes to the social security, and the scarce enforcement. Future looks bleak if authorities are not taking any serious actions against. We have the right move to build a healthier society but not with guile, mind you.

Back to our topic, should parents endow their kids to fulfill their needs? 21st Century is unlike 20th Century as the realm of Portable Digital Device (PDD) scattered across the globe, what’s more to say that with WI-FI connectivity reachable within radius? Personally, I have no oblique to intensify this but sad to say, today’s society is way too dependent and amplifying on digital mediums, somewhat explicit. Should parents take a big leap on speculating children’s every move? The answer is yes. Domination is the key. As traditional means lean on rigorous family values albeit realization plays part of the role in between. Civilized? You can say that. Like we said earlier, building a healthy community not just about restraining them but partially being liberate on time handling; likewise, 14 hours (7days) of weekly freedom (outdoor activities etc.) should cope well with you and your kids.

As online material gets tricky (some unforeseen circumstances), parents should also implement the right systems to monitor children’s dos and don’ts, crucial among those aged from 8-18 as insurgency might roll out and as well, their eagerness during puberty. Understanding tits of  technology could eliminate grumps later on and therefore, parents are the exact role model of their children.  Monitoring activities such as tracking phone calls and peripherals might agitate some but from a parent’s point of view, those are the needs towards ‘house cleaning’. Speak of peripherals, computers came into mind. Operating System (O.S, a.k.a. Computer Platform, i.e. Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, MAC OS X etc..) these days came along with improved security abd build-in parental controls (approve or disapprove which program to use or not to) which are much easier to use and control as compared to it’s predecessors. Some third party programs that I came across  the magazines and internet recommends are Crayon Crawler (safe browser for kids), Safe Eyes (monitor their social networks like facebook, friendster), and some list here from the software review. Even my boss requested help of his home PC installed with these fuzzy monitoring software, just to be sure that constant rules roll in for the sake of their children’s discipline.

Young people below 18 years old, if you’re reading this, I urge you to be prudent of your acts before complying. It’s never too late to retract rather than to repent. Think wise before you do. Think of your financial, her’s and your family concerns, most importantly, you’re not a copy and paste machine but simply, a mortal with a heart and brain.