caitlin and gavin at 0 months

caitlin and gavin at 0 months
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

At less than a month, both babies look very much similar. Can you identify who's who?

Web Mashup - Netvibes

netvibes-pim
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

To quote from wikipedia, "A mashup is a website or web application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service. Content used in mashups is typically sourced from a third party via a public interface or API. Other methods of sourcing content for mashups include Web feeds (e.g. RSS or Atom) and JavaScript."

My favorite start page, Netvibes, has added a couple of features that enables useful information from different sites to be displayed in a single page. In this case, I created a tab named "PIM", showing 4 things: a To Do List, a Notepad, my schedule from Google Calendar and my online file storage at box.net. I can actually upload a file to my box.net online storage from the netvibes page. Personalization has really gone a long way thanks to web standards.

My primary use for Netvibes is still to collect news feeds from selected sites. This works very well for my daily skimming.

If you still haven't tried Netvibes (www.netvibes.com), I suggest you go out and try it. I can share my news feeds and panes if you're interested. Don't forget to check out the free 1G online storage box.net.

2 Year Growth

P5282883
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Here is what 2 years of growth looks like. Caitlin is now protective of her little brother.

Sleeping Babies

P5152806
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Do you notice the similarities?

Welcome to the World, Gavin!

P5112736
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

May 11, 2006, 10:18 - Weighing 7.3 pounds, Gavin left the comforts of Mom's womb.

Think inside the box

Think inside the box,
originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

People always tell you to think outside the box. I don't think so.

It's a boy!

ultrasound-2006,
originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Just got the ultrasound results yesterday and confirmed it's a boy! Caitlin will now have a baby brother to play with.

Say aaaa

Say aaaa,
originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Caitlin is now following directions when taking her picture. This is the 'aaaa' pose.

Tools of Choice

Here's my roundup of the languages / tools / software of choice:

1. Python - very nice and clean for scripting and also creating tools.
2. PHP - nothing beats it for speed and rapid development. Still on PHP4 but closely looking at Symfony and CakePHP as a framework.
3. Subversion - you think you don't need this but when you start using it you'll wonder why you were not using it.
4. MySQL - the more you use it the more you feel its power.

I'll be updating this with more.

Skype Video Final

Skype video is fantastic! My dad and I was using Skype beta before with some success. He was using it on Windows 2000 while I'm using it on XP. Video worked for a couple of days before it became intermittent. We resorted to using Yahoo Messenger for video and Skype for voice. Now my dad is using Skype on XP and everything worked out of the box.

The video frame rate is so much better than Yahoo. I display video at full screen and hook the sound on the speaker system to have unlimited video call! So much for 3G.

Hmmm. If only my mobile phone had Skype video...

My New Start Page

I used My Yahoo primarily for setting up RSS feeds of my daily dose of news and blogs. Now I'm hooked on www.netvibes.com. The font size is just right and it fits more news items. The flickr window is a nice plus! I came across it from one of the del.icio.us feeds. This Web 2.0 thing is really neat. Response time really makes a difference in the user experience.

Google Talk and Video

I used Jabber clients before (Gush, Tipic, Exodus) to talk to friends who were in Yahoo and MSN. It worked well for chat purposes. Since Google Talk is using XMPP, it should be a no brainer for them to open up gateways to the major IM networks. The question is why not?


Voice and video were the killer features of Yahoo that led me to use it regularly. People will still have contacts in different IM networks and switching is rather difficult. If Google opened up the gateways, then you would have a reason to switch.

I just found out there is an add-in for both Google Talk and Skype that adds video conferencing to your IM experience: http://www.festooninc.com/





I haven't tried it yet but we'll see how good it is.

Odometer

A 2 digit odometer reading happens only for so long.

Caitlin's New Car

Caitlin is sitting on the trunk of her new car that gives her room to store her stroller when travelling.

Playtime

Remember the gift I got for Christmas? Well, this is how to play with it. Yum yum.

Mozart

Caitlin playing Mozart with gusto! She's working hard on the timing and melody.

Standing Up

Caitlin likes to stand nowadays. Her record time standing up is 15 seconds. She just waves her arms up and down until she falls down and giggles.

Christmas Gift

Caitlin just got a gift from Ninang Jing. But she's more interested in the wrapper than the gift itself.

Opening of Gifts

Everyone busy opening their gifts on Christmas Eve 2004. This was taken in Butuan.

Treo Photo

Photo taken using the Treo at Wan Chai during a late night snack.