Jean-Francois' posterous - 簡體字禁止

May 14 / 1:04pm

My Alter Ego on my Shelves

A few months ago after returning from France, I spent some time in Guanzhou, a city which is only 180km far from Hong Kong. I will not dwell long on Guanzhou which has no special attraction (apart Shamian (沙面大街) and Chen Clan's Temple (院書民陳)) but I saw with pleasure the real mess that characterizes Chinese (Hong Kong is too "smooth" to me) and Taiwanese large cities (yes, mess and I are old friends) and I was finally able to speak some Mandarin (because in Hong Kong...)

In a street corner (not far from 人民路), we find ourselves in a kind of toy's bazaar with just about everything and anything. Anything except that (among others) SUPERBE giant figurine (let's say "statue") of Kamesenin! At the price I traded it (+ - 5.5 €) I was pretty sure I got a counterfeit item, but looking at the quality I'm not so sure about that now. The mold is full with mini details, painting seems to be handmade with no failures (except a few millimeters colored "skin" which overflows on the bat, almost invisible). The statue is quite large, it must do 30/40cm height of 20/25 wide, the figurine now throne on my shelf and is a great help to keep my numerous books straight!

In the title I'm talking about "Alter Ego" because "Kamesenin" is one of my favorite characters and I use it's French name as an internet nickname for more than 10 years.

Click here to download:

My_Alter_Ego_on_my_Shelves.zip (299 KB)

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May 12 / 7:51pm

Twhirl & Facebook Air still do the job (for now)

Last night I've spent few hours trying the newest version of Seesmic Desktop and Tweetdeck, but I still don't think that both of them could actually replace my actual configuration (Twhirl & Facebook Air). I really could have switched to Tweetdeck, the interface is clean and efficient, a lot of options (even though I mostly don't use any) but the main grievance I have with it is that it only supports Facebook Status (nothing about videos or links) without possibilities to "Like" or "Comment", Eliminatory to me.

I know Seesmic Desktop as it's still a pre-version (new word to say "Bêta" ?) but I still have some big problems with the user interface (because the whole idea is quite good actually) which is fixed (the main (blue) column is too narrow and globally not as "clean" (don't know other way to express it) as Tweetdeck's. But once again I won't remain in this position very long, I'll keep trying the newest version as soon as they came out, I know that a lot of improvement are scheduled for both softwares and I'm still really excited about that :)

Click here to download:

Twhirl_Facebook_Air_still_do_t.zip (970 KB)

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May 12 / 5:25am

我要去海邊、去海邊~

Since few weeks I'm discovering a totally new side of Hong Kong. After the skyscrapers, 24/7 opened stores, shopping & foods paradise, the city also got damn' good beaches!

As you may know I'm French, I grown up between Marseille where I lived and Corsica where my family comes from. In these two famous Mediterranean places, people usually like to spend most of their free (summer) time on a beach, so I did during my whole childhood on Chjuchettu or Vignola in northern Corsica.

Intense was my pleasure to discover that Hong Kong actually possesses some really pleasant beaches that really look like Corsica' s one!

Even though I haven't tried many (Stanley, Repulse Bay and Shek O) my favorites for now is definitely Shek O which is located at only 20 minutes from Central by MTR and bus. You can find there a nice view, very good Thai and Viet restaurants, young Hongkies and also expats.

Although I've already started my 3rd semester, I still have some free time beside, mainly because my courses are scheduled in the end of afternoon. Im not sure I'll be so free in several weeks, when all classes have started.

[Composed with ShapeWriter -- www.shapewriter.com]

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May 12 / 5:19am

Is it a plane ?

To live in Hong Kong when you are a cars passionate is a source of great pleasure but also of great frustration !

I'm wondering if Lamborghini hires its designers at Dassault or Lockheed Martin ;-)

Envoyé de mon iPhone

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May 9 / 11:38am

The Lee Tie

I tell you, I HATE ties !

I hate ties and I often pray to not be compelled to wear one every single day (once in a while that's ok...). That's mainly why I only wear Mandarin Collar Suit and that I want to set up my own company (that's not the main reason ;o) ).

But when I saw this tie (I worship Bruce Lee) at a so cheap price (HK20$, +-2€) I just bought it !

It was last December and as you guess, I didn't wear it yet...

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May 9 / 9:08am

21st MobileMonday Taipei Event : Mobile Open Source

If you read this (young blog) you must know how much I love to attend to the MobileMonday Taipei. There is always full of interesting people from geek, entrepreneur to CEO and the presentations are always very interesting.

On May the 18th, those of you who are lucky enough to live in Taipei may attend to the 21st MobileMonday Taipei Event about Mobile Open Source.

Without a doubt, 2008 has been the year where open source has transitioned from a status of early adoption to one of acceptance and endorsement by the mobile industry’s who’s who as a recipe for collaborative software development. The Android launch, the Symbian acquisition and open source roadmap, Intel’s Moblin 2.0 and OpenedHand acquisition, Nokia’s adoption of WebKit as a feature of the S40 platform, the Trolltech acquisition and incorporation of Qt on S60, Purple Labs acquisition of Openwave and Sagem assets, AOL’s Open Mobile Platform… it seems that in the space of just one year open source has transitioned all of a sudden from geekware for Linux enthusiasts to a succesful commercial alternative to closed-door standards. Moving forward, 2009 will be the year of maturity for how open source can be used as a tool for cheaper, faster collaborative software development, which reduces barriers to entry and breeds innovation. This month’s MobileMonday Taipei, we invite two leading companies in the mobile open source world to share with us: what is open-source, why so many licensing restrictions, and why it is such an unstoppable force?

More information about the speakers and how to signup are available on the official website : http://www.mobilemonday-taipei.com/

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May 9 / 8:49am

Thai Airways Experiences

A few days ago I was taking Thai Airways to fly from Taipei to Hong Kong (don't ask me why a Thai airlines company is operating on this route...), It was the 1st time I take this company I have to say that it really was a delightful trip. The welcome was really warm (by colorful dressed Thai stewardess but also by some Taiwanese employees), the whole team doing did its utmost to meet all our needs and (for an economic class), the seats were particularly comfortable.

But the twist in this story (it may just be a coincidence) is that when I arrive in front of my travel TV set, everything was already set up in French!

If you plan to travel in Thailand in a near future, you may have to choose between several companies such as Thai Airways or Air Asia. Before make your choice, I suggest that you to read what happened to Marc Van Der Chijs lately (here & also here). Marc seems to be wealthy enough to not being too affected, but if that were to happen to a guy like me, I would be totally doomed...

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May 5 / 12:56pm

Tortue's Garage : Lifelike - Sunset

Lifelike's Sunset is the best musical surprise I had the past 3 month. You will soon understand why I truly worship Lifelike by listening this little housy (with a lovely 80's touch) electronic jewel. On the top of that, "Sunset" features a vocal performance from the Swedish artist Yota and has been co-written/produced by an another wizard (that I also worship, yes I'm a polytheist guy) Alan Braxe.

If you like Lifelike as much as I do, do not forget to buy the song (on iTunes for exemple) to support the artist !

Sunset Feat. Yota by Lifelike

(download)

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May 5 / 6:24am

From Hong Kong

Finally here I am, back in my good old city of Hong Kong. If you are one of my friends or followers you know how I keep complaining about this city (what can I do? Im French after all), how I quickly get bored, how Taipei is so much better...etc...

But to be honest with you guys, I everyday secretly thank anyone in this world (family, professors, friends) who one day or another helped me to make this kid dream comes true, because this city, this university, these people are truly fantastic. I realized that if you want to really keep enjoying Hong Kong, you simply need to leave the city few days per month, just to breath a bit.

The weather is awesome over here but unfortunately I have a huge report to write for Sunday, until then, im not allowed to go bur... tan on the Shek O or Stanley's beach!!

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Apr 30 / 9:30am

2 weeks far from Internet

As I told you in a previous post, the studio I'm currently renting in Taiwan provides no internet connection, this is the main reason why I didn't update this posterous. I'll be back in Hong Kong next Monday ( :'( ) and then I'll be able to resume the digital part of my life (I have barely no idea of what's happening in the world right now, I'll need hours to be able to read all my RSS feed queue).