This semester I'm teaching a new subject called 3D Graphical Programming. In this course I've taught students the basics of 3D programming using DirectX. During the first half of the class I've asked the students to do different projects based on the material they studied from the start of the class, and the results were rather interesting far better than what I've anticipated. Topics for the first project is limited to simple 3D modeling, basic color (flat/gouraud shading), basic transformation, and basic lighting.
If you are interested, you could visit the project listing at http://forum.s-t.au.ac.th/viewtopic.php?t=1186 to see some of the things we have done so far.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
I AM THE LAW!
Last night, I was watching a movie called The Head of State (2003) which stars Chris Rock as a guy from the Ghetto who is suddenly pushed into running for President of the USA. After finishing the movie, it made me ponder a few things. First of all, though some of the people who I know who watched the movie, they mentioned that they like Chris Rock and would want a streetsmart person to actually run their country who will speak their mind instead of rambling about law, protocol, and procedure in an alien like language for hours. Anyway, at the end of the film, I just suddenly had a cold chill down my spine when Chris Rock was talking with his girlfriend, and one quote really bit me hard when she asked him if it was appropriate to make her the First Lady. What Chris Rock replied in the film was a cany quote, that really turned me off:
In the example of Poe he lost the election to Arroyo, who currently is in hot water over her admission that she may have cheated by persuading election officials to help her out in the last election. As we noticed these are examples of poorly qualified candidates who has a huge voter base due to personal charisma. When talking about education, I do find that since most politicians cheat, education doesn't seem to be a big matter. The point that I find as a paradox is that the more clever and educated the candidate is, the more likely the scale of the the cheating would be. As noted, you don't need to look for for example of this. In Thailand, all Member of Parliment are required to have at least bachelor level education. Somehow by adding this requirement, we see new creative and more worrisome forms of cronyism and corruption budding on a regular basis, which I do assume isn't the intended result of the law.
As noted, education and moral don't really go hand in hand. Higher education doesn't guarantee better moral, its completely discrete.
If you talk about moral, we can easily power can corrupt a person's moral. Now some people will say if religion plays a huger part in the government, then morality would not be a big issue. However, I'm a huge opponent of that. One of the most dangerous thing that has happened in our World is the rise of fundamentalist elements. People who have strong religious conviction and are willing to go beyond normal means to achieve their goal, have little reasoning capability due to blind faith, and insensitive to the multiplicity in the world. Some good example of people who have moral that are straight and exact to the book could be pointed at the Taliban. In some cases, I feel that people following religion do it for unholy causes. From what I see donation is similar to investment to god. Praying for good fortune later, I feel its is like to withdraw some of the investment from god. Somehow it makes sense in financial terms doesn't it?
That brings to the other side of the spectrum, there is money that plays a huge part in swaying a person's moral to the dark side. Somehow I feel the hawks in Washington are calling to the call of Money, though claiming to be morally sound on a religious sense. Somehow I find it ironic, but as we note, even the question of moral, virtue, and the sense of right and wrong would go around in a full circle much like asking which comes first - a chicken or an egg?
So after a long and rambling talk, it just seems that I've just ran into circles and back again. Somehow I've come to the conclusion that most politicans are lying scumbags, and no matter what education and background they come from, they are usually corrupted due to the allure of power and the swaying influence of religious fundamentalism and/or money which makes it a deadly combination. The only difference that makes one politician look better than another usually lie on their ability to manipulate the media. As noted, you should know that appearing to be good is alot easier than being good, and it just seems that too many people are taking this approach these later lean and mean years.
Though I may sound quite sour at my inability to change how many of our politicans plunder our country, somehow it warms my heart when I read Plato's Apology when I came to a part in which Socrates mentioned about an episode in his short foray into public life as a politician and his dealing with an accuser that he was a corrupter of youth:
Somehow at the end of this blog, I want to dedicated this to our PM, wish you another belated birthday (which was 2 days ago), and hopefully someday you can be the man you claim to be during your first steps into the Thai political scene without having to rely with all the media circus and spindoctors to cover your tracks.
That would be no problem, because I'm the LAW!
When I heard that word, somehow this phrase is an early sign of power corrupting people. As people gain power to the point of being able change the law to bend in what way it seems convinent, then it is a spark that will lead to the fire of corruption, nepotisim, and cronyism.
One quote come from Plato's Crito in which recollects Socrates last days sums it up nicely:
One quote come from Plato's Crito in which recollects Socrates last days sums it up nicely:
Socrates: Consider it in this way. Suppose the laws and the commonwealth were to come and appear to me as I was preparing to run away and were to ask, " Tell us, Socrates, what have you in your mind to do? What do you mean by trying to escape but to destroy us and think that a sate can exist and not be overthrown, in which the decisions of the law are of no force, and are disregarded and underminded by private individuals?" How shall we answer questions like that, Crito?When talking about the movie again, another issue that repeatedly is popped up is that it seems education shouldn't be a huge factor in considering elected public officials. One of the things that popped into my mind is about how presidental elections somehow turn into strange affairs - and an example of how real life is so similar - we can see well in the Phillipines election in which Estrada and Poe were two popular megamovie stars in their country who ran for president. Both of these candidates had little education(primary), which makes them a huge contrast to their more highly sophisticated alternative which are usually old policians with high education. In the example of Estrada, he won the presidental race, and quickly had popularist policies up and running to appease the poor whereas he plundered the country with his cronies and was ousted a few years later.
In the example of Poe he lost the election to Arroyo, who currently is in hot water over her admission that she may have cheated by persuading election officials to help her out in the last election. As we noticed these are examples of poorly qualified candidates who has a huge voter base due to personal charisma. When talking about education, I do find that since most politicians cheat, education doesn't seem to be a big matter. The point that I find as a paradox is that the more clever and educated the candidate is, the more likely the scale of the the cheating would be. As noted, you don't need to look for for example of this. In Thailand, all Member of Parliment are required to have at least bachelor level education. Somehow by adding this requirement, we see new creative and more worrisome forms of cronyism and corruption budding on a regular basis, which I do assume isn't the intended result of the law.
As noted, education and moral don't really go hand in hand. Higher education doesn't guarantee better moral, its completely discrete.
If you talk about moral, we can easily power can corrupt a person's moral. Now some people will say if religion plays a huger part in the government, then morality would not be a big issue. However, I'm a huge opponent of that. One of the most dangerous thing that has happened in our World is the rise of fundamentalist elements. People who have strong religious conviction and are willing to go beyond normal means to achieve their goal, have little reasoning capability due to blind faith, and insensitive to the multiplicity in the world. Some good example of people who have moral that are straight and exact to the book could be pointed at the Taliban. In some cases, I feel that people following religion do it for unholy causes. From what I see donation is similar to investment to god. Praying for good fortune later, I feel its is like to withdraw some of the investment from god. Somehow it makes sense in financial terms doesn't it?
That brings to the other side of the spectrum, there is money that plays a huge part in swaying a person's moral to the dark side. Somehow I feel the hawks in Washington are calling to the call of Money, though claiming to be morally sound on a religious sense. Somehow I find it ironic, but as we note, even the question of moral, virtue, and the sense of right and wrong would go around in a full circle much like asking which comes first - a chicken or an egg?
So after a long and rambling talk, it just seems that I've just ran into circles and back again. Somehow I've come to the conclusion that most politicans are lying scumbags, and no matter what education and background they come from, they are usually corrupted due to the allure of power and the swaying influence of religious fundamentalism and/or money which makes it a deadly combination. The only difference that makes one politician look better than another usually lie on their ability to manipulate the media. As noted, you should know that appearing to be good is alot easier than being good, and it just seems that too many people are taking this approach these later lean and mean years.
Though I may sound quite sour at my inability to change how many of our politicans plunder our country, somehow it warms my heart when I read Plato's Apology when I came to a part in which Socrates mentioned about an episode in his short foray into public life as a politician and his dealing with an accuser that he was a corrupter of youth:
The only office of State which I ever held. O men of Athens was that of senator: the tribe Antiochis, whic is my tribe, had the presidency at the trial of the generals who had not taken up the bodies of the slain after the battle of Arginusae; and you proposed to try them in a body, contrary to law, as you all thought afterwards; but at the time, I was the only one of the Prytanes who was opposed to the illegality, and I gave my vote against you; and when the orators threatened to impeach and arrest me, and you called and shouted, I made up my mind that I would run the risk, having law and justice with me, arather than to take part in your injustice because I feared imprisonment and death. This happened in the day of
democracy.
Somehow at the end of this blog, I want to dedicated this to our PM, wish you another belated birthday (which was 2 days ago), and hopefully someday you can be the man you claim to be during your first steps into the Thai political scene without having to rely with all the media circus and spindoctors to cover your tracks.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Home Sweet Home
It just seems that every single year, my Birthday would usually fall on a weekday. As having a birthday on a weekday, one of the major problem is that it doesn't give you license to do just anything you want because the next day you just got to get back to work. One of the things that I've always wanted was to just spend a cozy day at home just relaxing and having a nice day dozing off and then eating whatever I like and forget about what is going to happen the next day - as you note my favorite birthday activity is just to spend the day at home.
Anyway the last birthday I had, somehow I had the luck that a few days after my birthday, there is an extended religious holiday which gives me 4 days off during the weekends. Strangely enough, during those time, somehow I got myself awfully sick and bedridden. So during those four days and a few days beyond, I spend most of my time in a self imposed exile at home recupperating. Strange, somehow I just didn't feel like it was like "Home Sweet Home!"
Anyway the last birthday I had, somehow I had the luck that a few days after my birthday, there is an extended religious holiday which gives me 4 days off during the weekends. Strangely enough, during those time, somehow I got myself awfully sick and bedridden. So during those four days and a few days beyond, I spend most of my time in a self imposed exile at home recupperating. Strange, somehow I just didn't feel like it was like "Home Sweet Home!"
Monday, July 18, 2005
Meme
Nothing happened much of late, so I guess I haven't got much to write about. I guess I'll just do a meme for fun. Here are the results:
General
(1) Your gender: Male
(2) Straight/gay/bi: Straight.
(3) Single: Yes.
(4) Want to be: Hmm...
(5) Your birth day: July 19
6) Age you act: 60
(7) Age you wish you were: 16
(8 ) Your height: 175 cm
(9) The colour of your eyes: Black
10) Happy with it: Can't care more or less
(11) The colour of your hair: Black
(12) Happy with it: Can't care more or less
(13) Left/right/ambidextrous: Right.
(14) Your living arrangement: With my parents and brother.
(15) Your family: My parents, two brothers
(16) What's your job: Lecturer/Game Developer
(17) Piercings: None
(18) Tattoos: None.
(19) Obsessions: Hmm...
(20) Do you speak another language: Yes
(21) Have a favourite quote: Nope
(22) Do you have a webpage: Yes, many to be exact!
DEEP THOUGHTS about life and you in it
(23) Do you live in the moment: Hmm...
(24) Do you consider yourself tolerant of others: Yes.
(25) Do you have any secrets: Not many I think...
26) Do you hate yourself: No
(27) Do you like your handwriting: Its fast, but ugly :P.
(28) Do you have any bad habits: Yes.
(29) What is the compliment you get most from people: Intelligent
(30) If a movie was made about your life, what would it be called: A Lot about Something
(31) What's your biggest fear: Roaches
(32) Can you sing: Alot of Karaoke if it counts.
(32) Do you ever pretend to be someone else just to look cool: No.
(33) Are you a loner: Sometimes.
(34) If you were another person, would you be friends with you: Yes.
(35) Are you a daredevil: Matters.
(36) Is there anything you fear or hate about yourself: I think I might be crazy! LOL
(37) Are you passive or aggressive: I think I got many split personality inside me :P
(38) What is your greatest strength and weakness: Strength: Perception/Analyzing Situations. Weakness: Emotional
(39) If you could change one thing about yourself: Well just leave it the way it is ;)
40) There are three wells, love, beauty and creativity, which one do you choose: Creativity
(41) How do you vent: Karaoke/Play Computer Games
(42) Do you think you are emotionally strong: Yes.
(43) Is there anything you regret doing/not doing in life: Yes.
(44) Do you think life has been good so far: Yes.
(45) What is the most important lesson you've learned from life: Never forget there is always an alternative path.
(46) What do you like the most about your body: Me!
47) And least: Fingers(Too short)
48) Do you think you are good looking: I don't care but people say it, so I guess so!
(49) Are you confident: Yes!
(50) What is the fictional character you're most like: Hmm... can't really say!
(51) Do people know how you feel: Not really.
(52) Are you perceived wrongly: Sometimes.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Human Ingenuity
Over dinner one day, I used to talk with a group of friends about the topic human desires and how far we would go to trick ourselves. One of the question was about the Jay (Veggie) Festival which is a Chinese festival in which for a few weeks, people of Chinese descent would usually stop eating meat to cleanse their mind and body. Talking about such huge sacrifices made, sometimes I've wondered about the following question:
Now staying on the same topic, I've found a related topic. Talking about alcohol consumption, it is known that a number of religion has specifically banned drinking alcohol in its doctrine. However as a number of people want to get high, there has been a number of followers that drink cough syrups that contain intoxicating elements to get high. Once I've asked this case, the table resoundingly said that this was wrong.
I just wanted us all to take a step back and look at the first topic and the second topic. If you noticed carefully, both of the cases are technically the same. Both of these people have been told that doing a specific action is sinful, and they should not do it. However due to human ingenuity, there was been workarounds available that would allow the people to have the pleasure of what has been asked to be abstained which is still technically correct to the doctrine. Strange isn't it?
Is it ethical for a vegeterian to eat veggie imitation of meat?As you know, one of the hot menus during the veggie festival are meat imitation products that are usually made out of soybeans. Now when talking about meat imitation products, eventhough it is not technically meat, sometimes I wonder if it was ethical for these people to even be eating imitation products when the festival specifically tells people to abstain from meat, and I think even the thought of eating meat should not cross their minds if they are seriously planning to stay clean. During the discussion, I brought this matter up, and it seems most of my friends told me that it was completely okay, as it was technically still a veggie diet.
Now staying on the same topic, I've found a related topic. Talking about alcohol consumption, it is known that a number of religion has specifically banned drinking alcohol in its doctrine. However as a number of people want to get high, there has been a number of followers that drink cough syrups that contain intoxicating elements to get high. Once I've asked this case, the table resoundingly said that this was wrong.
I just wanted us all to take a step back and look at the first topic and the second topic. If you noticed carefully, both of the cases are technically the same. Both of these people have been told that doing a specific action is sinful, and they should not do it. However due to human ingenuity, there was been workarounds available that would allow the people to have the pleasure of what has been asked to be abstained which is still technically correct to the doctrine. Strange isn't it?
Friday, July 08, 2005
Begging for Food?
When going through wiki an online encyclopedia, I happen to stumble upon an entry on our PM. I found this statement in his famous quotes - and I wonder how does begging for food and transparency are related? Hmm...
"Please don't intervene. Please leave us alone. It is my job and we can cope with this matter. We are trying to explain this to foreigners. But if they do not understand or ignore our explanation, I don't care because we are not begging them for food."
- Thaksin Shinawatra 1 May 2004, in a radio address concerning crackdowns on Islamic militants.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Thailand Digital Inspiration in Review
On June 30, 2005, there is a seminar entitled Thailand Digital Inspiration which was created by Microsoft in coordination with Bill Gate's 17 hour visit to the kingdom of Thailand. I've received an invitation from Microsoft so I decided to go there that day just to have the opportunity to see one of the world's most famous personality in person and maybe hopefully learn a few new things about what Microsoft is up these days. For more information, I've also included a link to the Agenda Here.
Early on June 30, I woke up in the morning and drearily got to dress. The coordinator who I talked with told that we have to dress in full suite. Anyway, that wasn't a big deal, but going there on public transport isn't the easiest thing to do considering all the people that are staring at you. Anyway, the seminar was held at the Naval Convention Hall which was the site of the APEC meeting a few years back. By rumor, it was told to be one of the most beautiful conventional halls we have in the country, though somewhat underused. My route there was to get a short bus transit to the SkyTrain and then travel on to Saphan Taksin Station before boarding a boat there. Anyway, as Microsoft being as they are, they have catered boats to transit people from the Saphan Taksin station to the convention hall.
On my first experience on reaching the Naval Convention Hall, it is indeed a spacious and enticing architecture just as I saw on TV, and conveniently located on the banks of the Chao Phraya river. For today, there were many posters there were placed around the hall to show what was in store for later.
After registering at the counter, we were given a batch and a mousepad which was enclosed in the "Thailand Digital Imagine" case that you see below.
With our batches we were allowed to get a free lunch boxes which was catered by Le Concorde - Swiss Hotel. There were 4 types of lunch boxes which were Thai/Chinese/Japanese/Farang Food. I took up a Chinese box which contains Mafu Tofu, Fried Vegetables, Chicken, and peas which was pretty good. Microsoft seminars usually don't include free lunch for attendees so this is pretty good by Microsoft standards. Anyway on a side note, the best seminar on my own experience should have been the Nokia seminar which treated all attendees to free lunch at a 5 star hotel ;)
During lunch, I happen to meet a few of my collegues at work and a few other new acquaintances from both government, private, and free-lance people. We decided before the seminar to have a group photograph just for old times sake. If you noticed, I'm the only person wearing the suite (I have to blame the coordinator as it seems that not too many of the attendees were wearing it except VIPs.
On a side note, a startling note about this seminar is the lack of security. Though this seminar is entirely invitation only, it seems that there were no visible security measures other than the organizing staff. It would be easy for a terrorist with a suite to strap dynamite around their waist and enter the seminar without raising a ruckus, and later making a huge panic in the seminar later. I do find that the lack of security measures at time worrisome when there are numerous VIP in the seminar. Talking about VIPs, the first VIP was the minister of ICT, Mr. Suwit Khunkitti, who open the seminar with a keynote speak. During his opening remarks, there were a number of things that were mentioned, which was highly emphasized on Thailand cooperating with with Microsoft to come up with the Thialand.NET project in which he stressed that our PM Thaksin was interested in making Thailand completely e-government and wanted increased cooperation with Microsoft to see the matter out - in which he also stated that Microsoft has donated a sizable amount of money to help develop IT infrastructures in Thailand. When I heard that, its kind of strange to know that Nectec was pushing for an open-source solution, and later to hear the Minister of ICT looking towards a Microsoft future.
After his opening remarks, tension was rising as people were waiting for Bill Gates to appear on his speech on The Future of Software and the media and the seminar attendees were highly anticipating his first live appearance in Thailand. After a quick and interesting intro, Bill Gates appeared on stage and promptly started his presentation.
As noticed, his appearance was greeted with a alavanche of press officers.
During Bill Gate's presentation, he was talking numerous topics on what he considers the future of Software. There isn't much of interest, though it seems that he is looking towards PCs of the future to take a more mobile and tablet like with instant access to the Internet. Mobile phones would supplement the mobile PCs. Software also would change dramatically in nature due to physical changes. There isn't too much to note from the speech much more than the speculation of the future. He ended out his talk by previewing about numerous new products that would be launched by Microsoft that included LongHorn, SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and how these applications can help develop the digital future.
After concluding his speech and exiting through the side exit, a huge exodus of cameramen, and VIPs in the front left the convention hall leaving the convetion hall ignoring the next few agendas. Anyway though the front third has turned rather vacant, the remaining attendees which were mostly developers and IT personnel were intent on listening to the remaining agendas.
The next agendas were focused mainly on LongHorn (the next generation Windows OS), and the MS Development tools (Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005). Colin Ping (MS General Manager) and Domini Carr (MS Senior Product Manager) continued the presentation on that topic. Though I haven't managed to pick much from the Visual Studio and SQL Server presentation, it seems that there has been several new tools that has been implemented in Visual Studio 2005. A key tool touted was the development of several GUI tools that would help in the software development including visual class diagrams that can autogenerate code and help visualize and seperate coding to different programming teams easier. The development of a successor to the notoriously bad SourceSafe was also mentioned. Deployment tools were also added. It seems that the new tools were pushing this towards huge cooperate development environment. As much of the tools were mostly screenshots, its hard to review if the tools are actually are as effective as they claim it to be - though there were numerous interesting ideas presented.
On an interesting note, the presentation on LongHorn was much more anticipated. It seems that the key underlining idea behind LongHorn is visual presentation and a huge upgrade in GUI and organizational issues. First of all, it seems that LongHorn was designed to utilize the GPU which is vastly underused in most applications. GPU utilization is used widely in games, but hardly in other applications, and they say that MS thinks that it would be good to utilize the GPU to help in rendering the OS elements. A good idea, though I wonder how difficult it would be to program considering the pains the Game Developers have to go through. Anyway, they mentioned that programming in LongHorn would move from an API based into a Service .NET based type of programming model. As on my own experience with .NET, I am not convinced that .NET would be good for system programming, so I'm going to remain partly a skeptic for the time being. The major visual improvement in the system seems to be with the ability of making transparent windows which is readily available in most modern graphical cards. Colin Ping demonstrated alpha windows, which was interesting due to other flavors of Windows lacking it. Though it is interesting, I wonder that feature would actually help you work. Though many people say its a memory hog, on an interesting note, that feature would use the GPU speedups, so that won't be a huge performance hit as the previous versions of windows that does graphical calculations mostly on software means.
The other highly interesting feature should be the file organization in LongHorn. It seems that in LongHorn, in additional to the physical file structure we have (drives/folders/files), MS is advocating meta-files or adding description to files to help organize files in the system. What happens is that in every file that is safed, it is possible to save meta data which is an XML file. Later the user can search and browse files based on their meta information without physical limitation quickly. It seems promising, though I do want to caution that its usefulness is only as good as the person's willingness to update meta data of files.
Searching in Longhorn seems to be easier due to adding Mozilla like search tabs at the address window along with intregrating all of the pages with search options.
The last feature that is nifty and useful in longhorn would be the resizable icons - that can show quite interesting previews of files. They can especially be useful when thumbnails are too small to be meaningful, and a larger preview can easily be made available without having to open the file itself.
All in all it was an interesting presentation, though I would figure there isn't anything seriously new with Longhorn.
The last session of the seminar was then conducted by Eric Feng, the Lead Program Manager of the Microsoft Research Asia Pacific. This last session was the most interesting to me, as it showcases a number of new technology under development from the Beijing lab. Just to make a long matter short, he presented 3 interesting tools/technology.
The first tool he shown was a cartoon maker from photographs. It is possible to get photographs from people, and import it with a wizard to generate carnicles (artistic portraits) which was rather funny.
The second program shown was a program that uses multiple video feed to provide an interactive video file, in which the user can actually change the viewpoint of the video on demand. Though I don't think this technology is interesting considering real 3D rendering could do that easily, well its interesting to see a video in a matrix effect look by just changing the video playback options.
The last program was the most interesting though, and it shows the usage of a tablet like style of computer. What the speaker did was to use printout of powerpoint files on a special live OCR and make notes on the paper. The changes on the note would then be reflected in the computer in the powerpoint in the actual correct position and page number. This allows collaborative work in a futuristic tablet PC setting easier. Also other interesting applications include a live demonstration of how Musicians can collaborate composing music online by writing notes on the same system, and have a quick playback system to review the song. It seems that these research were done in anticipation of what Bill Gates claim the future of software would be and is indeed an interesting visual presentation of the things that might come.
After the last presentation was over, the attendees started exiting the conventional hall. Contrary to most other MS seminars, this seminar lacked free evaluation and beta give-aways of MS software, and it was a darn shame considering that I was looking forward to actually try some of the newer software.
Though I didn't actually learn any new thing in today's seminar, all in all it was a good experience considering that its not often that you would see the World's Richest Person in person ;)
Early on June 30, I woke up in the morning and drearily got to dress. The coordinator who I talked with told that we have to dress in full suite. Anyway, that wasn't a big deal, but going there on public transport isn't the easiest thing to do considering all the people that are staring at you. Anyway, the seminar was held at the Naval Convention Hall which was the site of the APEC meeting a few years back. By rumor, it was told to be one of the most beautiful conventional halls we have in the country, though somewhat underused. My route there was to get a short bus transit to the SkyTrain and then travel on to Saphan Taksin Station before boarding a boat there. Anyway, as Microsoft being as they are, they have catered boats to transit people from the Saphan Taksin station to the convention hall.
On my first experience on reaching the Naval Convention Hall, it is indeed a spacious and enticing architecture just as I saw on TV, and conveniently located on the banks of the Chao Phraya river. For today, there were many posters there were placed around the hall to show what was in store for later.
After registering at the counter, we were given a batch and a mousepad which was enclosed in the "Thailand Digital Imagine" case that you see below.
With our batches we were allowed to get a free lunch boxes which was catered by Le Concorde - Swiss Hotel. There were 4 types of lunch boxes which were Thai/Chinese/Japanese/Farang Food. I took up a Chinese box which contains Mafu Tofu, Fried Vegetables, Chicken, and peas which was pretty good. Microsoft seminars usually don't include free lunch for attendees so this is pretty good by Microsoft standards. Anyway on a side note, the best seminar on my own experience should have been the Nokia seminar which treated all attendees to free lunch at a 5 star hotel ;)
During lunch, I happen to meet a few of my collegues at work and a few other new acquaintances from both government, private, and free-lance people. We decided before the seminar to have a group photograph just for old times sake. If you noticed, I'm the only person wearing the suite (I have to blame the coordinator as it seems that not too many of the attendees were wearing it except VIPs.
On a side note, a startling note about this seminar is the lack of security. Though this seminar is entirely invitation only, it seems that there were no visible security measures other than the organizing staff. It would be easy for a terrorist with a suite to strap dynamite around their waist and enter the seminar without raising a ruckus, and later making a huge panic in the seminar later. I do find that the lack of security measures at time worrisome when there are numerous VIP in the seminar. Talking about VIPs, the first VIP was the minister of ICT, Mr. Suwit Khunkitti, who open the seminar with a keynote speak. During his opening remarks, there were a number of things that were mentioned, which was highly emphasized on Thailand cooperating with with Microsoft to come up with the Thialand.NET project in which he stressed that our PM Thaksin was interested in making Thailand completely e-government and wanted increased cooperation with Microsoft to see the matter out - in which he also stated that Microsoft has donated a sizable amount of money to help develop IT infrastructures in Thailand. When I heard that, its kind of strange to know that Nectec was pushing for an open-source solution, and later to hear the Minister of ICT looking towards a Microsoft future.
After his opening remarks, tension was rising as people were waiting for Bill Gates to appear on his speech on The Future of Software and the media and the seminar attendees were highly anticipating his first live appearance in Thailand. After a quick and interesting intro, Bill Gates appeared on stage and promptly started his presentation.
As noticed, his appearance was greeted with a alavanche of press officers.
During Bill Gate's presentation, he was talking numerous topics on what he considers the future of Software. There isn't much of interest, though it seems that he is looking towards PCs of the future to take a more mobile and tablet like with instant access to the Internet. Mobile phones would supplement the mobile PCs. Software also would change dramatically in nature due to physical changes. There isn't too much to note from the speech much more than the speculation of the future. He ended out his talk by previewing about numerous new products that would be launched by Microsoft that included LongHorn, SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and how these applications can help develop the digital future.
After concluding his speech and exiting through the side exit, a huge exodus of cameramen, and VIPs in the front left the convention hall leaving the convetion hall ignoring the next few agendas. Anyway though the front third has turned rather vacant, the remaining attendees which were mostly developers and IT personnel were intent on listening to the remaining agendas.
The next agendas were focused mainly on LongHorn (the next generation Windows OS), and the MS Development tools (Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005). Colin Ping (MS General Manager) and Domini Carr (MS Senior Product Manager) continued the presentation on that topic. Though I haven't managed to pick much from the Visual Studio and SQL Server presentation, it seems that there has been several new tools that has been implemented in Visual Studio 2005. A key tool touted was the development of several GUI tools that would help in the software development including visual class diagrams that can autogenerate code and help visualize and seperate coding to different programming teams easier. The development of a successor to the notoriously bad SourceSafe was also mentioned. Deployment tools were also added. It seems that the new tools were pushing this towards huge cooperate development environment. As much of the tools were mostly screenshots, its hard to review if the tools are actually are as effective as they claim it to be - though there were numerous interesting ideas presented.
On an interesting note, the presentation on LongHorn was much more anticipated. It seems that the key underlining idea behind LongHorn is visual presentation and a huge upgrade in GUI and organizational issues. First of all, it seems that LongHorn was designed to utilize the GPU which is vastly underused in most applications. GPU utilization is used widely in games, but hardly in other applications, and they say that MS thinks that it would be good to utilize the GPU to help in rendering the OS elements. A good idea, though I wonder how difficult it would be to program considering the pains the Game Developers have to go through. Anyway, they mentioned that programming in LongHorn would move from an API based into a Service .NET based type of programming model. As on my own experience with .NET, I am not convinced that .NET would be good for system programming, so I'm going to remain partly a skeptic for the time being. The major visual improvement in the system seems to be with the ability of making transparent windows which is readily available in most modern graphical cards. Colin Ping demonstrated alpha windows, which was interesting due to other flavors of Windows lacking it. Though it is interesting, I wonder that feature would actually help you work. Though many people say its a memory hog, on an interesting note, that feature would use the GPU speedups, so that won't be a huge performance hit as the previous versions of windows that does graphical calculations mostly on software means.
The other highly interesting feature should be the file organization in LongHorn. It seems that in LongHorn, in additional to the physical file structure we have (drives/folders/files), MS is advocating meta-files or adding description to files to help organize files in the system. What happens is that in every file that is safed, it is possible to save meta data which is an XML file. Later the user can search and browse files based on their meta information without physical limitation quickly. It seems promising, though I do want to caution that its usefulness is only as good as the person's willingness to update meta data of files.
Searching in Longhorn seems to be easier due to adding Mozilla like search tabs at the address window along with intregrating all of the pages with search options.
The last feature that is nifty and useful in longhorn would be the resizable icons - that can show quite interesting previews of files. They can especially be useful when thumbnails are too small to be meaningful, and a larger preview can easily be made available without having to open the file itself.
All in all it was an interesting presentation, though I would figure there isn't anything seriously new with Longhorn.
The last session of the seminar was then conducted by Eric Feng, the Lead Program Manager of the Microsoft Research Asia Pacific. This last session was the most interesting to me, as it showcases a number of new technology under development from the Beijing lab. Just to make a long matter short, he presented 3 interesting tools/technology.
The first tool he shown was a cartoon maker from photographs. It is possible to get photographs from people, and import it with a wizard to generate carnicles (artistic portraits) which was rather funny.
The second program shown was a program that uses multiple video feed to provide an interactive video file, in which the user can actually change the viewpoint of the video on demand. Though I don't think this technology is interesting considering real 3D rendering could do that easily, well its interesting to see a video in a matrix effect look by just changing the video playback options.
The last program was the most interesting though, and it shows the usage of a tablet like style of computer. What the speaker did was to use printout of powerpoint files on a special live OCR and make notes on the paper. The changes on the note would then be reflected in the computer in the powerpoint in the actual correct position and page number. This allows collaborative work in a futuristic tablet PC setting easier. Also other interesting applications include a live demonstration of how Musicians can collaborate composing music online by writing notes on the same system, and have a quick playback system to review the song. It seems that these research were done in anticipation of what Bill Gates claim the future of software would be and is indeed an interesting visual presentation of the things that might come.
After the last presentation was over, the attendees started exiting the conventional hall. Contrary to most other MS seminars, this seminar lacked free evaluation and beta give-aways of MS software, and it was a darn shame considering that I was looking forward to actually try some of the newer software.
Though I didn't actually learn any new thing in today's seminar, all in all it was a good experience considering that its not often that you would see the World's Richest Person in person ;)
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
A belated 1st anniversary of my Blog
I just noticed that I've just gone over the one year anniversary of my rambling blog. Its odd to think that I completely forgot about it, but as they say, age is only a number ;)
Monday, June 27, 2005
Meeting Bill Gates
I just entered a contest to meet Bill Gates in person. I didn't win the contest, but at least I was invited to a seminar he is speaking. I'll get more details once I get them.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Cynical Expression
One of the most cynical expressions I've ever heard goes like this: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Some of the most world-weary purveyors of this belief also like to provide the following addendum: "And those who can't teach, criticize."
Greg Kasavin - Executive Editor
I couldn't stop laughing at the above statement. As you probably know, you know which camp I belong in ;)
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Formating Error?
Hmm... somehow it seems my blog has some strange formatting errors that just appeared. Something must be wrong with my template O_o
On a curious note, my photogallery is updated, so do take a look!
p.s. that is the end of my rant :P
On a curious note, my photogallery is updated, so do take a look!
p.s. that is the end of my rant :P
CBS' Most Memorable Movie Quotes
CBS' Most Memorable Movie Quotes
I thought this was interesting so here it is and as I wanted to point out by using the most popular movie quote:
I thought this was interesting so here it is and as I wanted to point out by using the most popular movie quote:
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"
- Gone with the Wind
"I'm going to make an offer he can't refure"
- The GodFather
"You don't understand! I coulda had hass. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am."
- On the WaterFront
Friday, June 24, 2005
My Dog Ate My Homework!
I was just reading through this article this morning:
This article reminds me about what happened in Thailand a few years ago. During the course of the week, there were numerous Internet disruption. From the first occurence, I heard that some shark or marine animal managed to sever the underwater cables that connected the Thai Internet Connection to the world. After a week, the problem was fixed, though it happened again the next week when Internet service went back to a crawl. This time, I heard that some administrators were complaining about crabs eating the cables. Talking about it, notice the similarity? Somehow it does make "my dog ate my homework excuse" sounds credible :P
Rats take down Kiwi telecoms
By AAP
24 June 2005
Rats gnawing through cable helped cripple telecommunications services across New Zealand for more than four hours, an investigation has found.
But the rodents will go unpunished as the telco instead goes after the humans who were unwitting collaborators in the shutdown.
Telephone, mobile, Internet and eftpos services affecting about 100,000 customers were lost on Monday and the nation's stock exchange closed for most of the trading day because of the outage.
The interruption occurred after two service pipelines on the North Island were knocked out within hours of each other -- one by a power company post-hole digger, the other by industrious rodents.
The rats attacked cable on a bridge north of Wellington protected by a steel duct.
"Rodents being rodents, they gnaw at those entry points, they burrow underground, they find a way in," Telecom New Zealand general manager of network delivery Steve Fuller told the New Zealand Herald.
Powerless to take action against the rats for the "unavoidable" damage, Telecom is seeking compensation from the electricity company it says is responsible for knocking out the other pipeline, eliminating backup services.
This article reminds me about what happened in Thailand a few years ago. During the course of the week, there were numerous Internet disruption. From the first occurence, I heard that some shark or marine animal managed to sever the underwater cables that connected the Thai Internet Connection to the world. After a week, the problem was fixed, though it happened again the next week when Internet service went back to a crawl. This time, I heard that some administrators were complaining about crabs eating the cables. Talking about it, notice the similarity? Somehow it does make "my dog ate my homework excuse" sounds credible :P
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
An Eye for the Odd
The last week I couldn't help but notice a few odd things that I couldn't help but ponder about.
The first thing that really caught my attention was a poster that had this as the highlight:
That was a headlines of a debate club poster, in which I couldn't help to figure the strange choice of words. Somehow I have this odd association when talking about arguing and debate, the first thing that comes to mind is the Taiwanese Parliment which is known for its frequent brawl. I wonder if it was the same :P
The second thing that really caught my attention is on the topic of fashion. In many cases, we can see alot of people trying to follow the latest fashion trends. I don't blame them for that considering all the modern influence of our pop culture, but at times I do feel things just gone a little tad too far. On my latest experience, the last time I went on the subway, I couldn't help but stratch my head at one of the passengers. One of the popular fashion these days worn by many female these days is to where a rather short top, which exposes much of the tummy clevage for people to see. If you don't get the picture, the picture below shows an example of how the top would be like.
The top is usually a spagetthi strap top, and it is complemented with usually jeans or any other pants or skirts. In many cases, I do think that this fashion has been in the craze of late might stem from the fact that such dress would garner the attention of people in visual distance.
Anyway, back to the topic, regarding the short spagetti top, imagine the following. Imagine if you see a fat young girl wearing that dress with alot of excess fat perturding through the dress.
.
.
.
Not a pretty sight is it?
The question is, is it best to stick with the latest fashion or is it best to dress decently? Or would it be easy to sidetrack back to the issue of losing weight to be able to fit in the dress?
Anyway, hard to figure, I do still feel that having a good health is certainly a lot better than having a good external appearance, but then again it could just be only me.
The first thing that really caught my attention was a poster that had this as the highlight:
Argue Your Way to Victory
That was a headlines of a debate club poster, in which I couldn't help to figure the strange choice of words. Somehow I have this odd association when talking about arguing and debate, the first thing that comes to mind is the Taiwanese Parliment which is known for its frequent brawl. I wonder if it was the same :P
The second thing that really caught my attention is on the topic of fashion. In many cases, we can see alot of people trying to follow the latest fashion trends. I don't blame them for that considering all the modern influence of our pop culture, but at times I do feel things just gone a little tad too far. On my latest experience, the last time I went on the subway, I couldn't help but stratch my head at one of the passengers. One of the popular fashion these days worn by many female these days is to where a rather short top, which exposes much of the tummy clevage for people to see. If you don't get the picture, the picture below shows an example of how the top would be like.
The top is usually a spagetthi strap top, and it is complemented with usually jeans or any other pants or skirts. In many cases, I do think that this fashion has been in the craze of late might stem from the fact that such dress would garner the attention of people in visual distance.
Anyway, back to the topic, regarding the short spagetti top, imagine the following. Imagine if you see a fat young girl wearing that dress with alot of excess fat perturding through the dress.
.
.
.
Not a pretty sight is it?
The question is, is it best to stick with the latest fashion or is it best to dress decently? Or would it be easy to sidetrack back to the issue of losing weight to be able to fit in the dress?
Anyway, hard to figure, I do still feel that having a good health is certainly a lot better than having a good external appearance, but then again it could just be only me.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Class Time
Yesterday I dropped to a local supermarket to buy some grocers when I overheard a pair of male students who had bought stacks of ice and soda.
Hmm... Now from what I can deduce from these two students:
Class Time < Alcohol
Student A: What alcohol should I buy? What do you have at home?
Student B: Quite a few things, you could get anything you like in particular.
Student A grabs a Vodka mixed drink from the fridge
Student A: Hey, are you sure that this would be okay? I mean you have class after this don't you?
Student B: What's wrong? I don't think any teacher would be bringing an alcohol tester to class. I suppose that there isn't a law against having drunk students coming to class?
Student: Yeah. That's absolutely correct, why didn't I think of that before.
Hmm... Now from what I can deduce from these two students:
Class Time < Alcohol
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
No to ID
In Thailand, our government is investing a hefty sum on a Smart ID card project in which ID cards are supposed to contain basic information about the carrier. It was intially quoted as an anti-crime prevention measure, and had a lukewarm acceptance from the population who couldn't care more or less about it. On a personal note I was highly against the move and I don't plan to cooperate in this matter if possible. Somehow I got tired of answering people why I thought a using national Smart Card ID won't help prevent crime, but another useless mega project the government is investing in. Anyway, I've just happen to hop in a great site, just accross the world that is campaigning on a similar line to what I believe in, so I just thought about updating my blog to highly why such idea or similar ones are not as good as you think.
Here is one quote that I liked alot:
There is also a good FAQ that lists important issues that you should know about.
Here is one quote that I liked alot:
"If the Government are serious about crime and security, they should ensure the police and security services have sufficient resources - not waste billions on an ID card scheme that won't stop serious criminals or terrorists but will inconvenience millions of law-abiding citizens."
Gareth Crossman, Liberty
There is also a good FAQ that lists important issues that you should know about.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Growing on to Othello
During the last few months, I've been developing strong Othello playing systems which is my major area of research at the present. Initially I was kind of relunctant to research in this area, as I was far more interested in other topics, but due to unforseen circumstances, I was kind of forced to explore in this domain.
Anyway, though at times you don't appreciate what you are forced to do, I have to admit, once you start to understand the naunces and challenges of the new task, you start to appreciate it more - and at times I have to admit, you start to love it.
All I want to say at this moment is that I've been working with two approaches at the present. The first is using a Genetic Approach to evolve board evaluation functions for Othello. In this case, I've adapted Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to come up with board evaluation for my Othello system. This approach though seems promising at first, I have to admit after doing numerous experiments with the numerous variations of the Evolutionary approach in programming, it ended up not as good as anticipated. To put it in CS terms, I feel that the Genetic Approach is just an heuristic for a brute force search on certain problem domains. I was looking into using parallel processing to help speed up the evolution and hope that the performance would be better - but after consideration, I decided that this approach may not be the best way forward.
After a few weeks of thinking, I've come up with a new radical idea that is so simple, yet very effective. The idea is simple, yet profound to a point I have a reason to believe that this system has potential to actually beat many of the World Class Othello playing algorithms once it is done. At the moment, I'm finishing up the prototype system and initial experiments prove to be extrememly promising. Once the system is up and running, I'll explain more on this idea.
Here I come, Pisal the Othello Expert ;)
Anyway, though at times you don't appreciate what you are forced to do, I have to admit, once you start to understand the naunces and challenges of the new task, you start to appreciate it more - and at times I have to admit, you start to love it.
All I want to say at this moment is that I've been working with two approaches at the present. The first is using a Genetic Approach to evolve board evaluation functions for Othello. In this case, I've adapted Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to come up with board evaluation for my Othello system. This approach though seems promising at first, I have to admit after doing numerous experiments with the numerous variations of the Evolutionary approach in programming, it ended up not as good as anticipated. To put it in CS terms, I feel that the Genetic Approach is just an heuristic for a brute force search on certain problem domains. I was looking into using parallel processing to help speed up the evolution and hope that the performance would be better - but after consideration, I decided that this approach may not be the best way forward.
After a few weeks of thinking, I've come up with a new radical idea that is so simple, yet very effective. The idea is simple, yet profound to a point I have a reason to believe that this system has potential to actually beat many of the World Class Othello playing algorithms once it is done. At the moment, I'm finishing up the prototype system and initial experiments prove to be extrememly promising. Once the system is up and running, I'll explain more on this idea.
Here I come, Pisal the Othello Expert ;)
Friday, June 10, 2005
Sunday, June 05, 2005
RIP - Chelsea
Chelsea just passed away a few days ago. She was a junior in my old highschool, a rather talkative and energetic young lass and best known as a party animal that got things going. I'll link it to another site with more details on it:
http://xtercy.blogspot.com/2005/06/farewel-chelsea.html
http://xtercy.blogspot.com/2005/06/farewel-chelsea.html
Energy Saving Rant Cont.
Talking about the last post, I've just noticed an article that is interesting from
NYTIMES and I've decided to append the article below.
When I continued thinking over it, we can notice that many countries are trying to be less dependent on fossil fuels. For countries with huge industries, some examples might include Japan, US, and some parts of Europe, I've noticed that due to infrastructure that has been placed, it would be difficult to come up with energy saving policies considering the traditional reliance on fossil fuels. On an interesting note, it should be easier for countries that are developing, for example like Thailand to adopt an energy policy that goes away from fossil fuels and emphasize on renewable energy sources - e.g. Solar - in anticipation of the future. Won't that be a better government policy to push if energy conservation is a high priority issue? The main issue should be a clear policy, which now it seems sadly lacking other than some half-hearted attempt to cut down energy usage.
NYTIMES and I've decided to append the article below.
June 4, 2005
Japan Squeezes to Get the Most of Costly Fuel
By JAMES BROOKE
TOKYO, June 3 - Surging oil prices and growing concerns about meeting targets to cut greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels have revived efforts around the world to improve energy efficiency. But perhaps nowhere is the interest greater than here in Japan.
Even though Japan is already among the most frugal countries in the world, the government recently introduced a national campaign, urging the Japanese to replace their older appliances and buy hybrid vehicles, all part of a patriotic effort to save energy and fight global warming. And big companies are jumping on the bandwagon, counting on the moves to increase sales of their latest models.
On the Matsushita appliance showroom floor these days, the numbers scream not the low, low yen prices, but the low, low kilowatt-hours.
A vacuum-insulated refrigerator, which comes with a buzzer if the door stays open more than 30 seconds, boasts that it will use 160 kilowatt-hours a year, one-eighth of that needed by standard models a decade ago. An air-conditioner with a robotic dust filter cleaner proclaims it uses 884 kilowatt-hours, less than half of what decade-old ones consumed.
"It's like squeezing a dry towel" for the last few drips, said Katsumi Tomita, an environmental planner for the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, maker of the Panasonic brand and known for its attention to energy efficiency. "The honest feeling of Japanese people is, 'How can we do more?' "
A number of other affluent countries with few domestic energy resources of their own are responding in similar ways.
In Germany, where heating accounts for the largest share of home energy use, a new energy saving law has as its standard the "seven-liter house," designed to use just seven liters of oil to heat one square meter for a year, about one-third the amount consumed by a house built in 1973, before the first oil price shock. Three-liter houses - even one-liter designs - are now being built.
In Singapore, where year-round air-conditioning often accounts for 60 percent of a building's power bill, new codes are encouraging the use of things like heat-blocking window films and hookups to neighborhood cooling systems, where water is chilled overnight.
In Hong Kong, many more buildings now have "intelligent" elevator systems in which computers minimize unnecessary stops. Parking restrictions encourage bus and rail transit, and authorities are also pushing hybrid cars equipped with engines that shut down when idling.
Other countries, including the United States, the world's largest energy consumer by far, have lagged behind, but even American consumers are starting to turn their backs on big sport utility vehicles and looking at more fuel-efficient cars in response to higher gasoline prices.
But Japan is where energy consciousness probably reaches the highest levels. The country has the world's second-largest economy, but it produces virtually no oil or gas, importing 96 percent of its energy needs.
This dependence on imports has prodded the nation into tremendous achievements in improved efficiency. France and Germany, where government crusades against global warming have become increasingly loud, expend almost 50 percent more energy to produce the equivalent of $1 in economic activity. Britain's energy use, on the same measure, is nearly double; the United States nearly triple; and China almost eight times as much.
From 1973 to today, Japan's industrial sector nearly tripled its output, but kept its energy consumption roughly flat. To produce the same industrial output as Japan, China consumes 11.5 times the energy.
At JFE Holdings, Japan's second-largest steel company, plastic pellets made from recycled bottles now account for 10 percent of fuel in the main blast furnaces, reducing reliance on imported coal. Japanese paper mills are investing heavily in boilers that can be fueled by waste paper, wood and plastic. Within two years, half of the electricity used in the nation's paper mills is to come from burning waste.
Many easy steps were taken after the oil shocks of the 1970's. Now Japan is embarking on a new phase. Billions of dollars are being invested to reach a 2012 target of reducing Japan's emission of global warming gases to 6 percent below the 1990 level. These gases are released by burning oil, coal, and, to a lesser extent, natural gas - sources for about 81 percent of Japan's energy.
As host nation for the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gases, Japan takes its commitment seriously. But it faces a big challenge. Figures released last month show Japan was 8.3 percent over the 1990 level for the fiscal year ended March 2004.
"We are now at the stage where we only save energy by investing in equipment," Mr. Tomita said of Matsushita's effort. "If we can collect money in three years, we invest."
With the Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, introducing its national campaign two months ago to meet the Kyoto targets, business is booming for energy service companies and consultants who advise companies on cutting energy bills.
But Japan's flattening of industrial energy consumption has not been matched in the transportation and residential sectors, where energy consumption has more than doubled since 1973, roughly pacing Japan's economic growth over the period.
Japan may be a mass transit nation, but now there is also a car for almost every Japanese household. Since 1970, the number of buses in Japan increased 23 percent, the number of trucks doubled, and the number of passenger cars increased more than sixfold, to 56 million.
With personal use accounting for the bulk of April's $6.4 billion bill for imported oil, Tokyo is trying to encourage greater efficiency by pushing fuel taxes even higher, lifting the pump price for gasoline to $4.70 a gallon, the highest in a decade.
During the 1990's, Japan's average fuel consumption per mile fell 13 percent. But since then, with more Japanese driving bigger cars, fuel efficiency growth has stalled.
Japan finds hope in the history of its refrigerators, which have doubled in size since 1981 as their energy use per liter has plunged 80 percent.
In hopes of working the same engineering magic on cars, Japan has extended its minicar tax breaks to hybrid cars - fuel-efficient vehicles that rely on a combination of a gasoline engine and an electric motor. Hybrid sales, while still relatively low in Japan, are growing fast. And in this environment, Toyota and Honda have become the world leaders in hybrid technology.
"We're entering the age of hybrid automobiles," Hiroyuki Watanabe, Toyota's senior managing director for environmental affairs, recently told journalists at the 2005 World Exposition Aichi, in Nagoya. "I want every car to have a hybrid engine."
The next energy-savings battleground is the home front.
After $1.3 billion in subsidies, about 160,000 homes have solar power systems. Solar power remains two to three times as expensive as the electricity supplied to households. But homeowners say that with time, the "free" electricity pays for the high installation costs. And the government is willing to devote taxes to the effort, preferring to spur rural employment through solar power installations to help reduce payments for foreign oil, coal and gas.
Although residential subsidies may be phased out, a Japanese government plan calls for increasing solar power generation 15-fold during this decade.
Japanese companies, notably Sharp, Kyocera, Mitsubishi and Sanyo, produce about half the world's photovoltaic solar panels, a roughly $10-billion-a-year market. With large commercial projects like a 4,740-panel generator going online at a filtration plant in Nara last month, Japan produces more than the combined total of the next biggest, Germany and the United States.
Prime Minister Koizumi is a political conservative who believes that saving oil starts at home. Visitors to his official residence here walk past a boxy hydrogen fuel-cell generator, a prototype installed by Matsushita in April to power the residence and educate the nation's leadership.
"Fuel cells are the key to the door of a new era in which we utilize hydrogen as an energy source," Mr. Koizumi told Parliament in 2002. "We intend to put them into practical use within three years, either as power sources for automobiles or households."
His government has set goals for cutting power consumption even further for the four main household appliances: televisions, 17 percent; personal computers, 30 percent; air- conditioners, 36 percent; and refrigerators, 72 percent. Engineers have been attacking the problem of the power used by appliances on standby, a drainage that can account for 5 percent to 10 percent of a household's energy consumption.
Still, while energy efficiency is seen as a patriotic act, many consumers in Japan are reluctant to part with working appliances, made with the Japanese ingenuity and attention to detail that ensure they will last for decades.
"The problem we are facing is over how much we induce consumers to trade in their appliances for more energy-efficient ones," Hajimi Sasaki, chairman of the NEC Corporation, a major appliance maker, said in April at a news conference billed as "Proposals Aimed at Overcoming Global Warming."
"I drive a hybrid car, and last fall I put heat-cutting film on some of our windows," he said. "And I intend to buy a new refrigerator."
Petra Kappl contributing reporting for this article from Frankfurt,
Wayne Arnold from Singapore and
Alyssa Lau from Hong Kong.
When I continued thinking over it, we can notice that many countries are trying to be less dependent on fossil fuels. For countries with huge industries, some examples might include Japan, US, and some parts of Europe, I've noticed that due to infrastructure that has been placed, it would be difficult to come up with energy saving policies considering the traditional reliance on fossil fuels. On an interesting note, it should be easier for countries that are developing, for example like Thailand to adopt an energy policy that goes away from fossil fuels and emphasize on renewable energy sources - e.g. Solar - in anticipation of the future. Won't that be a better government policy to push if energy conservation is a high priority issue? The main issue should be a clear policy, which now it seems sadly lacking other than some half-hearted attempt to cut down energy usage.
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