Visio Alternative - Dia
I am trying to find an open source alternative of Visio. Previously, I used ArgoUML. That is very useful tool, but that is UML only. I cannot use it to draw system diagrams. I found Dia can use this kind of job. Moreover, it got a Linux and Windows version too.
There is another new stuff in facebook
I found the Facebook is changed again! The list of onlined friends is improved. Now is not a name of your friends. They are replaced with the thumbnail of your friends' profile photo. That looks more fancy! But I am more prefer to be just a name only. That is easier to read! Moreover, there is another change too. There is a new menu opinion to create a Facebook group. I heard about Facebook group became alive again! That is good, they are changing and trying to improve themselves!
Windows Phone 7
I am quite happy about Microsoft building a new mobile OS, Windows Phone 7. That is much better than just a upgrade for Windows Mobile 6.5. After I used Android, I don't really like to use Windows Mobile 6.5. Windows Mobile sounds a bit old fashions style interface. Now, Microsoft re-invent a new interface for Windows Phone 7. That is so great! Moreover, it can run Xbox live games. That is the greatest advantage!
However, there are some down sides on Windows Phone 7. That is very new. Not many applications are built for it. Moreover, so far, that is not still a real Windows Phone in the market yet! That sounds a bit too late!
Microsoft committed to jQuery
If you mention the word,"Microsoft", to me, "Windows" and "Closed Source Development" will pop up in my head. I won't think about much relationship with "Opensource" and "Microsoft". But Actually, maybe, there are some changes. Microsoft committed to the jQuery projects. I watched the video on Channel 9. They built three plug-ins for jQuery. They are jQuery Templates,
jQuery Data Link and jQuery Globalization API.
I love jQuery Templates most! It looks like a dynamic data repeater. I can use the code like the following to build a table for displaying data:
Code
<script id="productTemplate" type="text/x-jquery-tmpl"> | |
<td><b>Product</b></td> | |
<td>${Name}</td> | |
</script> |
That is so great! That is very useful for building ajax tool, such as ajax data paging!
For jQuery Datalink, it can blind the fields to the data object. That sounds useful as well. However, in the most of cases, I won't do any hard blind the fields to the data objects. That is not very flexible.
jQuery Globalization is very impressive too! It can localize all currencies and date time for most of cultures. That is a huge job. That needs backing with a big firm! If your application can supports multi-languages, that is very useful for you!
Those plug-ins sounds very helpful!
Reference:
Channel 9
jQuery Blog
Using Skype on Galaxy S
I think the most of people know even Skype has released their client for Android, but it does not support Galaxy S. Yes, I know some people told they are using a unofficial 2.2 ROM, they can use Skype android client. But so far, Samsung has not released their official 2.2 upgrade yet! If you want to upgrade Galaxy S with an official ROM only, then what can you do?
Well, I found an app which is very similar with the official Skype Client. It calls Nimbuzz。It supports IM,Skype-to-Skype calls, SkypeIn and SkypeOut. It only does not support sending SMS. So far their function is quite completed, but I tried it with 3G connections. The voice quality is not very good. Moreover, it used a lot of CPU and eats a lot of battery power too! Well, it can do the job, but that is not 100% prefect so far.