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Archive for June, 2009

Afternoon with Gee Thugs in KL at GTUG KL first meetup

June 29th, 2009

I had a fun afternoon last Saturday with some Gee Thugs in KL.

Sounds like a triad, looks like a triad, smells like a triad. The only thing is, it’s not a triad.

GTUG (yeah pronounced Gee Thug) is the abbreviation for Google Technology User Group.

The first meetup of GTUG KL was at iTrain, Jalan Tun Razak, Megan Avenue just beside Plaza OSK.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Mike from iTrain was the wonderful and ever smiling host of the day.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL was founded by Nazrul who had everything ready to go for the first meetup of Malaysian Google fans.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

The first meetup was mainly about Android, the phone which has since started to enter Malaysia.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Nazrul gave an overview of the GTUG and then proceeded to fill the crowd with information of Google Android.

Some photos to share:

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

He also ran the Android emulator or virtual device with Eclipse IDE.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Following that, we had lightning talks, where those who are interested gave an average 5 minutes talk on their Google Technology of choice.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Kegan demo his MalaysiaCrime.com project which uses Google Maps extensively.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Chee Aun showed his six gay GAE (Google App Engine) projects welcomed by huge laughter from the crowd when he called them ‘my gay apps’. πŸ™‚

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Ikhwan Nazri a.k.a. Tekong demonstrated his OfficeKami.com project that tracks and aggregates all his mobile office locations with useful information for mobile warriors or solopreneurs.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Colin Charles a.k.a. bytebot shared about the powerful Google Sites that can replace traditional free hosted websites like Geocities, Tripod and the likes in no time. He also feature Google Sites as ‘A poor man’s version of MS Access’.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Then, along came Razlan who showed us his Android G1! πŸ™‚

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

He got his G1 for free from Wherecamp 09 at Palo Alto.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

He has a program in the G1 that could decode the QR code on Nazrul’s t-shirt.

I had a chance to borrow the Android from Razlan later and found out that I like it so much!
Even though it’s the first generation of Android, I can’t help loving it already. πŸ™‚

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Subsequently, Haresh demonstrated how Google SketchUp can easily create 3D modelling without the need to have complicated software installed.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

At the end of the lightning talk sessions, a voting was held to select the best talk to win a GTUG t-shirt and a cool GTUG USB Hub which transforms more than Optimus Prime. The winner was Tekong. I’m starting to like his talks already since the previous one from BarCamp. πŸ™‚

A group shot of the GTUG KL first meetup before all of us belah.

GTUG KL 1st Meetup

Oh, just in case you were wondering why I wasn’t in the photos, that’s because I took those photographs. Hehe..

Thanks to Surianee, there are a couple of photos with me in it. πŸ™‚

gtugkl_group

gtugkl_marvin

I had a quick 5-min intro on OpenSocial with FriendConnect.

You can checkout some videos recorded by Mike from his YouTube itrainulearn channel.

If you’re a fan of Google Technologies and located in KL, come join the user group and meet some techies and some not-so-techie a.k.a noob like me. πŸ™‚
If you’re interested to set up a GTUG at another area, contact Nazrul.
Do follow GTUG events/meetups, Facebook group and twitter.

GTUG members are really not thugs. Serious. πŸ™‚

Events, Google, Malaysia, Technology , , , , , , , , , , ,

Import Windows PuTTY Registry Settings From External Hard Drive

June 22nd, 2009

I had a hard disk drive upgrade recently and had my files moved from the old HDD to the new HDD.

It was not really a tough task but then I found out some programs do not let you copy or export your settings so easily.

It is especially so when the saved data is in Windows Registry. πŸ™

And that happens to my favourite SSH client, PuTTY.

I dread to think of finding the 20 odd host settings and recreate them again.

So the urgency was to import PuTTY host entries from the windows registry in my external hard drive.

Alright, before we proceed, let’s just say I know I can plug that external hard drive as a bootable OS to another machine and copy the registry settings. I could have even do that before the physical upgrade, it just so happen that I did not. πŸ™‚

So here’s how we can import windows registry from external hard drive to our local drive.

Follow with caution and I do not assume any liability for any of your loss. Backup your registry file first.

Skills Level : Medium

1) Run regedit
Start -> Run -> ‘regedit’
putty_registry_import1

2) Browse to HKEY_USERS
Selecting HKEY_USERS, go to File -> Load Hive.
Select your registry file which you want to import from.
It could be from any of the following files:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Config\software
C:\Documents and Settings\username\ntuser.dat
D:\Profiles\username\ntuser.dat

putty_registry_import2

3) Name the Hive with a unique name
Create a ‘TempReg’ for it.
Locate this branch: HKEY_USERS\TempReg\Software\SimonTatham
If not found, try another file from the path given in 2)

putty_registry_import3

4) Export the Hive
Select SimonTatham, right click and Export

putty_registry_import4

5) Exported Registry
Exported file will have the branch information for [HKEY_USERS\TempReg\Software\SimonTatham]

putty_registry_import5

6) Replace the Registry Path
Replace [HKEY_USERS\TempReg\Software\SimonTatham]
with [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham]

putty_registry_import6

7) Unload Hive
Now unload the external registry from Registry Editor

putty_registry_import7

8 ) Merge Registry
Right click on the reg file you have just exported and select Merge

putty_registry_import8

9) Done
If you get a success message, then your registry patch has completed.
If you get a failure message, check that you have done step 6) correctly and according to your machine settings.

Good To Know, Software , , , , , , ,

Android Developer Challenge is back with a $250k reward

June 19th, 2009

The sequel to Android Developer Challenge is back.
There is an enormous bounty up for grabs with the highest reward amounting to USD 250k.
USD 250,000 for one person or a team! πŸ™‚

android_adc

I had a brief experience with Android SDK previously but gave up hope developing applications for it due to time constraints.

So to those who missed the first chance previously, now is your second chance for the jackpot, but honestly, starting to pick up the SDK and to develop a winning application for it wouldn’t be easy at all. Effectively there’s only less than 2 months left for submission of the Android application.


A few rules that I think are advantage for those who are starting to pick up Android:

*The ADC 2 contest is open only to applications that have not been published

*An application that has already been made available to the public (at the time of judging) is ineligible, regardless whether it is free or sold commercially.

*Additionally, applications that were entered in the ADC 1 contest are ineligible for the ADC 2 contest, regardless whether they were winning apps.

*Similarly, updated versions of applications entered in the ADC 1 contest are ineligible for ADC 2.

Looks like Google are singling out new developers for this challenge so that there will be more Android developers around the world. The rules would definitely be an advantage to new developers since there would have been a bigger challenge should those who participated in the first one are allowed to submit in the second challenge too. πŸ˜‰

Some other Terms and Conditions:
All submitted applications must run on Android 1.5 and be in English.

Awards

Prizes will be distributed as follows; all prizes are in USD:

For each of the 10 categories:

* 1st prize: $100,000
* 2nd prize: $50,000
* 3rd prize: $25,000

Overall (across all categories)

* 1st prize: $150,000 (meaning the overall winner will receive $250,000)
* 2nd prize: $50,000 (meaning the 2nd prize winner will receive up to $150,000)
* 3rd prize: $25,000 (meaning the 3rd prize winner will receive up to $125,000)

Impatient already? View the full details at the Android Developer Challenge site.

Some resources that might be helpful for you in your quest for the $250k reward πŸ™‚
Android Developer Challenge 1 Winners
Android Developers Website
Android Google Code Project
Android Developers Guide
Android Developer’s Blog

And if you’re free this June 27th, Saturday and have something in mind to share about Android, why not join the Malaysian Google Technology User Group (KL) meetup?

Events, Google, Software, Technology , , , , ,