Ghost in a Mirror

It was around 10.00pm yesterday when I was so stressed reading Thermo-Fluid text-book for two hours thanks to the test coming up this Thursday. The laptop was in front of me and while I randomly watching videos on YouTube, I came across interesting video effect tutorials using Adobe After Effect. "Well, this is interesting", I thought. I called my housemate, Zhariq who is well-kwon for his 'why-not attitude' and asked if he is willing to be an actor in my experiment, not to my surprise he nodded (he seemed in a bit tense studying as well I reckon). Then we shoot the action in my bathroom before I had the Adobe After Effect downloaded. The video was basically to create a 'ghost' effect in a mirror by combining two video layers, I'd say it is the very same principal as 'photoshopping' two images except that they are videos. It was indeed more complicated than photoshopping an image because we are dealing with video containing lots of frames (hundreds of images). Since this was my first attempt, I must admit that it was far from perfect mainly caused by the poor ambiguous lighting captured by the cheapo camera I was using, less attention to disturbances such as shadows and of course it was my first time using Adobe After Effect but hey it was just for fun, who cares. So here how I did it :

Video Layer 1 : Zhariq act as a 'ghost'

Video Layer 2 : He is washing his face

Final Video : Combination of both layers

Interesting?

p/s : ni da bosan sgt buat kije xde pekdah cenggini.hahaha

How to Avoid Online Fraudsters

Hi. Several months have past before I realised that there was no single entry posted since the last one back in May. Hahaha, out of all sudden I became too lazy to write entries perhaps due to lack of idea of what to write on. So this time I will post a story of what I know well, a continuation to what I had written several months ago about online shopping. As what I can see, online shopping has slowly becoming a 'trend' among Malaysian students in New Zealand primarily due to a tight monthly budget. Some settled with second hand guitar they could grab for a fairly cheap price through TradeMe hoping to revive their boy-band era and some are desperate enough to get a hand of Thermo-Fluid text book that was sold out at the university's book shop to prepare for the weekly test. Whatever the reasons might be, we are getting accustomed dealing with a stranger we totally have no idea who he or she is thousands miles away say in Oklahoma or may be that someone is our not-so-friendly neighbour living next door. While it is true the power of internet made trading world revolves around us it does in fact comes with some fatal drawbacks. Threats to the personal securities are becoming a growing concern while traders are exposed to scams and frauds. Two weeks ago,there was a news in Auckland about a girl who lost all of her money in her bank account and it was believed that her personal information was stolen while she is making online transaction. I myself had experiences where my money was stolen from my online 'bank' and my account was froze twice because it was believed to be accessed by an unauthorised person. Luckily enough I had the money refunded though the mastermind was undetected up until now. Having those not-so-convenient experiences, here I lay out three tips to avoid such cases to ever happen to you. They are very simple, as simple as 1-2-3. So keep them in mind always :

1. KEEP YOUR PC SPYWARE-FREE

Never download and install any file from unknown sources as it may contains spyware where sensitive information like your banking passwords can be read by the fraudster. Have your pc scanned by Mr. Norton or whatever Mr. Anti-Virus you have as regularly as possible.

2. NEVER SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

Please do not share your username or password to someone else. If possible, avoid using someone else's' or public computers to access your sensitive account. Accept the fact that not everyone is at least as good and honest as me. Even if they are honest, you don't know if their computers are free from those creepy spywares.

3. DON'T BE LAZY

What I mean by lazy is you are using the same username/email and password for everything, from your banking account to registering a gossip forum. Remember the forum administrators have access to your personal information, if they happen to be 'naughty' chances are they might be using your information to access your banking account. Do not risk yourself, use separate passwords for your banking accounts.

***UPDATE****

I forgot to mention on more important step that is BEWARE OF PISHING SITE. Phising, came from word 'fishing' means to deceive someone to enter their username and password in a 'clone' banking account. Usually they'll send you an email trying to convince you to enter you information through a provided link. Ignore such emails, your authorised banks/merchant site will NEVER ask for any password.

RoboLab for Mechis

Holla everyone...How's everybody? I know I know, semester exam is just around the corner, I can smell heavy tense building up around our uni atmosphere with loads of assignments due in no time and brain-sucking tests adding to our misery. Com' on guys, it's just weeks away from our long awaited winter holidays. Don't give up...gambate2.

Yosh, actually I want to share RoboLab software with my mechanical engineer colleagues. Credit to Ken, my Korean design group mate for teaching me how to 'steal' this software from the computer lab Be quick, grab the software fast as I uploaded the software to YouSendIt with the maximum storage of 7 days from today. Good luck with our programming assignment.

Download Link :
Part 1 : http://download.yousendit.com/347AE47D385DA5DE
Part 2 : http://download.yousendit.com/E1C581E262A673AB
Part 3 : http://download.yousendit.com/F611C2A5374F3FA8

Password : syamim_hensem_dan_macho_lagi_bergaya

INSTALLATION GUIDE :
1. Download all 3 parts given
2. Extract using WinRar application
3. When WinRar request for password, enter the password given.hehehehe
4. Click at the extracted folder and find Robolab254.exe file. Just double click and DONE !!
5. For training video, click on Robolab254>Launcher>Launcher.exe
6. Reply to this post and say thanks

Masih Ada Yang Sayang

Humans are bound to make mistakes, aren't they? Sometimes they are just some plain simple idiotic mistakes which make you think "What on earth have I done?", "I shouldn't do that" or maybe "oo..well...padan muke aku". At least that were what I thought after I got my left ankle and knee injured last 3 weeks when I was playing football with my colleagues. Look, I don't want to talk about the 'stunt' I did that day, lets just call it a bad day for me eh. Thank God after having a medical checkup there was no serious dislocation or fracture except for the normal sprain injury. Still, I was advised not to play any sport within 3-4 weeks which I did few days ago (another stupid thing to do) and guess what, the pain just kick back in.

The truth was, I don't feel like writing about this incident from the start but I was so touched to receive a get-well-soon letter from my insurance company yesterday offering further help to speed up my recovery ranging from covering my medical expenses to a personal shower assistant? uuhhh...sounds nice, don't you think? Put that things aside, from this experience there is a piece of info I'd like to share with all my sponsored colleagues in New Zealand regarding the insurance. Guys, be aware that each of us is covered by the University insurance so if something were to happen (hopefully not) whether it is a physical injury, loss of luggage or even car accident involving rental car you hired you can claim the expenses from them. The claiming process was indeed pretty easy, download the 4 pages form from here, , fill 'em up then have it posted to the address given. Within 2-3 business days, they'll deposit the amount claimed into your bank account.

Letter from ACC :

I really want to use this opportunity say thanks to all my friends for showing their concern while I'm not well especially to Imran for his overzealous (not sure if this is a suitable word to use) concern and not to forget to my housemates, Abe Bul and Kie (not real names) for declining to attend a group date at MomoCat knowing that I wouldn't be able butt in with my condition.

See after all, masih ada yang sayang.hahahahahaha..geli lak aku nak menyebutnyer Alhamdulillah, I can walk well now though still xle lompat-lompat sgt lagi I suppose I'll be fully recover in no time and fit for the Bersatu Games next month. Don't worry afiq, sabtu ni aku datang domain. Good luck guys with the training and thanks again, see ya !!

p/s : for those who wanna join skiing at Mt Roupehu after Bersatu Games, please give ur names to Zhariq. The initial plan is to depart from Wellington on the 4th of July, 2 days skiing on 5th and 6th before we return to Auckland the next day.

Coretan Graduasi

Hollaa everyone. I suppose this is the most anticipated weekend for the mechi students after working hard completing their 2nd design project (ngeh...u better start working on the 3rd by now ). It was the University Graduation Day a few days back...yeayy...so excited and I can't help myself from jumping happily,doink doink doink (since it was a day off for the students,hehe). Btw,I truly want to express my sincere congratulation to all my seniors who graduated this year.

FYI,this post was not written by me.2 days ago I was standing in front of a gunpoint when someone forced me and said "Syamim, you better post what I've written into your blog or else expect to be home with your head blown". I was like "OK2, i'll do everything you want me to.Please spare my life".So scared that I actually dedicated some space for his thought.Nah, of course it was just a made up story Happy happppyyy !!

By : Anonymous

Aku berjalan-jalan di Albert Park pada suatu petang selepas pulang dari universiti, ingin mengambil angin kata orang. Ku lihat ramai kelibat manusia di Albert Park, semuanya berpakaian jubah hitam berbual-bual, mengambil gambar bersama-sama kawan dan keluarga. Semuanya wajah berseri-seri, bergelak ketawa dan riang ceria. Aku pun tumpang gembira mengamati suasana meriah itu. Detik hatiku,” Tentu seronok kalau dapat datang balik untuk majlis graduasiku nanti bersama-sama ahli keluargaku.”

Tiba-tiba, entah mengapa terlintas di benak fikiranku satu kisah graduasi yang diceritakan di dalam Quran dari Surah Ali-Imran.

3:104. Dan hendaklah ada di antara kamu satu puak yang menyeru (berdakwah) kepada kebajikan (mengembangkan Islam) dan menyuruh berbuat segala perkara yang baik, serta melarang daripada segala yang salah (buruk dan keji) dan mereka yang bersifat demikian ialah orang-orang yang berjaya.

3:105. Dan janganlah kamu menjadi seperti orang-orang (Yahudi dan Nasrani) yang telah bercerai-berai dan berselisihan (dalam agama mereka) sesudah datang kepada mereka keterangan-keterangan yang jelas nyata (yang dibawa oleh Nabi-nabi Allah) dan mereka yang bersifat demikian, akan beroleh azab seksa yang besar.

3:106. (Ingatlah akan) hari (kiamat yang padanya) ada muka (orang-orang) menjadi putih berseri dan ada muka (orang-orang) menjadi hitam legam. Adapun orang-orang yang telah hitam legam mukanya, (mereka akan ditanya secara menempelak): PATUTKAH KAMU KUFUR DAN INGKAR SESUDAH KAMU BERIMAN? Oleh itu rasalah azab seksa Neraka disebabkan kekufuran kamu itu.

3:107. Adapun orang-orang yang telah putih berseri mukanya, maka mereka berada dalam limpah rahmat Allah (Syurga), mereka kekal di dalamnya.

3:108. Itulah ayat-ayat keterangan Allah, kami bacakan ia kepadamu (wahai Muhammad) dengan benar dan (ingatlah), Allah tidak berkehendak melakukan kezaliman kepada sekalian makhlukNya.

Terus hatiku sayu dan hampir bergenang air mataku memikirkan keadaan manusia pada hari graduasi itu. Aku,kamu bahkan ramai lagi umat Islam yang telah pun mendapat petunjuk yang nyata, tetapi mengabaikan ajaran-ajaran petunjuk suci itu. Al Quranul Karim. Astaghfirullah. Patutkah aku kufur dan ingkar sesudah aku mengaku beriman?

Ku putar cakera liut kehidupanku di dalam benak fikiranku, terbayang segala kekufuranku dahulu terhadapMu. Nikmat ilmu, aku kufur dengan tidak mengamalkannya. Nikmat masa, aku kufur dengan membazirkan masa lapang yang aku ada dengan perkara yang sia-sia. Nikmat kesihatan, aku kufur dengan melakukan maksiat terhadapMu. Nikmat persaudaraan, aku kufur dengan menggunakannya terhadap perkara keburukan. Solat dan puasa pun sekadar cukup syarat. Itu pun banyak yang ditinggalkan dengan sengaja (dengan menggunakan alasan aku tidak mampu dan lemah).

Mengapa aku selalu berpaling dari ajaranMu ya Allah walaupun telah ku tahu, dan telah banyak kali ku diperingatkan. Sebodoh-bodoh haiwan pun tahu bersyukur dengan mengikut Sunnatullah. Aku seolah-olah tidak sedar yang kematian sangat hampir, sentiasa mengekoriku di mana sahaja aku berada. Itulah punca kekufuranku, cinta dunia mengatasi cinta sejati terhadap Ilahi. Seolah-olah aku akan hidup selama-lamanya. Padahal tidak sanggup untuk ke merasai walau sesaat azab nerakamu itu ya Allah.

Ya Allah, pada hari graduasi kunanti di padang Mahsyar, jadilah aku termasuk dalam golongan orang-orang yang wajah berseri-seri mukanya, seperti mana graduan-graduan di hadapanku yang begitu gembira bagaikan bulan jatuh ke riba. Bahkan jadikanlah aku lebih gembira daripada mereka ini, kegembiraan yang berkekalan dan abadi. Jadikanlah aku termasuk dalam golongan yang berjaya di dunia dan di akhirat. Perteguhkanlah dan tetapkanlah keyakinanku terhadap janjiMu pada hari graduasi nanti.

3:104. Dan hendaklah ada di antara kamu satu puak yang menyeru (berdakwah) kepada kebajikan (mengembangkan Islam) dan menyuruh berbuat segala perkara yang baik, serta melarang daripada segala yang salah (buruk dan keji) dan MEREKA yang bersifat demikian ialah ORANG-ORANG yang BERJAYA.

3:108. Itulah ayat-ayat keterangan Allah, kami bacakan ia kepadamu (wahai Muhammad) dengan BENAR dan (ingatlah), Allah tidak berkehendak melakukan kezaliman kepada sekalian makhlukNya.

Doa; 3:8. (Mereka berdoa dengan berkata): Wahai Tuhan kami! Janganlah Engkau memesongkan hati kami sesudah Engkau beri petunjuk kepada kami dan kurniakanlah kepada kami limpah rahmat dari sisiMu; sesungguhnya Engkau jualah Tuhan Yang melimpah-limpah pemberianNya.

Amin.

Software to help bloggers become lazier...eventually fatter ?

Hi there, its been more than a month since my last update. I can say I got my hands full lately though it might be more of an excuse I'd have to admit,hahaha =P Ok, straight to the point, I want to introduce 2 great softwares to bring out the laziness in you. I had downloaded one last year but rarely use it and I've come across another a couple of days ago. Here's the catch, if you ever be somewhat too lazy to type your supposedly long boring article in your blog, read it out loud or in case you are a frequent reader of 'that' boring blog, stay back, relax and have the article being read to you,perhaps as a bed-time story eh?

These 2 softwares make full use of the speech-to-text technology and vice-versa. Simply put, everything you say will be converted into a full text. That's not all, the speech recognition technology used will also allow the user to control certain commands of the pc just by a simple word. Frankly speaking I don't really find any of these useful but hey it does help a whole lot especially for a lazy blogger like myself.

While one software converts the speech into text, the other turns the text into speech. See, now you have less reasons to strain you big round eyes in front of the screen to read the small lengthy news thus reducing risk of damaging your balls...i mean....eyeballs (no hard feeling 4 eyes guys please). For both, they work best in English only, the downside on the other hand, you might find the speech-to-text software a little bit irritating if you are not a native speaker because you have to pronounce each word right or else it will be falsely interpreted by the software. As usual, watch the review videos I made at the bottom. If you are interested, come have a copy of the softwares from me.

1. Speech-to-Text (Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.0)

Image :

Video :

2. Text-to-Speech (Text Aloud)

Image :

Video :

Who Wanna be the Next Malaysian Astronaut ??

When you watched movies like The Lord of the Ring, the fantasy Narnia or Star Wars, Have you ever at least once thought something like "Wow, how do they do it?". Out of curiosity, I tried to figure out the basic idea behind the technology used in those effect-heavy movies and even after a year I still can't find a simple solid way to do it using a personal computer until 3 months ago when my brother informed me that his friend bought a tutorial about it. FYI, the effect was known as 'chroma-keying', basically you have to shoot a video in front of a 'green screen', have the green screen removed, replace the background with another video of your choice and yazzZZzZzaAa.....you are done !! The process might look simple but in order to produce a high quality effect several aspects must be taken into consideration. One of them is good lighting. In fact my brother and I bought 3 sets of studio lighting from Hong Kong before having shoots taken from our DIY studio in Tronoh,Perak. Have a look at the pictures and video of the process.

STEP 1 :

STEP 2 :

STEP 3 :

VIDEO SAMPLE (No Sound):

Amazing no?

To Jeghi and Kie, fret not as you'll be able to virtually sit at the Anfield to watch an already losing Liverpool in despair and for the ManU fans, join the joyful crowd in the Old Trafford as we cheer our defending champion..hahahhaa. My point is by using this chroma-key effect, you can do and record just about anything, anything your creative wild imaginations can think of.. So guys, if you ever think to be the next hot Dr. Sheikh Muzaphar Shukor Malaysian astronaut but are unable to pass the difficult physical training for the selection the chroma-key effect might be a good alternative =P

Online Shopping Tips (Part 1)

Assalamu'alaikum w.b.t

Hi guys, since quite a number of you asked me regarding online shopping, today I'll talk and explain about it, throw away few tips based on my personal experience to help you have a smooth and hassle free experience shopping on net. In United States, the popularity of online shopping had increased tremendously over the past 5 years and it's now a culture there. So in my post, I'll talk about online shopping in general but will stress about the rules, customs regulations, tax and delivery process in New Zealand. Now lets get started....

1. WHERE TO BUY

It's a basic question.In real world you buy a product from malls and stores,it's not so much of a different in a virtual or online world.The concept stays the same.Basically, you can buy products or services directly from the suppliers'/companies' website/online stores such as Apple.com, PlanesPlanet.com or Amazon.com. Another alternative for a possibly cheaper prices is through an auction site. The idea behind the auction sites is simple,the highest bidder wins, anyone can sell just about anything. Something you see as a trash might be treasure to others. eBay currently is the most popular auction site in the world but in New Zealand TradeMe triumphs over.

2. INTEGRITY

Before you make any commitment to buy a product, do check few things especially involving the integrity of the seller. You'll barely have any problem shopping through a well-known online store such as Apple.com but then if you are buying through an auction sites, do a background check of the seller. You can view feedbacks from the past customers of any particular seller and have a quick look at the seller's rating.

My advice is choose a seller with positive rating of at least 98% and above to minimize risk of you being cheated or have an unpleasant trading experience.I've copied 2 samples taken from eBay and TradeMe to clarify my point.Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge the photos.

A reminder if you were to buy any products from overseas, make sure the seller do ship internationally or at least to wherever country you live in. In case the seller does not mention anything about delivery options, email them and ASK !!

Okay, I think that's enough for the first part. I'll explain the payment options and delivery process in my upcoming post. See ya =>

Peter Bier did a stupid hilarious juggling, AGAIN !!!

It's hard to realize how fast time goes by and like a blink of an eye, here I am, now in the 4th week since the new semester started. Being an engineering student, naturally one should expect that he or she must be good in calculus but heck believe it or not I so hate the maths.seriously.

This semester I learn Maths Modeling 2 (MM2),uh another boring subject i guess, at least that was my first thought. Then Peter (my MM2 lecturer) a part of being one hell of a great lecturer also appears to be a hell great of a juggler, makes learning easier and not to mention very very exciting. For the record I'm yet to fall asleep in his class,yayy..hehehe.. Oh ya, as I mentioned earlier Peter loves to do juggling in class, rumour has it that he was fired from London Circus academy and end up being a lecturer in the UoA =P poor Peter.hahahaha

Is it just me or did you guys as well notice that he never wear any other T without his oh-so-proud "Unicycle" brand =>

More juggling video after the break

Welcome Seagate Bye Bye Western D

My obsession to watch dramas and movies makes my hard disk run out of space. Currently,my 320Gb Western Digital hard disk can no longer accommodate my huge collection of media files and I just bought a new 500Gb Seagate Free Agent HDD to replace it. So, basically if you are in Auckland and interested to buy a hard disk, do contact me. I've listed the hard disk in TradeMe, be quick, join the auction and get a spacious hdd at a bargain price.

And one more thing, if you love dramas as much as I do feel free to copy any of my collection and you can share yours as well.Sharing is caring no? =>

My Japanese Drama Collections :
1. Gokusen 1 & 2
2. Good Luck
3. Pride
4. Hana Yori Dango 1&2
5. Karei-naru Ichizoku
6. 1 Litre of Tears
7. Attention Please
8. Dragon Zakura
9. Iryu Team Medical Dragon
10. Dream Again
11. File of Young Kindaichi
12. Galileo
13. Detective Q
14. Hanazakari no Kimitachi e
15. Kurosagi
16. Liar Game
17. Bambino
19. My Boss My Hero
20. Nabuto wo Produce
21. Shimokita Glory Days
22. Proposal Daisakusen
23. Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO)
24. Papa to Musume no Nanokakan
25. Power Office Girls 1&2
26. A Million Stars Fall from the Sky
27. Nodame Cantabile
28. Wonderful Life
29. Hero
30. Tokyo Love
31. Kamen Rider Black
32. Kamen Rider Black RX
33. Kamen Rider Kabuto

My Korean Drama Collections :
1. My Girl
2. My Name is Kim Sam Soon
3. Full House
4. The Legend of First King's Four Gods
5. Wonderful Life
6. Princess Hours (Gong)
7. 1% of Anything

Happy Birthday Idin !!

Last week was my second youngest brother,Wan Mohd Syahidin Wan Sukri 11th birthday and though it may be a bit late I really want to wish him Happy Birthday, a real happy one => He's getting chubbier and chubbier each time I see him which make me too geram just by looking at his oh-so-chubby cheek,hahahaha. This is his photo (left most) :

This year, I bought him a sophisticated Lego Creator Motion Power.I just bought it online from the States and hopefully he'll get his hand on it somewhere next week.Looking at this Lego really brings back memories, I'm soooo excited and really wanna play this one,seriously.It's so cool nowadays to see the plastic bricks could actually move and have some AI system integrated onto it. The bad news on the other hand toys these day are so darn expensive, this toy alone cost me almost 100dollar (seems like I have to eat instant mee for the rest of the month =< ) but nah its just once a year aight?errrr...considering you got only one big fat brother which in my case I have 3 and a cute sister.
So Idin, once again Happy Birthday. Study smart and be obedient k? Don't quarrel with Aisyah or else you know what you'll get.hehehehe.This one is special for you from your big bro in New Zealand =>

Machines and Mechanisms 1st Tutorial

Yeayy...I just handed in my first Machines and Mechanisms tutorial yesterday's evening. The tutorial was basically about engines.You heard me right, engines.Hahaha...since I got my driving license I don't really care about a car as a whole, let alone the engine.

Frankly speaking the lectures about this topic were all boring.Out of all subjects I'm taking this semester this is the one I frequently drive a car in my own dream.I really mean dream.As the matter of fact just 2 days before the due date of the tutorial, I figured out that I have one.Crap, I don't even know about that but luckily it was simple. All you have to do was to go down the lab, have a look at the engines, parts etc and fill in a sheet given then you are all good for the 2% worth of the final mark. Well,assuming you have all of your answers right of course.

iPod Touch January Upgrade Review

3 days ago when connect my iPod to the iTunes and viewed the iTunes Store, I was surprised to see the new software update. Having said that, I was quite disappointed when i realize it wasn't free.It cost me almost 30 bucks for 5 new applications and although they were all great it really pissed me off since I paid extra money as an early adopter and now I have to pay more for the new apps which come absolutely free for the new iPods.

"It's cool" that was my first thought when I first saw the above upgrade page and I was screaming like "aaahh..me want me want" and without hesitation I took my credit card off my wallet and type the numbers into the form given.Within seconds the 5 new applications were installed into my iPod.FYI, they are the Notes, Stocks, Weather, Mail and Maps. The truth was I don't really need 2 of them as I don't really care about the weather or even bother to read a stock.Though I really hate Apple for their rip-off business by now I must admit that those apps are pretty damn lovely especially the Maps.I just love the practicality and ease of use of the Google Map to view any spot you can imagine anywhere in the world with a simple flick of your finger. Well I'll post more photos and video about this update after the break

Kia Ora !!! A very very short intro

Assalamu'alaikum w.b.t.

First and foremost I'd like to begin my post by expressing my gratitude to the Almighty Allah, the Most Gracious the Most Merciful. May all of us are in the best of health and iman.Insyaallah...

Kia Ora...welcome....welcome and welcome to my blog. Frankly speaking I don't really like blogging but I do feel like I want to write something.I dunno what happened to my previous blog ....hahaha. Hopefully I'll kick my lazy ass up this time and write some interesting stories.Until then...stay tuned....papaiii =>