MediaFire: A new RapidShare?

MediaFire is a website which offers free file hosting & sharing services. Unlike most services, it does not require registration and doesn’t cap bandwidth, upload size, amounts of simultaneous downloads and uploads and doesn’t appear to have many, if any, adverts.

There are a few other file hosting & sharing services out there. These range from the Web 2.0 Box.net and Box.net lite, to Rapidshare (which I seem to have trouble downloading from) and MegaUpload.

Personally, I find Box.net a bit complex if you merely wish to share a file (although Box.net lite is much better), Rapidshare too restrictive (my IP can’t download from them, for example) and MegaUpload too ad-filled. All of these services are fast though, and the latter two offer some form of revenue sharing (which is somewhat ironic considering so much copyright law is breached on these sites).

MediaFire looks extremely Web 2.0, and is quite light compared to the vast majority of sites which offer similar services. MediaFire also seems pretty fast, I like the way it tells you how many Kbps you are achieving when you’re uploading (I’m currently getting about 210Kbps which is pretty impressive considering I’ve only got a 256Kbps uplink). The upload process, including the speedometer, is done through AJAX .

If you sign up for a free account, you get better management of your files. Although this is currently limited to the ability to seeing a list of your uploaded files and the ability to delete them, it would be nice to see the ability to count downloads. Also, MediaFire allows you to send files to Yahoo! IM or AIM buddies (but not MSN or Gtalk).

An example of a file I uploaded is the Creative Commons copyrighted ‘Heavy Eyelids’ by Eric Skiff. It is available to download from MediaFire here, Archive.org here or Gnutella here.

Bridal groom shower

Today(29/10/06) is Khuen Foong & Jun Joy's bridal groom shower.

Are they matched??
Ya, i think so!!!
Bro. Khuen Foong also taught us some skill to successfully court a girlfriend. Why thanks dude!!
You rock.....


These are 4 pictures of them opening the presents we gave to them....
Happy marriage to you two!!!

iLike

Azhar Chougle recently invited me to join a service called iLike which is a music recommendation site. When I first heard its description, a brand new service to help you organize your music, share your music tastes, and discover new music through your friends., I thought it was pretty much a clone of last.fm and it pretty much is, though it does differ.

My first impressions of the site were missed. It looks very light and simple, and Web 2.0 because of that, but it also lacks a page title! A <title> would really benefit the site on search engines and just make it look slightly more professional.

iLike, as you may have guessed from its name, integrates with iTunes. If you download it, it plugs into iTunes and sends what you’re listening to, and allows you to discover new artists, create 1 click playlists and see what your friends are listening to. Remind anyone of last.fm? Last.fm still has many advantages, most importantly is that it supports other media players than iTunes. Personally, I detest iTunes and I’m a VLC and Winamp guy.

If you don’t wish to use iTunes, you can select artists you like from a list. However, the songs you play are not displayed on the site and your list isn’t automatically updated. An idea would be for them to create plug-ins for other media players or to simply use last.fm feeds.

iLike, much like last.fm, provides lists of people who have similar musical taste as you, as well as links to your friend’s profiles.

iLike, interestingly, allows you to preview copyrighted songs and songs from GarageBand. I like the way it supports unsigned artists by using GarageBand, and also how it allows you to download the full MP3 from GarageBand for free. This is a good way to attempt to share music free and legally, as well as promoting unsigned bands. The previewing function is somewhat like last.fm’s, though last.fm doesn’t integrate with GarageBand at all and plays songs from signed bands over its radio stations.

iLike’s design is very Web 2.0. It is very heavy on white and employs a lot of other light colours. This is much less heavy on the eyes than last.fm .

Overall, iLike seems a bit like last.fm clone. However, it lacks the support from the record industry last.fm has and only supports iTunes (it is targetting a much smaller audience than last.fm, though this isn’t a bad thing). Then again, iLike is still only in invite-only beta (if anyone wants an invite, please just comment) and it may well yet develop.

Bowling today(20/10/2006)

Today Cheok, Jaslene, Gabriel, Yaw Choong and I went to Parkson for bowling.......
maybe a small small reunion also......


And Jaslene scores......... GOAL!!!!

We arrived Parkson at about 10.20, played 1 game.....
I wasted my 1st bowl and got a zero for it......
Jaslene scored a strike few turns later, Cheok too, and me three.......
Then come Gabriel(i thought Joanne's coming).......
Next only come Yaw Choong who pitifully and enthusiastically took a bus here to Parkson......
We played for 4-5 games and went to Pizza Hut for lunch. Yummy!!!!
Wow, we ordered a 6 person meal while we have only 5.... Hehe, maybe too hungry.......
So after that we walked here and there, strolling the whole Parkson and finally we went to the toy department.....
I just feel like i went back to my early age, playing with toy cars, and more ABUSING barbie dolls.......wahaha
We are too cruel, can't even let go a 'naive' barbie doll....
After that, at around 2, we left Parkson, Gabe, Cheok and Jaslene went to the State's Library, and YC and I went straight to our tuition....

Divorce

Both my son and daughter-in-law are full-time university students, and they don't have time or money for anything other than school. I was with them in church when the minister gave a sermon on marriage.
''The three most common problems that can lead to divorce,'' he warned, ''involve money, children and sex.''
At that my son whispered to his wife, ''Then we should be OK. We don't have any of those.''

Susan Brunton

Life Is Like That

We brought our newborn son, Adam, to the paediatrician for his first checkup. As he finished, the doctor told us, ''You have a cute baby.'' Smiling, I said, ''I bet you say that to all new parents.''

''No, '' he replied, ''just to those whose babies really are good-looking.''

''So what do you say to the others?'' I asked.

''He looks just like you.''

Matt Slot

"I wish to be ten again"

A man asked his wife what she'd like for her birthday. ''I'd really love to be ten again,'' she replied wistfully.

On the morning of her birthday, he got up early, made her a big breakfast and then took her off to a local amusement park.

What a day! He put her on every ride: the runaway train; the pirates' galleon; the corkscrew roller coaster. Five hours later she staggered out of the amusement park.

Straight away, they went to a fast-food restaurant where the husband ordered his wife a burger with fries and a chocolate milkshake. Then it was off to the cinema to see the latest blockbuster, complete with popcorn and a soft drink.

Finally, the woman wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed, exhausted. He leaned over her with a big smile and asked, ''Well, darling, what was it like being ten again?''

She slowly opened her eyes, gazed up at him and replied, ''I meant my dress size, you idiot.''