Stephen Hawking Warns on the Dangers of Advanced AI

This is not the first time that Stephen Hawking has warned about the dangers of advanced artificial intelligence.  Elon Musk has also expressed similar views.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulrodgers/2014/12/03/computers-will-destroy-humanity-warns-stephen-hawking/

I compiled a list of dangerous AI in popular culture.  All sources happen to be among my favorites of all-time.  Yes, even that Shia LaBeouf film.

Person of Interest

Battlestar Galactica

Terminator series

Matrix series

I, Robot (Film)

2001 A Space Odyssey

Eagle Eye

System Shock series

Ultron and Brainiac

Also, both Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk concur on the need for mankind to build a colony beyond our planet to guard against our complete extinction.  When two of humanity's best minds agree on two different matters, they may be onto something, and we should listen to them.

Single Sheet of Paper DYI Tablet Stand

It took me an hour of experimentation to figure out the basic design for my DIY universal tablet stand using a single sheet of bond paper without scissors. It took a few more hours to fine tune it. There is a lot of room for improvement but I have to say, it's not too bad for a few hours work.

I'm amazed that my brain can still come up with new ideas like this.  Must be because it's no longer burdened by mind numbing activities like my former job.

Now It's Black Friday Week Not Just a Few Days

So retailers are now offering deals during the whole week, not just on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, the weekend after Thanksgiving, or Cyber Monday.  They're calling it Black Friday Week.  My God, there are so many deals showing up on deal sites, if this is how it is right now, imagine what it will be like on Black Friday itself.  I will probably lose a lot of sleep in the coming days.

Amazon Giving Away 40 Android Apps Worth $115 for Free

Amazon is giving away 40 Android apps worth $115 for free, only until November 1.  Includes two of the best games of all time, World of Goo and Plants vs Zombies.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/19134/20141030/free-app-mania-amazon-app-store-giving-away-40-popular-paid-smartphone-and-tablet-apps-worth-115.htm

Hard to Find AMD Drivers

I needed some drivers but I had a very hard time finding them.  I finally found them even though there were no links you could follow on AMD's site.  They weren't easily discoverable.  These links are important enough for me to post so I won't need to waste time finding them again.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/chipset?os=Windows+XP

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/embedded?os=Windows+XP

Cleaning Up During Typhoon Luis

I found out the hard way that typhoon Luis brought enough rain in addition to its strong winds.  I spent about an hour and a half in the small hours of the night during the typhoon, unblocking a drain cover and mopping up the water that had entered through our sliding door.  Rain water entered because the outside area had become flooded as a result of the clogged drain cover caused by debris swept up by the rain water.

I was finally able to keep the drain cover unclogged after several desperate tries.  Mopping up the floor was done more quickly than I thought I'd be able to, with the help of the easy squeeze dry mop and two electric fans at full power.  I still have to find a way to keep the drain cover unblocked, and I think I have an idea, but at least, next time a typhoon hits, I'll know better.

Which Ops Game Is It?

I keep mistaking Square-Enix's Conflict: Denied Ops for 2K's superior game, Spec Ops: The Line.  Must be because both have the word Ops and a colon.  Both have also been in a lot of sales or bundles.  I hope this helps me remember.

What Stops the Shrinking of a Windows 7 Partition

I attempted to shrink the primary partition of an existing fresh Windows 7 setup so I could create several extended partitions.  I was able to shrink it but some immovable files were preventing further shrinking.  By stopping services, adding permissions, disabling hibernation, and reducing pagefile size, I was able to shrink the partition to the size I wanted.

I stopped the Cryptographic Services and Windows Search services and Full Control rights for my user account were applied to the file BootCLCK.etl.  This allowed the defrag program to move the previously locked files that we're preventing further shrinking.  This is useful for the next time I need to shrink the system/boot partition.

WiFi Network Configuration Finalized

I'm finally satisfied with the WiFi network configuration that I started over two weeks ago.  I learned a few things from this exercise.  Multiple access points can interfere with each other and result in slower connections.  To reduce interference, where possible, use different wifi channels or lower the transmission power of the wifi antenna.

Roaming is smoother if you use a single SSID for all your access points.  Tomato firmware is very useful but saving settings is flaky.  Virtual access points are helpful in organizing access security.  You can now buy a USB WiFi adapter for much less than the cheapest WiFi router.  You can change the SSID for both the primary and virtual access points on a WiFi PLDT MyDSL.

I'm lucky with the WiFi routers I bought.  They all allow virtual access points.  Some of them have both repeater and WDS capability.  Others have at least WDS and a DNS proxy or very configurable DHCP server settings.  Onto my next project!

Church Mass Doesn't Stop Thieves

We went to church for Sunday Mass. Two men sat directly behind my wife and then later, a couple sat to my left. My wife noticed it was odd that the two men behind her had backpacks while I noticed it was odd that the couple next to me were wearing gym clothes and also had their gym bags. Later, I found it odd that the couple next to me was no longer beside me even though it was the middle of the Mass.

My wife later told me that she noticed that the men behind her put their backpacks underneath the pew, directly under her bag. She later noticed that her bag was slightly opened and the zipper in a different position from where she left it. As soon as she looked behind her, the two men behind her and the couple beside me stood up and left.

Even though we spoiled the thieves' plan, we should all realize that they are still demons, defiling even Sunday Mass! Nothing is sacred with thieves. Thieves are scared of nothing.

Great Value in Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo Packages

The best value for watching movies are Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo packages.  You get both physical Blu-ray and DVD discs as well as a digital download copy.  Not all combo packs have a digital copy or a DVD but they all have Blu-ray discs.  

There are two competing digital download redemption types, UltraViolet and Digital Copy Plus.  Only Digital Copy Plus codes can be redeemed on iTunes.  Both codes can be redeemed on Amazon and Google Play but only iTunes allows movie downloads from non-U.S. locations.  Amazon and Google Play blocks movie downloads from non-U.S. IP addresses.

A few combo packs contain both types of redemption codes but most that have codes have only one or the other.  So, if you're from outside the U.S. the best value combo packs are the ones which have Digital Copy codes that can be redeemed on iTunes, otherwise, you won't be able to use them.  Avoid UltraViolet if you can.

Disney only uses Digital Copy Plus codes so you might prefer to wait for the release of Disney's combo packs instead of watching Disney's movies in theaters.

Finally Got To Watch Frozen

We missed Frozen while it was still playing in movie theaters here.  My family and I finally got to watch Frozen on our big screen LED TV, downloaded using my U.S. iTunes account.

I bought the Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo from Amazon for $19.99.  It takes months to ship the physical copies here so I had my brother send us the Digital Copy codes from the package so I could redeem it on my U.S. iTunes account and download and watch it immediately.

This was a really good value.  The movie already costs $14.99 on iTunes, without a physical copy.  The combo package includes both a Blu-Ray and a DVD copy, aside from the iTunes code.

Watching in a movie theater would have cost us $25 for the whole family.  I'm also glad I waited for the release of the physical copy instead of pre-ordering the iTunes version.

Looking for Automation Android App

We use our old Galaxy Tab P1000 as our 3G hotspot.  The problem with our connection is that we need to reset it twice a day.  I need to find an app to automate this.  I'm using the following search keywords in various combinations and I'm testing the apps I've installed so far.

Hotspot

Tether

Event

Trigger

Condition

Rules

Profile

Auto

Automatic

Automatically

Note Taking Freeware Suitable for Me

It's hard to search for just the right software that suits my needs.  Google isn't as useful as it once was.  I needed a simple note taking program and I found a couple. I settled for Tombo.  I needed a very simple plain text editor with a folder/tree pane/view.  Programming text editors can fill the need but they have more features than necessary.  Most of the notes organizers I found, saved in Rich Text Format by default and not plain text.

MRT vs Passing Through EDSA

I rode a taxi to work one morning. It took me 90 minutes to reach the office because of traffic.  Via the MRT, even with the 45 minute wait, i got to the office in less than 90 minutes.  I think if I go to a different station, I can cut down the wait time to 20 minutes.

45 Minute Wait for a Train

This morning I waited 45 minutes after I got to the MRT station before I could catch a train.  The MRT system is getting worse and worse.  I think I have to try out a new station rather than wait in line for almost 45 minutes everyday.

Call Me Jack

I didn't know that the full name of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan is John Patrick Ryan. I often use Jack Admiral as the name of my character in video games.

Great casting choices for the Jack Ryan movie. Great cast. Plot is too simple for what should've been a cerebral movie for such a great cast and the Jack Ryan character. The film has less plot and more action but is enjoyable because of the actors.

A Week of Disassembling Laptops

The valuable lessons I learned last week are that laptops with well-known brands, have a greater chance of their service manuals being available somewhere online, and that it's important to gather and archive all the service manuals of your laptops so you can still try to fix or upgrade them yourself even when the manuals are no longer available.

I spent all my free time last week disassembling two laptops, oiling their CPU fans, and then reassembling them.  This took me one whole week since I could only do this in my spare time.

Weird that these two relatively new laptops of different brands, bought in 2010 and 2011, had their CPU fans degraded almost at the same time, while older laptops bought in 2007 and 2008 are still going strong.

These makes 3 laptops that I've disassembled so far.  The first laptop I disassembled, back in 2008, was a laptop that was bought in 2002.  It had a loose power connector that I couldn't fix permanently because of my weak soldering skills.

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A Tale of Two OS Transfers

I haven't felt like posting anything online ever since daddy passed away. Everything else just seems so trivial. I just have to post this particular missive to document solutions for troublesome technical issues that I've been struggling with for an undesirably longer period than expected.

To transfer Windows XP to a different motherboard with a non-Intel storage controller without encountering a BSOD when the original motherboard is dead, use a utility called FixIDE from another PC running Windows XP to modify the Windows XP installation to be transferred.

To transfer Windows 7 to a different motherboard without encountering a BSOD when the new motherboard has a non-Intel storage controller, install the needed controller driver before moving the OS. If the original motherboard is dead, find a PC with an Intel storage controller, boot the Windows 7 installation to be transferred and install the needed controller driver.

If you try to shutdown your newly installed Windows 7 and it reboots instead, make sure all your drivers are updated and don't just rely on the default built-in Microsoft drivers.