The chocolate was flowing out from the machine and there is a disk which keeps on turning.

We couldn’t see the whole process, but we could see part of the processes through the windows.

The staff was putting pieces of chocolate onto the belt.

Next to the Easter Bunny, there was a label saying that -”Today we are making Dark Buderim Ginger.”

On the wall there is a banner displaying how to distinguish good quality chocolate by using - Look, Touch, Listen, Smell and Test.

For me, any chocolate with a proper brand tastes good.

I just gave my last mechanical mouse to a recycle center.  Before that, I have taken its photo.

It was not functioning since years ago, but I kept it and hope that it will become an antique in the future.  Finally I decided to discard it.  If I was the collector, I would like to have a working mechanical mouse.

This type of mechanical mouse (also known as analogue mouse) has obsoleted, and is replaced by optical mouse.  There are many types of pointing devices including touch screen (single/multiple touch), graphic tablets, trackballs (upside down mouse) etc..  There will be one day when the mouse would be totally obsoleted.

[Scan the 2D barcode above using your smart phone, it will bring you to ColinJong.com]

I have downloaded a barcode reader application onto my smart phone days ago, and started playing with it.  It can scan 1D and 2D barcodes using the phone’s camera.  For 1D barcode, the application will show the code hidden in the barcode, whereas it will open the mobile phone browser automatically if the 2D barcode contains an URL.

As I know a real barcode reader (with red beam) is not cheap, it costs hundreds to one thousand plus Ringgit (MYR) depends on its brand.  But the application in my smart phone is free.  :D

1D barcode is commonly used at “Point of Sales” in retail store, whereas 2D barcode can store more information such as contact and web url.  There are many other formats / codes and different purposes for 1D and 2D barcodes, such as auto-check-in boarding pass for a flight, music, images or even tiny-sized game.

I like to play with barcode scanner.  :P I like to scan the price tag in the supermarkets and hypermarkets.  Finally, I have my own barcode scanner.

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Years ago, my previous company used 1D barcode for employee card to take attendance and movement (among different branch).  If a staff forgets to bring the employee card, he / she is considered absent.  Since I am in the IT team, our team knows that the code can always be keyed-in using keyboard.  So hiding the keyboard away from the system is important.  Scanning others’ card / photocopy a card is also a serious misconduct.

The barcode scanner I played with years ago is just equivalent to a keyboard as an input device.  It has purple ps/2 port which is exactly the same as the keyboard.  The extra feature is that it can be configured.  This is the part I like to play the most.

Since there are many codes and formats for barcode, the scanner needs to be configured.  There is no software or driver for it, and I just simply plug in both keyboard and scanner, open a text editor such as notepad, and press certain keys on the keyboard then the configuration menu is shown on the text editor.

Sometimes, we can easily notice that when a cashier at the supermarket failed to scan a code, he/she will use the keyboard to type in the code.

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Soon, I will make all links in this website “barcodable“.  I am still looking for free barcode generator to plug-in into this blog.  :)

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If I have extra budget, I will get a real barcode reader to scan the most commonly used words / sentences (especially in Chinese) to save my time of typing.  However it is the lowest priority in my wish list because it is not critically important  … …  although it is fun to play with :P.

We found a big watch when we went to  Ipoh last month.  It is not to be worn on hand, but it is a clock on the wall.

Yes, time is money.

This big watch gave me an idea to make the limited time in my life as valuable as possible.

Time cannot grow longer by itself, nor the bigger watch can give us more time.  We all are given a limited time to do meaningful things in our life to achieve our dreams.  The only thing we can grow is the value of our action done while the time flies away.

Today is the Christmas eve, let me share with you a midi which I created about a year ago.  The title of this music is “The Guests Are Coming“.  Click on the play button above to listen.

Actually I used the melody of a Chinese children song - “KeRenLai” which also means the “guests are coming”.  And most importantly, I have added the Christmas elements into the music such as the jingle bells, etc..

I remixed a popular Chinese New Year song in midi about 2 years ago.  I am not a professional music maker, but I wish you can give me helpful comments or the Santa Clause can give me some magic power to improve my skills in creating midi.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!!!