Cell bill.

So, a Burnaby dad finally and successfully fought against his 22K bill, and a negotiation strategy is released at the same time.

Will telephone companies ever act like the strategy guide said? I don't think so.

"Hey, if you don't reduce my phone bill by 90 percent, I am gonna write to the president's office."

"I am sorry, sir. Are you having the negotiation manual on hand? We are no longer stupid like that."

Always having excuses!

If chilling raining days make perfect excuse for me to not going to school, a warm sunny day doesn't keep me inside the classroom.

Okay, I confess.

I will go to class, but can't stop thinking of getting out.

Summer

This is definitely the best place to study if you don't want to stay at Library where nothing changes all the year round.
Vancouver has both ocean views and mountain views.
Everything becomes clearer when summer comes around.
Everybody is expecting for you, summer.

Let's talk about software.

"The next big thing is here", again.

I can't help watching Samsung Galaxy S4 launch keynote, although almost everything is leaked out a month ago.

However, Samsung seems not playing hardware trick anymore.

Sony Xperia Z and HTC One X are a few months ahead with same level of hardware as Samsung announced today.

The focus of this Big Thing, is all about software.

Let's be patient and wait.

Iron Man is ready.

Once I took Kick Starter very seriously, and put couples of bucks on those ideas.
Some went through the funding, some didn't survive.

When a friend passed me this logo and asked me if I wanna get a copy of SDK too, I was absolutely thrilled.
Check this link: https://www.leapmotion.com/ and make sure you see the video.

If you would spend $150 more on another Iron Man gear called MYO, you can feel the future, right now.
https://getmyo.com/

Seriously. This is how our parents see the Internet.

Just do it.

Sometimes you will think of something, something strange.
That something is so strange that you don't even know how you came up such "stupid" thoughts.
Then you turn your mind away, and tell yourself to forget about it.
However, sometimes another person may encounter the same idea as you do, but keeps digging into that and finally become different.

Toro'o?

I saw Argo, the Oscar wining movie, today with a basket of popcorn bought from superstore.
Movie is movie after all, but Hollywood can always make it real.
I happened to go to L.A. during reading week. It's just a big city after all.
One thing I learned from Hollywood today, is that, Canadians don't pronounce the second T in "Toronto".
Is that true???

To wear red underwear?

It is said that people will have bad luck in the year that they were born, counted as Chinese calendar.
Literally, not THE year, but every twelve years after they were born.
It has just turned to the year of Snake, which is MY year.
I don't know if this means something, but RCMP found drugs, large amount of cash, guns, and LIVE dynamites in one of the unit of the condo that I am living in.

Instant Noodle Simulator

Am I just too computer-minded?

I was absolutely shocked when I saw the word "simulated" on the bag of Mr. Noodle.

I saw words such as "Real meat" or "Absolutely no artificial added", but never seen such a straightforward one.

"Instant Noodle Simulator, Zero System Memory Required."

149 Dollar more, just for balance.

I suggest all men not to give your cars to girls, especially who want to use your cars to practice driving techniques.

To be more specific, girls with lovely smile that you can never refuse. 

I don't know why, but parallel parking is apparently the most difficult part for female drivers.

You may believe it is still okay if one of the tires of your car being broken, since you think you have a spare tire.

The truth is, the spare tire in the back truck is normally one size smaller than other four regular tires, and you can only drive with it on for less than 80 km or some.

If you believe that is still fine, and you can just get a new tire from shops such as Fountain tires, you were wrong again.

In order to balance your car, you need to buy two tires as a set!

I paid 149 dollar more, plus installation and tax.

Sun Yat-Sen Garden

It is not surprising to know that there is a Chinese garden located in Chinatown.

However, it does surprise me that the garden is a "genuine copy" of the small town where I came from.

Years ago, a group of architects from my hometown were invited to Vancouver to build the most traditional Chinese style private garden.

Home sweet home.

Happy new year, again.

Happy Chinese New Year!

It is THE wonderful moment of the year!

TED is coming.

It seems that TED is bringing conferences to Vancouver.
If everything goes smoothly, we will see brilliant ideas being told in Vancouver Convention Center.
Wanna get the feeling of being surrounded by ideas?
$7500 USD is the entrance fee.
However, if you do not want to pay, and you can wait, you will always be able to see those geniuses in front of you, via YouTube or iTunes...

Software! Software! Software!

Blackberry 10 finally came along with some "new features".
Frankly, are you excited?
There are three types of smartphone companies: those who focus on hardware, such as Samsung; those who focus on software, such as Google; and those who do both, such as Apple & Blackberry (Although I still prefer RIM).
If you check ifixit.com regularly, you will realize that everything within those small handheld boxes, is pretty much the same.
Those who really make a smartphone stand out, are software guys.
That's why lots of manufactures choose to build their own hardware, but use Android as the OS. Only google made its own OS but put it into other companies' products.

March and June

Apple released the 5th beta version of iOS 6.1.

Surely, they improved the map service for a little bit more.

It is said the Golden Master version will be released at some point of next month, and they will deliver the final version in March.

There is rumour going around that new products are coming in March and June.

I really hope that Apple didn't reduce the frequency of launching new products from once a year to twice a year. Well, I just hope, because Samsung has already promised something new.

Need another bite, with new flavour.

When you look at the Niagara Falls from the side, you may see a shape like this.

Needless to say, Apple did benefit after it removed "Computer" from its name.

However, Apple's behaviour is now tightly tied to its iOS family.

It's been years since Apple brought its revolutionary product, iPhone, to the world.

As we have already got used to the fact that Apple re-invent things, now, my question is:

What are you going to re-invent this time, fruit ?

Walking above the cloud

It's been foggy in Vancouver since yesterday.
Although the sun has been heating the ground for the entire morning, people still need to keep their headlight on when they drive.
When I headed towards Burnaby campus, I could see the change of the scene.
It seemed that the cloud was much lower than usual, lower to the ground.
If you stand on the mountain, you could clearly see a blue sky and beautiful sunshine.
However, when you look down, the city was covered by fog.
What you see is exactly the same thing as you might have looked down on the ground from an airplane.

Just Can't Trust Weather Guy

Vancouver's winter is supposed to be wet.

However, The Weather Network surprised me the day before yesterday.

However, the truth didn't seem as I prayed and wished.

This is what I saw this morning. Weather guy let me down, again.

Would you take a break?

It has been almost another "WET" week.

Maybe the weather is not the one to blame, it is myself.

One thing, which is good, is that I don't need to think of washing my car sometimes.

Although I can see the dust accumulates on the dash, because of the dark color, I still don't wanna wash it.

Not even a vacuum.

It is ON.

This is the blog of Yang Zhang.

This is built as requested by CMPT 376 of SFU.

This blog is usually updated twice a week.

I will post more posts over the next 4 months.