A few days ago, Rahim told me that the fishes in his aquarium were dying because the water temperature was too high due to the hot spell. The only way, according to an aquarium shop, was to purchase an aquarium chiller costing about RM1000 to cool down the water. This wasn't cost effective at all. I suggested putting ice, but that wasn't practical. So I came up with a better solution.

Coincidentally, Rahim had a water cooling set that he wasn't using anymore. The water pump was integrated with the water block so we can use that to pump the aquarium water through the water block. Now all we need to do is to cool down the water block so we can have warm water coming into the block, and cold water going out. The answer came in the form of a peltier cooler.

Diagram showing the main working component of the DIY aquarium chiller.

If you've forgotten how peltier coolers work, click here for a refresher. The plate itself creates a temperature difference between its two sides. One side will be hot and one side will be cold. If you cool the hot side, the cold side will get colder and if you heat the cold side, the hot side will get hotter. It basically maintains a temperature difference as long as the supply current is enough.

Water block and peltier cooler combined.

So I just combined the peltier cooler with the water block (refer picture above). The water block is in contact with the cold side of the peltier plate. The blue heatsink is in contact with the hot side. By cooling the blue heatsink with a fan, I can make the cold side colder and in turn it will cool the water (aquarium water) passing through the water block.

The completed test setup.

After several minutes of running the device, the water did turn cold. But this test was carried out on a very small volume of water. The real test will come when it is finally mounted to a real 3 foot aquarium this weekend. I have requested for a bigger, more powerful fan and also a more powerful power supply. Hopefully with those the aquarium water temperature will drop to acceptable levels, and put a stop to the slow and painful death of the fishes.

Doom Resurrection was released by id Software on 26th of June 2009 for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Description taken from the App Store (pictures from my own collection):

Immerse yourself in the first person experience that takes your iPhone or iPod Touch beyond previously imagined limits. Introducing DOOM Resurrection, a brand new, technologically advanced, heart-pounding chapter in the legendary DOOM Saga!

Scientists on a remote research facility on Mars have lost control of their experiment and all Hell has broken loose. As the last surviving Marine in your unit, you must defeat Hell’s minions and unravel the mystery of what has happened on Mars. Earth’s future depends on you!

Courage alone will not be enough to stand up to the evil that awaits you. Utilize a devastating arsenal of weapons, helpful NPC’s and your environment to succeed. With an assault rifle, shotgun, a vicious chainsaw, and more, you will even the odds in a raging battle against unnatural beasts hell-bent on flaying your flesh and damning your soul.

With its revolutionary control scheme, breathtaking visuals, and intense story, DOOM Resurrection is sure to provide the adrenaline rush you’ve been craving.

The BigF**kingGun is really big.

Do you have what it takes to defeat evil and survive the Resurrection?

My Review: The game is fun to play and it will keep you coming back for more. Graphics is excellent, and so are the sound effects. The story itself is short and simple and maybe slightly too straight-forward. The controls are easy enough not to put a strain on your concentration. Using the accelerometer to aim can be a problem if you're in a moving vehicle. Each game level is about 10-20 minutes long which is just right. With 8 levels, you get about 1.5 hours of gameplay. You can revisit each level to replay them using different difficulty settings or to improve your score.

My only complain is that there is no "free" level where you can go berserk and go on a killing spree with unlimited ammo. This will no doubt be a very good stress reliever.

Doom Resurrection trailer:

Overall, a solid 5/5.

I've been very busy and lazy so I decided to renew my road tax online this year using the service provided by MyEG. Previously I have a runner who will help me renew my road tax and then I'll go pick it up from his office at Jalan Templer. I usually have to drive there during my lunch time and there's usually a jam at Federal Highway at that time.

So to save time and petrol, I decided that I'll give MyEG a try. Renewing my road tax online was amazingly simple. You just have to fill in the form below:

That's it. It's that simple. Just click "Proceed" and you'll be taken to the next step. For my case however, I was shown a message saying that I do not have a valid insurance for my car so I couldn't continue. Not sure if it was a bug or what. But the next morning, a representative from MyEG called me and asked me for details. After giving her my details she said she will sort out the insurance for me and send me the quotation through email.

By that afternoon also, I got an email from her with the insurance and road tax quotation:

Click "Proceed To Pay".

And you have the option to pay with your credit card or some other service that I've never heard of.

Just enter your credit card details and click "Pay" and you're done! About an hour later I received a call from probably the same representative, telling me that they have received my payment and that I will get my road tax by tomorrow. Yeah, right, I thought to myself. Since when is Pos Laju that efficient?

The next afternoon, MyEG's own delivery personnel came right to my doorstep to deliver my road tax. Surprised that they didn't use Pos Laju, I asked him why. He said many customers complained about the slow delivery so they had to do the delivery themselves. Which is a good thing, because they've really impressed me by their fast and efficient service. No doubt I'll be renewing my road tax next year with them.

Two days ago, I upgraded my iPhone 2G's firmware to version 3.0. Here's why you need to do the same if you have a 2G iPhone (or even a 3G iPhone).

1. Cut-Copy-Paste

Left: Selecting some text. Right: Option to cut, copy or paste the selected text.

This is by far the greatest feature in 3.0. Now you can cut, copy, paste whatever you want. You can copy a URL from Safari to your Notes, copy text from your Notes and send them through Email or SMS, copy SMSes and paste them on your Email, copy text and paste them back to Safari. The possibilities are endless. And this one feature alone makes the upgrade worthwhile.

2. Spotlight Search

Left: Searching for "game". Right: iPhone home screen. To bring up Spotlight, just swipe your finger to the right or press the home button when you're already at the home screen.

You will be familiar with Spotlight if you have used a Mac before. It searches system wide, including your Email, Notes, Apps, Music, Internet shortcuts and Phone contacts. It's really convenient if you want to find an Email containing certain words.

3. Voice recorder

Left: A simple voice recorder. Right: "About page" showing the firmware version.

It used to be impossible to record secret conversations using the iPhone. But not anymore. Put an iPhone in a room and be surprised at what you might hear.

4. Improved Camera

Source: news.softpedia.com

Strange but true, although the camera hardware remains the same, firmware 3.0 lets the camera take better quality pictures. This may have something to do with how the camera hardware is controlled (e.g shutter speed, ISO) and also post-processing.

5. MMS

Left: Send a picture through MMS. Right: Unrelated: Search through your emails.

MMS requires firmware 3.0 and "ActivateMMS2G" from Cydia. See here for instructions.

6. SMS Forwarding

Left: Normal SMS conversation. Right: Click "Edit" and now you're able to delete individual SMSes and to forward them.

There used to be a time when I couldn't forward funny SMSes because the iPhone doesn't allow SMS forwarding! But now that has changed and it's easier to use than ever. With a few taps I can send the entire SMS conversation over to another person.

The above are just a few features that I find very useful. The 3.0 firmware has over 100+ new features and the complete list can be found here. Also check out Apple's official 3.0 page.

Instructions on how to upgrade your iPhone 2G can be found here. Happy upgrading!

Taylor Swift is now a rapper!

This is why I love cats. They're unpredictable and scary. Dogs are too obedient.

LOLCATS material.

Michael Jackson, touted as the world's greatest entertainer, died today (Friday, June 26) at 5:36am Malaysian time. His 1982 album Thriller is the best selling album of all time. It is certified 27x platinum by the RIAA. He was so famous that when the news of his death was announced, the overwhelming number of Google searches for Michael Jackson led the company to believe that it was under "hacker attack". Twitter also crashed following the huge number of people who wanted to get the news out to their followers. And the story of his death on Digg was dugg 21000+ times!

His talents maybe tainted by his weird behaviors and a string of child molestation cases, but this is probably how most of the world will remember him by:

Rest in Peace.

Being a Starcraft player myself, watching a blind guy playing it so well is just unbelievable. You really have to wonder how he knows where his units are, how he micros them and how the heck he gets his bearings?! He must have built a mental map of the game in his mind. And just by listening to the game sounds he can figure out what's going on. Truly amazing. And to almost beat the World's Best Player. If he wasn't blind, he would have totally pwned him. Watch the video, it's half an hour long:

My off days coincide with the weekends this time round so there's time to go for a BBQ hosted by a friend of mine. I was reminded why I decided to keep off the drinks.

I've so lost touch with Nokia phones that I didn't even know they've integrated a FM transmitter right into the N85! Can you even imagine what you can do with this? You'll never find this on the iPhone. How else can Apple sell their iTrips then?

Big 2. Loser gets rewardedpunished with 12 year old Chivas.

And some chess. Checkmate in just a few moves.

No photos of the food but there's chicken, lamb and sweet potatoes from Japan. They're purple in color. Because there's so much lamb left, there might be another BBQ next weekend.

The iPhone has come a long way, from the humble 2G to the 3Gs which was launched 2 days ago (June 19). And like the iPods, Apple has finally perfected the iPhone. Gizmodo has a review of the iPhone 3GS.

With everyone switching over to newer iPhones, the second hand market will no doubt be flooded with used iPhones 2G or 3G. Now will be a great time to grab one from eBay or your local tech forum. But for now, I'll probably be sticking with my 2G.

Single SB600 bounced off a white cardboard from camera right. Image on LCD dropped in using Photoshop.