hello.
There will be a gathering for fellow group 9 ppl ( quite last minute ).
The gathering will be TOMORROW (29th) 730pm at City hall because marcus is leaving for japan on sunday, gary and gerald will be going NS next week. soooo group 9 peeps please take note and come if you can.

BTW, boss just told us something.
read this stupid news. Maybe i will be sued.


Patent breach by ‘virtually all websites’? Pay up, firm demands

27 May 2008
Straits Times
English
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

A SINGAPORE firm has threatened to sue websites that use pictures or graphics to link to another page, claiming it owns the patent for a technology used by millions around the world.

In a move that has come under fire from the online community, VueStar Technologies has sent ‘invoices’ to local website operators asking for thousands of dollars in licensing fees.


The company, which said ‘virtually all websites’ are infringing on its patent, is also planning to take on giants like Mircosoft and Google.

It is a battle that could, at least in theory, upend the Internet, though intellectual property experts have some doubts that VueStar can actually enforce its claims.

The company said it has been awarded a patent here and in several other countries, including Australia, New Zealand and the United States, for the method of ‘locating Web pages by utilising visual images’.

In other words, clicking, scrolling or streaming over a visual image to connect with a website or Web page is an infringement, the company claims on its website.

The technique is the de facto method used to connect websites across the globe, from personal blogs to the biggest search engines.

VueStar managing director Paul Smith said if sites want to keep using images as links, they will have to pay his company - located in a single-unit office at The Adelphi off Coleman Street - between ‘$200′ and ‘millions’ annually.

It is a claim, however, that has its doubters.

Technology and intellectual property lawyer Bryan Tan of Keystone Law Corporation said that while VueStar has been granted a patent, it is an extremely wide one.

In fact, ‘if the patent is allowed to stand, it will probably bring the (Internet) industry to its knees’. And VueStar’s patent may be contested and overturned in court, he said.

The firm has been sending out invoices to Singapore companies since last week asking them to pay up, said Mr Smith. He declined to say how many have gone out, but there have been ‘enough to keep my phone busy’.

Those who do not pay up, warned Mr Smith, face legal action, and his company is ‘highly confident that (a court decision) will be in our favour’.

Mr Alvin Koh, who runs the non-profit Arrowana fish website arofanatics.com, received one of VueStar’s invoices last week for $5,350. He does not intend to pay up and said: ‘I would rather close down the site’.

Mr Smith recognises that Mr Koh’s stand will likely be a popular one, and his firm is already girding up for a public backlash.

‘Website owners are just upset because they never had to pay for it before,’ said Mr Smith.

VueStar will begin enforcing its patent claims in Australia and the US ’soon’, he said, and the firm is also working on invoices for Internet heavyweights like Google and Microsoft.

While governments and charities will need a licence, VueStar will not be asking for payment from these parties, he said.

Mr Tan urged companies to contact their lawyers before ‘paying VueStar anything’.

ok it simply means as long as ur web has got a image that is linked to a site, you had broken the rights of this particular company and you will be sue. duhz

long time no no see.
time for some updates again. erm i dunno where to start but anyway, some months ago.. march yea.. i celebrated my lil cousin ting ting's bday. she's the cousin i like most =] i used to wipe her shit off her ass when she's a baby lor and now she in sec sch. i feel so old..



some weeks ago when i made a trip to msia with mama, debbie, shark and her mama. shopping and endless makan-ing. the dinner was a korean bbq. we ate so muchhhh that we almost can't breathe..


look at how shark eat her food. seems so delicious yea? so long neh see her. study hard ah.
and i wonder how's debbie. i think i sent her a bon voyage sms on the wrong date. oh, i sent wing on the wrong date too. gosh...


aniwae, my mama eating. hahahhaaa so u**g. okay la okay la... no la no la i take back my words. mama very pretty and cute! the most pretty woman on earth =]



last friday, short gathering with some fy peeps. ahhh miss em too =] look at davvvvvidd!!! he had a new hairstyle!! very cute right? i think it suits him haha! verrry cute!! usually i won't say someone cute for no reason lor.. sooo that means he is vvv cute, buay tahan. ask becca and sihui, they should be feeling the same way too.



thanks to sihui for the bananas! hahaha *dirty joke aside*
look at the guys.
from left to right - ian (cute), david (cute!!!!!!!)..... choonkiat( erm... er.. erm.. anyone wants bak kua? =X)




muahah the new couple of the IM grp, sihui and jielun~ having sweet time now ah? ermmm excuse me, felicia? ahem...



oh, another couple. no wonder i can't seem to digest my food.



and now. welcome to the sold time.
i'm sold to "sold". days were not bad compared to other fellow working friends in the design industry. stories from becca, sihui, felicia, bc... blah blah blah.. okay i think my partner and me very fortunate so farrrr so good. haha
she is a v fun partner and i have some "complains" on her. ha! who is the she?

the story start with this lil er.. rabbit... she bought... =.=" erm excuse me? according to her, it's very cute... and she brought it to office, placed on table and set it to jump ard... ahem....


her desk. ohhh... how "neat" compared to mine.


and when outside rains and we got back to office. her feet.... ALAMAK~~~~
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~~~~~~ she still dare to show me siaaaa...


side view revealed! acting like she's concentrating ah? on msn or scipt? hahah


muahah she's none other than shiping!
alright the two area design book is a "present" for me from boss costing 100+ us dollar coz i wanted that and shiping's "present" is some PHP, e-commerce, cms books which is still with amazon coz shiping hasn't decided on which books she wants. what a good "present" =.=" looks like we need to spend some time reading and improve ourselves.


my desk with the new com!
the screen is so much bigger than the one i have at home..
of coz shiping and me are happy with it coz he say we can do anything to our coms. during first day of work he already installed live messenger, skype, all types of browsers, programs for us. i wonder he employed us to work or chat.
hey!! things for my partner, shiping, to learn from! see my desk is sooo much neater lor... ignore the toilet roll.



anddddd the main thing is my feet is clean. at least i rmb to cover it.



i have a much cuter desktop wallie and icons. very cuteeee right? this is how a designer should work. my boss say one when he saw my wallie and icons.


in case you can't see it clearer. here is the print screen vsn. look for my photoshop and illustrator. haha


boss's desk is also much neater than shiping lorrrr. oh and his bananas. yea. hissss bananas. *wink wink* forgot whether it's second day of work or what, he asked us to eat his bananas and this became a joke between shiping, sihui and me.



and yday, we quite nua la.. in fact very nua. coz we only reached office ard like 11+.. den nua there, play play, talk talk, shout shout, sing sing, shake shake (coz no one else is in the office).. then suddenly ooowwwwooo~ 1 pm already! den we decided to go for lunch @ bugis junction.. den jalan jalan, buy biscuits from cold storage den go back company @ ard 3pm to work. butttt no one there still.. so we continued to nua somemore, do a bit of work and den eat biscuits blah blah.. suddenly boss come back den we "act" hardworking. hahahahhahaa no lar.. actually coz we did quite some work in between already lar.. and boss still need further confirmation of information from clients so we kinda.. not vvvvv busy yet.


the office! small and cosy. the tables reminded me of nyp.


my siao siao partner. oh sometimes she will grab me suddenly and scream coz got car or she just feel like doing so. wow. muahahhaa but nvm, i can take it. coz sometimes i will also scream back and sing super loud in hokkien.




aniwae, although working life is not vvv stressful yet. but the irregular hours doing work and having meals did have some impact on me. usually i will only reach home ard 8+ or 9pm then i can have my dinner. hungry sia. lunch time a bit irregular also.. sometimes at 12 +, sometimes at 3 +... so i'm having my gastric pains again.. and i dunno why, just feel tired after work and i seldom have time to meet up with friends.. mainly because after work.. i'm quite tired and i need to set aside time for my family too. some friends are quite busy too.. okay most prob i will set sunday as my family day.. and sat is for friends if they ask me out lar. but most of the close friends are overseas now and sajiao always work on weekends yea... so hurhur miss them.
nvm. sure got chance de!

oh. and i started reading. yea right. reading. Chinese novels la, english..... novals.... maybe after i complete the current book.. reasons are, i very long never read book already.. and everyday i have to spend like 2 hours traveling. it's very waste of time to stand like an idiot on the train and not doing anything.

and ppl, go buy breadtalk earthquake bun okay? 2 bucks each and the money will be donated to the sichuan earthquake thing.... really..


byebye

this is gonna be the second week of my worklife. so far alright... just that i'm having my oooo menses now after some delay so im feeling a bit uneasy, even thou i had menses for like almost 11 or 12 years..

biological talks aside, last fri nite i met up with the vvvvv long nv see fyp mates like airpork, husky, sihui, becca, jielun, felicia, ian and the very cute david who had a new hairstyle! i couldn't recognize him at first... hahaha i took pic of him but lazy to post here now. maybe some other day but i bluetooth-ed the pic to becca and sihui coz they wanted it too.

everyone was chatting as usual, random topics.. mostly on new work life as most had started work. poor becca and felicia can't even use MSN during work, poor poor sihui ganna stupid accountant shoot and heard simin dun like work life. wellll, who likes work life? but luckily for my case, there is shiping with me and the boss is good. i can use msn, skype whatever shit and we always go late for work. oh and boss asked us to eat his bananas *dun think dirty ah sihui*.

tata