Snapshots

I have been using VMware Player for sometime now. I used it to run Linux virtual machines on my Windows PC. It is really convenient. Instead of dual-booting the PC with Linux, you can just used VMware player to run Linux in a virtual machine. You then have two operating systems running at the same time.

Unlike Virtual PC, the previous version of VMware player doesn’t allow you to create a virtual machine without resorting to any work around. You need to have VMware workstation to create one, although the player can also run virtual machines created by other vendors. So I was really surprised when I upgraded to version 3.0, the most recent version. With version 3.0, you can now create new virtual machines, even without VMware workstation. Moreover, VMware tools are also now available. You can install these tools into the virtual machine to enhance the integration with the host OS.  It has also a feature called Unity, but I have not tried this yet. Here is a snapshot of a running VMware player.

We were visiting Kanagawa last weekend. Kathy attended a research meeting in Yokosuka City and Aya and I tagged along. Yokosuka is along the coast and we did have a wonderful view of the Yokohama Bay. The hotel is facing the dark blue sea. Nearby is a ‘boardwalk’ where you can stroll along the seashore. Aya collected a couple of seashells as we walked along. We were also able to visit the lighthouse, which is just a short distance from the hotel. On our way back, we dropped by Hakkeijima aqua museum, one of the major attractions of Yokohama sea paradise. See some photos below.

Its getting colder these days. The trees are shedding off their leaves. Leaves scattered all over the ground. Brown, red, orange, and yellow colors engulfed the mountains. Even trees in the park are changing. Night arrives early and sunrise is a bit late. Noon time is cool and the night colder. Fall is here and soon winter.

Okay, I still don’t have the device, which now costs USD 259.00 from Amazon. But Amazon just released Kindle for PC, a free application for Windows 7, Vista, and XP. You can download it from here. It is around 5.17MB and the installation is really fast. After installation, you can run the application, which will then ask your Amazon account (email and password). You can start browsing the Kindle Store for books you like. Since I don’t have a book in mind yet, I just sample a couple of books. You can try some of the books for free. The sample only contains the first few pages. If you’re interested, there is a Buy button, which you can click to buy the kindle version of the book. The interface is also very simple. Well, this is still a beta version.