A Blue Cat Draws Ere Five Green Hares

Review: Smart Q7

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:56:20 GMT

How many of you have heard of Smart Devices China? Few if any right?

So here's the story, the Smart Q7 is a slate device -- think PDA with a 7" LCD. The Q7 has no keyboard, so it's not a netbook. It runs on the Mojo + Ubuntu operating system, which is one of many of the cutesy small interfaces like Moblin, Mer, Maemo. Apparently Mojo is dying out, so Q7 owner/hackers are working on Android and Mer ports. Smart Devices themselves took a smart way out -- they are reselling a Windows CE 6 licence that dual boots on the Q7 (and smaller sibling Q5 -- 5" LCD), which is tempting for me since I'm a Windows Mobile Phone user.

Anyway, why get a 7" PDA? The Q7 uses a 667MHz ARM CPU, which is of the same family as most of the smartphones out there, vs an Atom CPU, which is found in most netbooks. So as you can see (or have heard from the Net) that the Q7 is very slow, and incapable of delivering the performance of even the netbook.

What is its selling point? Price, of course! I got mine for only SGD260, w/o shipping. That's a third the price of a netbook, and half that of a Kindle. Yup -- with a smartphone CPU running on a fricking big battery (4300mAH), this PDA is a cheap Kindle. With backlight. With colour. With general WiFi and Web browser. With installable apps. Ahem. As such it's like the perfect casual slate PC.

Instead of hugging my oven-like Dell laptop in bed, I can use the Q7 to read PDFs and listen to MP3s. Simultaneously. In fact I think the Arabic for Dummies book I recently acquired makes a perfect biz case here. The screen and its resolution makes reading perfectly eye-able.

The WiFi also means I can tweet or check gmail when I'm not in a scholarly mood. You can add a mouse if you hate touchscreens, or go online outside with a 3G modem, all via USB, or use the included USB bluetooth dongle to tether a 3G phone.

The battery life's about 8 hours continuously, since I woke up with it at 10am, used it sporadically throughout the day, and had to charge near midnight.

But on the other hand the Q7 is not perfect. The hardware's excellent, but the software is only 80% (to be generous) there. WinCE gives access to a lot of the apps from Windows Mobile, but not all. And it costs extra. I'll probably buy it after maxing out the Linux.

The Linux interface is not the problem. The problem is actually a dearth of mature apps. The arm-linux bloodline is so new that Ubuntu Linux only announced consumer development this year. Meanwhile Maemo, a Nokia product, has been the only active driver in this arena. And the HD-capable CPU is further sabotaged by its manufacturer Samsung, who only provides optimised video drivers for its own platforms. So the Q7 can watch MPEGs (ala VCD-quality) but not reliably handle heavier formats. But from my experience with WinMo smartphones, software always progresses, when the OS is user-hackable :)

So unlike the Kindle, which is a device trying to be a book and winning somewhat, the Q7 is unfortunately a PDA tempting a near-fatal comparison to a tablet PC.

Yet, at SGD260 for a full-fledged computing device, detractors can say whatever they like. For another $15 more, you get to use many WinMo apps too (like CorePlayer!)

Review: Radius Noise Canceling Earphones HP-NLF11

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:10:05 GMT

For such a long name, it better be good.

I must declare that these are my first set of noise cancelling earphones, so it may serve as a good introduction to folks who are new to it as well. I bought them at the recent Club21 sale for sgd50 a pair, versus the online announcement price of ~usd80.

The NLF11 are a pair of typical neodymium canal earphones. These mean that from the neodymium magnets, the sound quality are already above average in noise-to-signal ratio, aka cleaner. The latter "canal", or in-ear design, means that the NLF11 uses the silicone plugs to fit snugly into your ears, forming a seal, which gives you better response in the lower notes.

So you can think the noise canceling as a third step to improving the sound on the go. Compared to big headphones that use sponges to wrap the ears completely, noise canceling is an electronic process that takes the environment noise, calculate its opposite noise, and plays that into the earphones. This in theory cancels out the noise outside.

For the NLF11 this works very well in practice, but don't expect a 100% universe-removal device. What the NC does is to remove the lower hums that occur when you're in a moving train, going onto escalators, on a flight, and from general traffic noise. The higher pitches from human voices and higher are slightly affected but still mostly audible. So what happens is that the bass and baritone response that normally gets absorbed by the background noise returns (I can hear That's Amore properly) completely. The treble range is not affected, although these are normally not affected that much by "commuting noise" -- to group such noises. I'm not sure, though, if this entire design is intentional ;p but it's all for the good.

On top of the three techs, I suspect the NLF11 boosts the volume slightly in the lower ranges as well, by trying it in a quiet office.

What's not so great about the design is that the small NC package (matchbox sized) is not socketed to the earphones, and that the battery is not removable. And the device is only chargeable by a proprietary USB cable. These tells you that the NLF11 has an exclusive design, and is by people with the same mindset that killed Sony's music devices and dominance. On a side note, I found quite a few "clones" on Google at the same price range with minute differences. This makes me wonder if there was an OEM design.

So to sum it up, the Radius NLF11 -- with these four designs working in tandem -- what you get is a sound that's generally busty, with the baritone slightly too strong when you move into a quiet zone. And a steal at my price :)

Nokia 5800 review forthcoming?

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:28:18 GMT

I need Ripplevox to give me a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic / Nokia N85 with StarHub’s MaxMobile data service because it's going to allow me to share the experience with everyone?

A Nokia touchscreen phone (5800)! It's been too long!

I'm a tech evangelist :)

Ubuntu Intrepid Ibis, or 8.10

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:39:59 GMT

Linux Desktop RC1?
I don't know what others say, but I would think this version of Ubuntu is the RC1 of the legendary Linux Desktop.

It is the first Linux release that supports almost all my devices. It is the first time the ubiquitous Intel WiFi chipset is supported out of the box, and I did not have to break out the dusty CAT5 cable for the first hour of setting up.

While some parts are still broken, like full Compiz Fusion support for the Intel chipset, on my Nvidia GF8600 laptop it runs prettily. A little more detail -- I have two Dell laptops, the first a "vanilla" D630 workstation (big on processing), the latter a Dell E1520 fun-top (Nvidia, webcam, 4965agn, IR remote). What I loved about the Ubuntu, and got me started, actually was the install-in-Windows option. This is patently cool, as it allows Ubuntu to install like a huge Windows app (4 to 20gigs) but still supports the standard dual boot.

What's hot!
- Compiz Fusion: This is similar to the funny Genie effects of MacOSX,where rubbery windows and translucence rule the day. It's not new to 8.10 of course, but this is the first time it worked out of the box for me. What's cooler is that there are user-created content, just like widgets.
- Cosy software universe: what this means is that the Ubuntu equivalent of Windows Update not only contains the Windows catalogue, but also the entire third party universe. Of course it's not complete, but it's like having all those Windows freeware/shareware sites catalogued on your Ubuntu desktop.
- Installation: Like what I mentioned before, if you dare not commit the hard way, you can just install it in Windows. Hassle free.
- Support forums: Since Ubuntu is dominated by knowledgeable users, most of them adopt early, and document workarounds. How this helps is that most of your problems can be found with solutions already, or a conclusion (like Intel's 54Mbps limit).
- Linux backbone: Well this is slightly geeky, but I work with Redhat servers for work, and it really helps that I do not have to learn yet another UNIX dialect, like MacOSX's BSD. This applies to how they name hardware, system commands, etc. On the command line, Redhat and Ubuntu are 99% the same out of the box.
- UNIX command line: This gets even geekier, as many of the management functionality in Windows are done via half-hearted tools like msconfig.exe and System Properties, Device Manager etc. In UNIX all of this can be done using that text interface. Ubuntu does have quite a few visual tools too, of course, but it's also half-hearted.
- FREE! Ubuntu, and many other Linux distributions, are FREE! This is the OS, plus a complete application ecosystem, from server-grade http daemons to desktop all-in-one media players to full office suites!

What's Jonesy
- Software: yeah as mentioned above, almost all the mainstream apps are accessible. This includes an office suite (OpenOffice); browsers (Firefox or Opera); instant messaging clients (Pidgin); media players (MPlayer); and for me Eclipse and Java SDK as well.
- Hardware support: This has caught up quite a bit. Imagine worrying about my Dell in-built SD card reader, and only to find that all I needed to do was to put a card in to try.
- Graphics: Even without the fancy 3D effects, Ubuntu has caught up, such as the dual monitor setup. While still slightly rough to set up, most users will find it available.
- Eye candy: Well it's definitely ahead of Aero, and almost on par with the Mac. All they need is to hire some industrial designer to do a really good looking theme. Currently it's mostly Matrixy or grunge designs that really labels Ubuntu Underground.
- Emulators: Not just the Nintendo Gameboy or Ataris, but there is actually software (like WINE) that runs many Windows apps within the Ubuntu desktop. Mileage varies here of course.

What's rot!
- Intel WiFi: they released "open source" drivers for their hardware, but strangely the draft-N speed is not supported. This left me with newly-acquired hardware (including a Linksys dual-band N router with NAS support) running at 54Mbps versus 270Mbps. Everyone says 270Mbps is theoretical, but when I hit a Starhub-cached site I *always* get 800-900kBps.
- Intel gfx: again, despite their "enthusiasm" for Linux, the Intel drivers suck. Some substandard 3D feature support makes sure the very nice Compiz Fusion effects are something you see elsewhere.
- Learning curve: Of course, it's a whole new ball game, especially if you have a hardware problem. Good news one -- the support forums are extensive, and high in camaraderie. Good news two -- the Mac users experience this same dichotomy of dummy-proofed and rocket science when the need to troubleshoot something arises.

But...
In my case, I was peachy about moving to Ubuntu altogether, until I realised the Intel WiFi issue. As I had just plonked down some hard-earned cash *just* to get the N speeds, it is only reasonable that I enjoy it. It is sadly, for this only reason, that I did not stay with Ubuntu all the way. Otherwise, I had my Opera browser, my Mplayer, all available and current in Ubuntu. Of course, all that can change *next* month, as the Linux community is mainly both end users *and* developers.

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:06:05 GMT

Life, as such.

October was a bad month for me. Small things unravel to become bad things. Bad things unravel to affect the world LOL. Ever since I started investing in July, the whole world has been going downhill. I'm a bit disillusioned by all these. When I first entered society, it was in the valley of the IT depression. I had no job prospects and I hit dirt pay (vs pay dirt). And now, when I think of jumping higher, the whole world crashes around me. I have never had a 13th month bonus (except at IDG, but they laid me off the next month). So I have never had the joy of being able to give my parents a lump sum of money, nor wallow in the minor blip of luxury. And my current company was on tight spending (they say) during normal times, but now they've hit crunch mode. So where does that leave me? Status quo but without a prospect? I quite resent her uncle's brushoff saying that I have no career prospects, because he is supposed to be an accurate Taoist medium. So does that become a self-fulfilling prophecy, or will it challenge me to push harder? LOL look at Yahoo, I applied for a job and their stock value fell by over 50% and has hit a brick wall in growth.

November seems better, although I'm still mentally tired. Wonder why? Am I entering a mild depression? I don't seem excited by the prospect of going Beijing, in fact I dread it, worrying about everything else. Yet, if I feel depressed, why do I still have the energy to start banging away at new topics, like reading up on Java stuff (never did it), trying out Blender3D, and pushing for my writing again? Maybe it's less depression than sheer boredom, the boiler of my mind reaching critical pressure? I'd always hated being just a consumer.

Writing is, of course, therapeutic. By laying it out in words, I can actually *see* my thoughts, and through this analyse and rationalise. I've always been a visual person, but I'm slow, lol, so I can't do the "picture worth a thousand words" thing. I do it word by word. Ah, delightful rambling, I also just realised I haven't drawn for a very long time.

On the gadget side, still moping about the DSLR as usual. I badly need my freelance reviewing again. While I *can* afford to buy the E-520, I want the best deal, and if free, so much better then! lol, well... I like the E-30 specs, but seems heavy... Like the Pentax K2000 (K-m) but... lol oh well...

Just found out about Aego M, supposedly damn good audio speakers for music. Finally I have something to show bunny, without personally wavering over if something might be good enough, or too gaming-oriented.

The HTC Touch HD is out, so I'll wait 6 months when owners start selling it away ;p

Me and my RT

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:22:08 GMT

Imagine the odds?
I was supposed to do RT from 7 SEPTEMBER, Tuesdays and Sundays.
But I misremembered and went on 7 OCTOBER, which was a *Tuesday*... And I'd been planning everything based on this false date!

So the guy asks me to call my unit. This was 6pm so the work day was over.
So the next day I tried to call my unit's number on the last ICT's briefing doc. No response.
So I called the 18003676767.
The guy said, in a really friendly voice, "No worries, just wait for this letter, which is a charge letter, aka a summary trial, then you can explain yourself and they'll just book you a new RT!"

I hope it's that simple.

LJ vs Opera

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:37:44 GMT

I chose Rich text to do some formatting for "The Apple Tree". In the end the Rich mode got stuck in Opera, failing to load and hence rendering it unusable. Now using IE to switch back. Wonder if it'll help the Opera browser.
Sighsighsigh...

Marina Bay shops suffer during F1 week but help could come next year

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:35:49 GMT

October 1, 2008 Wednesday
Home > Breaking News > Singapore > Story

Fast cars, slow sales
Marina Bay shops suffer during F1 week but help could come next year

By Lin Xinyi

Empty tables were a common sight as both restaurants and retail outlets struggled during the S'pore Grand Prix. Shoppers stayed away because of road closures.

SINGAPORE received much praise for hosting the first Formula One night race. But the sound of cash registers ringing from malls at the Marina Bay area was rarely heard.

A vast majority of the 35 tenants from Suntec City and Marina Square that The Straits Times spoke to yesterday said they experienced a drop in sales - not just during race weekend, but from the time road closures began on Sept 20.

Hopes were high that F1 visitors, in town for leisure, were more likely to spend, especially on food and souvenirs.

Yet ironically, businesses were hardest hit during the Sept 26-28 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix.

While tourists did spend, they did it in the Orchard Road area - not around the circuit.

Owner of push-cart stall Kids Juke Box Keith Lee, 32, said: 'On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, there were people going for the race walking around. There was traffic, but there wasn't buying.'

One jewellery retailer, which opened last Thursday, did not have any sales to show for on those three days.

The store's sales executive Shawn Lee, 28, said: 'This is a very tough start for us. There a lot of pressure to meet our sales target.'

Some retailers noted that the damage inflicted since the roads closed were much more severe than when Singapore hosted the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in September 2006, also in the same area.

'The situation is almost twice as bad,' said Francis Lee, a 25-year-old sales executive at handphone shop Citilink.

'We raked in an average of $700 a day during the IMF but during the F1 period it was $400. I never expected it to be worse than the IMF period because in my memory, that was very bad already.'

The bleak situation had Lee, who says takings per day average about $1,500 on normal days, is hoping for a change of weather next year.

He quipped: 'Maybe rain will help as the fans will seek shelter inside the malls.'

To combat low sales, shoe and accessories shop Tracce had a week-long 20 per cent off promotion for F1 ticket holders.

But that did little to improve matters.

'We only had one or two F1 customers on Saturday,' said sales supervisor Eileen Wee, 42. 'It's very disappointing that the race didn't bring in shoppers.'

Food and beverage outlets at Suntec City also did not fare well.

Kenny Rogers Roasters assistant manager Sharon Ong, 50, said: 'Sunday is usually a good day for us and we normally bring in about $8,000. But we only managed $3,000 during race night.'

The loss of business has led many tenants to weigh their options.

One staff member at a basement one eatery said: 'If given choice, we will want to close during this period next year. At least we can save on staff costs and the electricity and water bills.'

Meanwhile, it is unlikely that Japanese restaurant Ichiban will hire additional manpower during the race next year.

Senior assistant manager Moon Hung, 30, said they had one extra staff member working during the period as they thought tourists staying at nearby hotels would patronise.

But there was no need for the added manpower as there was little to do. Staff ended up doing housekeeping instead.

Senior Minister of State (Trade and Industry) S. Iswaran admitted that one area that needed to be looked at is how businesses in the Marina Bay area can be helped next year.

Apart from possibly slashing the number of days that roads around the area are closed - from 13 days to about a week - businesses could also be integrated into the circuit park.

Adding that this year was a learning experience for both organisers and businesses, he said: 'I think businesses need to think about it, it's not just for the organisers to think about - how can they restructure themselves for that duration to complement the F1 and benefit.'

Perhaps tenants will be encouraged to know that some businesses actually had good days in the office during race week.

Benny Lee, 46, the marketing manager of Zingrill Holdings, which manages Breeks Cafe and Seoul Garden, said: 'Last weekend, we had diners and the place was quite full. We also had some sales by setting up a takeaway just outside.'

Koolook manager Betty Chew, 52, said the eyewear shop scored a 50 per cent increase in sales last weekend.

They managed this despite not planning anything special.

Said Chew, who added that the shop did suffer poor sales before the weekend: 'There was a sense of relief in the end.'

linxinyi@sph.com.sg

Additional reporting by Leonard Lim and Daniel Wong

above Copyright © 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co.

New Kidney Donor Fund

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:46:24 GMT

You heard it here first ;p

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_283865.html

I predict a CPF-like fund will be set up, if not reusing the CPF itself, as well as a central agent e.g. Kidney Donor Provident Fund KDPF.
- recipients will pay to KDPF.
- the amount will go first to pay ALL medical fees and associated costs.
- the remaining amount will go to KPDF, into individual accounts started for each donor. (see HDB)
- moneys in KDPF will be invested as per CPF-style guidelines.
- stipends may be paid out monthly or go straight to a Heath Board-endorsed clinic to dispense monthly subsistence drugs.
- further access to moneys is reviewed case-by-case, featuring a means testing similar to the one proposed and used by our Health Ministry.

Issues:
- what happens if a donor's only kidney fails? Will he/she be given priority?
- what happens to his/her moneys if a KDPF is really set up?

The Apple Tree

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:35:52 GMT

The boy was pushing his bike home. It was apple pie day, and by tradition he was to be home early, and a large apple pie would be sitting by the window, cooling off.

The pie would always be twelve inches wide and two deep -- because that was the only pan they had at home. The pan would have been well greased with cheap butter, to make sure the crust didn't burn too fast.

Cheap or not, the smell of the hot toasted butter was rich in the air, and cutting through that, the sharp and sweet scent of green apples. The apples started out as hard and horrid little lumps, which bit you back if you took a bite out of one. They came from the dry and crooked tree that stooped in their garden.

The tree had been there before their gramps, who was as withered and weathered as they come. The tree was a central character in many of the stories that gramps told. The stories of gramps as a boy, of how the tree was tall and thick and straight, just like gramps was.

Gramps as a boy would climb high up to the tallest boughs, because the best apples were right at the top, he explained. And the tree was *this* tall, said gramps, holding up one hand like he was pretending to be an ostrich.

And when the apples cames, they were big and shiny, and so many the branches were weighted down, said gramps as he brought both his arms down, like a resting butterfly. But, gramps said, as his eyes shined, the best ones are always at the top!

So when the season comes, and the flowers go, gramps would not even look at the fat, juicy balls hanging low, where his hand could easily grab. His eyes would go straight up! His eyes would scan the top of the tree, looking for the king of the apples. And mind you, the king does not always appear each season. If it didn't show up this time around, gramps would just grab his fishing bag and head for the river, as this was also the same period where the trout started coming in to roost.

And so it was, this particular summer, where the sun was hotter than most, and the grazing lands took on a tired green colour, the apples were budding lazily, slowly filling out into their globular shapes. Gramps had spent the past few days surveying the treetop, as all the apples ballooned into their final size. Impressive as they were, the king was not to be found.

Oh well, gramps said, more trouts for the summer then. So he grabbed his fishing bag, which held a spool of carefully woven cotton string and a few rusty hooks from old nails, as well as a small knife with half its blade. The knife was well-made and its edge stayed keen, needing little sharpening. It was given to him by the carpenter, after gramps helped him pushed a full cart out of the mud two springs ago.

Gramps went to the river, and sure enough, the trouts were swimming leisurely, sleepy from the hot weather. It was no challenge and by the evening, he had four fat trouts strung together by his fishing cord, each fish the length of his arm. With the fish slung across the bag, gramps headed home a happy boy.

As he walked through the back gate of their house gramps could see the fiery orange turning pink as the night approached. There was a single streak of cloud, a thin wispy strand of unwoven wool, unfurling into fuzz. As his eyes followed the cloud across the sky, he caught an unusual gleam from the top of the tree. His heart jumped, before his mind completed the thought. He ran near to the apple tree, almost under, his eyes trying to catch that extra gleam again. He paced left and right, bending his body up or down, and squinted hard to imagine where the shine might be, but the light was faltering, and gramps' mom was calling for him to bring the ish in. She had seen him coming home already, and was impatient to clean and cook the fish for dinner, as it was near time.

We'll have a look tomorrow then, gramps soothed his own impatience, as a big smile came upon his face. He was excited, but he too can be patient, like when waiting for trouts to come close enough.

Throughout dinner, all gramps can think of was the apple that he would find tomorrow. The fish was made into soup, a thick broth that had a little too much pepper. But gramps never noticed. That night, he would dream about the apple king.

It was late evening again, and gramps was out in the garden in his pyjamas. These were from his older brother, and were a bit thin around the elbows and knees. He was also wearing a pair of shiny new boots. The boots were the type where the leather was thoroughly cured, and was soft and comfortable. They had also been stained to look a fancy reddish brown, like the ones the landlord wore when he comes to collect rent.

Do you like them, gramps heard a pretty voice say to him. Gramps was surprised, and looked around for the voice's owner. He had never heard of such a graceful sound and would like to see to whom it belonged. Look up, over here, said the voice, understanding his intentions. Gramps looked up from under the tree, and was bewildered by the sight of the biggest apple he had ever seen! It was perfectly round, of a mild green colour, and seemed to faintly glow in the coming dusk.

Are you the apple king, asked gramps, feeling perfectly comfortable talking at a big and pretty apple, wearing his thin pyjamas and a fancy pair of red boots.

Of course *not* silly, I'm the Apple Princess! Gramps felt foolish. A Princess and not the apple king?

Hello, said gramps as politely as he can imagine, how do you do. Where is the apple king?

My father's dying, and we're not doing very well. And it's all thanks to you, you know, returned the Princess.

What, why, how? Gramps had not thought that the encounter would have such gravity.

Well, almost every year, you take each of my sisters, as they wait for their suitors, and you sell them for a pittance! You silly boy, each time you took our hopes and dreams for a better future and you'd trade it for an old broken knife, or a a worn pocketed vest, or even an almost-torn pair of walking boots! The Princess was clearly excited, her voice getting higher and angry but still sounding rather sweet.

Oh, oh, gramps was at a loss of words. His small instances of good fortune seemed to have soured on him. And he had a strangely great desire to keep the Princess in a good mood. It must be the presence of royalty, he thought.

What can I do to make it better, he finally said.

Finally, some sense, exclaimed the Princess, in a much happier tone of voice. We'll make a trade with you, she went on. You see the boots you are wearing now?

Gramps remembered those, and he stared at them now, as he drew a surprised breath of air.

We'll give you the boots that you dream of all the time, in return for my safety. Safety from your stupid little schemes of trading me to the next bumpkin who has a cheap object that catches your fancy. Do we have an agreement?

Gramps could only say yes, as he felt very much out of his depth. The fact of having the expensive boots were not quite yet absorbed into his mind.

And there is a penalty, that if you should break the agreement, our subjects will fight your kind to the very end. You will never see a good apple again. Each fruit, each branch will resist with our very might. Each bite you take will leave you so soured that you will taste nothing for days, and feel your stomachs churn with the hatred of our race, the Princess proclaimed in an ominous voice.

She sighed, and she continued in a gentler, but sadder tone. I am the last Princess, if you will know, and our father's death is imminent unless I can find a suitor of sufficient strength to help revive us to our former glory. Your previous thefts have robbed us of much vitality, and have sapped us to the very brink of existence. If my efforts turn up nought as well, then we are headed for certain doom! Now go back to sleep, when you wake next morn, remember our pact!

And when gramps woke the next morning, the dream stayed vivid in his memory. It felt so real that he checked his feet, fully expecting to see the nice fancy boots still hugging them. Of course, there were no boots to be found. He looked under the bed, and even in the closet, but did he really expect to find them? His disappointment was so deep that he quickly got dressed and went out to check the tree.

There, near the very top, but shaded by a small leafy branch, like an escorting parasol, was the Apple Princess! It was like in his dream, a big but graceful globe, of flawless, unmottled skin that to seem to glow radiant even in the misty morning.

But gramps was not in the mood to appreciate the perfectly formed apple. He was a boy in a sullen mood, deprived of his prize. He hugged the trunk, and began to climb the tree in a deft and familiar manner. Bough and branch he climbed, each grip a memory etched in his mind, each twist and swing almost of reflex. He gained height with little effort, until he was facing the Princess. Steadying himself with one hand, he took out the broken-bladed knife and clipped it across the stalk of the apple. The apple, cut from its support, fell noiselessly, a bob weight sinking straight down to land on the soft bed of fallen leaves.

Gramps sliced up the apple and served it up for breakfast for everyone. It was sweet, like honey with a green scent, and crisp like fresh celery.

On Boxing Day morning, gramps' father encouraged him most passionately, almost shooing him, to open his present. You'll love them, his father said, you've been hankering for a pair since you saw them, and I got them at a steal in the city, as they had gone out of fashion. Crazy city folks, gone out of fashion, eh? Curious and excited, gramps quickly unwrapped the box, hurried along by his father.

It was a pair of leather walking boots, stained with a reddish tinge to look fancy, than the typical hide colours. It was perfectly cured calf leather, supple and luxurious to the touch. And stamped on the sole as well as crimped upon the side of the ankle were the logo of the shoemaker -- ROYAL.

When spring returned, the apple tree seemed to have taken a beating during winter, which was actually rather mild. It was irrevocably stunted, as its once luxuriant boughs shrivelled into craggy branches, and the trunk stooped to one side, like an old man with a bad back. Surprisingly, it still bore fruit, lesser in number but bore them nevertheless. The fruits were hard and horrid little lumps, which bit you back if you took a bite out of one.

But as all housewives make do, gramps' mother took to cooking these sour lumps, which turned the tongue-biting edge into a pleasant green tang retaining a slight scent of honey. And the apple pie became a tradition, turning scour into succor.

"Mom! i'm home!" The boy took his bike and pushed it through the back gate, passing the tree that looked like a gnarled hand reaching up towards the clouds.

THE END.

Hancock and Hellboy 2...

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:23:39 GMT

Just watched both last night.

Actually thought Hancock deserved to be a two parter. The movie just took one incident to iilustrate each move along the plot was a bit too simplified and seems shallow, barely linking up Hancock's pain with his loneliness.

Had peers saying the ending was almost as bad as Smith's last movie, I Am Legend, but I felt it was due to the point I raised. The ending is typical, to ensure continuity but it wasn't as empty as the zombie mobbing. Rather liked it on the whole, as my growing irritation at the extreme closeups for Charlize Theron in the first half was explained by the second.

As for Hellboy 2, it was a great visual feast, although the story derived nothing from the Hellboy universe. Then again, you see that Mike Mignola, the comic's main author, had executive roles in this movie, so it's all kosher. Generally enjoyable, but small things like the intense martial arts style was very Chinese (Shaolin spearwork I believe) and the end scenes could have been more dramatic to show that it's not a piece of cake for Hellboy.

They should do crossovers from Hellboy and Constantine :D

My Camera Dilemma...

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:12:49 GMT

Was trying to formulate some joke about SLRs and "dilemma", since SLRs are one hole piped to two and the other is *trying* to pipe one into either.... ;p ;p

1. Canon 450D has excellent image quality (IQ) and as such, compensates for lack of in-camera stabilisation (IS) by having better ISO performance. Add this to the kit lenses with IS and it should be a winner. But somehow I just really didn't like Canon's interface, and the fact that IS has to be bought per lens is irritating. Not to mention that I get can jitters at 1/100 in bright sun on a 300mm...

2. Nikon is a non-choice. Neither class-leading IQ nor features nor price. You buy Nikon because you like "Nikon", or you're a pro-series user.

3. Pentax was a nice choice, from my long term experience with the K100D. But somehow I didn't really like the weight, which was about 100g heavier than I'd like. The most recent announcement of the K-m DSLR, which is a trimmed K200D, catches my interest.

4. Sony is like Pentax. I used the A100 for quite a while, loved it but it was slightly too heavy and recently seen quite a bit of lens-bashing on the net.

5. Olympus is the way I like my camera interface. Plus, it's got the 2x so a 300mm lens becomes 600mm. And f2.8 lens designs become f2.0. However they suffer from the class-feeding IQ, even for their E3 flagship. However, the E-520 is a lovely lightweight full featured DSLR, and it's cheap too. Yet, I'd failed to leap onto the bandwagon as the m43 (Micro Four Thirds) was suddenly announced. This piqued my interest in a compact camera even further.

6. I was also deliberating on getting a superzoom in the end, but playing with the Olympus SP-570UZ (hotshoe, 26-520mm) in the bright Comex venue and seeing the AF fail miserably at 520mm I called it off. The other player, the Panasonic FZ28, was unfortunately not availed to me to fondle over.

7. As mentioned in (5) the m43 is a child of Panasonic and Olympus (both whom also made the superzoom compacts). This new mount uses EVFs over optical viewfinders and in so promises even more compact designs. The new G1 was delicious but has no AF-compatibility with 4/3 lenses and no in-body IS, so I want to see how Olympus does theirs.

In the end, my gut feel is that if I do buy anything in this 6 months, it'll likely be the E-520, unless something unexpected comes along for a ncie price :)

My sodden tank

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:17:31 GMT

The tank in my office looks dead, and has been that way for a few months.
Yet, when I stir the still water, kicking up the rotted weed and redocrating the marimo ball, I see many many tiny teeny dots zigzagging.
Damn it's very much alive, with shrimp imps. (Actually so's the marimo ball, but it's moss, so it doesn't count ;p)

Nearly another... Raffia

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:06:26 GMT

Two nights ago we went over to bunnyfolks' place for boiled dumplings.
On the way there passing through one of the blocks, a kitten trotted up to us, mewling. Trying to rub its head, we discovered it had a feisty little personality like Box's!
It was trying to bite us and paw us into submission, and its lack of use of its claws meant it was friendly I think lol.
It was a tricolour - like Box and Kaya - but schema wise was somewhere in between! She was mottled like Kaya but less dark, ending in mostly-white mittens, unlike Box's stockinged feet.
She had a gray wedge between her ears and a generally bright face. Her eyes were still carrying the last vestiges of blue.
Also, she had an infection on her lower gums that swelled up beyond the lip, and it bled once in a while.
So we brought it up to the flat, me cradling it in my arms. There triggered the nostalgia, of Box staying put and not struggling when I carried her like a baby. sighsighsigh..
She was curious but seemed reasonably happy in my arms, and was not afraid of the lift as well (unlike Box who clawed me badly). And once in the flat, she showed a nice balance of curiosity and fear.
She could have named Raffia, as it was the string that I dug out to entertain her. With it, she ran and zipped like a little furry cannonball.
But we were going away this weekend, so we could not accommodate the time needed to acclimatise her and Box, as well as get her a visit to the vet's. (lol I was going to say dentist)
So we volunteered to go buy sauce which had run out, and went out with her. We bought her a tin of wet cat food, which she finished very systematically, and then brought her back to where we had found her.
No pictures were taken, which is good thing, so we don't have to go all wistful and what-if...

Reflectology...

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:35:44 GMT

Looking back at my older posts, I seemed more alive and less whiney.
So flippant then :D

Is it maturity or is it because I've been working in software too long? lol I seem to have changed my writing style since joining singhel...

Sony DSLR champagne colour.

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:51:58 GMT

I was right! They came out with a Japan-only champagne silver A300/350 body kit.
Meanwhile, the full frame is to be announced tomorrow.

Return to LJ (vs facebook)

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:50:25 GMT

lol well it's the same here I guess but nobody was looking at my Notes in FB. lol

Fun with Microsoft Office (Make-Yer-Soft Orifice)

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:37:32 GMT

So I had happily installed MS Office on my new laptop.
However I found a huge loss of C: space.
So I found that MSOCache was taking 800+MB, basically the entire DVD's worth buffered on my system drive.
So I deleted it.
And that's when my nightmares began.

Visio wouldn't install templates anymore, despite being shown the DVD.
So I went to MS support web and found a manual removal guide.
WTF, after trawling and deleting over 200 registry entries, there were still missing ones.
Reinstalling afterwards to a presumably clean registry was a dragged out affair, currently ongoing.

My Outlook will not create a Profile, nor open the goddamned Accounts management tool.
So I found that I had to delete the Profiles under my usr in the registry.
No avail.

So I removed Outlook, rebooted, and reinstalled Outlook, AND rebooted.

No luck, with a different error that I need to use Mail in Control Panel instead (huzzah for distributed access!)

No Mail either, until I found the .CPL file, which was INSTALLED BY Office!

And now, "Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window. The set of folders cannot be opened. An unexpected error has occurred. MAPI was unable to load the fucking information service EMSMDB.DLL Be sure that you're thoroughly fucked."

Sony and its DSLR(sssS)

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:26:54 GMT

Sony has done it again!
It's taken a product, sliced and diced it, and has now a series of 4 grand models!

A200 - a direct update to the A100 (based on Minolta 5D).

A300 - A200 with live view (LCD view like compacts)

A350 - A300 with 14mp sensor

A700 - current flagship, based on A100 and Minolta 7D.

So it now actually has as many models as the other vendors, but not direct competing models. There's no full-frame model for example, nor a super light DSLR.

So, will we see a white DSLR in the future? Pink?

And her name is Box!

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:21:28 GMT

So to those who hadn't been informed, we finally got ourselves a cat!
A tricolour of black, ginger/striped, and white, this little kitten is bouncing like a butterfly and pawing like a bee. Hence her name, heh.

Having trouble taking decent photos of her, so wait a while...

:)

Rice price rise and other stories...

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:16:43 GMT

Wow prices gone up.
My favourite otah has gone form 6 pieces for $2 to 5 (20%)
Our favourite far east stall has upped 50cts (11-17%)
The latter mainly triggered by rice of course, which is expected to double.

Travel has also gone up, from $2 surcharge to $3 and coach insurance up $2 from $4.

crazy crazy, is "I am Legend" foretelling a future scenario? (not from virus but hunger)

Android SDK

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:31:37 GMT

recently tried out the Android SDK from Google....
haven't written any code but went through a detailed example, Notepad.
Can't really absorb the idea of Intents -- how is it from onClick in a View?

Also read the performance/integration guides -- excellent articles that apply specifically to Android but will hold water for all other development, especially in Java.

Feels like Google will push Java, but not sure how will J2ME be affected? Will midlets get to run alongside or ported manually/emulated in an Android phone? Many of the basic blocks are the same, and J2ME is more polished, at least in the packages.

If J2ME is sidelined, Android will be the new J2ME. If Android phones run J2ME with the expanded system space, Android's mindset adoption will go. So I'm guessing J2ME will either be included as the standard restricted J2ME JVM or not at all.

But it is cool to finally have a full Java-based GUI...

Moving on, need job

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:19:04 GMT

Am becoming gradually but steadily disillusioned with my company...

Perhaps treating it as where I might have a real career contributes the greater fall.
The sprint towards a well-underwritten listing by force-growing superficially has really affected the way we and the company work.

I feel that every new department is someone's baby except Development. Recently I fked a new junior from QA because she sent emails with ?? and ?! and !! and instead of addressing specific problems she just went on a rant, CC to all in the massive project. Her email had led to an older developer, the current tech lead for this project, to send me some unfounded statements about the stuff I'd released and they were testing.

So I blew, and sent the email about what button-pushers they hired, no initiative to investigate etc etc.

What happened was pretty obvious, the QA head shot a mail to my head and said it was the most scathing email in his entire 17 years of working in the IT industry.

To me it was fine to apologise and help my boss fire the fire I loosed. But, it was sad when my boss' boss said that he himself et al had to apologise in person to the QA boss. My instant impression was that the QA boss and my boss2 should be at least rank. And yet no, the QA guy was a director.

So the young QA chicks are a rank below a Director, whereas I have a local team lead, a platform team lead, an overall platforms lead + sub-lead (boss2) and then someone who's level with the QA boss.

So effectively I'm ranked just above chopped liver. Who's going to protect me against rabid young QA testers?

I'm feeling sad because I've failed to scramble above the PEON line (unlike the other guy who became tech lead and my boss -- both who were "software developers" until recently) and I'm ranked with insourced commodity developers.

Maybe I should sell durians, or study Music! (Grade 1! Grade 2!)

Graciousness and living standards.

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:54:18 GMT

I write in regard to the recents posts of graciousness, simple living,
and especially in response to Ms Chua Mui Hong's line, "It is a sad
day when bright young professionals develop a sour-grapes mentality to
subsidies and demand a share of state funds they do not need," in the
article "The Finance Minister is not the God of Fortune."

We feel as if the middle incomers are cut off completely, despite
being just one recession short of becoming a low-income group, with
middle income liabilities.

A little background, my wife and I decided to start our lives together
last year. It was a serendipitous decision because we bought our flat
just before the surge in resale prices.

From our initial homing budget of $300k, factoring in the
transportation and time consumption to commute to town, we finally
settled for a hefty purchase in April 06 for a 4-room flat at $382k.
This was done with much nail-biting as we were very very near the
8,000-dollar ceiling imposed by HDB for its loan. My wife nearly had a
heart attack when her company decided to award her hard work with a
year-end bonus.

Another couple we know took it slower, by 6 months, and now they
cannot find any flats near the bride's ailing parents because most of
the housing agents practiced the "75k or buzz off" policy. And because
they exceeded the HDB loan's ceiling by a little, they cannot offer
current resale prices inflated by the bank rates. The bride quit her
job, a big decision, so that they can safely qualify for the loan, but
absurdly the income to cover their parents' medical expenses are
reduced by over a third.

Also Syu Ying Kwok's forum letter about the suffering sandwich class.
Amongst the "standard" luxuries she cited from her vivid but sour
imagination, I apologise then for shortchanging my wife with no LV
handbag for her; I have personally only been using 2nd-hand phones
since I started working; I have five pairs of shoes if I include all
my SAF boots and shoes; and the list of not-haves do go on.

This penny-pinching is because our parents were "victims" of the
economic boom of the 1980's. Everything they tried to save were
basically deflated, with the successive waves of recession since. Of
course, they were middle income earners too. What we earn, us cursed
middle-income hamsters-in-a-wheel, we also have to be able to budget
for at least one more pair of upcoming high healthcare outlays,
because we are stuck in the gap where help will be denied us.

In our opinion, including a straw poll of our peers, we are worked
hard for our money. Yet, to be stuck in this cursed middle income
group, we are denied the fruits of what we perceive as rightfully our
labour. Low income earners have subsidies and rebates, while huge
income earners have tax cuts and business rebates. Us, the cursed
middlers are merely given a pat on the back ("certified taxable") and
left alone to soldier on with the grindstone.

We clamour for love and attention from our paternal government -- it
is alright to give us only 0.1% of what's offered, but do not cut us
off completely. It is really just the thought that counts.

You want graciousness? Try upstream first.

Yours truly,

(If you agree, leave a comment)

Funfun with Microsoft development

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 03:31:38 GMT

So I finally bought me a Pocket PC.
And being a coder I was interested to help improve the scene.

First off was to try and improve the formatting in PocketXPDF's raw text viewer.
The project was a 4.5MB download, including all resources and the original XPDF libs.

Then I went to MSDN to check out the Windows Mobile 6 SDK, and it was 400++ MB. Fine so I downloaded that too.

Then I went to look for the Visual Studio 2008, only Pro and above are eligible to handle the SDK. WTF it was a 3.5GB download!

And I found out that IE6 does not support files over 2GB. So I either upgrade to IE7 or use something else -- an obvious answer.

So I need a 4GB lump of coal to polish a 4.5MB diamond.