pika2000's blog

Moving to Wordpress.com

2010-03-10T00:50:00.000-08:00

Due to the recent suspension of my Youtube account, I can't trust Google anymore. From now on, my blog will be with Wordpress.com. I like Blogger, but I don't want Google to delete my blog overnight without any warnings.
Just go to pika2000.com and it will forward to my blog at Wordpress. Or http://pika2000.wordpress.com/
I might double post here and there, but my main postings will be on Wordpress.

My Youtube account has been suspended

2010-03-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

Yup, for an unknown reason, my Youtube account has been suspended. Why? I don't know. I could access it just fine yesterday, but today, it's suspended. Any email/explanations from Google? Nope. WTF?

Youtube is becoming a big FAIL ever since Google acquire it.
Google, do no evil? Bah, you're THE devil. Ironically my blog here is with blogger, which is also owned by Google. *sigh I guess I should start thinking of alternatives.

Angels, according to the Japanese

2010-02-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

How would you describe an angel? You probably will think about a holy humanoid creature with wings, a messenger from God, sometimes bearing a halo on top, and wearing basic cloth/medieval style clothing. Angels are sometimes portrayed as having holy powers and weapons.

Well, forget about those. In 2010, angels need cards to henshin and use their powers. They wear helmets and spandex, and each are color coded. The use cards to summon weapons. Oh, did I mention they also have a robot? And who are they fighting? Aliens. Oh course, they appeared in Japan only. LOL. Yeah, that's basically the description of 2010 Super Sentai, GoSeiger. Really, the story is that they're angels (which is somewhat ironic considering GoSei Pink is a gravure idol... LOL).

Well, their henshin sequence is kinda neat, with wings and lights from heaven... LOL.
So what's the story? Well, apparently angels have been protecting earth. But now we have aliens trying to conquer earth. Obviously to minimize any resistance, they damaged the angels' headquarters. Fortunately, there are 5 angels in-training that are on earth for their training. Without access/help from HQ, these 5 young angels are earth's only hope to fight the aliens.

As I suspected, the cards made everything corny. Again, ONORE DIKEIDO!!! Following Kamen Rider's trend of using cards, GoSeiger is the first Sentai that focus on the cards. In fact, they focus too much on the cards. Everything the GoSeigers do require cards, from henshin, summoning weapons, summoning guns, anything. Even in the first episode, it's already shown that this card business can backfire, where they were attacked while trying to put their cards into their changers. LOL. It's unfortunate that this is the decision TOEI made to ensure toys sales. Super Sentai have been great lately, with Go-Onger and Shinkenger. I hope GoSeiger can continue the trend. I don't know if I would get used to the cards though.

Kamen Rider W, My Impression So Far

2010-02-21T02:46:00.000-08:00

Kamen Rider W started with a weird premise, where 2 guys henshin into 1 rider. In the beginning, I smell yaoi-ness aplenty. I even made this video:

The Difference Between Kamen Rider Showa Era & Heisei Era

Fast forward, Kamen Rider W is actually a pretty decent show. No yaoi-ness I could see. Even better, it feels really like a detective J-Dorama, with tokusatsu mixed in. I really love the show. Funny and entertaining.

But then guess who showed up. A new Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Accel, Ryu Terui. Not only the design is a stark contrast from W (he looks like a cheap toy design, unlike W's smooth design), he can transform. Yup, another transformrider, the bad trend started by Decade. ONORE DIKEIDO!!! Really, I just hate this Transformers Riders stuff. It's just weird (Kuuga's head being flipped, firing arrow from Kiva's crotch, etc). Kamen Rider is supposed to be "human," not Transformers. Well, Kamen Rider Accel can transform into a motorcycle. Well, okay, the transformation isn't as weird as the other Riders in Decade, but I still think it's fishy. Well, guess what, in episode 22, Accel gets a new weapon, the Gunner A. It's a tank, and Accel in his motorcycle form can combine with it. That sounds fine, until you see how they combined. Watch this video I made:

Kamen Rider Accel + Gunner A - Click here for more free videos

Yeah, you be the judge.
What were the producers and director thinking? That's just bad design. I mean come on, really? I hope they don't do that often in future episodes.

Edit: Youtube suspended my account for unknown reason. If there was a TOS violation, usually they simply disabled/deleted the video and gave me a warning. Now, my account just went poof. I'm uploading the video to metacafe.

GoSeiger preview

2010-02-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

Wait, that dragon looks very familiar. Re-using Dairanger props? LOL. I dunno about the cards. Obviously it's a way to sell toys and collectibles. I mean come on, do angels use cards? LOL. Cards usually don't flow well in battles. There will be a lot more awkward freezes where the suit actors showing the cards mid-battle (we know that from the various Kamen Rider shows that use cards). Other than that, hopefully it's going to be another great sentai. The series have been very top quality lately (Go-Onger, then Shinkenger).

More thoughts on the iPad

2010-01-31T00:57:00.000-08:00

With many tech blogs and news sites posting endless stream of anything iPad, I want to put my own 2 cents too. :P

I've been thinking about how would I use the iPad. Usually one would buy something for a purpose. Apple is obviously hoping people would try to find a purpose to justify the iPad purchase.

1. An portable internet device for the home. Ever been wanting to view some websites while you're taking a dump, while watching TV, or while lying on your bed? I've been doing it with my iPod Touch/iPhone, but obviously having a device with a larger screen like the iPad would make the experience better. The larger screen is also better to view videos. A netbook is a hassle due to their form factor. The issue with the iPad is how I would get my content on it. Currently, it seems that you have to sync the iPad with iTunes, just like iPods. Well, considering the small storage space on the iPad, this is an issue. Plus I don't want to have all my videos in iTunes. I already have a Windows Home Server for all my videos. Apple should put the ability to stream content from a networked drive to the iPad. Alas, I don't think it would be able to do that. Plus for the price, I'll stick with my iPhone.

2. A camera companion on the go. Let's say you're traveling, and want to take tons of pictures while being able to view/back them up. Currently, a cheap solution is to bring a netbook with you. Most netbooks come with an SD slot where you can dump all your pictures to. The iPad with the SD card dongle might be a more portable solution. Problem is, again, the limited storage of the iPad (if you already fill it up with your music/videos, etc). Plus, the photos app is just a basic viewing app. I'm sure there will be many photo editing tools coming to the app store (already plenty for the iPhone), but it would be more seamless if Apple put iPhoto on the iPad.

3. As a backup internet device. As much as I like Comcast, it doesn't have 100% uptime, and when it's down, it's really frustrating being offline. The iPad with 3G plus its prepaid wireless data plans seem to be a nice and cheaper way to have for a backup internet, vs paying $60 a month continuously for 3G data with a USB dongle. The dilemma is, I already have the iPhone (and I'm sure it's the case for most people that are interested in the iPad). Now if only AT&T allow tethering on the iPhone, even with an additional fee, it will still be cheaper than spending money for the iPad. Alas, AT&T sux, and there's no hint whether they would allow iPhone tethering in the US, ever. The iPad seems to be an expensive way to solve a simple problem.

So, yeah, it's hard trying to find a use for the iPad. Now I'm sure once it's released, there will be apps that change the way we think about it, but at this time, the iPad seems to have a lot of potential, yet at the same time feels too limited.

I'm curious that Apple might release the iPad simply as a training wheel for their future products, for people to get used to having multi-touch on a larger screen. I would imagine future iMacs and/or Macbooks would employ a multi-touch screen. Even better, imagine an iMac/Macbook that has an A4 equipped with iPhone OS built-in for instant-on usage, in addition to the traditional OS X and intel processor. Want to listen to music/check email quickly on your Macbook, instant-on to the iPhone OS. Want to do more stuff like picture/video editing, simply boot up to OS X. Yeah, that would be awesome! Hey, I just did a rumor for upcoming Apple products! I'm guessing Apple will see how successful (and probably how small/cool they can make the A4) the iPad is, and implement it to the iMac/Macbook in a couple of years.

The iPad is here.

2010-01-28T02:48:00.000-08:00

Well, after countless of rumors, fake news, fake claims, photoshopped pictures, etc etc, Apple finally unveiled the long-awaited tablet, called the iPad. No, it's not a pot of gold spitting out unicorns, it's just an extra large iPod Touch, to put it simply. However, because many people were imagining the Apple tablet to be a pot of gold spitting out unicorns, there are currently a lot of negative feedback, especially from the haters (who are ironically frequent visitors of sites that tend to do a lot of Apple coverage, like engadget).

When Jobs announced the iPad, he stated that the function of the device are simply to be used for browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, and eBooks. Well, the iPhone/iPod Touch already do some of those, so, being a larger iPod Touch, the iPad will be more of a better experience in those things thanks to the bigger screen. Let's stop here for a moment. A lot of people are wanting an actual tablet PC, with a full featured desktop OS, thus the negative feedbacks. Obviously that's not what Jobs said the iPad would be, and in a way, Apple did the right thing. Tablet PCs are not new, and they never become mainstream. Why? Because they're mostly just laptops with a touch screen running Windows. Apple approached this in a different way, from a consumer electronic perspective, not a computer. However, that doesn't mean the iPad is the "Jesus tablet." We'll go over on some of the odd choices Apple made later.

Let's start chronologically with the keynote presentation.
First, we see Steve Jobs demoing Safari on the iPad. It shares the same gestures as Safari on the iPhone/iPod Touch. Jobs made it like it's a new experience, but it's not. We're already tapping and "touching" the web, albeit on a smaller screen. Obviously it will be more pleasant doing it on a larger higher res screen, but not as groundbreaking as when multi-touch was first demoed on the first iPhone. I can see steam coming out from Jobs' ears, seeing the empty boxes where a Flash animation/ads would've been when he demoed the various website. (He quickly zoomed in on a picture on National Geographic website when an empty plug-in box showed up the sides). Yeah, no Adobe Flash support, which imo is a good thing. A lot of the haters want Flash on the iPhone. Considering how lousy Adobe is, and with a lot of security issues with Flash, I'm glad Apple stays on their ground for not supporting Flash. HTML 5 FTW! Still funny though imagining what Steve was thinking when he's demoing NYT websites with those empty plug-in boxes. LOL.

Next is email. It's the similar email client as the one on the iPhone, with several UI tweaks when viewing the iPad on portrait or landscape mode. On landscape mode, you have the inbox and the preview pane side by side. Not bad, but then again, nothing too exciting either. No hint whether there will be a unified inbox or not. Considering it's the same iPhone OS, my guess is not.

Oh, yeah, no multi-tasking, and no new way to switch apps. Just like the iPhone, you have to go back to the home screen to switch to another app. This can get annoying real fast on something like this. My guess is iPhone OS 4.0 is not fully ready yet. Why can't Apple just buy Palm, and copy the way WebOS switch between apps using the ribbon.

Next, Photos. The photos app looks a lot like iPhoto (and you can guess the next version of iPhoto would share some of the looks). However, no skimming, which would be nice. Instead, you can pinch an album/event to show the pictures inside it. Nice eye candy, but skimming would be more efficient imo. In addition to viewing pictures, you can make slideshows too. Jobs showed the origami transition effect, which is very neat. Here's the issue though, how do you get your pictures into the iPad? Wait, no camera? WTF? Yeah, no camera. This would be a no-brainer, but no, nada. You can sync your photos via iTunes from PC/Mac, but that is a really clunky way to get your pictures into the iPad. You can also import photos from an SD card/USB storage using the optional USB/SD card to dock connector adapter. I expect a fully functional iPhoto app for the iPad in the near future, as without editing capability, the current photo viewing functionality feels half-baked. Still, a built-in camera seems the more logical way. I'm guessing that will be for the next gen iPad.

Next, music. A big meh. Basically it's like the iTunes store, except that it's your own music. Jobs stated how nice it is to browse and play all your music collection. Wait, what? ALL your music collection? What's the capacity of the iPad again, 16GB up to 64GB. WTF? If there's 128GB model, then it would be fine, but 16GB? Puhlease. Apple better have some streaming functionality from iTunes on your desktop PC to the iPad. If not, this is just a big meh. The iPod app feels like a mini iTunes instead of an iPod. Small fonts galore for track and album titles. Annoying! Hopefully there's a way to pick a larger font. Also, there better be a shuffle-by-album. If not, then the iPad fails at playing music vs a regular iPod nano/classic. Interesting enough, no coverflow? No HE-AAC support?

iTunes store, meh. Calendar, pretty nice. Heck, it seems better than iCal on OS X itself. Contacts also looks nice, better than the one on OS X. However, there's no phone functionality on the iPad, something that I would want on this. Hopefully the contacts app can be seamless with VOIP apps. Maps is just an XL version of the Maps app on the iPhone. Still on Google maps, contrary to the rumors. A-GPS only on the 3G model, not the wifi only model. Youtube is nice, but since youtube's content sucks major ass due to frequent copyright takedowns, I'm not too excited about this. Gimme streaming J-Dorama built-in on the iPad, then I'll bite. :P Videos, well, nothing groundbreaking. The iPad's screen resolution is only 1024x768, so no true 720p (although it does support 720p video playback), and not widescreen, so it's not really an ideal movie viewing experience, contrary to what Jobs was trying to portray. Besides, I bet you have to sync movies with iTunes. Overall, Jobs didn't explore too much details on these, other than trying to make it sound like the experience is new and exciting, while obviously it's not.

Next, on to the hardware itself. As usual, the first thing Jobs said was how thin the iPad is. The big surprise here is, the fact that the iPad uses Apple's own A4 chip. Wait, what? Apple made their own chip? Yeah, thanks to PA semi acquisition a while back. Imo this is a BIG HUGE news, that is overlooked by many people. I can see Apple using their own chip throughout their products. The next obvious one would be the iPhone and iPods, depending on how large the chip is. And then Apple TV! I can imagine the next Apple TV will be using Apple's own chip. To put a further speculation, imagine Apple TV using the iPhone OS, complete with games. Voila, Apple's gaming console. The possibilities are endless as Apple would be a huge CE company, capable of making a lot more products powered by this Apple chip. My next guess would be Apple making a real TV with this chip and Apple TV built-in.

Okay, enough of the chip. The iPad comes in 3 storage size: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. MAJOR LAME! Really? Only maxed out at 64GB? 128GB would be more reasonable, considering how Apple is trying to market this as a media device. 16GB is just sad. Heck, I have a 16GB iPod nano, and it's just for music. I'm guessing Apple decided to scale back of the storage simply to not exceed the $999 price barrier. In short, it's a marketing strategy, to advertise that their top-of-the-line iPad is still below $1000. Then there are the usual tech specs: Wifi n, Bluetooth, dock connector, speaker, microphone... oh wait. Microphone? This is odd. Why? Well, first, there's no phone app, even on the models with 3G wireless connectivity. Second, no camera, no front facing camera, so no video conferencing. So, a microphone just for VOIP? My guess is that Apple will put in voice commands on the iPad, although that could contradict the supposedly more "intimate" interaction of multi-touch on the iPad. As for Bluetooth, I hope it's not the crippled Bluetooth connection just like on the iPhone, meaning only for headsets. I want Bluetooth file transfer, or even better, Bluetooth tethering with an iPhone.

Next, Scott showing some apps, iPhone apps. Since the iPad uses the same iPhone OS, it is obviously compatible with all the current iPhone apps. In addition, the iPad can do pixel doubling so the iPhone app can be run full-screen. Big whoop. He demoed the facebook app. Heck, with the iPad, I can just go to the real facebook site. Games designed for the iPhone would run faster and smoother due to the faster processor, but obviously games designed specifically for the iPad would be better. The SDK with iPad simulator is also released. Imo another reason there's a 60/90 days delay during this announcement and the scheduled iPad shipping date, is to allow some time for developers to make iPad-specific apps.

Next, some apps. First, Gameloft, with their FPS game. Really? FPS game is bad enough using a gamepad, now using a touch interface? Even worse, requiring some gestures (eg. 3 finger gesture just to open a door?)? Sorry, but keyboard + mouse FTW.

Second, New York Times. Yeah, even though Jobs showed that you can view the full NYT website with Safari, NYT is doing an app (probably because Jobs was not too happy with those empty Flash plug-in boxes, LOL). Some people are saying that the iPad will be the savior of the newspaper industry. NYT app shows some interactivity and even video playback. Pretty neat, and could entice some people to subscribe. However, considering I can get my news via simple RSS feeds... yeah.

Third, Brushes. Basically Paint on the iPad, with fingers. I'm sure this is a big deal for some people, but I'm no artist. The playback feature is really neat though.

4th, EA, with Need for Speed. If you think FPS is bad enough, yeah, trying to fiddle/touch the controls while playing a driving game doesn't look fun at all. I'm sorry, but there are better game genres to show off the iPad. RTS, Adventure games, RPG, etc, not FPS or driving game. I'm guessing Apple just want to show off the graphics/processing power of the iPad.

5th, MLB. Imo sports apps like this may be one of the killer app as you can add a lot of interactivity while watching a game. Could be an awesome thing for sports fans. I couldn't care less though. :P

Steve returned to the stage to show iBooks (not to be confused with iBook, the pre-cursor to the Macbook), another HUGE news that slip by a lot of people. Apple is opening an eBook store, competing head to head with Amazon and the Kindle. iBooks app looks a LOT like Delicious Library. Typical Apple, the app has plenty of eye candy, especially with Steve showing how he's flipping the book's "page" partially back-n-forth. The fact that Apple is going to use epub format is also great news. Publishing companies are more archaic than the recording industry, clinging to DRM heavily. Hopefully Apple can change the market like they did with music. On Apple's site, the iPad apparently has a voice over screen reader, something that the Amazon Kindle has, but got into a big fight with the publishers. Will Apple fare better? Steve surprisingly didn't say anything about battery life, something that E-Ink-based devices will have a huge advantage. Plus, I don't know if I can read a book for a prolonged period of time on an LCD screen. Not good for your eyes. The bigger news here is obviously Apple's entry into the eBook market. I don't think Amazon should be worried, as they already know something like this would happen, thus the Kindle app for the iPhone.

Next, Phil with iWork for the iPad. I don't know. There's a lot of questions here, not about the apps themselves as they look great but about the basic functionality you would expect. For example, printing a document/spreadsheet. There's no USB port on the iPad. Will it be able to print to a networked printer directly? Via USB host with the USB to dock-connector dongle? If you have to export your work to a desktop first, then it's super stupid. Then there's Keynote. The obvious question is, is there video out? Turns out Apple has a dock-connector to VGA dongle for the iPad (which is ironic by itself considering Apple is focusing on mini display port on its computers). There's an issue with the dongle itself, how do you connect to the AC adapter for long presentations? I'm guessing a dock connector splitter? As for iWork itself, this is the first time Apple unbundles iWork, meaning you purchase Pages, Numbers, and Keynote separately. $10 each. The touch interface seems tedious on Keynote, but maybe a pre-cursor for something larger like Microsoft's surface (or iMac with multi-touch). The automatic word-wrap around a graphic on Pages look great. Numbers, meh. I haven't used a word processor extensively out of school, let alone a spreadsheet or a presentation app. Another question would be, how do one export the created files out of the iPad? Syncing via iTunes? Emailing? Again, more reason for Bluetooth file transfer support.

Yes, the iPad syncs via iTunes, just like the iPhone. Sounds like iTunes will become more bloatier than ever.

Back to hardware, looks like Apple will have 2 versions of the iPad lineup. One with Wifi only, one with Wifi and 3G wireless. Looks like Apple realize that people would be furious if they have to pay more monthly bills and under contract, so the 3G data plan for the iPad will be prepaid (yay!), AND 3G iPads are unlocked out of the box (YAY!). There are 2 data plan, $15 for 250MB per month, or $30 for "unlimited." My guess is unlimited means 5GB, since Apple is doing this with AT&T. The best part of this is of course, prepaid, meaning that you can just buy the 3G data plan when you actually need it, not having to pay for it continuously. Oh yeah, no Verizon, as Apple wants this to be an international model, thus GSM/HSDPA, not CDMA. Yeah, take that Verizon fanboys.

Now, the pricing. Jobs made a reference how people were speculating that the price will be $999, and dropped the bomb that the price of the iPad will be just $499. The crowd cheered. Wait, really? $499? Well, typical Apple, that is the lowest end model, the one that you don't want. 16GB and wifi only. Add $100 for each bump in capacity (32GB for $599, 64GB for $699). That $499 doesn't look that cheap anymore now does it. :P Having 3G connectivity and GPS adds $130 on top of those prices. So, the real price of the tablet that you will want is actually $829, for the 64GB model with wifi and 3G. Still lower than $999 (which is why we don't see a 128GB model as Apple probably wants to stay below $999), but definitely not $499. It's the typical Apple upselling/marketing strategy.

The wifi only models will ship in 60 days, and the wifi + 3G models will ship in 90 days. Why? In addition for regulatory issues, obviously this lag is to allow developers to have their apps ready when the iPad is shipping. As for accessories, I'm sure there are a lot of people drooling for the keyboard dock.

Lastly, a complementary making videos, a trend started with the unibody aluminum Macbooks. Oh, and a new tagling, "You just... DO!" LOL. Kinda lame. Apple is trying to portray how amazing and magical the iPad is. Yeah, that would work if we didn't have the iPhone. Problem is, all this multi-touch stuff is not new anymore, so the newness of touching stuff is, well, getting stale. People already see Microsoft's surface, and the various multi-touch capable PCs.

In the end, the bigger news here is not really the iPad, although that is the focus of most bloggers and tech journalists since it's the unicorn. The big news are:
1. Apple having their own fast and low-powered chip ready for mass production.
2. Apple going into the eBook market.

So, is the iPad "magical" and "revolutionary"? Nope. Like I said, a lot of the fanciness is kinda stale due to the fact we already have multi-touch for a couple of years. The iPad seems to lack a lot of things, like a camera, front facing camera for video conferencing, a phone app (or at least an SMS app), multi-tasking, etc. It's obvious the OS is not fully optimized for the iPad (small icons, sparse screen). A live widget like weather would be nice, like on Android phones. Should you get one? Well, I don't think there's a need for a tablet or iPad in the first place, outside specific industries. However, knowing Apple, I'm guessing we can see the price being pushed lower by the end of the year or so, so people would buy the iPad just because, and then contents and apps will follow suit.

Regardless whether you find a use for the iPad or not, it's another new and shiny toy from Apple. Heck, the lure of prepaid 3G data is very tempting for a backup internet (since AT&T doesn't seem to offer tethering for iPhone in the US, ever). Personally, I was hoping for unlocked iPhones instead of this, but obviously that is not happening. Hopefully we will see more information and specifics on features (eg. Bluetooth file transfer, Bluetooth tethering, VOIP, etc) as time goes, and maybe we will see the OS itself being optimized (or the iPad itself shipping with OS 4.0 instead). Nonetheless, I at least expect iLife, or at least iPhoto for the iPad in the near future.

As for future rumors, let's get started before the analysts. :P
1. Price drop of the iPad before 2010 holidays. Maybe together with the regular September/October event.
2. Next gen iPad would have a camera, or at least a front facing camera for video chat. Also iChat app will be released. It will have a larger screen while retaining the same size (less bezel).
3. iLife 2010 would share some UI looks as the iPad photo app.
4. iCal and Contacts on the next OS X would share the same look as the iPad version.
5. iPhone OS 4.0 will cost iPod Touch users yet another $10

Well, there you go, a long and winded overview of the most hyped product announcement event ever. Heck, imo the iPad release overshadow President Obama's State of Union Address! LOL.

Decade Leap (Quantum Leap parody)

2010-01-24T00:37:00.000-08:00

I got the idea when stumbling on Quantum Leap's theme song. LOL.

Tsukasa Kadoya, suffering from partial amnesia and awoke in a world that is not his own. Trapped, Tsukasa finds himself leaping from world to world, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap, will be the leap home.

Goseiger promo 1

2010-01-03T03:22:00.000-08:00

Aaahhh, pink and yellow are so cute!!!

Yellow is Niwa Mikiho, alias Mikki, apparently a member of a J-Pop girl group called Canary Club

Pink is Satou Rika. Just search her name in google and youtube... nuff said. :D

Super Sentai, entertaining all ages, literally.

Goseiger, 2010 Super Sentai

2009-12-25T15:43:00.000-08:00

Well, the pics are floating on the web already for the 2010 Super Sentai.

Hey, the helmets have mouths on them, and the colors, just like... Goggle Five! LOL
Now all wee need to know is which pretty boys and gravure idols they pick for the casts. LOL. Super Sentai, entertaining all ages forever.

Avatar and Sherlock Holmes

2009-12-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

2 new movies that I watched. My review, and the obvious precaution of spoiler alert.

1. Avatar
I watched this movie in 3D (alas, the IMAX 3D tickets were quickly sold out, so the standard 3D would have to do). Pretty impressive visuals. This movie is a showcase of how far CGI technology in cinema has become. It's just amazing the way they portrayed Pandora's colorful and lush jungle environment. The 3D effects are not being overdone either (although there are few obvious scenes that are there simply for the 3D effects). It's definitely a visual treat.

As for the story, well, if you saw the trailer, you already know the story. It's the typical "soldier went undercover to gain information on the opposing party, fell in love with a girl of the opposing party, and decided to defend them" story with a scifi background. It's also portrayed the action of invading another culture/country (or in this case, planet) to gain their resources for profit (sounds familiar?). It's a very interesting portrayal of current world issues with a sci-fi twist. Other than that, nothing special. Guy falls in love with the girl, girl falls in love with the guy, girl thinks guy betrayed her, guy makes a com-back, war, the good guys won, the end. The movie itself is pretty long, a bit more than 2 and 1/2 hour. It pays though, as the pacing of the movie seems pretty good, not overly rushed.

The sci-fi part itself is, unfortunately, not well explored. Pandora planet is apparently a giant mesh network, where information can be transferred to and from, this includes brain signals. Heck, how did they make the avatars to begin with? What happened to earth? (Jake said that the "sky people's" home were no longer green or something). When Jake found out that Na'vi can transfer a mind into another body, why didn't he do it right away, thus not having to worry the enemy getting into his real body? And wasn't that chick turned into a zombie in Resident Evil? LOL.

Anyway, impressive visuals, pretty cool watching it in 3D, so so story and acting, surprised to see Sigourney Weaver in it. Pretty entertaining, but nothing to write about the story. To be honest, I'm tired of sci-fi movies that portrays the future and/or technology as bad. This is why I like Star Trek, which seems to be the only sci-fi franchise that portrays us, humans on earth, turning for the better in the future (watch any Start Trek episode/movie, and you won't see a muscly jock military soldier gungho with machine guns).

2. Sherlock Holmes
This movie was a quite a surprise for me. I like detective stories. When I saw the trailer, I was prepared to be disappointed as the trailer seems to show this new Sherlock Holmes as an action movie filled with Holmes fighting, not the image I have with Sherlock Holmes the great detective. In short, I'm afraid for a too dumbed down "Sherlock Holmes" movie. Well, the movie turned out to be very good. Sure, the fightings are in there, but Sherlock Holmes is still Sherlock Holmes, paying attention to details and deducing things from observations. Also, during his fights, he fought using his brain, planning his attacks from a science/medical point of view. Not too shabby. I'm sure the action and jokes are there to appease the mainstream audience, but they don't dumb down Holmes' detective skills. However, they also seems to hope the audience already know about Sherlock Holmes stories/characters (I have no idea who Irene Adler was), which may be a good thing so no time is wasted in the movie explaining the back story or whatnot.

In short, an extremely entertaining movie. This movie also setup for sequels as it introduces Professor Moriarty in the end, Holmes' well-known nemesis. My only gripe with this movie is that the person sitting next to me in the theater smelled awful.

More J-Dorama

2009-12-23T00:59:00.000-08:00

Haven't been posting for a while due to twitter. Twitter feels more convenient than blogging. Oh well, now I feel that I need to do an update. For what? More J-Dorama, of course.

First, Tokyo Dogs.

Starring Shun Oguri and Mizushima Hiro. It's another police/detective dorama. It's kinda funny considering Mizushima Hiro starred in Mr. Brain as a cop too. However, this time he's more like a cop with Nanba senpai's personality. LOL. Oguri's character, on the other hand, is a rigid serious cop from the US. Pretty hilarious combo, especially when Oguri's mom always calling him in the middle of the action. Of course, the Kamen Rider connection is here, with Hiro being Kamen Rider Kabuto (the real one, not the lame one from Decade).

Second one is Otomen.

Where to start? First, we see a son that loves playing with girl's stuff and stuffed animals. Next, the father announced to his son and wife that he wants to be a woman. Then the wife, while being admitted into a hospital due to the shock from what the father said, told her son that he has to be manly. LOL. This is just the start of the dorama. You can tell things is going to be extremely hilarious. So the son, now in high school, tries to become manly by joining the kendo club and acting manly, while actually like sewing and cooking, and still playing with stuffed animals at home (can't stop laughing seeing his friend's expression when he saw that). He met a seemingly normal girl, that in the end of the first episode, actually kicks ass and protects him. LOL. This is why I love J-dorama. You wouldn't see anything (especially about high-school life) with this kind of story in the US. Another reason I love J-Dorama.

The announcement:

The wife's reaction:

Asuka with the stuffed animal he fixed:

His friend's reaction, very touched:

LOL. Oh, of course, too add on the hilarity, Asuka's antagonist/rival (acting as a bully, but seems to know a lot about flowers... LOL) is Kimura Ryo, the same actor that was all over Nanba senpai in Hanakimi (Nakao), and all over Chiaki senpai in Nodame. This is going to be some seriously hilarious show. But wait, what about the Kamen Rider connection? Of course there's one. Seto Koji, aka Kamen Rider Kiva, is in the show too, albeit as a supporting role.

Lastly, I can't wait for the new Nodame Cantabille movie. Hopefully the fansubber group can do their magic.

2009-12-09T21:16:00.001-08:00

How low can you go

2009-11-19T18:37:00.001-08:00

Sushi dinner

New slew of Apple products

2009-10-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Apple updated a slew of their products as rumored. Here's my quick take on them:

1. iMac: The most noticeable difference is the 16x9 aspect ratio of the screen, compared to 16x10 on previous iMacs. That changes the size, with the small one being 21.5" and the big one being 27".
Things I like (that makes me want one):
-Aluminum back instead of plastic
-1080p resolution on the 21.5"
-SD card slot
-Support for Apple earbud with mic
-Option of discreet GPU for the 21.5" (previously, the small iMac only have integrated GPU)
-The 27" model supports video-in, so it can be used as an external monitor
-Wireless keyboard and the new magic mouse are standard.

Things that I don't like:
-The option for the new intel Core i5/i7 processor are only available on the 27" model. This is highly annoying. Not everyone want the giant 27" iMac, nor have the desktop space for it. Heck, my TV is only 25". This kind of upselling is typical of Apple.
-Previously, iMacs have been using notebook processors due to the design and thermal concern. Now is the first time Apple is using desktop processor (according to blogs like engadget) on the iMac. Who knows what kind of problems might come up (typical Rev A issues).

A nice update, but I wish Apple push in the Core i5/i7 processor across the board.

2. Mac mini. Just a minor spec bump from the previous mini. Alas, no price drop, and the value of the mini remains questionable. What is interesting is that now Apple is selling a Mac mini server, a mini without an optical drive, but with an additional hard-drive in it. This sounds like a great idea and I would love to get one, except that Apple is selling it for a whopping $999. Why? Because they bundle in Snow Leopard server OS with it. Again, the typical upselling. :(

3. Macbook. The white plastic Macbook got a makeover.
Things I like:
-Lighter and more sturdy construction
-Glass trackpad
-7 hours of battery life
-Support for Apple headset with mic

Things that I don't like:
-Firewire is gone. :(
-No price drop on the price point
-No option for SSD. This wouldn't be a problem in the past as it was pretty easy to upgrade the Macbook's hard-drive, but now with the sealed battery, it's much harder to open the thing up just to upgrade the hard-drive. Boo! Hard-drives are the most likely component to fail, and making it not easily user accessible is highly annoying.

No that impressive. Imo, loosing Firewire makes this Macbook more like a downgrade. Expect more demand on the refurbished older Macbooks (grab one if you must have Firewire).

4. Magic Mouse. With the recent news that Apple lost the "Mighty Mouse" name, the name change is highly expected. Finally, another Steve Jobs' obsession coming to fruition, a mouse with no buttons. LOL. Instead of a scroll ball, the surface is multi-touch capable. It's natural to do scrolling on this, but multiple fingers gestures are pretty awkward. It is standard on iMacs, and seems to have better battery life. Oh well, at least you don't have to clean the stupid ball on the old Mighty Mouse anymore.

Other updates include the new remote, and updated Airport Extreme (thus Time Capsule). Not too exciting. Another typical Apple update, with plenty things to love and hate.

My first AT&T wireless bill

2009-09-29T01:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I got my first AT&T wireless bill. (Why? We'll get to that in my upcoming post) Why am I doing a blog post about a bill? Because it came with a manual! Yeah, that's right. A manual for a bill.

We usually think a bill as simple. It just shows you what you owe and what you're paying for. But of course, leave it to the wireless carriers to complicate a simple common sense approach by adding bogus fees, charges, taxes, etc, to the point that people are simply confused that they have to pay more that what was advertised (for example, the fees/taxes/charges on my bill is around $10 already!). I'm guessing AT&T did this because they must have gotten a lot of phone calls from people demanding explanations about their bills. Of course, it would have been more logical to simply make the bill simpler, and advertise prices as they will be on the bill. But no, logic is not the way US wireless carriers work. :P

I found this to be too funny that I have to make a video. LOL.

Test

2009-09-27T02:50:00.001-07:00

Test post from email

T-Mobile's myTouch 3G Quick Impression

2009-09-12T00:15:00.000-07:00

I stopped by a T-Mobile store yesterday to play with the HTC myTouch 3G. HTC myTouch 3G is the US version of HTC magic, HTC's 2nd gen Android smartphone.

The phone itself feels fairly compact, not as bulky as I thought. Definitely not as bulky as the G1 because the myTouch 3G doesn't have a physical keyboard. If you're coming from a non-touch-screen dumb-phone/S60/Windows Mobile, you'll be amazed by the UI. It uses capacitive touch screen, like the iPhone, thus offers more responsiveness than the likes of resistive touch screens that are commonplace in S60 and Windows Mobile phones. Touch is quite responsive. Having a good touch interface really change the way you interact with the phone. A lot of things become more natural than pressing buttons.

Google maps is awesome. The myTouch 3G has a built-in A-GPS and digital compass. Paired those with Google maps' street view, and you have a completely new experience. The digital compass will keep track on where you're facing automatically. All the other apps are standard fare. The music player is just a basic player. The camera doesn't seem to be that great, but it might be simply because I'm playing with a demo unit.

Like I said, if you're coming from a non-touch screen phones, or smartphones that are designed to use stylus/using resistive touch screen (S60, Winmo), Android's UI is surreal. Considering that this is just version 1.5 of the OS, it's quite an amazing accomplishment. Now, note that I didn't mention the iPhone.

I don't have the iPhone, but I've been using the iPod Touch since the 1st gen. Let's face it, Apple nailed the iPhone OS' UI pretty good. Although the myTouch 3G uses capacitive touch screen, I find the responsiveness to be slightly below my iPod Touch. This is very prevalent when typing on the virtual keyboard. Although the myTouch 3G has auto-correction, which helps a lot, I find myself mistyping letter far too often compared when I'm typing on my iPod Touch. Then there's multi-touch, which is non-existent on the myTouch 3G. Multi-touch makes the iPhone's touch UI to feel very natural, like pinching in/out to zoom in/out. I find that the lack of multi-touch makes the Google maps and internet browser apps on the myTouch 3G to be less intuitive. Then there's the menu button on the myTouch 3G. Really, why do I have to go away from a big touch-screen to press a small button on the bottom to pop up a menu? It detracts me from the whole touch experience. Not cool.
A side note, as far as UI responsivess on a capacitive touch screen, imo the ZuneHD is even better than the iPod Touch, thanks to its nVidia Tegra processor.

So, there's my quick impression on the myTouch 3G. It has a much better user experience compared to the plethora of dumb-phones/resistive touch smartphones. However, Apple really set the bar pretty high. Good thing is, Android is open source, and you can see how quick it's improving going from 1.0 to 1.5. With more and more phones coming out using Android, we will see more and more interesting features. Motorola already announced its Android phone, the Cliq, which is focused on social networking. HTC Hero, HTC's 3rd gen Android phone, will have multi-touch. Once the OS reached 2.0, we may see Sony Ericsson's xPeria X3 using Android.

At this point in time, a regular consumer will have a better user experience on the iPhone. As far as subsidized price, it's the same price as the iPhone. iPhone has more memory, but myTouch 3G has microSD slot. The downside of the iPhone in the US is that it's locked with AT&T, and T-Mobile provides better value in the monthly bill. I do hope, and rooting for Android to be as good, if not better as a platform.

9/9/09 Apple Special Event impression

2009-09-10T01:31:00.000-07:00

You can download the Special Event keynote from iTunes. I'll be going through the keynote chronologically.
1. Steve Jobs appeared, alive and well, albeit super skinny. Once we go through the whole lackluster event, I think this is the biggest news of all.

2. Genius. Blah, who cares. I already pointed out in the past that Genius to me is stupid. Apple now put the Genius feature for apps. Will see how it goes. I don't have the iPhone, so no ringtones for me. However, $1.29? Really? I thought it was 99c and you can make your own (this option is still available though). In short, ringtones are still a rip-off. Make your own and save your money.

3. iTunes 9. The new iTunes store does feel better than the old one. Definitely easier to navigate. The catch? No more shopping cart. So don't just click happy as it's all 1-click buy now. You have to utilize the wish list to simulate the old shopping cart (yeah, they said wish list is a requested feature, while what they did was renaming the shopping cart). iTunes LP is what cocktail becomes. It's cool, but until they have iTunes LPs for Eurobeat artists like Dave Rodgers, I won't be bothered. They also added Extras to movies, so your iTunes movie purchase is filled with non-useful content that you don't care, like the DVD version. :P

4. Syncing is much more granular now. Instead of having to make individual playlists for specific artists/genres to be synced, iTunes 9 have that option built-in. This is a nice addition. Syncing is also more granular with podcasts and videos, allowing you to specify certain podcasts/videos that you want in the device indefinitely.

5. iTunes 9 Home Sharing. This is a nice feature for those that have iTunes libraries scattered on different computers. Finally iTunes can automatically aggregate the library content between computers with couple of clicks. Very useful if you keep a library on a desktop and another on a laptop. The catch, you need iTunes account, and it only works for computers with the same iTunes account (so no copying music from friends/other family members). Yeah, the recording industry is not that stupid. Kudos to them to limit what you can do with your own content. Luckily, iTunes are now DRM free, so you can always do it the old-fashion way. Home Sharing just makes it a bit more convenient.

6. You can rearrange the App icons of your iPod Touch/iPhone from iTunes 9. Nice long-awaited feature, but I want folders to group certain apps instead of having pages of clutter. Oh well, maybe iTunes 10.

7. iPod Touch. The most disappointing and lackluster announcement. Everybody, including me, is expecting a new Touch with camera, and maybe GPS+compass. Phil went on and on about apps and games, something that everybody knows already. Dissing the PSP and DS won't change the fact that the "new" Touch is NOT new. I guess the rumor that there's production/manufacturing issues with the camera unit is true. So, Apple is focusing the Touch for gaming. Imo, wrong move. Without a significant hardware update, the ZuneHD with nVidia Tegra and 720p HD output + HD radio is a LOT more tempting for enthusiasts, especially Windows users.
So, what do Apple have? 8GB for $199 (the old 2G), 32GB for $299, and 64GB for $399. No camera. The 32 and 64GB version are said to be "faster" and support OpenGL ES 2.0, but no confirmation yet whether it has the same innards as the iPhone 3GS. Whatever, Tegra on the ZuneHD sounds better and better. For comparison, ZuneHD 16GB will be $219, and the 32GB will be $289. However you see it, if you're a Windows user and looking for a new toy, the ZuneHD is extremely tempting and gives better value than the Touch, unless you're on a Mac or you want apps.
Other than the ZuneHD, there is not much competition here though. Creative's Zii is not out yet. Sony X series? That's an even worse joke. 16GB for $299, and 32GB for $399 for a standalone MP3 player? I expect Sony to put the X series on clearance soon.
How did I do on my prediction? Well, I was wrong about most of it, only got the 2G 8GB for $199 right.
No Phil, the iPod Touch is not the best iPod yet as it cannot even do shuffle-by-album, something that the Classic and nano can do for ages. The Dell in the back pocket is cute though, something you copied from Sony's Vaio P ad? :P

8. iPod Classic survived! Really, a lot of bloggers, including me, expected Apple to axe the Classic. I didn't even know there's a 160GB hard-drive that thin yet. Oh well, this is good news for some people. Apple is the only one left that sells hard-drive based MP3 player. Microsoft already axed their hard-drive based Zunes. 160GB for $249. No drop in price as Apple knows they're the only player in town now in this category. No new features either, not even the voice over, something that I predicted. Again, I missed the mark, only matching the price point of $249, simply because I was not aware of the thin 160GB being available.

9. iPod Shuffle, the dreaded 3G Shuffle is sticking. Phil kept saying it's the "easiest" iPod to use. Liar. Apple didn't even bother to drop the price. It's still the 4GB for $79, and only added 2GB for $59. Oh, how about an even more expensive piece of useless metal, 4GB stainless steel 3G Shuffle for $99. $99? Really Apple? For something that is barely usable? Let alone that, it's not even gapless capable. Utter fail!
Let's see the competitors:
-Sony's new E series, not as tiny as the 3G Shuffle for sure, but it is much more usable, compatible with any OS, 8GB for $79, 16GB for $99. So, a tiny piece or metal for $99, or a usable MP3 player with screen and buttons, and 4 times the capacity for the same price. Which one would you pick? You have to be a super harcore Apple fanboy to choose the Shuffle.
-Sandisk Sansa Clip+, again, not as tiny as the 3G shuffle, but more usable due to a screen and buttons. 8GB for $69, 4GB for $49. Sure, it's plastic instead of metal, but usability goes up 1000x with only half the price. Take that Apple! Really, Apple could be losing the low-end market here, a place where Apple is doing decently before with the 2G Shuffle.

10. The new 5G nano. So, the iPod that is getting a video camera is the nano, not the iPod Touch. Huh? Yeah, that's what I said. I'm not really sure Apple's strategy here. Steve Jobs said they're targeting the Flip camcorder market. I don't know if that's a market the nano should be going though. The Flip market is going away anyway, as most of today's compact point-n-shoot digicams at similar price point can also take videos (some even in HD), have better optics, optical zoom, and upgradeable memory. Oh, and they take much better pictures than the Flip. So, imo the Flip itself is not going to last long, and Apple wants to go in? The Touch is in a better position to have a video camera as it has the OS for video editing, picture/video uploading via wifi, and apps. The nano has nothing of those. Even worse, the video camera on the new nano cannot take pictures.
On the other hand, there are quite a few surprises. The video itself is 640x480 30fps. Not too shabby, although I wish Apple added widescreen resolution. Also, according to the new spec, the new nano supports HE-AAC. Well, that's new. And yes, iTunes 9 allow ripping to HE-AAC now, max 80kbps. I think there's something going on here. Apple wouldn't just add this for no reason.
Now, the pricing. 8GB for $149, 16GB for $179. People that are not interested in the camera will look elsewhere, like Sony new E/S series (16GB E345 is $99, 16GB S545 is only $129). Even if you're interested in the camera, you have to wonder how's the video quality. No auto-focus? It's clear that Apple added the cheapo camera to keep the premium pricing. Really, if Sony, a company that is not that smart in term of pricing their products, can sell a 16GB MP3 player for $99, I expect Apple to do better.

11. Norah Jones. No Beatles. Nuff said.

So, a pretty lackluster event. The biggest news is, Steve Jobs is alive and well. Apple is missing the mark on everything except the Classic. The 3G Shuffle is as useless as it was, and instead of price drop, Apple upped the premium. The nano, instead of being cheaper, got a questionable video camera, and no significant price drop. The Touch? Where should I begin? Nothing new, weak pricing and featureset vs the ZuneHD. Microsoft, this is your big chance to push the ZuneHD as much as possible. Even better, just drop the price point to $199 and $249 for the 16GB and 32GB ZuneHD respectively. That might give Steve Jobs a bit of headache. Oh, and where's Mac support for the Zune? This is a rare chance for Microsoft to snag some Mac users. However, I doubt that MS is that smart (they cannot even put unicode fonts in the Zune).

Now, taking a step back, let's take a look at the iPod Touch lineup. Did you notice something missing? Yeah, no 16GB! There a jump from 8GB to 32GB. I wonder what is going on here. I can speculate that, assuming the production problems is true, that Apple has to fill the gap quick, and put the 8GB 2G Touch back. The 16GB was reserved for the intended new Touch with camera. Also, in the end, Steve said "See you soon." I'm guessing an October event, introducing the true 3G Touch with video camera, 16GB at $249 and 32GB at $349, filling the gaps nicely, co-existing with the current lineup. Voila! :)

There you go, my impression of the 9/9/09 Apple event, and with some analysis/rumor at the end to boot! :P

Final Attack Ride... De..De..De..Decade!!

2009-09-09T00:51:00.001-07:00

Final Attack Ride... Di..Di..Di..DiEnd!!

2009-09-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

September Apple event is coming

2009-09-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

It's this Wednesday, 9/9/09. I'll be following gdgt for keynote coverage and watching TWIT live for Leo Laporte's commentaries (and occasional live spycam from the keynote). I'll be comparing notes with my own prediction.

ZuneHD dock box

2009-08-23T20:12:00.001-07:00

ZuneHD dock box, originally uploaded by patashinka.

ZuneHD dock box

Decade vs Kuuga: A bunch of fools

2009-08-23T01:09:00.000-07:00

LOL. I found these pics in forums. Apparently Masahiro Inoue (Kamen Rider Decade) and Ryouta Murai (Kamen Rider Kuuga: DCD ver) have been fooling around, parodying Decade's transforming into another rider, ...

...and Decade Complete Form's finisher. Hilarious!

Glad to see the actors are having fun! LOL

Sushi dinner 2

2009-08-20T17:20:00.001-07:00

Sushi dinner 2, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Sushi dinner 2

Sushi dinner

2009-08-20T16:59:00.001-07:00

Sushi dinner, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Sushi dinner

Watching District 9

2009-08-17T11:59:00.001-07:00

Watching District 9, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Watching District 9

J-Dorama: Hancho

2009-07-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Yet another detective/mystery dorama. Hancho is like the complete opposite of Boss. The leader (Namikiri from Zettai Kareshi), is a kind and soft-spoken leader, the cases are a bit simpler, and slower pacing. Not as exciting as Boss, but oh well, a nice filler while waiting for other doramas to be fansubbed.

Of course, there's Kamen Rider connection here too, although they're just supporting characters. There's Kamen Rider Hibiki as a patrolman, and in episode 2, Kamen Rider Knight as a guest star (also Kirihara from Keitai Sousakan 7)

Update: LOL. The Kamen Rider connection didn't stop there. Kamen Rider Agito is actually in here too, as one of the main casts. I truly didn't recognize him. I mean come on, short black hair? Definitely not a recognizable trait, right? LOL. (He had long colored hair in Agito, like normal Japanese person... LOL). So, Agito, Hibiki, and 1 episode of Knight.

2009 iPods rumor

2009-07-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, time to put on my analyst hat and do my own rumors/predictions for the next iPod lineup coming later this year as more and more rumors start popping up in the blogosphere. With more and more "analyst" pulling stuff out of obviousness and thin air, I think I could co better.

Let's start with the iPod shuffle. The iPod shuffle got an early makeover earlier this year, in the form of the 3G Shuffle, which sports no buttons on the main body. It drew a lot of criticism, but it seems obvious to me that this is just Apple's testbed on how the market will react to the voice over feature. Couple things that may happen:
1. Apple keeping the current 4GB 3G shuffle as is, maybe dropping the price to $50-$60 level.
2. Apple bringing back the 2G shuffle form factor with buttons, but with the 3G innards (Voice over, Apple lossless support, Apple earbud+remote support, etc). Apple is still selling the 2G shuffle (1GB for $50), so why not making the lineup matching again with the same form factor. I can see Apple spinning the criticism of the 3G Shuffle by saying "The people are demanding buttons on the Shuffle, and we're going to give it to them!" (Cue in the claps and cheers from the audience). I still think Apple might drop the price to the $50-$60 level too. 2GB 2G Shuffle for $40-$50, 4GB "3.5G" Shuffle at $50-$60.
3. Clean up the 3G Shuffle even more, getting rid of the shuffle slider resulting in just a completely smooth piece of aluminum with a headphone jack (no buttons nor sliders). Put an accelerometer in it, and voila, Shuffle with "shake to shuffle" feature. LOL.
Whatever happens, I just want Apple to put gapless playback into the Shuffle.

Next, the iPod nano. The 4G nano is a clear sign that Apple is running out of ideas for the lineup (Shake to shuffle? Really?). In fact, I still prefer the 3G nano's Now Playing screen as it shows the song's rating while the 4G nano does not. The only thing that makes the 4G nano attractive is its selection of colors. So, here are my predictions:
1. Keeping the same 4G nano but adding voice over feature, and cutting the price so Apple can push the pricing of the iPod Touch without overlapping. So maybe 8GB for $99, 16GB for $149, in line with the current refurbished pricing.
2. Currently, there are rumors about the new nano sporting a camera. Imo this is just too farfetched, and even sillier than adding "shake to shuffle." Unless, of course Apple has something up their sleeve. I'm guessing of a touch screen nano. It will have a touch screen covering the front face completely like the iPod Touch. Instead of having a full iPhone/Touch OS, it will just have a stripped down ver of the OS, with only the iPod app plus the basic apps (Contacts, Calendar, Photo. No Mail/Safari/app store, etc). Now, with this setting, adding a camera might work, as it already has the OS to support it. Basically an iPod Touch nano, focusing more on the iPod features. Obviously it will have voice over too. The camera would probably just the basic 2MP one from the 1st gen iPhone (Apple probably already have a boatload of these), not the 3.2MP one from the 3GS. This might work, and will also give Apple a leverage to keep a bit of price premium. 16GB for $179, 8GB for $129. I can see the new slogan already, "Touch, on the smallest iPod ever."
Regardless of what happen, it's a given that there is going to be a price cut and voice over. Either way, I can see the line of standalone DAPs on its last leg, with the trend going to a mobile-OS based PMPs (in Apple's case, the iPod Touch).

iPod Classic, the original iPod lineup that, unfortunately, is getting a step-child treatment. Last year, it didn't even get any UI upgrades, other than the support of the earbud with remote+mic and Genius. It also an oddball in Apple's usually clean lineup, having an overlapping price with the iPod Touch. My guess for the Classic:
1. Keeping the same 120GB, adding voice over. Really, Apple cannot do much on the classic. I don't see Toshiba releasing higher capacity 5mm height hard-drives than the current 120GB. Plus, Apple's obsession with thinness made them discontinued the thicker Classics last year, so I doubt Apple would bring them back. Price cut might happen too, dropping the price to, let's say, $199 to $229. Really, not many competitors here other than the Zune 120, so Apple might as well keep the same $249 price point.
2. Discontinue it altogether. Apple might just decide it's time to truly focus on the iPod Touch, and the oddball Classic pricing was in the way. This might irk some people desiring high capacity players, but I don't think the majority of the consumers would be bothered. I doubt the sales of the Classic is that great, as the big sellers are the Touch and nano.
3. Make a flash based Classic. Really, this is my wish. As much as I love the 3G nano, its controls are just too small. I love my 5G iPod, but the hard-drive prevented me from using it on the go. If Apple went to the route of the Touch nano, maybe we can see a Touch Classic. It will have a full touch screen like the iPod Touch, but with the stripped down OS like the Touch nano, focusing on the iPod capabilities (no safari, no app store, etc). Price and capacity, maybe 16GB at $199, and 32GB at $299. Imo this is highly unlikely though, as it is really overlapping with the iPod Touch, and Apple usually prefer a clean lineup.
Well, it's sad to see high capacity hard-drive based players are going away. It wasn't that long ago we have hard-drive based Creative Jukebox, and the original iPod. Flash memory are just more reliable, and their pricing continues to go down.

Lastly, the iPod Touch. This is the flagship iPod product. Current rumors are that the next Touch will sport a camera, and I think it's true. I can see the next Touch sharing the same hardware with the iPhone 3GS, minus the phone, GPS, and compass. It will have the same camera, the same video recording capability, and a built-in mic. Voice over and voice command are a given. The only question is pricing.
1. 1 way is Apple keeping the premium price and follow the same trend as the iPhone. 16GB for $299, 32GB for $399, and keeping the 8GB 2G Touch at $199. Apple does want people to get the iPhone, thus the 2G Touch pricing was not cheaper than the iPhone 3G. Apple might decide to keep the Touch prices higher than the iPhone 3GS to encourage people buying the iPhone instead.
2. Or Apple can be aggressive, simply price the 16GB new Touch at $199, and 32GB at $299. This will really make the competitors scrambling (especially looking at Sony's pricing of their X series).
3. A more conservative pricing, matching the ZuneHD. The ZuneHD is rumored to start at 16GB at $249, so maybe Apple would simply follow that. 16GB for $249, 32GB for $349. Still a good deal if it has the auto focus camera and a built-in mic. Might not be so hot otherwise though, as the ZuneHD can output 720p.
To be honest, I just want Apple to put shuffle-by-album feature on the iPod Touch. this is a basic feature on the regular iPods. Why is it not in the supposedly "best iPod ever"?

So, there's my analysis prediction for the next iPod lineup, way before all the so-called analysts making their obvious predictions. Take that. LOL. Alas, I'm not getting paid while those so-called analysts are getting paid for writing the obvious.

One can see, as I already stated before, that the trend is going towards mobile OS platform. Standalone DAPs are going nowhere, and a smarter device is the obvious next step. Microsoft is using Windows mobile/CE for the ZuneHD. Apple already have the mobile OS X for the Touch. Sony is going Android for their next Walkman. Standalone DAPs will be just low end cheapo DAPs.

Futatsu no Spica & BOSS

2009-07-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching Akai Ito. Need to watch different doramas with lighter theme. By the way, a lot of the problems in many sad/depressing life doramas could've been prevented with a condom (referring to the teen pregnancy theme in Akai Ito and Koizora). Geez.

Anyway, here's a new one, Futatsu no Spica. Apparently it's from a manga/anime.

Another dorama, another story. This one is about students studying to become astronauts. Doesn't seem like a fun storyline, does it. Well, how about this:
Nakagawa Sara decided to leave her old life & memories (she lost her memories anyway in Akai Ito) and pursue her dream becoming an astronaut. At the National Tokyo Aerospace School, she met Kamen Rider Zeronos who shares the same dream. With their other classmates, they have to face tough challenges provided by Tomine Issei (the wine critic from Kami no Shizuku), a seemingly mean instructor. Oh, then there's the 3rd son from Atashinchi no Danshi playing water rockets (I don't know the story about him yet, still on the 1st episode).

LOL, yeah, after a while, it seems that I'm seeing the same actors/actresses again and again in dorama. Oh, and it seems every dorama now has a Kamen Rider connection.

Speaking of recurring actors, A-kun (from Akai Ito) decided to leave Mei-chan and joined a detective team in BOSS.

A funny mystery dorama. The main lady detective is a profiler, but due to the discrimination against police women, she is given a team of people with questionable qualities. However, they always managed to solve the mysteries. Very fun dorama.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

I finally watched Transformers 2, on IMAX. ^_^ Well, it's not really a real IMAX, it's kinda like a fake IMAX/IMAX lite. The screen was bigger than a regular theater screen, but far from the real IMAX screen. Anyway, here are my impression of the movie.

***WARNING*** Spoilers ahead.

The good stuff:
-Optimus' fighting scenes are simply awesome. In the first movie, Optimus looked pretty weak for an Autobot leader, but on this movie, he kicks ass. One battle had him fighting 3 Decepticons all at once, including Megatron. He ripped some Decepticon heads/faces, literally, quite a few times.
-Soundwave is in the movie, complete with his familiar voice. Sure, he's just a satellite and didn't participate in any of the battles, but it's still cool to hear his signature voice again.
-Optimus and Jetfire "super-linking" is also awesome, albeit only temporary. I didn't expect this at all. Basically Jetfire sacrificed himself to combine with Optimus Prime, becoming a jet-pack/armor/big cannons. Powering up like this sounded more like something the Japanese would do, so I was completely surprised. Really awesome. Alas, the armors fell off at the end of the final battle, thus this is not a permanent feature.
-The first combiner appeared, Devastator. I always love the combiners in Transformers. Devastator is the first Decepticon combiner, and was featured in the movie. Sure, it's nothing like the cartoon version at all, but at least they did it. The downside is they didn't really show the individual smaller robots. It would've been more awesome if they have all the individual robots fighting first, and then combined mid-fight. Due to the more organic style the movie took, I thought they wouldn't be able to do combiners. Glad they did it.
-Most movies use fictional characters. In Transformers 2, they actually use Obama as the US president.

Things along the way that I guessed wrong:
-When I was shopping at Target, they have Superion, an Autobot combiner, as a Transfomers 2 movie toy lineup. It's a re-color of Superion from TF: Superlink, and did not match the organic style of the movie at all, but I was hoping he would show up. Alas, not the case. Only Devastator appeared.
-Although I did guess that Optimus is going to die, I thought he would be dead for good just like in the Transformers cartoon, thinking that they would bring Rodimus Prime in. But no, Optimus was revived.
-When Sam died, he met the ancient Primes. I thought Sam is going to be the actual Matrix of leadership himself, thus becoming a Transformers and combining with Optimus Prime, reviving him. Kinda like the Godmasters in TF: Masterforce where the Transformers have human partners. But no, he was revived and simply stab Optimus with the Matrix. Kinda wished he's dead for good though (more of that on my rant).

Now, the bad, the annoyances, the ugly, the sucky parts, aka my rant about the movie:
-Humans, humans everywhere. I mean God, even Megatron only had very minimal screen time. Forget about Ironhide, Ratchet, etc. Even Bumblebee didn't get that much screen time. Most of the scenes are about the humans. The amount of screen time spent on the humans are a lot more than the first movie. I mean come on, this is supposed to be a Transformers movie, a movie about robots. None of main human characters are even dead (only the cannon fodders were).
-Too much un-needed scenes. The scenes about Sam going to college are a complete waste of screen time. Too much unnecessary scenes (he's getting ready to go to college, leaving the house, the parents, going to college, his mom got high, going to college party, etc). Yeah, there are few funny scenes, but all of them are hardly related to the actual plot. Instead of this, they should show more scenes about the Autobots hunting down Decepticons, or put more background about Starscream building up his army. Something more about the Transformers, not about a teenager getting anxiety attacks.
-Too many un-needed characters. First, Leo Spitz, a conspiracy theorist geek. His character is pretty much a comic relief, who is hardly even funny. His character is completely unnecessary. In fact, I could imagine the movie without his character at all, and it's still going to be the same. Then there are the 2 stupid Autobots, Mudflap and Skids, that are supposed to be another comic-relief, but served nothing other than 2 un-needed annoyances. Next, Sam's parents. It's not like they are not needed, but they have too many un-needed screen time. They have more screen time than any of the the Autobots. Again, without them, the movie would've not changed that much. Next, Alice, a Decepticon Pretender. She's basically a Decepticon transforming into a human. Wait, what? Another un-needed character, which are shown mostly in those un-needed college scenes, and also a plot hole. If the Transformers can transform into a human, then why don't they all do that? Why bother with vehicles if they can simply blend in looking like humans? I thought I was watching Terminator 3. (Note that the Pretenders are actually featured in Transformers: Masterforce, but that's a Japanese only series)
-Too-many un-funny stereotype jokes. There are so many of these that sometimes the movie felt really unbearable. Sam's over-protective mom, Sam's "anxiety" attacks, the college weed, Sam's sexual awkwardness with Alice, Mudflap and Skid's banters, Jetfire's "old-man" behaviors and farting, all scenes about Leo, the soldier encounter at the border (New York? I don't get it), etc.
-When Jazz died in the first movie, the Autobots are clearly saddened by it. When Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots died, it's like nobody really cared except Sam. None of the Autobots (Ironhide, Ratchet, Sideswipe) seemed to be bothered. I mean I would expect Ratchet to at least tried his hardest to revive/fix Optimus, but no, nothing.
-Sam Witwicky didn't die. Yeah, I really wish they killed this character. When Sam died, I was rejoicing. Finally! I was so happy that I can finally watch a Transformers movie without a story about some teenage angst issues. But no, suddenly he revived. What a waste. Hopefully they killed him in the 3rd movie.
-Too many obvious scenes selling Megan Fox. Yeah, Megan Fox is hot, but come on, please be a little bit more discreet about it. First scene, she was painting a small logo on her bike, wearing a super short shorts, and bending down. Yeah, right. the last quarter of the movie were the worst. They have a frantic battle scene between the military, Autobots, and Decepticons firing at each other, but then when Megan Fox was running, it's in slow mo. Not only once, but a few times. Megan Fox fell on the sand, slow-mo. Megan Fox doing something, slow-mo. I mean WTF? It's like Michael Bay gave up on the movie and simply using Megan Fox and bouncing tits to sell the movie.
-Simply not enough bots. Sure, Optimus did some superb fighting scenes, but other than those, none of the other Autobots do much. Ironhide, Ratchet, and Sideswipe have only a brief of screen time, and they're supposed to be the main Autobots. I barely saw Arcee. The Decepticons had better share, but still hardly enough screen time compared to the humans. I saw the annoying Leo a lot more than Megatron.

Transformers 2 is an eye popping CGI/explosion action fest. Although it's an okay movie, as a Trasformers movie, it's still disappointing. They could've done a lot more about the Transformers. Hopefully they would do better for the 3rd movie. I can't see any more reason to have Sam Witwicky character, other than to keep Megan Fox and use her as the movie's sex symbol.

What I want to see on the next movie: More combiners, Omega Supreme, Unicron, Fortress Maximus, more super-linking/power-up modes, and less/no humans. Oh well, they probably could've just had Megan Fox taking off her clothes as the 3rd movie and call it a day, and it will still sell.

First Impression of the Genius Bar

2009-06-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

So, if you're following my twitter, you know that my iMac's hard-drive is dead, and it's actually an opportunity to experience of going to the Genius bar at a local Apple store. Couple points that I would like to make:
1. Make a reservation online. Don't think that you can just walk into an Apple store and get help right away, especially for tech support. While I was waiting for my turn, I saw a couple of people being told to make a reservation for another day.

2. Do your homework. Just like any tech support situation, things can go faster/smoother if you do your homework. In my case, I already did my own diagnostics to confirm that the hard-drive in my iMac is truly dead. At the genius bar, the genius tried to do his own diagnostic by booting from his external hard-drive, which didn't work anyway. If I didn't tell him what I did, we would probably have spent more time trying to diagnose the problem. Also, write down your Mac's serial number and/or Apple care number. It would help the genius since Apple put the serial number of the iMac on the bottom of the stand(!).

3. Speaking of time, just because you have a reservation, don't expect that you'll be helped right at the appointed time. It seems that there are only a few geniuses in the store, and depending on how long they are working on each customer's case, things could be pretty backed up. I had to wait for a bit over my appointed time because the genius wasn't done with the customer in front of me.

4. Waiting can be awkward in an Apple store (I assume it depends on the store). The one I went into doesn't really have a set "counter/line" like a traditional B&M store (except for the line for the iPhone 3GS). When I arrived, naturally I went to the genius bar. Then one of the guys said to check in on the counter, which is just a small table in the middle with 2 iMacs and a girl with orange T-shirt. Good thing one of the guys obviously saw I was confused, asked my for my name, and quickly went to one the iMacs on that table and "checked" me in. Then It's a waiting time. There was not a set "waiting" area. I was standing like a doofus, then I just sit down on an empty chair near the "bar." I'm guessing Apple wants to make the experience more casual, but at the same time it could be confusing without proper signs/directions.

5. Somebody need to clarify/make a guide for the color-coded T-shirts of the Apple store employees. There are employees in cyan, orange, and dark-blue T-shirts. At first I thought the cyan are the geniuses, but I think they're sales. Orange is probably concierge? The gal that is checking people in wears orange T-shirt. The geniuses are in dark-blue.

One big point that I want to make, is how GLAD I am that I bought Apple care (Apple's extended warranty) for my iMac. I bought my iMac in May 2008. Guess what, the hard-drive failed on June 2009, 1 month after the default warranty would've ended. Without Apple care, it would'be been $100 just for the diagnostic. Now, if this is a regular tower PC, I wouldn't worry about extended warranties. In fact, I replace broken hard-drives pretty often on my other PCs. They're regular PCs so it's easy to just buy a hard-drive, open up the case, and replace it. However on the iMac, it's a different story. I looked at tech websites, and to get to the hard-drive in an iMac, you would have to dismantle the whole thing, remove the glass display AND the LCD. That's too hardcore for me.

Another great thing about Apple is the presence of the Apple stores. If it's an HP/Dell PC, and it needs something fixed that I couldn't do myself, I would've to call a tech support in India, setup a shipment, ship the computer, wait for days/weeks (excluding ship time), etc etc. Or, HP/Dell would send a spare part and I would've to do the repairing myself. Or go to Bestbuy's Geek squad and spent a fortune. Compare that to setting up an appointment with the Genius online, coming in on a weekend to a local store, and being told that things will be fixed in a couple days. It's definitely a much better experience. The only downside is if there are no Apple stores around your area.

So, there you go, my first experience with Apple's Genius bar. We'll see how long it would take for Apple to fix my iMac. The genius said it's a day or two. Hopefully my iMac is well taken care of.

Note to self: consider SSD when buying a new computer.

iMac going back into its box :'(

2009-06-19T12:52:00.001-07:00

iMac going back into its box :'(, originally uploaded by patashinka.

iMac going back into its box :'(

Dead iMac :'(

2009-06-18T23:20:00.001-07:00

Dead iMac :'(, originally uploaded by patashinka.

The hard-drive in my iMac went toast. :-(

2G iPod Touch Bluetooth

2009-06-18T17:22:00.000-07:00

3.0 firmware unlocks the Bluetooth capability of the 2G Touch. I tried pairing it with a Sony Bluetooth dongle, and it works fine for the most part. Pairing works, albeit a bit slow vs a cellphone. The Sony Bluetooth dongle has playback controls. Play, pause, and volume controls work, but next/prev track controls do not. The mic on the Bluetooth dongle is not recognized by the Touch nor apps like Skype. :( oh well. Turning on wifi while streaming audio via Bluetooth caused audio dropouts and weird slowdowns. Other than that, it's a nice perk but not terribly useful.

iPod Touch 3.0 firmware

2009-06-18T00:32:00.000-07:00

I decided to cough up yet another $10 to update the firmware of my iPod Touch to 3.0. This trend of Apple charging money for firmware updates for the iPod Touch is truly annoying. I mean come on, they are going to sell Snow Leopard, an OS upgrade, for only $29, yet $10 for a firmware update for an iPod? I have yet to see other companies charging money for firmware updates. Even Sony gives free firmware updates for the PSP and PS3.

Anyway, aside form the rant, here are a quick impression of the 3.0 firmware installed on a 2G Touch.
-The download size of the firmware is a hefty 257.8MB.
-Installing and upgrading the firmware on my 2G Touch went without any issues. It seems pretty quick too, quicker than I expected.
-Couple new options in iTunes for the Touch. First is the option to encrypt the backup (iTunes will ask for a password). 2nd is the option to sync notes (not sure if this had existed before or not).

Now on the 2G iPod Touch itself:
-A lot of the features have been previewed twice by Apple, on the sneak peek in March, and on WWDC 09.
-Calculator seems to load faster
-There's an option to turn on Bluetooth in the Settings. Yup, Bluetooth on the 2G Touch is unlocked with the 3.0 firmware. Have not played with it though.
-Shake to shuffle. It is a gimmick on the 4G nano, and imo still a gimmick.
-In Settings, there's an option to manage your iTunes account.
-Autofill for Safari. Could be a security/privacy concern for some. I leave it off.
-Spotlight search: Quite amazing. You can set on what it will search in Settings. You can set to invoke Spotlight with double click of the Home button.
-Speaking of search, almost all of the built-in app like Music, Video, Contacts, Mail, etc have Search on the top if you scroll up through the top of the list.
-Voice Memos. Voice recording, obviously the 2G Touch would need an external mic as it doesn't have a built-in one. I use the Apple in-ear bud with mic, and it works fine. You can also trim the recording afterwards. Other than that, pretty basic. I expect more 3rd parties will make good external mics for the Touch/iPhone.
-Maps have some GUI changes. Nothing significant, but seems a bit prettier with some new dots and icons.
-Now you can log-in to your Youtube/google account in the Youtube app. The app will list your fav videos, and you can rate & put comments on videos.
-Stocks got quite a bit of facelift. It will show a larger graph on landscape. It also list some news related to the particular stock.
-Copy-n-Paste. Well, it works, across apps too (tried copy-n-pasting from Safari to Notes). The Shake to undo is pretty neat. A lot of people are making fun of Apple's cut-n-paste, yet I don't really see a lot of devices implement copy-n-paste across apps nor undo.
-When you invoke the iPod controls on the stand-by screen, it will show the track title, album, and artist.
-Chinese character input. Now you can use your finger to write down a Chinese character. Not that great though as a finger is not as thin as a stylus. The iPod will try to guess what you're writing, and it seems to work okay. I don't think it will be efficient though compared to stylus-based input.
-Now you can pay audio podcasts at double the speed or half the speed. Useful for lectures I guess.
-Still no shuffle-by-album feature. >:( Lame, just lame, considering this feature have existed on the regular iPods and nanos forever, and the fact that Apple is touting the iPhone/Touch as "the best iPod."
-Movies are now available on the iTunes store. Dunno how useful this will be though as it would take forever downloading movies on the device, even via wifi. Then there's the capacity issue.
-TONS of language options and keyboards. This is quite amazing actually. I have not seen an electronic device being localized extensively into so many languages in 1 firmware.

In the end, is it worth $10 for 2G Touch users? I'm afraid I have to say yes, as the 3.0 firmware will unlock Bluetooth on the 2G Touch. 1G Touch, however, don't have Bluetooth nor mic support for voice recording, so the value of the 3.0 firmware is not that great. Thing is, sooner or later I can see that most apps in the app store would require the 3.0 firmware.

I still think for Apple charging money for firmware updates is lame. You don't see this behavior with any other companies. The lack of shuffle-by-album feature is also super lame, considering this is a standard feature on regular iPods. Some of the features like cut-n-paste are way overdue. The 3.0 firmware is the natural progression of the iPhone/Touch platform. While companies like Sony are still confused on what they're selling, Apple is definitely turning into the definitive portable media player maker. With the iPhone 3GS getting better camera and video recording, we'll see if those feature will trickle down to the iPod Touch.

I will post more impression on the Bluetooth feature later.

2009-06-15T15:40:00.001-07:00

test posting from twhirl to everything. =)

2009-06-15T14:21:00.001-07:00

test message from ping.fm

2009-06-15T13:46:00.001-07:00

=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Test?=

Random pic

2009-06-13T17:37:00.001-07:00

Random pic, originally uploaded by patashinka.

CPR?

2009-06-11T20:13:00.001-07:00

CPR?, originally uploaded by patashinka.

CPR? Looks more like suffocation.

Nissan Cube

2009-06-07T16:54:00.001-07:00

Nissan Cube, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Saw a Nissan Cube. Looks pretty cute

Juicy surprise! Lol

2009-06-06T19:47:00.001-07:00

Juicy surprise! Lol, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Bentley

2009-06-06T19:10:00.001-07:00

Bentley, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Bentley in front of me. Economic crisis? Lol

Black cod. Kinda small

2009-06-06T18:34:00.001-07:00

Black cod. Kinda small, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Godzilla roll

2009-06-06T18:30:00.001-07:00

Godzilla roll, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Damn it's hot!

2009-06-04T17:29:00.001-07:00

Damn it's hot!, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Test twitpic + flickr

2009-06-03T11:28:00.001-07:00

Test twitpic + flickr, originally uploaded by patashinka.

E3: The Big 3 Press Conference impression

2009-06-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

Just finished watching the press conferences of Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony at E3. You can watch them at Gamespot.
Anyway, here's my impression. Note that I don't think I'm a hardcore gamer anymore. Although I still love gaming, I feel that I cannot keep up with games that are too time consuming. Maybe I'm getting too old. T_T. Also, even though there are some announcements made on specific press conferences, nowadays game developers cannot afford to be console exclusive anymore, and many games being announced are multi-platform.

Microsoft:
-Their press conference started with a bang, The Beatles Rockband. It started with a very nice animation of a cartoony version of the Beatles. And, Microsoft really showed everybody that they have money, by having Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr appeared on stage, including Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. They didn't say much or anything significant, but it felt like MS showing Sony/Nintendo that they have the $$$.
-Last.fm, Netflix and facebook on 360. I don't know, but who cares? Plus, last.fm is only for XBL gold members. I can get last.fm for free on my iPod Touch. Besides, who wants to listen to music with the noisy 360 around? I can get Netflix streaming without additional cost on Vista Media Center.
-Monkey Island! Yay, they are remaking the original Secret of Monkey Island adventure game. I hope this will bring back adventure games on the map. I grew up and love adventure games.
-Squenix showing a playable demo of FF13 on the 360. Looks great. It's like they're giving a finger at Sony. LOL. Alas, it's dubbed in English, and it's already confirmed that US FF13 won't have Japanese voice. :(
-Hideo Kojima, announcing Metal Gear Solid: Rising for the 360, starring Raiden. He spoke in English. Why did I mention this? We'll find out later.
-Project natal. It's Microsoft's attempt to counter the Wii motion control. Their approach is not with motion control, but with motion capture, no controllers at all. Instead, they have a camera capturing all your movements. The video showed some promises, but the live demo fell flat. It's no way as responsive as the concept video. Sure, it's still in development, but I don't think MS can pull an effective motion capture at consumer grade hardware/prices. But that's not the surprise. The surprise is Steven Spielberg showing up on stage. Yup, Microsoft brought Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and now Spielberg. Even Sony didn't bring any celebrity on-stage.
-Overall, MS' press conference is so so. Not a fans of the Beatles, so couldn't care less about their game (Now if they make DJ Hero Eurobeat, I'm buying ^_^). I'm hardly impressed anymore with yet-another FPS game, let alone more Halo. Love to see more traditional adventure games. Project natal looks promising, but I don't think it will deliver.

Nintendo:
-If you're a Mario fan, you're in for a treat. New Super Mario and Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii, and Mario & Luigi RPG for the DS. Yeah, Nintendo is squeezing more $$$ out of their mascot.
-If you have been reading any tech blogs, the Wii motion plus is nothing new. It will track how you hold the Wii remote, and create a lot more possibility of motion control on the Wii. Imo it's also the most plausible tech that will actually work as advertised, compared to MS' project natal and Sony's motion control. Wii Sports Resorts gameplay is shown. Unlike MS and Sony, Nintendo is ready to ship this.
-Wii Vitality sensor. It's just like those heart rate sensor on treadmills. Dunno how it's going to be useful in gaming though, other than Wii sports and the likes.
-Team Ninja + Nintendo making a new Metroid game. Looks cool, but I'm not really familiar with Metroid in the first place. I might get the bundle of older Metroid games first.
-Misc other games: More RPGs from Squenix, a new Resident Evil game for the Wii (looks like a rail-shooter, RE officially becomes a shooter game, not a horror adventure game anymore), Dead Space for Wii, some games for the DSi, and more Nintendo bragging how they make games for everyone (read: more shovelware).
-Not terribly exciting either. I might get the Wii fit plus and Sports Resorts. Other than that, meh.

Sony:
-Sony is still selling PS2, and telling people to buy it. That means no PS2 backward compatibility in PS3 anytime soon. First fail.
-How many times Hannah Montana is mentioned? Pink PSP? Instead of releasing the various colors of PSP like in Japan, Sony is focused on Hannah Montana. Second fail. I mean is Sony really that desperate that they have to rely on Hannah Montana?
-PSP Go is official. 16GB, awkward analog thumb-stick, Memory Stick M2 so you have to spend more money instead of using your current Memory Stick duo/pro duo, not released till October, and $250. $250? Sony is just out of touch with today's economy. For that amount of money, people would rather buy the iPod Touch/iPhone, which is highly more usable device with a really big potential as a gaming platform. Oh, and guess what, knowing Apple, they would release the 3G Touch in September, BEFORE the PSP Go is out. Oh, and what if you already have UMD-based PSP games? Well, you have to re-buy the downloadable versions. 3rd fail. I think developers and users would start avoiding UMD altogether. Oh well, at least a nail in UMD's coffin.
-Squenix showing a video, yup only a video, not a playable demo, of FF13, unlike MS' press conference. 4th fail. Oh, and the video showed the game dubbed in English. I think it's official that US ver of FF13 will not have Japanese audio, even though PS3 uses blu-ray. F U Squenix.
-FF14 announced to be exclusive on the PS3. This is actually a surprise. However, FF14 is an online MMO, just like FF11, not a traditional JRPG. 5th fail. Why? Sony said it's PS3 exclusive. Squenix, later on the same day, announced that FF14 will be released simultaneously on the PS3 AND the PC. Yup, that "exclusivity" didn't even last a day. It's obvious that this cannot be PS3 exclusive since an MMO needs a large user base, and the PS3 doesn't really have that many user base to begin with.
-Hideo Kojima announcing a Metal Gear game for the PSP, speaking Japanese with a translator. Now, didn't he just speak English at Microsoft's press conference? LOL. The trailer is funny though, especially at the end, typical Konami.
-PS3 motion control. Looked like a black dildo with a lighted tip. LOL. Now, with Sony's, you have to have 2 of the motion controllers to simulate a bow & arrow, while Nintendo could do it with just 1 motion controller (Wii remote + Nunchuck). Still, the tech demo showed some promises and it utilized the PS3 Eye camera, looked more plausible than Microsoft's project natal. It's still prototype though, while Nintendo is ready to ship the Wii motion plus.
-More hype around Playstation Home. It looks great, until you realize Sony nickel-and-diming every small things, and it's just a glorified IRC chat room with long load times.
-Gran Turismo, finally for the PSP. How long have we waited for this?
-There is an exciting news at Sony's press conference. God of War 3. Its gameplay looked awesome, and so brutal. I'll be looking forward to this one. Other than that, it's just another meh. No mini PS3, no price drops, nothing super exciting.

So, there you go. There are a lot of other games announcements. Overall, the main them of the big 3's press conferences are next-gen game controls. Nintendo with its Wii motion plus, MS with its motion capture project natal, and Sony with its own motion controller. Nice concepts, but we'll see how plausible they are in real life, with Nintendo being the most plausible and ready to ship.

I do hope classic point-n-click adventure game genre to be back on the map. With the focus of non-hardcore-gamers, I hope we will see more games in this genre. A new Gabriel Knight game would be awesome. :)

Summer is here!

2009-06-01T17:13:00.001-07:00

Summer is here!, originally uploaded by patashinka.

:-)

Pocky choco banana

2009-05-24T17:56:00.001-07:00

Pocky choco banana, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Miso Ramen

2009-05-24T15:10:00.001-07:00

Miso Ramen, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Test

2009-05-23T15:11:00.001-07:00

Test, originally uploaded by patashinka.

Another 1

----  Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone.

Test

2009-05-23T15:03:00.001-07:00

Test, originally uploaded by pika2000.

Test3

----  Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone.

Test

2009-05-23T15:00:00.001-07:00

Test, originally uploaded by pika2000.

Test2

----  Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone.

Test upload

2009-05-23T14:54:00.001-07:00

Test upload, originally uploaded by pika2000.

Test

----  Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone.

Big ass padlock

2009-05-22T18:40:00.001-07:00

Big ass padlock, originally uploaded by pika2000.

God Hand Teru, 1st Episode Impression

2009-04-25T01:37:00.000-07:00

First episode of God Hand Teru has been subbed by TimeLesSub (Fansub FTW!). Apparently, this dorama is based form a manga of the same name. Teru is a young new doctor/surgeon in a top hospital. His dad is a brilliant surgeon, that people call him of having the God Hand. The first episode started just like any dorama. I thought this is going to be a J-dorama version of ER. Well, the realism is completely shattered on Teru's first surgery. Here, take a look: (make sure you watch in HQ)

First of all, there are a lot of pauses of silence and self thoughts during the surgery. In real life, the patient would've been dead from the get go. You don't see doctors pausing and having deep thoughts during surgery in ER. But okay, this is a dorama after all.
And then, bam, Teru's superpower is shown. I swear I saw him saying "Henshin!" Now, that is just too much. I mean come on. In the J-dorama Voice, Daiki, the main character, has an anime-like deductive power, but the CG effect is very minimal and within the context of the situation. God Hand Teru's surgery scene is just way too overblown, contrasting the rest of the dorama. Reminded me of the Nintendo DS game Trauma Center. Oh well, hopefully they don't recycle that lengthy fanservice "Henshin" scene too often.

仮面ライダーダークカブト☆ゲッダン☆

2009-04-16T02:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to join in the Get Down meme, using a stop motion of Kamen Rider Dark Kabuto action figure. Enjoy:

This is my first attempt in making stop motion animation, and yeah, stop motion is quite tedious. Basically I took a couple pictures of the figure in different poses. At first, I tried iMovie09. Well, the meme requires the stop motion to be pretty fast. iMovie09 doesn't allow picture slideshow to be faster than 1 second per picture. The fast forward effect is not available for slideshows either. Tried iPhoto, no luck. Finally, I decided to dust up the old iMovie HD (iMovie06). Luckily I still keep a copy when Apple offered them for free. iMovie HD allows very short duration for pictures. Perfect. I created the stop motion video using iMovie HD, and did the final editing with everything else in iMovie09.

More Get Down ("ゲッダン") Internet Meme

2009-04-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

LOL. This phenomena is more infectious that I thought. There are pretty much any anime characters you could think of doing this in Youtube. Everybody is doing it, and it's worldwide.
Let's start with George W Bush.

Even Kim Jong Il is getting down. LOL.

Get Down ("ゲッダン") Internet Meme

2009-04-13T01:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I missed this. This is yet another internet video meme infecting youtube. It's started from somebody posting a glitch in the game GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64, where the characters and objects are spinning.
This is the original glitch video:

Well, somebody added a J-Pop song, Promise by Kohmi Hirose, and the result is hilarious!

Of course, knowing Japan, come the animation versions:

Oh, and don't forget the double Lockon Stratos version. I can't stop laughing.

And, typical Japanese, they have to make the real live action versions.

OMG, this is just hilarious. Oh yeah, the guy on the top left corner is naked... LOL.

Wonton soup 4 lunch

2009-04-11T15:10:00.001-07:00

Wonton soup 4 lunch, originally uploaded by pika2000.

Sakura-con 2009 Day 1

2009-04-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of Sakura-con 2009. My first 2 hours was pretty much wasted waiting in line to pick up my badge, and I pre-registered already. The regular registration line must be worse. The line was DAMN LONG! The line in 2008 wasn't this long. I even saw a lady freaking out, bitching to one of the staff that she already waited too long and wanted to cut in line. LOL. To make matter worse, they announced that their credit/debit machine broke down. I almost felt a riot was coming. After I left, the line was even longer. Not a good start.

Kamen Rider Decade Funny Clips

2009-04-06T00:20:00.000-07:00

Natsumikan is probably Decade's most powerful enemy.

To be honest, I'm getting disappointed with Decade.
1. In the 1st episode, Seto Koji appeared, reprising his role as Wataru. As a fan, that makes me think they might bring the main casts form the previous series, making Decade like a reunion series, like the annual Super Sentai versus where new casts meet the old casts. Alas, that's not the case. So far, all the other Rider's world are alternate universe, and no cameos at all. Even Kiva's world episodes didn't have Seto Koji in it. Forget about Mizushima Hiro returning as Kabuto then, he's probably too busy with his new marriage and movie. Also, no Takeru Sato in the Super Den-O and Decade movie either. No Kento Handa in the Faiz world either (even though he appeared in Go-Onger).
2. Kamen Rider Decade started with a bang, the Rider War. All the special effects and CG you can think of is in the 1st episode. Fast forward, now they have to use a freakin in-animated toy for Kivala. It was so obvious that it's just a toy with a string. Very embarrassing for a show that have been using CGs heavily, especially for the Final From Ride transformations.
3. Decade can use a Final Form Ride card, and "transform" any of the riders into a weapon or some sort. WTF? It's just weird. This is not Transformers. This is obviously a ploy to sell toys.

The belt is very neat though, but you have to buy the other toys to get more cards.
Good thing that Shinkenger seems to be a better show.

A Walk in the Park

2009-04-04T11:40:00.001-07:00

Couple days ago, I went to a local park to test drive my Fuji F200EXR digicam. Here's two quick slideshow I did with iPhoto09 & iMovie 09. Make sure to go to youtube and watch the HD versions of the slideshow.
HD links: Slideshow 1, Slideshow 2.

On the second slideshow, I also put in videos taken with my Samsung MX20 camcorder. iMovie09 is simply awesome. It can produce pretty high quality videos with only a couple of clicks. For example, the picture-in-picture feature, something that I thought is only available in pro software.

Notes:
I created the slideshow with iPhoto09 first. However, iPhoto09 doesn't do the music very well. It cannot fade-out the music at the end of the slideshow, resulting in an abrupt end. So I exported the slideshow as a 720p quicktime video without music, and then used iMovie09 to add the music. iMovie09 itself has different themes for slideshow, but I like the once in iPhoto09.

Pocky Dessert

2009-03-26T17:36:00.001-07:00

Filipino food for lunch

2009-03-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

Too much pork! But the flan was awesome.

Yet another J-dorama, Voice

2009-03-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Still in J-dorama addiction mode. Another one I found to be really great is Voice.

It's a story about 5 med students, studying forensic medicine. You would think CSI, but this is still dorama (although one of the students is a fan of CSI, having posters and DVD boxsets at his place). The premise of the show is that forensic science can convey the last word, the "voice," of the dead, hence the title "Voice." Aside from Daiki's anime-like power of deduction, it is actually a pretty touching drama. Each forensic case has very emotional meaning and touching story. Episode 3 even made me cry. LOL. Yeah, forensic is not about solving a fancy murder case, but it's about finding closure for the family members of the dead.

But hey, why am I watching this? Yup, of course there's a Kamen Rider connection here. One of the students, Hanei Akira, is played by Sato Tomohito, which is also Kagami Arata, aka Kamen Rider Gattack in Kamen Rider Kabuto. (he's also in Hotelier, as son of the hotel owner).

Another great J-dorama. Very touching stories. Another reason that J-dorama is very addictive.

Love Shuffle

2009-03-09T23:56:00.000-07:00

More addictive J-dorama. Love Shuffle, starring Tamaki Hiroshi, aka Chiaki senpai, now as Usa-tan... LOL

Storywise, basically they're rotating their partners. This diagram from dramawiki explains it better.

So, why does it interest me? Tamaki is hilarious. The screenshots below speak for themselves.

Yeah, LOL. Thank God for fansub! Usa-tan, がんばって.

Everybody's a butler

2009-03-05T22:34:00.000-08:00

Browsing throughout various J-dorama, I found this, "Happy Boys."

Guess what, Seto Koji, the middle one, is Kamen Rider Kiva. Kato Keisuke, the one on the right with glasses, is Kamen Rider IXA. LOL. It's official, the last 3 Kamen Riders are butlers!
First, we have Mizushima Hiro who's Kamen Rider Kabuto, and also an S-rank butler in Mei-chan no Shitsuji.

Then we have Takeru Sato who's Kamen Rider Den-O, and also Rihito's brother butler-in-training (picture in my Bloody Monday post).
Then, we have Seto Koji who's Kamen Rider Kiva, and also Segawa Kyoichi, butler in training in Happy Boys.

And, the record holder, Kato Keisuke, who's Kamen Rider IXA. He's a cool quite butler-in-training Kitamura Kosuke in Happy Boys, and also a butler in Mei-chan no Shitsuji.

Wow, is this a continuing pattern? It would be perfect if in the next Kamen Rider series, the main character's real job is a butler. LOL.

Bloody Monday

2009-03-04T01:49:00.000-08:00

Currently I'm watching Bloody Monday, a J-dorama. It's actually based on a manga by the same name, about a young hacker, Fujimaru Takagi, being involved into a terrorist plot, and all the suspense, twists, and turns. It's so addictive because every single episode leaves you with yet another cliffhanger, just after a major confrontation/plot resolved, leaving you in suspense and thirst for more. Luckily the fansub are complete, so I can enjoy it at my pace without having to anxiously waiting for the next episode (like Gundam 00).
First thing first, I got interested on this dorama because one of the actor is the same one playing Kamen Rider Den-O, Takeru Sato. LOL.

He's playing as Otoya, Fujimaru's friend. Here's him in Kamen Rider Den-O, and also Mei-chan no Shitsuji (as Kento, Rihito's brother).

Oh, and he's also in Princess Princess D, as one of the Princesses. Man, he's like all over the place. Kids, teenage girls, and adults all ages will probably recognize this guy now. The cool part is that his characters are all different. Ryotaro Nogami (Kamen Rider Den-O) is a clumsy person that actually doesn't really know how to fight, while Kento (Mei-chan no Shitsuji) is a very outspoken character, while Otoya (Blody Monday) is a cool yet caring friend.

Okay, putting that aside, I find Bloody Monday to be very captivating. It constantly put you in suspense, and like I said, after a conflict resolved, by the end of the episode, you are presented with yet another cliffhanger. Betrayal and death are the common theme here. The good people are turning bad one by one, and then characters are dying one by one too. When you think things are getting better, don't worry, it's J-dorama, so things will turn back for worse. LOL. Really. I can't believe that terrorist group managed to convince so many people to join them, despite them killing their own members for a punishment of failure.

Even better, the hacking part of the dorama is actually pretty realistic compared to most American TV series and Hollywood movies. Falcon, Fujimaru's hacker nickname, actually brings a Linux bootable flash drive with him all the time. Everytime he wants to do some hacking, he booted from the USB drive, into a Linux command line. And he's not running a fancy graphical program either, all the hacking are done via terminal, with Falcon typing command lines. Sure, not as exciting as some Hollywood movies with "hacking programs" magically built-in into the computers with a big "Hack" button, but it's more realistic. Also, when Falcon is hacking into a system, they show him making a VNC connection via terminal command line, a real protocol to remotely connect to another PC. Falcon also managed to hack into a system running Vista using his Linux bootable flash drive. Very geeky stuff!

Alas, there are still some silly things that a real hacker won't do. Falcon put a file into Windows' Recycle Bin to "delete" it and removed his trace. This is the last thing anybody would do in real life to "remove" their trace since files in Recycle Bin in Windows are not actually deleted and can be recovered easily. Also, some of the command lines that Falcon uses when he's "hacking" are actually simple DOS commands. Sure, today most people won't recognize DOS, but I just chuckled when I saw those. Lastly, Falcon is always taking his pretty large HP laptop with him, and for whatever reason never runs out of battery, even when he's hacking wirelessly. In some cases, he doesn't even have time to turn off his laptop, so presumably the laptop is running all the time. HP must have given him some fancy super battery there. LOL. Oh yeah, all the computers are HP, even the ones in the internet cafes. Oh, and Sandisk also participate in the dorama by supplying SD cards. Yeah, brand recognition man. It would've been cooler if Falcon is using the tiny Sony Vaio TT or the tiny Vaio P. Oh, and I don't see Apple. Usually the good guys use Apple stuff, like L in Death Note.

A very exciting dorama full of suspense! It also brings a point that regardless of policies, tools, technology, and whatnot, humans have emotions, and one can manipulate others by playing with their emotion. Example is one of the jail guards, convinced to kill his own co-worker, and this all because his wife cheated on him with another man. Oh, and don't forget the constant betrayal of people that you think would never turn bad, and they all have their reasons. Very thought provoking!

Original vs Eurobeat

2009-02-28T18:56:00.000-08:00

Click to play

A comparison of 4 songs between the original version and the Eurobeat cover.
Track list:
1. Heaven by Bryan Adams
2. Heaven by Keith Roland
3. Wait for You by Elliott Yamin
4. Wait for You (Dancefloor Night Mix) by Ace
5. Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley
6. Never Gonna Give You Up by Kevin Johnson
7. Save a Prayer by Duran Duran
8. Save a Prayer by David Dima

Yeah, Eurobeat can make anything into super energetic. LOL. Obviously I prefer the Eurobeat versions of all the songs, especially Save a Prayer. I didn't even know about the song and found it to be bland, but the Eurobeat version is awesome.

Mediamaster is gone

2009-02-26T11:27:00.000-08:00

I've been wondering why the Mediamaster widget on the side of my blog is not showing up anymore. Apparently they have shut down.

More classic canto-pop/J-Pop

2009-02-25T00:24:00.000-08:00

Youtube is a great source finding old songs. I found this old Leon Lai's song, 我愛 Ichi Ban.

Yeah, Leon Lai can't dance. Leon, only moving your arms is not dancing.
Anyway, obviously from the title, this is a Japanese song originally. Well, thanks to youtube, I found the original Japanese song, 世界で一番近くにいて.

LOL. Sounds really old isn't it compared to today's J-Pop. LOL.

This one is Jacky Cheung's 愛、火、花.

Yeah, Jacky Cheung can dance. Not bad. :)
And the original Japanese song, Bomber Girl by 近藤房之助 & 織田哲郎

LOL

The Evolution of Music

2009-02-17T15:14:00.000-08:00

Click to play

Click the Play button above to start playback.
The evolution and highlights of music that I experienced and enjoyed from my childhood through the end of 2008.
Track list:
1. Candy Candy Anime OP
2. Goshogun 発進せよ by Fujii Ken
3. Dai Sentai Goggle V
My first exposure to music that has a significant memory to me was actually from anime. No, not Sesame Street, Barney, or Mr. Rodgers, it's shoujo/mecha anime and tokusatsu for me. YEAH! LOL.

4. Born Free by Andy Williams
5. Bye Bye Love by The Everly Brothers
My next exposure to music were actually music from the 50s and 60s, simply because these were the music that my dad listen to. Ironically, I didn't even know/hear about the Beatles.

6. Step by Step by New Kids on the Block
7. Someone Loves You by Takayuki Miyauchi
8. Cover Girl by New Kids on the Block
9. Can't Stop This Thing We Started by Bryan Adams
Yeah, I hardly know any music from the 70s. Next thing I knew, it's NKOTB. Of course, I still watch tokusatsu, mainly Kamen Rider Black and Black RX. I started to listen to western songs, NKOTB, Vanilla Ice, Bryan Adams, Phil Collins, etc.

10. 對你愛不完 by 郭富城
11. 追風少年 by 吳奇隆
12. 吻別 by 張學友
13. 100樣可能 by 黎明
1991 was one of the turning point for me. 對你愛不完 by Aaron Kwok is probably the first mandarin pop song that I listen to, and hooked me into Chinese/Canto-pop for years, especially during the "Rave/Techno" era of Canto-pop. Thus my music collection mainly consisted of Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai, Eric Suen, and various Hong Kong/Taiwan artists. I hardly listen to western songs anymore, if ever, around this time.

14. Music for The People by V6
15. Everything (It's you) by Mr.Children
16. 眼睛想旅行 by 黎明
1995 was another turning point for me. I watched the music video of V6's Music for The People, and I was amazed. It was so awesome that I was hooked into V6 and J-Pop, not realizing the true genre of that particular music. My music collection started to grow with more JPop and JRock music in addition to mandarin/canto-pop.

17. Love Forever by Sechskies
18. Shuffle by 奥井雅美
19. GOOD DAYS by Zone
20. Cosmic Rescue by V6
A blip in my music experience was Korean pop, introduced by my sister. HOT, Turbo, Sechskies, NRG, Cool, the list goes on. However, I'm not really hooked into the genre that much, referring back to JPop with artists like V6, Zone, Masami Okui, dream, Mr.Children, Folder, Tokio, W-inds, T.M.Revolution, etc. Watching a lot of anime also drawn me further into JPop, until I found THE true genre of the music that I love.

21. Space Boy by Dave Rodgers
22. Spacelove by Fastway
23. I Know What You Like by Karen
24. Get the Dark Side Into My Brain by CY-RO
25. Blood On Fire by Go2 & Christine
26. Caramelldansen (Speedy mix) by Caramell
27. Please Don't Leave Me by Go2 feat. Andrea Martongelli
Yeah, Eurobeat. I finally found my kind of music. Remember V6's Music for the People music video that I saw back in 1995? What amazed me was not JPop. It was Eurobeat. I didn't know nor realize that back then, thinking it's JPop, and even mistakenly thought it was Eurodance. Even funnier, Eurobeat is actually from Italy, not Japan. Thanks to the internet, I finally figured out Eurobeat, later found out the genre is used extensively in Initial D. Now, Eurobeat is the main staple of my music collection. Dave Rodgers, Niko, D.Essex, Fastway, Ace, Go2, Nuage, Domino, Go Go Girls, Manuel, etc. I still listen to various JPop, but not as much as before. As for Chinese pop, I hardly listen to them anymore. Most of the current songs are pretty much ballads or Chinese hip-hop anyway, not my cup of tea. Caramelldansen is not really Eurobeat, but the speed mix version is very catchy and popular that I had to include it here.

There you go. My musical journey to the discovery of the music genre that fits with me so well that I never get bored with it, Eurobeat. Other musical trends pop up and die off, but Eurobeat is still going strong.

Kanpai Je t'aime

2009-02-12T02:22:00.000-08:00

I was browsing youtube for Kamen Rider videos, and found this Pure Boys PV.

2 casts from Kamen Rider Kiva are members of the group {Nago Keisuke (Kamen Rider IXA) and Otoya (Wataru's father/IXA/Dark Kiva)}. It's a PV of one of Pure Boys music, Kanpai Je t'aime. It's actually their first album in 2007.

Well, hmmm, I was thinking. This song sounds so familiar, and I don't think it was Japanese. Hmmm, I think it was... Korean. Yup, this is actually a cover of a Korean song from, guess when, 1999! The original song is "Com' Back" by Sechskies.

Hey, I like J-Pop, but c'mon, covering a Korean song from 8 years ago? And the dance? You think the Pure Boys' dance is good? I don't think they could handle the way Sechskies did it. Here's Sechskies from 1999:

Yeah, a bit more energetic, no? LOL.

BTW, you can get the Pure Boys song "Kanpai Je t'aime" from iTunes, amazing.

Update: Updated the Sechskies video youtube link. the old one was gone.

Kamen Rider G

2009-02-02T21:34:00.000-08:00

Well, you think Kamen Rider Decade is the new Rider? Guess again. Kamen Rider G is here, starring Goro from SMAP.
Part 1:

Part 2:

Behold, the power of wine. LOL. SMAP have done a bit of Kamen Rider parodies before, but this is the first one that is actually done seriously, even featuring all the other Kamen Riders, including Decade himself! LOL. That vintage wine must be really good.
Of course, this parody is actually more faithful to the Kamen Rider franchise than the crappy laughable cut-n-paste job of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.

Asus eeePC vs Dell Inspiron mini

2009-01-30T02:38:00.000-08:00

When Dell released their netbook called Inspiron mini, a lot of review sites and blogs online quickly favor it over the previous heartthrob Asus eeePC. I have the eeePC 1000H model, a 10" eeePC with regular hard-drive (not SSD) and XP. It's okay, but I find it still a bit large for on-the-go use, plus it has a fragile hard-drive. I managed to score a refurbished Dell inspiron mini 9 for cheap ($300) with 16GB SSD and XP. Let's compare them.

Obviously the Dell is smaller and a bit lighter. Build quality wise, both are made from cheap plastic. However, the Asus feels to be higher quality plastic than the Dell. The hinges on the Asus feels solid, while there's an obvious large gap between the plastics on the Dell. First obvious downside on the Dell, no LED on the AC adapter. The Asus' AC adapter has a blue LED to show that it has current. On the unit itself, the Dell has no indication if it's being charged or not, while the Asus has an LED indicating charging just like a traditional laptop. There is an LED with a battery icon on the Dell, which logically should light up when the device is charging. It doesn't. I though my Dell is faulty, but looking at the manual, the LED will only light up to indicate low battery. That's not intuitive. Also, the Asus has a blue LED that lights up if wifi is on while the Dell has no such indicator. Asus +1. The Asus also has an LED indicator for hard-drive activity. The Dell uses an SSD, so I guess that doesn't matter. 1 annoying thing on the Asus though, once the battery reaches 70% or so, the battery LED light starts blinking. Can be annoying since 70% still has plenty of juice.

Ports wise, both seems to do a mirror image of each other. Ethernet, 1 USB port, headphone + mic port are found on the right side of the Dell, and on the left side of the Asus. 2 USB port, AC adapter port, and the SD card slot are on the left side of the Dell, and on the right side of the Asus. Both have the VGA port on the right side. The SD slot on the Dell seems to have poorer built quality. I find it pretty hard to push an SD card in, while the Asus' is pretty smooth.

Both screens have the same resolution, 1024x600. This is an issue with netbooks in general since the general UI on operating systems are designed for resolution of at least 1025x768. I find many programs have their dialog boxes being cut off. This can even make some programs or some programs' settings screens unusable. At least on the Asus, there is an option to set the screen res to 1024x768, and you can "scroll" the screen up/down. No such option on the Dell.

I find overall speed on the Asus to be pretty slow, especially when loading programs, presumably due to the slow hard-drive. I had high expectations on the Dell since it uses SSD. Boot time is definitely faster on the Dell, but the SSD on it is dog slow. Installing updates from Windows update took forever, significantly much longer than any hard-drive based PCs I've used. The same thing can be said to installing programs. On the other hand, it's solid state, meaning there's no moving part, so I can move the Dell around, even turning it upside down without having to worry that I might damange something. I even spin the Dell upside down while it is installing Windows update without any ill effects. Amazing. Another upside with SSD is no hard-drive clicking noise. With the Asus, sometimes I'm not even comfortable using it on my lap since I'm afraid I would make a sudden movement and killed the hard-drive. If I would buy a notebook, I would definitely get a solid state drive. It has a price premium, but it makes portable computing much more enjoyable without having to worry about a moving hard-drive.

As for keyboard, the Asus is a definite winner. The Dell's keyboard keys feel very tough to push while the Asus' keyboard feels just like a regular laptop keyboard. The Dell also doesn't have a separate function keys, obviously due to size restriction, while the Asus has the full complement of them.

Overall, I think Asus eeePC has better design and build quality. Price wise, they're quite comparable for the same configurations, although I think the eeePC can be usually found cheaper. Due to the fact that the Dell has SSD, I would probably use it more often, just because it's worry-free. I have not tested the webcam and audio. I do know that the Asus' speaker is quite low in volume.

Netbooks bring a new class of affordable portable computers to the market. My wishes for future models are to use higher performance SSDs and definitely better battery life. It will be more interesting when Windows 7 comes out.

Now I just have to find a case/sleeve for the Dell. Asus included a sleeve with the eeePC.

Kamen Rider Kiva ended, and Kamen Rider Decade starts

2009-01-25T22:51:00.001-08:00

Kamen Rider Kiva has ended. The previous 2 episodes before the finale were pretty grim. The final episode definitely tried to turn things around to a happier end, obviously since Kamen Rider is a kids show. Taiga actually didn't kill Maya, he (the scene) faked it. Wataru and Taiga are friends again, and teamed up to defeat the reincarnation of the previous Fangire King. Nago-kun miraculously got his eyesight back, and married Megumi. The last episode brought more closure than previous Kamen Rider series, although there are still a lot of things unexplained (what happened to Sagarc? What's the history of Kivat?). The final episode should've just ended with Nago's wedding. Instead, they have Wataru's son + Kivat 4th(?) and future Fangire attacking, creating an endless ending.

The series started pretty weak. Usually, I find the actors of previous Kamen Rider series to be quite believable that they were the ones under the Kamen Rider costume too (In reality, the person under the Kamen Rider suits are not the actors themselves). Wataru is the first Kamen Rider that is quite obvious that a stunt man is under the Kiva costume. I mean Kouji Seto (the actor playing Wataru), is super skinny, while Kiva is obviously quite muscular. Also, Wataru's shy personality is a complete contrast of Fangire fighting Kiva. The only draw of the show for me in the beginning was the 80s storyline. Otoya is simply hilarious, overshadowing Wataru himself. Nago + IXA seems to be more interesting than Wataru, but of course Nago is only a supporting character, thus the character was dumbed down in the middle, becoming the slapstick humor. Kengo is an unnecessary distraction. He's not even relevant in the last couple episodes. I definitely hated his character when he became emo and stole IXA from Nago. The show got better and more interesting when Taiga was introduced, then Mio becoming a selfish Queen. Bishop is another awesome character, and freaky too! The best and strongest episodes were definitely the 2 episodes before the finale. Overall, it's an okay Kamen Rider series, but definitely underwhelming compared to the likes of Kuuga and Den-O. It's less confusing then 555/Ryuuki/Kabuto, and has a few powerful and funny scenes. Kiva's henshin belt is not as cool as Kabuto's. I think Den-O was definitely more enjoyable since they're simply hilarious, and didn't pretend not to.

The next Kamen Rider Series is Decade. The first episode is already on Youtube, unsubbed. Just on the first episode, Decade already henshin into 3 major Kamen Rider, Kabuto, Faiz, and Hibiki, complete with Kabuto's clock up. They definitely didn't hold back as Decade is the 10th anniversary of the Heisei Kamen Rider series. Below is the henshin scenes in the first episode, and I already want the belt!

Don't forget the OP, sung by Gackt.

I hope they can bring previous Kamen Rider actors as it will excite the fans, especially Hiro Mizushima as Kabuto, Kento Handa as Faiz, the supporting riders like Knight from Ryuuki, Zeronos from Den-O, Blade, and maybe even Shouwa riders or Kamen Rider The First! Alas, we already know that Joe Odagiri won't be Kuuga. Hopefully it will be an exciting show. KAMEN RIDE.... DECADE!!

Sailor Moon US version

2009-01-19T20:22:00.000-08:00

No, not the dubbed one. Saban was actually going to remake Sailor Moon into a cartoon and live action US version. Yup, Sailor Moon with white people. Watch this promo video (the actual promo video is not until minute 1:50).

Good thing they didn't actually do it, although Sailor Moon was still heavily censored. But imagine. Yeah, Power Rangers is stupid enough.

Kamen Rider Kiva Ep46 & 47

2009-01-17T16:27:00.000-08:00

2 episodes before the finale of Kamen Rider Kiva are no longer funny. No more funny scenes nor slapstick jokes.

After Mio died, the body count continues. Otoya died, then Maya died. Even more depressing, Nago is blind. In episode 47, Taiga becomes Dark Kiva, and in the end of the episode Wataru becomes King. What's going to happen on the last episode, and how things will turn in just 1 episode?

Let's step back and think. This show is marketed towards kindergarten kids in Japan. I guess it's a training wheel when the kids grow up and start watching J-Dorama. LOL.

Club Prince

2009-01-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

I was looking at iTunes store, and saw a recommendation for me for a group called Club Prince. Apparently they're a Japanese boyband with host theme. Their Love ドッきゅん music video is hilarious, especially the guy the ripped his shirt in the beginning... LOL

Of course, knowing Japan, a bunch of videos of fans doing the dance have spawned.

LOL.

Curious, I checked their official web site. The main vocalist is Yuga, or Yuta, a former vocalist of Kids Alive. Kids Alive? LOL. Remember them? They're the one who sing Hikaru no Go's 1st ending theme.

Here's another music video of their song, Ame.

Watch [PV] Kids Alive - Ame in Music Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Wow, from a cool rock band into a dance host idol. LOL, what a turn around! Compare the feeling of the song Ame with this song, チューナイ!

Chuu-nai chuu-nai chu chu chu nai...
LOL.

Club Prince's songs and album are available in iTunes! Amazing!

Windows 7 beta

2009-01-10T23:55:00.000-08:00

I have Windows 7 beta up and running, albeit with questionable stability. Here's the rundown.

The system: HP slimline s7410n: Celeron M 1.7GHz, 1GB RAM, intel 915GV chipset, intel GMA900 integrated graphic, realtek integrated sound, 250GB hard-drive, DVD burner, running XP SP3. A pretty low end system. Its performance with XP is not that great, yet it has the Vista capable sticker on it. It would be a great system to test Windows 7, which is supposedly more optimized to run on low end systems compared to Vista.

First of all, why does Microsoft still use DVD installation? That's so, 2001. LOL. More and more PCs and laptops, especially netbooks, are sold without an optical drive. Luckily, it's quite easy preparing the Windows 7 install disc into a USB flash drive, as long as you have a Vista machine. The basic instruction of making a bootable USB drive can be found here. After that, simply copy the content of the ISO into the USB drive.

Installation of Windows 7 is pretty straight forward. A lot of the setup screens and process have been simplified to make the whole process feel simpler and faster. I have never done a clean Vista install, but I would think the experience is similar. With win2k/XP, when booting from the install disc, I was greeted with text based screens, starting with the loading of several drivers. In windows 7, all I saw was a bar at the bottom and a simple description. Sometimes it can be unnerving though, simply waiting for the bar to move without any hint of what's going on. After that, instead of a text based setup, the rest of the installation is run under a Windows GUI environment (Windows Preinstallation Environment to be exact). No more forgetting to press F6 in the beginning of setup to load some drivers as the GUI will allow you to load necessary drivers manually. The rest of the setup is just like installing a Windows program. All have simple point and click UI, with very few user questions. On the other hand, Windows 7 setup forced me to provide a hint for my password, weird. Networking setup couldn't be simpler, as I was only given 3 options: Home networking, Office, or Public. These presets automatically setup (or skip) necessary file sharing, etc.

The whole installation was fairly quick (mind you I used a USB flash drive instead of a DVD), with I think 2 reboots. Then that's it, I was greeted with a very fancy and more attractive Windows "loading" screen, and the log-in screen is pretty much the same as Vista's, with blue background. Somewhere in between, Windows 7 ask a vague question about what I thought what setting of Automatic Updates I would want. But from the description, it seems to involved other settings, probably also related to the UAC. I picked the second option. I wish MS put a better descriptions for this. Logging in, everything looks exactly like Vista, except for the new task bar. I noticed that I didn't hear any startup chimes. That's right, Windows 7 failed to detect and install the audio driver. Also, screen res is only set at 1024x768. I checked Device Manager, and Windows 7 only had the default VGA driver. On the new system tray, there is a flag icon for the new "Activity Center." I guess this is the new Security Center, telling me that I don't have anti-virus, I need to run Defender, etc. All the warnings can be disabled easily. Oh, and guess what, no UAC pop up yet. In Vista, UAC will pop up anytime I access anything in Control Panel. This is much better. Then I noticed the network connectivity icon. As with Vista, the default is a static icon. I prefer the animated blinking icons like in older windows as that is a better quick diagnosis tool to see if there's a current data transfer or not. For some reason, I couldn't find a way to show this in Windows 7. Bummer.

I ran Windows Update next. Voila, there's a driver for the intel chipset integrated driver. Installed, restarted, and now the GMA900 is detected properly. However, still stuck in Windows Basic theme, no aero. Still no sound. I was interested to see the performance index of this PC, but it was not available. I ran the assessment tool, and Windows 7 crashed for the first time. It crashed when the tool is running Windows Media decoding performance. I thought maybe it's because I don't have a sound driver yet. HP doesn't provide a Vista driver for the realtek integrated audio. The HP motherboard is actually made by Asus, so I went to Asus website and download the Vista audio driver for a different motherboard with the same chipset. Rebooted, then I hear the familiar Vista chime. Sound works in general, but realtek's control panel applet doesn't seem to work properly. Alas, Windows Performance assessment tool still hard crashed Windows.

Now that I have sound, I want to test video playback and as MS said Windows 7 comes with divx/H.264 support built-in. Alas, anytime I tried playing videos on Windows Media Player, it hard crashed Windows. So much for that. I installed VLC, and the videos are played just fine.

At this point, I feel the performance is not any slower than XP, which is a good thing. Despite the low-end config, the desktop seems to load faster after logging in. The PC was pretty slow already at startup when it was running XP. Loading Control Panel seems to lag a bit. Disabling some animation effects definitely improves overall feel of the OS. I decided to plug in an 512MB USB flash drive to enable ready boost, and things seems to be snappier even more. Loading control panel doesn't lag anymore.

I installed Firefox with a bunch of add-ons. It runs fine so far. I did leave the machine idle for a while, and when I came back, there's a constant of disk activity, but the mouse & keyboard were not responsive. Another hard crash.

Tweaking the system takes time as things are not in the same place as XP. Personalization setting is better as now Windows 7 allow complete theme selections, not just colors. Alas, without Aero, I don't see any difference except for the different wallpaper. As expected, most things are the same as Vista. The new task bar is the most glaring change. I'm not sure if it works though. I'm having a hard time differentiating active apps and shortcuts. Maybe it works better with Aero, but the least MS should do is add a dot on the active apps like OS X.

Other than Firefox and VLC, the next software I installed was the Windows Home Server connector software. It installed fine, and Windows 7 is detected as Vista by Windows Home Server. I'm sure this will be updated once Windows 7 ships.

Quick recap about Windows 7 beta:
-Installation is faster and more streamlined
-Most things are the same as Vista, so for those that are already bitching about Vista, too bad
-Performance on my low end config doesn't seem to be any slower than XP with certain things like logging in actually feels faster. I haven't installed any anti-virus, which I expect would put a hit in performance.
-GMA900 sux. Intel decided not to release aero-supporting driver. Without Aero, a lot of the UI features of Windows 7 is not available.
-I suspect the crashes is due to the video and/or audio driver. Still, it's annoying, and shouldn't crash the whole OS.

Contrary to what people are hoping, Windows 7 is Vista SE, not XP. Sooner or later, people have to start learning the way things are in Vista/7. Annoying, yes. Like I already stated, devices that are not supported in Vista won't magically work in 7. Should you wait for Windows 7? If you're buying a netbook or a fairly low-end PC, yes. Windows 7 is more optimized and would run a bit better on lesser hardware. On the other hand, if you're buying a mid to high-end PC, there's not much difference between Vista and 7. I would still recommend a similar hardware ocnfiguration for 7 as with Vista though, meaning dual-core, 2GB RAM, DX9 GPU with 128MB video memory. After saying that, for basic tasks, 1GB RAM seems to run 7 okay. I just hope MS doesn't fool consumers like the Vista capable sticker. Many GPUs won't be able to run Aero. I just hope this will push more and more PCs away from using the really old and sucky intel GMA950.

To close, Aero is the main focus for eye candy in Vista and 7. However, the basic theme does have a tiny yet neat eye candy.

Back to eurobeat

2009-01-10T02:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, watching various 90's chinese pop music videos is not good for my health, so to recover, I need a couple doses of eurobeat.
Ace: Play the Music

Fastway: Spacelove

And of course, para para (Go2 - Not for Sale)

Watch Parabeat - Not For Sale / Go2 in Music Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Ah, that feels better. :D LOL

Some old chinese pop

2009-01-10T01:44:00.000-08:00

Found an old Jimmy Lin MV. LOL. Now that I listen to Eurobeat, this song feels kinda slow.

Oh, and anybody remembers this one? It's fun watching both the cantonese and mandarin version of the song sung together. Dicky Cheung sung the cantonese version, while Jimmy Lin sung the mandarin one.

Picasa for Mac!

2009-01-05T23:48:00.000-08:00

Google finally released the long awaited Picasa for Mac (in beta of course). Before I switched to Mac, I love Picasa on Windows. It's pretty much iPhoto, if not better, on Windows. Although iPhoto 08 is pretty good, I still miss Picasa.

Features I like in Picasa:
-Ability to watch folder(s). You can set Picasa to watch certian folders, and it will automatically import any new pictures it find in those folders. This is something that you would think Apple would've thought, but no such features in iPhoto.
-I'm feeling lucky. I'm feeling lucky is a one click quick fix button. From what I see, it does a much better job every single time when compared to iPhoto's auto enhance.
-Folder structure. Although I really like iPhoto 08's way of organizing pictures with events, Picasa's folder structure is more flexible and easier to manage.
-Collages. Again, something that you would think Apple would've thought. This is a pretty fun feature, especially when you want to create a cover for a photo album or wallpaper. Example below:

The only downside is since Picasa is google's product, upload integration is only for Picasa web album or Youtube. Still, Picasa is an excellent software, and the Mac version is long overdue. Let's see what Apple would do with iPhoto 09.

2009 Super Sentai: Samurai Sentai Shinkenger

2009-01-04T23:25:00.000-08:00

Yay, 2 girls! :D Red's sword is huge! Oh, and yay for TOEI for making the samurai theme. Anything that will make it harder for Disney to americanized it into power rangers. Maybe this is why Disney is planning to go animated with power rangers.

2009 New Year Fireworks at the Space Needle

2009-01-01T02:17:00.000-08:00

Snow Day video slideshow

2008-12-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

I just found out about animoto.com, a site allowing you to create a video slideshow with very cool effects and allow you to upload your own music. Oh, and it's free!

iPod Touch auto-sync with iTunes

2008-12-30T00:08:00.000-08:00

Didn't know this, but apparently you have to check "Open iTunes when this iPod is connected" for the iPod Touch to sync automatically with iTunes when it's connected. I've been wondering about this for a long time since I've been having to manually click the sync button everytime. This is not the case with any of the regular iPods as they are synced automatically when connected without having that option checked.

Too icy

2008-12-24T01:09:00.001-08:00

There's been too much snow lately. The roads are frozen now, resulting into a super bumpy/icy drive. Just to compare, these are some rocks close to my place. First picture is taken on 12/19, the second one on 12/23.

And they say there are more snow to come!

Gundam 00 + Eurobeat

2008-12-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

Cut & paste of Gundam 00 2nd season OP with some eurobeat tracks

Watch Gundam 00 S2 OP, Manga Super Robot in Anime | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Watch Gundam 00 S2 OP, Anyway Anymore in Anime | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Kamen Rider Kiva Ep44

2008-12-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, am I watching a kids show or a J-dorama? Either way, I guess the same rule applied, the main character has to go through extreme hardship, and cannot simply be happy

After Mio's death, Wataru went back through time (!) to prevent his father, Otoya, marrying his mother, Maya. Basically preventing his own birth. Time paradox? Doesn't matter, I guess this is the only way to see Kiva fighting Dark Kiva. Oh, Wataru is a such a weakling, beaten up by Otoya in the old IXA suit. I miss Jiro & friends, and their respective Kiva forms. They are not used much anymore ever since Emperor form is introduced.

Damn it's cold!

2008-12-20T14:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, minus six degrees Celsius.

That is SOLID ice on the ground.

Snow day

2008-12-18T21:51:00.000-08:00

Yay, snow everywhere!

iMac acting up

2008-12-17T02:18:00.000-08:00

I freaked out a little a few hours ago because my iMac hanged. After forcing it to turn off and rebooted, for whatever reason it didn't recognize its own bluetooth transmitter (no bluetooth detected in system profiler). I thought crap, the BT transmitter is dead or something. I searched google, and found out about users resetting their SMC. Apple has this document: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543 I followed the instruction and my iMac is back to normal. Phew. I was afraid I had to restore a time machine backup, or worse, hardware failure.

Carnegie's

2008-12-17T01:36:00.001-08:00

It's cold!

2008-12-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

What I learn from trying to install Ubuntu eee

2008-12-12T03:14:00.000-08:00

If you're following me via tweeter, you already know the pain involved in this process.

XP runs fine on an eeePC. However, XP's UI is clearly not optimized for eeePC's shorter screen resolution. I've been looking for alternatives, and Ubuntu eee looks very good. This is a place where the open source community has the clear advantage to develop a netbook-optimized UI. Another great thing about Ubuntu eee is the super easy instruction to make a bootable USB flash drive as the install source.

So, for starter, obviously I want to backup the XP install on my eeePC first. I already have a backup on my Windows Home Server, but I thought making a ghost image would mean faster restore when things got awry. In searching for a free ghosting app, I found Clonezilla. Hey, it's free! :) Also, the site shows a clear step-by-step process and super easy step in creating a bootable USB flash drive containing Clonezilla live. Another prop for the open source community. Microsoft and most paid ghosting programs are still stuck in the 90s, only supporting bootable CD. Guess what, more and more PCs (especially netbooks) don't even come with optical drives anymore. Besides, installing from a USB flash drive is much faster than a CD/DVD.

Anyway, I managed to create an image of my XP install to an external hard-drive using Clonezilla. The process was painless. Next, installing Ubuntu eee. Another quick and painless process. Then it went downhill.

First of all, the UI on Ubuntu eee is very nice. Obviously it is optimized for the low res nature of netbooks. Very easy to interact, and definitely has a lot of potential. However, couple minutes later, Update Manager showed a gazillion of updates for Ubuntu. This was the tipping point. Ubuntu eee is a modified Ubuntu, and the updates will yell at you that it needs to uninstall some eeePC related apps. I would've refused, but I want the latest security patches/updates (Ubuntu eee by default only comes with Firefox 3.01). So I bite, and let some of the updates install.

Things seemed okay, but then I was wondering how do I turn on the wifi on the eeePC? Obviously there's a switch in the BIOS, but having to restart the OS everytime just to turn-on/off wifi is not ideal. Pressing Fn+F2, as documented, will crash Ubuntu. So WTF? Not having a basic functionality like this is not good. The wiki site suggested to install eee control, an app that looks like the eee tray app in Windows. I tried installing, it doesn't like a conflicting item called eee-config. I uninstalled eee-config, now it wanted some python related stuff. The problem is I couldn't find it in the Package Manager at all! WTF? Oh, to add insult to the injury, I plugged in a USB flash drive to the eeePC, Ubuntu eee said I need a super user privilege to mount it. Huh? Plenty of users posted these problems online, and typical Linux community, all of them are spewing sudo command lines. Yet another reason why Linux won't become a mainstream OS soon. I didn't even bother to see if my USB EVDO modem work or not, I decided to scrap Ubuntu eee and go back to XP.

I ran Clonezilla again, restoring the previously made image. Seems okay at first, but then it froze at about 40 something %. Uh oh. I reset the PC, and XP seemed to start fine, then it started yelling about some file errors, and to run chkdsk. Oh great. Rebooted XP, ran chkdsk, and it found tons of errors. I saw some of them are Firefox files. Not good. After it finished, XP booted normally, but Firefox is crapped out. It ran, but none of my extensions are usable, even after uninstalling and reinstalling.

Last resort, the backup I have on Windows Home Server. First of all, how do I use the WHS restore CD? Google to the rescue, I found this link. It basically walked you through on how to make a bootable flash USB drive using Vista, and it mentioned making a WHS restore "CD" on a USB flash drive. Easy, but required Vista. Luckily I do have a Vista machine.

After creating a bootable USB flash drive containing the WHS restore software, time to go to work. It booted just fine on the eeePC, but then it asked for drivers since it needs a network driver to access the WHS unit. Luckily, Microsoft must have thought about this, and in the WHS backup, the software automatically saves the needed drivers. All I need to do is copy them to another USB flash drive, and have the WHS restore software read it. Awesome! Restore process was painless, fairly quick (the eeePC's partition has only about 9GB used space anyway), and the most important part, it was a successful restore! Whew!

Okay, let's recap.
Ubuntu eee:
+ Great netbook-optimized UI
+ Easy install and creation of bootable USB flash drive source
- Basic hardware functions are not complete (wifi, unable to mount USB drive). I mean c'mon, mounting a USB flash drive is supposed to be simple.
- Questionable ability to update the OS from official Ubuntu source
Another great potential from the open source community, but hampered by the geek mentality of the community itself.

Clonezilla:
+ Free disk cloning utility
+ Easy to setup as a bootable Clonezilla Live on a USB flash drive
+ Backup process is successful
- Text only UI, can be confusing for some due to some confusing menu options/explanations
- Restore process is screwy (not much useful for backup if you cannot restore it)
Might be a great utility for cloning Linux systems, but I won't let it touch my Windows systems anymore.

Windows Home Server:
+ A must have for those wanting easy backup solutions for their XP/Vista PCs.
+ Restore process is quite straight forward and painless
- MS only gives an ISO for a bootable CD. MS needs to provide a utility to create a bootable WHS restore USB flash drive. Sure, it's easy to make your own, but why can't MS provide a built-in utility to create one?
- Costs money
I thought I would never use the backup function of my WHS. I'm glad that it worked fine. :)

If you want a netbook with Ubuntu/Linux, get one that is already preinstalled with those OS, thus providing full function out of the box. Dell Inspiron Mini has the option for Ubuntu. Oh well, hopefully MS will provide a netbook-optimized UI in Windows 7.

Keitai Sousakan 7, putting Tony Stark's gadgets to shame

2008-12-09T21:24:00.001-08:00

Yeah, take that Iron Man. What cellphone did Tony Stark use? An LG Shine? Bleh. Seven can talk, think, transform, walk, hack a computer, and even dance! Now it can dock to Solid.