Posts (page 2)

back in 2005 - between Jul to Oct - i had blogged about POSB Everyday card and the Singtel-UOB card, the final decision was not to sign them up...

fast forward to this moment...

and i'd already signed up that Everyday card and the Singtel-UOB card ... because regardless how meagre or little the rewards are, there are some rewards ...

...

funny how things turns out....

we were at Challenger the other day, and my wife alerted me to this PC. She's not really the techie type - but if her eyes caught something, it's usually something to talk about or write about - so anyway, she called me over to look at the HP PC...and not exactly her words, but this PC is cool...because it's well, touch screen!

it's the HP TouchSmart IQ770...you can't do the multi-touch as in the Macbook Air or iPod Touch or the multi-touch that Microsoft showed, probably not I supposed but we didn't try that...so, you could touch the screen on the Vista start button, touch here and there...the physical keyboard and mouse are still there though, and i could not locate the onscreen keyboard...

(11 Jun) come to think of it, we have been having touch screens, with all those PDAs, so, why do we not seen any in-roads to touch screens for PC or PC Monitor? I don't think it's because Windows or Mac OS or Linux not supporting it, in fact, I think they do, there's all those touch screen kiosk! but it's just not that practical at this moment, imagine maintaining your arm lifted to touch the screen to do work...it's not ergonomic, and probably not comfortable and tired after a while...

speaking of touch, while i look forward to Steve Jobs's presentation, i'm not really excited about the 3G iPhone, i mean, personally, that should have been the in the first version. on the other hand, it's probably better so that APPLE could work out whatever flaws in the iPhone 1 dot O...:) Asians are already on 3G, 3.5G and i read somewhere even 4G!! APPLE is lucky in the design department...and well, i caught just that portion on youtube when SJ announced the 3G iPhone and the cheers from the crowd - and i thought, 'Big Deal' (eyes rolling) ... will i get it? eventually? i've tried browsing on the iPod Touch, a couple of times, and those were times when I didn't have the laptop with me...i would not mind reading a novel or something but to surf the internet on such a small form factor?! Nah...

and it still gets me thinking that the iPaq 2210 is still good, and i really did not need the HTC Touch, it's not even able to fully replaced the ipaq 2210...i have to think about what should i do if the ipaq 2210 has run its course...

...

so, this friend brought along her Macbook Air, and well, i have thought it would be lighter than what i felt this afternoon...nevertheless...it's a neat design...

updates 11 Jun: now that i'm using iPod Classic, i have been using iTunes a lot, and adding in the album arts...we'll see how things goes before i decide to uninstall winamp altogether...

i realised that after clicking on the cross, the windows media player did not exit ...

so, apparently, Vista SP1 did not address this issue ...

anyway, i have mostly been using winamp, or iTunes or Zune software ... besides, just go to Task Manager and kill the process...

i supposed i may still be an impulsive buyer ...

back on May 24, i wrote about my want...

then, on May 29, i wrote about that ipod classic 160gb again...

and on 5th June, i was at Vivocity, i went to Challenger and bought that silver colour ipod classic 160gb!

when i came home, i started to get mailers about 10% discounts from epicentre, ocbc instalment payments on ipod classic and at lower price...the only consolation is at least i earned some reward points...

so, i've started creating the playlist and putting in the songs - at least i do not really need to allocate 150+gb hard disk space - you won't be getting exactly 160gb on the ipod, you know - but even then, due to probably lack of tagging and conversions from wma to mp3, the process still is taking up at last 5gb now...

it's certainly heavier than the 8GB ipod touch, and i would probably be looking for the screen protector, armband, and a pouch...

as for the ipod touch, my wife may want to use it but i've got to convert some videos for her ... :(

i'm also thinking to put it up for auction at iauctions...

i don't quite understand why schools in Singapore, especially primary schools are so eager to introduce computer-based learning to these young children!

i just read about this "future" school and primary 1 children - of about 7 years of age - using stylus on tablet PCs.

i belong to the school of thoughts that children learns fast, and if you are able to generate the interests in them on a subject, they will learn regardless there's technology or not...heck, i went through about 13 years of education, and 2.5 years of Army life without any computers, and only started actively using the technology when i got into the Poly.

and did I lose out in any way...?

i don't think so, I lose out in the manner that i had wasted 2 years of education which should not have occurred, and got into the industry 2 years later than my friends...

most families have computers at home - at least one - so, these children are not lacking in the exposure, heck, there's consoles, portable consoles, mobile phones, etc, these are near-sight devices that could very well be a source of problem for the development of their eyes...so, are these "future" schools prepared in educating the good habits of using technology to the young children?! even if they are, do you seriously think the children would follow or adopt?

i have learnt that schools used to have eye massage sessions, but they realised children are doing it wrongly, not because the instructors were not qualified, but the children treated it as a form of fun! and the result was because their technique were incorrect, it did not really aid in preventing myopia!

i feel that technology has become so accessible, that the art of teaching might be jeopardised as schools embark on using the technologies ...

while i find it acceptable for a family to get a PC, i find it ridiculous to get the students - probably secondary and above - to buy a $3-4K Tablet PC ... mind you, it's not a laptop but a tablet PC!! personally, does it really enhanced their learning capability? it probably only enhanced the chance of them getting myopia!!

... anyway, i'd lost my train of thoughts ...  

we were at Vivocity, and on our way to go home, we came to this particular area,

and saw this GP-200 Ultimate Motion Gaming Chair...
should have given it a go!!

this morning, after receiving a SMS, i proceeded to reply, but all i got on the htc touch was a blank screen!

after waiting for a while, decided to reset the device but somehow, the SMS was lost!!

after lunch, went to google for such issues, and came across the thread that says to register the CEStar, but then I do not have the key with me, i decided that since cestar could be the cause, i went ahead and uninstall it...

presto! now i can read, send SMS!!

will have to wait until i get home, get hold of the key and then re-install and register the software...

i was at Downtown East the other day, and goodness, there were so many people!! but somehow, the crowd is still relatively little compared to Tampines Mall...

anyway, the pavement was practically filled with people, and then there were cyclists ... and i feel whoever design the place or planned its development is probably not in touch with the ground, the overall design of the area leading to the mall was horribly planned...

why can't they planned for a separate bicycle path?

and then there was this drive-in, so, i wonder why can't they design it such a way that it's safe for people to use, imagine the kind of crowds walking along and blocking the traffic from coming out!?!?

i was thinking they could some kind of underground tunnel, in that manner, the entrance for the cars would go down, while on the ground level, you have the pedestrians and bicycle path...

i don't think it's not doable, it's a matter of the planners coming down to the ground and observe the human activities. i can only guessed there's issues like land ownership or cost or policies/regulations...

i mean, they - whoever they are - spent so many months renovating that area, spent however much money, and yet, while the internal may seemed improved, the exterior has largely been ignored as far as I can see...

there's appears a lack of communication, co-operation among the relevant authorities...and seems only one thing in their minds - profit making!! it lacked a holistic approach to that area...

i could bring myself thinking of recommending people to go down there, when it's not likely to be that enjoyable...

a few years back, the family went to the NTUC chalet and we were surprised to find xbox there and got the chance to play...and i just learnt from someone who has been there not too long back that there was no xbox! ... and my son was pestering me to go there! 

updates 1 June 08: another thought would be to keep the iPod Touch, and wait for a 160GB Zune? :P

5 moons back, i had expressed my want...

today, i received this mailer from Citibank, which i thought it's funny as i had already terminated the Ready Credit account...nevertheless, i opened the mail and something caught my attention...

it's the Apple iPod Classic...big deal, :P

but this is a 160GB iPod Classic! 160GB!

now, this is what I really WANT!!

Would there be a 160GB or more Zen or Zune?

bloody hell, just when you decide to cut back on expenditure, this temptation comes around!! well, can always look for those instalment payments!?!? Heehee ...

hmmm....sell away the ipod touch? put up for auction? hmm...

the next thing to come from APPLE is going to be 160GB iPod Touch!! Oh, it's true, it's true!

as i sit here, waiting for my wife to finish her knitting session, i feel there's merit to the design of macbook air...especially the absence of an optical drive...

when i'm mobile, most of the time, or all of the time, i have never used the DVD drive - in fact, i had replaced the optical drive with a battery bay to add more battery life!

the most frequently function might just be the USB port and wireless...some may feel one USB is too little, but hey, if there's a touch pad, use it, you din need to carry that however small and uncomfortable mouse along...then again, i thought having 2 USB ports would be much more adequate...:P

i still feel - as i compare to any wintel laptop - that macbook air is a bit over-priced and one is paying a premium for that thinness, and not any SATA hard disk...somehow, i feel they should throw in that optical drive and bigger hard disk capacity for the price...

i supposed with 2 USB ports, and higher capacity hard disk, and optical drive, the 5 hours of wireless productivity might have to be reduced...

i think i could live without optical drive - as i've been recently - and reduce usage of USB stuff, but i would still very prefer a bigger hard disk...

in any case, i doubt i'll be a macbook air owner! :P

not for this current model...