1 week break

I'll be

AWAY

from the 1st to 6th Dec

in Philippines on a

mission trip. 

So no news from me unless I find Wi-Fi in the hotel and use my iPod touch to blog...

BYE!

Training the eye

So what have I been doing during the holidays?

THIS:

Photography. Extensively, I must add. I'm almost out shooting everyday, it's crazy.

And I've come to realise one thing: Photography opens up your eyes to things which you never saw before, even though they are right beside you all along.

Photographers see things that people don't see, or appreciate. I've come to appreciate God's creation a whole lot more, just by holding a camera in my hands.

Thank God for introducing photography to me.

Scream Out Loud!: What now?

I've been thinking about this for some time... this site is a bit like rojak.

It's a tech site (covering mostly Apple and Microsoft news), yet it started off as my personal blog for me to share with everyone the happenings in my life. And throughout Scream Out Loud!, you can also find bits and pieces of photography and religious posts.

Thus I feel that the contents are a bit diverse and, umm... confusing. If this is gonna be a proper tech site, then surely it has to be professional and cannot contain ramblings about my life. If this is gonna be MY personal journal, then tech talk has to be minimised and I better start reporting the day's activities. No one wants to read all Apple and Apple and Apple (as people have pointed out to me).

So what's your advice for Scream Out Loud!? Should I retain this as my personal blog, then separately start up a tech site specifically for my podcast? Or should I evolve this site completely into a tech site? Or should I just keep status quo, after all, rojak tastes good!

Or should I turn this into a "fusion site"? A site combining my life and technology. How about this, a site reporting about technology in my life?

Please... let me know what you think. Thanks!

I almost died seeing this!

Snapped this at Parkway Parade shopping mall on my way to the toilet...

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

It's the best-est thing to have ever happened to Parkway! Even better than Borders opening opposite it!

The success to landscape photography

"First, light. Everything else follows, for light is the language of photography as well as its raw material. As a poet uses words, so a photographer uses light. "

- Quote from Joe Cornish in his book First Light

Truly inspiring!

More iPod touch photos...

Over the weeks, I've come to love the touch quite a lot. Very contented with my purchase, no major regrets as of now. I've updated software to version 1.1.2, which supports multi-language keyboard and the ability to key in events into the calendar (finally man). Nope, this baby has not been jailbroken yet, and will never be, because it's not worth the risk to violate the warranty.

So here's more iPod porn for you...

TUWP #10 - Home Server + Special Series

The Unofficial Windows Podcast Episode #10

Yeah I've hit the tenth episode! A big thank you to all my listeners out there! (And also to VJ for hosting my files :D)

Topics covered:
- Windows Home Server
- Windows Live Calendar (Screenshots)
- Sign up or upgrade to @live.com email addresses now! (Hooray no more @hotmail.com!)
- M1 in talks with Apple to bring iPhone to Singapore in 2008
- Nokia installs HSDPA onboard 12 SBS bus services in Singapore allowing commuters to surf wirelessly for free
- Special series part 4 of 5: 6 causes of poor PC performance
1) Unnecessary files and programs
2) Temporary files (Internet cache, Windows temporary files, recycle bin files)
3) Hard drive errors
4) File fragmentation
5) Unnecessary startup items
6) Invalid registry entries (Try CCleaner)


Type: mp3
File size: 20.8 MB
Running time: 28:09
Date Recorded: Fri, 16 November 2007
Date Published: Fri, 16 November 2007
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Add to iTunes (recommended)

[Get iTunes from Apple]
Visit Ian's blog at www.nai-oh.blogspot.com

Mac laptops get processor bump

Recently, Apple has made the MacBook and MacBook Pro even faster with a slight processor bump. Now the MacBook Pro can be configured to run a 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo chip, up from the previous 2.4GHz, while the higher end MacBooks are shipping with a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo chip, up from the previous 2.16GHz. These are pretty minor changes, but they are much welcomed. As always, faster is better, as long as it doesn't get too hot. For pricing, visit the Apple Store.

I suspect that this slight increment in clock speed is related to the release of Leopard, as Leopard is more processor demanding, so power users would consequently want a faster chip. Also, TUAW writes that all of the hard drive upgrade options are now 5400 RPM or better for the MPB. Lovely.

Now I'm hoping that there will be processor improvements for the iMac too. :D

An iPod touch review

People say that Apple is a drug, once you’ve tasted it, you’ll want more and more. I can’t help but agree that there’s a certain amount of truth to this statement, because I find myself keep wanting the latest products from Apple, especially iPods. What the heck, so I bought an iPod touch 16GB as my main iPod replacement a few days ago from the Orchard “flagship” Apple store. (8GB version is retailing for S$498, the larger 16GB version is going for S$698.) FYI, 6 months before this, I got a 1GB shuffle.

iPod madness
I hope that I’m not iPod mad, but for the record, I have 4 iPods around the house as of now. A 1st generation iPod nano 1GB (which used to be my main iPod), a 1st and 2nd generation iPod shuffle (both 1GB too), and today, the multi-touch 16GB device.


I donated the nano to my sister, the 1st generation shuffle to my mom, leaving me with 2 iPods.

I find it interesting that I’ve never purchased a hard drive based iPod before, and three of the four iPods are all 1GB of storage, which of course doesn’t hold my fast exploding music library. Thus the touch is the first iPod that, alas, holds my entire library (music, podcasts, videos), contacts and photos in a single location. Sweet. And not to mention that it doubles up as a sort of “mini” PDA. The internet feature is absolutely useful, allowing me to connect to most wireless networks, such as wireless@sg, so that I have internet access almost wherever I go. Furthermore, the multi-touch (pinching, tapping and flicking) is truly revolutionary and a joy to use. It makes navigating around easy-peasy!

It ain’t perfect...
BUT… the touch is not without drawbacks. Firstly, it can’t be used as a mass storage device where you can backup your data files. This is puzzling because most other iPods (like the shuffle) can be enabled for disk use. So don’t purchase this if you’re using this as a “thumbdrive”.

Secondly, the touch cannot display lyrics for music tracks, something which all other iPods with screens can do. I rely on this feature a lot for viewing podcast show notes, so it was infuriating initially, but the multi-touch more than makes up for it.

Thirdly, the metallic back is a fingerprint magnet, as with all other iPods except the shuffle. This was expected. Thankfully, a cleaning cloth was provided, but there was no carrying case. Argh. (The black squarish thingy at the top left is the 802.11b/g Wi-Fi antenna.)


Fourthly, the iTunes Wi-Fi store is an unusable feature since it's not available in Singapore, so you can’t buy tunes from the touch. Lastly, I would really appreciate a song search feature, because scrolling through 700+ songs in search of one can be a painful task at times.

Third-party apps will save the day
However, despite these small quirks here and there, the experience was nevertheless pleasant, even impressive. Setting it up was straightforward (assuming you have the latest version of iTunes and OS X 10.4.10/XP SP2/Vista), but the first sync was painfully long for a big library like mine. When unwrapped, you'll notice it's extremely delicate and fragile, so I would advice getting a carrying case/screen protector/iWrap.

One more thing, I guess the real benefits of the touch will only be evident when third-party apps are available on the touch/iPhone from the iTunes store late next year. For now the functionality may seem limited, and it is somewhat, but the third-party native applications will save the day eventually and justify the cost you paid, I believe. I hope to see a native instant-messaging app, a mail app, a word/spreadsheets apps, some games… and much more.

Busting myths
Contrary to the popular complain that the on-screen keyboard is difficult to type, my answer is that it isn’t, and with a bit of getting used to, practice and trusting the dictionary function, you can actually type acceptably accurately.

Also, the touch uses the standard headphone jack for earphones, unlike the iPhone which uses an unfriendly jack.

Summing it up
I'm very happy with my purchase and have no immediate regrets. In fact, I've never had any problems with iPods before, they are reliable and rock-solid players.

Get the iPod touch if…
- the iPhone is not supported in your country
- you hate AT&T but love the iPhone and will not jailbreak
- you need to be connected online on the go (to check webmail etc.) Oh there’s no built-in Mail app like in the iPhone and bluetooth is excluded too, what a pity!
- you need a player for videos/photos
- you want to enjoy multi-touch
- you want a superior multimedia player that “just works”

Don’t get the iPod touch if…
- you want a player to accompany you during jogging/exercise
- you want a player that’s value for money
- you want to use it as an external HDD
- you drop things easily
- you can’t live without lyrics
- you hate iTunes

And I’ll end off with more photos! (Click to enlarge)

What's in the box...

Gorgeous Cover Flow view when iPod is tilted horizontal...

It's safari!! The full, desktop-like web browsing experience that displays webpages just as it is on a computer!

Pre-installed calculator application with super huge buttons...