what happened to those "group blogs" which were so popular last time?
You know... those blogs that were edited by multiple users. Collaborative projects?
Blogs like the 4SA'08 Class Blog (4saints08.blogspot.com).
Or the 4SB'08 Class blog (forassbee.blogspot.com).
Or maybe the 4SA'09 blog (4saeba.blogspot.com).
How are they now?
Well, see for yourself!
Oh, do look at the tagboard. And maybe, just for fun, post something in the tagboard.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Monday, 26 July 2010
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Here comes the blackout!
Quoting a song from Stornoway there. Did you get that?
Anyway, yes, there's been a major blackout in Jakarta, apparently due to a transformer meltdown. (see Jakarta Post article)
Thank God, my house had its power restored by yesterday night, even though it's in the North. Can't say the same for my bro's family - they live in Muara Karang, which is only ~400m away from where I live (Pantai Indah Kapuk), but they're not getting any power in their house. Well, not till their in-house generator is installed, or the transformer is fixed.
The point is, because of the blackout, my nephews have come to live in the house that I'm in (can't really call this my house - my parents'), which means they have taken over my room, and now I have to bunk in with Ronny, my elder bro.
Yeah, that's what's been going on in my house right now. I lost my room. I so want it back. I want my speakers. I want the TV in my room unplugged (call me weird, but I have this TV in my room that doesn't get plugged in at all, because I don't use it. Reception is terrible.).
Oh, in other news, I've been "working" in my dad's factory. Well, when I say "working", it's more like stoning, since they didn't have much for me to do. But heck, it's work experience - I'm shadowing my bro and my dad while they work.
Anyway, gonna sleep now - getting sleepy.
Oh, btw, to all thee merry Singaporeans, Happy iPad Day in advance!
And one more thing: Bombay Bicycle Club is awesome! Go listen!
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
A Grand Perspective helps.
Not sure if I talked about this Mac App (Yes, Mac) before, but I really think it deserves more spotlight, especially with the recent ordeal that I've been having recently with my Hard Drive.
Basically, I've ran out of space. With all the photos and videos that I've been taking all these years, and the ever-growing collection of TV shows and music, my hard drive has been filled to the brim.
I don't really want to talk about my night with Finder. It was more like a cage match than a walk in the park. But in the end, I won - I clawed back an astounding 25.7 GB - from a measly 50MB. And on my Seagate drive, I clawed back another 23GB.
Getting back so much space wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for my app pick for the moment. It's called GrandPerspective.
I'd say this app is a virtual X-Ray of your Hard Drive. What it does is scan your drive, and then put them in a rectangle chart with hundreds, or thousands, or in my case, millions of smaller rectangle, each representing one file according to its file size relative to other files. What this means is that your large HD videos will pop out more than your small, measly Word Documents. For a guy like me, who really needs to get rid of those embarrassing videos of the family at Christmas or that old Top Gear episode, or maybe wants to find what's been eating my HDD space (maybe a recording of a musical?), this is a useful visualisation tool, especially because it drills down to the lowest subfolder and the hidden folders which the average person wouldn't bother to look (e.g.: the iMovie Events Folder).
You might say this app can be used for art. Maybe to make your next disturbing-looking wallpaper. But regardless, it is a very useful tool for visualising the contents of your hard drive. I know the UI is not exactly glamorous, but it's a useful app, and you might not need it now, but some day, when you're crying because you only have 2MB of space when you need 1GB for an important file that you need to work on, this app might just save you from a tear-jerking night.
Download it! Especially since it's FREE!
Friday, 2 July 2010
Oh, by the way,
I'm planning on changing the blog skin layout soon. Kinda bored with this whole monochromatic colour scheme and tabbed design.
I'm trying to see if I can actually serve up a different 'UI' for mobile web browsers (i.e.: Android, iPhone and iPad browsers) from the standard PC browser. It might be a huge challenge, but hey, I have time.
Watch this space!
Half-way point, how am I doing?
Here's a look back at my 2010 New Year's Resolution. Let's see how things are coming along thus far!
Academic
•I will score 3 As for my A Level. [tbc]
•I will get to a University. Either Warwick, or Exeter, if not Manchester. [Highly likely]
Score so far: 1/2
Athletics & Fitness
•I will log 250km of runs in 2010 on Nike+. [35.9 done. Not good. To be fair, there were a few unlogged runs due to sensor issues. Still, I have to admit, I've not been running much due to the peculiar English weather and the exams.]
•I will run a 10K in under 1 hour. [Far from it]
•I will try to run a full marathon in 2010. [Even further from it]
•I will keep my weight under 75kg. [So far, so good]
Score so far: 2/6
Charity & Church
•I will help at least 5 homeless people in Brighton directly [Safehaven!]
•I will work at the charity shop for 100 hours in 2010. (I have to cheat a bit on this one - I didn't think I'd be doing other sorts of volunteer work, such as Safehaven and Production Team, so I've decided to include those in) [~50h in BHF + ~24h at Safehaven + ~26h on Production Team = 100h!]
Score so far: 4/8
Motoring
•I will pass my practical driving test and get a full license. [Ha!]
•I will buy my first car. [Not likely]
Score so far: 4/10
Music
•I will attend at least 2 live events/concerts/gigs in 2010. [Owl City, Brian Eno, that's 2. And later this year, I'm watching Imogen Heap!]
•I will join a music team, be it the church music team, or a choir in Uni. [I'm putting a 0.5 on this for joining the Production Team at St. Peter's. Technically, it's not what I meant, but it is a form of 'music team', so 0.5]
Score so far: 5.5/12
Tech, Art & Social Networking
•I will not buy any more Apple products. No iPods, iPhones, Macs, iSlate, etc. Only provision allowed: An Apple Remote, since mine is a bit wonky. [iPad]
•I will finish my short film project by the end of 2010. [Oh wait, I did that slow-mo thing! That's a short film of sorts!]
•I will get a new Time Machine HDD. [Not yet. Probably will when I'm in SG]
•I will post at least 200 blog posts. [currently 47. Not even 50%, is it?]
•I will post my 2,000th tweet in 2010. [As of posting, it's 1423, so this one's a no-go.]
•I will get my 5,000th view on my Flickr Page. [Yes]
•I will increase the number of uploads I have on Flickr to 400. [Yes]
Score so far: 8.5/19
Travel
•I will visit 6 UK cities in 2010. [Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Exeter, Brighton&Hove, London]
•I will go to at least 4 countries [Indonesia, Singapore, UK - yep. TBC: Malaysia, USA (New York), China (Shanghai)]
Score so far: 10.25/21
Well, that's almost 50%, isn't it? And it's only the first half of the year, so who knows! As the Netherlands vs Brazil game has shown, anything can happen after the second half!
Oh wait, that was a football reference. From me - a person who claims to have no interest in football whatsoever. Surely, that deserves another point on my New Year's Resolution Scorecard!
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Oh, speaking of football, erm, may I recommend these 2 links which have been in my address bar, which I thought you may like as well?
First up, if you're interested in predictions and psychic animals, well, have you heard of Paul the Octopus? Well, The Huffington Post has this story which you should read.
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/30/paul-the-octopus-world-cu_n_630776.html
My second link is related to this Vuvuzella thingy. Have you heard of it? And are you a Rihanna fan? Well, you'll love this link. It's the Vuvuzella Song. Brilliant lyrics like:
"I think I might call Nelson Mendela,To see if he can order me a Vuvuzella(ella ella eh eh ...)"
Now, isn't that just the best rhyme ever? Well, there's more of such stuff, along with some football references, in this link:
Original Post:
Well, that's all for now.
And yes, this blog is back from hibernation!
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
yes, it was on hiatus!
(Title says all)
Yes, I'm back to full-time blogging from now on! I'm sure many have missed me!
Or maybe not, if my Google Analytics number are anything to go by.
I don't think I need to explain why I've been inactive when it comes to updating this plot of land on the blog-o-sphere that I call 'da ron files' - exams, studies, Facebook, no reason to blog, you get it.
I thought I'd put up something just to let you know how I've been. I'm fine. Bored, but fine. Seriously, I'm bored from all these exams now, I just want to get home and play around with Objective-C. That's right, I'm planning on making an app for the iPad/iPhone during the holidays! Oh JOY! I, a dude with no coding experience what-so-ever (other than HTML, but arguably, that's just coding for babies), am going to dabble into the world of App-making. Watch out for my app in an app store near you (hopefully, if Apple doesn't think my app is junk)!
Oh yeah, I've been preparing to go back to Jakarta (departing UK this Sunday evening, arriving Monday evening) for the summer break while I wait for my A Level results and Uni. Come to think of it, assuming I don't blog anymore until I'm back in Jakarta, this could be the last posting from Brighton. So maybe I'd spend a bit of time to reflect on my time in Brighton over the past 1 year and 2 months.
Brighton certainly has its bohemian characteristics - in fact, if people were to ask me to describe Brighton in one word, that's the word I'd choose - bohemian. This city is quite alternative - a walk along the Laines is enough to prove my point. It's also a fun city - there's the pier, the beach, the music venues. And I'm glad to have met so many people from different backgrounds; in church, at school, and at the charity shop. My time here hasn't always been pleasant (I shall not say why on this blog). Nonetheless, I'm quite sad that I'm going to leave all these behind in a few days' time, but I guess I have to move on to the next phase in life, wherever that brings me, right?
Anyway, talking about vacation-time, I'm going to be transiting in Singapore for a couple of days, before my Uni Term starts (obviously). My only dilemma is when. My Uni Orientation/Welcome Week starts around 25 September, and I might arrive earlier so I can get my stuff moved over from Brighton to Exeter/Coventry. Aside from that, my parents were also planning on heading to Shanghai for the World Expo, but no dates have been committed for that. Then, I heard Founder's Day in SAS is late August - one month before I should start heading off to the UK. So, what's the plan? At the moment, I have none. But I'm definitely heading to Singapore between now and my Uni term. So, keep watching this space (or my Facebook status updates, or Twitter), as I'll update when I have updates! (redundant redundancy!)
Alright, then. Cheerios, people! I have an Accounting and MacroEcons paper left to study for. See you on the other side of the globe!
Monday, 31 May 2010
Macroeconomics: Things to check out
Since I'm revising for my Unit 2 (MacroEcons unit) exam, I thought I should share a few links to web resources/videos that might help/be of interest to Econs students.
1. BBC Documentary: The Love of Money (2009)
This 3-hour documentary looks at the world financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the events surrounding it - the Greenspan years, the collapse of Lehman, and the response by politicians. It features accounts from key players in the crisis - Alan Greenspan, Tim Geithner, Alistair Darling, Gordon Brown, and many more. It's no longer on the BBC iPlayer, but fortunately for everyone (especially those not in the UK, I found them on YouTube. (I typed the title of the episodes as used by the BBC, as well as the title used by the YouTube member in brackets)
Episode 1: The Bank That Bust the World [The Fall of Lehman]
Episode 2: The Age of Risk [The Boom and Bust Years]
Episode 3: Back from the Brink [The Last Days of the Banks]
2. iTunes U
A feature that was added to iTunes not too long ago, iTunes U is one of the places to go to for free, publicly-accessible web content (tutorials, talks, etc.) from some of the biggest universities/academies around. Obviously, some of these are way beyond A Level Economics. But you can watch them just to get a feel of what Economics (or whatever course you want to do) at Uni might be like, I guess
Some of the ones that I've downloaded (long ago and starting to watch now):
University of Warwick: The Global Credit Crunch and the Global Economy
MIT: The Economics Meltdown: What Have We Learnt, if Anything? by Paul Krugman
3. Spot of Economics Blog
A blog by one of the Econs teachers from my college, Mr Spottiswoode. It's more for the UK syllabus, so if you're reading this from Singapore, there may be some stuff that's a bit different/irrelevant (I don't think you'd care about the UK Balance of Trade as much as I have to for my exam). But still, it's a good read.
Hope you found the links useful!
Thursday, 27 May 2010
On OECD's Outlook, BBC iPlayer, Intel GPUs, and Rupert Murdoch's empire.
Phew, that was a long title.
Yes, it's a posting of 4 topics. So treat them as 4 separate blog posts.
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The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) has recently released their latest outlook for the member economies (mainly US, EU nations, and Japan). One recommendation that they mentioned in the outlook was the warning that the US, UK and Canada should raise interest rates to 3.5% "latest by the end of this year". Another was recommendations for fiscal tightening in all member countries, to ease those budget deficits and please bond markets.
But there are problems with their recommendations, though.
In times like now, where the economy is still quite fragile, it seems a bit risky to use both contractionary fiscal and contractionary monetary policies together in such a short period of time.
Yes, these governments have to restore confidence and calm markets about their sovereign debts, so as to avoid a debt crisis like the one in Greece (especially in the PIIGS - Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain). And yes, George Osbourne, pay off debt now, and there's less later. But the concern now is whether it's too early to take away the support the economy still needs - unemployment in the States is still rising, as is expected in the UK until Mid-2010. Consumer confidence and spending is not exactly strong, either. And with the Euro still tumbling thanks to Greece and Merkel, I suspect the UK will be affected by poor exports as well.
And I've not even got to the raising of interest rates yet. Raise that, and people on mortgages would have to spend more of their income on loan repayments, assuming these people still have a job. Also, higher costs of borrowing isn't very helpful to businesses which are planning to reduce their workforce. This could have an impact on aggregate demand, employment, consumer confidence, and ultimately, economic growth.
Oh, and let's not forget what Mervyn King mentioned about the inflation rate in the UK. It was 3.7% CPI, above the 2(±1)% target. Reasons? Well, VAT went back up from 15% to 17.5% in January, oil prices rose 80% y-o-y, and so did food and clothing prices. Mervyn's concern is that at the moment, the upward pressure on prices are short-term, and they are masking the downward pressure on prices as a result of the spare capacity in the economy, created by the recession.
With these factors in mind, I would think interest rates shouldn't go up until GDP growth has stabilised. Get the easy money flowing a bit more. before worrying about an overheating economy.
As for the fiscal policies, the governments would probably know best. They have to calm markets at both ends - on one end, you want to keep spending to get economic growth again; on the other hand, you want to keep bond markets and credit ratings agencies happy by cutting spending/borrowing. It's a balancing act. Looking at Greece, there appears to be strong pressures to cut spending/reduce borrowing. But not so much that the economy enters a double-dip. (PIIGS are an exception, I guess. They MUST cut spending.)
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In other non-Econs news, have you checked out the new BBC iPlayer? It's in testing now, and it'll replace the current design in June/July. One feature that is planned, according to the Financial Times, is the ability to search for content from other networks (BSkyB, ITV, Channel 4, etc.) and click through to those networks' websites (e.g.: 4oD, ITV Player, etc.). Thought that was an interesting tidbit.
Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d293bfe2-68c1-11df-96f1-00144feab49a.html [FT article - may have limited access]
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And in Tech, I highly recommend reading this Ars Technica posting on the state of Intel and their GPUs. For techie Econs student, this could be an example of how monopoly leads to reduced incentives to improve the quality of the product (resources being allocated and used inefficiently in the market, perhaps?).
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And in slightly upsetting news for proponents of 'free news online', The Times & The Sunday Times will start charging visitors to their websites, thetimes.co.uk and sundaytimes.co.uk from June onwards - £2 per week, £1 per day. News Corp. (which owns The Times and Sunday Times) said they will also start charging for their other news websites, The Sun and News of the World, later this year. The rationale for such a move is valid, though. They seem to have a harder time making money off online ad revenues, so they will have to move to a charged model to keep the business running. It'll be interesting to see how this pans out, since there are free alternatives to The Times - Guardian.co.uk (I love their iPhone App, by the way), The Independent, Telegraph.co.uk, just to name a few. I love the Times, so I hope Rupert Murdoch works this one out. Don't get me wrong, I hate the guy for what he stands for politically, and for the power he has in the media circles (he owns Fox News, WSJ, BSkyB, The Sun - most read tabloid in the UK, The Times, and News of the World). But The Times has pretty good cartoonists and columnists. Heck, even Clarkson is writing for The Times!
Monday, 3 May 2010
Eno.
Finally, another item off my New Year's Resolution! I was starting to feel I'm not going to meet any of the remaining items on that list!
Yes, I went to the Brighton Dome yesterday to watch "This is Apollo", part of the Brighton Festival 2010 events that's going on from 1 May to 23 May.
It was interesting to hear how Brian Eno feels about, well, the 60's - the era when man tried everything that they could imagine - travelling to space; developing the Concorde; Andy Warhol, who most notably created an 8-hour film, "Empire" (See Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_(1964_film) ), which basically featured the Empire State Building at night, with the lights going on and off as the cleaners roam around the building; and of course, the Apollo Moon Landing Mission itself. He described the 60's as the time when man tried everything - the drugs, sex, and travel.
Eno also talked about the story behind his compositions - Apollo, which turned out to be a project he got involved with after someone who had access to the Moon landing footages used his "Music for airports" tracks as the soundtrack. He made some new compositions for the Apollo Landing clips - one of the challenges he faced was trying to emulate the sound of space, which, as we know, is silence. The result was his 1983 album, "Apollo". [Spotify: Brian Eno – Apollo iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/apollo-atmospheres-soundtracks/id49814746 ]
He also reminded the audience present last night that his music was not meant to be played 'live' - he just composed them on the computer, looping over and adding/shedding layers as he went along. So, he sent his music to some other composer, got him to write the music for performance, and got BJ Cole and Icebreaker to perform the music last night, accompanied by a condensed, 50-minute film of the Apollo mission, from the entering of the shuttle, to take-off, to the time on the moon, and finally the return journey.
It was an emotional roller-coaster, as you watched and imagine how frightening it must be to be sitting on top of a huge bomb propelling you out of the Earth's atmosphere and being the first few to land on the moon. Yet, at the same time, you see the trio floating about out of their craft, then in their cramped shuttle, and once they landed on the moon, you see them having great difficulties holding objects with their thick gloves. Of course, it wasn't all serious and gloomy - you see the astronauts bunny-hopping so care-freely, and occasionally tripping.
And of course, I got to hear one of Eno's most brilliant compositions - An Ending (Ascent) [Spotify: Brian Eno – An Ending (Ascent) iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/an-ending-ascent/id49814746?i=49814688 ] as the astronauts drifted further away from the earth's atmosphere, and finally as they landed over water.
Oh, by the way, I have to say, what a diverse range of musical instruments they had - from glockenspiel to accordion, from piccolo to electric guitars, from double bass to a pedal steel guitar. Pianos to Sax, and all sorts of other percussion instruments. All these, to emulate the sound of space. Talk about irony!
I must say, this has to be one of the most impressive events that I've been to in a while. The only thing that spoiled it for me was Eno's not-so-brilliant voice as he sang a few tunes after the film. But that's minor, really, compared to how immaculately the music and video complement each other. It's just astoundingly brilliant.
Rating: 4.9/5.
Friday, 16 April 2010
Music to wake up with...
I've been using this Alarm Clock App on my Mac (yes, my Mac, not my iPhone. Link: http://www.robbiehanson.com/alarmclock/index.html ) to wake me up recently. Really lightweight, and it lets you choose a playlist, rather than just a 30s clip as it is on the iPhone, to rock you and keep you dancing as you get out of bed. Just remember to turn up the speaker volume and unplug your earphones/plug in your speakers!
Anyway, thanks to this app, I can now have an excuse to blog again - to make a playlist of tunes to get you out of bed!
1. Take That - Greatest Day
What's better than waking up to hear someone sing to you "Today, this could be the greatest day of our lives"?
2. Angels and Airwaves - The Adventure
Set iTunes to start playing 23 seconds in, and you'll be awaken by a build-up, from the softer percussion instruments, to the electric guitars looming in the background, followed by the cymbals clash and at the end of the build-up, the climax. It's all about the build-up.
3. Sigur Ros - Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
If you speak Icelandic, well I hope this option makes sense. To the rest of us, it has colourful, cheerful, and chirpy qualities. What's not to like?
4. The Wombats - Let's Dance to Joy Division
Nothing like a song that wants to make you jump out of bed and just move about energetically, no matter how foul your mood may be.
5. Black Eyed Peas - Rock That Body
Of course, yet another track to get you looking lively in a minute.
6. will.i.am - It's a New Day
Though this song was meant to mark the Obama campaign and eventual election victory, its title can be taken literally, and what you get is an optimistic track to get the day started right.
7. Jonsí - Go Do
The title is apt - urging you to 'Go Do' whatever it is you should be doing, other than lying in bed. But since the lyrics is hard to comprehend, let's go on the merits of the music itself. It's uplifting, and it contrasts the pumping staccatos of the percussions and the flute with the legato of Jonsí's bright falsetto vocals.
8. McFly - Star Girl
I know this seems like a random choice, but Chris Moyles, the morning breakfast show DJ on BBC Radio 1, has been playing this song every Friday, calling it "McFly-day". No idea how or why, but this song feels appropriate for the occasion - it gets you all prepared for the last working day of the week. Do sing along with the 'Oo-oo-oo-oohhh..." bits to warm up your vocal chords in the morning (especially in the shower!).
So there you go. 8 choice tracks to get you out of bed and into your nice clothes!
Friday, 2 April 2010
Moved!
Phew! What a day!
Yes, I finally moved all my stuff from the place that I've been living in for the past year to the College Residence. Every single thing in my possession, as far as I can tell. To be honest, I can't quite understand how I managed to squeeze all that in one taxi, but there you go!
Anyway, really, really, big thanks to Holly for helping me load, unload and move my stuff, and to Steffie for letting me leave my stuff in her room while I was keyless. Oh, and helping me with my first go at the washing machine & dryer.
Enough talk about moving - it's quite a nightmare today, thanks to the absence of clear direction as to how I should acquire my room keys and new Student Card / Security Pass (which I still don't have). That's the problem with holidays, I guess.
Seriously, let's move on to a new topic. Music.
No pun intended, but I think my music taste is moving, too.
Not quite sure why, but I'm now hooked on Scottish singer/songwriter Amy Macdonald. I only own one of her tracks (thanks to the iTunes Student Giveaway on Facebook 2 years ago). But after Spotifying (I'll trademark that!) her new album "A Curious Thing", I think she's comparable to KT Tunstall, only darker, less euphemisms, and more emotionally expressive. Maybe it's just me, but I kinda like her stuff now, especially the newer ones.
Oh, if you were surprised by that, hold on. I actually like "Plastic Beach", the Gorillaz album. A bit.
To be honest, when I first heard "Stylo" (the first single off the album, so I used this track as a barometer of how the album will 'peak'), I thought to myself: "This is just cheesy synth mixing. I'm not going to like this album". But when I listened to the rest of the album (again, on Spotify), I had to retract the statement. Well, part of it, anyway.
It is cheesy. Don't tell me it isn't. You hear disco clips here and there across the album, and that is cheesy.
But that hasn't stopped me from getting hooked on a few of the tracks. "Some Kind Of Nature" reminds me of The XX - gentle, hushed sounds with almost whispery vocals. And I guess I loved the song even more because of the whole half-rap-over-a-staccato-background action. I also like Rhinestone Eyes and Empire Ants.
To be honest, I think I don't mind hearing this album at a restaurant or pub, or even a radio station. It feels quite laid back and 'relaxing'. Probably makes good muzak (Check the definition of the word 'muzak' if you think that sentence didn't make sense. You might be thankful.).
I've also been listening to Vampire Weekend.
Oh, and I'm also forcing myself to hear more of Anberlin. Because I keep hearing this band name left and right. Let's see how I get on...
K. off to bed.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Music Chart for the moment
Because I haven't done one in ages. This'll be a quick one - I have lessons at 2.20.
Music Chart for the moment - 11 March 2010
1. Chiddy Bang - Opposite of Adults
2. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed
3. Marina and the Diamonds - I Am Not a Robot
4. Black Eyed Peas - Rock That Body
5. Two Door Cinema Club - Eat That Up, It's Good For You
6. Imogen Heap - The Shepherdess
7. Florence and Dizzie Rascal - You've Got The Dirtee Love
8. Biffy Clyro - Many of Horrors
9. Owl City - Fireflies
10. Rihanna - Rude Boy
Oh, by the way, as a bonus, here's a selection of tunes that I've been enjoying, thanks to Spotify & iTunes (mostly Spotify, because I'm too cheap to buy them).
Albums in my Spotify Playlist
Vamipre Weekend - Contra
Jonsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps
Florence & The Machine - Lungs
Singles
Mumford & Suns - Winter Winds
Avril Lavigne - Alice
Regina Spektor - Eet
Gramaphonedzie - Why Don't You
Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)*
*For all the Top Gear fans, this was the track that you would have heard while Jeremy Clarkson was lamenting about the "war against speed" at the end of Season 13, while driving that Aston Vantage V12 along the countryside. This track, on its own, keeps sending goosebumps down my spine, in a good way.
Music Chart for the moment - 11 March 2010
1. Chiddy Bang - Opposite of Adults
2. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed
3. Marina and the Diamonds - I Am Not a Robot
4. Black Eyed Peas - Rock That Body
5. Two Door Cinema Club - Eat That Up, It's Good For You
6. Imogen Heap - The Shepherdess
7. Florence and Dizzie Rascal - You've Got The Dirtee Love
8. Biffy Clyro - Many of Horrors
9. Owl City - Fireflies
10. Rihanna - Rude Boy
Oh, by the way, as a bonus, here's a selection of tunes that I've been enjoying, thanks to Spotify & iTunes (mostly Spotify, because I'm too cheap to buy them).
Albums in my Spotify Playlist
Vamipre Weekend - Contra
Jonsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps
Florence & The Machine - Lungs
Singles
Stereophonnics - Innocent
Mumford & Suns - Winter Winds
Avril Lavigne - Alice
Regina Spektor - Eet
Gramaphonedzie - Why Don't You
Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)*
*For all the Top Gear fans, this was the track that you would have heard while Jeremy Clarkson was lamenting about the "war against speed" at the end of Season 13, while driving that Aston Vantage V12 along the countryside. This track, on its own, keeps sending goosebumps down my spine, in a good way.
Friday, 5 March 2010
Study aids.
I don't think I've ever given sensible advice for studying. (That James Wee guy who did that whole email interview with me probably found that out when he knew I sleep in the weirdest of times.)
But this time, I'm actually giving sensible tips. Yes, I'm introducing you to 3 web tools that I think will help you in whatever it is that you're studying/working on. You might have heard of some of them, but if you haven't, read on. And if you've heard of the first one, I still want you to read it.
1. Google Docs.
http://docs.google.com
We all know that Google Docs is amazing as a Microsoft Office alternative. It's got most of the features, plus it's online, with more collaboration features, and free.
Well, what you probably didn't know is that it can be used to do forms and surveys! Yes, all you JC students with your project works and Survey Monkey stuff. You can use Google Docs to create surveys, embed some code that it generates on a website/blog, and the responses get tabulated "automagically" in a nice table. Just follow the instructions on this link and collect those quantitative/qualitative data (it's a form tool, so it can collect both.)
I tried using it to collect the study hours from the people in my cell group last time (N422), and it worked quite well, except for the part where some people didn't really key in their details. But the point is, people used it, and they didn't have much problems. So, it should work with your project, too! Give it a shot!
2. del.icio.us
http://del.cico.us (or else, http://www.delicious.com )
I've tried this tool ages ago, and then I stopped using it after 3 log-ins. But recently, I found myself actually using it as a handy go-anywhere bookmarking tool that I can use for saving links to articles that I can share during Psychology class (see my del.icio.us page for an example of a real-life application of this tool - I saved 2 links for my Psychology class, which was doing Gender Behaviours).
The basic idea is that you put links into Del.icio.us in the same way you'd put into your bookmark bar. Then, when you're on a different computer, those bookmarks will be on a handy website, ready for you to access. You can also use it to share links with others, or subscribe to certain tags. The MacBreak Weekly Podcast team used to (and I think still does) use del.icio.us to gather news stories and picks to talk about during their show by asking people to tag "MBWideas". That's one possible application of this web tool.
Go ahead. Try it. See if it meets your needs.
3. Dropbox.
http://www.dropbox.com
Dropbox is to the thumbdrive what Del.icio.us is to the bookmark bar, and what Google Docs is to Microsoft Office. It's an online storage solution. And a generous one, too. 2GB for free! And, if you introduce 4 other friends to Dropbox via a referral programme (click here for my referral!), you could get up to an additional 256MB*4=1GB!
It's really handy if you're too lazy to dangle a thumbdrive wherever you go. Just make sure there's an internet connection on the PC where you intend to access the files!
There you go! I hope that helps!
[p.s.: I'm on the school PC. For some reason, it forces me to type URLs in posts manually, but allows hyperlinks. That's why I only post full links for those which I can remember in my STM/LTM. Sorry if this post looked a bit "phishy".]
But this time, I'm actually giving sensible tips. Yes, I'm introducing you to 3 web tools that I think will help you in whatever it is that you're studying/working on. You might have heard of some of them, but if you haven't, read on. And if you've heard of the first one, I still want you to read it.
1. Google Docs.
http://docs.google.com
We all know that Google Docs is amazing as a Microsoft Office alternative. It's got most of the features, plus it's online, with more collaboration features, and free.
Well, what you probably didn't know is that it can be used to do forms and surveys! Yes, all you JC students with your project works and Survey Monkey stuff. You can use Google Docs to create surveys, embed some code that it generates on a website/blog, and the responses get tabulated "automagically" in a nice table. Just follow the instructions on this link and collect those quantitative/qualitative data (it's a form tool, so it can collect both.)
I tried using it to collect the study hours from the people in my cell group last time (N422), and it worked quite well, except for the part where some people didn't really key in their details. But the point is, people used it, and they didn't have much problems. So, it should work with your project, too! Give it a shot!
2. del.icio.us
http://del.cico.us (or else, http://www.delicious.com )
I've tried this tool ages ago, and then I stopped using it after 3 log-ins. But recently, I found myself actually using it as a handy go-anywhere bookmarking tool that I can use for saving links to articles that I can share during Psychology class (see my del.icio.us page for an example of a real-life application of this tool - I saved 2 links for my Psychology class, which was doing Gender Behaviours).
The basic idea is that you put links into Del.icio.us in the same way you'd put into your bookmark bar. Then, when you're on a different computer, those bookmarks will be on a handy website, ready for you to access. You can also use it to share links with others, or subscribe to certain tags. The MacBreak Weekly Podcast team used to (and I think still does) use del.icio.us to gather news stories and picks to talk about during their show by asking people to tag "MBWideas". That's one possible application of this web tool.
Go ahead. Try it. See if it meets your needs.
3. Dropbox.
http://www.dropbox.com
Dropbox is to the thumbdrive what Del.icio.us is to the bookmark bar, and what Google Docs is to Microsoft Office. It's an online storage solution. And a generous one, too. 2GB for free! And, if you introduce 4 other friends to Dropbox via a referral programme (click here for my referral!), you could get up to an additional 256MB*4=1GB!
It's really handy if you're too lazy to dangle a thumbdrive wherever you go. Just make sure there's an internet connection on the PC where you intend to access the files!
There you go! I hope that helps!
[p.s.: I'm on the school PC. For some reason, it forces me to type URLs in posts manually, but allows hyperlinks. That's why I only post full links for those which I can remember in my STM/LTM. Sorry if this post looked a bit "phishy".]
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Stuff I've been hooked on recently.
This is going to be one of my meta posts - I just post a random list of stuff that I've been hooked on, and you get to try some of them.
Yep. It's that simple.
Anyway, Let's start with Music.
Been listening to a few artistes that I've recently been introduced to / come across. Ellie Goulding, Marina and the Diamonds, Stereophonics, Phoenix, The xx. At the same time, I'm getting hooked on stuff that's been in the middle of my commute playlist - in other words, the part that I never really get to on a normal day, beacuse I set my playlist to be so darn long. Florence & The Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" have been ringing in my ears.
Oh, for all the Imogen Heap fans out there, she's jsut uploaded this track called "The Shepherdess", created and recorded 'live' at her recent gig in Shepherd's Bush. Do go over to her website and download it if you have a credit card - the proceeds go to a local hospital in London. Apparently, Immi's trying this out - recording tracks and selling them on her site, giving the proceeds to a local charitable organisation of her choice.
Moving on, let's talk about iPhone Apps.
As many of you know, I've been using TuneIn Radio and Sleep Cycle really really often recently - probably the most used app, along with TweetDeck, Facebook, Engadget and The Guardian apps. Games-wise, I've gone geek again, recently - World Maths Day 2010 is on my phone, people. And if you have never downloaded Toobz-Free, where have you been? It's probably one of my favourite free apps on the App Store.
There's also Riddim Ribbon, which just added... drum roll, please.... .... ... 1 more track! Well, when I say 1, what I really mean is 1 remix of 2 BEP tracks - Imma Bee, and Rock That Body (another one of my 'hooked-onto-recently' tracks). But at least we know Tapulous is working on stuff for Riddim Ribbon. So go get it!
Oh, and if you're in the UK, and you're looking for the best rail guide app, there's no looking elsewhere - National Railway and CrossCountry are both great when used together. One's £4.99, the other's $0.00. Get 'em both when you're planning a train journey/checking train times!
That's all for now. Gotta rush to class!
Yep. It's that simple.
Anyway, Let's start with Music.
Been listening to a few artistes that I've recently been introduced to / come across. Ellie Goulding, Marina and the Diamonds, Stereophonics, Phoenix, The xx. At the same time, I'm getting hooked on stuff that's been in the middle of my commute playlist - in other words, the part that I never really get to on a normal day, beacuse I set my playlist to be so darn long. Florence & The Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" have been ringing in my ears.
Oh, for all the Imogen Heap fans out there, she's jsut uploaded this track called "The Shepherdess", created and recorded 'live' at her recent gig in Shepherd's Bush. Do go over to her website and download it if you have a credit card - the proceeds go to a local hospital in London. Apparently, Immi's trying this out - recording tracks and selling them on her site, giving the proceeds to a local charitable organisation of her choice.
Moving on, let's talk about iPhone Apps.
As many of you know, I've been using TuneIn Radio and Sleep Cycle really really often recently - probably the most used app, along with TweetDeck, Facebook, Engadget and The Guardian apps. Games-wise, I've gone geek again, recently - World Maths Day 2010 is on my phone, people. And if you have never downloaded Toobz-Free, where have you been? It's probably one of my favourite free apps on the App Store.
There's also Riddim Ribbon, which just added... drum roll, please.... .... ... 1 more track! Well, when I say 1, what I really mean is 1 remix of 2 BEP tracks - Imma Bee, and Rock That Body (another one of my 'hooked-onto-recently' tracks). But at least we know Tapulous is working on stuff for Riddim Ribbon. So go get it!
Oh, and if you're in the UK, and you're looking for the best rail guide app, there's no looking elsewhere - National Railway and CrossCountry are both great when used together. One's £4.99, the other's $0.00. Get 'em both when you're planning a train journey/checking train times!
That's all for now. Gotta rush to class!
Friday, 26 February 2010
On the iPlayer and the whiny cinema directors.
Just been flipping through today's papers. Read one article that got me flipping (i.e.: upset), and another that gave me an idea.
First, the flipper.
If you haven't heard, some cinemas in Europe have chosen to boycott Tim Burton's latest creation, an adaptation of "Alice In Wonderland". The reason? Because Disney Studios were planning on releasing the movie on DVD 12 weeks after the release of the movie, instead of the standard 17 weeks. Odeon, one of the largest movie chains in the UK, gave the excuse that they've invested into the latest 3D technology, and now Disney is ruining their game by pushing ahead with an earlier DVD release. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I know, you don't get 3D on a DVD, and even if you do get it on a Blu-Ray, the typical consumer still can't enjoy it in the full 3D experience. So what has Odeon got to worry about? Why are they so afraid of people not going to the cinema just because they know the DVD version will be out earlier?
Just to clarify, most movies stop screening in a cinema by the 12th week. Then consumers hear nothing about the movie until its DVD release. From the studio's perspective, I understand why they want to try and get the movie onto DVD earlier - so they can take advantage of the momentum etc. But what about the cinemas? Why did they choose to go so far as to boycott a hotly-tipped movie, jsut because it'll come out on DVD earlier? I mean, do what you like, but it'll be a lose-lose situation. If the cinemas don't screen the movie, they lose out on revenue. People don't get to enjoy the movie in 3D. The creators don't get to share their hard work with anyone except themselves. Then the studio don't earn anything from the box offices. But they can still sell the DVDs, and consumers get a compromise - they get the DVD and not the 3D, but with the added benefit of a lower price.
Bottom line: European cinema executives are arrogant control-freaks who don't know how to do business.
Now let's move on before I erupt into a mega-rant.
I was reading an article on how the BBC heads might be scaling back the corporation. Amongst the things mentioned (e.g.: cutting Radio 6 Music, axeing 25% of the web team), one that caught my eyes was their plan to somehow halve the iPlayer site.
Now, the article didn't mention how this was goign to be executed, but as a tech-head, I thought I could offer some suggestions to the Beeb on ways it could streamline and improve the iPlayer.
Firstly, HTML 5. They must start looking into the future. Google has started experimenting with HTML 5, so much so that they actually abandoned their efforts in Google Gears (their application to let users use the other Google Apps, such as Google Docs, offline) as their sign of confidence in HTML 5 as the web standard of the future. I can go on about the benefits of HTML 5, but honestly, I think the iPlayer must get off Flash. It cripples people's computers, especially with the HD programmes, and it's not open.
Thirdly, host elsewhere. Get deals with YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook to host your content. Offload some of the burden on third-party video content companies. Channel 4 has already done so by putting up their shows on YouTube. The BBC should try doing the same if it wants to reduce its own bandwidth costs.
Well, these are just a couple of ideas that twirled in my head. Of course, there will be the issue of control - DRM, piracy, and the BBC's strange 7-days-before-we-remove-this-content policy. But if Apple could put DRM on digital music, surely the BBC can make sure only license fee-payers get access to those YouTube streams...
Well, that's just my penny's worth...
First, the flipper.
If you haven't heard, some cinemas in Europe have chosen to boycott Tim Burton's latest creation, an adaptation of "Alice In Wonderland". The reason? Because Disney Studios were planning on releasing the movie on DVD 12 weeks after the release of the movie, instead of the standard 17 weeks. Odeon, one of the largest movie chains in the UK, gave the excuse that they've invested into the latest 3D technology, and now Disney is ruining their game by pushing ahead with an earlier DVD release. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I know, you don't get 3D on a DVD, and even if you do get it on a Blu-Ray, the typical consumer still can't enjoy it in the full 3D experience. So what has Odeon got to worry about? Why are they so afraid of people not going to the cinema just because they know the DVD version will be out earlier?
Just to clarify, most movies stop screening in a cinema by the 12th week. Then consumers hear nothing about the movie until its DVD release. From the studio's perspective, I understand why they want to try and get the movie onto DVD earlier - so they can take advantage of the momentum etc. But what about the cinemas? Why did they choose to go so far as to boycott a hotly-tipped movie, jsut because it'll come out on DVD earlier? I mean, do what you like, but it'll be a lose-lose situation. If the cinemas don't screen the movie, they lose out on revenue. People don't get to enjoy the movie in 3D. The creators don't get to share their hard work with anyone except themselves. Then the studio don't earn anything from the box offices. But they can still sell the DVDs, and consumers get a compromise - they get the DVD and not the 3D, but with the added benefit of a lower price.
Bottom line: European cinema executives are arrogant control-freaks who don't know how to do business.
Now let's move on before I erupt into a mega-rant.
I was reading an article on how the BBC heads might be scaling back the corporation. Amongst the things mentioned (e.g.: cutting Radio 6 Music, axeing 25% of the web team), one that caught my eyes was their plan to somehow halve the iPlayer site.
Now, the article didn't mention how this was goign to be executed, but as a tech-head, I thought I could offer some suggestions to the Beeb on ways it could streamline and improve the iPlayer.
Firstly, HTML 5. They must start looking into the future. Google has started experimenting with HTML 5, so much so that they actually abandoned their efforts in Google Gears (their application to let users use the other Google Apps, such as Google Docs, offline) as their sign of confidence in HTML 5 as the web standard of the future. I can go on about the benefits of HTML 5, but honestly, I think the iPlayer must get off Flash. It cripples people's computers, especially with the HD programmes, and it's not open.
Secondly, the encoding. The BBC already has H.264 streams for the iPhone and many other mobile devices. If it could somehow reduce the number of files they host, such that there's one version that's suitable for various platforms, I think they could save on not just the amount of data required to run iPlayer, but also the encoding time to get from tape to web. Think about it -
- one encoding for the Mobile (iPhone/iPod/Blackberry/Android/PSP/Archos) platform,
- one for the desktop/SD platform (PC/Mac/PS3/Wii),
- and one for the HD-ready (PC/Mac/PS3).
- iPhone OS,
- Windows DRM for WinMo/Archos,
- Wii iPlayer,
- Flash webpage,
- Adobe Air,
- HD Flash webpage,
- HD Adobe Air,
- etc. ...
Thirdly, host elsewhere. Get deals with YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook to host your content. Offload some of the burden on third-party video content companies. Channel 4 has already done so by putting up their shows on YouTube. The BBC should try doing the same if it wants to reduce its own bandwidth costs.
Well, these are just a couple of ideas that twirled in my head. Of course, there will be the issue of control - DRM, piracy, and the BBC's strange 7-days-before-we-remove-this-content policy. But if Apple could put DRM on digital music, surely the BBC can make sure only license fee-payers get access to those YouTube streams...
Well, that's just my penny's worth...
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Tip of the moment: HTML 5 Youtube
Not quite sure how many of you have heard, but YouTube has introduced HTML5 onto their site not too long ago. This is actually great news for people who are getting sick and tired of Flash eating up CPU cycles.
So, what's the difference? Well, for one, you're substituting Adobe Flash, a proprietary technology that's developed by Adobe, with HTML5, a open standard for web design. One major benefit of HTML5 is that because it's more up-to-date and designed with today's internet usage in mind, it's geared better towards things like YouTube HD than, say Adobe Flash, which has only been building up more and more complex features since its conception in an unsustainable manner.
Just did some eyeball (non-scientific) tests here, and I found myself going from ~77% CPU usage for YouTube HD on Adobe Flash to less than 15% when on HTML 5. That means I still can do other things SMOOTHLY while the video is buffering.
Youtube's HTML5 implementation is still a bit experimental at the moment - You can't do fullscreen, and it won't be loaded on videos with ads. (You'll still see Flash for such videos). But when you fire up a HD, ad-free video like my montage of my visit to SG, you'll be enjoying it without taxing your CPU too much.
Also note that it's only supported by the latest HTML5-compliant browsers with h.264 codec., like Google Chrome (or IE w/ Google Chrome Frame) and Safari 4.
I recommend giving it a shot if you hate Flash, like Mr Steven P Jobs.
Opt-in at http://www.youtube.com/html5
Also check out http://www.youtube.com/testtube for other work-in-progress BETA stuff!
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Albums to look out for...
Been looking through the newsletter from a local CD store (yes, I still visit those things, even though I never buy anything from them). Seems like there's quite a lot to look forward to over the coming few weeks...
15 Feb: Owl City - Ocean Eyes.
For everyone outside the UK, stop laughing at us (as in the people in the UK). We still don't have Owl City's album. But that's about to change next Monday, when Adam Young & Co.'s music finally gets released on a full album, both physical and digital. For those of you who are completely baffled by the term "Owl City", it's the name of a project/band that's mainly centred around this insomniac from Minnesota who goes by the name of Adam Young. He taps away at his laptop and musical instruments in the basement while awake, mixing up some awesome tunes, uploaded to Myspace, got really popular, and is now on charts and sell-out concerts. Typical MySpace Cinderella Story.
22 Feb: Marina & the Diamonds - Family Jewels.
Half Greek, half Welsh, and slightly obsessed with American/Hollywood Pop Culture. Seems like female solo artistes are developing the habit of adopting a stage name that fits the format "[First name] and the [noun]" (Florence and the machine, Marina and the diamonds, what's next? Diana and the Roses, which sounds a bit like "Diana Ross"?) Naming aside, Marina has the potential to become one of the big names in 2010, as predicted by pundits who were nominating people for the BBC Sound of 2010 title (She was a runner-up). Judging from the singles that she has released so far, she sounds cheeky, perky and fun. A nice change from the emo stuff we've been having from Flo+TM, I guess.
1 Mar: Ellie Goulding - Lights
Remember me talking about the BBC Sound of 2010 award just 2 paragraphs ago? Well, this is the winner. Ellie Goulding, an artiste whom you probably never heard of before, but if things go well for her, she might just be the next Little Boots! Now, describing her music is not easy, since there's only 3 tracks that I can find at the moment. I would compare her to Regina Spektor and Florence & the Machine - she has airy vocals (though it's not too bad), and her range does go quite high.
8 Mar: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
I must confess, I'm not really a big fan of Gorillaz's music (with the exception of Dare and Feel Good Inc.). The only thing I like about them is their music videos and their use of those cartoon characters. But hey, it's the Gorillaz, and they're back after 3-5 years of 'silence' with a new album. Worth checking out, I guess. Especially if you're a Gorillaz fan.
22 Mar: Jónsi - Go
Jónsi, for those of you who aren't aware, is the lead in Sigur Rós, the Icelandic band responsible for one of the most beautiful piece of music in the last decade, Hoppípolla. Yes, the falsetto guy. He's been working on some solo stuff, and it'll all be revealed on 22 Mar. For now, you can look around YouTube and listen to (or if you're lucky/late enough, view the MV) to one of the tracks from his album, "Go Do". Really bizarre, yet in a Lady Gaga way, fascinating music video.
Jónsi - Go Do from Jónsi on Vimeo.
By the way, I think he's singing in English. I think.
Right, that's what I'll be looking forward to over the next few weeks!
By the way, 16 March is the Brits Award. Look out for that, too!
Friday, 12 February 2010
Google.
This will be a short one - I promise.
I look at Google today, coming up with all these new 'social networks' like Wave, Buzz, etc. But somehow, it doesn't excite me as much as, oh, I don't know, Facebook and Twitter.
Maybe I'm being overly critical and pessimistic, but seriously, does anyone outside 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway use these things? If you do, I'd be really interested to hear how you use them, and how often.
My problem is that whatever Google comes up with, none of my friends really use them. Sure, it may be superior over Twitter in a million ways, and it's much cleaner than Facebook, but I just don't see myself using it to socialise, because it's a ghost-town there! At least I have a few twitteratis on Twitter, and 401+ friends on Facebook. But on Google Wave? Less than 5. And I doubt Buzz will do any better.
And as I tweeted before -Buzz seems to have some privacy issue. I was on the bus, on my way home, and out of curiosity, I logged on to Buzz on my iPhone. What was the first thing I saw? A map of recent 'buzzes' from a guy who didn't like a light show down at the Pier near where I was, from 15 hours ago. That's a bit too much open-ness, if you ask me. And I know Twitter has the same feature, but at least the UI is quite clean, so you know roughly where to look if you want to turn of Geotagging. On Google Buzz? I don't even know how I read my friends' Buzz Profile page!
Oh, on the topic of Google, I'd love to see them build a 1Gbps Fiber network.
I look at Google today, coming up with all these new 'social networks' like Wave, Buzz, etc. But somehow, it doesn't excite me as much as, oh, I don't know, Facebook and Twitter.
Maybe I'm being overly critical and pessimistic, but seriously, does anyone outside 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway use these things? If you do, I'd be really interested to hear how you use them, and how often.
My problem is that whatever Google comes up with, none of my friends really use them. Sure, it may be superior over Twitter in a million ways, and it's much cleaner than Facebook, but I just don't see myself using it to socialise, because it's a ghost-town there! At least I have a few twitteratis on Twitter, and 401+ friends on Facebook. But on Google Wave? Less than 5. And I doubt Buzz will do any better.
And as I tweeted before -Buzz seems to have some privacy issue. I was on the bus, on my way home, and out of curiosity, I logged on to Buzz on my iPhone. What was the first thing I saw? A map of recent 'buzzes' from a guy who didn't like a light show down at the Pier near where I was, from 15 hours ago. That's a bit too much open-ness, if you ask me. And I know Twitter has the same feature, but at least the UI is quite clean, so you know roughly where to look if you want to turn of Geotagging. On Google Buzz? I don't even know how I read my friends' Buzz Profile page!
Oh, on the topic of Google, I'd love to see them build a 1Gbps Fiber network.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
iPhone App Reviews...
I promised Ryan (Ren Yuan) that I'd do an iPhone app review blog post.
Well, to be honest, I don't know what a good format of an app review post should be. (Hey, this blog is experimental, after all.) So I'm going to play around with the format. AppJudgement has their "Download/Don't Download" judgement, and I, well, have a phletora of options to choose from. But as a first post (and because I'm on the school PC, which means I can't hook up my iPhone to get screenshots), I'll just do a quick bout of app names, what they do, a couple of thoughts/opinions, and a score, plus a "usage frequency" rating - how often I actually use the app in my day-to-day life.
So, here goes!
App: Moodagent
What it does:
Generates Playlists based on 5 different 'mood' ratings - think of it as Genius playlist generator with mood.
Thoughts:
You need more than 25 non-obscure songs to use this app fully. In my experience, the app is well-thought-out. Once you generate a playlist, you can save it, or even play the playlist when you leave the app (it plays in the iPod app), or if you find another song from which you want to generate a playlist, you can select an icon next to the song, and it'll make a playlist with the same mood as that song. Otherwise, play around with the scales and the app will create a playlist.
The scales' significance can be a bit vague at times, but otherwise, it works as well, if not better, than Genius, as long as you don't listen to really obscure stuff.
Pricing: Free (as at time of posting)
App Score: 4/5
Usage frequency: rarely - I don't make playlists that often, unfortunately. I just set it and forget it.
App: Riddim Ribbon
What it does:
It's a new game from Tapulous, the creators of the ubiquitous Tap Tap Revenge that every iPhone or iPod touch has probably had on its home screen at least once in one iteration or another. This game is still music-based, except that it tries to emulate DJ Hero rather than Rock Band. You tilt the phone from side to side as you try to keep a ball on the track (ha! no pun intended). Stray off or hit the obstacles and you lose energy, which means you can't jump over to the next stage in the music.
Thoughts:
The 'Fail' system in this game can be a bit harsh and demoralising for new gamers (and let's admit it - that's a lot of us, considering how new this genre is). If you hit one of the obstacles jsut before the checkpoint, you'll lose energy and fail automatically - this is compared to its cousins, Guitar Hero, where if you miss a couple of times, regardless of section, you can still try to fight your way back to the green while the crowd jeers at you.
Also, maybe it's just me not gaming enough on my iPhone, but there can be a steep learning curve when trying to play this game. As a guide, think of the two dotted lines in the track as fulcrums. If you keep your phone in the normal position, you'll be in the exact middle of those two dotted lines. Tilt slightly to one side, and you'll get on the dotted line. Tilt further, and you'll stray out and onto the outer lane. A bit like changing lanes on a highway, except you have to keep the phone tilted to stay in a lane.
Oh, one more complaint - This game has been in development for some time now, why are there so few music tracks to play with? Only 3 BEP tracks and a few downloadable Tiesto tracks? Where's the Gaga? Owl City? Come on! Bring them over from TTR!
Pricing: £1.79 in the UK as at posting. Downloadables approximately £0.59.
App Score: 4/5. If they had more tracks to play with, I would give 5/5.
Usage Frequency: Often - I'm hooked on this game!
App: Sleep Cycle
What it does: In 3 words: Glorified Alarm Clock. More specifically: It uses the accelerometer in the iPhone (apparently, not iPod touch compatible) to detect movements while you're asleep. Based on these movements, it interprets whether you're in your deep REM sleep, awake, or dreaming. When it senses that you're in your 'light sleep', it sounds the alarm.
Thoughts:
This app will not suit everyone. You'll need to be able to put your iPhone on your bed, next to your head, and it should be charged unless you want a flat battery the next day. (oh, and if you have a Tempur bed, this app won't work.) And let's not even get into the radiation talk. Also, maybe it's just me being pedantic, but this morning, the app woke me up at 7.26 - that's 19 minutes before the time I intended to wake up! I wanted a nice snooze after I saw the time, but no, the app asks for me to get off my lazy bum, even though I only had 5 hours sleep the night before.
Also, a bit TMI, much? Why do I need to see that I dream at 2-3am?
But I have to say, for someone who's a bit OCD like myself, this app is fascinating in the "I want to know everything even if it's dumb or inaccurate" sense. And from what I see, it appears to work on me.
Pricing: £0.59 (look out for the LexWare Labs AB one. That's the one I tested, so that's the only one I can tell you about.)
App Score: 4/5 - The radiation is a concern for me.
Usage Frequency: Nightly. I'm really interested in how this app works and analyzes my physiological patterns when I'm sleeping/about to sleep/getting up. Even though I'm exposing myself to even more radiation, on top of what my MacBook Pro emits.
Well, to be honest, I don't know what a good format of an app review post should be. (Hey, this blog is experimental, after all.) So I'm going to play around with the format. AppJudgement has their "Download/Don't Download" judgement, and I, well, have a phletora of options to choose from. But as a first post (and because I'm on the school PC, which means I can't hook up my iPhone to get screenshots), I'll just do a quick bout of app names, what they do, a couple of thoughts/opinions, and a score, plus a "usage frequency" rating - how often I actually use the app in my day-to-day life.
So, here goes!
App: Moodagent
What it does:
Generates Playlists based on 5 different 'mood' ratings - think of it as Genius playlist generator with mood.
Thoughts:
You need more than 25 non-obscure songs to use this app fully. In my experience, the app is well-thought-out. Once you generate a playlist, you can save it, or even play the playlist when you leave the app (it plays in the iPod app), or if you find another song from which you want to generate a playlist, you can select an icon next to the song, and it'll make a playlist with the same mood as that song. Otherwise, play around with the scales and the app will create a playlist.
The scales' significance can be a bit vague at times, but otherwise, it works as well, if not better, than Genius, as long as you don't listen to really obscure stuff.
Pricing: Free (as at time of posting)
App Score: 4/5
Usage frequency: rarely - I don't make playlists that often, unfortunately. I just set it and forget it.
App: Riddim Ribbon
What it does:
It's a new game from Tapulous, the creators of the ubiquitous Tap Tap Revenge that every iPhone or iPod touch has probably had on its home screen at least once in one iteration or another. This game is still music-based, except that it tries to emulate DJ Hero rather than Rock Band. You tilt the phone from side to side as you try to keep a ball on the track (ha! no pun intended). Stray off or hit the obstacles and you lose energy, which means you can't jump over to the next stage in the music.
Thoughts:
The 'Fail' system in this game can be a bit harsh and demoralising for new gamers (and let's admit it - that's a lot of us, considering how new this genre is). If you hit one of the obstacles jsut before the checkpoint, you'll lose energy and fail automatically - this is compared to its cousins, Guitar Hero, where if you miss a couple of times, regardless of section, you can still try to fight your way back to the green while the crowd jeers at you.
Also, maybe it's just me not gaming enough on my iPhone, but there can be a steep learning curve when trying to play this game. As a guide, think of the two dotted lines in the track as fulcrums. If you keep your phone in the normal position, you'll be in the exact middle of those two dotted lines. Tilt slightly to one side, and you'll get on the dotted line. Tilt further, and you'll stray out and onto the outer lane. A bit like changing lanes on a highway, except you have to keep the phone tilted to stay in a lane.
Oh, one more complaint - This game has been in development for some time now, why are there so few music tracks to play with? Only 3 BEP tracks and a few downloadable Tiesto tracks? Where's the Gaga? Owl City? Come on! Bring them over from TTR!
Pricing: £1.79 in the UK as at posting. Downloadables approximately £0.59.
App Score: 4/5. If they had more tracks to play with, I would give 5/5.
Usage Frequency: Often - I'm hooked on this game!
App: Sleep Cycle
What it does: In 3 words: Glorified Alarm Clock. More specifically: It uses the accelerometer in the iPhone (apparently, not iPod touch compatible) to detect movements while you're asleep. Based on these movements, it interprets whether you're in your deep REM sleep, awake, or dreaming. When it senses that you're in your 'light sleep', it sounds the alarm.
Thoughts:
This app will not suit everyone. You'll need to be able to put your iPhone on your bed, next to your head, and it should be charged unless you want a flat battery the next day. (oh, and if you have a Tempur bed, this app won't work.) And let's not even get into the radiation talk. Also, maybe it's just me being pedantic, but this morning, the app woke me up at 7.26 - that's 19 minutes before the time I intended to wake up! I wanted a nice snooze after I saw the time, but no, the app asks for me to get off my lazy bum, even though I only had 5 hours sleep the night before.
Also, a bit TMI, much? Why do I need to see that I dream at 2-3am?
But I have to say, for someone who's a bit OCD like myself, this app is fascinating in the "I want to know everything even if it's dumb or inaccurate" sense. And from what I see, it appears to work on me.
Pricing: £0.59 (look out for the LexWare Labs AB one. That's the one I tested, so that's the only one I can tell you about.)
App Score: 4/5 - The radiation is a concern for me.
Usage Frequency: Nightly. I'm really interested in how this app works and analyzes my physiological patterns when I'm sleeping/about to sleep/getting up. Even though I'm exposing myself to even more radiation, on top of what my MacBook Pro emits.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
My opinions on the iPad, post-announcement.
By the time this post goes out, I'd have seen the full Apple Keynote in video (Download link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=275834665&subMediaType=Video).
By the time this post goes out, I'd also have read some of the opinions the man on the street or in the Media circle.
So, I thought I'd post a round-up of the flaws, the commendable, and the questions for debating on Facebook or my tagboard.
But first,
The Flaws.
It's an Apple First-Gen product. Which means they're bound to create an imperfect product - that's how they make money from the army of fanboys and early-adopters. And here's my top few...
1. No Multi-tasking.
One of my friends (Ren Yuan) pointed out that, yes, the iPad has Keynote and Pages, so in theory, you can start tapping reports away on this thing. But what if you need to do some research in Safari? What if you're preparing a Bibliography - you're going to go back and forth between Pages and Safari, copying and pasting, waiting for one app to open for every single bit you copy. That's going to be tedious. And what if you want to listen to Pandora/Streaming Radio/Last.fm while making a Keynote presentation? The problem is that Apple hates to make an App-killer - it shows that their OS can be unstable, like Windows or OS X.
2. No (Adobe) Flash.
If you watched the announcements, you'd see that the audience chuckled when Steve loaded NYT.com - you see the little blue lego block with a white '?' on it. You saw Steve try to swipe the icon away as that happened. Come ON! Get Adobe to port Flash over, already! [p.s.: If you watched Steve Jobs' intro before Schiller went on stage to talk about iWork, he said something about the iWork requiring lots of horsepower. Maybe it's just me, but I saw that as a prompt from Jobs to Adobe, asking them to get their act together and make Flash stable on OS X Snow Leopard first if they want to come on board.]
3. Lack of Content. Worldwide.
Perhaps this was because Apple kind-of rushed some last-minute content deals to avoid leaks (*stares sternly at McGraw-Hill*). But seriously? US-only iBooks Store? No newspapers/magazine subscription? No textbooks?
4. The Screen resolution.
1024x768 = 4:3 = stupid resolution. That's supposed to be extinct when the CRT died. Maybe it's to keep costs low, but I really wished they got a widescreen aspect ratio instead. Your "Star Trek" or "Up!" will look really letter-boxed. And what's with the stupid bezel? It's so thick! Couldn't they trim that a bit more to recude the footprint?
5. MicroSIM?!
Apple is brilliant at locking things down, it seems. iPhone 1 was locked to AT&T/O2, their OS X is locked to the Mac and the Mac was locked to OS X, iTunes had DRM, etc. Now that they're selling iPad (the 3G model) unlocked, you'd think that equates to them raising the flag and giving up over the lockdown game. But then, they come up with a right-hook - MicroSIM means you can't slot in your current data SIM in it - you must BUY from SPECIFIC carriers who sell them. URGH! SO FRUSTRATING!
6. The Name.
iSlate was so much better - original, unique, and most importantly, trademark-able. iPad, apparently, is Fujitsu's trademark in the US. Expect negotiations and possibly lawsuits.
[annoyingly, I thought of why Apple called the iPad the iPad. Think about it - from the iMac and iPod, take all the letters of 'iPod' except the 'o', and put in its place, the 'a' from 'iMac'. It's a portable device (like iPod), but it has horsepower and major computing capabilities (like iMac). It's meant to be the device that's between your iPhone and your Mac. The average of the two extremes = iPad. Get it?]
The Commendable.
On the bright side, the iPad has some strengths worth mentioning.
1. The Pricetag.
$499 to $829?! Enough said. Say goodbye to those cheap and not cheerful, underpowered, plasticky Netbooks. Move over, overly-posh Vaio/Thinkpad X-series or MacBook Air. Say hello to iPad.
2. Money-making machine.
They really thought about the accessories you'll need for this thing, didn't they? Stand, Keyboard Stand, case-cum-stand, Dock-connector-to-camera adaptor, Dock-connector-to-VGA adaptor, etc. Oh, and Apps. $9.99 x 3 for iWork, and game devs are going to get another chance to make money. Oh, and let's not forget the latest addition to the iTunes family - iBooks. They've created a mall around the iPad!
3. iWork on a tablet.
That'll make the device more attractive to students, doctors, insurance agents, news presenters, etc. Oh, and thanks to Brushes, artists might start striking Wacoms off their wishlist and get this instead.
4. ePub.
For the technologically-challenged, ePub is not an electronic pub where you can order electronic drinks and get electronically drunk, before you get eHangovered the next day as you realised how much you spent on eDrinks. It's not like Farmville. No, ePub is a new open standard for eBooks. So you can take all the eBooks you bought from iBooks, and bring it onto your other eBook readers, like the Sony ones. Think of ePub as DRM-free eBooks.
[Correction: apparently, (according to a quote from a disgruntled Adobe blogger via daringfireball.net, at least) Apple is applying DRM on their ePubs. aww...]
5. The Jack-of-all-trades gadget.
The iPad does a lot of things - eBooks reader, gaming device, music/video player, netbook, photo frame, telephone book, diary, notebook, TV, portable storage drive (albeit a clunky one), Wacom-tablet replacement. They're really blurring the lines with this device - what category do you fit this into, other than a tablet?
6. Unlocked!
Not only is there a 3G-less version, but the 3G version is unlocked and not tied to any contracts! (though, yes, it has a hardware lock in the form of a smaller SIM slot, but since it's a new standard, I'd expect more phones and telcos to switch to MicroSIM in the near future.)
The Questions.
I still don't know how to call on these points, so I thought you should write your opinions on these points. What do you think about these aspects of the iPad?
1. The screen?
I'm not talking about the resolution - it's so 20th century, no questions asked. I'm interested in hearing what you think about the 9.7" size and the IPS technology. Is 9.7" too big, because it doesn't fit in your jeans? Or maybe it's too small (and underpowered) for you to want one in the house? Is IPS a good thing, because of increased viewing angles and colour saturation, or is it bad, because it uses more transistors than other LCD tech, thus increasing power consumption? Which brings me on to my next point.
2. The battery life?
10 hours seems a lot compared to a notebook, but the iPhone lasts longer. Will this thing still have juice if I were listening to music from it all day long via a Bluetooth headset? Or is it not so important since it'll probably never leave the house?
3. Where does it belong?
If the iPad were an appliance, where does it belong? In the toilet? Kitchen? Living room? Study room? Or maybe it sleeps in a bagpack? Or is it not a consumer product? Does it belong in the corporate environment? Or the Education sector? Arts, perhaps? What about healthcare? Or for Science, via the SDK and some specialised instruments? So many possibilities, one device. But where will it succeed?
4. 3G? What for?
Why would anyone buy the 3G version if it's not going to be used anywhere else other than the home, the school, the workplace, or the café - places which probably have some form of Wifi? Heck, what will it do to the battery life? (That's a bit of a rhetorical question, isn't it?)
Well, what do you think, overall? Good product? Or is it a misfit? Comment away...
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