Blah

Prices are coming down...

2010-12-13T00:15:00.000-08:00

Ordered and received a 32 gig MicroSD card and adapter. Expected a Class 2 (picture shown online was a Class 2, and the one that came with the Evo was also a Class 2) and got a Class 4, so good news for me.

The price was higher than I would have liked, but low enough that I took the plunge. Just wish the adapter would have arrived earlier, then I probably wouldn't have had to reset my ringtones and notification sounds.

Completely reset the Jawbone Prime

2010-08-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

Press the buttons in this sequence: Noise Assassin, Talk, Talk, Noise Assassin, Talk, Talk.

The above sequence will reset the Jawbone Prime to its factory settings. Why would you need to do that, you ask? Well, the reset procedure found on Jawbone's website doesn't unpair the Jawbone from your previously paired device... at least, not as far as the Jawbone is concerned.

That creates a problem because the Jawbone Prime supports multipoint--that is, the ability to pair to more than one device at the same time. So even if you remove the Jawbone Prime from your previously paired device, the Jawbone will still try to connect to it. And when it does that to a device that's no longer on, it wastes a lot of battery.

The reset procedure on Jawbone's website might unpair all but the first device the Jawbone paired with, but what happens when the first device you paired it with is no longer in use? Your new device becomes the second device to the Jawbone, and in my case, the battery life became halved from what it used to be.

By resetting it to the factory setting, all devices become unpaired, which should eliminate the multipoint/battery problem.

Download this from your iTunes Store

2010-08-11T20:56:00.000-07:00

Oh, right, new phone

2010-08-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

So two weeks ago, the new cell phone that I ordered from Radio Shack's website arrived via FedEx. It wasn't activated until Friday night (hence the posting of 4G speed test that night), and I didn't take any size comparison pics until now. I did take a picture of it earlier, a few days after I got the official Android 2.2 update (codename: "Froyo").

Anyway, it's a pretty "big" phone. The screen size is 4.3", which is actually the same size as the original PSP, although the resolution is a lot higher, making for a much crisper display. It is pretty thin, however, about the same as my previous phone, the Sony Ericsson W580i. The phone's camera protrudes a bit, so to be on the safe side, I bought a silicone case to make sure that the lens wouldn't touch anything when laid down on a flat surface.

Sprint 4G

2010-07-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

So, apparently, I do get Sprint's WiMAX network in my area, although just barely. And as Sprint has yet to announce service in my area, that means they're still in the testing phase.

Nevertheless, I've run some speed tests, and after 15 tests, the average download/upload speed is 2905.6Kbps/630.9Kbps. That's not too bad, but there were also several times where it could not connect to the test servers at all--in fact, that happened during my first three tests. It seems that during those tests, it tried to connect to some very far away servers, perhaps the GPS could not properly locate the location... So when I made the video, I was fully expecting the same terrible result, and to my surprise, it got the highest download speed (4493Kbps) of all my 4G tests--I haven't been able to replicate that speed at all. (The fastest upload speed in my tests was 988Kbps, by the way.)

Compared to Sprint's 3G, the average after 10 tests is 1785.1Kbps/795Kbps, with the fastest being 2598Kbps/922Kbps, and the slowest at 661Kbps/637Kbps.

It is also interesting to note that, when Wi-Fi is enabled, while the speed tests consistently showed around 9.xMbps/0.9xMbps at the same test server, the phone only showed up to around 6Mbps for download, though it did get around 1Mbps for upload. So perhaps the actual download speeds when not on Wi-Fi could be faster. When I get the Froyo update next week, I'll try the USB tether and test it from the laptop, and see if it makes any difference.

So-called "Retina Display" is nothing new

2010-07-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

Much has been made about Apple's "new" Retina Display that they're using in the iPhone 4. People are saying how amazing it is to look at, etc. Of course, shortly after Jobs announced this new achievement in technological wonders, experts have come out to take him down a notch. But that's not what this blog posting is about.

There's no question that a display with higher pixel density, or pixels-per-inch, will help make the display crisper. When I noticed that my sister's Panasonic DMC-TZ5 had a sharper display than my DMC-TZ3, the benefits were known to me immediately. I have since gotten the DMC-ZS3, which retains the same 3" LCD, 460K pixels display.

Out of pure curiosity, I decided to crunch some numbers to find out how many pixels-per-inch (or ppi) my more than one-year-old camera's LCD has (which is the same as the more than two-year-old camera my sister has). Before that, I did a quick measurement of my 17" laptop, which has a native resolution of 1440x900... the display measured 9" from top to bottom, so it's only displaying at 100ppi. Not very impressive, but to be honest, it works well enough for my day-to-day use.

Anyway, knowing the my camera's display uses the 4:3 aspect ratio, it was not difficult to figure out, without using a ruler, what the length and width of the display is, since the 3" number is for the diagonal length. (It's 2.4" x 1.8", by the way.)

The next step was to figure out approximately how many pixels run through the width and height of the display, as the 460K count is for the total number of pixels in the entire area. The count may not be exactly 460,000 pixels, but should pretty close. Employing some simple algebra, it appears that the display on the 3" LCD is roughly 783x587. (If you do the math, you'll see that brings the total pixel count to just under 460,000 pixels; if you increase the pixels by just one to each side, you'll get just over that count.)

That's enough for us to figure out how many dots (or pixels, in this case) there are per inch of the LCD display. Divide the number of pixels by its respective length in inches (783/2.4 or 587/1.8), and you'll get a few decimal points above 326ppi.

Now, what's that magic number which Apple has dubbed as the "Retina Display"? 326ppi.
(To be fair, using the same formulas, the iPhone 4 would have around 329.65ppi.)

I also vaguely remember a commercial for, I think, a Nikon digital camera, which boasts a higher resolution display than my camera, which was from a few months ago, so there's definitely no shortage of consumer displays that are better than what Apple is touting as their Retina Display. Further, I found through Google search that the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G1, which was released in 2007, has a 3.5" display with 921,000 pixels. Working out the math, that puts it at 2.4" x 2.1", with a resolution of approximately 1108x831, and 395.7ppi.

Wow, technology that's at least 3 years old is so revolutionary.

Anticipation

2010-07-18T19:37:00.001-07:00

Neither Radio Shack nor Best Buy had any in stock, so I had to order it online. Now it's just a waiting game.

Crush your enemies

2010-07-03T00:15:00.000-07:00

Command me, lord

2010-06-28T01:56:00.000-07:00

A completely revolutionary device

2010-06-22T02:24:00.000-07:00

A Geography Lesson

2010-03-21T02:58:00.000-07:00

...brought to you by CNN.

Let's play some Tetris, mother******

2010-03-21T02:55:00.001-07:00

A compilation.

Trolololololo

2010-03-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it, this is a clip from the Jimmy Kimmel Live show that aired after this year's Oscars. It's a parody of a recent viral video, which I'll embed below...

Dicapac Waterproof Camera Case

2010-03-01T20:22:00.001-08:00

Back when I was checking the prices of the ZS3 with Google for price drops, I would always see underwater cases listed. Of course, their prices being almost as much as the camera itself (and now with the camera's prices having dropped, they cost more than the camera) meant that I would never consider them. I would rather just buy a waterproof camera than have to deal with the extra hassle.

However, recently I decided to see if there were cheaper alternatives, and found the Korean-made Dicapac. They're not so much camera "cases" as they are camera "bags." But they are waterproof (up to 10m/33ft), and much more affordable, so I decided to give it a try.

The bag is quite a bit bigger than the camera, but it was basically designed to work with almost all compact ultra-zoom cameras, rather than for one model specifically, which I'm sure also factors into the lower price. With exception of the mode dial, the camera's buttons are fairly easy to operate, but of course more difficult than if the camera wasn't in the bag. The camera's flash is partially blocked by the lens enclosure, but this will most likely be used mostly in the daytime, so probably won't be an issue. For recording video, audio will be somewhat muffled, which is hardly a surprise--you're basically wrapping the microphone inside a bag.

Moonshot

2010-02-27T23:13:00.001-08:00

As previously mentioned, I got a new camera. And with the full moon tonight, it's the perfect time for another moon photography test.

The first picture was taken with my new camera, while the second picture with my previous camera, taken last year. The pictures were cropped to 1600x1200 to keep the original size while getting rid of some unnecessary blank space. I should probably adjust the focus settings for a clearer shot next time.

Edit: Took a few more pics after the aforementioned adjustments. Much clearer:

Class 10

2010-02-10T22:16:00.000-08:00

So last month I bought this new "Class 10" SDHC card by Patriot Memory... "Class 10" means that it's supposed to have a minimum sustained write speed of 10MB/s. Unfortunately, it didn't perform like a "Class 10" card, so I had to contact Patriot Memory to get a replacement. The replacement arrived today, and so far, it seems to work fine for the most part, although my camera still starts up slower with this card than my other cards.

Camera focal length comparison

2010-01-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

A quick comparison of how wide-angle compares to regular cameras. Shot from the same spot, from left to right, is your (equivalent) standard 35mm, to a wider 28mm, to an even wider 25mm.

I've commented on the benefits of wide angle before, but perhaps an actual photo might make a better point...

I took this picture standing at the very edge of the corner of the room, not able to back up any further, and was barely able to squeeze everyone into the picture. This was with my 28mm camera. That means none of the standard 35mm cameras would have been able to get everyone in the shot, while it would have been much easier if my camera was 25mm.

New camera time!

2010-01-12T23:12:00.001-08:00

So FedEx delivered my new camera today. I'd been waiting to get this for almost a year, but I had been holding off for the price to drop low enough. It's the Panasonic DMC-ZS3 (known as the TZ7 outside of the US), which is two generations newer than my previous camera, the DMC-TZ3.

It's still got some very similar physical aesthetics, although it's a bit smaller now, while Panasonic has succeeded into making the angle both wider and longer, from 28-280mm to 25-300mm. Of course there's also the increase of image size, up to 10.1 megapixels, and better video quality. There are many other changes that I'm excited about for this camera, which remains the top of its "compact ultrazoom" class in digital photography reviews, although I'm sure Panasonic will announce their next generation replacement before or at the upcoming Photo Marketing Association trade show.

For my own edification, this is my current history of digital camera purchases:

Jan. 2010 - Panasonic DMC-ZS 3 (10.1 megapixels)
Jan. 2008 - Panasonic DMC-TZ 3 (7.2 megapixels)
Nov. 2005 - Konica Minolta DiMAGE X 50 (5.0 megapixels)
Dec. 2003 - Panasonic DMC-FZ 1 (2.0 megapixels)
~May 2000 - Olympus D-460 (1.3 megapixels)

A wingman I can wear

2010-01-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

Last night, CBS aired the 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother, which involved Stacy Keibler as a new bartender at the gang's local bar, who hates men in suits, causing Barney to choose between her and his suits... The episode also featured Rachel Bilson, looking cute as always.

'Tis the season for new toys

2009-12-13T04:56:00.001-08:00

So I bought the "new"* Jawbone Prime...

*Jawbone Prime, the third iteration of Aliph's Bluetooth headset with noise-canceling technology, was released seven months ago, while the second iteration was released last year, and the first a year prior to that, so at this point, Prime is likely to become the older version in five months, making its "new" status somewhat dubious.

There are several reasons why I decided to retire my Jawbone I.

The ear loop kept on breaking. Now, because the original Jawbone I bought broke on the first day and Aliph sent me a replacement, I had twice as many sets of ear loops as one would normally have. But even those supplies are running low.
The noise-canceling functions of the replacement doesn't seem to work as well as the original I bought. This was most likely a quality control issue, but based on my phone conversations with other people on both headsets, it seems most people still heard the noise in the background with the replacement unit, whereas with the original I bought, most background noise were not audible.
The Bluetooth connection between JB1 and my phone has recently been dropping and reconnecting. Although infrequent, it has still happened enough times for me to take notice, and each time the phone was less than a quarter inch away from the headset.
The price of the Jawbone Prime has been lowered enough online that it's within a range that I can accept. There's no way I would spend the full price of $130 (+possible shipping and/or tax) for a Bluetooth headset.

All of which contributed to my decision. As you can see, JB Prime is significantly smaller than JB1. That's not saying much, however, as JB1 was massive. Aesthetically, it's also a slight improvement, though I'm still of the apparently minority opinion that it's an ugly piece of hardware.

More importantly, Aliph has added the function of reducing wind noise to the unit, something sorely missing in the first two versions (though I hear that foam windscreens work much better). One also hopes that they've improved upon their noise-canceling technology, and reviews I've read suggest that while it wasn't true of JB2, it is with Prime.

Having learned their lesson regarding the charger being too tight and causing damage to many Jawbone units, the new proprietary charger uses magnets, and retains the ability to connect to an USB port for charging purposes. Still, many people suggest that a standard USB to mini-USB cable would have been much better and more convenient.

Prime now gives you many more ear gel options than JB1 (don't know how it compares to JB2), and the new ear gels are much softer, and thus more capable to providing a more comfortable fit. My ears are somewhat sensitive, and still itches slightly after prolonged wear, so your mileage may vary on this particular front.

Aliph claims to have an 8-day standby time battery life, and since I only just received the new unit in the mail on Thursday afternoon, I'll have to wait a few more days to see if it lives up to that claim.

Edit: Well, that was quick. I just noticed at around 1:00PM today that the battery indicator was now blinking red, and that was the first time I checked it after waking up. Who knows how long it had been doing that? At any rate, that means the standby time is actually less than 3 days... and I'm a very light phone user. I guess I shouldn't have expected much from a smaller headset when the much larger Jawbone could only be on standby for less than 5 days...

Edit 2: I did a bit of searching regarding Jawbone Prime's typical battery life, and found Aliph's tech saying that if it's using multipoint (meaning if it's paired to multiple devices--Jawbone Prime can be paired with up to 8 to switch between, and active on 2 simultaneously), and you accidentally press the "talk" button, you may cause it to look for other paired devices, which would drain the battery. I did try to pair it with other things (my laptop, the PS3), just to test out that function, so as per their recommendation, I performed a reset on the Jawbone Prime, and this time the battery lasted about 5 days, with some very light usage. Much better.

Jillian

2009-12-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #270

Jillian had a urinary tract infection... again.

That sentence appeared in my head a few days ago, just as you see it above. I have no idea what it means, other than the obvious, and I don't know anyone named Jillian. Regardless, I thought it'd be interesting to begin a vanity card with it and just see where it goes.

Jillian had a urinary tract infection... again. Her doctor liked to abbreviate the condition to UTI. She liked to abbreviate it to TMH - Too Much Humping. Regardless, the road back to vaginal happiness was always the same: cranberry juice and abstinence. Thankfully, her boyfriend, Dudley, was always very understanding. He'd just smile, hold her in his arms and say, "Well, babe, when one door closes, another one opens up." She'd always giggle and blush when he'd say that, but deep down she wished she had the courage to cover his mouth and nose with a chloroform-soaked rag, and then, while he was unconscious, snip off his testicles with the little scissors she uses to groom her schnauzer.

All of which explains why the next sentence popped into my head recently.

Nobody sang Bee Gees songs on karaoke night like Dudley.

You just got slapped... across the face my friend

2009-11-25T22:40:00.001-08:00

You just got slapped. Yes, that really just happened.
Everybody saw it. Everybody laughed and clapped.
'Cause it was awesome the way you just got slapped.

A fake commercial from the TV show How I Met Your Mother...

V

2009-11-07T01:57:00.000-08:00

ABC began airing their remake of "V" this week. I was just a little kid in Taiwan when the original aired, and I don't think I've ever watched its reruns after I came to the US, although I'm pretty sure I've watched some of it when they aired it in Taiwan.

I don't remember much of the original series, aside from the basics--Reptilian aliens arrive on earth, disguised to look like humans, with peaceful pretenses, but have sinister plans. Over time, there are some alien/human couples. I remember one scene where, after a kid spray-painted graffiti on a wall, an old man took his spray paint and made a "V," saying it's for "Victory."

I've downloaded the first two V miniseries, guess I'll be watching it over the weekends, for nostalgia's sake.

Joey Yung??

2009-11-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

So I tried this celebrity look-alike morph thing, and the closest they got for me is Joey Yung? Hmm.

Two Whedon references in one

2009-10-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

On tonight's Halloween episode of Castle, there were at least two references to former Joss Whedon shows.

First, we see Nathan Fillion's title character dress up in full Captain Mal Reynolds browncoat wardrobe, declaring to his daughter that he's a "space cowboy," exactly what what people would have consider Mal to be. And his daughter replies, "Didn't you wear that, like, five years ago?" (After her comment about there being no cows in space, of course.)

A fun little ribbing at the last time he donned the getup for the filming of Serenity, the movie followup to canned TV series Firefly. (The Halloween theme was the perfect chance for Firefly fans to see Nathan Fillion as Mal Reynolds again, so why not?)

Then, with the episode having to deal with vampires... or at least people who like to dress up like vampires, it was the perfect opportunity to get in a Buffy reference, which Castle did upon seeing a man with a stake rammed through his heart.

...There might have been a reference to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, as well, what with Castle mock laughing as a mad scientist, but as I have not watched it, I cannot comment.

Who has ever used Windows 2?

2009-10-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

So, Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, was officially released yesterday. And Apple was quick on its heels to release its latest Windows-bashing commercial.

In it, John Hodgman, portraying "PC," is seen claiming over and over again about a new iteration of Windows would be better than its previous version, starting, of course, with Windows 7, to Windows Vista, Windows XP, Window Me, Windows 98, Windows 95, and finally, Windows 2.

Windows 2?? WTF? Why didn't they just go with what everyone actually used, namely Windows 3.1? Nobody used Windows 2... at least, not the general public. I was using computers before Windows 3.0 was released, and I never used Windows 2--I was using DOS 4.0 at the time.

And it's almost a certainty that, of the few people who did use Windows 2, none of them would have upgraded their computers from Windows 2 to Windows 95--whatever hardware was running Windows 2 could never be powerful enough for Windows 95.

Please, someone tell me, why did Apple decide to use Windows 2 instead of Windows 3?

I don't need you poking me

2009-08-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

My cousin Rickie posted this song to Facebook about a week after an ex sent her a friend request. She didn't want to add him, but wanted to reconnect with some mutual friends. The singer's name is Kate Miller-Heidke.

Why won't you call me back?

2009-08-13T01:10:00.000-07:00

So this video has been making the rounds for the past couple of days.

Cliffs Notes version: Guy tells girlfriend he's going on vacation for two weeks, keeps phone off to avoid roaming charges, girlfriend forgets/never listened, so doesn't know guy is gone. She then proceeds to leave various email messages as the days go by, escalating in level of insanity.

Original blog posting ~~here~~ (moved, new site here).

Some people are saying the story's fake, I think it's plausible.

It probably wasn't a very healthy relationship, anyway...

She never listened enough to him to know he's going to be gone.

He didn't even bothered to call her to let her know he landed safely.

At no point did she wonder about his safety, like maybe he couldn't respond to her because he was injured, hospitalized, etc.--That would have been my first thought, if I were in her position.

That she jumped to only one conclusion (that he dumped her) meant one of three possible things, in my estimation:
1. She was too insecure.
2. She was too self-centered.
3. The relationship was in a bad enough place that she believed he would dump her at any time.

Ultimately, they are both better off that the relationship ended. Some people wonder, as do I, if she really slept with someone else, or if she only said that to spite him... but it doesn't really matter.

Some people have also been wondering about the songs used in the video. I recognize two of them from the soundtrack of the movie Snatch. Anyway, I'll embed them below:

By the way, if you haven't seen Snatch, you totally should.

25 Random Things

2009-08-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

If you're on Facebook, then you've probably been tagged by one or more of your friends with one of these... If you haven't, the concept is this: You write a "Note" about yourself, which has "25 random facts" about yourself. You then "tag" a bunch of your friends, and ask them to also write 25 random things about themselves, tag you (along with their own friends) in their notes, and so on.

It's kind of like chain-mail, except instead of trying to spread some false information for "good luck" or whatever, you get to know more about your friends.

So the song above is about that, as well as a parody of the Miley Cyrus song, "7 Things." They also do some things to mimic Miley's video, which you can watch below, if you haven't seen it.

X-Mouse in Windows Vista

2009-07-30T02:25:00.000-07:00

This is really just for my own records, in case I need to do the same thing again at some point in the future, I probably won't remember all the details by then, and the resources I found with the information may no longer be around.

So I've been using Windows Vista for a while, and have gotten used to most of its functions. One of the things I missed the most from the previous version was the Power Toys/TweakUI. More specifically, an X-Mouse feature which made it possible for you to "switch" your "active window" from one to the other by simply moving your mouse cursor over to the window you want, without having to click on that other window.

Why is this useful, you ask?

Well, sometimes I might need to copy information from one window to another, and for whatever reason, copy & paste might not be an option. That means I need both windows visible to me, and I might not need to see the full window to which I'm copying the info...

Every once in a while, I would search for TweakUI and Vista, hoping that they've finally released a version for it. Today I realized that the only thing I really want from it was the X-Mouse function, so I searched for that specifically, and found my solution.

It turns out, Vista already has a version of it built-in. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't the exact version I wanted...

There are two different possible behaviors in X-Mouse:

Follow the mouse cursor to set the active window, and bring the active window to the front.
Follow the mouse cursor to set the active window, and leave the active window where it is (be it in the foreground, the background, or somewhere in between).

In Windows Vista, if you go to the Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Make the mouse easier to use, you'll find a checkbox for "Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse"; checking the box will get you the first behavior--Move your mouse over to a window in the background, and (500 milliseconds later) that background window will be in the foreground.

Me, I want the second kind of behavior. But there's no setting to get that behavior. No graphical setting, anyway. Nope, to get that behavior, we'll have to edit the Windows registry.

So, fire up regedit, and get yourself to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]; but first, make sure that checkbox mentioned above is not checked--it makes what we're about to do easier.

Look for the REG_BINARY key of "UserPreferencesMask," and make note of its data values (Mine was "9e 3e 07 80 12 00 00 00").

To make Windows follow your mouse cursor, but not bring the window to the front, add 1(hex) to the first hexadecimal number (which in my case makes it "9f 3e 07 80 12 00 00 00"); to bring the active window to the foreground, on the other hand, requires that you add 41(hex) to the first hex number--for the curious, you can confirm this by using the setting in your Control Panel, then refreshing the display in the registry editor, and making the calculations for yourself.

Next, see if the REG_DWORD key of "ActiveWndTrkTimeout" exists. The value here is for "how long should windows wait before changing focus, in milliseconds." If it exists, the default value is probably "1f4" in Hex, or "500" milliseconds in the decimal system. You can edit this to be whatever value you want. If it doesn't exist, create it, and set it to the value you want.

That's it! Log off your current Windows user, then log back in, and it will take effect.

Oh, and the reason I said not checking the box would make it easier? Well, if the box was checked, then you'd have to subtract 40(hex) from the first hex number, instead of just adding 1(hex). I can add 1(hex) in my head, but subtracting by 40(hex)? I'd either need a piece of paper to work out the math, or a scientific calculator.

Path to Destruction

2009-07-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

So NBC is airing their two-part mini-series called Meteor: Path to Destruction, which is about a large meteor that's on a collision course towards the earth, which, if unstopped, could cause global destruction...

Didn't we already see this movie... twice?!

In the Year 3000

2009-07-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

On his new role as host of The Tonight Show, Conan has brought back one of his old bits, with an updated name.

Harry Pothead

2009-07-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

So the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, starts playing in theaters today. The latest title once again reminds me how easily some of the titles lend themselves to cannabis slang, to wit:

Speaking of Super Mario...

2009-06-20T19:20:00.001-07:00

Beginning in June, Conan took over for Jay Leno as the host of The Tonight Show on NBC. A few days later, the blog Serious Lunch posted about the resemblance between a backdrop of the set and the designs of Super Mario Bros., complete with edited background from the game (actually, it looks more like the design from Super Mario World). By the end of the week, the above clip aired.

Poor Mario

2009-06-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

The Wounds of History

2009-06-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

20 years ago, college students in Beijing held a protest, which ended in Tiananmen Square when the Chinese government sent troops and tanks to literally squash the protest, referred to at the time on the news at the Tiananmen Square massacre. The protests were broadcast in news reports all over the world.

Famous singers in Taiwan at the time got together, and produced this song, in memorandum to those who lost their lives.

Below is an interpretation of the lyrics to this song:

With something over your eyes, they think you won't be able to see
With your ears covered, they think you won't be able to hear
But the truth is your heart, the anguish is on your chest
How much longer must we abide? How much longer must we remain silent?

If warm tears can wash clean the dust
If hot blood can be traded for freedom
Let tomorrow remember the angry roars of today
Let all the world see the wounds of history

Always remember, always remember
The wounds of history

She don't got a lot to say, but there's something about her

2009-06-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

Transforminators

2009-05-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

"Why are you trashing my scene? You are trashing my scene!"

It's not lupus!

2009-05-22T03:16:00.000-07:00

I've watched this four times already, and I can't stop laughing...

Bold claims... Bold, stupid claims

2009-05-18T04:04:00.001-07:00

One of the recent Mac commercials (above) have a woman searching for a computer "that works without crashing, or viruses, or a ton of headaches." PC then leaves, leaving the woman to Mac. It's Apple's response to the recent "laptop hunters" commercials by Microsoft.

As if the Mac never crashes... Anyone rushing out to buy a Mac thinking that they'll never had to deal with crashes or headaches are in for a rude awakening. And even though they are rare, Macs also have viruses. So Apple marketing, you're 0 for 3. WTF were you thinking?

I guess for those who hail Apple as the second coming would simply ignore the fact that the Mac crashes just like every other OS, because in their eyes, the might Steve Jobs would never steer them wrong. And iPhones have absolutely no glitches or problems at all.

The sad fact is that... every computer crashes, 'cause every OS sucks.

The Book of Love

2009-05-07T02:33:00.001-07:00

On the (possibly series) finale of Scrubs, this song was used near the end, as J.D. fantasizes about what may happen in the future. Both the song and the montage of possible future outcome of these characters are very sweet and touching. I bet most fans got teary-eyed. I know J.D. would have.

As it is, since Zach Braff is leaving the show, and most of the show was told through his character's perspective, there's no way it would remain the same. If the show does get renewed, it will certainly be interesting to see what direction the show takes.

...and here's the clip from the show itself.

Pepsi Throwback

2009-05-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed the recent Pepsi commercials where they're now selling the "Throwback" version, made with "natural sugar," and with the older (original?) Pepsi formula.

So, what's the big deal? Well, for years now, Pepsi (along with many other major soft drink brands) have been sweetening their drinks with high fructose corn syrup, instead of regular sugar. It is the belief of many that drinks made with sugar, instead of high fructose corn syrup, taste better.

As you can see, the current version of Pepsi is made with:

Carbonated water
High fructose corn syrup
Caramel Color
Sugar
Phosphoric acid
Caffeine
Citric acid
Natural flavor

It actually does still have regular sugar in it, but obviously not as much as high fructose corn syrup.

Since it's been ages since I've had Pepsi that's not made with high fructose corn syrup, I don't remember what the "original" Pepsi tastes like, and I'm certainly curious to see if I'd like the "original" better.

Pepsi Throwback is made with:

Carbonated water
Sugar
Caramel color
Phosphoric acid
Caffeine
Natural flavor

Now, when they say "natural sugar" in the commercial, they mean beet and cane sugar. So aside from using all sugar instead of any high fructose corn syrup, Pepsi Throwback is also missing citric acid.

So, how is it? Well, it has a "cleaner" taste... there's no after taste. I sort of miss the subtle lemony flavor of the citric acid, but the other subtle taste that's there in its place is not bad, either. Overall, I like it, although it doesn't seem to be definitively better. I'll continue to buy Pepsi Throwback instead of regular Pepsi while it's available.

You're gonna love my nuts

2009-05-01T02:27:00.000-07:00

Not that the original informercial wasn't funny enough already, with its ridiculous statements, such as:

"You're gonna be slapping your troubles away."
"Stop having a boring tuna. Stop having a boring life."
"We're gonna make America skinny again, one slap at a time."
"You're gonna love my nuts."
"You're gonna be slapping away everyday."

But anyway, enjoy.

"I know kung fu"

2009-04-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

So, on the season finale of Chuck, everything was leading up to, and loyal viewers would have easily picked up on, Chuck's Neo/Matrix moment. And it was, in a word, awesome!

I mean, come on, how could anyone not? The "changes" made to the "Intersect," Chuck bravely re-uploading it to himself, then both Sarah and Casey are brought in, captured by agents of a yet unknown agency? I was just waiting for Chuck to say the infamous line of, "I know kung fu"--I literally said it out loud as I watched Sarah and Casey being led into the room.

And then, of course, I saw in Chuck's flash, there was text forming the Chinese characters of "功夫" (aka "kung fu"), which all but confirms it. I'm glad they had him say that line, because I'm sure everyone was thinking it.

Loved the season finale. I sure hope the network picks up the next season.

Short Skirt/Long Jacket

2009-04-24T01:51:00.000-07:00

I want a girl with a mind like a diamond
I want a girl who knows what's best
I want a girl with shoes that cut
And eyes that burn like cigarettes
I want a girl with the right allocations
Who is fast and thorough, and sharp as a tack
She's playing with her jewelery
She's putting up her hair
She's touring the facility and picking up slack
I want a girl with a short skirt
And a loooooong jacket

I want a girl who gets up early
I want a girl who stays up late
I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity
Who uses the machete to cut through red tape
With fingernails that shine like justice
And a voice that is dark like tinted glass
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility and picking up slack
I want a girl with a short skirt
And a looooong, long jacket

Na-na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na...

I want a girl with a smooth liquidation
I want a girl with good dividends
At Citibank we will meet accidentally
We'll start to talk when she borrows my pen
She wants a car with a cup holder armrest
She wants a car that will get her there
She's changing her name from Kitty to Karen
She's trading her MG for a white Chrysler LeBaron
I want a girl with a short skirt
And a loooooong jacket

Na-na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na...

Katie Couric

2009-04-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

Muppet Scat

2009-04-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

The Buc Stops Here

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

"By the way, if you Google search 'muppet' and 'scat,' that may not be what comes up. Try it, try it. You know what? Pause the TV right now. I'll wait."

Do you like fishsticks?

2009-04-12T00:38:00.000-07:00

So this week's episode of South Park made fun of Kanye West's infamously large ego, and Kanye has posted on his blog that he's working on curbing his ego. Later, he mentions that he was at a Cheesecake Factory, and the manager brought him a plate of fishsticks.

If a TV show makes fun of me with a joke about fishsticks, and then a restaurant manager brings me a plate of fishsticks, I'm gonna get some pictures of me with that manager, chomping down on those fishsticks.

Twilight

2009-04-08T01:34:00.000-07:00

If you like fast cars...

2009-04-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna drive around to Oak St...

2009-03-05T01:14:00.001-08:00

...because I can't spell "eucalyptus," the name of the street that I live on. Brilliant.

Friday the 13th... again...?

2009-02-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

You might think that this blog entry is about the new remake of the original Friday the 13th movie. And you'd be wrong, although the title does seem fitting for it, as well.

Anyway, stuff happened last Friday, which happened to be the 13th. Mostly, I'd say they're all good news, depending on how you look at it. The very good news was that my sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy last Friday. That is all good news there.

The bad news for me, though, was that my car broke down while I was on the freeway last Friday. Although, in a way, it's also good news... because if it hadn't broke down on Friday (i.e. if I didn't drive it at all on Friday), it would have broke down on Saturday, when I'd be out to visit my sister at the hospital, and that would have been much more troublesome.

So I guess the only bad news for me is that I'll have to spent $1400+ on the repairs.

Two "and" movies in the same week

2009-02-04T01:22:00.000-08:00

So today the DVD (and Blu-Ray) for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Zack and Miri Make a Porno was released. It's somewhat interesting that both movies share a similar naming scheme, and are released on the same day...

It was to me, anyway. And as I happen to be interested in both movies, I picked them up. I actually didn't plan on getting the Blu-Ray version of either movie, but the store I went to didn't get the standard DVD version of Zack and Miri in yet, while they did have the Blu-Ray version, so I picked that up, rather than drive elsewhere or wait.

Cake

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

The show must go on

2008-12-09T02:11:00.000-08:00

A scene from Peter Kay's Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice.

Time Warner DVR sucks

2008-11-27T00:20:00.000-08:00

After moving from an area covered by Charter to an area covered by Time Warner, I had no choice but to switch my cable provider. Right off the bat, I found many things lacking in the Motorola DVR that TW provided me. Most of it, I've learned to live with, but the most recent offense... there's just no excuse.

What's bad to begin with:

Search. Having to scroll through each letter instead of letting us use the arrow keys for an on-screen keypad.
Program Guide. Time Warner's program guide rarely has sufficient information on programs more than a couple of days ahead of time. If it's going to be three days before the program airs, chances are it doesn't have anything in the description for it. If it's more than a week, you might not even get the program's title. Some programs never get any useful information, even when it's airing. Why is this important? Well, without having any info about the program, it doesn't know if the program is new or not.
After setting a "series recording" (TW's version of TiVo's "season pass"), if you delete a program you've just finished watching, and the same episode is aired again a few hours later (this happens a lot on HBO/Showtime shows), it will try to record it again. Why? These re-airing are not new anymore! Ugh. I constantly have to look through my "future recordings" list to remove shows I know I've already watched.
Have too many upcoming shows set to not record? If you set one more to not record, something else you've previously set to not record will want to record again. WTF?
Just added a new series to your DVR? Better check your upcoming recordings again, because guess what? The episodes you've told it not to record all think they need to be recorded again.

The worst thing it just did? This week alone, two of the shows I've set to always record new episodes were not recorded. And there were no scheduling conflicts, either. One was on Monday, for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which I've set to record along with Chuck, but there was nothing else on that it needed to record. Strangely enough, it recorded Prison Break just fine. So I was forced to download the episode from online.

Just a few hours ago, it failed to record Dirty Sexy Money, when there was nothing else on that I wanted to record. This episode had the return of Samaire Armstrong, the whole reason I started watching this show to begin with, and what does it do? It didn't record it. Instead, it recorded a rerun True Blood, which I've already watched on Sunday. What a piece of crap this DVR is.

Peter Griffin is a Ballchinian

2008-11-14T02:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, so a while back, they were airing Men in Black II on cable, and I decided to watch it again. In one scene, as part of the punchline, they had aliens who had weaknesses that could be easily exploited, and one such alien was a "Ballchinian."

When I saw him, I immediately thought of Peter Griffin of Family Guy. See the resemblance?

Finally

2008-11-13T19:35:00.001-08:00

After nearly a week without [HD]TV (I still have a TV in my bedroom, but it's not HD, and I don't have DVR in there), my new TV finally arrived today. It's a lot lighter than the other one, and the menu system is better. I'll have to check the setup for my DVD player later.

Good Night, Sweet Prince

2008-11-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

The HDTV I bought about 22 months ago stopped working last night.

Last summer, we found out that this model had overheating issues. Basically, when it got too hot, it will shut down by itself, even though the LED indicator will show it as still on, and the power switch will not respond. Luckily, all you had to do in this instance was to use the power switch in the back, and it will work again.

I thought I wouldn't have to deal with this problem again, after moving closer to the beach, since it was generally cooler here than in the valley. But about a month ago, there were a few heatwaves where the temperature got up to 90°, and I had to place a fan behind the TV to keep it cool. After the heatwave ended, however, it would still turn itself off randomly, much to my annoyance, and last night, it did so for the last time. It would not turn back on again.

I suppose a TV repair shop might be able to fix it, so I'll probably try that when I get a chance.

Before that happens, I still need a TV, so I've order a new one from NewEgg. Of course, this being the weekend, the earliest they will ship it would be Monday, but since they're based in City of Industry, hopefully it will arrive on Tuesday...

Blast from the past

2008-10-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

Umm... what?

2008-09-19T03:36:00.001-07:00

I couldn't find a larger version of this picture, so in case you find the writing on the signs difficult to read (besides the "Electricity Vs. Cat" part), here's what they say:

Purpose:

To see what electricity does to a cat.

Hypothesis:

Cats hate electricity.

Procedure:

get battery
get cat
any cat will do
hook battery to cat
if it fights hook up
two batteries
watch

Materials:

battery
cat
fire extinguisher
camera

What's that thing they say about curiousity?

2008-09-19T03:36:00.000-07:00

Old Spice does it again

2008-09-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd posted this before, but can't seem to find it. Anyway, here's another hilarious Old Spice commercial for your viewing pleasure.

Long John Silver's

2008-09-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

I'd been craving for lobster for a while, so when I passed by a nearby Long John Silver's and noticed that they were selling these "lobster bites" a while back, I wanted to give it a try.

I finally tried it yesterday, and also bought some of their clam chowder--in case the lobster bites turned out to be a bomb, I'd at least still have some clam chowder.

Overall, I thought the lobster bites weren't too bad. You can really taste the lobster in the larger pieces, although much of the texture is lost. Still, if you're in need of a lobster fix, it makes a pretty good cheap solution.

The End of the Universe

2008-09-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

"Oh look! A Starbucks. Let's have a cup of Joe!"

He wasn't kidding. It really exists.

Call the Police!

2008-08-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this recording is pretty old, but I was reminded of it while reading through some other news articles, and since I don't think I've posted it before, and it's pretty funny... and ridiculous at the same time, I figured I'd post it.

This is definitely not something worth call the police over. From what I understand, many fast food places offer some sort of "western" burger at one point or another, and they're often offered on a "limited time" basis, and we can assume that she went to a Burger King when it was no longer the promotional period for their Western Whopper... if we assume that she was actually at a Burger King, and not some other fast food joint.

If she really was at a Burger King, she does sort of have a point, as Burger King's slogan is "Have it your way." That supposedly means you can ask them to without certain condiments, or to add certain other condiments, to a burger. How hard would it have been for their employees to just add some bacon to a Whopper, and smear some barbecue sauce on the inside of one of the buns?

Still, that's not something you call the cops for. And I bet if she had asked them nicely, they would have happily added some bacon and barbecue sauce to her burger...

Why?

2008-08-20T23:26:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I saw a this music special on MHD, that's when I found out that Jewel had released a new CD... except it's a country album.

First Michelle Branch, and now Jewel. Why?

No strangers to love

2008-08-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

Why the Joker doesn't answer the Bat-Man's questions

2008-08-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

Dun dun dun

2008-08-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

Celebrities who look alike... but not really

2008-08-05T20:33:00.001-07:00

Ever since the first time I saw Rachel Bilson on The O.C., I've always thought that she reminded me of Mila Kunis from That '70s Show. In fact, I sometimes get the two of them mixed up. But when I really look at them, I don't think they look that much alike. I can easily tell them apart when looking at their pictures, or watching whatever TV show or movie they're in. Yet whenever I see one of them, I'm instantly reminded of the other. Sometimes I might even remember the other's name but struggle to remember the name of the actual person I'm looking at.

I guess they sort of give off the same vibe somehow. They're both brunettes, often with similar hair styles, and have a similar bodytype.

I'm glad to find that I'm not the only person who thinks they look similar. All you have to do is Google their names together, and you'll find others who think the same.

Another set of celebs who I think have that "similar but different vibe" would be Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton. Perhaps owing to the fact that they're both musicians, in addition to some physical similarities.

Jennifer Esposito and Eva Mendes are yet another example of this...

On the other hand, I think Erica Cerra, Sarah Shahi, and Emmanulle Vaugier really do look alike.

I feel the earth move under my feet

2008-07-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

An earthquake shook Southern California earlier today. According to the US Geological Survey, it was a magnitude 5.4 earthquake centered in the Chino Hills area, about 23.7 miles (38 km) away from where I live, at 11:42am.

I was working at the time, and felt the P-wave a few seconds before the actual quake, which lasted, I guess somewhere between 5 to 20 seconds (yeah, my internal clock sucks). Afterwards, I looked around the apartment, and the only thing that fell over was the air freshener in one of my bathrooms.

Don't do this

2008-07-23T01:15:00.000-07:00

So as of July 1st, it is illegal in California to talk on your cellphone while driving, without using some sort of hands-free device. However, texting is still fine. WTF?

I mean, I get that a lot of teens who text a lot can text without looking at the keyboard or the screen, but they still gotta look at the screen to read what other people have texted them. That means taking your eyes off the road, which most people wouldn't be doing if they were talking on the phone, even if they weren't using any hands-free devices...

Anyway, here's a dude in India doing something that no one should ever do:

Sneak previews on cable

2008-06-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

When it was released on DVD last year, I remember reading the plot summary for Blood and Chocolate, and realizing that I've already watched it before. The strange thing for me, at the time, was that I don't ever recall going to the theaters to watch it--The movie hadn't piqued my interest enough for me to want to spent money to watch it in the theaters. Nor did it garner enough interest for me to look for a way to watch it online.

What's more, I remember being able to watch a crystal clear picture version of it. I still remember very specific scenes, too. But no recollection of watching it in the theaters.

Then it hit me--I must have watched it as a sneak peak on a cable HD channel. It makes sense. They do sometimes show full-length movies that are only just getting to be released to theaters. Like the recent sneak peak of Quid Pro Quo. Which, coincidently, stars yet more people I recognize, but almost couldn't place.

There's Vera Farmiga from The Departed, and Nick Stahl from Terminator 3.

Friday the 13th: You win

2008-06-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

On my way back to the office after buying lunch, my car's "Service Engine Soon" light came on. So I dropped by AutoZone after work to see if I can find out what's causing it... Hoping that it's just something minor, like maybe I didn't tighten the gas cap enough.

No such luck. Instead, I've got this.

P0403

EGR Flow Circuit Malfunction

And here are the details, according to AutoZone's printout:

Definition
EGR system fault (Exhaust Gas Recirculation)
Explanation
The ECM has detected a fault in the EGR solenoid circuit
Probable Causes
1.-Failed EGR vacuum solenoid
2.-Open or short circuit condition on the EGR solenoid circuit
3.-EGR solenoid faulty
4.-Failed EGR pressure sensor where applicable
5.-Failed EGR position sensor where applicable

It was $140 to "rent" the ODB-II scanner, which they supposedly credited back to me when I returned it (about five minutes of use). The credit back hasn't shown up yet, though.

That one with the guy who was in the movie that was out last year

2008-06-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

Ever watch something, and see some actor that you recognize, but can't quite place where you've seen him or her? Happens to me all the time. Recently, there's been a few actors I've been trying to place (and was able to, thanks to the Internet).

First, there's Chris Williams. He's in the end of this State Farm Insurance commercial.

He's also in the recent "Smoky Chipotle Crispy Chicken" commercial for KFC, but I couldn't find a video of it online.

I've seen him in Dodgeball, The Wedding Bells, and Californication.

Next, another KFC commercial.

There's Jessy Schram, who I would've seen in Veronica Mars, and Edwin Hodge, who I've seen in Invasion. That's why they both look familiar.

A parody of revisionist history

2008-06-04T22:04:00.000-07:00

19 years ago, students in China led a series of protests, cumulating to a tragic end on June 4, 1989 at Tiananmen Square. This post is in memory of those who gave their lives.

The image above comes from an episode of The Simpsons that aired three years ago.

Mighty Wingman

2008-05-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

I was reminded of this Coors Light commercial (which I guess I've never posted, because it's older than my first blog entry), while watching an episode of Flight of the Conchords on HBO while I was making black sesame ice cream last night.

The episode involved a gender role-reversal, in which the two guys try to date two girls who work at a bakery. One of them (Jemaine) asks the other (Bret) to be the wingman, but while Bret has all the luck with the girls, Jemaine couldn't get either girl interested in him.

Bret's (eventual) date turns out to be very aggressive, behaving like what's typically described of guys--The other girl went along as her wingman. When it became clear that Bret didn't want to have sex with her after only two dates, she told him that she has to ship out for war in Iraq so that he'd have sex with her. She's done in five minutes, then falls asleep. When Bret encounters her again at the shop, she claims that they changed her schedule, and that she'd have to ship out the day after, then saying that they both used each other and dumps him. As Bret and Jemaine leave, she's seen high-fiving the other girls in the shop and mocking Bret.

I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way

2008-04-26T01:34:00.000-07:00

This is quite impressive. Here you see the guy in the process of mapping real human textures onto the cartoon Jessica Rabbit character. You can get the full-sized picture here.

He's also done the same for Homer Simpson and Mario (of the Super Mario Bros.).

Aliph Jawbone

2008-04-19T03:54:00.000-07:00

I got myself a new Bluetooth headset and a new cell phone... Primarily, because my old headset's battery had to be charged every other day--too often to my liking. So I bought the Aliph Jawbone, CNet's highest rated Bluetooth headset for cell phones.

It has such a high rating for two things--"Noise Shield" and "Audio Enhancement." Both work great. However, there are several caveats to using the headset.

As you can see from the above picture, the top cover came off. How did this happen? While trying to remove the charger. Chalk this one to bad design and lack of documentation. There's no "release button" or anything like that on the charger, but you're not supposed to just pull the thing off the headset, despite there being no instructions on charger removal in the owner's manual. Only after contacting their support staff, am I given proper instructions for removal.

With the top of the Jawbone facing up, hold the Jawbone in one hand.
With your other hand, grasp the cap of the USB charger cable on the top and bottom (not the sides) with your thumb and forefinger.
Gently bend the cap of the USB charger cable downward and away until the Jawbone is disengaged.

Without these instructions (which, as of this posting, cannot even be found in the FAQ section of their website), you're likely going to get the top pulled off eventually.

The next caveat, which is probably the first thing anyone would notice on a non-broken unit--the design and size. This is just a quick comparison of size...

All of the "professional" reviews I've read for the Jawbone talk about how good the Jawbone looks. I do not concur. They also do concede on its large, bulky size. On that, I do concur.

As you can see, not only is the Jawbone larger in terms of surface area, it is also much thicker.

Not surprisingly, the Jawbone looks huge when worn properly.

Still, the most important thing about a headset is that it should work properly. Looks are secondary. As I've mentioned earlier, what this unit is top-rated for, works great. Also, despite its apparent size, it's still quite light--at 0.5 ounces, it is by no means heavy.

Noise Shield--Jawbone identifies your voice (through an "activity sensor" that must make contact with your face), and eliminates virtually all other sounds, so the other side of the line can hear exactly what you're saying.

Audio Enhancement--Jawbone monitors the volume of the noise around you, and adjusts the volume of the headset accordingly, so that you should be able to hear your call even if you're surrounded by loud noises.

But that brings us to the next caveat. Jawbone is apparently very susceptible to the many radio frequencies around us, as after pairing it with my Z520a (a Cingular phone, which Jawbone all but promised to work well with), it would constantly drop the Bluetooth connection--even though they are sitting right next to each other. After the connection is dropped, the phone will try to find it again, and reconnect, only to have the connection drop again 20 seconds later. This often continues for 10 to 20 minutes, until the phone finally gives up trying.

During this time, however, the phone's battery is considerably drained. Whereas before, I could keep the phone on standby for about 4 days before I had to charge it again, with the constant searching of the Bluetooth device, the battery needs to be charged again the very next day... which rather defeats my purpose in getting a new Bluetooth headset. And since the Z520a never dropped the connection to my previous two Bluetooth headsets, I know the problem is not the phone.

However, upon getting a new phone--I was up for a free upgrade, and wanted a new phone anyway--Jawbone does work much better with it, and hasn't dropped the connection once... it basically means anyone buying the Jawbone has to be very careful about what phone they have, as I've read about many other phones that don't pair well with Jawbone.

As mentioned earlier, I've contact their support staff--more about the broken cover than about the Bluetooth connection. Although they were initially very quick to respond, giving me instructions on requesting an RMA, they've yet to respond to the RMA request, even though they mentioned that I should be getting a response within one business day. Two business days later, I still had no response.

GoPhone

2008-04-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

What normally would have been a corny commercial has become awesome because of Meat Loaf.

Flickr Video

2008-04-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, I read that Flickr is now beginning to offer video hosting to its "pro" members. That's almost perfect timing, as I had only just started to make more videos with my digital camera, and was not sure about uploading them along with the other stuff I've got on my YouTube account.

The current limit is for 90-second videos, not larger than 150 megabytes in file size. For the moment, that length is sufficient for me, as none of the recent videos I took exceed that length. The saxophone solo from my uncle, on the other hand...

The upside is that, as you can see, the resolution of the embedded videos seem to be higher with Flickr video than YouTube (although you can also get higher quality playbacks from YouTube if watch it directly from the site). Hopefully they'll be able to offer the full resolutions of the uploaded videos in the future, like they do now with pictures.

I also read that it takes AVI, MOV, and MPEG files. Wasn't sure if that included MP4s that I've converted to work with my PSP--which, coincidentally, I've just made a 720x480 conversion of last night. Perfect for me to test with, and it worked, so that's good to know.

Hillary and Barack, sitting in a tree...

2008-04-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Neeerrrrds!

2008-03-31T01:10:00.001-07:00

In case you don't know, LARP = Live Action Role-Playing.

Here's an example:

So wrong

2008-03-22T01:48:00.000-07:00

Internet People

2008-03-20T02:06:00.000-07:00

We like the moooon~~~

2008-03-18T03:04:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to take pictures of the night moon with my new camera ever since I got it. Unfortunately, at first I couldn't get the settings right. Then after the eclipse, it's been nearly a month before it was visible in the night sky long enough for me to photograph it (it had already set by the time I got home from work for the past few weeks).

Well, not tonight. Tonight, I got it. The picture on the left was taken with flash fired, while the one on the right was taken without flash. Of course, flash would not reach something as far away as the moon, but I was hoping it would decrease the exposure time. (The moon is quite bright, so longer exposures with the camera would result in pictures with just light, and no details.) Alas, it did not, but the results are still interesting. As you can see, the moon appears with more of a golden hue when the flash was fired, and is closer to the color we're used to seeing with the naked eye.

Once again, feel free to compare with my previous attempt. It should be noted that in this previous entry, the picture where the moon is smaller... was taken with my 5-megapixel Minolta camera, while the the one where the moon appears to be larger was taken with my 2-megapixel Panasonic (with 12× optical zoom). The 2-megapixel camera's moon looks almost as big as the 7.2- megapixel counterpart! (It is still smaller, but the resultant size might have more to do with the angle of the moon than anything else. It also lacks the detail that can be seen from my new camera.)

Um... What?

2008-03-17T02:46:00.000-07:00

...

Cell Phone Towers

2008-03-03T01:37:00.001-08:00

Sometime last year, I noticed a cell tower very close to where I live as I was driving home--Most of the time I take a different route home, and it's also often dark by the time I get home, so I don't know how long it's been there before I noticed it.

Then, about a month ago, I noticed another one, only about a block away from the first one...
I've circled the cell towers in this satellite map from Google Maps. You can see the long shadows each tower casts...

And for perspective, the same map, without satellite imagery. I've overlaid the same circles to mark the locations of these towers.

For the curious, these cell towers were "disguised" as very tall trees. The one on the left is an AT&T cell tower. I didn't get close enough to the other one to see which wireless carrier it's for, or if it's for multiple carriers.

Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon

2008-02-25T22:06:00.000-08:00

In case you don't know, Jimmy Kimmel is the host of the late night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, on ABC. As a running gag, he often ended his show with apologies to Matt Damon, because they ran out of time and had to bump his appearance on the show. They took the joke further when Matt Damon was finally scheduled for an appearance...

At the premiere of Ocean's Thirteen:

Prior to the release of The Bourne Ultimatum:

Not too long ago, Jimmy's girlfriend, comedian Sarah Silverman, was on his show, and they extended this joke with the following music video:

And last night, on the post-Oscar show, Jimmy Kimmel showed this reply video:

Example of Range

2008-02-24T16:50:00.002-08:00

Most digital cameras have "3× optical zoom," which is really only adequate if you never need to take shots from a long range. Having "10× optical zoom" means being able to get that close-up shot from the back of the room, without getting out of your seat to block other people's view. Or get a good look at something you can barely make out with your naked eye.

So here, an example of the zoom in use from pictures I snapped at Taipei 101:

This was taken without using any zoom.

The zoom in this photo is around 3.4×, which is slightly higher than what most digital cameras are capable of.

At 10× zoom. Also note that these pictures were sized down for Blogger, so the original, 7.2 megapixel picture is almost twice the size of the 1600×1200 images you see here (and about 8 time larger than the thumbnail images in this post).

Wide angle

2008-02-24T16:50:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to do this for a while now--since my new camera has a "wide-angle lens"--to take pictures with the new camera, and with the old camera, from the same place, to see the difference in how much you can see from a regular camera, as compared to a wide angle camera.

This was taken with my old Minolta:

And this is with my new Panasonic:
Of course, neither one is being displayed at their full resolution, as Blogger doesn't allow pictures larger than 1600x1200.

Why is this wide angle important? Well, for instance, if you were hanging out with a group of friends, do you need to get some extra space in order to fit all of your friends into the frame? Sometimes you might not have that extra space available to you. When the camera has a wider angle, you won't need as much of that extra space.

Turn around, bright eyes

2008-02-20T23:21:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was light in my life
Now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart

Wednesday, February 20, 2008.

Total. Lunar. Eclipse.

And I actually watched it this time. The next total lunar eclipse won't happen again until 2010, although there will be another lunar eclipse later this year.

More photos I took of the event available here.

Edit: On a side note, while I was taking these pictures, one of my neighbors (or perhaps a neighbor's friend) walked by and inquired what I was doing. He then related to me that, as he works for the fire department, he has noticed that during the nights with full moon, they would often get more calls of people causing disturbances and whatnot... however, he had noticed that the night before, knowing that it would once again be a full moon, there weren't as many calls as he anticipated, and perhaps the eclipse was the reason.

People have often associated the phases of the moon with the madness, hence the word lunatic (luna = moon); I used to think such an association was more in the realm of urban legend, but hearing first-hand anecdotal evidence like this kind of takes away the "friend of a friend" requirement of urban legends.

Shake it like a Polaroid picture

2008-02-08T18:13:00.000-08:00

Years from now, when the children of our current generation grow up, if they listen to the music of our day, they might be prompted to ask what "shake it like a Polaroid picture" means.

Not because you don't actually need to shake the Polaroids for the instant pictures to appear, but because Polaroid is shutting down its two US film production plants, and other out-of-country plants will follow suit. In short, Polaroid is getting out of the film business.

I'm sure this doesn't come as a surprise to anyone, really... With digital cameras becoming so cheap and widespread, just about anyone can take quick snapshots, and see the results instantly--faster than Polaroid's fastest instant film. What's more, you don't need to keep buying expensive instant film that you cannot reuse for this convenience. (Currently, you can get 20 Polaroid exposure films for $25, and 40 exposures for $52 from Amazon. That's $1.25 per photo for the cheapest Polaroid picture! And.. um.. why would you buy the 40 exposure package when the per photo cost is more?)

The last time I went to Little Tokyo for Shabu Shabu, I noticed this group of people walking around, taking group photos--with a Polaroid camera! I was certainly surprised that anyone would still be using it. Then I noticed that a few people in the group also had their own digital cameras, and they went on to take pictures with these digital cameras. I wonder... will the owner of that Polaroid camera be sad to be out of instant film next year?

"Strange" ads in Taiwan

2008-02-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

The dachshund is also sometimes referred to as weiner dog, hot dog, or sausage dog. In Chinese, its official translation means "sausage dog."

That brings us to the above sign, which is hung underneath the store sign of a pet store in a row of pet stores. Roughly translated, the sign reads:

"Racing class long-haired sausage"

(Racing class, racing grade, or whatever. I'm not up on dog breeding vernacular.)

When my sister saw this sign, unaware of its surroundings, she commented, "Ew! Why would anyone want to eat hairy sausages?"

Context is important, folks.

Want a mail-order bride, but don't think you can afford one? Look no further. The sign above promises to get you a Vietnamese bride, with the security of a contract and inexpensive fees. Just call the number below.

In remembrance

2008-01-19T01:40:00.000-08:00

From the first three years of our lives, both my brother and I were raised by my grandmother--part of the reason was that, when my brother was born, my grandfather had just passed away, so my brother could keep grandma company. When I was born, it wouldn't have been long before my brother had to start kindergarten, so I would also be able to keep her company.

Back then, grandma lived further away, in the countryside of Yilan. Afterwards, she moved closer to Taipei, and both my brother and I would visit her almost every weekend, as well as vacations (spring break, summer vacation, winter vacation, etc.); it's a safe bet to say that if anyone knows how I feel about grandma, it would be my brother, and vice versa.

Grandma always took good care of me, and always prepared my favorite food for me--my love for certain vegetables is in no small part thanks to her cultivation of my tastes.

When we came to the US, the person I missed the most was my grandmother. I found out from my aunts that at the airport, she kept a brave face in front of us, so that we wouldn't make a fuss and not make our flights, but as soon as we got out of sight, grandma wept. The thought of this always makes me cry.

My only comfort now is that when she passed away, it was peacefully in her sleep, and that she did get to spend time with her first great-grandchild--Kaelyn, my niece.

Apparently, I bought two award winners

2008-01-18T00:35:00.000-08:00

Joanne (one of Lynn's bridesmaids) bought a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T200 last month, and it is now ~~somewhat broken~~ not quite right, since she's been clubbing a lot, and because of the alcohol, people invariably drop it or hit something with it. So she asked me if I knew anything about the life-cycle of Sony's digital cameras, specifically regarding how often they release new versions of their cameras (which in turn would affect how quickly their prices may drop).

In looking up that information, I found out that the T200 apparently won a 2008 International CES Innovations award. Which reminded me that I saw a sticker on the box of my TZ3 for an award, too.

Of course, I had to look that up. It seems to have won the 2007/2008 European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) Award in the "Compact Camera" category. From the same place, SanDisk's Extreme III SDHC cards also won in the "Memory Card" category. Good to know, I guess.

Also, judging from the layout of their websites, it looks like the T200 is Sony's current flagship in the area of ultra-compact digital cameras, while the TZ3 is Panasonic's current flagship in the area of consumer digital cameras.

The photo above was taken with the TZ3 at 10x optical zoom (click on the image for full-size). Compare with photos I took using the Minolta DiMAGE X50, and the Panasonic DMC-FZ1. The difference is quite staggering... although I haven't been able to take a decent version of the moon at night yet. Will have to play with the settings a bit more.

I've lost my favorite person in the world

2008-01-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

My mom called me this afternoon to let me know that my grandmother has passed away.

Jim Steinman/Meat Loaf

2008-01-13T02:40:00.000-08:00

I was listening to Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler) the other day, and decided to look up more info about it. Then I found out that it, along with Making Love (Out of Nothing At All) (Air Supply) were both written by Jim Steinman, who had given these songs to Meat Loaf, his long time collaborator, first.

Apparently, the two have had a troubled relationship, and when they reconciled in 1986, he gave the song It's All Coming Back to Me Now to Meat Loaf to use in his then new album, but they decided to use I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That), instead, putting it on the backburner for another album further down the line in the future.

As most of us know, it became a hit for Celine Dion when she recorded it in 1996. And as you can see, Meat Loaf did eventually record his own version in 2006, as a duet with Marion Raven (formerly of M2M).

Since all of these songs have been made famous by other people, it may be kind of hard to imagine Meat Loaf singing them. But listening to I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That), I get it--they're all power ballads, which Meat Loaf does pretty well. What exactly is "that" which he won't do? It's actually all there in the lyrics...

Total Eclipse of the Heart... do some parts of the video seem a bit too literal to you? It does to me.

Making Love (Out of Nothing At All) is lyrically similar in structure to I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That); in Making Love, the singer lists the things he knows, or the things he can do, then follows them quickly by something he doesn't know or can't do ("I don't know how you do it, making love out of nothing at all"). Likewise, in Anything for Love, he lists the things he'd do, then follows them with things he won't do ("But I'll never forget the way you feel right now, no way")

SDHC

2008-01-12T02:51:00.001-08:00

My SanDisk 4GB Extreme III SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) arrived today. Well, technically, yesterday, since it is now technically "Saturday morning." I did not get it from Dell, as mentioned in my earlier post, however. Apparently Dell had trouble getting the card in stock, and after needing to delay the shipment a second time, they informed me that they must obtain confirmation from me to keep the order, or they would have to cancel it, due to some law or regulation. As I also did not want to keep waiting for who knows how long, I placed an order from J&R on Wednesday, who I've ordered from before through Amazon, and opted for the 2nd Day Air shipping method.

Why "Extreme III"? Well, it has a transfer speed of 20MB/s, or 133x. For recording videos, Panasonic recommends a card with at least a transfer speed of 10MB/s, and SanDisk's next class of SD cards are "Ultra II," which are 10MB/s--10MB/s read, 9MB/s write. That's pushing it a bit close for me, so in my opinion, it's better to go high than low. Plus, with a 7.2 megapixel camera, the pictures will mostly be larger in size, so having a higher transfer speed never hurts.

With the transfer speed, there's something important to note--Officially, SDHC cards have three class ratings--Class 2 for at least 2MB/s, Class 4 for at least 4MB/s, and Class 6 for at least 6MB/s. Anything faster than that are all Class 6, which is why you see a "6" enclosed in a larger "C" printed on the card. It also means both the "Ultra II" and the "Extreme III" are "Class 6" cards. Which is why the "Class 6" rating doesn't hold too much meaning these days. If you need a certain transfer speed, it's better to find a card that either lists the megabytes per second rate, or a multiplier rate (such as 133x, where x is "multiplied by 150 kilobytes per second"). If neither values are available, and you need a card that transfers faster than 6MB/s, move on.

Incidentally, SanDisk is not the only manufacturer that has these high speed SD cards. At present, I know of Panasonic and Transcend SDHC cards that are 133x and 150x, respectively. Have not yet found an 8 GB SDHC card with that transfer speed, however.

You'll also notice in the picture that the card came with a "MicroMate" USB card reader. That's because SDHC is a new standard, so while devices that support SDHC can use either SDHC or SD, older devices that can read SD probably can't read SDHC cards. So the USB reader fixes that problem. Plus it's USB 2.0. For some strange reason, Panasonic did not deem it fit to equip the SDHC-supporting TZ3 camera with USB 2.0 compatibility when connecting to the PC.

The card also comes with a neat little carrying pouch for the USB reader, a case for the card, and SanDisk's RescuePro software, which can be helpful in trying to retrieve data from a corrupted card, or accidentally deleted data.

I've only taken a few pictures with it, but I like it. The transfer speed is fast, and the USB reader makes the card (or any SD/SDHC card) double as a flash drive.