Android TV Box

Connect to the internet through Wi-Fi; browse the internet, watch online video. Flexible and intuitive; allow the users to install and uninstall the apps from the Android market place to meet their individual needs. Your Android TV can be controlled by remote control as well as wired or wireless keyboard and mouse. It is convenient, fast and easy to  use. I connected mine with a bluetooth mouse. It works… I surfed the internet websites that requires flash, I played Angry Bird, I watched a full movie using the PPS app yesterday night on my 42″ Sony Bravia. Cheaper than buying a smart TV, a tablet, a smartphone or a netbook, I got mine for SGD230. Does Android market have the smurf village app? 

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Sony SLT-A55VL DSLR Camera

I bought a Sony DSLR camera last Sunday morning. I had original intended to upgrade to a prosumer after using a compact digital camera since the year of its availability to consumers and kept my fully manual Nikon FM2 to rot in the dry box. So I was looking at the Panasonic LX5, the Canon S95 and the higher end micro four third Sony NEX5. But after researching for awhile, I realised they will never quench my hunger for what an SLR can really do. So I searched more on the bulkier entry to middle level DSLRs and zoom in on 2 units, namely the almost new Canon 550D and the newer Sony Alpha SLT 55.

Why I bought the SLT? Because the sale guy in the shop said to…

DSLR has been around for a while, and its smaller relative the micro four third, made famous by Olympus EP1, has also been a few years. So what makes SLT different?

First, it’s in the name. SLT stands for Single Reflex Translucent. The revolutionary translucent mirror technology provide for faster shooting and auto-focus between shots, you will never miss a moment with 10fps.

The second different is what Sony has just introduced into the camera family, the 3D Sweep Panorama has seamless joints so you cannot tell that they are taken from several shots.

Third, Quick AF Full HD Movie Recording, which beats the Canon 550D hands down as the 550D requires manual focus.

Forth, it comes with a Tru-Finder that is shows 100% of the actual photo taken as compared to other view finders, and it extrudes out of the body and LCD, which for oily faces like mine is really a very good plus!

Fifth, the LCD screen tilts up or down and any angle for comfortable viewing in different shooting positions. It’s really useful if you’re not holding the camera close to your eye: for example shooting above a crowd or crouching down for an interesting viewpoint.

Sixth, with a built-in GPS (Global Positioning System), it can tag images with the geographical coordinates of the location where they were taken.

Seventh, it’s priced at SGD1,349.00 r.r.p., that’s affordable with all these features and I only need to eat less, but that’s a plus too.

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Lamborghini Sesto Elemento

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A made its new technology the centerpiece of its Sesto Elemento concept, which was introduced September 30 at the Paris auto show.

The car uses carbon fiber for the passenger compartment, the front and rear-end structures, suspension components, the interior, all exterior panels, and suspension components. Even the tailpipe is made from a carbon and glass-ceramic composite. The process, called “directed carbon-fiber pre-forming,” adds a very small amount of cobalt to the carbon fiber. The company then can robotically shoot a fine stream of carbon fiber into a magnetized mold at a rate of 6 kilograms per minute.
The Sesto Elemento concept car weighs 999kg, about 340kg lighter than the current Gallardo LP Superleggera.

Breffo Spiderpodium

Quite a while back, when I saw something similar to this in a shop holding a dummy handphone, in my mind it goes “yet another gimmick”. This show how uncreative I am in the imagination department or maybe I am just not inspired by the look.



When I saw this in Crave, I thought this thing is going to solve a lot of problems! The Spiderpodium consists of eight flexible, rubber-coated wire arms protruding from a rubber center. These arms can be bent and posed in pretty much any direction, orientation, or shape and will hold their position. Aside from your imagination, the Spiderpodium’s other limitation is the weight of the gadget being held, but again it depends on your imaginative mind to think how it is going to hold your stuffs.
Gonno get one or maybe 2!

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Dyson Air Multiplier

The Dyson Air Multiplier fan works very differently to conventional fans. It uses Air Multiplier technology to draw in air and amplify it 15 times, producing an uninterrupted stream of smooth air. The advantage to this design is that you don’t have to worry about kids sticking their fingers into the fan and cleaning is as simple as wiping the ring with a piece of cloth.
The Air Multiplier comes in three sizes. The 25cm and 30cm Table version AM01, available now in Singapore, costs SGD399 (USD297.14) and SGD429 (USD319.48), respectively. The former is available in iron/blue shades while the larger fan comes in white/silver and silver/iron colors. The bigger Tower AM02 and Pedestal AM03 versions which will set you back SGD699 (USD520.55).

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A Review: Volkswagen Golf Sport Mark6

One day, a friend from the Lancer EX forum called when I was have a meal @ Bakerzine with my wife. He said “Bro, wanna change car or not?”

I booked a Scirocco like a day or 2 later and traded my 2years old Lancer EX for it. Being a selfish sports car with 2 doors and negative things happened (not to be discussed here), and 2 weeks later I asked to change it to a Golf.

It has a 160bhp TSI engine, twin-charged (super and turbo charged)and 240Nm of torque from 2,000 rpm. I bought the car not knowing what it had or what it meant.
Then I learn while waiting from early April 2010 to middle of July 2010 for it to be factory-fitted with a Bi-xenon headlight that does not come with a 1.4L and shipped to Singapore.

Let me tell you, driving the car stock (without any modification), it was already thrilling… you will feel like finding a reason just to drive it. Stepping on the accelerator, and the supercharger kicks in and you are flying, you will feel like what the specs says ” from zero to 80kph in 5.8seconds and zero to 100kph in 8 seconds flat” and what’s more… it’s soooo quiet especially since it is using sport performance tyres and were really noisy when used on my previous Lancer EX (which felt like a tin can after test driving the Golf)

What makes a continental car a quality car? It is in the details. The robust build, illuminated leg area and illuminated vanity mirrors in sun visor, “Climatronic” air-conditioning system with 2-zone temperature control, built-in touch screen which are integrated with all the controls including a park distance control display, quality tyres, the silence. 

And another thing, when you tune a Japanese car, you don’t really get much out of it, in fact you will void your car warranty. For European cars, you are welcomed to tune as warranty is covered by their authorised workshop and partners… and what you will get is astronomical, my golf now is about 200bhp with about 300Nm of torque after getting it tuned with mTm.

Upgrade the steel rims to 18″ BBS CF with Michelin PS3 tyres filled with nitrogen makes the car lighter and even better to cruise with.

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iPhone 4.0

I had disappeared… almost a year… choose reason…
a) i was too busy with a new life
b) i lost my password
c) my image library is full
d) it takes too much effort

Seriously? I can’t remember but I felt like blogging what i found to be an amazing product by Apple (iPod Touch iOS4) just now and so I logged in. Looking below my post, and you will see that i left off almost a year ago with a HTC phone and an Apple mouse. Today I want to write about the HTC Hero I have now and the iPhone 4 that I want to get…

I am still using the HTC Hero… it was great and it was lousy… it gave me instant view of the my stock portfolio and my hotmail and a full facebook site with a direct photo upload link and a good camera… it has 1 day battery life and it drop calls or even missed it. That’s bad since a phone’s basic function is to make calls.

So, I traded in my Nokia E71 for it’s new brother, the E72 since that what it’s good for, making calls and lasting for days and its got free Ovi map!

 I was contemplating on getting the N8 but Nokia is just taking so too long to launch for its own good. But the Symbian on the E72 made me think twice of waiting for the N8 although it is going to be a major upgrade and it has a 12 mega pixel camera! Symbian is too slow! I can’t even surf properly, but not to condemn it because it’s not really a phone for surfing.

So why do I wanna get an iPhone, I am not even an iPhone fan. I bought an iPod touch 2nd Generation and I seldom used it. Well, sadly, the Android in HTC Hero made me got so used to entertainment and information on the go… and there isn’t really anything to look forward to in the Android world now even after upgarding my Hero’s OS from 1.5 to 2.1…

The iPhone had said “In so many ways, it’s a first”.
It’s the first with a good surfing OS, the first with the Wifi made so easy it’s idiot proofed, the first with a glass panel so hard it can crush a real apple without damaging the phone, the first to make a walkie talkie glamorous with its facetime software, the first to have a badly designed antenna and still lived to tell the good news to it’s shareholders, the first to sell online for SGD888 and people can still buy from you for SGD1300… how cool is that?

I bought one for my wife… and I am going to get one for myself next month when the HTC Hero’s contract is up.

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Apple iPod Touch with iOS4

I never ever think that Apple is/was innovative… the things that they introduce, you get them in other gadgets ages ago, the only difference is they have the fans to recognise them as good things to have.
Today I say Apple is good. I see the new iPod Touch as a next generation walkie talkie… What am I talking about?

“Video calling is in full effect on iPod touch. Now your friends can see what you’re up to, when you’re up to it. With the tap of a button, you can wave “hi” while standing in a foreign country, get a second opinion on a pair of boots, or have your friends bear witness to the everyday pranks, bets and dares they otherwise might have missed — new iPod touch to new iPod touch or iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi. And come face to face with even more fun.”

Good stuff!

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Apple Magic Mouse

It began with iPhone. Intuitive, smart, dynamic. Multi-Touch technology introduced a remarkably better way to interact with your portable devices — all using gestures. Now they’ve reached another milestone by bringing gestures to the desktop with a mouse that’s unlike anything ever before. It’s called Magic Mouse.
Click anywhere, scroll in any direction and swipe through images on its seamless top shell. It works wirelessly using Bluetooth. And built-in software lets you configure Magic Mouse any way you want, be it 2 button functionality or left handed.
Finally Magic Mouse features a laser tracking engine that’s far more sensitive and responsive on more surfaces than traditional optical technology.
The creator of the mouse has evolved it!

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A Review: HTC Hero

I bought a HTC Hero last friday. Comes in a very small white hard box, so small you might thought it’s a budget, no frill phone.
First impression when I took it out of the box: Robust, heavy, feels good in the hand.

Power up the phone and I waited for maybe more than a minute to be able to start using the phone.

The optical ball seems like a good idea, but i seldom used it once I get used to poking the screen. The only time I used it is for the camera. You have to press the ball to capture an image, not good for self portrait. Second thing not good: no flash! So night shot is dark. Third thing not good: slow to take a picture. So, not really a camera replacement. Only good, u can pin point where you want the camera to focus by touching the screen.

The design is the update of the once-upon-a-time Nokia banana phone. That is not good as it does not work on a standard phone holder in the car, I dropped it thrice due to its shape. Now I placed it horizontal, since the screen can tilt anyway (it has accelerometer) but still not as secure.

Now all the good parts. The phone can be charged using your laptop via USB. Charging takes about the same time as most power hungry phone.

Touchscreen buttons are always not as good as a physical keypad but I managed to survive by used the virtual keypad, after a while, I can be equally as fast. As an after thought, it took me just as much time as any other phone to learn it, there after it’s fun all the way. I am still learning it now since I am still exploring, but it’s great dicovery.

Like most interactive user interface that is not an apple or microsoft, you can customise your “desktop” with the applications that you will use most of the time. The widgets are great. One thing that surprizes me (might not be new to others) is the clock that updates itself without any setting up. Actually, the phone did not need much of a setting up. It is up and running within a minute. It even telling me the weather of the exact location, not the country or city but the town! WiFi is auto, and no set up for the internet as well.

SMS is like a chat platform. Contact search is the same just that it doesn’t go back to the top when you have gone to the bottom, so that’s a boring part but the contact itself is now linked to facebook and twitter, and that is very neat! You can read about your contacts’ everyday living just like the facebook lite and, you can scroll through their recent updated photos just the same way as you would in your photo gallery, meaning, it’s fast and efficient. Viewing the photo, I have to add, is like photoshop.com. 

Its Android so it is everything google. Gmail is already there for you. Google map is great as a simple GPS, signal is good. Internet upload is fast. As is most latest touchscreen, you can pinch to enlarge or reduce and move through a full webpage, so I don’t need to view lite versions any more and the bookmark is like google chrome, I like! I tried the Youtube last night, streaming is fast, or maybe it’s already loaded somewhere. So far, all the applications I have used, there is no lagging!

Call wise, it’s loud and clear although sometimes it’s broken reception. Could be the service provider and not the phone’s fault though, I do not know for sure.

Synchronising with the PC takes a bit of setting up but after that its working the same way as most phones.

Power consumption is bad the last few days. I had to charge everyday, but what do you expect, I am exploring and using all the functions extensively… so not a good benchmark.

I am still happy as of today, it’s a definite major upgrade from my Nokia E71. Good phone!

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