National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

We are briefed!

I don't think I am cut out for this!

Joanna: Doing her Interview Thingie

Carry the torch! (By the way did not see Nicky carrying this torch at all!)

After growing up watching Indiana Jones, and viewing countless adventure/treasure hunting movie such as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider and Davinci Code...one thing is for sure, I miss Indy A LOT. I guess Mr Ford in his old creaky body should not reprise the role of the swash buckling role and should leave it to the younger generation.

That's where Nicky Cage comes in...slightly younger and a hairdo in the movie that is close to disastrous. Not exactly a hair style that one would sport if you are an adventurer. As you can see I am practically distracted by Nick's Character Mr B. J. Cage just because of his hair style.

But at least I can say that the whole movie is just one hell of a ride: car chase, problem solving, breaking in and squeezing through holes full of cobwebs...and of course solving the mandatory ancient traps that surrounds the treasure. It is so fast, you would never try to understand how one clue leads to another. And (spoiler alert) the whole movie has actually TWO book of secrets, one that has a clue and the other (named after this show) is held by the President.

Now this book of secrets, people would love to have it because for me, I would really want to know how many babes did Mr JFK really have other than Marilyn Monroe. Of course it would be nice to know who really killed him. As the show has gone forth, the characters really do not have much time to look through the book.

Anyway, like I said if you are looking for some thinking, guessing and solving movie like thrillers then this is one movie you should not have to watch. It is basically action all the way, not much brain juice is needed. Even if one do use the brain to trace the clues to the final solution, it just does not make sense at all!

So how is this movie? I guess the first movie is much better because it is up against Davinci Code and so the clue solving is much more 'intelligent'. As for the 2nd version, Nicky just act as though he is thinking really hard, which of course he isn't and it shows. The whole show is entertaining but not to the point that will prompt me to say that it is a must watch.

But the show stealer has to be Helen Mirren because she does a really good job in captivating me as an audience when she has to do a verbal sparring with Nicky's dad, helmed by Jon Voight (aka Jolie's dad...the lips cannot be mistaken). There's another good actor in Ed Harris who acted as the bad guy who acted good so that he can be bad...come again?

To sum it all up my wife says the darnest thing, "I don't understand the whole movie".

Gosh..when will the next Indy Movie be up?

Other than the show, there's this thing about doing some interview for MTV Asia and we have a blast doing it (although I did not do it, I have fun taking pictures of the interview). We did a review for MTV as well! Fun Fun Fun....

Samsung T10: Review Post 2

Although the post supposed to be on the T10, the main character here is the Samsung's Bluetooth headset SBH 500, an accessory for the T10.

Nothing out of the ordinary though and out of the box the headset is extremely comfortable but those who wear spectacles have to take it out first, put on the headset and then replace the spectacles. The SBH 500 out of the box.

Initial impressions of the Bluetooth headset is quite good. Pairing it off with my Nokia 6300, Dopod HTC U1000 and the Samsung T10 (more on that in the later posts) did not encounter any problems.

Sound wise, the SBH500 perform well with good base, mid and treble response. Calls made through it was clear and audible to the recipients despite being in a noisy and busy place.

What endears me to it was that it is not flashy (pun intended). I do have a Jabra BT headset as well but it likes to 'shout' its presence because it flashes a ring of blue light whenever it is on. Although I did not do the flashing, people kept staring at me thinking that I am wearing something that is obviously too 'bling bling' for me.

I also do appreciate the simple 'on-off' button that is absent from most BT receivers.

Still there are 2 things I do not really like. I would very much appreciate that the play and phone buttons to be separated as it took me time to find the play button and accidentally click the phone button instead. The other thing I do not really like is the lack of a USB charger and bringing this headset for trips would mean an extra charger in my bag.

All in, the SBH 500 is still a very practical and user friendly headset.

Samsung T10: Review Post 1

Ripplevox passed me this MP3 player called the Samsung T10 and asked me to cough...i mean... blog about it. So here I am blogging this MP3 player like it will be my dream girlfriend, while i slowly undress it to my heart's content.

The T10 sounds like one of those killer robots in the Terminator shows that have Arnie says "I'll be back!" and "Hasta La Vista...(pause)...baby". Damn...it is not as sexy as T2000, the babe chick terminator that I am willing to let her 'kill me softly with her words'.

Ok...enough of those sexual innuendos. T10 no doubt has done something that most MP3 players do not have, the ability not to stick on to your like those sticky girlfriends like a wired earphones. There you got it: wireless and I am ready to divorce my wires away.

Drum roll please...the T10 in boxed glory~!!



Give it a good look around and for those who are lazy to hunt it down via Google, this is what it says behind the box

"Animation GUI
Video (WMV, MPEG4), Music(MP3, WMA, Ogg), Photo Slideshow(JPEG), FM Radio, Text Viewer, Voice Recording, Bluetooth 2.0"

First impression is that if I am not a IT geek, I would not have known Samsung T10 can help you divorce your wife...err...your wire. As a red-blooded guys go, we see the face, the 'love pillows' and then the shape...(dun act blur...guys do look as girls do). So the cover did not say anything about being wireless at the front and a good selling point has thus being muted.

Next is the opening ceremony.

Everything do look easy from the word get go and my confidence was up when I saw a tag to 'pull'.... and it did not work. After a frustrating minute or so I forgot that I need to treat this as woman of my dreams. There has got to be a way to make her come out from her shell and since she can't take one liners, then i have to push the right buttons.


And with the right buttons...everything just spills.



Introducing the Samsung T10 (clap clap clap)....at last it comes out.



Now to charge her up and see what joy and ecstasy she can bring me.

Shucks....have to bring her to buy some clothes tomorrow (not even an underwear in the box!).

Logitech MX Air

• S$ 279

• Available from major IT Retailers

User interface norm has been turning on its head since the arrival of the Wii controller. For those who loves the Wii controller and wish that it could be used along with the Windows XP Media Center Edition PC sitting in the living room, the Logitech MX Air is the perfect answer to the prayer.

The wireless MX Air comes in elegant black and silver that oozes style from every angle. The design would not look out of place in the Zen inspired living room with flush buttons, flowing design with no sharp edges; just like a smooth stone.

First and foremost the MX Air is a mouse for the common desktop. Armed with a laser tracking system, the feedback on mouse position is more precise and faster. Thus it performs really well for First Person Shooting (FPS) games that is reliant on precise aiming such as Battlefield 2142. The accompanied Logitech Setpoint software can also sense that a game is starting up and will configure the mouse for games so that users need not to change their mouse sensitivity level for games and work.

Scrolling through the web pages with the MX Air is also very different as it does not come with a scroll wheel. What replaces it is the cool touch sensitive scroll panel that can sense the touch of the finger and scroll the page effortlessly.

Unlike the Wii Controller that makes use of the sensor bar to sense its position relative to the TV screen, Logitech's Freespace technology allows users to just pick up the mouse and control the cursor on the screen without any other devices except for a USB plug to connect the mouse to the PC. A welcome relief for users whose TV console is filled to the brim.

What caught me by surprise is the relative ease of pointing the cursor, controlling volume and skipping tracks just by using hand gestures. For example, when lowering the volume, I just need to hold the volume key, wait for the volume bar to appear and then swing the mouse to the left. How about forwarding a track? Simple. Just hold the 'play' button, draw a clockwise circle in the air and the next music track is played.

For all its beauty in form and function, the MX Air is a fingerprint magnet that requires constant cleaning if one's hand is sweaty. And to maintain its pebble like form, it may not have the same comfort level as those ergonomically designed mouse. For someone that scroll pages quite frequently, the scroll panel may also see more wear and tear and thus tarnish the smooth facade.

At $279 the MX Air is an expensive mouse that may not appeal to most desktop bound PC users except for those who has hooked up a PC to the living room's Flat screen TV. It is really indispensable once you get the hang of it. A truly innovative product.

Samsung Ultra II 9.6 SGH-U300

Sleekness seems to be the order of the day for the latest iteration of Sumsung's line of slim phone. This time round the Ultra Edition II 9.6 clam shell phone is carrying the torch for no frills phone for the Korean chaebo.

As the model number suggest this thin, slim calling machine is just a mere 9.6 mm thick and it is easy to slot it into pockets and handbags. Size wise, the phone measured 100 by 51 mm is also easy to hold and more so when the phone is flipped up. Access to the buttons and keys is easy enough so no dramas there.

Samsung phone's brilliant 2.2" TFT-LCD makes reading and looking at text, graphics and pictures that much enjoyable thanks to its 262K colour screen. It also comes with a secondary OLED screen on the cover for a quick check whenever there's a call.

As mentioned, since this is a no frills phone, the SGH-U300 does not have 3G connectivity. This phone will be perfect for those who do not need to access the Internet frequently.

For such a thin phone, the Samsung is armed with a 3.2 mega pixel camera on the cover. The picture quality is quite good even for its lack of flash and lens thanks to the phone's good control of image noise.

The most talked about feature of the phone should be its cool metallic keypad. What distinguished it from other phones, most notably the Motorola Razr, is the seamless keypad that has no apparent demarcation for individual buttons as it is presented as one piece of metal sheet. That adds the cool factor to the phone.

That said, what irks most was the lack of sensitivity of the buttons as some strength has to be utilised when pressing the button for the phone to register the key press. The inability to feel individual keys also hinders fast SMS messaging.

There are also other kinks to its sleek armour no thanks to its non-changeable batteries, lack of and the lack of a memory slot to increase its meagre 70 megabyte built-in memory. The use of a proprietary data cum power cable did not endear itself to frequent business travellers either as power adaptor and data cable has to be brought along.

ACER: Windows Vista Did Nothing for the PC Industry

Ha! Never in the history of the PC industry has put so much hope into something that has taken so long to grow and yet did nothing for anything useful for the PC user.

Face it! HP/Dell/ACER + other brands of PC not mentioned here. The PC companies are starting to become white good producers. No amount of Operating System power can change the fact that the pinnacle of what PC can do has somehow shown in the windows XP...perhaps even, I dare do say, Windows 98 SE if not for FAT32.

Windows XP as I have said when Windows ME came along a long time ago that a consumer based OS that uses the NTFS would prove to be much more robust and the prediction is a dead ringer as I have experienced much lesser problems for the PC and 5 years later it is going strong.

Now back to Windows Vista. For all it is worth mentioning countless times, it is the numerous versions that kills the cash cow. Honestly why deprive so many consumers from getting the best of vista especially the hard disk encryption? Ultimate version is still the best but it costs a bomb...and the best is not necessary what people need. This is more acute when applied to a Singaporean mind: If I want to spend, might as well get the best.

Pity that the best is expensive and gives nothing more than 'better' security and eye candy; when comparing with the reliability of XP that works well with virtually anything thrown at it, it is really a no brainer to choose XP that is cheaper robust and has lesser problems when one get the service pack and the necessary FREE software to plug security holes.

All in all, the collective effort plus cost in putting up Windows XP is much much lower than using Vista. Need I say about the countless complains about Vista incompatibility issues?

And I do have another analogy. Imagine your car is the Operating System and windows XP is a everyday japanese sedan car that is light yet zippy and Vista is one of those continental cars that is sturdy but much heavier. So the engine is the processor. I guess I need not to go deeper into which scenario will give better mileage.

So I put my Core2Duo with 2GB RAM with my Windows XP. Yes the RAM would not be fully utilised that I myself would know well. But at least I am using an OS that will be running the computer at full speed with a lot of resources to spare. The same rig would no doubt cut the performance down. To me it is a no brainer.

Right now MS says they are coming with OS 7 or SEVEN. I wonder what is up their sleeves but if they are going to use AERO as the selling point again, it ain't going anywhere.

Let me tell you what is the selling point I want to see: Hassle free, crash free and junk free PC with easy parts installation with out the installation process. Sounds tough? Yes it is but the lesser the user has to be asked to install something the simpler. That would be the OS to look for....oh yeah...it already existed....in a MAC.

Better buck up...Apple is doing everything right at the moment.

iPAQ 512

Hewlett Packard's latest candidate to enter the smartphone market is the iPaq 512 that uses the new Windows Mobile version 6 operating system. The iPaq would definitely would not win any awards in outstanding visual design as it comes with the dreaded PC box grey and black accents. It really reminds me of my HP desktop sitting on the floor.

Fortunately it has very good build quality that is sturdy and yet everything fits nicely in the palm. Given its 107mm x 48.6mm x 16.3mm stature, it will not win slimming competition but at 102g it is light to carry about and fits snugly in one's palm.

The phone's screen, a two-inch micro-reflective TFT has just 176 x 220 pixels resolution, with LED backlight but is clear enough to read without squinting.

One compliment I must give is the well-designed microSD card cover: It fits neatly into the card slot and it is made of a rubber material that seems more durable and yet could be pried open with relative ease. This is one design aspect where most other phones have missed the mark badly.

The keypad and button have a nice tactile feel but HP could do better by maximising the space afforded to the keypad area by making the keys slightly bigger. It is always my opinion that using the keypad to access the Internet is not always as easy unless the site is designed for phone access so a better bet is always to go for phones that has a qwerty keyboard if online access is paramount to the user.

Setting the phone's Wi-Fi connection went along without much drama. And what sets this iPaq apart from the other Windows Mobile-based devices is its battery longevity — the battery survived four days with normal phone usage and a 30-minute dose of Wi-Fi connection over the weekend.

The 512 is armed with Texas Instrument's Omap 850 200Mhz processor that some might say is really lacking in terms of computing power especially when pairing with the latest Windows Mobile version 6operating system. What was surprising then was that the phone worked fine with minimum fuss except during the times when I had to restart the phone and update my music library.

As for making calls, there were no dropped calls and the phone was able to receive good signals in most places — even inside a lift! What bugs me was the numerous button punching I had to do in order to start writing an SMS note or replying to one.

That leads to what HP calls it “HP Voice Reply” feature. What it does is to record a voice reply to the SMS received. Useful for when you are driving, for instance, and for the person who’s not agile in texting.

The other less conspicuous feature would be the 512's ability to connect to the office's IP-PBX based phone system using the phone's VoIP — a cheaper way of making calls, which could save corporate phone charges.

Music playback is done via an A2DP Bluetooth support that allows stereo playback using bluetooth technology. The quality, while clear, is passable at best with barely discernable bass and slightly high treble setting. Something made worse because Windows Mobile's media player does not come with a sound equaliser feature which allows you to tweak these settings.
The inclusion of the 1.3-megapixel camera, USB 1.1 client, Office Mobile and the price tag of $699 would not do much to improve 512's appeal. Also, accessing the Internet using keypad is really tiring as it is not as intuitive as a full qwerty keyboard like a Blackberry. For those who are not fans of numeric keypad would be better served with a PDA, especially those that comes with a qwerty keyboard.

Carbonite

Ever had the PC just give up the ghost on you when you needed some important data real bad? Carbonite’s Online PC Backup Online PC Backup — always on back-up allays the fears from such nightmares. Installing the software is easy enough. I just popped in the installation disk, created an account, and answered some security questions.

Carbonite started to upload my files located under “Documents and Settings” folder to the Carbonite server located in the United States — this it does using a secure tunneling protocol to ensure data privacy of the user. To add other folders for back-up, I just have to right-click a folder I want to protect and choose “back up” under the Carbonite sub-menu. It’s that simple.

But beware the slow process: The initial archiving of the 2.5GB worth of data files I had residing on my PC took about 26 hours to get zipped across to Carbonite’s server. That said, the speed of the backup process depends on the upload speed of the Internet connection. Good thing the process didn’t slow down my PC’s performance to a crawl. Fortunately, subsequent back-ups by the program were very fast.

Still, what if my PC had crashed? I would just have had to go to Carbonite's website — using a new PC because that would not be stuffed with files — and logged into their system. From there, it would have been a simple case of follow the instructions to restore all the data.
And even if I had accidentally deleted my files and the recycle bin had been cleared, all I would have had to do was double click the Carbonite Back-Up icon, searched for the file I needed, and right clicked to restore.

That’s it, I would be back in business. It goes without saying that the fastidious among us, who
diligently park copies of our files to the office network or to an external hard disk, with the help of synchronisation programs, would not find this solution very useful. However, given the fact that the program protects files automatically and the fact that it allows me to restore my files anywhere in the world via an Internet connection, gives it some merit. Having unlimited archival room or capacity online with Carbonite is the icing on the cake. But note that this is not a file-sharing facility, and users would not be able to swap files between a laptop and a desktop. That takes some shine off the service as each subscription can be used only by one PC at any one time.

Nokia 6300: Full Metal Jacket without Paying Much

Pros: Simple No Brainer Phone that Leverages on Nokia's Strength in Mobile Communications

Cons: Goodness....NONE! Maybe the small buttons..

Opinion:
Excuse me...how many people out there really use 3G connections HSDPA network access?

How many people out there thinks that that stupid 'torchlight' can be seriously called a camera 'Flash'?

Get real...these 'Cons' are just that...Cons to make you part with more money without using them much in Singapore...hell maybe even in SEA.

This phone is really a no frills phone but does really good in most of the features

a) The camera though not fantastic it is useful for snap shot...and honestly flash or no flash it really does not matter(come on! You actually like the image quality of camera phones? the cheapest Point and Shoot does a better job!)

b) The media player I would say...is really on par with most of the MP3 players out there...not the top end but good enough to churn out really good sounding vibes through the ear phones for both wired and A2DP bluetooth head sets.

c) Phone calls and SMS fantastically well....it is a Nokia...this is what it does really well consistently

d) No battery sapping useless features and applications!! Hurrah!! Battery juice can last more than 3 days now!!

e) Screen is big enough for most things and it is really bright.

f) Aluminum casing. If this is not classy then I really doubt your taste. The whole phone feels robust thanks to the casing.

g) As of today...this Phone is OUT OF STOCK...goodness!! That says something about this phone. (and I do NOT represent Nokia). If I can get this phone on top of my Dopod U1000, this phone really convinces me of its quality.

h) It uses S40 Operating System...ultra stable...no hang ups (read: S60 OS still hangs badly)!!

One WORD: If you do not need 3G/3.5G and also do not need overpriced camera phones (read: N93i). Do yourself a favour, save some money by NOT getting useless features and get this phone.

Ricoh GX100 - Ex but Good Camera Control

One has to admire Ricoh's ability to produce some interesting and capable cameras for the prosumer market. Building on the success of last year’s GR Digital, Ricoh now has the Caplio GX100.

At first glance, the GX100 has not changed much from the Digital in terms of physical dimensions. What has changed dramatically is the placement of the flash.

Unlike normal point-and-shoot cameras, Ricoh's G series has adopted a pop-up flash mechanism to house its flash so that the flash is not easily by your fingers while holding the camera. The grip is too, thanks to the well-spread out buttons within the reach of my thumb and fore-finger.

To keep the GX100 small and compact, it does away with an Electronic View Finder (EVF). Ricoh solved the problem by having a box-like attachment to the camera that allows shot composition under harsh sunlight conditions that might otherwise overwhelm the LCD screen. Together with the pop-up flash housed just above the lens, the whole camera just looks like a shrunken Digital SLR. Neat!

On to the crux of usage — camera controls and image quality.

The GX100 gives full control with aperture, shutter and manual settings for various shooting conditions and is armed with a fast 3X zoom lens of F2.5-4.4 rating to allow more light to be recorded by the sensor.

The camera also comes with a hot-shoe that allows third-party flash units such as Sigma EF 500 ST or the Sigma Super DG to be fitted onto the camera. As the external flash cannot be used concurrently with the EVF is installed so the only option is to use the built-in flash. As the external flash settings cannot be controlled by the camera, the flash has to be manually enabled which in turn increase the setup time when taking shots.

Users who are still not accustomed to manual settings can opt to use the camera's 'P' (program) mode or the eight scenes mode. What differentiates Ricoh from other cameras in its scene mode selection is the inclusion of a “Skew Cor (correction) Mode” and “Text Mode” for times when you are without pen or paper and want to record some text, say, on a menu. (plausible?) What these two modes do is to correct the image in such a way that makes it easy to read the words in the image, though I am not really impressed with its usefulness.

With such a 1/1.75" (or about 14 mm diagonally) image sensor that has 10 megapixels on it, sensor noise in the images can be easily seen from ISO 200 onwards. For image clarity, you would then be confined to the least sensitive settings (ISO 80 to ISO 100). This is where its fast F2.5 lens is helpful — by allow more light to pass through the lens and unto the image sensor.

That said, the Caplio GX100 produces photos that are nothing short of stunning with superb skin tone capture, bright colours and well-exposed pictures. The image quality is actually quite close to an entry level DSLR if the ISO setting is not high.

I am also quite taken in by the camera's 1cm Super Macro mode that reminds me of my old and yet excellent Fujifilm S602Z Pro with its ability to take dramatic close ups of flowers and insects.

What irked me about this camera is that every time I need to switch it on, first removing the lens cap to allow the lens to be extended each time I want to view some pictures. The noisy zoom mechanism did not impress either.

The GX100 is not cheap: at $999.00, the camera is even dearer than Canon's G7 and Leica's C-Lux 2, both of which sell for $969 and $980. Accessories such as a wide conversion lens with adaptor to capture more subjects in an image, will set you back by another $236. Also, with full accessories, it is not far from an entry-level camera such as the Nikon D40x or Canon 400D though one has to contend with a DSLR's bulkiness. So for those who wants better camera controls and yet able to accept the size of the camera, the DSLR is the way to go; otherwise opt for the Ricoh that does not take up luggage space.

Nokia N76: Ho Kua Bo Ho Chia

Seems like someone is copying someone. That was my first reaction when I saw the Nokia N76.

Black, thin, metallic trims, mirror-finished external screen, laser-etched keypad — all that is so Motorola Razr, though the N76 is somehow just missed the mark when compared to the more swanky looking Motorolas.

Nokia may have sensed that the clam shell design can be improved and introduced the N76. To give the Finnish company due credit, it has always produced phones that are great communication devices in terms of voice clarity and an intuitive navigation system, although its menu and content display is getting more cluttered with the introduction of thethe new S60 operating system. The operating system although not perfect, and not as user friendly as the S40 operating system, it is still comparatively better than some competition. What really concerns me more when it comes to Nokia phones is the usability and the placement of the ports, screens and buttons; and to some the design of the phone itself.

Although design can be subjective, I find that the N76’s laser-etched metallic keypad design has failed to lift the overall design of the phone. That said, the buttons do have some tactile response to it so keying in messages and dialing numbers is easy and felt comfortable.

The N76 has two screens for this clam shell phone; the main LCD screen on the inside and an external screen on the cover. Ladies might find the mirror-finished external screen cover useful when they want to powder their noses.

What disappoints most with the external screen is the size. At first I thought the LCD screen size would match the mirror finished screen cover but in actual fact it is a mere 160 by 128 pixel screen; so small that I find limited use for it.

The N76 does have good features such as the easily accessible media buttons on the cover, a fairly loud speaker at the bottom end of the phone and a 3.5mm stereo phone jack for music listening pleasure. I welcome the use of the 3.5mm phone jack but the main problem is with placement of the phone jack which is right on top of the phone. The head phone wires actually hinders the full extension of the phone when opening the cover. A better place to put the port would be at the side or the bottom of the phone.

Speaking of which, opening the cover by flicking my thumb requires some weight training as the hinge is pretty tight and making it worse was the lack of space for my thumb to dig underneath the cover to pry open the phone.

Lastly the poor implementation of the miniSD card slot cover is the proverbial last nail hammered into the N76's coffin. It is ill-fitting, made of plastic and juts out like a sore thumb on an otherwise smooth phone casing. Makes one wonder why the cover is needed in the first place.