IonBuck's Blog

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Have a Leapin' Dragon Year!

2012-01-23T22:18:00.001+08:00

Enjoy the Dragon year to the fullest, folks! And don't worry, I don't think the world will end just yet! :)

Revolutionary Evasion

2012-01-22T14:15:00.000+08:00

Eric Schmidt on Sergey Brin: ...he evaded my guidance. And as a result, built a multimillion-dollar business. from the book that I'm currently reading every night before I sleep: Googled. The End of the World As We Know It.

Personal Computing in Graphs

2012-01-19T23:29:00.001+08:00

Looking at the chart below, it's mighty interesting how mobile computing has beaten the number of PCs shipped in such a short time. My heart goes to the Atari ST... my very first PC which I abandoned in favour of an Intel-powered PC almost 2 decades ago... via @legalnomads.

Historically Fake

2012-01-16T21:19:00.000+08:00

I'm totally perplexed that part of the history lessons that I had gone through during my school days was conjured out of people's imaginations and this had to be my second blog post of 2012... the year the Mayans will invade us from space, harvest all our minerals and farm us like batteries to power they toys... or did I get that wrong, too? Ahem, anyways, I had heard that Hang Tuah and gang

Welcome, 2012!

2012-01-01T23:58:00.000+08:00

2012 shall be the beginning of a better world and not the end of it! Happy New Year!

Manually Shifting to Automatic Transmission

2011-12-28T20:56:00.001+08:00

Huuuuuh? Did I read this correctly? From May 2012, there will be two types of driving licenses... a manual transmission one and an automatic transmission one... If I'm not careful, I might think that if I have a manual transmission driving license, I can't drive a car with auto transmission... and will there be a summon if a person with an auto transmission license is caught driving a car with

Almost All New Ringgit Notes while RM20 Makes a Comeback

2011-12-24T20:06:00.000+08:00

According to The Star Online, Bank Negara will issue new bank notes for all denominations save for RM50 in mid-2012. The RM20 which was long been removed from circulation will be returning.

La Nina and Monsoon Tag Team

2011-12-06T23:56:00.001+08:00

Be careful out there, fellow Malaysians living in the Klang Valley! The monsoon and La Nina are about to unleash their forces upon us, bringing strong winds and severe thunderstorms. Take care and be safe! via Star Online.

21 Jump Street the Movie

2011-11-29T21:54:00.001+08:00

What? I was shocked while checking out apple.com/trailers! After the immediate shock, I was hoping there would be Johnny Depp in it... a quick check at IMdB proved that he is in it... but only as a cameo. :( After going through the trailer, I was sort of disappointed... it's more like a comedy than the cool and sombre TV series. Check it out for yourselves here:

Cabs Driven by Women for Women

2011-11-28T01:19:00.001+08:00

Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Senator Datuk Heng Seai Kie (phew, what a mouthful!) launched the new initiative where designated female-driven cabs will be picking up ONLY women or women with children and senior citizens. This appears to come in time of increased crime rates and I would say a welcome move. This is a call-in service with three companies taking part:

Clouds above the Malaysian sky...

2011-11-17T01:03:00.001+08:00

Was driving down South for a meeting yesterday and noticed that the clouds were rather interesting, so I took a photo with my HTC Desire mobile phone. After putting the photo through picplz's new editing features of cropping and rotating, here's the original: If these clouds were in Russia*, they would look like this: *assuming the Russian Toy Camera filter in picplz turns a photo Russian. ;)

The Unwelcome Guest

2011-11-08T22:20:00.003+08:00

Ever so subtle, your host may drop a hint here and there when you have over spent your welcome...

Mission: Alfred Hitchcock Presents

2011-11-07T15:38:00.000+08:00

I was a huge fan of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series even when I was way too underage to watch these intense psychological thrillers. Today I was in the mood to look for the theme song in Youtube and here it is: While I was at it, I saw the Mission: Impossible theme there as well, another series that I'm a huge fan of:

In The Cool Blue of Anger

2011-11-07T14:01:00.002+08:00

Snapped this in Berjaya Times Square last night... cool, blue Smurfs sandwiched between Angry Birds:

Reverting Science and Mathematics to Sains dan Matematik

2011-10-29T14:53:00.000+08:00

I started my schooling life as a Malaysian having all my subjects taught in Malay except for English. Many years after leaving school, I heard that Sains dan Matematik had been revised to be taught in English. Today, browsing through my news feeds, I found out that it's back to Malay for these subjects again. I'm at a lost as to why our leaders could shift from one language over another just like

How Lightbox filters enhanced the dull grey sky...

2011-10-23T20:11:00.000+08:00

When it comes to social photo sharing apps like Lightbox and picplz (the only two that I use interchangeably these days), it's plenty easy to enhance the sky. The original picture featured a dull grey sky... Plunk it through the Redscale filter and I got a burning evening sky: Put it through the Ansel filter and the outcome a better contrast B&W image:

picplz "Quickie" Smartphone Unsharp Mask Takes The Lead Over Lightbox

2011-10-15T01:07:00.002+08:00

I've been comparing both picplz and Lightbox for quite awhile now and am still at it albeit a little slower these days as the novelty began to wear off. Make no mistake, I still love to snap a thing or two here and there but due to busy work schedule, the interest waned a little. Today, I stumbled upon this "Enhanced Definition" filter in picplz and would like to share it with everyone here. The

The Moon Ring

2011-10-10T00:57:00.000+08:00

Saw this earlier just now... apparently bringer of bad weather but at this moment, it remains a sight to behold:

Cloaking Device Unveiled

2011-10-05T21:35:00.003+08:00

While the iPhone 5 rumour has been flushed down the toilet, something hiding underwater was discovered before the Klingons found us! Scientists have unveiled a cloaking device that works only underwater at the moment utilising the mirage principle with aid from nanotubes. Figure that out!? O.o via Engadget.

Lightbox draws with picplz - In-App Cropping

2011-09-24T17:46:00.000+08:00

As Lightbox gets updated, a few features had been added and cropping within the app is one of them. Was meaning to post this for quite some time now but when I had the time, Blogger did not. So today is the day for this. :) There is 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9 and unrestricted cropping. Besides that, you can also rotate and flip the photos. Lightbox 1 picplz 1.

Philosophy Buck

2011-09-18T12:54:00.000+08:00

Invented this phrase while trying to convince my friend that a supposedly ugly photo is indeed pleasant looking: Sometimes, the ugliest photo brings the happiest moments. Maybe not grammatically correct but oooh, I like it! XD

Is it legal to snap a photo of the cinema before the show starts?

2011-09-05T21:48:00.003+08:00

picplz 1 Lightbox 0 - Photo uploads from desktop

2011-09-05T00:01:00.000+08:00

I know picplz and Lightbox are both mobile photo sharing apps where their primary task is to share photos taken by mobile phones but I like to upload photos taken with my digital camera, too. I would prefer to upload to flickr but I'm stuck with the 200 photo limit because I'm just too stingy to go for the pro account. Then there's Picasa but that one's got a 1GB limit... or something like that

Big Eyes Panda and Monkey

2011-09-03T01:18:00.000+08:00

Here's a rather eerie photo taken almost midnight through the transparent roller shutter of a shop in Mid Valley: Put the photo through the filters of both Lightbox and picplz. Ended up using Lightbox's Testino filter.

Light up my pic boxes, please

2011-09-01T23:25:00.000+08:00

I'm in a dilemma now. I've got both Lightbox and picplz apps in my Android phone and don't know where to share my photos! At the moment, both have some unique filters that the other doesn't have. I like Lightbox's Lomo, Ansel and the new Testino filters, and picplz's Russian Toy Camera and C-41 filters. picplz also has a Enhanced Definition filter that seems to sharpen the photo to greater detail

Selamat Hari Raya!

2011-08-30T10:06:00.000+08:00

Have a great Hari Raya celebration, my Muslim friends! Viva's Arabian Nights (?) decor with Lightbox Testino filter: KLCC decor (again!) with picplz Cross Process filter:

Star Trek Raya

2011-08-29T02:45:00.000+08:00

Selamat Hari Raya from the engineering team of starship KLCC-01...

Ground Force Buck

2011-08-29T02:17:00.001+08:00

At last, folks! The time has come for me to reveal to you all... THE BUCK MOBILE! ;) SWOOOOOOOOOOooooossshhhhh!!!

The Public Phone

2011-08-21T20:33:00.000+08:00

When was the last time you took notice of a public phone? I wouldn't have if I had not actually saw a lady putting coins into one and used it to call someone! Do you think it's a good thing that these still exist? I personally think so! Never knew when your mobile will run out of batteries right? Or it could be one of those unfortunate days...

Raya is COMING!!!

2011-08-21T20:16:00.000+08:00

Two shopping complexes with their Hari Raya decors: 1 Utama (via Flickr) Pavilion (via Pool Party)

New Leading Man For CSI

2011-08-01T11:44:00.001+08:00

Gil Grissom remains as my favourite lead in CSI (arguably my favourite among all 3 of the CSI franchise) and I was totally disappointed that William Petersen decided to leave the series. However, I was optimistic that Laurence Fishburne's new character Dr. Raymond Langston would be a great successor but that didn't turn out so well. I still prefer Gil. And now I read that a new leading man will

2012 Movies to Look Forward to...

2011-07-31T16:02:00.000+08:00

The very fast reboot of Spider-Man, The Amazing: Disney Pixar's Brave:The Avengers. Just saw the sneak preview after Captain America but can't find it here on Youtube to embed yet. Will make do with the earlier teaser that doesn't show much at all:The Dark Knight Rises:

Shadowy Green Tea

2011-07-31T15:44:00.001+08:00

Good day, folks! The reason I took this photo was I kind of like the cup and the shadows at the bottom... unfortunately, I don't know how to take the photo to further emphasise them. :( Anyway, here you go! Posted via Lightbox for Android.

Discovering Lightbox Photos

2011-07-26T23:05:00.001+08:00

Was doing one of my routine browsing on Android Market when I came across one of the featured apps called Lightbox Photos. Things related to photography gets me interested easily so I just went ahead and checked out the app. Some where in the description there lies an excerpt from a review saying this may be an Instagram killer. That peaked my interest since I have a bud that's been sharing great

I need a new LCD monitor!

2011-07-11T00:20:00.000+08:00

Because my faithful 17" CRT had been acting up for a few months now! Any recommendations? I would prefer a high resolution one... at least 1080 pixels in height. :P

I Love Mission: Impossible!

2011-07-04T22:12:00.001+08:00

And the trailer for the fourth movie Ghost Protocol was out a few days ago but I only found out late last night. How good or bad the movie will be... I've just got to watch this one! This Tom Cruise seems to have a thing for heights! Another one scaling to great heights at Dubai!

Laddaland

2011-06-27T21:41:00.000+08:00

Watched the Thai language horror movie Laddaland recently. Before the movie, I went to check out the trailer on YouTube, which you can find embedded below: The trailer left much to be desired and I was not going to watch the movie. Then my cousin went to watch and recommended it to me so I went with a friend whom is a fan of this genre. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. It (to use my

Runaway Teddy

2011-06-26T01:47:00.002+08:00

A teddy bear was found to be hitching a ride on a garbage truck with the letters WTF on its license plate! O.o

Li Na Becomes First Chinese Singles to Win Grand Slam Title

2011-06-05T00:37:00.000+08:00

After reaching her first grand slam final at the Australian Open earlier this year, Chinese player Li Na managed to win her first grand slam at the French Open on Saturday, the first ever Chinese singles tennis player to do so at any grand slam! She beat last year's champion Francesca Schiavone (who incidentally was the first Italian to win a women's singles grand slam title) 6-4, 7-6. via The

Movie Weapons of all Time!

2011-05-22T16:24:00.000+08:00

LIFE's got a gallery of the coolest movie weapons of all time and I kind of agree with most of them! ;)

This Summer... The Movies I Wanna Watch...

2011-05-15T18:44:00.000+08:00

Hello folks! Summer is here and these are some of the movies that I got to watch! Ryan Reynolds as The Green Lantern! Optimus Prime and his Autobots with their most difficult task yet! Before he was Professor X, he was Charles... before he was Magneto, he was Erik... Captain America!!! The Final Destination franchise might be getting old and boring but I'm a fan so I got to watch the fifth

Singapore Then and Now

2011-05-14T14:21:00.000+08:00

An interesting look at our favourite neighbour between now and a not too long ago past!

Nikon to Manufacture in Malaysia?

2011-03-23T19:24:00.000+08:00

Due to the tragic incident in Japan, one Nikon employee was dead and several missing. One of the manufacturing plants was badly damaged. Rumour has it that Nikon may move part of their lens manufacturing facility to here in Malaysia. A camera barrel parts supplier called Notion VTEC Bhd. appears to be a strong candidate. via nikonians.org.

Sleepy Cat II

2011-03-16T23:31:00.001+08:00

Snapped at the Machap R&R, Johor along the North-South Highway. Previous Sleepy Cat here.

Blue Blue Silhouette

2011-03-15T23:16:00.002+08:00

Did I spell silhouette correctly? Love this photo taken with my HTC Desire. Somehow, it appeared nicer on the phone. The AMOLED screen may be nice but it sure is faking the colours - making photos pop out but when you transfer it to a laptop and look at it on the LCD... errr... it becomes less exciting. Anyways, this is now my Android's wallpaper and it looks great being one. My blog posts have

Malaysian Economic Growth to Drop Slightly in 2012

2011-03-05T15:37:00.000+08:00

The World Bank has issued a projection that the total world trade will drop from 12% in 2010 to 7.1% and 6.8% in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Following this, our country has issued a projection of 5.2% growth in 2012 compared to 5.3% this year. The construction and agriculture industry is expected to spearhead Malaysia's economic growth this year. via The Star Online.

Super Bowl 8

2011-03-02T23:56:00.001+08:00

Has everyone already seen the Super 8 teaser from last year? If you had not, then you will find a crazy driver driving on to a railroad, going against a train head on, causing a huge train crash and what appears to be something huge and scary trying to get out of one of the carriages. The teaser can be found here: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/super8/ Recently, there was an update

The Amazing Spider-Man!

2011-02-16T21:25:00.002+08:00

Just as the whole world had seen this amazing photo of the new Spider-Man reboot (targeted release in 3 July 2012), I received the so-called "exclusive" e-mail from Sony Pictures' Spider-Man Movie Network: One of my bud had already shared the Google Reader item from some entertainment website since yesterday afternoon. For those who are more outdated than Sony Pictures' e-mail, the title of this

I have had zombies as pets but they went invisible on me...

2011-02-15T15:08:00.003+08:00

Sorry folks, looks like you are stuck with my Plants vs. Zombies obsession. I've got a whole aquarium full of snorkeling zombies complete with life vests (hmmm... but they still don't float which I suspect could be due to their brains diet). Meanwhile, I still have to keep my Stinky snail awake so, if I feed my pet zombies a little slow, they will turn green, flip over and die. These dead zombies

The Zombies Ate My Brains

2011-02-12T02:02:00.000+08:00

And so that's why my blog posts get lesser and lesser over the years. I have evidence to proof that there are zombies and that they ate my brains... By the way, I have a pet snail called Stinky who sleeps most of the time instead of collecting coins and diamonds for me unless I feed it chocolate bars. Screenshots taken from the "amazingly addictive yet cute while at the same time, violent because

Why Do People Still Spam?

2011-02-11T00:30:00.000+08:00

That's the question I've been asking for quite some time, now. Spam filters are really great these days - all my online accounts Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail are doing a great job! I'm just so darn bored of frequently visiting the Spam or Junk folders to click on the buttons to empty these folders. Initially, I do still browse through the e-mails in these folders to confirm if they were all

Pete Eckert Blind Photographer

2011-02-07T22:07:00.000+08:00

Diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, Pete Eckert was working as a carpenter but eventually picked up photography after he lost his sight. He pictured the scene in his mind through his other senses and also does double exposures. | Artists Wanted | In Focus : Pete Eckert (Lo-Speed) from Artists Wanted on Vimeo. We hear miracles now and then and here's one. Life goes on for Pete and his wife, Amy

Realistic 3D Goes Deeper Than Skin

2011-02-07T21:29:00.000+08:00

3D software has evolved one step further! Even after you digitally slice a fruit or whatever objects, the cross-section will appear realistically real! via New Scientist.

2011 Chinese New Year Movie Rankings

2011-02-05T03:11:00.004+08:00

Just my own list of movies that I've watched during this festive season here in Malaysia: Funny factor: 1. I Love Hong Kong - contains the most funny scenes among all. 2. Mr. and Mrs. Incredible - sustainable funnies. 3. Yogi Bear - bumbling Yogi. 4. All's Well Ends Well 2011 - it's a dragggggg... with some rare funny scenes. 5. Shaolin - cute little wushu monks. Update! Crazy cute factor: 1.

Angry! Very Angry! More Angry Birds Coming!

2011-02-02T16:26:00.001+08:00

More Angry Birds coming in March and this time, based on the trailer below, it might not involve green pigs... This time, the birds got angry because a lot of other birds are caged in... probably endangered birds. Looks like it's a battle of the birds! Bad birds and angry birds! And this new Angry Birds game is called Angry Birds Rio which brings them to Rio de Janeiro and is based on their

Rain, Rain, Cool Day on Earth

2011-01-30T15:39:00.000+08:00

It's been continuously raining at about the same rate (slightly heavier than a drizzle, but not quite cats and dogs... watcha call it?) most of the day. Enough to get you soaked if you stand outside for a couple of minutes. Weather's been obviously cool... According to my phone's weather app, it's 25ºC out there. The kind of temperature I set the air-conditioner to on a hot day. Is it going to

Angry Birds TV?

2011-01-21T15:30:00.000+08:00

I'm actually reading up a Nikon D3100 review in our local Lowyat.NET forum but got sidetrack a little when I came across a tweet from @CNNshowbiz reporting that Angry Birds are not only stopping at being a PC game (its latest platform after iPhone, Maemo, Android, iPad and whatever other mobile platforms). It is going to be a very angry animated series, too! As much as I like the game (I'm stuck

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides Trailer

2011-01-20T23:24:00.000+08:00

It is difficult not to love Captain Jack Sparrow and I'm just glad that he's coming to the big screen again in May. However, the trailer below doesn't look too interesting, though... but looks can be deceiving. :D

The Ingenious Fuzzy Wuzzy Camera Case

2011-01-17T23:47:00.000+08:00

Who would have thought that Fuzzy Wuzzy was a camera case! Fuzzy Wuzzy (wow, what a name) holds certain compact cameras:And Fuzzy Wuzzy may be tasked with holding other stuff such as crayons (but so does any other camera pouches, I guess :P)!This is all beginning to be something like an advertisement for Photojojo. Nope, this isn't. I'm just somehow fascinated by Fuzzy Wuzzy. ;)

Is life anything like a box of Famous Amos cookies?

2011-01-16T14:50:00.000+08:00

Had a very scary encounter with my newly purchased box of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies today. Upon opening it and transferring the contents into an air-tight container for storage and occasional invasion, the bottom part of the contents were in smithereens! Ended up eating all of 'em with a spoon.

The HTC Android Phone Battery That Saved The Day

2011-01-09T01:53:00.001+08:00

There are many movies where miracles happen in such a way that the hero gets shot but didn't die because the bullet hit a coin or a medallion or something in his pocket. Not in real life we don't hear much of those but today's different. Two men were kicked out of a nightclub in Atlanta so they opened fire at the club but one of it strayed and hit a valet. The bullet went through the valet's

The Idiot with a Tripod and Simon's Cat

2011-01-02T16:38:00.001+08:00

I'm never a person that shoots video because I totally lack composition skills. The only video I had shot so far and posted to YouTube was this one - I was amused with the amount of birds flying around. This was taken with my ancient Canon A400 digital camera. So I never had much of a thing about digital cameras' ability to take videos nor digital video cameras. Needless to say, the recent crop

The First Blog Post of a New Decade: The Red Slippers, The Zombie and The Android Bug

2011-01-01T19:56:00.000+08:00

First off, let me wish everyone a Happy New Year and an all new decade. Lets all start fresh, be good and most importantly, be HAPPY! Here's a photo with plenty of red tint which normally represents prosperity and everything good: Up next, let me introduce this very cool zombie to you: Designed using the Plants vs. Zombies in-game avatar designer. The official name for a zombie avatar is Zombatar

Happy New Year 2011!

2010-12-31T23:42:00.000+08:00

Just as 2010 comes to an end in a few more minutes, I would like to share with you my favourite photo of the whole year, taken at Hong Kong Disneyland during a company trip. I'm not good with photographing people during their candid moments but somehow, while waiting for the parade to start and swinging my camera around I caught this interesting moment. Hands down my favourite photo of 2010!

The Bali Ice Incident

2010-12-28T13:15:00.003+08:00

The drink bali ice (or bali ping in Cantonese), folks, not the Bali in Indonesia with snow due to global climate change... yet. Had lunch just now and iced bali was my drink. The price - RM1.50. It surprised me a little considering a drink of iced bali was only RM1 in the southern region of Malaysia while here in the central region, outskirts of the heart of the capital the price is an extra 50%!

All in the day of Boxing

2010-12-26T19:20:00.000+08:00

Watched a rather effects laden Tron Legacy in 3D with my buds earlier today, discovered good and evil Gingerbread Men at Coffee Bean Mid Valley and then somehow, went on to be busy bodies at a what-appeared-to-be-partially-opened-SStwo Mall. All these on Boxing Day. SStwo Mall Front FacadeBook fair at SStwo Mall

Setting Custom Ringtones for Android Phones

2010-12-23T20:49:00.000+08:00

Recently, I was playing a lot of Angry Birds and found that the theme is rather catchy and so I was looking for the theme to download and set as my HTC Desire's ringtone. The search was easy enough with Google. The first search result was perfect - AngryBirdsNest.com. iPhone users can find their .m4r version there, too. Downloading was also easy. Setting the .mp3 as ringtone was not as simple.

Attempted Simulated HDR II

2010-12-21T23:15:00.000+08:00

Folks, here is another attempt at simulated HDR taken with my HTD Desire with the Camera360 app. Kinda scary me thinks. Further enhanced the colour by increasing contrast with the Adope Photoshop Express app. Previously less scary, less exaggerated simulated HRD here.

Dual Core Goes to Smartphones in 2011

2010-12-20T22:46:00.000+08:00

Just as desktops and laptops go quad core, it is time for smartphones to inherit dual core processors. LG was the first to announce dual core Tegra 2 chips for their Optimus something line. Being Korean, Samsung followed suit with announcements for dual core Cortex powered smartphones called Orion. Both are clocked at 1GHz. Nokia seems to also have plans for dual core phones targetted in the

Gingerbread, the Android 2.3

2010-12-19T18:13:00.001+08:00

The next version of the Android OS is called Gingerbread and here's the official introductory video: In a nutshell, 2.3 focuses on improvements in games development, multimedia, speed and power management. Besides that, there is support for this thing called near field communication where one can get more information of something that the device is near to. Hmmm... all these should appear first

TGIF Section 14 Relocates

2010-12-18T21:18:00.001+08:00

Another memorable landmark in Section 14 is relocating to some where... did not see any notice indicating where TGI Friday's is relocating to, though. Have not been to the place for a long time and visiting Digital Mall today was quite a surprise. First, my bud and I noticed the TGIF closure... the graffiti in the middle more telling than the colourful notices all around. Second, the former Jaya

Insane: Panda Blasphemy!

2010-12-18T02:23:00.001+08:00

I was in total shock while looking at my colleague flipping through the papers earlier today. A quick glance, I saw the image of a panda but without the trademark dark rings around the eyes. After blinking in astonishment a couple of times, I stopped my colleague from flipping and asked her to back track, all the while in panic that there may be a new discover of a panda with unique genes. After

Kuwait is Innocent! No Such DSLR Ban!

2010-12-08T23:43:00.000+08:00

Hey! Another example of how widespread the internet is when one party reports of the Kuwait government issuing a ban on DLSR use in public without real research into facts, yours truly included. Well, I don't really care because I've read about it in so many places so it must be real, right? Hmph! WRONG! Thankfully, The Online Photographer has debunked this cruel myth for the people in Kuwaiti

Multi-Coloured Pentax

2010-12-07T03:19:00.000+08:00

I thought the K-x was the most colourful camera around but Pentax best their own by coming out with a Korejanai K-r. Don't have the slightest idea what Korejanai means but my guess is it's related to robots and lots of colours. via PhotographyBLOG.

Trays of Chilli and Ketchup

2010-12-07T03:11:00.000+08:00

Have a great saucy month before greeting 2011, folks!

A&W Abstract

2010-11-29T22:55:00.000+08:00

This is yet another one of my never ending attempts to photograph abstract stuff. Took this with the HTC Desire while dining at A&W SS2. Thought this 3 section thing would look nice - the spinning fan, the wall graphics and a little bit of the dining indoors.

Seahorse Reproduction

2010-11-27T15:43:00.003+08:00

This National Geographic article carrying an award winning photo of a male seahorse giving birth to a fry (this is what their young is called) spurred an interest in seahorses. Another link from the same page led to a deeper insight into seahorses. First, the male and female would engage in a mating dance (see video below) which eventually leads to the female depositing her eggs into the male's

Using DSLR In Public A Crime in Kuwait

2010-11-24T23:08:00.000+08:00

It has finally happened. Taking photos in public is now a crime but I guess maybe only in Kuwait. And it's a crime only if you are using a DSLR. If you use a camera phone or a digital compact or one of those excellent long zoom digital cameras, it seems like it is legal and if you use film SLR, it also appears to be legal... that is what I am understanding from this article from Kuwait Times. Wow

Attempted Simulated HDR

2010-11-23T23:48:00.001+08:00

While on the way back from a one day Southern trip, I noticed that the evening sky was kind of interesting. In addition to that my HDR-obsessed bud kept mentioning about clouds, clouds, clouds in recent days so I whipped out my HTC Desire which was loaded with the free version of Camera360, selected "HDR Simulation (Heavy)" and got this:

Abstract Drain Grating?

2010-11-21T22:38:00.001+08:00

Took this photo about a week or so ago: It's a crop of a big photo that shows a drain cover with water running through. Trying to train myself to look at things in an abstract way and photograph them because I'm so impressed with those really nice abstract photographs taken by all the good people out there. So far, I'm not anywhere near there but shall keep trying... until I find something else

Aftermath of the inspiring trunk

2010-11-11T00:51:00.000+08:00

After being overly impressed by the bulky Proton Inspira, I fell madly in love with this cuddly Android plush:I had previously expressed my love here. via Mashable (again!).

The Trunk, The Plants and then Inspiration

2010-11-10T22:47:00.000+08:00

Photographed this tree trunk with two layers of plants earlier today: I had a good interesting image of it but then it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. Damn, I'm lacking in skill. But anyways, viewing the all new Proton Inspira about an hour ago is also quite rewarding. Sexy, this thing: Vroom, VROOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Happy Happy Deepavali!

2010-11-05T23:38:00.000+08:00

And here's another kolam, taken at KL Sentral: Taken with HTC Desire

Happy Deepavali!

2010-11-05T12:41:00.001+08:00

Deepavali is what we call the Festival of Lights in Malaysia. In other places, I believe it's also Diwali or Divali? Regardless the name, have a great one and to those who do not celebrate, happy holidays! Kolam taken from Uptown 5 lobby with HTC Desire.

Suffer the jerk who used my Hotmail to spam!

2010-11-03T20:05:00.001+08:00

That's what I was thinking when my Hotmail sent spam to everyone in my address book and then all my contacts in that address book got deleted. Logged in to MSN Messenger and no one was visible because all my contacts were removed. Freakin' evil, whoever did that. May you suffer and the only way out is to hope to die but I'm sure you will still be hanging there and have a long and suffering life.

Compound Eyes?!?!

2010-11-02T23:27:00.000+08:00

I never knew flies look at things this way!!!

Miniature Rojak Buah?

2010-10-31T00:54:00.001+08:00

Was at the newly reopened SS2 McDonald's earlier today and took this photo of SS2 with my HTC Desire from the new outdoor seating area (and uploaded to Twitpic on-site): After reaching home, I had a thought of trying to digitally apply some tilt-shift effect on the photo. I did not use any specialised software but instead used the freeware Gimp (the free Photoshop for poor people who don't want

The Nikon Temptation

2010-10-24T23:34:00.001+08:00

I've been tempted to buy a Nikon DSLR for years starting from the time of the D40 to supplement (or replace?) my Lumix DMC-FZ30. Am not sure how long more can I hold on to my Vulcan-like emotional suppression from the temptations of Nikon with the current entry level D3100 and/or as they belt out the delicious D7000 in a matter of weeks (in Malaysia). Over the years, my dilemma remains the same.

Carnivorous Android

2010-10-13T00:08:00.000+08:00

Not meaning to promote Android nor demote Apple, I find the image below amusing while at the same time, not liking the taste of one OS attacking another OS. Image via an article from Android Community.

Falling In Place

2010-10-04T23:28:00.000+08:00

Have you ever felt at times that everything would just mess up on bad days and on some good or ok days, things tend to go your way? Today seemed to be an ok, not a good nor excellent, but ok day for me. Work was piling up as I was outstation for work very often the last two weeks but schedules for meetings for the rest of this week were all automatically set up without clashing with one another.

Yet another month end

2010-09-30T15:52:00.001+08:00

We have come to the end of September and also the end of another quarter. Sigh and I've been blogging lesser and lesser these days. Not that my posts had been very interesting but I kinda like to talk rubbish and post them online. :P Unfortunately for me my current job doesn't seem to permit enough time to blog these days. Have been running around rushing this and rushing that and travelling

Peace Hotel @ Taiping

2010-09-26T20:05:00.003+08:00

Peace Hotel Originally uploaded by IonBuck. Was in Taiping for work around couple of months ago and was on the way for breakfast when I saw this Peace Hotel. Immediately, I started to wonder if this was related to the Chow Yun Fatt movie way back in 1995. - Taken with the HTC Desire -

Buried

2010-09-19T01:22:00.000+08:00

Am rather curious about the upcoming movie Buried starring Ryan Reynolds. Would like to see how a movie is made with majority of the scenes inside a coffin. Based on what I can make out of the trailer on the official website he is kidnapped for ransom while being buried somewhere in a coffin. He has a lighter, a cellphone and 90 minutes of oxygen (but later in the trailer, he has a pocket knife

Donkey Democracy

2010-09-18T20:59:00.000+08:00

A donkey transporting ballot boxes to remote villages before parliamentary elections in Afghanistan: via Eyewitness.

Day Tracks

2010-09-05T20:18:00.003+08:00

Love this photo. It's a combination of various railroad tracks including the express train from KLIA, electric train track, etc. The blue sky with clusters of clouds help to enrich the colours of the photo. Also like how the way the tracks curve and lead towards the horizon intersected by a bridge. - Taken with the HTC Desire -

Delightful quotes from scientific legend Stephen Hawking

2010-09-03T23:20:00.002+08:00

I like these couple of quotes from Stephen Hawking about how intelligent we humans are as a species and the impact we made: "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads,

Messy Dirty Dirt

2010-09-03T22:27:00.000+08:00

When website called TheDirty.com apparently posted a picture of Sarah Jones (a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader while at the same time is also a high school English teacher - how?) and reported that she had an affair with a player and had contracted two venereal diseases, the cheerleader-cum-teacher sued. The only thing was the website mentioned in the case had a missing "y" to it. TheDirt.com did

Don't think too much this Merdeka Day and beyond...

2010-08-31T15:24:00.000+08:00

... because... via Stuff No One Told Me (but I have to post it here or aliens will kill me).

Beyond Inception

2010-08-30T00:14:00.000+08:00

FoxTrot is taking the meaning of Inception to an all new level! via FoxTrot.com.

The One Called Wally

2010-08-27T22:22:00.003+08:00

Hail Wally! He speaks for us employees who earn a leaving on a salary. For the past two days, he's been the voice of our dilemma in waking up to go to work and the need to endure more work after lunch...