50 Years of James Bond

Check this out! Some guy compiled approximately 5 minutes of every Bond movie up till Quantum of Solace in sequence and it almost make up a story by itself!

Dragon Baby Kung Fu Fighting

This is some video! No idea how it was done but I'll be damned if I don't share it here!


Dragon Baby from Patrick Boivin on Vimeo.

Musical Halloween

Howdy, folks! Hope you have a splendid Halloween! Took this photo after a string concert last night. ;)

Final Quarter of 2012

Holy mad cows, folks! The final quarter for this year is just less than 24 hours away... depending which part of the world you are but what does all these mean? If you're a firm believer of the world ending apocalypse, then it's really time to say your final good byes and make amends for the end is near...

Otherwise, it's just a reminder how time had pass and how little was done... so go out and do what's not been done!

For me, I'm just going to wish for cooling weather and more time to sleep.

Having a stressed day?

Go here and click the button: The magic button — Make Everything OK

Everything will be ok.

Shielded behind those iPhone, Mini iPad and Retina display MacBook rumours...

Are the refresh of the Mac Minies and iMacs. Why are there almost no rumours about these guys after the latest MacBook Pro announcements? Everyone's all engrossed with the next Gen iPhone, iPad Mini and 13" Retina Display MacBook Pro that the "lesser" family members are forcefully pushed deep into the recess of their minds!

Fear not! I remember you and am hoping the refresh will come soon. Just because I can't afford a MacBook Pro, doesn't mean I can't now lust for the cheapest Mac around. And while I'm at it, I would also like to dream of the iMac!

Good night, sweet dreams and Merdeka!

Born! A Pair of Giant Pandas!

Sixue, a 6-year old giant panda gave birth to a male and female giant pandas at the Wolong Giant Panda Wild Breeding Center. Great news but I remember reading or watching some where that the mother panda will only choose one to nurse while discarding the other! But no fear, the other one will be in great hands of the Wolong researchers. via Celsias

The Three Cubs who went to look for Super Squirrel

It's crazy Sunday so it's time to increase the cute factor here!

Three cute cubs that remind me of the triplets in Brave:


And the image that I find funniest is this one... The Super Squirrel!

via The Telegraph

The Amazing LEGO Story

I'm almost sure that every kid has heard of LEGO and undoubtedly not many have not played with it before. But have we ever wonder how it all began? Here's the official story on its 80th birthday:

It seems everything great has humble beginnings, doesn't it? Have a great birthday, LEGO!

via Mashable

The Bond Legacy

This November's 007 Skyfall has a new trailer with an all new Q... a very much younger one:



Another spy flick with a nearer release date, here's The Bourne Legacy which is totally a different story from the novel of the same name:

The iPad Experience Part 3 - Watch Your Posture, Kid!

Don't you get that a lot, especially during the early life of schooling where the teacher would comment things like "sit straight!", "don't slouch!", et cetera, et cetera? Parents would not hesitate to give us a lesson about postures if we were found lazing around being a couch potato!

Fast forward a few decades and here I am NOT sitting very properly typing this blogpost on an iPad using the Blogger app (that's really made for the iPhone actually). Only a month or so ago when I first got the iPad, my attention was so fully into the device that I did not realise I was actually reading and playing games for hours off it with my head down until I had to put it down and go grab a bite. My upper back (or whatever you call the area around the shoulder blades) hurt so much that the pain lasted for a few days!

On another incident (which I still frequently go), I was lazily slouching on the chair with my legs up on ANOTHER chair that when I finally got up, my legs and back were numb, feeling like I'm a thousand years old! The problem wasn't so bad during the days of the desktop because I had to sit upright to be able to look at the monitor. Things started to go downhill when desktop became laptop where the head had to be tilted downwards to look at the screen. There was still salvation then because I could still occasionally attach the laptop to the external monitor.

So, folks, be careful how you sit or lie down when using the iPad or ANY tablet... Especially if you are way passed your teens! The tablet is here to finish what the TV started!

#

A close friend recently asked me what is the name for #. My immediate answer was "hash". Apparently, the most common name these days is its social media one called the "hashtag". Besides that, I remembered a teacher once told me this symbol on the phone is called the "pound" sign which leads to its origin. According to this article in Dictionary.com's iOS app (which I am going to further dilute here), its real name was invented by Bell Laboratories scientists whom placed this symbol into the telephone to send instructions through. The name is... "Octothorpe".

How they came up with the name is unclear but "octo" came up because of its eight sides. Now that we know its real name, we can confidently call it the Octothorpe and repeat it really quickly 10 times with our noses pointing high up into the air. Heck, I'm tempted to call me self the blogger known as Octothorpe.

picplz Shuts Down July 3, 2012

Fellow picplz users, the service will be shutting down a day before America's independence day. A pity as I found that it is one of the better photo sharing apps around with some photo editing features built-in, though I've not been using it lately. RIP.

The iPad Experience Part 2 - Apps, Apps, Apps!

It's me again, finally able to force myself to take a break from doing all sorts of things with the iPad except to blog about it! For the record, am still loving it despite the shortfalls mentioned in the first post.

I'm not sure if this post is a complain or a recommendation! I've been buying apps ever since I got my iPad. As I recall, I never did anything close to this kind of online shopping spree when I first got my Android HTC Desire. Then again, at that time, the Malaysian Android Market had no apps purchasing option. The novelty must have worn off by the time it became available almost a year since I bought that phone. Oh, I also kept running out of space on that phone. Alright, it now becomes clearer to myself why I didn't buy many apps for my HTC!

Ahem, anyway, back to the iPad! I wouldn't have purchased my apps, mainly games, if my bud had not introduced to me this incredible app called AppShopper! It lets you save the apps that you want to buy into your wish list and updates you whenever there is a price change or updates. Awesome app!

The real reason I bought this iPad was due to Apple's influential marketing campaign about its Retina display (so I figured it'd be an excellent photography companion to bring along during trips) and the (timely?) death of my ancient AMD-powered HP laptop. So I was just waiting for its launch in Malaysia and the first app I bought was iPhoto, followed by Marvel vs. Capcom. After that, the rest was history! I just kept buying one app after another whenever AppShopper alerted me to incredible price drops! Needless to say, it's also almost too easy to buy apps! So easy that it felt fishy and yet I would push that thought way back into my mind... where a conspiracy is brewing...

Skyfall - done

My favourite spy is returning to the big screen this year end! Check out the official teaser!

Googlorola

I was flipping digital Flipboard pages on the iPad and fell asleep for what I perceived to be a few seconds when I opened my eyes again to realised that I've landed on this page: Google Buys Motorola...

Google had successfully purchased Motorola Mobility! This could mean a lot of things and the first I thought of was the conflict of interest it may create with its "open source" Android mobile OS. What are you up to, Google? This couldn't be happening... at a time when I'm starting to have my interests in Apple growing within me...

The iPad Experience Part 1

After finally relenting to go Apple, here I am typing this with an iPad. The real reasons I got this iPad - my personal AMD-powered Windows Vista broke down again and the Retina display was way too enticing to ignore. After a few weeks with it, I'm putting my experience here on my blog.

First of all, its mighty portability (in comparison with a laptop) is something really worth mentioning. I could put it into my bag together with my work laptop and bring it anywhere with me. Night entertainment such as surfing and games such as Smurfs' Village in the hotel! The 5 megapixels camera is good enough to snap occasional photos when I don't have a camera or camera phone around. In fact, I suspect the camera is better than the one in my 2 year old HTC Desire.

I'm also satisfied with its really long lasting battery life. No need to keep looking for a plug point! But of course, compared to a laptop, this Apple proprietary tablet couldn't burn even a CD, lags when in some taxing webpages and doesn't really multitask the way I am used to... Heck it doesn't continuously buffer a YouTube video if I go out of the app! There's also no torrent (Apple control!) nor Flash support but I'm still enjoying it coming to a month of owning it.

More rants and raves in coming times, I hope!

The Amazing Panda Sneeze

Still on the subject matter of the amazingly cute giant panda, here is a video that generated over 135 million views on YouTube as of now (not counting those duplicates!!!). It's been around for quite some time now but just in case you are not among those who had watched how a baby panda's sneeze caught its mother by surprise, here it is:

Super Cute Panda Live Wallpaper

One advantage that I can think of of unrooted Android phones over non-jailbroken iPhones is the live wallpaper. For those that are more backwards than me, live wallpaper on an Android phone is similar to a PC desktop wallpaper, just that it is animated and some even interacts with the user.

As I am a panda lover, I had always wanted a wallpaper that has cute pandas in it. I was totally mesmerised when I read about one such wallpaper while flipping through an Android app magazine at a bookstore (yup, I still visit bookstores!). What's more... it's a live wallpaper with a cute panda with eyes that follow your touches! Below is a screenshot of it:

You can download the free version of the live wallpaper from the official Android Market Google Play here. There is also a paid version that allows some form of customisation but I did not try to purchase it because I'm totally happy with the free one. Cheapskate signing out!

Obviously is out. Abuden is in!

My dearest friend pointed me to this very obvious video...

Yes, yes, yes, sometimes it's really very irritating when people state the obvious but we are all guilty of doing it all the same, abuden!

Left Standing this 立春

I'm totally excited being able to make an egg stand this very first day of Spring! But why do eggs particularly stand on 立春? That part I have no idea. o.O

HDR In Photojournalism

My initial interpretation of HDR (high dynamic range) photography was over-processed photos but after a long period of web surfing and reading more about it, I find it can make a photo more realistic (in terms of dynamic range) than straight out of the camera. Before I go further, HDR is basically combining a few photos taken of the same scene at varying exposures.

Back to the purpose of this post, I came across an article from dpreview.com which mentioned about a debate in using HDR in photojournalism. You can read more about it here. I find the pro-HDR reply pretty much agreeable. Below, excerpts of the reply:

There is no camera in existence, digital or film, which can accurately reproduce what the human vision system can capture and process in real time. While today’s digital cameras capture a much larger dynamic range in a single shot than any color transparency film ever could in the past, they still can't match the tonal range humans can see. And so, using HDR software and processing tools is the only method a photographer has to deliver precisely what he or she witnessed at the time of an image capture. 

and...

Improper use of HDR can clearly create a misrepresentation of the photographic moment, but when HDR techniques are used as they should, they absolutely meet, and might, in fact, go above and beyond the standards of the NPPA’s code of ethics which state, in part:

• Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects.
• Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images' content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects. 
• Respect the integrity of the photographic moment.

Proper use of HDR does not alter, mislead or misrepresent a scene. In fact, true color HDR processing and tone mapping techniques restore the integrity of the photograph, and is the best way to reproduce the original high contrast scene, in low dynamic range media such as newsprint or on our LCD computer or handheld displays.

When Pigs Fly

As the saying goes "when pigs fly"... and here they are:

So, watch what you say. It may just happen!

Pssst... tomorrow's a working day...

"Pssst... it's back to work tomorrow, bud..."

"D'oh!"

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

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

Revolutionary Evasion

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

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

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 were myths some time back but didn't believe it because they were historical heroes in our history books but now that it was made official, I rest my case. Hang  Tuah and gang shall go down in history like Wong Fei Hung and gang...

via The Star Online.

Welcome, 2012!

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