To "Like" A Sad Photo

Ever saw heartbreaking photos of unfortunate scenes or people on Facebook and quickly “Like” or “Share” them in our own Timeline? I’m really one of you. Our mere actions is meagre at best, so says these photos with superimposed thumbs up from a Singapore ad agency.

via Gizmodo.

A Different World: The Haze Epidemic Turns You Into A Zombie

It's been ages since I've posted now drawn any meagre comic but here is one to disturb your senses. Drawn because of the haze with the iPad app Paper by FiftyThree.

Old timers trying to break out of jail...

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger trying to escape from prison?

Personal Latte Art

I'm always amazed at how baristas come out with amazing latte art and they are always so fast at it but this...

How long will you take to drink out of that?

via PetaPixel.

Difference between winter bound NZ and haze shrouded Malaysia...

To my friend's

"Hot cup of coffee... outside on d deck... Staring into....trees...",

I replied:

"Hot breath of haze staring into nothingness here."

Hibiscus in the Mountains

Hibiscus in the Mountains
Originally uploaded by IonBuck.

Taken at Cameron Highlands Rose Centre. Same place as I took the sunflower many years back. Love this cooling place up the highlands. Too many developments happening, though, that I'm worried the cool would not last for too long...

Red Umbrella

Red Umbrella
Originally uploaded by Jonathan Kos-Read.

Don't know why but I'm impressed by this photo. Saw it from a post in the Flickr Blog titled Falling Rain.

Return of the Super Zoom FZ30 with Doraemon et al

Doraemon and Friends... on a car
Originally uploaded by IonBuck.
My super zoom Panasonic FZ30 returns with Doraemon and friends, and if I remember correctly, his sister!

Smartphone Processors Getting Hot

It’s global warming in smartphone processors. From Cult of Android:

DigiTimes notes that conventional “graphite plus foil cooling” methods are no longer able to dissipate enough heat in modern smartphones, especially those with 4G chips built-in, and so overheating is becoming an increasing concern. An affective way to tackle that is to use ultra-thin “heat pipes” that circulate cooling liquid around the internals of the device.

DigiTimes rumours are usually not very accurate as noted by most people but there’s no doubt that new iterations of smartphone processors will eventually get too hot unless there are new designs or technologies (such as liquid cooling mentioned in the same article referenced above) in the making.

If Dr. M could turn back time, we may be a very different Malaysia...

In an article from The Malaysian Insider, our former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir has this to say:

"When I headed the MSC, I was asked by an American woman whether we would block the internet. 

"I told her no, we will be very free... but now I will think twice about it."

The Motorola X Phone Goes For The Experience?

Hmmm...

"While those specs are not necessarily all that impressive on paper when compared to phones like the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4, remember that Motorola is going for something completely different with their new line of phones. CEO Dennis Woodside said in a recent interview that new Moto phones will anticipate your needs depending on the time or situation thanks to advanced sensors and other new tech. So Motorola isn’t exactly going to try and blow our minds in the spec department – they plan to impress us with experience."

If this is true, it sure sounds like an Apple strategy.

via Droid Life.

Android Key Lime Pie Magic

According to Android Community Key Lime Pie is due this October and:

“…but according to the leakster Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie (with all the smooth animations and more) will run beautifully on devices even with single-core processors and a lowly 512MB of RAM.”

There is still life for my ancient and lowly HTC Desire!

Could speed cameras be the cause of accidents that they are trying to prevent?

A recent study in the UK shows that speed cameras may increase the risk of a fatal or serious accident in some areas.

Nasty!

via The Sun Daily.

Deputy PM said government to favour those who backed them

I thought our supposedly honest government that played fair during the elections were on the way to national reconciliation but my heart sank when The Malaysian Insider reported that the deputy prime minister said this:

"The clear message is that the majority of the Malays, Indians, Bumiputera, Orang Asli, Siamese community as well as those in Sabah and Sarawak still support the BN. 

"We will continue to give them greater assistance; that is what we will do."

Disappointing.

Charge your phone in under 30 seconds!

While we are at the topic of super fast charging, here's a glimpse of the future at how fast you can charge your battery hungry smartphone, or whatever with a battery, I guess, in under 30 seconds. Truly a teen prodigy:

TOSA Charge Your Electric Bus in 15 Seconds!

Lots of miracles happening these days and here's another: A project called Trolleybus Optimisation Système Alimentation (TOSA) which charges an electric bus with renewable hydroelectric energy in 15 seconds is undergoing trials in Geneva, Switzerland.

As each bus comes to a stop, a laser-driven arm connects the bus to the charger, giving it a 400kW boost at selected stops. Then, at the end of the bus line, the bus can take a few minutes to recharge fully for the next trip.

via Inhabitat.

It's about time alright... Plants vs Zombies 2!

One of the really rare games out there that got me hooked till I completed it... and then went about to complete it again, and again first on the PC (via Steam) and then playing again on iOS, Plants vs. Zombies, finally has a sequel. Guess what's the title? Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time. I agree.

Below the fantastic trailer in 3D CGI and almost at the end, we have Crazy Dave turning a knob... Hinting at time travel or teleportation perhaps? I'm full of anticipation! The game will be free to download (wooooooohoooooo!) but with all things free, there's always a catch. There's in-app purchases which I hate (groan!!!). I'd rather pay the original game's price than freemium (not that the original game doesn't have in-app purchases. Hmph!). Lets hope it's too fantastic to ignore this part of it.

UPDATE: I got so excited that I forgot about the release date. It's 18 July 2013!

UPDATE 16 August 2013: There was a delay but it's now available worldwide for iOS. Yippeeeee?

via Cult of Mac.

Superman and his Easter Egg

Shocking but not entirely unexpected what with talks of a possible Justice League and the on and off again Superman-Batman movie, director of Man of Steel let slip (or was it intentional?) that there is an Easter Egg in his movie - a Wayne Enterprises logo on a satellite.

via geektyrant.

Hack An iOS Device With... A CHARGER???

Read about hacking. Fascinated about how it could be done in the movies. But this is new: Hack any iOS device using a charger! The Verge has it in the news. Below, excerpts from the article:

The team at Georgia Institute of Technology says its charger was able to upload arbitrary software to an iOS device within one minute of it being plugged in. According to the researchers, "all users" are at risk, as the hack doesn't require any user interaction. Hackers are even capable of hiding the applications, so they don't show up in the device's app list. It's not clear if the charger is able to upload malicious code — Apple's iOS devices, by default, are "sandboxed" and will only install and run properly signed apps — but this is a worrying development regardless.

Fate Of Your Planet

That's the title of the latest trailer for Man of Steel, indicating this is one huge movie with General Zod and gang terrorising our planet, much more viciously than the second Superman movie which featured the late Christopher Reeves.

This movie is the one that I'm looking forward to next, releasing in Malaysia 13 June 2013.