Cut the Rope 2 Coming Soon

I immediately fell in love with the original Cut the Rope when I saw my bud demonstrating on his iPad but at that time, I was smartphoneless, what more a tablet. Well, I joined the crowd and had my first game on my ancient Android powered HTC Desire. I still love the game and now I play it on the iPad most of the time. I've got Cut the Rope: Experiments, too! Didn't get Cut the Rope: Time Travel, though because I've got my hands full.

So you could imagine how excited I would get once I've read that a sequel is coming (via TouchArcade), and likely (and hopefully) soon enough for the coming holiday season! The teaser below appears to show our favourite candy lover OmNom being kidnapped... Oh no!

The Purge "Sort Of" Review

The previous post reminded me of a recent movie called The Purge. It's set in a future America where crime was at an all time low... because every year there will be 12 hours where almost anyone was allowed to commit any crime, including murder, and could walk away scot free. This movie was totally disturbing and though the idea seemed original, I wouldn't recommend it because the thought of such a world was simply horrifying.

The movie was right to be classified in the horror category, not because it gave the chills, but the thought of such a possibility could exist in the world's greatest economy. Thrill wise, I don't find much there safe a scene or two. 2/5

The actors try to act intense but the truth was, there were not much of those moments. Despite having Ethan Hawke and Lena Heady to lead, there was really not much to impress upon. 2/5

I've never heard if such a thing before, have you? So in my opinion, I'd give this terrible movie a 5/5 for originality but a 2/5 overall for the brutality it planted into my mind. Watch if you like this sort of thing but don't be influenced by it. Please don't.

A Glimmer of Hope: Snatch Thieves Caught Within 10 Minutes

theSun offered a glimmer of hope to us citizens today when it published that 2 snatch thieves were caught within 10 minutes after the public alerted the police. The incident took place in Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang where thieves on a motorcycle snatched the handbag of a factory operator this morning but were caught after the public gave the police the motorcycle's registration plates with a description of the suspects. The info was then relayed to a patrol unit doing its rounds in the area. After a short chase, the suspects were apprehended. 

There is still hope.

Tom Cruise to return doing the impossible for the fifth time...

Your mission, should you choose to accept it... will return to the big screen for the fifth time on Christmas 2015... as always, should you or any of your I. M. Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.

Mission: Impossible 5 will once again star Tom Cruise with him and J. J. Abrams producing. Woooooohooooooo! I love Mission: Impossible and this is great news! Good night.

via Variety.

China Reforms

According to Reuters, the Communist Party had just announced an all important list of reforms such as:

• Accelerate capital account convertibility.
• Scrap residency restrictions in small cities and townships.
• Integrate urban and rural social security systems.
• Push forward an environmental tax.
• Ease family planning policies.
• Abolish a controversial labor camp system.

The world changes and so will giant China. Hopefully, for the better!

"TWTR"

That's how Twitter's New York Stock Exchange stock code is spelt as it got listed. Below the technical jargon talk about its opening performance:

The opening transaction was for over 11 million shares at $45.10 each, reportedly valuing the company at $25.04 billion. That’s a 73 percent increase on the $26 offering price set by Twitter yesterday.

via The Next Web.

iPads in the Hotspot

Now there is a good reason to shelve out extra dollars (in my case, Ringgit) to get the 3G/LTE version of iPad (Air, Mini, or otherwise): Use the iPad as a wifi hotspot!

According to ZDNet (via Cult of Mac), the iPad Mini could last a good 20 hours as a hotspot with the screen off. So theoretically, the iPad Air's bigger battery could do it even longer with the screen off. Just like the Duracell rabbit, I suppose:

The idea becomes even more compelling now that my mobile provider allows for multi-sim data sharing for RM15 a month per sim, up to 5 in total. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to do that anytime soon. Tight on cash at the moment, folks!

Hello, nanoblock Kitties

Well, folks, it appears that LEGO is not the only kid in the toy building block business. Saw these kitties in display at the KLCC Kinokuniya bookstore and they were built with nanoblock, a Japanese invention. Unlike LEGO, these are much smaller blocks. Hence, the name nano.

Smaller parts make it possible to create more detailed and even smaller projects than what can be created with standard diablock.

The Mighty Ear Piercing Harrison Ford

I thought Harrison Ford being Han Solo or Jack Ryan were classics. Wait till you watch the mighty Harrison Ford pierce talk show host Jimmy Fallon's ear!!!

via People.

Not what it seems to be...

Wow, a whole lot of photos that are not what they seem at first glance! Check it out here.

It's the Nexus of Transforming Trios

Android 4.4 Kit Kat launched today and Google's own new flagship the Nexus 5 will be the first to be officially installed with it. Great move by Google to make its latest mobile OS support older phones with only 512MB of RAM. I wonder if my 3-year old 1GHz single-core HTC Desire will be getting a Kit Kat MOD. Just like recently launched phones (iPhone 5s included), the 5" Nexus 5 is more evolutionary than revolutionary compared to what the original iPhone had done during Nokia's smartphone era.

What caught my attention was the optical image stabilisation that LG managed to build into the 8mm-ish phone. That's good and should set the bar for upcoming phones. I'm puzzled why Google didn't allow for expandable micro SD, though, with the phone having either 16 or 32GB internal storage. Apps are getting larger, you know.

I am also surprised by Asus' Transformer Book Trio Android tablet-cum-Windows 8 laptop-cum-desktop. It was announced months ago but the ignorant me only just found out today while browsing through tech news. Impressive Intel Haswell processor when it's in laptop or desktop mode. When detached from the keyboard, the tablet is powered by an Atom processor. Ok, this one I'm not too keen. Too used to ARM these days. Below the highlights of Asus' 2013 products with the Transformer Book Trio showing up as the climax. Not something I would buy because I don't expect it to come cheap but still something I would crave for outside of MacBook Pro with Retina and iPad Air.

Gone are the days of easy repairability

During my early ventures into the working culture as a design engineer, I was taught that all designs must take into account of easy repairability, i.e. easy to take apart, lots of room for maneuverability, etc.

Alas, times change. Nowadays, aesthetic takes the top priority. Besides that, companies such as Apple offer one-to-one swap for some of their devices. So it's no wonder that mobile devices are getting more and more difficult to repair and their parts impossible to be replaced by the moderate DIY person. There will eventually be the day when there are no more separate desktop units to open up to upgrade the hard disk and RAM. Everything must be customised and bought online. No more cheaper 3rd party parts to buy and shove them in myself...

Gone are the days of repairability... and here, the days of simplicity arrive so that we free up ourselves to stress over other stuff. Damn.