Tapioca with Love

Interested in some festive cookies? Have some heart-shaped tapioca ones!

L?????

What will the next version of Android be called? At the moment, it's generally referred to as Android L. Traditionally named after desserts, there are various speculations with the front runner being Lemon Meringue Pie. It could also be Lollipop, according to Android Community and with good reason. It could also be Lime (Key) Pie. Hmmm...

via Android Community.

The Practical Review of iPhones 6 and 6 Plus

I'm sure, like me, you were thrown with plentiful reviews of Apple's latest over the past weeks and it's always fresh to read about one that is not of the technical kind but of the real world type. No better place than to bring the phones to Disneyland to test their prowess, then.

This is where the reviewer set aside the technicalities and placed emphasis on user experience while, presumably, having fun at the theme park. Check it out here.

via TechCrunch.

The Purple One

The purple cabbage which is supposed to be really healthy was part of my lunch today. Feeling very healthy already!

Update: Ah, it's better known as red cabbage. Lots of info at Wikipedia.

LCD The Great

I'm glad that someone, or rather, some professional regards the LCD screen as superior. In this post, I'm not siding this particular tech but actually stating my own opinion that I prefer screens that reproduce more natural and accurate colours.

At first sight, AMOLED (or its iterations) screens produce really nice and saturated colours but I find it dissatisfying to look at my photos on such screens in colours that differ when viewed on more accurate displays. But that's just me. B)

Thoughts triggered by Cult of Mac.

World of Scam - Automated Call from "RHB"

In less than 7 days, I've received twice the same automated voice message telling me that I've got a pending transaction with the amount of RM3,972 with RHB and that I should press 1 to authorise or 5 to don't know what (sorry can't remember). The first time went to my voice mail during the week day and the second time was just a few moments ago. For that first time, I deleted the voice mail and for the second time, I hung up and went on with life.

I don't deny that these calls did make me feel worried and unsure if it was really RHB but, well, I don't have any dealings with the bank so, it's got to be a scam. A search online showed that I was not alone. Someone else blogged about it here. The difference was that the number that called me was +60 3 9206 8118.

Beware and take care!

Four Thirds in a Compact

While many companies get into the 1" sensor fixed lens cameras business, it's refreshing to learn that Panasonic is going one up by putting a Four Thirds sensor into their rather established LX series of prosumer compacts. This one's called DMC-LX100.

It has an effective 4112 x 3088 pixels sensor with a Leica lens going at 24 - 75mm (35mm equivalent) f/1.7 - 2.8. It even has NFC and 4K video recording built-in. The price? US$899. Not too bad at all!

Update: And there's one with a Leica badge on it.

via DPReview.

Apple's MSG

There has to be something about Apple. It felt as if I've been given a dose of monosodium glutamate!

After watching this, I'm so into iPhone 6/6 Plus despite my opinions in the previous post. But I must persevere to stay with my iPhone 5! I must! But wait, if I could get a 6 Plus I could forget about my iPad gen 3 and thinking of a new iPad Mini... 

Gee... What if Apple include the Mickey Mouse watch face into iOS 8 clock app for iPhones or better still as a dynamic wallpaper? Wishful thinking I know.

Apple's Special 9 Sept. 2014 Event - The Aftermath

As with my exam question predictions, I'm wrong as usual at all counts. So the Apple announcement went on like the usual style, no live manipulations of surrounding devices to illustrate HomeKit and no Mac Mini-Apple TV-iPod hybrid. How did I feel? I did stay up to watch the event live and it was 1-3am here. Spent the rest of the day being somewhat a zombie.

While checking out the news I came across a few surveys that basically ask if I would be getting the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus or Apple Watch. My answer, none of the above. I don't think the new iPhones evolved enough for a change from my 2-year old iPhone 5 and I suspect the fabulous Apple Pay won't be coming to Malaysia anytime soon. Maybe I'll just wait for the 6s.

Apple Watch? Like my bud, I too can't find a good reason for a smart watch. Perhaps next round. I was mesmerised by a couple of things, though. The Mickey Mouse watch face (this is even better than the normal watches! Mickey shakes his bum in this digital version!) and the interactive emoji. The emoji is not only animated but the live demo showed that you can pinch the smiley and it will become a wink. I believe more can be done!

However, being Apple these are expensive stuff (by my standards) so since I don't print money, I'll just skip this round.

My last 2 sen about Apple's announcement in a few hours...

Gosh! The much anticipated Apple announcement is just hours away and I'm super anxious about their best product pipeline in Eddy Cue's 25 years at Apple. I'm really hoping for surprises rather than the usual product announcements.

The fact that Apple built a separate, windowless building at the announcement venue made things ever more mysterious... filled with excitement and... hopeful. I am hoping that this announcement will have cool live demos about integrated systems based on HomeKit so that's why there's the need to build a whole building and probably HealthKit is embedded in Tim Cook and reading out his vitals. Yeah, I have faith in Apple's presentation style - something that I hope to emulate into my presentations but alas I've little success. I know this time the presentation will be different!

So Apple, do your fans proud (two years earlier I wouldn't even have the slightest thought about anything Apple but after owning an iPad followed by an iPhone, I now hope to own a Mac...)!

Happy Mid-Autumn!

It's the Mid-Autumn Festival today and I didn't make it home on time to have dinner with all of my family but alas, I'm still home now with them! To those who didn't manage to get together, do not give up! It's not necessary to be a festive season. Make it an everyday thing instead! Have a great day or what's left of it!

This photo came about when a colleague brought this box of mooncakes into the meeting room and the rest of us acted faster than usual and chewed through over half of them before my senses came to that I should have taken a photo!

"Bumble Prime"

For those familiar with the first generation of the animated Transformers series, you would know that The Matrix could turn an Autobot into a Prime (leader of the Autobots). So what would yellow Bumblebee look like if he ever becomes a Prime? A yellow truck like the one in the photo? ;P

I was actually trying to photograph the barren land at the background, destruction left by land clearing but somehow this truck came along and I thought it would be a good idea for me to rant about this "what if" scenario about Bumblebee being a Prime. How I miss the original Transformers after watching Michael Bay slowly destroying my childhood memories one movie at a time. :(

AnandTech Founder Joins Apple

The founder of one of the industry's leading tech website, AnandTech, Anand Lal Shimpi is to leave behind his tech journalism days and join Apple. This is BIG news - Apple is sure to gain much in many ways but the tech industry is going to loose one of the better and more objective reviewers/journalist around.

via Cult of Mac.

3rd gen iPad on its way out

I'm one of those that were slightly unfortunate to own the first retina iPad only to have it replaced with a more powerful one some half year or so later and now I see evidence that this 3rd generation device is on its way to total obsolescence. I've encountered two apps in two days that either won't run or won't perform very well in it - Photoshop Mix and the newly released Bioshock game. Sigh.

What am I to do when my iPad becomes truly obsolete? Do I get a new one or get a Mac instead? Either option involves heavy investment by my standards. :(