Thursday, 25 December 2014
Merry Christmas!
A little bit late by Malaysian time but still early in other parts of the world to the west, so... Merry Christmas, may your wishes come true!
Friday, 19 December 2014
The Gingerbread Man
Christmas is coming and this year, I received the Gingerbread Man. I can barely remember the fairy tale of this guy but a quick check with Wikipedia did refresh my memory a bit. A naughty Gingerbread Man would run away from some evil pursuer but will eventually get eaten by a fox as he leaps...
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Family Sharing and FaceTime
I have to admit that when I first heard about this “Family Sharing” feature (new to iOS 8), I had quickly dismissed it as nothing more than a gimmick. However, after giving it a chance, I had to agree that it’s indeed a good feature and one that deserves a mention.
Family Sharing consists of a few things which you could read about it here. The feature that I use most is the family photo album where we share photos of family moments and our new addition that I would refer to as The Mini (sorry, Apple, I am not referring to your Mac here). It’s way easier than Airdrop because we don’t always keep our wifi and bluetooth on and we’re not always next to each other. It’s a nice touch that we can “Like” a photo and put comments in them… just like that popular social media app that has billions of users but private enough for just the few of us.
The next portion of Family Sharing that I might be… most likely be using would be apps, songs and (eventually?) movies sharing. Unfortunately, these are dependent on the publishers if they enable their software and media for sharing (if they don’t I’d just say they are plain greedy, but I suppose there is this thing called business sense, too).
It’s also nice to have location sharing - not so much for spying on your family members but more to knowing they are safe, particularly if you have kids, I suppose.
Besides that, there's FaceTime which I had no use for until recently. Work wise I could only use it with people that have iOS devices so not very useful there because a lot are Android users. But for family use, it's invaluable when I'm out of town! It's the next best thing to being there. I've installed and removed Skype because not many people in my circle use it. I've installed Hangouts but I've never opened the app before...
There you go, Family Sharing and FaceTime are positive steps forward. Apple, please continue improving the experience factor!
Turtle Friendship
What a great way to start the day watching this video of a turtle (or tortoise?) helping out its friend to "make right what was wrong".
via Mashable.
via Mashable.
Saturday, 13 December 2014
It's coming... The Red Star
Christmas is ever closer. Season's greetings to you just in case I don't get to wish you on the day.
Thursday, 11 December 2014
Shadow Blade Quicky Review
I can't believe that I can get hooked on an action platformer, especially on an iPhone. First of all, I mega-suck when it comes to action games. Secondly, playing on a touchscreen will quadruple my fail.
BUT Shadow Blade played flawlessly on the iPhone and the gesture controls are great! Combined together with decent but a little moody and dark oriental-styled graphics (maybe it will look even better on the retina iPad!), I think the game is just fine. I think I like it best because of its quick level designs. The action is fast-paced and there are less enemies to kill or else I would just keep getting killed and delete the game. There are secret areas that you will need to look for while at the same time complete the levels fast enough to earn three stars.
As I said, I suck so I've been only able to complete two stars 99% of the time because I'm just too slow. There are two types of controls, one with gestures and another with touchscreen controls (like a gamepad). I've never tried the latter because I fine the gestures to be intuitive enough for me.
So, there you go, a really quick review so that I can get back to the game! Oh, by the way, the game's free on the iOS AppStore now so go grab it!
Looking for some quick and fast-paced action? This is one of them! 4/5
Looking for something that looks really nice? This will pass. 3/5
If you want a platformer that has looooong levels, then this is not what you want. 1/5
If you are a busy person and just want a quick fix, this is one of the better ones! 4/5
Don't worry about the controls. They work fine on touchscreen! 4/5
Monday, 8 December 2014
The Pencil
This pencil had worked pretty hard during its (short?) lifetime. Its worn out look suggested it had been sharpened numerous times. Its length also suggested that it would most likely be disposed off soon.
Just my thoughts on a lazy Sunday and getting ready for bed for another week of work. Thankfully, jolly Christmas season is already here!
Thursday, 4 December 2014
Sometimes, bananas do appear in the office
Fruit of the day was bananas. Very nutritious in the office. And made me think of Minions.
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
How long to stay in a job and when to move on?
That's something that most employees would ask and here's Mashable trying to answer that:
Six years (72 months) is the point at which it starts to hurt you if you're not getting promoted or receiving better projects. Four years with an on-boarding year and then a flat trend or lateral moves is fine; four years means you did your job, gave the company a thorough chance, didn't piss off too many people and moved on. Six or more years without an obvious record of promotion may suggest that you're unambitious and, while not necessarily expendable, thoroughly mediocre. If you keep getting promoted, however, there's no upper limit on how long you can stay at a job.What do you think? Hmmm...