What's new on iOS 7.1?

iTwe4kz has most of the features highlighted in his video below:



Besides that, there's a bit of a speed improvement for iPhone 4 users as well. I've also noticed that iOS 7.1 made my iPhone 5 visibly faster because deep inside I've been complaining to myself that my phone was starting to lag... or could it be that it was a restart after the upgrade? Hmmm...

Generally, I like the new updates to the phone app but didn't feel quite right with the keyboard with the thicker text. There is something else that no one seem to have mentioned (but then again this could be something that I didn't notice throughout the previous iOS 7 iterations?) - when you first turn on the phone from standby, the lockscreen wallpaper seems to pop out at me. Anyone notice the difference?

video discovered via MacRumors.

Cartoon Network and the new Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, and Scooby Doo

Kids will be in for a treat while adults that grew up on Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny and Scooby Doo will have the chance to relate their childhood favourites as Cartoon Network breathe new lives to these cartoon classics. Apparently, besides traditional means, these will also arrive in the form of today's popular media - mobile phones and tablets.

The Tom & Jerry Show will follow its classic roots while Wabbit - A Looney Tunes Production will pit Bugs against his arch rivals Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote and new foes. Meanwhile, Be Cool, Scooby Doo follows the group on their last summer together after graduation.

via Variety.

INSANE: Solving 6 Rubik's Cubes in just under 6 and a half minutes

Like Gizmodo Sploid's blogger, I've never solved a Rubik's Cube before but someone appeared to have completed 6 of them (2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6 and 7x7) in 6 minutes 23 seconds on YouTube:

Is it possible to move so fast? =.="

via Gizmodo Sploid.

Marvel Comics Now With Sound

Talk about Zite and evolution... just after launching the app, I was introduced to this news: Marvel adds sound to its comics thru the Marvel Unlimited app.

The Verge takes a look at Marvel's first venture into adding music and sound effects into the Captain America: The Winter Soldier comic.

Oh yes, I'm equally as skeptical as the writer but that's technology, I guess. And it looks like quite a bit of investment for Marvel if they were to do this for all of their comics! How else but to increase the price of such comics?

via The Verge.

Flipboard Buys Zite

Google Reader was the king of RSS readers (hence, a great source of news) when my bud introduced it to me many years back. Ever since Google canceled the service, Feedly did a great job acting as the alternative. Best of all, it is free with the option to go premium. For me, Feedly is the equivalent. Then, I read about Zite, which improves over time to bring you the news that you like. Great artificial intelligence. IMHO, I'd call that evolutionary.

Now I'm worried because Flipboard announced of its purchase of this evolutionary product. Flipboard will stop Zite's service after it's done integrating Zite's intelligent recommendation engine into its own. Flipboard looks and feels nice on the iPad. However, the iPhone and Android smartphone app left much to be desired, so I hope Flipboard won't screw up Zite's brilliance this way. And I hope Flipboard will offer existing Zite users an easy way to migrate over.

May you reincarnate into a better form, Zite. Hugz.

via Android Community.

A Ring that recognises gestures opens up possibilities

In the near future, don't be alarmed when you see people start to move their fingers around with no apparent reasons. They might not be troubled after all because a company called Logbar has come out with a Bluetooth ring (aptly named... Ring) via Kickstarter that will be able to recognise gestures. When combined with other devices such as smartphones, smart watches, smart home devices, the bearer could perform texting, launch apps, control stuff, make mobile payments, you name it.  Check out the video below (excuse the small size, I don't know why this happens):

Unfortunately, this gadget is not waterproof nor rechargeable (expected to last a thousand gestures and that's it) in its current version but I don't expect these limitations to last long as the company (or other competitors) comes out with newer iterations. After all we have waterproof and dust-proof phones and wireless charging tech out there... Wearables have gone one up.

via Mashable.

Getty Images Available For Free Embedding!

Such great news from Getty Images (via Engadget) that their images are available for free for bloggers like me to embed into our blogs (as long as you use their embed codes not unlike those used by Flickr)! What better way to celebrate than to embed a very happy panda image such as the one above!

A Teddy's Sunset Walk

Impossible that I do not share this wonderful photo by Matt Cooper of a soft toy looking into the sunset. What a wonderful composition! If it were alive, what would it be thinking? Won't be more complicated than our thoughts, will it?

seen on Flickr Blog.

Long and Short Zoom Interchangeable Lens

Glad to know that the manufacturers have got both ends covered: Tamron announced that their 16-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro long zoom lens for Nikon, Canon and Sony mounts is in development while Nikon came out with a collapsible version of their popular 18-55mm F3.5-5.6G VR II kit lens.

Both are for the APS-C cropped sensors and the Tamron is a splash-proof. Cool!

via DPReview: The Tamron and the Nikon.

Pleasant Apple TV Rumour - A Games Machine On The Rise

A rumour will remain as a rumour but this one from TouchArcade sounds pleasant about the Apple TV:

This leads us to the hopeful conclusion that the Apple TV is getting a rework with a beefier GPU and some kind of onboard storage to play games. The pieces are all starting to come together, particularly as more iOS 7 controllers are released. Rumors have been pointing that way for a while, and I'd love to play some awesome iOS games full screen on my TV without the lag of Airplay or the Lightning to HDMI adapter.

But on the downside, if this is to become a reality, I suspect Apple TV won't sell for RM349 anymore. A significant price increase is in order. :'(

Flappy Bird Review (but why is it such a hit?!)

I was not going to download and try out Flappy Bird, I was certain, until Cult Of Mac posted that developer Dong Nguyen is going to take down the game from the iOS AppStore and Android Google Play. So, being a kiasu human, I had to check it out since it's free...

It's a simple, pixelated game where you tap and tap and tap and... to keep your bird afloat. Sorry that sentence may have sounded cheesy but that is really what you have to do.  Of course, if it was that simple, it wouldn't be such a hit. You have to keep your bird afloat by tapping (ah, cheesy cheesy) at the right time to navigate between gaps produced by two green pipes (not unlike the popular Super Mario Bros platformer of yesterday).

To me, the game is so damn bloody hard and a lot of my birds had hit the pipes and, hopefully, not died but just momentarily unconscious. It's good to know that after each lost, a new bird with a different colour takes its turn.

As to why the game is so popular, I am totally at a lost here. My only guess is that people like challenges: I can keep my bird up and go through all those openings without hitting a snag much longer than YOU!

I personally am not very interested in this genre, even those endless runners (but I didn't know what got into me when I purchased that Marvel one though that is a potential post to ramble about), plus this being so difficult and challenging my motor skills... Rating: 1/5

However, I'm not sure if there are any other games out there that are this successful with the download size of just 2.5MB! Rating 5/5 for file size!

And I've found this rather mindless video of the game on YouTube for you to get a feel of things:

I'll just leave you at that while I just go for one last game...

忍者小靈精

I found a super clear opening sequence (not quite the one I remember though this might be a newer sequence later in the series) of one of my favourite childhood cartoons! Those were the days of VHS video tapes. It was a Japanese cartoon but the version that I watched was a Cantonese translation. It was about a little ninja boy that mysteriously appeared (I can't remember if his appearance was ever established) and became part of a family of a boy and his parents. The ninja boy was later joined by his little sister and a dog. The style was not unlike the Doraemon cartoons.

西遊記之大鬧天宮 (The Monkey King) Review

I've been a long time fan of the Journey to the West stories and I particularly like the Monkey God character so it was no surprise that I had to go watch the latest iteration of the saga, The Monkey King (king probably because he was not god yet). This is the first part of a planned trilogy and judging from its success in China, I'd expect the second one to be in the making soon, if not already! Monkey King stars current martial arts actor Donnie Yen as the titular character while Chow Yun Fat and Aaron Kwok take on the role of Jade Emperor and Bull Demon (direct translation from the Cantonese name as I'm not sure how else to call him), respectively.

Monkey King was about how the Bull Demon would want to conquer the heavens where the Jade Emperor rules. After an initial fight which the Bull Demon lost but not without devastating the heavens, a Crystal Goddess (or something like that) sacrificed herself to magically rebuild the heavens with her crystal body. 

The heavens became impregnable BUT one of the crystals that protect the heavens dropped into earth. The Monkey King soon formed within this crystal. I loved the short scene with the Monkey King inside - it was at its cutest. Anyway, because he was part of the crystal, he was the only one that is not a god that could enter the heavens...

Through deceit, the Bull Demon hatched a plan and tricked the Monkey King (whom by now was known as Sun Wukong) into breaking into the heavens and so chaos ensued...

Probably with too high expectations, I was disappointed by the CGI which looked dated and jerky. Being a movie about gods and demons, CGI should play a very important role. 1/5

No one really stood out in this movie but Donnie Yen did appear monkey-like quite often. 2/5

The plot was really nothing new. 2/5 

Overall, I don't think this will end up in history as one of the better part of the Journey to the West series but opening during Chinese New Year with a big name cast sure would make it a blockbuster. 2/5

But if you are a fan like me, yeah, you should watch it once. 3/5

Dual-Boot Smartphone with Android and Firefox OS

Now that smartphones are going the way of PCs in terms of pricing and clones, I was wondering when smartphones would start to get multiple OSes. Aptly named Geeksphone announced their dual-booting smartphone called Revolution which boots Android and Firefox OS. The phone is expected to be released in some parts of the world this Valentine's Day so that geeky couples would have more to do.

Specs wise:

... the Geeksphone Revolution will be powered by a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2560 processor. The handset will have a 4.7-inch IPS display along with 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a microSD memory card slot (with support for cards up to 32GB in size). Other specs include a 2000 mAh battery, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and 8 megapixel rear-facing camera.

The phone will have the usual connectivity and will cost about US$270. I'm interested to see if giants like Samsung have anything like this up their sleeves.

via Android Community.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Lion Dance @ Mid Valley Megamall

Just saw lion dance at Mid Valley this Chinese New Year! Mobile phone photography has come a long way and this is one example - burst mode on the 1 year old iPhone 5. Wouldn't have got this without that function.

I've also edited the photo with the iOS version of iPhoto - cropped and soften background with added saturation before uploading using Flickr's mobile app.