Friday, 31 December 2004
Welcome 2005!
Fred and Mich would like to wish all of our relatives and close friends a very happy new year! Alot has happened in 2004, both happy and sad. Lessons have also been dealt and learnt. And with the arrival of the brand new year of 2005, both Fred and Mich will start on a new leg of their life journey together. New hopes, wishes and resolutions will see us along the way. We hope your new year will be one filled with much future and promise. Happy New Year once again! :)
Monday, 27 December 2004
Heart wrenching event
The news has just sunk in for the both of us. The devastating effect of the tsunami that has struck countries across the region has taken away many lives, separated families, destroyed properties and will cause many other problems that will ensue. This disaster just reinforced our beliefs that humans are so fragile when the forces of nature strike, lives can be taken away so easily.
We are fortunate to be living in an area that is less prone to the effects of a natural disaster, unlike many other countries in this region. Our heart goes out to all who were affected by the disaster and hope they will be able to recover from it soon. May God have blessings on all.
Saturday, 25 December 2004
Words of wisdom
Thursday, 23 December 2004
Merry Christmas
Ho ho ho... if we miss out sending a card to you, we would like to take this opportunity to wish all our friends a Merry Christmas. Ho ho ho...
Monday, 20 December 2004
A fun day @ Esplanade
We had a really fun day with a group of friends @ The Esplanade over the weekend. We were there for a little photo shoot with our iPods, nothing serious, just for the fun of it. Some may find it "bo liao", but we did it anyway. Do check the shots here.
Saturday, 18 December 2004
Hi-capacity replacement battery for iBook
NewerTechnology released NuPower 4800mAh Li-Ion replacement battery for iBook G3 12" "Dual USB" today. That's an increase of 45% over the capacity of the original 3300mAh battery supplied by Apple. It time for us to get a replacement for the iBook battery as it has been down for the past one over year, anyone interested in a combine order?
Free copy of Playlist Fall 2004
You can now download a free copy of Playlist Fall 2004 magazine online, the magazine that looks at digital music, the technology, the musicians, and the lifestyle.
Camera Raw 2.4 beta
Adobe has just released the public beta for Camera Raw 2.4 update. The beta update adds support for more cameras which include the up coming Nikon D2X.
Thursday, 16 December 2004
Mac OS X 10.3.7 Update
Apple has just posted an update for Mac OS X to version 10.3.7, do check out this page for more info.
Reunited
It is wonderful to know that a photograph that one has taken, can do something special other than just being viewed at. That was exactly what happened last week. Fred received a private message from our friend Jeff telling him that he was reunited with his long lost UK university mate. This happened after his friend saw Jeff in a photograph (shot by Fred) that was posted on his friend's blog. Jeff's friend managed to track Jeff down, and they were reunited after 15 long years. We're really happy for Jeff and his friend. A true friendship can withstand the test of time.
Wednesday, 15 December 2004
DownloadComment v1.0
DownloadComment v1.0 helps us keep track of where our downloads came from. When we download files in Safari, DownloadComment will put the original URL into the saved file's Finder Comments.
Cocktail 3.5
Cocktail 3.5 is a new major update and includes lots of new features, changes, improvements and bug fixes. Do check out the developer's website for more details.
Tuesday, 14 December 2004
iCal 1.5.5
Apple has just released iCal 1.5.5, it contains improvements in iSync synchronization on computers running Mac OS X version 10.2.
Monday, 13 December 2004
Nikon F6 - A review
Nikon surprised everyone when they announced the F6, a top-of-the-line film-based camera. Many photographers are switching to Digital SLR and it is quite a bold move to launch a new camera that is based on film. We shall see whether the F6 will be able to prove itself to the masses in the coming months or even years. Here's a link to the review of the Nikon F6 by Thom Hogan.
Saturday, 11 December 2004
iTMS now accepts PayPal?
Apple and PayPal have announced that the iTunes Music Store in the US will now accept PayPal for purchases of music downloads, audiobooks and gift certificates. Is this good news for us? Apparently not, according to this thread on MUGS forum.
We're currently in the Internet age, and wonder what Apple is thinking. They've not only made it impossible for people to buy music from iTMS, using credit card issued outside the US. They've also made it difficult for people to pay for their purchases through PayPal as well.
So where does this leaves us? We recommend that you checkout the album that you're interested in at iTMS. If there are more than 5 songs from that album that you like, then go out and get the CD.
Headphone Amp
I was on the look out for a good headphone amp for a close friend of ours, when I came across the Ray Samuels Audio SR-71. The amp is DC-powered (2 x 9V battery) and appears to be extremely well designed and built, the cost is USD$395 (shipping not included). I guess it will do very well in driving the Grado headphones, do checkout the review here and here if you're interested.
Thursday, 09 December 2004
Apple Reconditioned Products
Apple Store Singapore has posted a list of reconditioned products that are on sale at a reasonable price. These products are pre-owned and have undergone Apple's stringent refurbishment process prior to being offered for sale. Do check out what is being offered here.
Wednesday, 08 December 2004
Turbulent
I had a horrible day. One of our friends has decided to reply me with absolute hostility on the forum. And I didn't even know what hit me!
It all started when the discussion about the X'mas celebrations got revived last night, after going cold for a long time. Boy was I surprised when our friend decided to reply back curtly! Geez, I even invited him to the dinner. He said quite politely that the price for the buffet ($32) was unaffordable and a simple meal of $3 would suffice for him.
*shrugs* What was he thinking?! We were just talking about a X'mas dinner here. Hello?? Why the debate about how much and how extravagant? He could have answered a simple yes or no. But NO, he went the extra mile.
Later in the morning, I noticed he had a problem with the startup of his Mac. So a couple of us suggested repairing permissions, restarting, etc. You know, the usual stuff. He quoted me and ONLY me and told me that he did all that already (AS MENTIONED ABOVE). What was he trying to imply? That I can't read? C'mon. It was only a suggestion. And we ARE talking about a guy who doesn't even know what is a BLOG. I posted that as a general reference on what to do after a software update and if their Macs are running slow.
Ok fine. I then said that I noticed that he has gotten himself new RAM modules, and suggested that it could be due to compatibility issues? He HAD to reply me saying he had gotten them from a well-known Mac peripheral distributor so compatibilty issues were not the problem. I had nothing to say as I didn't know where he had gotten the RAM modules to begin with. So I told him thanks for the note, and I thought, the end of story.
After awhile, to my shock and horror, he quoted my reply and told me off! I had said "..it MIGHT be incompatible...". He claimed it to be loud and that despite his age, he wasn't short of hearing. I politely said that it was just a form of expression, like putting something in bold. And that shouting would probably mean that I had to type the full post in CAPS. That's in the universal Netiquette, FYI. Of course, I wasn't rude in my posting. More informative about Netiquette than anything else.
Guess what? He then accused me of putting forward rude/mischevious expressions! And even added that these forms of expressions were not expected from a moderator of a forum. He even stated that he thought forums would have basic etiquette rules to prevent occassions like these.
Erm. *taps his shoulder* Where were you when I had to make peace and make "politically" correct statements AS a moderator during flame wars and arguments? And you were saying I didn't know anything about Netiquette? UGH!
Upon discussion with Fred, I decided to let the matter go and not pursue it any further. He was afterall a retiring man. And to add to that, old and grumpy. Oh dear. I hope he gets his hormones and mood swings under control soon. Before he hurts and chases away his true friends.
Tuesday, 07 December 2004
A tiring day
Had a tiring day at work today. Tried cramming my last minute revision for my last paper this Sunday and juggling my lab work at the same time. Don't ever try this even if you had the chance!
Just remembered a recap of an incident that happened during Sitex awhile back. We ran into a friend at the MUGS booth. He came along and asked what we were doing. We explained, only to hear a loud gasp from him that we weren't paid for manning the booth. But that wasn't the highlight of the day. I spot him carrying an iPod! Why the exclamation? This was the SAME guy who called Macs, bullshit! Yeap, you got that right. A few months before, we went to shoot the PowerBoat F1 Championship @ Marina and had to leave after that to meet up with another group to chat about MUGS and Macs. To our horror, he started yelling, "Go ahead to your Mac bullshit!". We were appalled. Being Mac users, that was the last thing we ever wanted to hear. But we took it in our stride, as he was quite known to shoot his mouth off without much thought.
Ok, back to the iPod episode. He was carrying an iPod right, so we had this conversation.
- Me: Eh, I thought you called Macs bullshit? How come you're carrying an iPod now?
- Him: Bullshit? Since when? I love Macs OK. I even have 3 Newtons at home! They are still working fine OK.
- Me: Then why you call Macs bullshit? Since you like them?
- Him: Macs ARE bullshit what. My company just bought an XServe and it wasn't compatible with the systems that we're on.
- Me: Then it's your technician's fault for not doing enough research!
- Me: How? Want to buy a Mac anot? Quite cheap leh.
- Him: Don't want lah. So expensive!
- Me: You sure you don't want? Your friends got PowerMac and 30" displays leh.
- Him: Yeah lor. I also know. Nevermind, I'm waiting for my friend in Apple. He say got once a year 25% discount in Jan, and he'll buy for me.
- Me: Buy PowerMac ah?
- Him: No lah. iMac G5. PowerMac so big, display also so big. Must sit so far away to view the display and my room so small only.
- Me: Hah? OK lor.
- Him: Besides, iMac G5 also looks nice.
- Me: Orh. Then if your that once a year discount don't have how?
- Him: Nevermind, I ask my friend. He working in Govt Stat board. Got very good discount leh. More than 20%!
- Me: Is it? Which stat board is it?
- Him: Cannot tell you. Top secret. He also tell me not to tell.
- Me: Oh. OK then.
After the last line, I decided not to continue the conversation any further. He was just wasting my time and breath.
What a loser.
Saturday, 04 December 2004
Confused!
While riding around somewhere in West Coast area, I came across a sign which puzzled me. The sign read "Tampines Home", which meant the building behind the sign is Tampines Home. But why is Tampines Home situated in West Coast area? Shouldn't Tampines Home be in Tampines? Is there a West Coast Home in Tampines? I wonder....
Friday, 03 December 2004
Sonnet Tempo-X SATA 4+4
Another SATA card has just been announced, the Sonnet Tempo-X SATA 4+4 is a 64-bit, 133MHz PCI-X SATA host controller. The interesting feature about the card is its 4 internal and 4 external ports, which support Mac OS Xs built-in RAID 0 (striping) and RAID 1 (mirroring) functions. We hope companies will develop cards that will support RAID 5 array soon.
Apple Security Update 2004-12-02
A new security update for Mac OS X has been released by Apple today. This update delivers several security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. Do check out this page for more information.
Calibrating Apple Cinema Display
Apple has finally acknowledged that the Cinema Display has a slight pink or (other) color tint problem. According to the Apple KnowledgeBase document posted here, the problem seems to be pretty easy to solve. But, I don't think calibrating the display will solve the problem, more needs to be done to fix the display problem permanently. :-(
Thursday, 02 December 2004
Heart warming
Love is in the air! Yes, it is heart warming to know that a fellow MUGS forum member (who will be going to Calcutta on a Youth Expedition Project) has managed to secure the computer parts she needed. Having posted a notice on the forum, several forum members have donated the parts to her for the project. We're really glad and happy for her and would like to wish her success in her Project.
Wednesday, 01 December 2004
Francis Hills: Shooting Star
Apple has published an article on Francis Hills, a professional photographer who major in shooting celebrities and fashion models. We can all learn a tip or two from him on this page.