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Asus has its Eee PC. Apple has its MacBook Air. And now, HP has its very own subnotebook, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. (hmm, comparatively speaking, it’s a mouthful!)

Yesterday evening, Walter, Ivan, Lucian and I met for dinner and drinks at Brussels Sprouts, a place I’ve been wanting to try for a while.

In the midst of our conversations, I whipped out my iPhone and demonstrated all the things I could do with it, like taking photos, checking emails, strumming a guitar and recording music on a keyboard (which Ivan liked).

Lucian then unsheathed his MacBook Air. We ooh-ed and ahh-ed…

… and within two seconds (or thereabouts), a pretty waitress appeared beside him and asked him about it. “Is that the…?” “How much does it cost?” and so forth.

After the damsel was furnished with his expert answers, she gave an excited squirm which I interpreted as “Ooh!!! I wish I had one too!!”, and went back to waitressing other tables.

Lucian’s blog has been a magnet for some of my friends in the past, who swooned over the love messages he wrote for his then-fiancee, now his wife. Now it appears that the knight may have a new piece of shining armour in his arsenal.

Luminescent, indeed ;-)

Blogging by iPhone is killing my eyes. And I nearly lost my previous post on Teens cos I pressed the wrong button on my iPhone.

So I’m now using a black new notebook. Well actually it’s a spare Moleskine from Sarah T. At least it won’t crash or get hacked into.

Being a geek at SXSW without a laptop is like living without an arm. I wanted to video blog and do other cool things like having video conferences with my Media Socialist buddies. Now I can’t even talk to them on Skype.

Anyway I just ordered a MacBook Pro and really hope it will arrive before I leave Austin back to Singapore. I paid extra for a speedy delivery. Thanks to the weak US dollar I should have pretty good cost savings.

I have to give two talks right after coming back, and planned to prepare for them on my laptop. Now it’s incapacitated, I’m starting to worry even though I’ve got it thought out in my head. We’ll see how it goes in the next few days.

Come on, MacBook Pro… I’m waiting for ya!

OK, at the time of writing I haven’t bought one yet. But I’ll do so in the morning. I’ve already got a couple of Apple Stores I’m gonna visit, and hopefully a new stock of 16GB iPhones will be there and I’ll finally get my hands on one.

I will update this post when the deed is done! Stay tuned!

[Note to self: Now that you’ve gone and blogged this, you really better get the iPhone or you’re gonna look like a loser. Then again, the Americans have already seen the iPhone for the past year, and the hardcore Singapore geeks would already have cracked their own, so this is really meant for every other reader who is somewhat interested but not so interested that they’ve already gone one.]

I haven’t been to Geek Terminal in a while, but Melvin had cleverly suggested revisiting it with our newly-returned Wilson Tan, of Dell Blog fame.

When I arrived, the two guys were chatting to Danny, the owner. We had dinner together. He recommended the soft shell chilli crab pasta, which we all ordered, and we also had a bottle of Spanish red wine.

He let us try the Italian Muscato, a sweet white wine, which was most refreshing.

We also had the chef’s salad and sampled the chicken pie which was very wholesome.

Danny told us all about his coffee exploits and we were really moved by his passion for the subject. In the end, Wilson and I tried his coffee. It was the smoothest coffee we’ve ever tasted.

Me about to sip my coffee, with Danny behind.

[I shot a video of Danny explaining how to make the perfect cup of coffee, but it needs editing]

It was a fantastic dinner with great company and stimulating conversation, ranging from PR and marketing ideas to the F&B industry and my passion for search engine optimisation. We decided we could all be ‘geeks’ as long as we had a passion for something.

It was definitely a night to remember! Thanks guys.

[Update: To Derrick who commented on this post - Danny saw your feedback and would like to invite you over - coffee’s on him.]

I was driving out of the Sheraton Towers car park last evening and it took a while for the system to deduct the fee from my In-Vehicle Unit (IU). [To those not from Singapore, this is a device used in our Electronic Road Pricing which is installed in vehicles so that money can be deducted when entering town during busy periods.]

Finally, when the amount was deducted, the IU made a loud, high-pitched beeping sound and displayed the word 'Error'. There was an icon that looked like an empty battery.

Checking the One Motoring website, it appears that I have to send it to a service centre for repairs. Argh. My schedule is full this week, how to make time to go for servicing??

And I hope I can get into the office car park this morning, despite a wonky IU - I'm a season parker.

It's that time of the year again, when I'm firming up my travel plans for SXSW. This time, I'm not leaving right after the Interactive conference is over - I'm staying a few more days to enjoy the music!

It's with a tinge of sadness that I've decided this will be my last SXSW in a while. My priorities are changing and I won't be able to afford the time to travel next year for leisure. Also, some veterans have felt that it's no longer the SXSW it used to be. It's become larger and more 'dumbed down' to suit beginners. However it's still different from most of the conferences we get in Singapore, where we talk more about IT (notice how that word's seldom used at SXSW) and corporatise a lot of things, endeavouring to meet our KPIs (key performance indicators).

Frankly put, if you want to learn more about technology or web standards there are better specialist conferences to attend, such as eTech, Future of Web Apps and An Event Apart. However if you want the big picture, I'd still say this would be a suitable place to start. At least folks like The Digital Movement is playing a big part in sowing the seeds for a more Web 2.0/entrepreneural mindset in Singapore. And hopefully we'll have another PodCamp and more BarCamps for geeks.

I am quite sure of the following this March, though:

There will be more Singaporeans at SXSW08. Me and Sarah, Jamie and Divya and Ming Yeow. I doubt we will only hang out in our group and hanker for local food. We will rock this place.

. In 2006 I took the company Fujitsu laptop, as none of us had portable computers at the time. In 2007 I brought the Dell laptop. This year, I will hopefully be wielding a new MacBook Pro, assuming that the rumours are true and there will be processor and touchpad upgrades in the next few weeks.

I will meet familiar faces and renew friendships. It will be exciting to see old SXSW mates like Ralph, Pat, Elaine, David, Aaron and others. I also hope to catch up with Jeremiah Owyang and Zeldman and will probably catch a glimpse of Robert Scoble, who's responsible for getting many of us hooked on Twitter last year. I will definitely catch the panel on Teens this year, cos Danah Boyd and company rock. I am happy to see Kathy Sierra blogging and giving talks again, after receiving death threats soon after SXSW07. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg will be a keynote speaker this year. We'll see if he gets asked about Beacon, among other things.

Coming to think of it, I'm at SXSW not just for the knowledge but to renew the friendships I've made over the past couple of years and to meet more like-minded people.

Last but definitely not least, I am really looking forward to seeing little Alexander (since he eluded me last year by being born right after I left the US) and catch up with Mark and Kristen. Austin is a really lovely city, definitely one of the nicer places to live in. I hope my last trip here will be a memorable one.

Technorati tags: SXSW, SXSW08, Austin, geek

Update: This post was linked on Jeremiah's blog. Yay!

This is the update on my 1TB Maxtor external hard drive. I sent it to a local data recovery company for a free evaluation and this was the prognosis:

Our data recovery specialist had done an evaluation of your hard disk. The harddisk has files structure damage and multiple read write errors. The read/write head electrically damaged, causing file read write access errors. Scratches can also be found on the platter due to misaligned head scratching its surface. We will need to procure another identical Maxtor One Touch III drive to perform parts change to recover the data and also perform a firmware reloading. Platter needs to be refurbished in a clean room environment. After which, a laborious and tedious bit by bit cloning procedure will be performed, which is very time consuming but a necessary and important step to attempt the recovery of your data.

Due to the complexity of your data recovery job, we would require around 15 working days to complete it.

The bill will come to S$2,700 if they successfully recover the data. It’s 7 years worth of photos, videos and music. I’m going for it.

My other IT expert friends have told me that data recovery is expensive because it truly is tedious. I can’t do it myself and even if I didn’t use the whole of the 1TB space, there were still a lot of files in there. Still, it is a good learning experience, albeit painful, and I will ensure that there’s enough space on my computer’s hard drive in future to store all my files. The backup system will remain as a backup.

My Maxtor OneTouch III Turbo external hard disk served me well for nearly a year until it started having hiccups last week. After several attempts to revive it, it seems brain dead. The power supply and fans is still working, but the hard disk is making clicking sounds.

A lot of bad things have happened to my Mac since I upgraded to Leopard. The Maxtor dying may or may not be related to the fact that I was backing up my Mac's files regularly using Time Machine, which was a very useful tool and much easier to use than Maxtor's own software. I wonder if it wore out the hard disk especially as I had a lot of files to back up.

The worse thing is that I didn't just use the Maxtor as a backup system - I had truly run out of space on my 160GB Mac, and moved my Photos and Videos over. Next, I let my kid sister (aspiring filmmaker) install Final Cut Studio on my system. The only catch was that we had to upgrade to Leopard. The upgrade itself was easy, but a subsequent update killed my Airport connection (Internet) and my Missing Sync (synchronisation software for my Windows Mobile phone) service. My M-Audio sound and MIDI card lost its MIDI-OUT capabilities and I later learnt that was because M-Audio products were not yet compatible with Leopard.

Also, to install her software, I needed to create some file space for her, so I moved more files out of my Mac's hard disk. I copied all my iTunes music to the Maxtor. So yep, you guessed it - I've lost all my Music as well as my Photos and Videos! (RIP - in their honour they will all have Capital letters) The only consolation is that my better pics are all on Flickr, and I've quickly switched my iPods to Manual Mode so that music files aren't deleted during syncing.

Thank God I still felt like keeping my Logic files (the most important stuff - all my compositions) on my Mac's hard disk instead. It was like a premonition. Ironically, after over 3 years the Mac's hard disk is still working fine, TOUCH WOOD. I really like my Mac and I don't want to cause any more problems for it. Data and connectivity losses are bad enough already.

Worse, the Maxtor/Seagate support site did not help me address the clicking sound problem and I am sure they will not think of paying for my data recovery bill. I've written in to two Singapore data recovery companies for quotes and will see how it goes.

The worst is Googling for my Maxtor's model name and learning that it got terrible reviews on CNet and even worse reviews on Amazon.com - mostly 1 star. If I had known that at the time of purchase, I'd never have bought it. At least I know I'm not the only one out there suffering; misery loves company.

Even if I can return the Maxtor, I wonder if I'd dare to use another hard disk from this company... Now I am wondering if adding a second hard drive to my Mac will work out better.

After making whirring sounds for a few weeks, my Dell laptop's hard disk breathed its last. To be precise, I simply couldn't start Windows. I kept being asked if I wanted to start in various forms of Safe Mode. However, no matter what I selected, a blue screen would flash on and off, and I'd be taken back to the first screen again.

My little Ixus 50 was purchased just over 2 years ago, as recorded on this blog. It served its purpose well. Its diminuitive size and fast startup time allowed it to take numerous candid shots that I would not have been able to capture with a conspicious, clunky SLR.

The little Ixus took thousands of photographs until it was haplessly drowned in a bowl of Chinese tea last Friday, in Tuscany.

It did not give up that easily. It rested in intensive care by the window sill for two days. I hoped that the water inside would dry up by then. After a few attempts to turn it on, the camera lens responded and the screen was lit, but the controls were stuck. I turned it off then tried to turn it back on to make the lens retract. It did not respond, even with a second battery inserted into it.

You can say it died with its eye wide open. The least I could do, after all the abuse I subjected it to for the past 2 years, such as shoving it into my pants pockets, was to give it a proper funeral.

Rest in peace, little fella.

Update: I bought his successor at Changi Airport. It's a Panasonic Lumix DMC FX-55. It feels different but it's pretty intelligent. Hope I'll love using it as much as my little Ixus.

Tried out another virtual world just now - There.com.

It felt easier to install than Second Life, and there didn’t seem to be as great a lag either.

However the target audience is teens, and very obviously so. If you like the way the Sims look, you may like There. However, if you already play the Sims Online, why would you move over to There?

Also, the graphics are cheerful, but not that hot. I guess there must be a payoff. If you want things to load fast, don’t expect beautiful rendering. Overall I still like Second Life more, even though the user interface is much more intimidating. There.com gave me the impression that things were under simplified and under control.

While it’s free to be There, there’s also premium membership at the rate of US$9.95 per month. Would the target audience be willing to fork out that amount? I can imagine they’d rather spend it on an iTunes album, if they’re not downloading stuff illegally.

I’m also curious as to how many Singaporean youngsters are aware of There. I know some are in Second Life but most probably prefer MMORPG like DOTA. That’s what my boy cousins are raving about whenever they meet.

Maybe There.com’s CEO can tell me more when I meet him at State of Play today.

ps. I don’t like how we have to use Internet Explorer instead of Firefox to access There.com services.

I bought a new 2GB CompactFlash II card so I could take lots of National Day Parade photos using my dad's Nikon D70 SLR camera. I thought it would be good to get a high-speed card so that large files could be saved quickly, which would make it ideal for taking fast-moving objects and fireworks.

In summary, NDP 2007 rocked, and I took over 500 photographs :) However, when it came to downloading them into my computer, I lost several photos as they seemed to be corrupted.

The thing is, the photos looked fine when previewed on the camera itself. But my old SanDisk 6-in-1 card reader failed to recognise the CompactFlash II card when connected to my Mac. Another card reader which I purchased last year, just prior to SXSW in March, also couldn't read the CompactFlash II card.

My last hope was a relatively new PC we purchased last year, which has a built-in card reader. This time, the photos in the CompactFlash II card could be viewed. Well, most of them. I lost the first few shots and the very last shot. Even their file names looked truncated. What I did next was transfer the photos from this CompactFlash II card, into a 2GB SD card. Using this second card, I transferred all the photos into my Mac.

During this second transfer, I lost another 2 photos. One photo looked like its top half got cut and pasted to the bottom. Another photo simply couldn't be viewed at all.

It was getting worrying, like soldiers moving from location to location in a battle and a few getting killed at each point. And these are relatively new memory cards! Both were high-speed. Do any of you know if high-speed cards cause more problems? Cos if so, I'm switching back to normal speed cards.

Finally, a new podcast episode from yours truly! This is specifically about podcasting gear with reference to yesterday's Podcamp demo. I'm just crazy about the different types of gear that can be used for podcasting.

As podcasts can sound naked without music, I just composed and produced a track in about an hour. I don't use any loops or samples, so this is entirely original. Hope it has a bit of what everyone likes listening to, with my own style in it as well.

Also I wanted to show that if you have an iPod, you can get a really decent microphone. I didn't enhance my voice in the podcast, so this is the quality you can get with portable devices. The possibilities are mind-blowing. The gap between professionals and amateurs is nearing to zero.

And if you've been listening, this is the (healthy) food podcast I mentioned. New episodes coming out, hopefully in a month's time. I'm working on it...

Podcamp was fun! You can say we became happy campers, though I was kinda sad it had to end. This morning, Mitch took us through the basics of social media. My fellow media socialists would probably have heard of most of the websites and tools mentioned (e.g. Google, Technorati, RSS), so I won't go into details. What was interesting for me was when Mitch showed off his podcast gear. You can say we were getting the 'Pod' in 'Podcamp'!

It is interesting how so many different combinations of hardware and software can be used to make podcasts. For instance, Mitch uses CastBlaster, a podcast-specific program which only works on PC, while I use Logic Pro, which runs only on Mac. For mobile recording, Mitch uses M-Audio's MicroTrack (US$499) which can save audio directly into MP3 format. Since I have an iPod, I use the Micromemo (US59). Both devices sync with their respective computers. In my home studio, I sometimes use a Shure microphone which goes through a preamp. Sometimes I combine different recordings.

Still, there are even more possible combinations! For our work podcasts, we usually hire professionals. Even more heavy duty equipment and software may be used, such as Pro Tools. I just sit in the studio and wish it was all mine.

The most important thing however, is still content. We need to have something that our audience finds useful and (hopefully) entertaining. I have more to say about podcasting, in my forthcoming podcast!

I like attending informal conferences where power influence lies not in the suit one is wearing but in the ideas one exchanges with others. Singapore's very first Podcamp was just that. Read on for a summary and photos.

I will be at Podcamp this Mon and Tue. Hope to see some of you there, too! I've heard a lot of good things about Mitch Joel. Thanks in advance to Michael Netzley for organising this and to Ben for the heads up. Also looking forward to hearing Melvin speak.

Note: I will not be live blogging this event. My Dell laptop displayed a blue screen a couple weeks ago, and now the battery light's flickering rapidly which, according to the user guide, indicates a problem. The laptop can't be turned on if its power cable is not attached, i.e. it can't run on its battery anymore. It won't survive the conference. I have to send it for repairs.

In the meantime, I will use a really small and sleek subnotebook. It's black in colour and has been back in fashion over the last few years. It will never crash or run out of juice. It is cheaper than the laptops used by children in Third World countries, and even better - it doesn't serve porn.

My new notebook is called a Moleskine.

My HTC Touch has started to annoy me.

Yesterday I set all alarms to ring at 8am - my standard alarm clock, my iPod (which sits in my Bose Soundock), and my HTC Touch. It was very important that I wasn't late for my operation, but I also wanted to maximise the amount of sleep I could get before this.

Re-enactment of how alarm was setThe silly HTC Touch rang at 7.15am instead, which was the original setting I use on working days. But I had changed the alarm time to 8am!! There was no setting anywhere in my alarm or Calendar modes that directed it to ring at 7.15am anymore. The alarm clock and iPod sounded dutifully at 8am but I was already semi awake, no thanks to that new phone of mine. Grr!

Today, I went for my LASIK post-operation checkup and the last girl who attended to me said all was well and I could go back home. So I did. However that was the wrong instructions as I was supposed to collect more items at the counter. The staff tried to call me back but my handphone was apparently off. In the end they called my home and a family member got the impression that I was simply ignoring people's calls.

Re-enactment of how the phone signal
looked like, when it was actually off!

I was quite baffled as my HTC Touch was with me all this while, and it showed that it had 2-3 bars of phone signal strength. Typically, when the phone's turned off, there's a cross on top of the phone icon, and no bars at all.

I called my mobile number using my land line, and was told that I was unavailable, ie my phone function was really off! I did turn the phone off during my surgery yesterday, but it switched back to phone mode later. (I can't recall if I had re-activated the phone feature, or I had rebooted the whole device and it went back to receiving calls)

If the HTC Touch didn't look so good, I'd be really pissed off with it. Right now I'd compare it to a dumb blonde. Something you can parade about, with its sleek looks and TouchFLO technology which is only skin deep, while ignoring the fact that it's got a slower processor and a growing number of quirks that could cause misunderstandings, like what just happened this morning.

I want a phone that tells me that it is off when it is really off. And when it says it is on, it is really on. Is that too difficult to ask for?

If I could talk to it, it would go like this...

Me: HTC Touch, you were supposed to wake me yesterday at 8am, not at the usual 7.15am.
Dumb blonde: Ooh! I forgot! I'm so used to the routine...
Me: Mr Alarm Clock and Mr iPod didn't forget the new instructions.
Dumb blonde: Oops! Teehee, anyway I still look slim and shiny, so please forgive me.

Me: HTC Touch, I turned your phone off during my operation but later you said the phone feature was back on again. When someone tried to reach me urgently this morning, you refused to respond!
Dumb blonde: Ooh, er, was I on? Oh yeah I was! Well it looked like I was, anyway -
Me: Now my mum thinks I am a tao queen! Never pick up my handphone!
Dumb blonde: Ooh! You're a queen? That's so nice. I think I'm a queen too. Maybe I should marry Mr iPhone, people say he's the King ...
Me: Darn well he should be!

So far, there haven't been many wholly favourable reviews of the iPhone. There's a list of things that it should have had, and a few more pros and cons. Engineers may be able to understand this Federal connectivity assessment. I don't.

Having said that, the iPhone is pretty durable as it endured a comprehensive scratch and drop test (thanks to Miccheng for the link). Somehow I'm not so excited about it anymore. I'm sure a better model will arrive in Asia in 2008 with 3G and many of its bugs fixed, with some new features added.

In the meantime, I'm quite happy with my HTC touch.

I've had a love-hate relationship with PDA phones. Ever since my first O2 mini, which crashed frequently, to the HP iPaq which I later lost, and finally to my Dopod 818 Pro which compared suitably to its predecessor.

Since the revered iPhone isn't coming to Asia anytime soon, I had to get something else to tide me by. However, most other PDA phones were pretty standard. Either they were full-screen alone, or came with a slide-out keyboard which added bulk, or had lots of buttons all over the front. I wanted something that could blow my mind.

Then I heard of the HTC Touch. Its photos looked pretty good, but the video demo sold me. It also runs Windows Mobile 6.0 which is one version ahead of my Dopod, which has otherwise been pretty reliable, if unglamorous and bulky.

This Thursday, I'll be at Paulaner Bräuhaus having drinks with some of you together with our distinguished speakers, including Jeremiah Owyang whom I first met at the SXSW Web Awards this March. I will probably get there a bit later, after my church website presentation.

See you again soon, my fellow "New Medialists"!

Microsoft has a new high-tech product coming up, using surface computing or multi-touch technology similar to Apple's iPhone. There is lots of potential for managing photos and viewing maps. Could ubiquitous computing, or Everyware, start becoming mainstream?

This video was so impressive, I have to show it here. If you're using IE you may not be able to see this because I refuse to use 'embed' tags anymore. View it on the original page instead.

[I need help making my embedded videos compliant and preferably accessible. If you know how to do this, tell me!]

Credit: Popularmechanics.com and to my Dad, who sent this link to me.

Kevin's giving a talk titled “Youtube and beyond: What you want to know but never knew who to ask” at the Central Lending Library this coming Tuesday evening. Ivan has more details on this. I'm considering going, if I can tear myself away from work. I'll be one of those latecomers who will be welcomed :)

If you've met Kevin and his 101 gadgets or read his blog, you'll know he's the expert on this topic. It should be an entertaining and informative session.

Anyone else interested in going?

Update: It was a pretty filled up room with lively debates. If you've missed it, you can catch it on video, true to the spirit of the talk. Good to have seen everyone again.

Just a few days ago, I blogged about buying a new Microsoft Wireless keyboard and mouse set. Alas, within a couple of days strange things started happening to them. First, the mouse kept turning off. Then the keyboard's F11 button, which looks ever so slightly more depressed than the other keys, kept on getting activated.

Most likely there's something wrong with the circuitry, causing the slightest vibration to activate the F11 command.

I had a real HEADACHE reading off my web browsers, both IE and Firefox. Imagine you're looking at some text... and suddenly, the window expands to full screen mode. Then before you know it, it goes back to normal.

Then it expands again!!

And if reading from that screen can give a headache, try TYPING on it, or clicking on items in your list of emails. I kept opening the wrong emails because just as I poised my mouse over the right link, the browser would expand and I would click on the wrong email. Bah!

I got so fed up that I'm taking it back to South Asia Computer on Monday evening. I will update everyone on how well they handle returned goods.

To prove my case to them, I also shot this video.

[I'll correct my own English: In the heat of the moment, I said the F11 key was 'spoilt' - as a glass of milk would be, but certainly not hardware. Let's settle for 'not working properly'.]

[Update: I was putting the keyboard back into its original packaging when I realised the receipt said that all goods sold are not returnable or exchangeable. I'll give the computer store a call first to confirm this. I really dread calling a Microsoft service centre for help.]

[Update #2: This sucks. I go to Microsoft Singapore. I click on "All Products" on the left nav bar, and get redirected to this error page. What the... I'm bracing myself that the store won't help me, and neither will Microsoft Singapore.]

Our home Acer PC's wireless mouse was giving trouble for the last few months. Even a battery change didn't improve its erratic performance. Last night, I removed the casing to check on the batteries again, and was surprised to find that the inside of the mouse was wet!

I discovered that one of the batteries had leaked. And the mouse was designed in such a way that there was a hole directly underneath that battery, large enough for liquid to seep through to the circuit board. In short, the mouse was damaged. The Acer wireless keyboard was also getting erratic - and we've had this PC for less than a year.

So I went shopping for a new Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse, and settled for the entry-level Optical Desktop 700. I bought it at South Asia Computer and it came with free flat panel speakers!

At the same time, I bought myself an 8GB Flash (thumb) drive. Initially I had gone upstairs to Challenger to view their product range and prices. They had a beautiful, shiny Sony 8GB thumb drive that was going for about $260. However, as I wasn't a member, I wouldn't get any discount.

So instead, I bought an 8GB Imation Pro 2 Flash (thumb) drive for $159. It doesn't look as pretty, but it is smaller and comes with its own partitioning software.

I also picked up a SanDisk 6-in-1 PC card adapter. It is to be inserted into my Dell laptop. When you're at an event and want to upload photos immediately, things are much easier with a built-in reader - rather than a device that's sticking out of a USB port or dangling on a wire.

Small, functional gadgets, but I did get a sense of catharsis today.

I'm at Nexus 2007, in the NTUC Business Centre at One Marina Boulevard.

The turnout has been pretty good. We started a bit late as the registration booths were flooded. Similar to SXSW 2007, the organisers are getting us to join them on Twitter. In addition there is also a live Campfire chat among participants. Photos can be viewed on Flickr as well.

I have two invitations to try Joost. Anyone interested? Let me know soon.

[Update: The first invite's been sent to Rohan since he was the first to ask. For all invites, I need your First name AND Last name as well as email address (sorry, just realised that as I was filling up the form). If you haven't given me your last name, please do so within the next 12 hours... Or it'll go to the next guy who gave the required contact details. Thanks!]

I am going through the vast range of SXSW Interactive Panels.

Already, for the Saturday morning period I'm torn between a CSS panel with well-known coders, and another panel on 'Emerging Social and Technology Trends' from the folks at Yahoo!, Wired, Engadget.

See, my affiliations with the Web Standards Group Singapore and the Social Media group are already at a conflict :P

At a glance, this year there is more focus on video and gaming, whereas last year it was more on audio podcasting with some traces of blogging. Of course, the topic of Web 2.0 hasn't gone out of fashion. But I'm mildly curious about the Lonelygirl15 case study too.

The Sunday 10am slot is also tearing me apart. Should I go for Convergent Devices (iPhone! iPhone), or Accessibility from the Trenches? Or even RSS marketing since I'm working on such a project at the moment.

The Metaverse isn't ignored either. At 11.30am, the panel on Avatar-based marketing sounds futuristic enough to make me want to check it out. But speaking of virtual characters, what about the http://2007.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/panels/?action=show&id=IAP060184? Hmm.

OK enough! It's time to sleep. I'll see if I can continue blogging at the airport.

While waiting to watch a French movie at Orchard Cineleisure earlier this evening, I popped by the iShop run by Club 21, and picked up two accessories: A silicone cover for my new wired Apple keyboard, and the Griffin iKaraoke.

The clear XSKN cover was a real pain to extricate from its tightly sealed, hard plastic casing. However, the moment my hand made contact with the product, I realised the actual 'skin' was very, very soft. It fit perfectly onto my keyboard and I'm able to type on it. I'm doing it now in this blog post, in fact.

Only thing is I wished the silicone cover had markings representing each key, as its opacity makes the markings on my keyboard harder to make out. Apparently their newer 'Pro' models, which are also more expensive, have markings on each key. Costs nearly double the price, in fact.

I have yet to try the iKaraoke... that alone will deserve an entry on its own ;-)

My Dell laptop has been behaving better the past week. However, one thing which has constantly annoyed me, has been the fact that as I type, my hand sweeps against the trackpad, accidentally selecting a body of text, and then wiping it out with my next keystroke.

For most applications this can be easily remedied by clicking 'undo'. However, for Lotus Notes (version 6.5 at least), it only has one level of 'undo'. I do send a lot of emails using Lotus Notes. I'm sure many other enterprise users do, too.

Being a post-Grade 8 pianist who has played vigorous pieces like Dave Brubeck's Blue Rondo, I type rather fast. Which means that I hit several keys within 1 or 2 seconds. Which means that the 'undo' button in Lotus Notes is almost useless, because I would have erased my previous paragraph several keystrokes before that.

Another distraction is the fact that as I'm typing on a web page that has many fields (such as this Movable Type powered blog), and the mouse cursor is hovering over another section of the page, any heavier pressure from the base of my palm on the trackpad, results in a shift from one field to another (where the cursor is). Or, if the mouse cursor is hovering above a blank portion of the page, the last several keys I've hit, don't get registered anywhere.

All this happens because the trackpad cannot be deactivated - even if I plug in a mouse. I couldn't find the command to disable the trackpad, so I Googled for help and found a few links. One site advised me to look for the company producing that trackpad component, and download the driver which would allow me to customise my trackpad settings. I was pointed back to the Dell Support website which had specific info on each laptop model.

For my laptop, the Dell Latitude D620, I learnt that the trackpad and stickpointer were manufactured by a company called Alps. Happily, the enhancement coming with the driver read as follows:

"Adds the feature where the touchpad/stick is disabled when a USB mouse is plugged in. This feature is disabled by default but can be enabled via a checkbox on the Devices tab in the Touchpad. When a USB mouse is plugged in a pop up message informs the user that a USB mouse has been detected and that the touchpad/stick has been disabled. A red 'X' appears over the touchpad icon in the systray when it is disabled."

Brilliant. Just what I want. Updates to follow...

[Update: It works! Woo hoo. Now when my mouse is plugged in, the trackpad will be disabled. No more accidental erasures.]

Technorati Tags: Dell, trackpad

My G5 PowerMac's been going on strong despite some hiccups. I can't say the same for its peripherals.

As the PowerMac sits in my little music studio at home, I bought the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse to cut down on wire tangle (they run on Bluetooth). The mouse required more frequent battery changes and I eventually replaced it with a Microsoft mouse which has been running more efficiently.

The keyboard fared much better. It was running fine until last month, when it kept on dying. I figured my super-heavy-duty Energizer e2 batteries had finally died after 2.5 years, so I replaced them. I didn't have the same powerful batteries to spare, so I put in some cheap ones. The keyboard worked for a while but kept on dying. At least there was a bit of light in the indicator switch.

I swopped the batteries for rechargeable ones. I made sure they were fully charged before inserting them into the keyboard. No response - not a flicker of light. I thought maybe the dirt got to the keyboard. I shook the keyboard, knocked out the dirt and gave it a good wipe.

The keyboard remained as lifeless as Optimus Prime after his epic battle with Megatron.

I finally bought the same special batteries that cost several times more than normal ones, in the faint hope that the Wireless Keyboard was a fussy eater and that by some miracle it would resurrect itself. However, the new batteries had no effect whatsoever on it. I thereby pronounced it clinically dead.

Then I checked the Apple Forums to see what people said about the product. Darn! Pretty mixed reviews and those who were unhappy, were REALLY unhappy. Well I've become one of them. Previously I'd have rated the keyboard 4 out of 5... now that it's died on me I can't say much about its durability.

I made a mistake when I went to Mustafa's department store and bought a keyboard which claimed to be Mac compatible. Firstly, it had the 'Windows' icon not the 'Apple' icon on its keys. Secondly, it wasn't even a USB keyboard! And my G5 doesn't have oldish serial ports! How could I have missed that!

So it really looks like I have to buy a proper Mac keyboard. And it's probably going to be the wired one.

Here are 10 reasons not to get Vista.

Here's a rebuttal with 10 reasons to get Vista (frankly they don't sound like very strong reasons to me).

And finally (?), here's a rebuttal to the rebuttal.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Vista

I think I'm going to like speaking to the HP Alumni this Friday.

It started with my glorious Dell laptop hanging twice yesterday morning at work, while I was in a meeting. Nothing was being downloaded or installed and I wasn't running any heavy-duty programs but my email, web browser and word processor.

Fortunately, I won't have to use the Dell for my presentation anymore. Because HP has kindly loaned me a brand new Compaq nx6320! Thank you HP! Muah! (psst, Apple - do you need me to give a presentation? ;-)

I might as well take the opportunity, in true geek fashion, to review this new toy that's been loaned to me temporarily.

Firstly, I really like HP products. If no Macs existed in this world, my computer would be a HP. If not for the iPhone, my favourite 'smart' phone would be an iPaq.

This is how the laptop looked when it arrived - box and bag.

I slotted the battery in, powered the cables and turned it on. On startup, it ran some HP software. A notice read "Your computer includes a new system recovery feature that does not require CDs or DVDs." Neat! However, recovery discs are still needed for serious system failure or instability.

The screen is a regular-sized 15", not wide-screen, but for presentation purposes it will do fine. Because of the big screen, this is one of the larger models.

The next feature I really liked was the memory card slot. Yes I'm so deprived. I just like the idea of being able to go to a conference, take photos and upload them straight away without having to attach a clunky card reader to the laptop.

This model also comes with a fingerprint reader. However, as I will only be using this baby until Friday evening, I don't want to make things complicated by locking the computer with my finger. Who knows - the computer could get locked and by some freak accident I may cut my finger, rendering it unrecognisable...?

The next thing I did was to log on to the Internet, and check for HP software updates as well as Windows updates.

The NEXT thing I did ... was to open Internet Explorer, and immediately head to the Mozilla website to download Firefox! Yeah baby!

Overall, as long as the laptop's stable, it will serve its purpose during the presentation.

More reviews at CNet. HP's official specs are here.

Technorati Tags: HP, Compaq, nx6320

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Listen to this podcast episode of me talking about my latest gadget acquisition, XTreme Mac's Micromemo for 5th generation iPods. This episode was recorded, naturally, on the Micromemo, then downloaded to my Mac and converted to mp3 (128kbps).

Apart from compression, no editing was done, so please excuse my 'ums' as it was 2am and I was nearly brain-dead trying to remember what I had to say without a script. I'll work on my speaking technique.

Tell me what you think of the recording quality, the podcast itself, whether you've tried other gadgets, and so forth.

(Background info: In a previous post, I contemplated choosing between this model and other models by rival brands Belkin and Griffin.)

My new red iPod nano has arrived! The packaging was lurvely. Here are some shots:

Installation was a snap. Didn't need to install extra iPod software - all I needed was iTunes. My old 4G iPod died recently because I had connected it to a laptop which only had iTunes. Good that Apple is cutting down on extra steps for its users.

The nano is easy to handle and the click wheel is responsive - more 'clicky' than older models. My nano came fully charged (yay!) and nicely engraved. The earphones that come with the package seem to be a new model as they look a bit different from those that came with my older iPods'.

However I was not happy with the quality of the sound - then again, most of my files were MP3s though I was using better-quality earphones. However when I switched to my Sennheiser studio headphones the quality was great. So it's also the other gear that affects the listening experience. Ha, my headphones are several times larger and heavier than the nano and I feel imbalanced at the moment!

VanPod IV died last week and this time I must admit the fault was entirely mine. I plugged it into my new laptop, forgetting that while iTunes was installed, the iPod software was not. Now VanPod displays a folder with an exclamation mark, and I think my warranty has finally expired.

In any case, I had my eye on the red iPod nano - the one where part of the proceeds goes to fight AIDS in Africa. Now I'm involved with AIDS at work and it is a topic I feel more deeply inclined to doing something about. So I was very happy when I logged onto the Apple Singapore website in the morning to see the red Nano on the home page! And even better, it comes in 4GB and 8GB versions.

Taken from the website:

...a portion of each sale from every iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED sold goes directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. Which means your iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED sounds good and does good at the same time.

The red Nano would sync with my Nike+ shoes... which would in turn help me keep track of the calories I burn. An all-in-one health package for socially-conscious geeks!

Along with the new Nano I am thinking of getting a new microphone. Either the Belkin TuneTalk™ Stereo or the Griffin iTalk Pro. I have the previous generation of microphones by both brands and the Griffin iTalk was much better in terms of quality and design. I am wondering if the same goes for the latest models. Any ideas?

[Update: iLounge has a review of the iTalk Pro with photos of the iTalk Pro attached to a video iPod as well as a red Nano! After reading the other review on the TuneTalk™ Stereo, it appears that the latter is slightly better. However, it's a third product, the Xtreme Mac MicroMemo that gets the highest rating so far.]

Of course, a 8GB Nano will not do justice to my huge music collection. So I also intend to get the heavy duty 80GB video iPod. I had nearly run out of space on my old 60GB photo iPod.

That leads to the next gadget on my list: A hard drive backup/storage system. As previously reported, I'm nearly reaching the limits on my 160GB hard drive, on my G5 PowerMac.

There are also plans to get a high-definition camcorder - preferably in time for the Lexus Cup next weekend, which I will be attending.

And if time (and money) permits, I may finally upgrade my room's hi-fi system, which currently comprises a first-generation CD player. The whole system is very 1980's, still running but needs to be knocked and jiggled about for the connection to work.

But for now I'll be happy with the iPods. No plans to get a MacBook Pro this year if my G5's going to get more disk space. In any case, I'd like to see the rumoured 12" MacBook Pro first. And also, I won't upgrade until OS10.5 comes out.

Since I am using a Dell now, I thought I should visit Dell Island in Second Life. Its virtual presence was reported in ABC News and CNet. I logged into Second Life, tried searching for "Dell Island" but couldn't find it. However I managed to locate the original press release which provided the slurl to Dell Island.

When you arrive at Dell Island you see lots of flora. The 'Changing your appearance' tutorial that all new arrivals see at Help Island, is also available here. I flew directly to what looked like the centre of the island.

There was a newsagent's, but when I clicked on the newspapers nothing happened. It would be better if these newspapers contained the latest news about Dell.

The souvenir shop next door, however, did have a Dell backpack freebie. Again, more objects could have been interactive. I walked through the back door and came across a signpost. Hmm, Michael Dell's dorm room, where he founded the company! OK I'll check that out.

I got a bit lost after that. Everything looked futuristic. Who'd have expected his dorm room to be in this building?

His dorm room wasn't too bad. I sat on his toilet bowl. However my legs kind of went through the ceramic. No, there wasn't any script that activated any 'toilet business' activities in my Avatar. No shit.

The bathtub was filled with computer parts. (And if that was really the case in real life, how exactly did Michael Dell take a bath?)

Nice big bedroom! Having said that, it was a room for four people.

Feedback: the chair is way too low. I clicked on the computer and it generated this ball on the left. I was supposed to sit on it and it would transport me somewhere. The thing is, it didn't say exactly where...

I shot through some pretty cool 'tunnels' but ended up in limbo. Er, what exactly am I supposed to do up here? Eventually I clicked 'stand up' and fell to a metal platform.

Hmm, in real life I couldn't possibly walk on this platform in these sandals!

I walked through giant fans and touched a heat sync. I realised this was actually a tour of the inside of a computer. I bumped into another Resident during this tour. However we both ended up in an 'infinite loop' - we kept landing up in the same place. I said Dell needed to work on the navigation. The other Resident teleported himself out.

I figured the way out and flew off to another part of the island.

This was more interesting. It looked like a Dell workshop. I clicked on a Dell monkey and was given one. Awesome. My first stuffed toy in Second Life!

I liked this part. "Build my Dell". I chose the most powerful components. After that, I was taken to the Dell online store (web page). What was the price of my custom laptop? Over US$5,000! Oof. I'll just save up for a MacBook Pro.

I sat down at a nearby booth and found it had the same "Build my Dell" feature. Seems like they are marketing the XPS 710 model aggressively. But I'm not complaining - they gave me a free, virtual version of it.

It would have been even cooler if the the laptop was scripted in a way that whenever I typed something, it would appear. I tried attaching it to various locations on my arms but looked a bit ridiculous. I've used other virtual keyboards and laptops which appear only when I type. Here's a shot of me using my Squirreltech laptop. It appears only when I type something.

Back in the city centre, I tried to teleport myself to the auditorium, but ended up high in the air. When I floated down to the ground, it was where I was previously standing. Didn't see any auditorium. Some kinks need to be worked out.

Bookmarking this location was a problem. Apparently the 'owner of the land doesn't allow it'. Why not? You wouldn't prevent a visitor from bookmarking your website! I moved away to the bridge and was able to bookmark my location there.

Overall, Dell has made a commendable foray into Second Life, although the navigation needs to be improved, and some areas were still under construction. More interactive content needs to be developed. In time I suppose this will happen.

Technorati Tags: Dell, Second Life

Flickr camera finder. This is so clever. Since Flickr has all the data in each photo uploaded, why not keep a database on the most popular cameras used?

(Thanks to Lucian for sending me the link.)

Lucian writes about the problem he's experienced with Dell.

We're having similar problems with our new Dell laptops. First, we discovered that the Bluetooth cards we had opted for, were not installed in our laptops. We notified them about this.

Then, after 2 days of usage, my hard drive started making loud noises and I was faced with the blue screen of death. This noise persisted over the weekend. The hard drive had to be replaced.

Dell sent a replacement hard drive to our office. Actually, they somehow managed to send us two hard drives. (Incidentally, the packages were addressed to two colleagues but both their names were misspelt.) So they needed to collect one hard drive back.

The Dell guy came over to replace my hard drive. However, he was not the same guy who was supposed to install our Bluetooth cards. Huh? They send different people for different parts?

It has been a couple more weeks since my hard drive's been replaced, and we have yet to see the guy who's supposed to install our Bluetooth cards. We're going to send them another reminder.

We would not have chosen Dell if their quotation hadn't been the cheapest by a mile. We had a premonition about it, but what can we say? "Even though Dell's price is cheaper, we still don't want it. No, we want to spend a couple thousand more bucks just for the quality assurance and higher standards of service that another brand has a reputation for." We can't. It's not our own money we're spending and we shouldn't be doing anything wasteful.

I would have loved using a Dell in the late 90's, and maybe even the early 2000's, but not now. Their reputation has gone downhill and I get the impression that they don't really care about their customers. Now at least I can speak from first-hand experience.

Technorati tags: Dell, customer service

Ivan noted a Business Times report (IBM accelerates push into 3D virtual worlds, 13 Nov 2006) on how IBM is making use of Second Life to conduct business meetings. IBM's CEO is making a visit to this virtual world today, in fact. Of course this was already reported a couple weeks earlier on Reuters' Secondlife blog. But I am glad to see that a respected local newspaper bothered to write about it.

IBM has a blog, Eightbar, which keeps track of everything they're doing in Second Life. Very cool.

Hmm, let me pop over to IBM land and see if I can see anything going on!

Updates:

My Avatar-spy tells me that this 14 November meeting could be held in a SL location called 'Beijing Townhall'. Unfortunately, I could not join this guest list.

Technorati Tags: IBM, Second Life

My G5 PowerMac, boasting a 160GB hard disk, has only 20GB of space left after nearly 2.5 years of usage. It's been going strong, but the fan can get noisy and I sometimes wonder what would happen if something blew.

Today at work, I discovered I only had a couple hundred MB of space left in my documents drive. It's partly due to the partitioning, over which I have no control, the overall 40GB size and the fact that a good part of my work still involves multimedia.

I have a 60GB iPod which I'm using to back up my Logic files. I would cry if I lost all my music productions because my Mac went kaputz. Everything else isn't so important.

Most of my recent photos are in Flickr. Most of my videos are NOT in Youtube (yet!) but many are not worth uploading anyway. Some of my documents have been uploaded to Writely (now Google Docs). Most of my software is in boxes and the ones that were in download-only version have been backed up on discs.

I might be in a spot with Macromedia Studio and Microsoft Office though, because they require product activation and it will be tricky re-installing them on a new system when the software manufacturers think you still have an active licence on another computer. Darn, the same probably goes with my recently acquired Adobe Photoshop licence.

So I'm considering getting a system that can back up my hard disk with the push of a button. Something easy to use, so that I will actually use it! The Seagate models look good. Anyone know other good brands? Any tips on backing up hard disks (especially for Macs)?

Technorati Tags: backup, Mac

I received a new laptop last week.

Naturally, I've been trying out all the features and software...

would you believe I've hardly had to do any typing ? Almost everything in this blog post was written using Microsoft's speech recognition software.

the only problem is , speech recognition is limited to Microsoft software. So I am blogging this in Internet explorer seven .

It's not perfect , but I'm impressed . It seems unable to recognize the word blow block blog. let's see if it can recognize other terms like fire folks Firefox. Nope.

how about web standards ? [all right]

how about global global local Google? Nope ...

the other thing is , punctuation is a little tricky . You can't say , "full stop" because this is American . You have to say PERIOD (this is typed). however , I was pretty impressed with the double quotation marks recognition .

in any case it gets most of the woods corrects. In time the software will the many rice familiarize itself with my voice after frequent use . Then it will find you find to you and fine [tune] itself and hopefully there will be less strike throughs.

OK, I've started typing again. Interesting, eh? Didn't know there was such software in Windows Maybe it was because I just downloaded an Office 2003 trial.

[Update: I've just discovered an option that allows you to apply speech
recognition to non MS software. I'm now updating this post using
Performancing for five oaks your folks Firefox, with a combination of typing and speech recognition. overall this is cool. yahoo! ]

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, speech recognition

Collected it today. Not bad... buy one iPod and get two free replacements. 

It's now sitting in its white dock, slurping 34GB of music files into its hard drive.

The tech support guy told me that if I want my iPod's hard drive to be readable on PC and Mac, I must first format it on a PC. So I did that. Let's see if his advice works. Then at least I can back up my files as well.

I got to see the difference between the old and new video iPods. The new model has a brighter screen. "Won't that suck up battery power?" I asked. No, the new model also has a more powerful battery that can be charged more quickly.

Very tempting, but I am going to hold out just in case that full-screen video iPod proves to be more than a rumour.

["Videos!" roar the protestors in Van-land. "We want videos!"]


Technorati Tags: iPod, Apple

I relied on software like Feedreader (PC), Netnewswire Lite (Mac) and most recently, the powerful Omea (PC) for reading feeds on my computers.

On the move, I used Bloglines, which was comprehensive but just too slow. There haven't been any major improvements to the interface in quite some time. Kinja was pleasant to look at, but simply too lightweight for me. Rojo was my favourite, for reading news rated by other people. Then Six Apart bought it and things haven't been the same since - it's been confusing and buggy.

So what's a feed-crazy person like me going to do?

I heard Google Reader vastly improved its usability, so I took a look. It was really much more powerful than the previous, simplistic version. Yet it was fast and easy to use. It could contain all my feeds just like Bloglines could (except Google Reader still doesn't have search capabilties though that's probably just a matter of time).

See the Google Reader blog's latest post - they've tweaked it even more.

Maybe my OPML's here to stay ...

Technorati Tags: Google Reader, Netnewswire, Bloglines, Kinja, Rojo, Omea, newsfeed readers

The history of the VanPod royal family has been a tumultuous one.

The first VanPod was established in 2004. Its reign lasted over a year until it died, of premature old age. A detailed autopsy was performed and captured in photographs.

Its successor VanPod II had the extra ability to display photographs. However, this didn't mean a thing after a scandal in the Hardware Ministry, which rendered the entire Administration useless. The perpetrators were unable to be identified, even after a thorough AppleCentre Orchard inquiry. VanPod II was duly returned to its Maker while a search for a new leader took place.

After a few weeks of political uncertainty, a replacement, VanPod III, was installed. It contained the same characteristics as its immediate predecessor. It performed its duties faithfully, until September 2006 when it started to display signs of mental instability - namely, an unhappy face.

As news broke in the kingdom, citizens questioned the ability of VanPod III to perform its duties. Members of the main opposition party proposed a new leader for election - a broader-minded model with the magical ability to display moving images with sound. Its supporters said it also had 'more drive' and thus had a greater capacity for ruling the kingdom.

The second largest opposition party nominated a more slight candidate who could appear in costumes of various colours, namely silver, pink, blue, green and black.

As debate raged hotly among Parliament members, VanPod III underwent medical treatment by the royal family doctor and was cured. Snap elections were held, and VanPod III was restored to power.

All was well until this October morning, when VanPod kept skipping tracks without producing any sounds. The unhappy demeanour was once again displayed, and this time the illness could not be cured by the royal family doctor, who declared that VanPod III was no longer tractable. Listening to VanPod III's heart, a small, regular thudding sound was heard. Its heart was alive, but its brain was dead.

VanPod III was rushed to AppleCentre Orchard for treatment this afternoon. Attempts to revive its unhappy body were futile. The diagnosis? Another failure in the Hardware Ministry.

However, as VanPod III was still covered by life insurance, the Centre was obliged to provide a replacement. As news broke, a bloodless coup took place as army generals stormed the VanPod family palace and dissolved Parliament. Citizens, already used to the frequent political instability, posed for photographs beside uniformed guards.

The two main opposition parties continued the clamour for a brand new leader which was not directly descended from the makes of VanPod II and III, as they seemed to display "genetic deficiencies".

The parties have been organising protest marches, chanting statements such as "Videos!" and "Colours!" respectively. Even with the arrival of VanPod III's direct successor, which is estimated in the next 2-3 weeks, there are questions as to whether the new King's reign will be short-lived as well.

Meanwhile, compact discs have returned to fashion in the kingdom of Van.

New Segway models - the i2 and the x2.

New Nikon D80 digital SLR camera. A 10.2 megapixel CCD can be very tempting.

Sony launches mylo, a 'new pocket-sized communicator'. Hmm doesn't that sound like a nice cup of hot chocolate?

Good news: Apple launches Mighty Mouse without a tail. Nice!

Not so good news: I'm currently in a software and hardware quandary.

My Dopod needs a ROM upgrade, or else it will randomly reboot when I least expect it to, and it often fails to detect my SD card even when it is properly inserted.

However, when I do the ROM upgrade, it will wipe out all the programs I installed, and my Calendar, Tasks and Contacts.

I cannot back these up on my Mac, because I am running OS 10.3.9 with the Missing Sync Software. The Missing Sync has just released version 2.5 which works with Windows Mobile 5.0, which the Dopod is running. However, The Missing Sync 2.5 only works with OS10.4.

I would like to back up my Dopod's data on my dad's PC laptop, which I'm already using to install programs via ActiveSync. However, to back up Calendar, Tasks and Contacts, I need Microsoft Outlook. Yep, you've guessed it - we don't have Outlook on that laptop. It doesn't work with Outlook Express.

So it looks like I should just upgrade my own Mac's operating system. But as WWDC is round the corner, I don't think it's worth paying a few hundred bucks to upgrade to OS10.4+ now.

So either I tolerate my Dopod's eccentric behaviour for a couple more weeks, or manually copy all the new items i've added to my Dopod for the past few days, into iCal and Address Book.

Gahhh....

Technorati Tags: Dopod, apple, Missing Sync, Windows Mobile 5.0, OS10.5

Fellow geeks! Lend me your ears and eyes. If you see a secondhand HP iPaq rw6828 being sold on its own without most other accessories, do me a big favour and ask what the serial number is.

If the serial number is CNI6230BN1, it is my phone and it was taken from my office building. Please tell the shopkeeper that the serial number has been lodged with the police.

Yes, I just filed a police report after my attempts to locate my missing phone went in vain for the past several days.

I won't display my full police statement here, as some details involve company information, but this extract should suffice:

I appeal to the police to note the serial number of the phone, in case the person who kept my phone is trying to sell it at a secondhand shop. Its sale can probably fetch several hundred dollars.

My phone has a 1GB mini SD memory card, protective case, screen protector and stylus. The person will be trying to sell the phone without its charger, adaptors, box, software, handsfree set and manual.

Oh well I hope the police are able to send some word out - though I know they're awfully busy and probably have more life-threatening things to attend to.

My Dopod inside a Piel Frama case on top of a Tumi bag.

Just bought the case from a store at Funan Digitalife Mall, called Edpol (#04-23, tel 3399822). It has all sorts of custom cases and accessories for PDA phones, including Palm and Blackberry. Actually all I had intended to get was a protective screen cover for my new Dopod, but when I saw the lovely leather cases I had to make my Dopod try one on. Since it looked pretty good in its 'little red dress' I decided to buy it.

The service was also very good and there were all sorts of customers coming in, asking for cases for their PDAs.

I bought the Tumi bag from Harrod's in London (this June), as my existing bag wasn't big and well-designed enough to carry all my travel stuff.

I was telling a couple of friends that I felt like I was a widower. I had bought a pretty, young 'wife' that was desired by many, had the time of my life for 3 weeks, and suddenly she was taken away from me, right under my nose.

After 2 days of mourning I reunited with an old flame and decided to acquire her instead. That old flame in question is actually a friend's Dopod 818 Pro. His wife won it in a lucky draw but as both of them are not geeks, they preferred to sell it to someone else.

I contemplated the Dopod but decided on the HP due to the better brand and support service. However now that my HP is gone, I did not want to pay the full price for a brand new PDA phone. The new Dopod was sold to me at less than half its retail price and so far I'm not complaining.

I've re-installed Laridian Pocket Bible and Newsbreak feedreader software. I'm also trying out SPC Pocket Plus, a popular enhancement for Windows Mobile.

The Dopod is wider but I think it's thinner than the iPaq 6828.

Plus points:

• Handwriting detection has been less problematic so far (but that may be because my iPaq had a protective screen cover. When I get one for my Dopod I can make a fairer comparison).
• Hardware buttons are more intuitive. Also, easier to press. There is a Windows Start button and an OK button tastefully incorporated right below the 'Call begin' and 'Call end' buttons. This means you can control your Dopod's basic functions with one hand, without needing a stylus.
• Stylus is easier to remove (but that's because the iPaq had an extra protective cover on top of it)
• Wireless speed is faster - 802.11g instead of 802.11b. I can feel the difference. Data gets downloaded faster on my home 802.11g wireless network.
• The Dopod feels better in your hand as the casing is smoother and one consistent colour. However you can get a skin for your iPaq.

Minus points:

• Dopod software isn't as good as HP's. HP's extra software e.g. photo management is better ... and free.
• The iPaq comes with extra charger adapters (for US sockets) and more stylus pens.
• The Dopod's brightness levels are rudimentary whereas for the iPaq it can be fine-tuned.
• Dopod seems to run a bit slower. It hung last night and this morning already. Had to reboot it. Wonder if all my extra software and trials are screwing it up.
• Dopod keeps rebooting. I discover that it's a ROM problem and to upgrade my ROM I will lose all my existing data. Oh, great.
• Lousy-looking Dopodasia.com website with bare support. It's so crap, if you type in http://dopodasia.com withouth the 'www', the site doesn't work!!! [Update: They gave a free Mozart wallpaper and ringtone theme which is so cheesy they shouldn't have offered it in the first place. ]