Month: March 2011

General

Escape from Jaws of Steel

By on Thursday, March 10, 2011

Earlier, I got into a lift from the basement parking. It went up a floor then opened and a lady got it. But the doors wouldn’t close. We decided it’s out of order so we got out. But as soon as we got off, the doors started closing. Figuring it’s not broken after all, I extended my trusty Starbucks bottle between the closing doors to reopen them. They didn’t stop and caught my poor bottle in a tight grip! I twisted and turned for what seemed like an eternity until I was finally able to pull it out. The door then closed and the evil elevator went up on its merry way.

UPDATE: I figured, it’s the reflective finish of the bottle that confused the sensors of the elevator doors.

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General

Smartphone Market Share

By on Tuesday, March 8, 2011
image Credit: Nielsen

Nielsen released data on smartphone market share as of Nov 2010 to Jan 2011. From an OS perspective, definitely it shows the Android juggernaut’s seemingly unstoppable rise to the top. From a hardware perspective, it’s interesting to note how Apple and Blackberry(!) still hold a huge chunk of the market. But HTC is waiting on the wings.

It seems that at this point, focusing on iOS development is still a good strategy. Noting, of course that the other iOS devices, iPad and iPad 2, are the leaders in the tablet space. But investing in Android development should already be in the pipeline.

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General

Objective-C: Getting Down and Dirty

By on Monday, March 7, 2011

Delved deeper into Objective-C programming over the weekend. As a challenge, I ported a Java program  that I cooked up in roughly 30 minutes. No, it’s not Hello World :P After several hours, I was still not done! Okay, so I got a little bit fancy with the Objective-C version but most of the time I was slowed down by syntax, API adjustments, and memory management. That’s just the way learning goes, I guess. I certainly look forward to the day when I can cook up an Objective-C program in 30 minutes.

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General

Printer Blues

By on Sunday, March 6, 2011

I don’t usually use paper but the same doesn’t go for the rest of the world so now I need to print and photocopy some documents. Unfortunately, my Samsung SCX-4300 multifunction printer ran out of toner (like a year ago). So I have to go get a new toner cartridge. I scoured all the shops in the mall but there wasn’t any available! That’s what sucks about these new printers. The cartridges cost close to the complete printer itself and most of the time they’re not even available. You end up having to buy another printer or go to a ink refilling station. It would be great if someone manufactures a standard cartridge and have everyone else build around that cartridge. Someone with clout like Apple. iCartridge, anyone?

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