Month: August 2011

General

Gadget Day

By on Sunday, August 14, 2011

I’ve been trying to get Mac OS X Lion from the Mac app store for the longest time. Unfortunately, the software distribution system needs a bit of work. They should have used a reliable distribution system like BitTorrent. So yesterday, I finally threw in the towel and asked Alex if I can visit him and download off his wired network. He did one better, he offered to download and give me the update. In a few hours, we met up and bought blank DVDs, and then headed to Racks for lunch. We were joined by James who was in the area.

After a quick lunch, the gadgets started coming out. Alex brought out an MacBook Pro for burning the OS X Lion files to the blank DVDs. Then the discussion turned to Android. James got out his Samsung Galaxy Tab and Alex his Coby Kyros tablet. He also got out and demoed his rooted Nook. James then got out his Nook and Alex rooted it. While waiting for all the burning and rooting to complete, James showed us pics of Jem and his twins on his iPod Nano. And of course, everyone had phones. James had his Ericsson while Alex and I had iPhones. But I was decidedly the most ungadgety that day.

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General

iOS DLNA Players

By on Thursday, August 11, 2011

I though I’d update my iPhone DLNA Players roundup.

I’m a fan of Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) because of its promise of using standards-based technology to make it easier for consumers to use, share and enjoy their digital photos, music and videos. When I got my Buffalo Linkstation, I started streaming movies and music from it to the Playstation 3. But I had to stay in front of the TV.

When I got the iPhone 4 and later the iPad, I got media players that I can use anywhere in the house. I was lucky enough to be able to get VLC from the App Store while it was available. However, it meant copying files using iTunes to the iPhone. Somewhat, archaic to say the least and definitely a far cry from what’s possible with DLNA. So I went around searching for a DLNA player. Here is the result of my research.

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General

Hanna

By on Thursday, August 11, 2011

Hanna is a spy thriller and growing-of-age drama. Sort of like Leon but different, quite different. Erik (Eric Bana) is a widowed ex-CIA officer living in remote isolation with his daughter Hanna. He is raising Hanna to prepare her for going out into the world. And that world just happens to be a worst case scenario. Toss in shades of the Grimms’ fairy tales (e.g. Cate Blanchett is “The Witch”) and the almost surreal (watch it) and you have a quite an interesting movie. The action choreography needs a bit of work but is quite passable.

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General

Sitting Side By Side

By on Thursday, August 11, 2011

Last night, Michelle was having a hard time dealing with Jeanne and dinner. So I invited Jeanne to the bedroom with a small bag of candies. Since the bed is off limits to food, I sat on the floor and leaned on the wall. Jeanne did the same. And we sat side by side eating candies :)

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General

Capacitive Pen

By on Sunday, August 7, 2011

One of Jeanne’s favorite iPad apps is a drawing and painting app. It saves on paper and minimizes the risk of her writing on other things. Unfortunately, unless it’s finger painting, drawing and painting using fingers doesn’t exactly train her on the motor skills for actual drawing, painting, and eventually writing. Enter the capacitive pen. I’ve been planning to get one for some time. So it was quite timely when James gave me one from his trip to the US. Thanks, James!

Only problem is that there are bits of metal on the pen. So to minimize chances of it scratching the screen, I was forced to install a screen protector. Now that was a chore! It took me 5 tries before I was satisfied, i.e. the display area is clear of dust and bubbles. Even so, there were still some dust specks here and there. But since they were on the border, I can overlook them.

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