NOW ON iTunes Store.
Things were happening so fast it was almost impossible to respond to the changes caused by the Sendai Earthquakes and the Tsunami.
My team put together this book for sale on iTunes Store, and hopefully our dear friends at Apple can approve the book as soon as possible, proceeds for sales of the book will go straight into the hands of the needy.
Your generousity is much appreciated.
Folks, I will be off to Japan to cover this incident, chat soon.
Japan is exceptionally well-prepared to deal with natural disasters: it has spent more on the problem than any other nation, largely as a result of frequently experiencing them. (Have you ever wondered why you use Japanese for “tsunamis” and “typhoons”?) All levels of the government, from the Self Defense Forces to technical translators working at prefectural technology incubators in places you’ve never heard of, spend quite a bit of time writing and drilling on what to do in the event of a disaster.
[via kalzumeus.com]
Have you ever wonder why you get that familiar blank stare of ignorance whenever you visited a local computing hardware store? No, I’d refuse to call those shops “IT outlets” or “Apple Store” because that will be flattering them.
My recent visit to an “Authorised Reseller” in Mid Valley (and don’t get me started on why must they put two identical stores with equally low-IQ’ed storekeepers in essentially the same shopping mall) in search of an Apple AirportExpress.
Needless to say, they didn’t really know what I was referring to when I mentioned the product’s name, really, I felt sorry for them when they were obviously trying to compute what I have just said.
No, the geniuses who put idiots in there stores are NOT geniuses. I’d call them Morons.
Read this in a promotional copy from a photography tutor’s website (his portfolio here, and you decide if you want to learn from him through his work):
I see many people in Tokyo with great DSLR cameras shooting in AUTO or other creative modes. It saddens me to see so much photographic power go to waste. If you feel you are not using your gear to its full potential, I can teach you to do just that as well as to sharpen your skills technically and creatively.
I think he got it wrong: It is the “photographic power” of the cameras that led to people shooting in P or Creative Modes because the camera’s microchip can now make exposure decisions for you. You’d really be wasting the processing power of the camera IF you do not shoot in autonomous modes.
However, modern cameras give you the choice between making exposure decisions YOURSELF, or just put it on autopilot and let the camera do its wonders.
The better sensors, more robust shutters, and all those algorithm that makes shooting blind a bliss is just icing on the cake.
So what if you shoot in “M” mode and turn out lousy images?
If you want more traffic, it seems, bashing any Apple product is the highway to web traffic wonderland. Now, here’s another one: Just How Bad is the iPad 2 Camera? WIRED asks via CNN:
It seems impossible for Apple to put a decent camera into anything but the iPhone, and despite many hopes, both cameras in the iPad 2 are about as rudimentary as you could get without having to load a roll of film in there.
In fact, the iPad 2′s camera has more in common with the low-res camera in the iPod Touch than it does to the rather excellent one in the iPhone 4.
The cameras in iPad 2 and iPod Touch are essentially video cameras, thus they do video better, though I am equally confused by Apple’s fuzzy technical specification about the camera in question.
Then again, it doesn’t make much sense to point your huge iPad 2 at a friend, launch the photo app and say “cheese“, does it?
If YouTube adds its own original content to the video file sharing/broadcasting platform, does that turn the company into a television network?
Video host YouTube today announced that it has acquired Web video production company Next New Networks.
YouTube says the newly bought production team will be on the forefront of testing new YouTube technologies, as well as acting as an incubator for up and coming video talent.“Within YouTube, Next New Networks will be a laboratory for experimentation and innovation with the team working in a hands on way with a wide variety of content partners and emerging talent to help them succeed on YouTube,” Tom Pickett, YouTube’s director of Global Content Operations, wrote on a company blog.
[via CNET]
The Nikon D70 was arguably one of Nikon’s best-selling cropped-sensor DSLR that succeeded it’s semi-pro cousin the D100 back in the early twenty tens. It’s 7x series body size was slightly smaller than the three-digit models but still larger than the 4x, 5x, 8x and 9x series of the Nikon family, though I am still wondering why Nikon chose to release smaller sized consumer and entry level DSLRs, the D70 and the D70s enjoyed a long period of shelf life — much longer than the short-lived D50.
Since then, I was waiting for a true successor of the D70. The D700 marked the revival of Nikon’s 7-series and it lived up to all my expectations in image quality, handling and performance. But the D700 does not do video, the mark of a modern DSLR post-D90 era, and video is fast becoming an important part of my photographic needs — the Canon 5D Mark II became a subject of interest as I was hunting for a V-DSLR solution — I suffered serious pains from RSI on my right elbow and I can no longer carry heavy camera rigs.
And then the Micro Four Thirds Revolution erupted. I bought the Panasonic Lumix DMC GH-1 which was a fantabulous camera that produced great broadcast-quality video images (Danny Choo’s Culture: Japan was shot with the GH1 package), and thought I’s never look back.
Unfortunately, the GH1 shoots bad still images right out of the box, I had to shoot only in RAW and perform some Photoshop magic before it’s still images become satisfactory, so I had no choice but to carry 2 cameras if, and when I am on a serious photography outing.
When Nikon announced the development of the 16-mega pixel D7000, I knew I’d have to get one to complete my collection, and I was hoping that the 7-series magic will somehow bestow upon this new camera. Last month, I have gotten my hands on one of these cameras, and I was elated to find this camera meets all my expectations and exceeds some.
… read on »
Depending on what you do, the following equation should meet your mobile computing needs in almost any situation:
iPhone4 with iOS4.3 upwards
+ 13in MacBook Pro upwards
+ iPad2wifi/3G 64GB
+ Lacie 2TB Thunderbolt Drive.
And they are all from Apple, a closed, and comfortable computing ecosystem.
If you are just a mobile user and the computer does not play a role in your life, the BlackBerry Playbook + BlackBerry Phone + Cloud data storage sounds like a great deal, as long as you always bring BOTH the devices with you, and that is a proprietary system for me.
For Windows users… the combination can be a little bit clunky:
HTC/Samsung/(enter any other Android mobile brand here) with OS2.2 upwards
+ (enter a reliable Windows mobile computer model here)
+ the unknown Android tablet with yet to be released Honeycomb upwards
+ (most Windows users don’t generate so much data, so the data solution may not be needed.)
And they are from Everybody, that’s an Open System, is you ask me.
And between Open, Closed and Proprietary, I prefer elegance.
Gotten this in my mail this morning and I thought it may benefit more people if I posted it here:
Hi, I am going to Japan this coming 29th Mar in Saitama, Tokyo. I was thinking is it worthwhile to buy iPad 2 while I am in Japan. I saw what you wrote in your blog about buying iPad in Japan. A few things that I am worried, can you please enlighten me?
[Questions via Khor Shyh Yong]
1. Will it be more expensive to buy iPad 2 in Japan? I’ve checked their lastest offering of iPad and compared the prices. Japan’s price for iPad is around RM200++ more expensive than what Malaysia Apple store can offer. More over, Japan’s currency is getting higher than Malaysia’s currency.
If you are comparing the prices between Malaysia and Japan, you’d notice that the Japanese prices are about 5% costlier than Malaysia, this is a value added tax that is levied on all purchases made in Japan BUT you can get a rebate if you show your passport and say: “PASSPORT-TO” to the salesperson (note: the “instant rebate” is only valid when your purchase is more than ¥10,000).
2. Will the iPad 2 have some tweaks made just for the Japanese which will give me trouble if I use in Malaysia? Example, the language and maybe some other issues?
No, all iPad Wifi hardware are almost the same (there are small tweaks involved but they will not affect you.), you can switch languages when you first launch the iPad, where it will ask you what language would you want to use with the iPad.
3. I read about the 5% discount for China Unionpay. Where can I apply this in Malaysia or anywhere that I can get it before I go to Japan end of this March?
Go to a Bank of China near you and ask them about the UnionPay card, they were issuing those cards before the World Expo, I don’t know if they are still doing that now. The EXTRA 5% discount on UnionPay cards are offered in YODOBASHI, so, if you are not planning on shopping in YODOBASHI, safe yourself the trouble.
4. Will iPad 2 give trouble to Malaysian customs? I have never bought any electronics items from overseas. No experience about the customs. Must I declare iPad 2?
The short answer is NO, the long answer is, if you carry only electronics goods for personal used, you are safe, but if you pushed a cart load of iPads, TVs, PSP etc past the customs officer, you’ll be in trouble.
… read on »
Since the announcement of it’s development of the “flagship” point-and-shoot camera, the FujiFilm X100, friends who love the classic design basically jumped in joy for this “bold, retro” camera that is aesthetically pleasing, frankly, if the price is right, I want one too.
Well, 2 weeks ago, the camera began trickling into the market, major photography magazines were given a sneak peek and some fortunate photographers managed to have bought one and posted comparison pictures on Flickr — at that price, the X100 is competing with Leica’s X1.
I am hoping that Leica will refresh the firmware on the X1 as the 3-year-old point-and-shoot will be compared to a new breed of cameras with newer sensors and lens designs.