nicthegeek

I’ve always been a fan of zippos, although disposable lighters going at less than S$0.50 each are much friendlier on the pocket.  I also have a tendency to throw my zippos in the bag/pocket/anywhere, so they end up getting scratched and defaced.  (errr, ALSO, i can’t refill a refillable lighter to save my life).

But, this new USB 8GB flash drive lighter from Thinkgeek.com has got to be a geek smoker’s best friend.  Fire up the flash drive, baby.  I’ve got some files to back up once I’m done with this ciggy.

Here’s a video review of the HTC Touch HD done by a french site.  According to GSMarena, the site was down last week, but it seems to be up again.  the french version of the video was orginally posted, but it’s been taken down.

I managed to track down a version that’s translated into English.  Apparently, if you watch all the way to the end, it’s their podcast, and they especially did an english version for viewers who wanted it.

This is such a sweet sweet phone.  The video compares the HTC Touch HD (3.8″ screen!) to the iPhone (3.5″) and the Omnia (3.2″).

I’m not really into cars or racing, and all the road closures are giving me a headache.  It took me over 1/2 hour to make it to bugis for lunch today, because all the buses plying those routes have been diverted.

But the whole F1 night race hoo-ha is really…quite exciting.  and this video makes it really cool:

http://www.redbullracing.com/4th-sector/Webber-Singapore/

got this off mr. brown the blogger: http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2008/09/china-milk-scar.html

It seems that mr brown the coffee, one of the better coffees I like, is being recalled by King Car, the producer to test for contaminated products.  and I was looking forward to drinking hot canned mr brown coffee in taiwan later this year.

very soon, we’ll all have to import and milk our own cows to get fresh uncontaminated milk.

i’m often looking for online photo storage sites, but being the typical sg’rean, i want cheap free and unlimited storage with easy-to-upload-and-access function, which isn’t very likely to be at all possible.

so far, i’ve tried:

photobucket – 1gb storage, upload while u’r online, but I haven’t tried the ‘ftp’ yet.  good in the start, but it quickly degenerated into ad “heaven”

pixnet 痞客邦 – taiwanese portal that comes with blog, photo album, etc etc.  haven’t really tried it out fully, but quite a hassle because everything’s in chinese. yes that’s what comes of trying to integrate into taiwanese society.  storage and functions are limited, unless you pay.  there’s also wretch 無名小站, which is similar. the thing about taiwanese portals is there’s always THE reigniing portal, depending on which one gets artistes, singers, actors etc to blog at their portal.  so every once in a while, there’s a mass ‘migration’, and a lot of artistes end up keeping multiple blogs.  i can’t even remember my pixnet login name and password.

flickr – best so far, IF you want to pay.  free flickr is quite ho-hum

google/picasa – google photos lets you download picasa, which is a photo alubm-editor-sorter-uploader software.  can’t remember how much storage there is.  this should be the best so far, but my photos are too much in a mess, so picasa messes them up further.  of course, there’s always the fear that Big Brother will make “full use” of your photos to identify you.  *cue twilight zone theme*

there are countless others, offering more or less the same stuff. and now there’s a new one, picturetown, run by nikon, no less.  2gb storage, hmm, and easy upload of files by drag-and-drop…so they say.  seems quite worth trying out, but I just can’t be very bothered right now with too much on my plate.  anybody tried it yet?

  or just a corner to watch it for free?  anybody know of any corner to watch the night race? see the race map with bouncing icons.

well, actually it’d be less of watch, and more of being deafened.  at max speeds in excess of 300kmh, we’d just be left in a cloud of dust, but it’d still be fun!

i wonder if the speedsters in sg now feel they have to challenge the “new speed limit”?

Fun one, although I must say I still find Justin “I’m a Mac” Long a whole lot more cute to look at.  But this has got to be the ‘heaven’ version of PC ads…what were their marketing and advertising people thinking about when they did they Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates Vista ads

While Google is churning out successful project after project, and realising it’s mission of making all the information in the world readily available, others feel that it’s slowly turning out to be Big Brother.

Is Google really the Ministry of Truth?  Do they make decisions about the information that, we the users see, read or find?  If they are, then who or what is to say that all the information that we know hasn’t been manipulated or changed in some way?  All our textbooks, novels, documentaries, newspapers, magazines, advertisements have been edited in some way or other, some more than others.

Who’s to say Raffles discovered Singapore?  Who confirms that Lim Bo Seng was really a war hero?  Was Singapore really a haven for pirates?  Do I take the historians’ word for it?  Do we then disbelieve every printed word?  Where do we start, and, where to stop?

NB.  all links in this post, every post before, and probably every post after, was Googled.  Believe at your own risk.

Just saw the press release of the 2 new HTC: Touch 3G and Touch Viva.  Head over here for the Chinese press release…more authentic, no?  I wonder if the prices will be affordable when I touch down (hopefully) in Taiwan later this year.

==========

Taoyuan, Taiwan — September 16th, 2008 — HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today introduced the HTC Touch^TM 3G and HTC Touch Viva^TM. Continuing HTC’s touch-phone tradition, the Touch^TM 3G and Touch Viva^TM utilize TouchFLO^TM, HTC’s finger-touch optimized navigation experience enabling quick, one-touch access to the people, messages and information people want.

“The HTC Touch 3G and Touch Viva^TM embody our commitment to build a family of touch phones that are powerful and stylish but also offer something to everyone,” said Peter Chou, president and CEO, HTC Corporation. “Whether you’re a professional or a student you can now get an HTC touch phone with a beautiful touch user experience.”

HTC Touch^TM 3G
The HTC Touch^TM 3G offers an uncompromising touch phone experience with powerful Internet capabilities including wireless download speeds up to 18 times faster than standard 3G.  As part of this browsing experience users can zoom and pan Websites with one-hand.  This true mobile broadband experience allows users to navigate more easily, leveraging the mobile Internet in a variety of ways.  With the HTC Touch^TM 3G, customers can search for and watch streaming video from YouTube, get directions and mapping using Google Maps for mobile and stay updated on the latest news with the integrated RSS reader.

HTC Touch Viva^TM
The Touch Viva^TM blends an affordable touch phone with the benefits of HTC’s TouchFLO^TM, an easy to use phone and an optimized mobile Internet experience.  In addition, with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, users can easily synchronize their calendar, contacts, emails and more with their personal computer.

Availability
Both devices will be available in early October 2008 in a variety of markets.  The Touch 3G will be available in four colors: sophisticated black, noble gold, sparkle blue and modern brown while the HTC Touch Viva will be available in Storm Gray.

Product Specification

HTC Touch^TM 3G

• Size: 102 x 53.6 x 14.5 mm
• Weight: 96g
• Connectivity: GSM/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz & WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz.
  • HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
  • HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 2.8 inch QVGA screen
• Camera: 3.2 megapixel
• Internal memory: 256 MB flash; 192 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD™
• Bluetooth®: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB™ (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1100 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 360 minutes*** / GSM: Up to 400 minutes***
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours*** / GSM: Up to 365 hours***
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7225™ 528 MHz

HTC Touch Viva^TM

• Size: 104.5 x 59 x 15.75 mm
• Weight: 110g
• Connectivity: GSM/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 2.8 inch QVGA screen
• Camera: 2 megapixel
• Internal memory: 256 MB flash; 128 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD™
• WLAN: 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth®: 2.0 with EDR
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB™ (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1100 mAh
• Talk time: GSM: Up to 480 minutes***
• Standby time: GSM: Up to 270 hours***
• Chipset: TI OMAP 850, 201 MHz

The press release for Touch HD are in English and Chinese.

Specifications:

• Size: 115 x 62.8 x 12 mm
• Weight: 146.4 grams/5.164 oz with battery
• Connectivity: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHzWCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO 3D with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 3.8 inch Wide Screen VGA screen (480 x 800 WVGA)
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with auto focus – Second Camera: VGA
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash; 288 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD™ memory card (SDHC™ capable)
• WLAN: 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth®: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB™ (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1350 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 390 minutes*** / GSM: Up to 310 minutes***
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours*** / GSM: Up to 390 hours***
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7201a™ 528 MHz

no time to blog right now, but i just saw the google android demo/presentation from techie lobang.  there’s a clearer and nearer version on youtube, put up by uberpulse.  rumour has it that it really is the HTC Dream G1 that’s android-ready

it looks slightly clunky to me right now, but i’m going to take a good look once i get home tonight.  more later.

enjoy!