Ayrton Senna

It's been 16 years since Ayrton Senna died on the 1st of May. I still remember it as 1 of the saddest days of my life. Senna was my idol and I was so confused on that fateful weekend. There were so many reports of death, accidents, serious injuries and then the death of Senna. I couldn't believe it as I thought they were reports regarding the death of Roland Ratzenberger who died the day before. I just couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it.

Until today, I take a few minutes to remember him on the 1st of May. I believe Senna is still the greatest Formula 1 driver ever. Though I really like Michael Schumacher, he would never have won 7 World Championships if Senna was still around. Senna was the greatest of them all.

Ayrton Senna, may you win many more races up in the big blue sky.

Buntut Soup!!!!!!!!!

OMG! I was walking around The Curve and saw this on the menu outside a restaurant. This has got to be the 1st time I've seen a soup called Butt Soup. I wonder how Butt Soup tastes and smells like......................

Anyone care to try it and tell us all about it??? Haha.

Mobile WiFi hotspot modem, D-Link DIR457

This is the coolest gadget I've bought in a while. I actually bought it for my iPad but I'm using it for all my devices now. It's a 3.5G wireless modem + WiFi router in a small little portable package the same size as an iPod Touch. It comes in a nice gloss white and matches all my Apple gadgets nicely too. Hehe

Here's how it looks like.











This is how it looks like with the back cover off. There's a replaceable battery, SIM card slot and Micro SD card slot for file sharing too. I put the puny 512mb Micro SD card there just for the picture, It's the only Micro SD I have at hand. Will get myself a nice fat 16gb card soon. Hehe





Size comparison with an iPod Touch. It's about the same size.








The internet speed is of course dependent on your service provider but I've included some sceenshots off my iPad using Speedtest.net. Here's the iPad running off the home wifi on Streamyx.







This is the iPad running on Digi Wireless off the D-Link DIR457.





I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I'm really happy with it. It's awesome actually. Having a fast internet connection on all my devices, wherever I am is just fantastic. It can handle up to 6 connections and I've tried it with 5 connections and it handled it really well. I tried it with a MacBook Air, iPad, iPhone, iPhone 3Gs and iPod Touch all connected at the same time. All were flying along nicely while connected to the DIR457. Only problem I encountered was battery life. The spec sheet says up to 5 hours of battery life. As usual, battery life specs is a load of bull. All I get on a full charge is about 2.5 hours average. Not a major problem though. I can always plug it into the MacBook's USB and it will charge the DIR457 while remaining connected to the internet. I'll probably buy a spare battery pack for the DIR457 soon. That's the beauty of having a removable battery pack, I can buy as many batteries as I need and never run out of juice so I can stay connected all day long if needed. Hehe.

Setting it up is easy as 1,2,3. Just key in the APN settings as provided by your service provider and set up the WiFi router with your own SSID and WPA2 password. After that, just enjoy fast internet wherever you are.

Apple iPad. Can you say sexayyyyy?

I promised myself that I wouldn't succumb to Apple's poison this time around. I knew the iPad was sexy as hell from all the magazine articles and online reviews BUT I promised myself that I would not be an early adopter this time. Being an early adopter is a huge pain in the ass. It drives us to bankruptcy. LOL


BUT.................................. what did I do???? I went ahead and bought 1 anyway. Haha. It's so damn sexy I couldn't help myself after touching and feeling it. All those people who say "it's just a giant iPod Touch", I say you don't know shit until you actually try it. Hehe. From the very moment you turn it on, the 10" IPS screen just blows you away. I fell in love the second I turned it on for the 1st time and saw that loooooooooooovely screen. Anyway, let's get on with the pictures of my new toy.













A closer look at it. Here's the docking port at the bottom.




The speaker at the bottom, next to the docking port.




Earphone port. Thank god it's not a funky 1 like the 1st iPhone.





I needed a case to protect my new toy and this is the only case available right now in KL. It's by Epik and they call it a resin case. It kinda feels like the silicone cases only firmer and better. It holds the iPad nicely inside and there's no risk of it falling out of the case at anytime. There's about 2-3mm worth of resin around the edges for some protection against drops. There's a few colors available- smoke, blue, pink and crystal clear. Mine is crystal clear as I dont wanna spoil the beauty of the iPad. Here's how it looks like with the Epik case.




I ordered a screen protector together with the Epik case too. The case and screen protector only cost me rm39.50(USD12). Excellent price for a nice combo. The screen protector was a little too wide though. The explanation being that Apple didn't provide the exact dimensions to the case makers earlier n this was a rush job by the manufacturer. It took me a couple of hours worth of slicing and fitting before I got it to fit the iPad nicely. Dealing with a screen protector install is already difficult but having to deal with cutting n fitting and all that dust flying around is too much of a hassle really, I wouldn't advise anyone to get the screen protectors at this stage, unless the manufacturer guarantees that it's a new revision that fits the iPad perfectly now. Here's how it looks like now.




The performance is fantastic. It's like a turbocharged iPhone 3Gs. Everything's bigger, faster, sharper and..................... it's just fantastic really. Go get 1 now if you don't mind the exorbitant prices the Malaysian dealers are charging for it right now. I paid a lot more as an early adopter but I'm loving every minute of it.

Leica V-Lux 20

OMG! This new Leica compact camera looks absolutely delicious. It even comes with Adobe Photoshop Elements 8. Just look at the specification-

1. Vario Elmar 25-300mm f3.3-4.9 ASPH lens.
2. 12mp resolution
3. 3" LCD screen with 460k dots
4. Built in GPS
5. 720p video

Anybody wanna send 1 over to me for a quick review or comparison with the Panasonic equivalent? Hehe. I haven't heard about the Panasonic equivalent but I'm sure there's 1 out there. I wish a bag of money would drop from the sky soon so I can go grab 1. Haha.

MacBook Air, I'm in looove

I've been thinking about getting a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air over the past few days. My Acer Ferrari's been with me for about 6 years now and it's time to retire it. The Ferrari was the most highly specced laptop in the world at the time and is actually still very nice to use. I have no complaints even after 6 long years. I really loved the Ferrari coz it just looks so special and they're also my favorite team in Formula 1. Here's how my old Ferrari laptop looks like.



The problem is, parts were slowly failing. The 1st thing to fail many years ago was the Super DVD drive. I got around that by using an external DVD drive. Then the 4 USB ports died and I got around it by using a PCMCIA USB card. Next to fail was the Multi card reader, battery and recently the bluetooth module. The bluetooth module was the last straw as I use it for tethering to my iPhone 3Gs so I can connect to the internet. I thought of just adding a USB bluetooth dongle but it's not gonna be very stable as the PCMCIA USB card doesn't handle multiple things very well. Anyway, the Ferrari still works very well with Wifi so I guess I'll just use it for serving up online recipes in the kitchen.

After spending a few days thinking about it, I decided on a MacBook Pro 13". I wanted something small and compact for mobility as I spend a lot of time in coffee shops. It has to be reasonably powerful so I can do photo editing while I'm out enjoying my coffee. So................off I went shopping for a 13" MacBook Pro. I knew there were strong rumors about the new revision MacBook Pros coming out on 13th April but they also mentioned that the 13" model wouldn't be revised. I'm happy with the current specifications and it's not like any new revision is gonna make my web surfing more enjoyable or even make my photo editing faster by light years. I'm too high on caffeine while at the coffee shop to be doing any high speed editing anyway. Haha. However............... the MacBook Pro 13" was completely out of stock at the Mac shops around my place. They all had the higher spec 2.53ghz model but the price was already at the MacBook Air level. By then I was all set to take a new laptop home, I wasn't gonna go home empty handed. I couldn't handle the thought of using the old Ferrari for another day. Hehe.

So........... I decided to take a looooooooovely, sexy MacBook Air home with me. I only needed a few minutes to decide after holding them both up. The Air felt so much nicer and lighter. I love the thin construction. It's absolutely beautiful. Here's my sexy new laptop at home. Hehehe.










It's so sexy, I just had to keep her looking good at all times with a wee bit of protection. Here's the speck SeeThru case I bought. I chose the translucent 1 so it doesn't alter the nice aluminum look of the MacBook Air.









Here's how it looks like with the speck case.






I've spent the past 2 days learning my way around Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iPhoto 09. My Mac experience started with the original iPhone a few years back. I loved it so much, I got myself a G5 PowerMac for my desktop. I never really got down to using the G5 seriously as it's kinda underpowered and I never learned how to use iPhoto on it. After spending the past 2 days digging around and trying it out, I absolutely love it. It's just perfect, the way a computer should be. I'm in looooooooooooove.

National Geographic store in Kuala Lumpur

It's finally here after months of anticipation. I went to the store yesterday to see how it compares to the store in Singapore. I was pretty dissapointed when I got there. It's a really small place compared to the 1 in Singapore. I reckon it's about 1/10 the size of the Singapore store.




This is the whole front. That's it! It is that small.







The photo gallery only has about 10 pictures. Just a small corner on the left side of the store. Soooooooo disappointing.......... They dont sell the prints either, unlike the Singapore store. Worst thing about this Nat Geo store is................no photographic equipment for sale! The Singapore store had lotsa camera bags, tripods, monopods and such.

There's no cold room for us to experience antarctic conditions, the Singapore store had 1. There's a section with a reasonable amount of books for sale, the rest of the store is mainly selling bags and clothes, and finally a corner for the kids. It was a really underwhelming experience. There's 1 good thing about this store and it's the cafe. The Singapore store doesn't have a cafe so I guess this is the redeeming feature of the KL store.

The cafe is really nice and cosy. It's decorated with antique furniture and a plasma TV hanging over the bar showing none other than the Nat Geo channel. A very nice relaxed atmosphere for a cup of tea or coffee. I spent about an hour there with my wife and kids after ordering some cheese cubes and samosas to go with coffee. I thoroughly enjoyed the hour there. The food was good, coffee was good and we enjoyed watching the Nat Geo channel while we were there. The menu is pretty limited right now as the kitchen is not fully operational yet, so dont go there for lunch or dinner.



Here's a pic of the yummy cheese cubes, samosas and coffee we ordered.



The food and coffee was good and the service was excellent. Be prepared to pay though. I didn't mind the pricing but I reckon most Malaysian's will find the pricing pretty steep. It's more expensive than Starbucks/Coffee Bean which is already pretty steep by Malaysian standards.

Overall, it was really disappointing to see such a small store but the cafe saved the day. Hehe. Those of you who haven't seen the big Nat Geo stores will probably like it but those of us who have been to the big stores will be just a wee bit disappointed.

Super LED flashlight

I bought this super LED flashlight a few days ago. It's made of anodized black aluminum. Here's how it looks like.



It cost only rm12(USD3.50). The packaging said it's a 3 watt LED. That's the thing that got my attention. I've been thinking of getting a Surefire flashlight with the optional 3 watt LED but that flashlight costs a bomb and the LED option costs almost as much as the flashlight itself. I had doubts about the 3 watt LED specification since it's so cheap. At such a cheap price, I had to give it a try.

Here's how the bulb looks like.



It runs on 2 AAA batteries that fits into a cartridge.


Those of you looking for a flashlight, you have to try this flashlight. It's awesome. It's really, really bright. It's actually brighter than my Mini Maglite with a Katzeye LED conversion bulb. For rm12(USD3.50) this has got to be the best flashlight I've ever bought. Not only is it super cheap, it performs superbly too. I bought it from a shop called Mr Hardware. I'm sure many other hardware stores have it as well. Now, go out and get 1 for yourself.

Sepang F1, 2010

Wheeeeeeeee! Can't believe the race is back in KL. Been looking forward to it coz my favorite driver(Schumacher) is back. After experiencing the torrential rain last year and having my car stuck in all that dirty mud at the carpark, I've decided to go by bus this year.

My favorite seats in Sepang are actually at Hill Stand C1 or C2 coz I can see the whole back half of the circuit. After experiencing the lightning storm last year, I'm gonna sit at the Grand Stand this year. I don't wanna become Kentucky Fried Chicken up on the hill, when lightning strikes. LOL. Looking forward to the Fatboy Slim and Wyclef Jean concert after the race too.

I hope for rain again as it makes for really exciting racing. Hopefully it doesn't rain too much though. Don't wanna see the race stopped like last year.