My gadgets : PalmOne Zire 72 PDA

This is the second in the series highlighting gadgets that I personally use. The palmOne Zire 72 Handheld PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). I bought my unit in Kuala Lumpur at the end of April 2004. Once I experienced the infamous "skin-peeling" incident (whereby the blue paint of the zire72 starts peeling it off), I sent it back to PalmOne and received a brand new replacement in late November 2004. It's now still in mint condition. Overall it has been an excellent multimedia machine. It handles all the organizer tasks well, and is great for photos, movies and music. I use Bluetooth to connect to my Sony Ericsson T630 mobile phone to send SMS/MMS, check email and surf the web. This is the box - bright and orange, a reflection of PalmOne's consumer handheld brand. This is what you get when buying a new Zire72 package. (Does not include the iBook, handphone, mouse, and keyboard!) I bought a faux leather flip case (Disty brand) to protect the unit. There's space for some business cards, emergency money, and two spare SD cards. This is the front view. Note there's no power LED, so you don't get any indication of charging status. The big hump on top houses the digital camera and the speakers. The rubbery texture of the surface helps with the grip. The screen is excellent : bright and crisp. Here's the Zire taking a photo of my iBook. It has a 1.2 megapixel camera which can also take videos. Specifications taken from Palm's website: Integrated Camera • Maximum Resolution: Photo: 1280x960; 2X digital zoom; Video: 320x240 • Automatic white balance control • Special Effects: Capture pictures using special effects such as Sepia, Black and White or Blue. Built-in Bluetooth® Technology • Communicate wirelessly and share files, photos and more with nearby Bluetooth technology enabled devices Screen • 16-Bit, 320x320 transflective TFT colour display with brightness controls. Supports 65,000+ colours. Processor • 312 MHz Intel® PXA270 processor Operating System • Palm OS® 5.2.8 Stereo Headphone Jack • Accepts standard 3.5mm stereo headphone plug. Expansion Card Slot • Supports MultiMediaCard, SD and SDIO expansion cards Battery Type • Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery. Synchronisation with Desktop • Palm Desktop for Windows and Mac. • Conduits for synchronisation with Microsoft Outlook. (Windows only) Flexible Storage Capacity • Highly efficient operating system w/ 8MB of masked ROM and 32MB2 of SDRAM stores thousands of addresses, years of appointments, hundreds of to-do items, notes, memos and more than 50 applications. Tags: Zire Palm PDA

Fav Links : Warrenellis.com

Warren Ellis is an amazing writer. He is also a prolific blogger, which makes me wonder when does he find the time to write (or sleep). His blog is full of weird things, for example right now he's taking a different perspective at looking at old comics. This has to be seen to believed! It's amazing how much words and culture has changed over 50 years. For an introduction to his work, check out TransMetropolitan.

Fav Links : Jeff Russell's Starship Dimensions

While we're on the SF vein ... A chap by the name of Jeff Russell took the time to map out hundreds of starships from different SF series, including Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Macross, Farscape etc - all according to scale!. If you've ever wondered how big the Battlestar Galactica is compared to the Starship Enterprise, this is your site. Go visit Starship Dimensions

Those Lazy Crazy Hazy Days

This is what KL looked like yesterday. Sit in the car, with the aircond on full blast, and it could be England on a foggy day.

It's back : Battlestar Galactica

Good news - Battlestar Galactica is back for a second season! BSG is probably the best SF show on TV in recent years, tying with Joss Whedon's Firefly. Starting with the 2003 miniseries, and continuing with 13 episodes in 2004, BSG had consistent writing, an excellent ensemble cast, great FX (Vipers!) and I believe is miles better than the original 80s series. Production starts in March, which means we have to wait until the end of the year to see the second season (20 episodes). For those who caught the cliffhanger in the first season finale, that's way too long. Right now, you can catch the first episode ("33") on the SciFi website, commercial free and with added scenes. If I remember correctly, that was a really top-notch episode - lots of tense moments and great action. The DVD of the 2003 miniseries is now available on Amazon. Tags: Battlestar Galactica TV DVD

Meet the new Apple iPod family

Looks like the new iPods are out. The expanded iPod family now features no less than 14 varities of the various models. Apple has opted for a safe upgrade this time : four new 6GB iPod mini models (minus one colour - gold) and a new 30GB iPod photo model. There is now only one "plain" iPod model, the 20GB. The much-speculated colour screen iPod mini did not materialise. Neither did built-in Bluetooth support. Also, the trend is apparent that more and more accessories are being stripped out of the standard package across the line (e.g. Firewire cable). The good news : (slightly) lower prices all around. What's interesting is that Apple now has more types of iPods than PowerMacs. Times, they are a' changin'.

Star Wars III - in pictures

Spoilers ahead! If you want to know the story of the latest installment of Star Wars (aka Episode III : Revenge of The Sith), take a look here. Someone has managed to get high quality photos of the movie, and arranged them in order. So you get to know the story 4 months before the opening. Hurry up, because the link might go down any time. There is a Coral cache here. [via BoingBoing]

Thumbs down : McDonald's

Apparently, McDonald's Malaysia no longer offers small size value meals, only Medium and Large. So now it's not possible to look at McD as an alternative to lunch at the mamak. A meal at McD's now costs twice a meal at a mamak restaurant and three times what you pay for at a nasi bungkus stall. They have even raised their prices on breakfast meals. Who's lovin' it now?

My gadgets : Apple iBook

This is the first in a series of posts about my gadgets. This is my iBook : It has a 600MHz G3 processor, 384MB of RAM, 20GB hard disk, Combo DVD/CDRW drive, and Airport (WiFi). It has been my constant companion for almost 3 years. It can run the latest Mac operating system : It also runs iLife (iTunes, iPhoto) and iWork (Pages, Keynote) well. Slowly most of the time, but well enough. It's light and small enough to bring everywhere : It's in great condition, other than minor scratches all over and 3 out of 4 rubber feet missing at the bottom : The logic board and the hard disk have been replaced under Applecare in the past one year. It's still covered under Applecare until June this year. The battery lasts around half an hour.

Waiting for the Treo 650

While I'm anxiously waiting for the palmOne Treo 650 to be available in retail outlets, the forums at KVPUG are already abuzz with first-hand feedback. The Treo is not yet officially launched in Malaysia, but an enterprising chap managed to get his hands on a couple dozen units for sale. Unfortunately, his terms are cash only, so yours truly has to wait it out. Hopefully it won't be too long, because my credit cards are itching and I might just buy a new iBook!

The beauty of the Mac mini

Apple has a knack for creating lustworthy products - the PowerBook, the iPod (now in regular, photo, mini and shuffle versions) and the iMac (all three generations). However, their products have a tendency to be too expensive or too underpowered (or both!). The Mac mini is the cheapest Mac ever - and it has (almost) just the right balance of power and size. For USD$499, or RM2,099 it's a relative bargain compared to the rest of the Apple desktop computer range. It's as small as an external drive. It comes with the latest Mac OS X and iLife media suite. If only Apple could bundle iWork (their own, slowly developing but already impressive MS Office alternative), the Mac mini would make a great corporate desktop. It's compatible with most Windows application, and best of hardly any spyware or viruses. You can get it at your nearest AppleCenter/retailer or now shipping from Amazon.

Thumbs up: Golden Screen Cinemas

Here's a rave on Golden Screen Cinemas . They aren't as well promoted as TGV but it's a really better experience. Last Saturday my wife and I went to see Constantine at GSC in Cheras Leisure Mall. The queues were short and moving rapidly, the seats were comfortable, the tickets were RM1 cheaper than TGV (RM9) and they had twin seats for only RM2 more than a normal seat. They had plenty of monitors showing up-to-date seat status - how many seats available, how many sold, how many taken up for phone reservation, etc. (Just in case you're wondering, the best performing movie that night was Himalaya Singh, and the worst - Gerak Khas the Movie 3) Anyway, we went to see the latest Bridget Jones movie at TGV's flagship outlet in KLCC last month. As usual, there was a horde of people on a Saturday night. Long, long lines. There were many signs of maintenance lapses. The row and seat numbers were missing, cup holders were missing (!) and the seats showed signs of wear and tear. So the next time you think about seeing a movie, I recommend GSC. Just another satisfied customer. It's a great feeling - that at this day and age, you can find something better AND cheaper than the norm.

Thumbs up : Aztech Systems

Aztech Systems produces xDSL modems and routers, among other things. They were on of the first brands to work with TM Net's Streamyx. I bought an Aztech ADSL modem/router/switch combo in September 2004 to replace a faulty ZTE modem. Since then, I've had to return the Aztech box twice, both because of lightning strikes. In each instance, the Aztech service center in Kelana Jaya has performed admirably well. I was in and out of there within 15 minutes, with the modem repaired at no charge. No hassle, no paperwork needed! The technician who did the work on my modem also took the time to show the faulty modem board to me and explain the problem. I have received more than my money's worth from what I paid for the modem.

I'm back

I have been very busy lately. Not a good enough reason for such a lengthy hiatus, but oh well. As a double new year resolution (Chinese New Year and the Muslim New Year) I thought I'd give recognition to companies that give good service for a change. I've also made some minor changes with the blog.