Say hello to Ceres, my new 13-inch MacBook Pro.
In continuing a tradition of naming the machines I own after planets and constellations (which is, in turn, naming them after figures in Roman or Greek mythology), I christened her a name that compliments those of her fellow stablemates Tethys, the jinxed 15-inch MacBook Pro she replaces, and Cyrene, the Lenovo S10 netbook I’d hackintosh’d.
An email from SingTel this morning:
Thank you for your patience.
We are pleased to make the Apple iPhone 3GS available at selected SingTel retail outlets, Apple premium resellers and singtelshop.
You may visit any of these retail points or our online shop at your earliest convenience and the phones are available while stocks last.
Click here for more details on our stores and the iPhone 3GS offers.
We look forward to serving you!
Did you know the National Environment Agency has a web app for its meteorological services? While it looks to be formatted for the iPhone, I take it that this web app will work on other mobile devices.
You can access the NEA Weather@SG web app at http://weather.nea.gov.sg/ForecastToday.aspx.
The USB flash drive is one of those things which should be ubiquitous in our daily lives. So where better to attach one than to the bunch of keys you’ll always have on you, right?
Kudos to French design firm 5.5 Designers (Cinq Cinq) and LaCie for the LaCie iamaKey and itsaKey USB Flash Drive. This is what I call designing to context.
Despite their advanced hardware, handsets here often have primitive, clunky interfaces…. The conflict between Japan’s advanced hardware and its primitive software has contributed to some confusion over whether the Japanese find the iPhone cutting edge or boring.
I told myself I’ll be writing less about tech, but the article above raised too salient a point for me to pass up. It reinforces what I’ve always bemoaned about Japanese manufacturers, that the problem is while they know how to make sexy hardware, they can’t do software for shit. Their products boast all the hardware prowess, but are accompanied by inconsistent and incomprehensible software interfaces, resulting in shitty user experiences. Using their software, I am often left with the impression that their user interfaces seem to have been designed by engineers and not by designers.
And speaking of the iPhone and how UI factors into this matter, this problem extends to other manufacturers as well, not just the Japanese ones. Take, for example, touch interfaces. I find it astonishing that so many manufacturers still do not grasp the concept of what a great touch interface should be. Sure, any one with sufficient coding chops can whip up competent UIs—just graft a touchscreen over some buttons and call it a day. And since users expect software to just work, as long as all the buttons are there, that’s all there is to it, no?
No.
That is only taking care of the science of software. The art of software—how a user interacts with the UI—is the key ingredient which is all too often missing. Elegance and simplicity in the design of user interfaces are what separate good software from great software. Less is more.
This is what Sony Ericssion doesn’t get by adopting Windows Mobile; I still think it’d have had a better shot if it completely redesigned UIQ from the ground up. This is what Nokia doesn’t get by going with the mess that is Symbian S60, with its many traces of design decisions made based on an antiquated pen-based UI, in its flagship N97.
The only manufacturers that appear to be cueing in on the importance of software design are LG, with its S-Class UI, and HTC, with its TouchFLO 3D, although the former has all the flash and none of the subtlety, while the latter is ultimately still a gloss-over of Windows Mobile 6.x, of which its design concept is clearly outdated. Palm and Google do seem to get it too, with webOS on the Palm prē and Android on the G1 respectively, though I have yet to try either.
I can go on and on about why design matters to me, and I acknowledge the fact that there are other users who don’t give a rat’s ass about elegant software design—it’s the whole left-brained/right-brained thing.
Fair enough. Which is why it goes the same for manufacturers as it does for users when it comes to design:
You either get it or you don’t.
Go to SingTel’s page on the prices, or to its SingTel Shop iPhone 3GS microsite if you want to register your interest.
Don’t ask me which button to click. Apparently I already have a login and password for this site even though I don’t recall ever signing up, so I obviously have no idea what my password is. When I tried to reset my password, the site insisted my mother’s surname isn’t what it is.
Like, hello?
The SMS from SingTel:
IPHONE: You have a date next Friday 10 July with your new iPhone 3GS – keep it free! We will email you early next week with launch event details, prices and upgrade options. Have a good weekend and see u next Friday! It’s going to be huge!
I have been in the market for about a year trying to find a dedicated point-and-shoot camera that is compact and yet offers adequate manual controls that I need as a photographer.
But at the same time, I have been resisting the idea of toting a separate device, preferring instead to use a camera phone for those quick snapshots. In the past, I’d been served well by first the venerable Sony Ericsson K750i and later a Sony Ericsson W760i; I particularly liked the K750i for its manual controls. Indeed, some of my favorite shots were taken with that phone.
![Viewty Smart(LG-GC900)_(1)[20090418182216412]_crop](http://atinyblip.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/viewty-smartlg-gc900_120090418182216412_crop.jpg "Viewty Smart(LG-GC900)_(1)[20090418182216412]_crop")
Click to view in full size
Now that the NDA I was bound to has been lifted, and that LG Singapore has officially unveiled this device last week at CommunicAsia 2009, I am free to share with you my overall impressions about the Viewty Smart*.
My review will be in two parts. In Part One, I’ll talk about the camera aspects of this device, while in Part Two, I’ll offer my thoughts about the Viewty Smart as a phone. I should add a disclaimer: Yes, LG did give me a free unit, but in no ways are the opinions expressed here swayed by that fact.
Update 25.08.09:
An update to the “hot pixels” problem: LG advised that the problem is ostensibly caused by a defective lens on my unit, and has since swapped it with a replacement set.
Unfortunately, the problem exists even in the new set. In casual observation, the number of hot pixels in each and every image taken seems to be even more than those taken with my previous set. Also, the hot pixels now vary in size, in a mix of some large and some small ones. On the previous set, the hot pixels were instead more consistently of the same size.
I’m beginning to strongly suspect that the problem is caused by the sensor more than anything else. I’m awaiting a response from LG, and will update this post again.
As the successor to last year’s Viewty KU900, the Viewty Smart GC900 is LG’s sophomore effort in its foray into a product line of mobile phones in which the camera is the most defining feature. You can think of the Viewty product line as LG’s equivalent of Sony Ericsson’s Cyber-shot class of camera phones (‘C’ series, previously designated as ‘K’).
Perhaps the biggest initial reaction I had to the Viewty Smart was the surprise that it came from a name I don’t immediately associate “good camera phones” with. I confess my initial reaction at being invited to test an LG camera phone had been one of skepticism.
But now I am glad to tell you that the Viewty Smart has rekindled the joy of shooting with a camera phone for me; it is that strong an offering by LG. Coming from someone who has never before considered any camera phone not made by Sony Ericsson―the only folks who I personally feel take their cameras seriously―that is high praise enough.
I have little incentive to upgrade to the new iPhone 3GS, so when jailbreaking for iPhone OS 3.0 was made available yesterday, I bit the bullet. Jailbreaking gets you Cycorder, a free app that records video in MPEG 384 x 288 at 6—15 fps, depending on lighting conditions. Sure it’s far from the 640 x 480 at 30 fps capability of the iPhone 3GS, but it’s better than nothing. Jailbreaking also gets you the numeric battery percentage thingy, which I personally find handy to have.
And, if you’re so inclined towards voice dialing, there’s always Vlingo (direct iTunes link) and Melodis Voice Dialer (direct iTunes link), both of which work pretty well. In addition, you can search Google by voice with its Google Mobile App (direct iTunes link).
Now, I really wanted to, I could stick a compass at the back of this damn thing. Then again, it’s not as if it is that difficult to find where north is. All you have to do is to fire up Maps and let it find your location. Since a map is always drawn with north pointing up, you just have to orientate your iPhone till roads on the map line up with what’s around you, and you’ll know where north is.
Unless, of course, if you’re out in the middle of nowhere…
This came in from SingTel earlier today:
Hello [Tetanus],
I have good news! Shortly SingTel will begin selling the new iPhone 3G S in Singapore.
The iPhone 3G S lets you do it even faster than before. Launch and switch between applications quickly. Shoot, edit, and share video right on your phone. Make a call or play a song using just your voice. And discover many more features that make iPhone 3G S the best iPhone yet.
Plus this device also downloads data much quicker at 7.2 Mbps using SingTel’s unrivalled 3G network.
I know you are keen to know more about pricing and the launch date, we haven’t finalised these details yet, but if you register your interest, as soon as the pricing is out I will send you the details.
Simply visit www.singtel.com/reg
Of course, with full mobile number portability, you can now retain your existing M1 or StarHub mobile with us. When you switch to SingTel, your family and friends can still contact you via your existing number. It’s that simple!
I don’t know about you but I can’t wait for the new iPhone3G S to arrive!
You know, I’d have reacted positively if it weren’t for two things:
One, that the email is addressed to “Hello [SURNAME]“—yes, it was in all caps. For the effort you’d taken in making the tone of your email personable, don’t you think it would’ve have been better if you used the first names of the people on your mailing list instead?
Two, that the last sentence in the email is word for word the same as the last line in the email you sent me last year regarding the iPhone 3G.
Seriously, guys. You’ve had a week since the iPhone 3G S was announced—maybe longer, since I’m pretty sure you’ve been privvy to advanced information as a launch partner—and the best you can do is to copy and paste a form letter that was hokey and insincere to begin with?
So, no thanks; I won’t be getting an iPhone 3G S from you. Even if the launch date falls on the day before my birthday.
In TweetDeck for iPhone, if you tap and hold on any column, the view zooms out and you can rearrange columns by dragging them around.
Love that jiggle, jiggle animation.
The email came in just as I had stepped out of the ad agency, and was enroute to a meeting with the client. It was Thursday, and I was in the thick of prepping for a TVC shoot two days away.
The email was from a PR firm, asking if I’d like to be part of a blogger campaign for a product by one of its clients, a relatively major name in consumer electronics. The campaign called for me to take photographs with this new product, which was enough to pique my interest way more than the time I was asked to participate in another campaign (Philips’ home entertainment system) of which I had no interest in and thus politely declined. After I was reassured that I would get to retain the copyright of the photographs, I said yes.
I went for the briefing yesterday. At 6:45 PM, I was handed the product. The folks from XPR, the PR firm behind the campaign, took great delight in reminding the ten of us that we are the first persons in Asia, ahead of even media folks, to get our hands on this gadget.
“It’s so new the sets you are now holding were shipped directly from the factory,” said the representative from the client office, beaming as he did so. One of the PR folks chimed in.
“Oh, you get to keep the product, of course,” he said, almost casually. “It’s our way of thanking you for your participation.”
Neat. I wasn’t expecting that.
An hour later, I left the briefing the chuffed new owner of a LG Viewty Smart GC900 camera phone. Thanks, guys!
![Viewty Smart(LG-GC900)_(1)[20090418182216412]_crop](http://atinyblip.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/viewty-smartlg-gc900_120090418182216412_crop.jpg?w=500&h=424 "Viewty Smart(LG-GC900)_(1)[20090418182216412]_crop")
In the next two weeks, I will be putting this camera phone through the paces as part of the “LG’s ‘Life is Viewty-ful’ Photoblogger Campaign”. At the end of the two weeks, my photographs may be selected to go up in LG’s booth during CommunicAsia 2009 from 16-19 June 2009.
Released simultaneously for PC, Mac and iPhone/iPod touch! I like.
He is, in other words, quite a geek.
Punk’d by WordPress :P
So… WordPress rolled out this cool new feature, ‘Comment Reply Via Email’, a week ago, right? Whenever someone posts a comment on your blog, WordPress sends you an email notification, and, instead of clicking on a reply link within the email to fire up the browser (like how it was done before), you can now hit “Reply” in your e-mail client and send off a reply email that WordPress will parse and post as a comment made by you on your blog.
All in all, pretty neat, and a great time-saver. Except when I tried out the feature for the first time just a while ago, WordPress happily went and included my email signature—containing my real name, address and cell phone number—as part of my reply, details I definitely do not want published on my blog.
That’s not so cool, since I now have to manually delete the signature that my email client automatically inserts into every new composition every time I reply to a comment. Maybe the folks at WordPress should consider configuring their servers to recognize the
--that typically precedes a signature as the end of the text in a comment reply. This way, users get the option of whether their signatures get included or not simply by tweaking their signatures accordingly.So, for all of you intending to use this feature, remember to delete in your reply email all that you don’t wish to be included as part of your comment reply. Quoted text in the reply email is automatically ignored, however, so you don’t have to fret about having to delete that whole chunk of quoted text.
Update 14.05.09
‘Comment Reply Via Email’ is supposed to automatically parse out signature blocks just like the new ‘Post by Email‘ feature. Matt Mullenweg responded to my post in the comment threads on that page, advising that there is a bug that is preventing this from working correctly.
Thank you, Matt.