Friday, July 24, 2009

Logitech VX Nano Mouse

Got this little mouse today for my netbook. Well, the mouse is not really of nano size but the receiver is so remarkably small that you soon will forget that it is even there! Some might say that most of the new notebooks nowadays are equiped with bluetooth technology, wouldn't a BT mouse make more sense? The answer is yes of course but there is a big downside to it, BT mouse is usually less responsive and often lag behind. Logitech claims that the 2xAAA batteries inside can last up to one year (only if you remember to hit the tiny "off" button underneath the mouse when not in use I guess). Overall, the mouse feels solid and it even comes with a carrying pouch!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Love him or hate him

I've always been a great follower of Ken Rockwell's blog and a fan of his style of writing. Personally I don't know what sort of photographer he is or how good he is, but what I do love about him is his dry sense of humour. His collection of photos in his galleries are hardly inspirational to me but again, I hate to judge a book by its cover. He is just a regular guy who loves to write stuff about himself, his life and photographic equipments, just like most of us do on our blogs, except on a much, much, much and much bigger scale. Unfortunately, I do believe he has more haters around the world then people who like him.

Tonight I came across one of his page which was written a while back and I thought it was quite interesting. Check it out here - The Seven Levels of Photographers! While I don't agree with everything he said, but he did make a few valid points though.

"Bad rich amateurs think fuzzy B/W images of poor poeple are art" - Ken Rockwell :))

If you got more free time and would like to learn more about making great photos, here is another great page - How to Make Great Photographs. I have not undertaken any photography courses in the past and I am glad Ken is able to share his experience with us and help me to be a better photographer.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

White Beauty

Got this from Harvey Norman last week, a vaio P series netbook (VGN P13GHW). It was their last display model and hence, we got a fairly good discount from them. It looks like a sport car on steroid, it is "beautiful"!

Yes...look without essence some might say, well, frankly I don't give a rat about what others said. The look alone is enough to justify the premium price although it has slower atom cpu, smaller hd and running on Vista, which slows it down further :)

Well, after all I am not intend to play game on it. The main reason I bought it is to travel with it so I can have occassional internet access and a place to save all my photos, and for that, this baby fits my criteria perfectly....and it can even fit into my pocket! All I need now is some spare batteries to go with it lol!

Update 26/7/9: This amazing netbook is great for watching movies/trailers in real HD on the go (720p/1080p) provided you use the correct software and codecs. For smooth HD playback, the best software to use is the Cyerlink PowerDVD 8 or Windows Media Classic HC (open source) with PowerDVD's playback filter. Playback using WMP is choppy and virtually unwatchable. I am also able to overclock this tiny Atom Z520 using setFSB from 1.33Ghz to 1.6Ghz without any problem, although I am struggling to find any real world improvement with it :)

Sunday, July 5, 2009

USS George Washington (CVN73)

This Giant US Navy aircraft carrier was docked 3km off Fremantle Port this week and we were lucky to come across it on our way to Cottlesloe today.











Here are some facts about this amazing nuclear-powered carrier:
Displacement: Approximately 101,000 long tons
Length: 332.8m
Flight Deck Area: 4.5acres
Power: 2x nuclear reactors that permit the carrier to steam for almost 18 years before refueling
Range: Virtually unlimited! (I need a car with nuclear reactor!)
Speed: About 56+km/hr
Number of aircrafts: 75
Propellers: 4x five-bladed brass propellers weighing 30,000kg each
Anchors: Two, each weighing 30,000kg as well
Meals: 7 galleys serving 18,000 meals daily
Water distiller: 15,000L fresh water daily
Crew accommodations: 6,250

Thursday, July 2, 2009

The first is teenage boy's wet dream, the sequel is just masturbation.

Well, there is nothing "naughty" about the stuff that I wrote here today. The above is a direct quotation from a critic from the Scorecard Review about the second installment of the Transformer: The Revenge of the Fallen. A quick check of the tomatometer, at 20%, it is considered by most movie critics around the globe as a utter disaster or a blockbuster flop. Well, I beg to think otherwise. True, the plot is getting thinner and the humour has grown a little tired but I still love those giant robots, those massive explosions and it's no doubt on par with the first. If you like the first Transformer movie, I think you are going to love this one. And guess what? In the packed movie theatre on last Tuesday night, I could confidently said Megan Fox was still the hottest chick in that room! Perhaps the biggest drawback about this second movie is that it is a tad too long, in fact, if it was about 30-60 minutes shorter, it would have been a perfect movie...yawn :)