Joyful Gadgets

Flash (Gordon) and (poison) Apple

2010-06-02T14:47:00.000+08:00

This is humorous. Apparently from a graphic of a T-shirt of a site called shirt.woot.

Flexible OLED screen

2010-05-26T17:55:00.000+08:00

This is something I found truely amazing -- flexible OLED screen from Sony. So flexible that it can wrap around almost anything. Will we see a pencil or pen wrapped with this flexible OLED screen, hooking up to the Internet to retrieve answers during exams? High-tech cheaters!

Virtual goods => real goods

2010-05-25T11:29:00.000+08:00

Ever think of getting your virtual robots into the real world? That may be a bit too far. But wait, how about a virtual ice-cream? That is somewhat probable.

It's not just probable. But it already happened. You can buy Farmville ice-cream at 7-11! See here for more details.

iPhone 3GS @ US$97

2010-05-25T10:53:00.000+08:00

Ha, this one is certainly something. Walmart just officially announced that it'll be selling the 16GB iPhone 3GS for $97 starting Tuesday, a full $100 off the regular price. This is a logical step and it must point to the release of a new iPhone.

I wonder when operator in Hong Kong will slash the price of current 3GS models. Heard that the new iPhone also got video chat capability. For those who got onto the bandwagon of the last batch of 3GS, it would be some money not well spent.

Sony NEX-3, NEX-5

2010-05-25T10:41:00.000+08:00

There is no shortage of innovative cameras these days. The latest one entering the ring is the Sony EVIL (Electronic View-finder Interchangeable Lens) NEX-3 and NEX-5. It is very compact and very attractive. The full spec is as follows:

14.20 Megapixels
3.00x zoom, 18-55mm, (27-83mm eq.) kit lens
3.0 inch LCD Viewfinder
ISO 200-12800
Shutter: 30-1/4000
Max Aperture: 3.5
Mem Type: MS PRO Duo / SD / SDHC / SDXC
Battery: Custom Li Ion
Dimensions: 4.4 x 2.4 x 1.6 in. (111 x 60 x 40 mm)
Weight: 17.7 oz (502 g) includes batteries, kit lens
MSRP: $700
Availability: 07/2010

The notable thing is that the price is very competitive and it also accepts SD (a rare inclusion from a Sony perspective).

The full review can be found here.

Street fighter short movie -- from a fan!

2010-05-08T11:46:00.000+08:00

Sometimes it is amazing that the work from an amateur is so professional. For those familiar with Street fighter, this is a movie on a shoe-string budget, shot with a Canon 7D with aftereffects done on Final Cut Pro. Amazing.

Face-off iPhone

2010-05-08T11:24:00.001+08:00

This is really fun stuff. An iPhone running Android.

Sometimes I wonder, will there be a day we see Acer NeoTouch or HTC running iPhone OS?

Did you notice the author used another iPhone to film the face-offed iPhone?

iPad go International

2010-05-08T11:17:00.000+08:00

The long wait outside US for the iPad is over, officially. (Hey, forget all those parallel imports)

Apple said the iPad will be in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK on May 28 and then Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore in July. Those who can't wait (well, you define for yourself) can pre-order starting May 10. Sounds great.

Here is the official statement.

Tegra, AIR, Flash

2010-05-06T09:43:00.000+08:00

Bloodshed of the tablet battlefield is just beginning. Here is a new contestant, in a prototype form, running Android.

The biggest selling point for this yet-another-tablet is that it runs fully functional Adobe AIR and Flash, the centrepiece of a warzone. I guess it is faster than those cheapy netbooks. See how it goes if it can ever hit the shelves.

Tegra Prototype

iPhone OS 4

2010-04-09T09:26:00.000+08:00

iPhone OS 4 is a major upgrade to the iPhone OS. Again, a bunch of new features, whether or not you will be using it. Some features worth mentioning such as the Apple's way of multitasking. Bad thing is that iPhones older than 3GS will not be able to take advantage of some of the new features.

Notable new features for users include the following:

•Multitasking.
•Spell check.
•Bluetooth keyboard support.
•User-defined wallpaper.
•Tap to focus when recording video, just like with photos, and a 5x digital zoom for the camera.
•Playlist creation and nested playlists.
•App folders for sorting apps! You can even put an app folder in the dock.
•Enhanced Mail with threaded messaging and in-app attachment viewing.
•iBooks, a smaller one.
•And others.
•Game Center for iPhone games like Xbox live.
For multitasking, the following background services are available:
•Background audio.
•Background VoIP.
•Background GPS location data
•Local notifications. (Hmm.... are we getting more annoying ad messages when we are walking around and playing games in the streets? No wonder Apple also launched iAd mobile advertising service)

Some other features for developers to play with:
•Fast app switching.
•iAd. (Apple also want a cut from advertising. Less money flowing to Google AdSense)
•In-app SMS.
•Map overlays
•Quick look for previewing documents.
•Photo Library access.
•Calendar access.
•Full access to the camera.
•Video playback and capture.
•Date and address "data detectors."
•Automated testing and performance / power analysis.

Hands-on video available here.

Smartq R7

2010-04-08T14:05:00.001+08:00

Of all the ebook readers, the Smartq R7 comes one from China. The spec seems ok.

7-in TFT LCD with backlighting
800 * 600 pixels
Resistive touch screen
Built-in accelerometer
Support PDF, ePub, TXT, CHM, etc.
Battery up to 8 hours usage
Support SD card
Support 802.11 b/g

The price is not know yet. But it should not be expensive, judging from its other siblings that are priced somewhere around the RMB 1,000 to 1,500 mark as an MID.

Looks quite neat. The good thing is that it has a backlit LCD screen, support SD card and WIFI. It is yet to see the build quality.

The ebook market is just too crowded. I will jump in when there are some clear winners who survived the race.

Wonder robots

2010-04-02T10:54:00.000+08:00

There is a fine line between loving gadgets and loving the function of a gadget. While it is fascinating to see so many electronic toy robots available at a very affordable price, it is also interesting to see what these toys can do in reality.

Recently there is a great song 'Nobody' from Korea storming many corners from kids at home to prisoners in Philippines. I could never imagine that it also infected the robots. See the following video.

Clash of the Titans (Apple vs Adobe vs Google)

2010-03-31T12:02:00.000+08:00

It is well known that Apple deliberately remove support of Flash from its hand-held devices in order to capitalize a business model so successful that could be easily jeopardize by the existence of Flash and its free offerings. Now it seems that the fight is escalating to a new level.

It looks like that the tablet market is similar to the pre-iPhone era of mobile phone market. Lots of OSes - iPhone OS, Android, Windows 7, XP, Linux and a bunch of others, quickly obsoleted models, applications on many different platforms, etc.

Google comes into the ring, embedding Flash into Chrome. This is a heavyweight, enough to have a kind of tablet that rivals the iPad. See what Engadget said

Nintendo 3DS

2010-03-23T23:12:00.000+08:00

3D seems to be the buzzword for now. Cinemas got 3D movies that sell seats like hotcakes. Wanna have one 3D stuff on hand? Nintendo save the day with the Nintendo 3DS, a handheld gaming console that let's you play 3D games. We live in a 3D world, eating 3D stuff, watching 3D movies and playing 3D games. Life is just wonderful.

Hanvon tablet PC

2010-03-18T14:19:00.000+08:00

Ha ha, the tablet PC market is definitely heating up. This ULV tablet PC is getting close to what I am looking for except the battery life. It serves a particular segment of people who need to be mobile, run a little bit PC-only software and read books on the go. This one from Hanvon is cool, although slightly more expensive than iPad. Never mind, at least it served my purpose. Eager to get one of this.

Rolltop

2010-03-16T09:32:00.000+08:00

It is cool to be the first one to get an iPad (well, not me, as the iPad misses some of my requirements). But it is way cooler if I can get a hold of this computer. See for yourself.

E-PL1 pre-order

2010-03-06T12:28:00.000+08:00

Wow! The E-PL1 can now be pre-ordered in Hong Kong. However, the pricing is a bit higher than expected, close to USD 685. Never mind. Nothing is fair. Want to enjoy earlier than others? Pay a bit more money.

George Orwell once said 'Some people are more equal than the others'. Given that the E-PL1 is cheaper than the E-P1, it would be a good second camera to a full-fledged DSLR if you can shell out the bucks. But I hope the pricing could be 'more equal' with other places.

Asus T101MT

2010-03-02T09:49:00.000+08:00

The Lenovo S10-3t is a machine that moved me a little bit in thinking that I should get one of them. Reason? I commute to work on a daily basis. There is some spare time that I think I should utilize. I want a machine that can be a PC to run some software but when I am not using it as a PC, it can be converted into a reader for me to read books, lots of books. (Sounds something like an iPad. But the iPad runs only iPhone-based software)

S10-3t is the first netbook convertible that can let me runs some PC software (such as Office) and convert into a tablet, faking as a reader. Of course, it cannot compare directly with a reader with E-ink technology. But when you want the best of both worlds, you are stuck with some very few choices. (There is a new LCD technology that can act both ways as a color LCD and an e-ink display according to selection, which can truly convert a netbook into a tablet reader and vice versa. Really looking forward to that.) However, the form factor is a bit awkward.

T101MT has a predecesor, the T91MT. It is quite a good netbook but still the form factor is not suitable for reading. T101MT is a bit better. I wonder if it can be shrunk to a size even thinner. Then it can fend of some iPad competition.

Fun with magnets

2010-02-25T17:21:00.001+08:00

This cube of magnets is just amazing. See for yourself. Beware not to put any storage device nearby. It can destroy any data with ease.

Sony vs Olympus & Panasonic ?

2010-02-25T15:49:00.000+08:00

Since the mirrorless M4/3 camp stirred the market with the Olympus E-P1 and then the Girl Friend #1 (GF1) from Panasonic, manufacturers suddenly woke up, learning that consumers actually want a camera that is easy-to-carry, can change lens, has a cool-looking, comes in favors like candies and priced reasonably. Wait a minute, it is not a DSLR. And so, E-P1 seems to open up another market for competition.

We always knew Sony wants it all. Here is comes with an answer. The Alpha series was just announced in PMA 2010. Here you go.

Now wonder our money always went somewhere but our bank.

Canon 550D

2010-02-25T15:41:00.000+08:00

Sometimes I wonder why money is spent so quickly. Besides the reason of inflation (well, thanks to the burst of the US banking system, we who live in Asia are having our food much more expensive ever), cool stuff and toys churns out at warp speed. Features just stacked up against each other. Sometimes like the OS in your computer, lots of powerful 'features', only 5-10% are those you will ever use. Now it is time to burn your red-pockets.

Back to this cool little 'entry-level' camera. It was dubbed the mini-7D due to the borrowing of features from the highend 7D. Now the entry barrier is pushed further down but the features are pushed higher up. And it is officially released in Hong Kong now. The packages are quite affordable.

Body only for HK$ 6,480 (~US$830)
Body + EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS for HK$ 7,280 (~US$933)
Body + EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS for HK$ 8,980 (~US$1,151)

If you can read Chinese, more information here.

Nintendo DSi

2010-02-22T17:33:00.000+08:00

Nintendo ruled the handheld gaming market. Before the iPhone era, I often saw people swipping a pen on a handheld device, seemingly doing something intense, while on the go. Later I learned that it is a device called NDS. The NDS was king for a while, until its slimmer, lighter cousin, the NDS Lite hit the market. (Yeah, we do not like stodgy stuff, whether it is human being or not). Some friends told me they like to play games like Cooking Mama because it is a whole different gaming experience. (Well, in the subways, fathers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunties all cook.) It is no simple point-and-shoot kinda stuff.

I personally like long-lasting puzzle games (you know, buy less games to save some bucks. Of course, the best way to save some buck is --- ta da, don't play at all). I saw lots of people trucking loads of red-pockets clamoring for a Wii (sigh... me inclusive. Any one got a part time job?) or NDS or something similar.

Now the NDSi not just let you play all the existing games, but also add in social-gaming experience. With a camera, user can play with images on the fly. Gaming with sound is a new feature. It connects with WiFi to play online as well. An SDHC card slot allows user to play music, store photos and saved games. Here is a peek at the device.

More about NDSi here.

Rocket launcher for your office (USB and ... wireless!)

2010-02-12T16:57:00.002+08:00

When you are bored in your office, ever wonder killing one or two colleagues just for fun?

Oh oh.... don't get me wrong. I am not telling you to 'kill' them in reality. You can 'kill' one or two by blasting some rockets from your desktop to their cubes, when they trespass along your corridor, or when they invade the tasty tiramisu during afternoon tea. Now it comes a wireless version as well. Pretty cool.

Amazingly, Amazon got one.

AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR

2010-02-12T16:36:00.001+08:00

For me, owning a full-frame camera is never high on my wish list. But it would be very cool to own one.

Now this specially built lens for full-frame, FX format censor camera looks pretty cool. The range is good, with VR II as well. It is near Chinese new year. This cool little lens is good for capturing fireworks. Before capturing any fireworks, it would be necessary to collect enough red-pockets to buy a full-frame camera with this little bazooka.

Here are the features:

Maximum aperture of f/4 through the full 16mm to 35mm range of focal lengths
Built-in vibration reduction (VR II) of approximately four stops
Nano Crystal Coat reduces ghost and flare
Silent Wave Motor (SWM) for extremely quiet autofocusing
Aberration compensation
M/A (autofocus with manual override) and M (manual)

Chromium tablet

2010-02-11T09:58:00.000+08:00

The iPad scored just enough for graduation. With competitors everywhere, from the past and from the future. A 'Shanzai' factory in China already claims Apple infringing their copyrights, although that device is an Atom powered not-so-slim tablet PC.

Acer said that Chrome OS powered netbooks will sold millions in the upcoming years. A designer dreamed up with a tablet powered by Chrome OS. Quite an interesting illustration. Looks like Apple has to pump up production capacity to capture the cream of the crop before arrival of any Chrome stuff.

You can find it the Chromium tablet illustration here.