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Canon Powershot G10

Roy — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 06:11:01 +0000

Everyday for the last 5 days I’ve received an email from a stranger asking me why I’m not updating this blog anymore. I guess it must be a sign or something urging me to get back to it. Truth is I’ve been quite busy with other things (not an excuse) and haven’t been able to give much priority to blogging. However, yesterday I picked up a new toy which might get me back into the blogging mode, a Canon Powershot G10. I’m not replacing my beloved GR in case you’re wondering. I’ve always like the Powershot G series but have never owned one due to the size and the lack of important features to me like a wide angle lens. Now that they’ve finally put in a half decent 28mm f2.8 lens I thought it was time. I won’t go into my impression of the camera as there are enough reviews of it already, but basically it’s fine. Not outstanding, but it’ll do the job. Compared to the GR it’s missing something I can’t quite explain. I guess the images just seem more “digital” with the G10 while the GR images seem more like “film” even though it’s a digital camera too.

Anyways, I’ll be heading to Hong Kong next week for work. It’ll be a good opportunity for me to put the G10 thru the ringer. And then a much needed weekend away to Macau just before Xmas. Hopefully, the Casinos at the Venetian will be nice to me and give me a big fat return!

Many people still don’t know how to use the Internet

Roy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:18:08 +0000

Instead of typing the URL directly in the browser they’ll go to Google or Yahoo and type the site name, or sometimes even the URL, into the search box. This is understandable for obscure sites of course, but I see people doing this all the time for sites like Hotmail or CNN or Amazon. What’s wrong with these people? This is almost as bad as people who write emails in Microsoft Word and then attach it to the email instead of writing it directly in the body. Believe it or not, I know people who do that. Drives me nuts.

Unrelated, did you anyone see that news about the Monkey in Shibuya Station? Too funny…

Marilyn Monroe ate at Royal Host in Japan

Roy — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:47:56 +0000

The camera on the iPhone 3G is total crap and doesn’t do macro. You can hardly make out the writing on this Royal Host (a family restaurant in Japan) menu photo but it says that Marilyn Monroe ate this same Onion Soup at the first Royal Host restaurant in Japan in 1954. I guess back then either Royal Host was considered a high class restaurant or there were no other places serving western food. According to Wikipedia Japan the first Royal Host was opened in Fukuoka in 1954. Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimaggio went there on their Honeymoon! She liked it so much she visited the shop 3 days in a row and ordered it every time. Can you believe that? I mean you would think that the most famous couple of their time would go somewhere more high class, right? Or maybe they just didn’t like Japanese food. Anyways, this gives me a good reason to go to Fukuoka. Maybe when I get married I can add this to my places to go on my honeymoon too.

Here’s a screengrab from a TV program showing the couple at Royal Host and proving that it is indeed fact and not some marketing BS.

iPhone 3G

Roy — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:52:19 +0000

Hey, I got an iPhone 3G!! That’s probably not so surprising to you if you read Danny or Hector’s blogs cause they posting my photo on friday when Brad and I were standing in line to get our coveted gadget of the year. I was also on CNN. Well, I appeared very briefly amongst a crowd of people near the end of this video.

The truth is, and it really is the truth, I was not planning to get an iPhone on day one, I was going to wait until next year. But I woke up last thursday morning with a sudden urge to get me one. Don’t know where that came from but probably the fact that I’ve been reading every bit of info on the Softbank release and discussing it constantly might have something to do with it. I guess I was in denial thinking I would be able to resist the urge.

So thursday night (the iphone went on sale on friday, my manager at work is also a Mac fanboy so he was very sympathetic and let me take the day off) after discussing our game plan, Brad and I decided to line up at the Omotesando Softbank Shop. In hindsight, this was probably not the best choice but it seemed like where the most action would be happening. We got there around 10:30pm and the line was already half way to Shibuya. It was a long night and even before the first train began, there were more than 1400 people lined up so they closed the line for the day. All the people arriving in the morning had to line up in the line for the NEXT day. There was some disagreement about our placement in line but I think we were somewhere between 800-900. At any rate, we had secured our place in line and would be guaranteed to get a unit. We just had to do the time. Luckily, it was fairly cool that evening and most people in line were quietly sleeping or playing some kind of PSP/DS game.

The night went by rather quickly but when the iPhone finally went on sale at 7am and it began to get hot, that’s when standing in line became unbearable. Watching all the pretty girls in Harajuku/Omotesando was the only thing to do to pass the time. When we finally got inside the shop around 3pm they had run out of 16GB Black models, so I had to settle for a white one. The white one is very pretty, but it’s not me. I already have plans to swap it with someone for a black one though.

So far, the iPhone has exceeded my expectations and is definitely going to make a major impact in Japan. I was skeptical about whether it would succeed here or not, but after seeing the huge line and showing it to a lot of non-mac-geek people who have all instantly said they are going to get one, I’m fairly certain that the iPhone is going to have some significant influence on the mobile landscape here.

A few impressions so far:

GOOD

SMS which no one ever uses in Japan is implemented like iChat and is very handy
App Store is awesome, I downloaded so much stuff already. Mobile Flickr is sweet
This is the best mobile I’ve ever used for typing in English
3G data speed is pretty good, I have no complaints
The new Japanese input method is excellent
All the other stuff

BAD

Push mail is only available with yahoo.com and me.com, the i.softbank.jp mail is not really push mail. It’s the same as any IMAP mail account except that it alerts you when you get a mail and then you have to go and get it. This is necessarily a bad thing but when you are used to push mail on all mobile in Japan it’s seems like a negative. Being a gmail users it’s nuisance to always have to fetch mail.
There’s no indicator light so you have to check if you have a mail or missed call
The battery life doesn’t seem that great
Sometimes it seems to hang or get stuck especially using my contact list and inputing Japanese. Rebooting it fixes this problem

Son and Jobs

Roy — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:13:59 +0000

I found this picture on K-Tai Watch and thought I would share it. In case you don’t know who the guy on the left is, that’s Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank (Softbank is the company that bought Vodafone in Japan, they also own Yahoo Japan and E*Trade Japan). He looks happy that he got the iPhone ahead of NTT Docomo, doesn’t he? I probably will forego getting the iPhone 3G in this iteration, but in the near future when the 32GB one comes out, and by Docomo I hope, I will probably get one. The guy on the right is Steve Jobs. If you didn’t already know that you have no business reading my blog.

Master Cleanse Round 2

Roy — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:57:44 +0000

Some of you may remember that I did the Master Cleanse aka Lemonade Diet 2 years ago. Well, I’m doing it again and am currently on day 6. I would actually be on day 7 today if I hadn’t eaten half a pizza on day 1. So I had to start over. Anyways, it’s a lot easier this time around and I am planning to go 14 days. Unless I break down and decide to go to Brozer’s to get a burger! I’ve heard they are the best hamburgers in Tokyo. The girl sitting beside me at work keeps telling me how pale I look so if it gets any worse I may have to stop before 14 days. But that means I’ll be able to eat that burger sooner!! Yay! In November, I will do it again and target 21 days which is the ideal length for the cleanse, so they say.

You may also have noticed that I’ve not updated this blog for some time. I’ve realized that I have too many things I want to do but never seem to complete any of them. Then I read somewhere, I think on Lifehack.org, that the most effective way to get something done is to do nothing else but that one thing. This is common sense, but I’ve always been a multitasker so I thought I would try focusing all my energy into one thing at a time. The unfortunate consequence is that I haven’t been spending time wandering the streets looking for blog fodder, hence the lack of updates. Hopefully, this will change soon.

Hachikō: A Dog’s Story

Roy — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:08:14 +0000

Richard Gere is going to be in a movie about Hachikō. I happened to be mindlessly surfing around imdb.com and found the entry. From looking at the cast list, it seems like it won’t be filmed in Shibuya. The wikipedia entry on Hachikō says the American adaptation will take place in Rhode Island. And I wonder what kind of dog they will choose? Beagle maybe? How are they going to explain the name of the dog? Not sure if this is an original story based on the “true story” or an adaptation of “Hachikō Monogatari”, the Japanese movie that came out in 1984.

New Office View of Tokyo

Roy — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:42:08 +0000

This week my company moved to a brand new office building in central Tokyo which is why I’ve been a bit busier than usually. Our new office has a fantastic view of Tokyo and even Mt. Fuji on a good day. This afternoon between meetings I took a few photos. They’re not that good so I’ll have to take my SLR to work some day and get better shots. The one above is looking towards Roppongi. At the right, you can see Tokyo Midtown and Roppongi Hills just behind it. At the far left is Izumi Gardens.

The view east from one of the meeting rooms. That cluster of buildings on the other side of the park is Otemachi. You can also see the Diet which is that pyramid shaped building near the centre.

And this shot is facing north-west. That’s Shinjuku in the background.

N.Y. Cupcakery in Tokyo

Roy — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:11:37 +0000

I’ve been getting fat on cupcakes recently. Near Meidaimae station, along the train tracks there’s a small cupcake shop that makes some of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. The shop is called N.Y. Cupcakes because the owners actually went to the U.S. and learned how to bake cupcakes from some cupcake guru, apparently. There’s a whole story about it on the website how they quit they’re jobs just to make cupcakes. On some podcast, I remember hearing about some rich investment bankers in the U.S. who also quit their day jobs to open up a cupcake shop in Beverly Hills, “Sprinkles” was the name I think? Anyways, these cupcakes are good. Not as moist and sweet as your typical american one, but altered to be more palatable for the Japanese. They’re small and cost about ¥200-250 each. I like the chocolate cream filled ones, 2nd and 4th on the bottom row.
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Hello Kitty Brush Shop

Roy — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:15:06 +0000

While walking around in Jimbocho the other night I spotted a dim light in a shop window. It turned out to be this retro Hello Kitty night light. I don’t know which I found more interesting, the Hello Kitty lamp or the fact that the shop was a brush shop. I mean, when was the last time you went to a brush shop?

I was tempted to go in and ask if I could by the lamp.