Review: Motorola H700 Bluetooth Headset

I just recieved one of these as a gift from my girlfriend. I gotta say, its pretty cool. Since I've never had a bluetooth headset before, the coolness factor definitely affects the way I see this thing. Its sexy, small and light with a long-lasting battery. It pairs very easily with any bluetooth phone, but I bought it also to use with my computer. Here I encountered a bump. The included manual is incredibly vague and generic, and includes no instructions whatsoever to pair with a PC. I tried everything, and I couldn't get it to actually work. It was paired and everything, but I wouldn't hear sound. This is the kicker ... wanna know why it wasn't working? You have to press the call button on the headset itself. Nowhere in the entire fucking manual or on Motorola's website does it say anything about this. You don't have to press the button when pairing with a phone, so why with a PC? Anyways, hitch aside, it worked well after that. Using the latest version of Skype, conversations with friends from the other side of the world were JUST like using a regular phone. Since this headset is smaller and better looking than others, they charge a bit more for it. The slightly high price, combined with the useless manual afford the H700 an 8.5/10 in my book.

Review: Logitech MX1000 Cordless Laser Mouse

My old cordless optical mouse, the MX700 was working fine after two years of abuse until it started seeing single-clicks as double-clicks. This, as you can imagine, was annoying. I opened that thing up and cleaned it, but that didn't do jack. Now I know that the MX700 had withstood years of abuse and neglect, being dropped daily an average of 2.6 times, but I couldn't for the life of me see what would make that tiny little sensor under the button register one click as two. Well, I gave up trying and decided to spring for a new mouse. I was thinking I'd try to keep costs down, but once you've gone cordless, you don't really wanna go back, especially when the cordless one you've had makes recharging as easy as dropping the mouse in its cradle. Looking around, I basically saw two choices - Microsoft and Logitech. Generally, Logitech has served me well, but right away the MS mice were disqualified because they didn't include built-in chargers. You have to physically remove the batteries, charge them, and then put them back. For this, I'd need to buy (expensive) rechargeable batteries + a charger. I don't think thats happening, and I don't think I'm gonna be buying AAs on a daily basis either. So I looked at what Logitech had to offer, and it came down to the MX1000 or the G7. Even though the G7 had a better sensor, I didn't need the additional DPI because I'm a very casual gamer, if a gamer at all. It also looked EXACTLY the same as the MX700, something which I wanted a change from. The MX1000 is bigger and wider, and just generally looks better. Therefore, I chose the MX1000. It has much better precision and battery life than the MX700, and looks and feels better. Pricewise, in Malaysia this thing costs way too much, much more than in Canada. Because of this reason alone, I give it a 9/10.

I've been away for a while ...

I didn't update for a while because I was having exams. Students usually have this excuse to keep them away from certain things, but its as genuine as it gets in my case. You see, the way I study, I uh ... don't. I basically don't study anything all semester long, and then cram like crazy in the few days before the exam. Now, this may seem like a ridiculous, lazy way to do things, but in fact it is quite the opposite. It requires incredible dedication, focus and time management. It is an art, and it requires years of training and hours of meditation. Its almost Zen-like. Seriously. Now, when the exam period has started, I usually take a good look at the order of my exams, and determine an order based on necessity (to study). Once I've done that, the hours of the day as I understand them are forgotten, and the day takes on a new shape. Since studying is something, that, for normal people is both tiring and boring, it must be balanced with something else. Usually I recommend sleep, whether you're sleepy or not. Even if you're not, lying down with your eyes closed relaxes the body, and your mind is free to do whatever it wants. The only rule here is not to worry about studying or exams. You have to predetermine how much time you're spending studying and breaking. Suppose I have an exam tomorrow. I calculate that I have 30 hours till the point where I have to get up to go to the exam. I have fifteen chapters to study. A quick calculation reveals that i have a maximum of two hours per chapter, but this is not really possible given human limitations. See, you don't really wanna be cramming like mad, only to fall asleep in the exam. Trust me, it happens. My best friend fell asleep in his first year CS exam, mouth open, drool dripping and all. Back to the time thing. With 30 hours, what you wanna do is study 15 hours - 1 per chapter, with 1 hour breaks in between. If you're a stamina star, try 2 and 2. If you find that you need more study time, reduce your breaks, but only to a point.

I have found that the biggest problem people face when an exam is near (and they don't know much) is the fear itself. They worry so much about not knowing anything, not having time, and telling themselves they can't learn a whole semester in 72 hours that it ends up being a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Think of it this way ... if you studied an hour a day throughout the semester, how much would it add up to? Its around the same as the cram hours, and thats why you can get away with it. Try it on your next exam, but before you do that, make sure you write down on paper that you don't hold me or my instructions responsible for the consequences of your actions.

Joey pretty much sucks

Friends had six main characters, and it can be argued that the show had its popularity as a result of the interaction between them, as well as both the inter- and intra-relationships. Joey has just one of these characters, and he's arguable the most fluffed-out, flattest character from Friends. In his own show, the character of Joey is still flat, and has no depth to him at all! We all know guys love food and girls, and this doesn't need to be driven into our head episode after episode, especially since we've seen all this before on Friends. What's worse is the use of some of the same jokes - one of the episodes has Joey's nephew on the phone with his (almost elderly) girlfriend, and he's saying "no, you hang up...you didn't hang up either!" This joke is a straight pull from a 2nd season Friends episode where Ross is talking to Julie. There are more instances of this, but I'm strugglign to come up with specific examples at this precise moment.

Its amazing what's on TV nowadays. Many people, including me, believe that Seinfeld was the best show on TV, and much of what was good on TV is now gone, except for The Simpsons which is still surprisingly fresh and funny. Why is this? Is it because we as a Western civilization have done everything there is to do on TV? History shows us that we do pass through unique phases in our TV-watching, and the sitcom is a very long-running type of show. Reality TV for example, was incredibly short-lived before people moved on (or back).

I used to criticize Indian media for trying to follow a "formula" of success in movies and TV, but it seems American media can have a finger pointed at them for the very same problem. Remember all those cheezy Knight Rider wannabe shows? Viper and Knight Rider: Something are just two that come to mind. I think that Joey too, in its spinoff form is trying to do that too, and due to the lack of availability is doing alright. I really wasn't expecting Joey to last this long. The same goes for The OC, too. This show had some promise in the first few episodes, and then just became a soap opera for people who don't watch soaps.

Prologue from "The field where I died"

Another cool prologue from the X-files:


At times I almost dream, I too have spent a life this age has wiped, and tread once more familiar paths. Per chance I perished in an arrogant self-reliance an age ago, and in that act of prayer for one more chance went up so earnest. So instinct with better light let in by death, that life was blotted not so completely, but scattered wrecks enough of it to remain dim memories, as now , unseens once more. Once more the goal in sight again.

My take on the Bugatti Veyron 16.4

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 has been unleashed on the world, and apparently it has done what it set out to do - dethrone the Mclaren F1 as the fastest production road going model ever. Its been clocked at 253 mph, significantly more than the 241.3 mph served up by the F1. To be honest though, I'm not very impressed with it.

To begin with, I can't figure out why it costs what it does. 1.3 million USD for this car is too much; its being priced at what they think its worth, not as a function of its cost. The engine, a quad-turbocharged W-16 is a variant of other engines offered in the VW family lines, so there's no extra special cost there. They haven't spent money on crazy exotic materials to keep the weight (which there's plenty of) down. So why the big money - for status?

The car doesn't dethrone the mighty F1 in my book for many reasons. The approach to building this car was totally wrong. They added all kinds of shit, used common materials and smack-bang, the weight of the car ended up at just under 4200 lbs. Do you have any idea how much that is? Thats SUV terrority, folks! So to make this car go really fast, they put in an 8-liter 16 cylinder engine, then quad turbocharged it. Fuel economy, as a term, has to be written as fuel burn rate in liters per second to be more accurate. I'm sure a 747-400D, loaded with 568 passengers and their cargo is a bit better on gas.

And for all those turbochargers and cylinders, and all that displacement, they manage a specific output of ... 123 hp/L. The S2000 has a specific output of 120 hp/L without any turbochargers, and the BMW M5 even has 102 hp/L without turbos. So basically, good engine engineering isn't there.

I'll only sorta agree with the decision to go with AWD as well. Its been shown that AWD, at least the AWD that Audi has, isn't that great around the track. It also adds weight and makes the car feel sluggish, and definitely contributes to understeer. Still, the car needs the top speed crown, so I'm guessing the AWD *MIGHT* help stability at that speed. Last I checked though, top fuel dragsters and rocket cars didn't use AWD.

If we compare this car to the Mclaren F1, a clear winner emerges in terms of engineering - the F1. Gordon Murray personally oversaw every design aspect of the car, and when one man with a dream does that ... something special happens. The Mclaren F1 was a whopping 1600 lbs lighter than the Veyron, something accomplished with extensive use of carbon fiber and titanium. The engine was custom built by BMW, a 627 hp unit of 6.1 liters in size. Specific output - 103 hp/L. It used gold heat reflectors all around the engine bay. The custom molded chassis was so safe, 2 customers walked away from 200 mph crashes without a scratch. The engine was bolted directly to the chassis, just like F1 cars. It didn't compromise anything with space for 3, their luggage, a Kenwood sound system and more. The car's computer had a modem that could call up the factory from anywhere in the world and perform diagnostic checks. All this, in 1990.

Am I being told that the difference an additional 1600 lbs, 360 hp, 4 cylinders, 4 turbochargers and 16 years of progress make are an additional 11.7 mph and a helluva lot more fuel being consumed? Shame on you, auto industry.

a DEGREE in digital art? I think not...

I recently read another blog (it was like cheating on my own blog) blasting Limkok Wing University College. The address is:

http://gnitia.blogspot.com/2005/12/limkokwing-unicoll-what-u-c-is-not.html

This chick blasts it for mediocre construction, but hey, seriously .... like MMU's better? In the lecture rooms (a whopping 5 of them) the roof is lumpy from a leaky ceiling too, and the air conditioning isn't always working. More about MMU in another post.

Some people hate on LKW because it has the status of a university college. The university college designation is one that means different things in different countries, but in England, the country that Malaysia usually tries to imitate, it denotes an institution that has degree-granting power, and may carry out research, but is not recognized as a university. Using the "university college" title requires government approval, and usually the institution tries to lobby for full university status, because of an apparently lower prestige level. That aside, unlike the Brits, we Canadians aren't obsessed with status and prestige. We recognize what should be a university, and what shouldn't, and in some cases, the results may surprise you. In many fields, its much better to go to college because of the hands-on training rather than useless ideologies and theory (mechanic's training is one such field). Similarly, LKW's main programs are art-based, like the faculty of creative multimedia at MMU, and in my opinion should not be degree programs by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think any OECD country would recognize skills training as a degree, and thats precisely what you get with "digital" art. They teach you how to use Photoshop and all the Macromedia junk. I don't see how this "degree" (sarcastic intonation) will actually help much either. The stuff they teach at MMU is ridiculous. In the first year, they teach you that multimedia is made up of text, animation, graphics, sound and video. And then, they INTRODUCE you to the "world of computers." They assume that the students coming in have never seen, heard or touched a computer. When they finish their degree, they'll only be marginally competitive in the Malaysian employee market, and in the international market, they'll be like fish bait to a bloodthirsty great white shark. There's plenty of freelancing individuals who can do stuff waaaaaaaaaaay better than these MMU grads, and they're sitting on their asses because of a lack of jobs. What are these universities doing, having their students believe that there's a big future in "digital art?" I've been told developing countries have more of a market for web designers and the like, but how big can it be? Are there actually any permanent jobs, or just some 1-time jobs? How long can the stream of 1-time jobs last? Whatever the case may be, let a business student explain to you why a market with negative or nil growth is a bad one. Maybe if these "digital artists" had some IT in them, they might stand a chance. Cuz lets say a startup or newish shipping company wants to go online. They can have a company design their website, and then what? They need the IT guys for the backbone, one that needs continuous maintenance and upgrading. The visual shell of the website is such an insignificant portion that I think all these poor souls will have to try and apply for Singaporean immigration so that they can get unemployment insurance.

Welcoming the new year in Malaysia

I went down to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center, the popular name for the Petronas Twin Towers) for new year's day celebrations. I went a bit early to have dinner with my fiancee and catch a movie, so I missed the rush there. All in all, it wasn't bad. An ultra-ostentatious display of fireworks set off the new year with a bang and a lot of smoke, which later led to a pretty mad dash leading away from the tallest buildings in the world. I call the fireworks display ostentatious because it was very impressive, and in a way, over the top. They had massive fireworks going for over 6 minutes in the same spot, most of which were overlapping so that there was no break. It finished off with an incredible high-altitude show that looked like rain made of fire (I know I sound like "little bear" or some other native Indian, but thats the best description I can think of). That was the impressive part, the part they fucked up was reduced visibility due to the single fixed position. Because of all the non-stop fireworks, a massive cloud of smoke developed - to a point where the fireworks were almost not visible from halfway onwards. It was like I was in a plane watching the lighting in the clouds. There was also no huge countdown, or a ball dropping - both of which I expected. Also absent were drunken teenagers and rioting immigrants, although standard immigrants were present, as were guys from Thailand pushing water bottles and shit that lights up (the actual shit lights up, the shit doesn't light YOU up). When I got back home, I found an outdoor rave party going on in a park not far from my condo. While I appreciated the speakers they had (I could hear the bass well over a kilometer away), I didn't appreciate the thumping much while trying to sleep. Happy new year, friends.

Tall buildings & corruption, side by side

What's up with the Malaysian construction industry? Can someone tell me how a place as new as MMU Cyberjaya can look as old as it does? Why is it that builders insist on building the same way people built shit back in the day? Just a bunch of homemade bricks and concrete, covered up by a bunch of plaster. Not many power ports or phone ports, and no need to conceal anything - be it power cables, pipes, whatever. No hot water at all the taps. What is this, the 11th century? The fabled people of Atlantis even had hot and cold running water. And even though Malaysians see the advantage of central air conditioning in offices and bigger buildings, they refuse to use it in residential housing, and even retail construction to some extent. Why the bloodclot do you wanna spend like 5 times as much electricity to cool the same area? And why are you people okay with vastly differing temperature and humidity levels throughout the house, along with insects and shit? Advantages - cheaper on electricity, guarantees fresh air cycling throughout the whole house, ultimate cleanliness, comfortable temperature and humidity throughout the house, protection from dengue-carrying mosquitoes, lizards and other shit and a lot more. Disadvantages - none, not even cost. Central AC can be integrated for a minimal cost at the time of building.

I think the problem lies in the way Malaysian people, and to an extent Asian people (minus Japan and nowadays Singapore) don't "demand." They're okay if a company pushes them around. They're okay if things aren't done on time, or the way they want. In situations where North Americans would be filing lawsuits, Malaysians gladly accept whatever's coming their way. The whole concept follows to just being okay with whatever is happening. If their's a lizard on the wall inside your house, just kill it. There's no need to think of a better, more permanent solution to prevent it from being there in the first place. The clothes that you hung out to dry aren't dry yet because of the humidity? No problem - just leave them out longer. There's no need for a dryer. As cool as KL looks with its impressive skyline, massive Petronas twin towers and immaculate highways, the idea of progress hasn't yet reached the people.

Don't get me wrong, I love Malaysia and I love lots of things about their culture too. But you're wondering why they have the world's tallest twin towers with hardcore police brutality and prostitution a kilometer away, you need to look deep. The Malaysians have infrastructure nailed, no question there. Social development still has a ways to go.