It's hard to find a good keyboard

I think this one could stay with me for quite a while. The last one was too noisy.

Logitech K360
- On/Off switch
- Wireless - 2 yr battery life
- Near-silent keys
- No NUM lock indicator
- Volume controls
- Weird key layout because of the compact size. Need some getting used to,

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Handy Bluetooth

I like bluetooth headsets, even more if it's Plantronics. The newest addition is the Marque 2, M165. It comes with voice activation, prompts, battery life indicator on the iPhone and a car charger. Nice.

The older Jabra that I had doesn't seem very compatible with iOS7 onwards because it takes quite a long while to connect to the phone. For Plantronics, it's quite instantaneous.

Now in white too.

Nikon replacment

The venerable D80 finally broke after the 1st repair. Deciding not to send for repair again, I search around for a 2nd-hand alternative as I mainly use the Oly EM5 nowadays.

Found a D7000 on Clubsnap for $630. Immediately arranged for deal.



Hope to use it for fireworks on National Day.

1st purchase in 2014

A iPhone5 usb lightning cable (1m) for S$25.79 ... Much as I like iPhones ... the prices for cables on Apple store are rip-offs ...

A Notebook ... somewhat

It's the Samsung Galaxy Note, to be exact. I was very surprised to win this from a Kit Kat lucky draw. Yes, just from buying $12 worth of Kit Kat bars! Screen is so much bigger than the iPhone, I think it will be enjoyable for all the dramas!



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Coffee DIY

Coffee DIY

A freebie from Stanchart cards Great Singapore Sale promotion again. This time, I qualified for the Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee maker redemption. I think I will enjoy it as it's so much easier to make a cup of coffee or latte at home now! Minimal cleaning too!

IT Buys at COMEX 2012

Was walking around, happened to chance upon the Samsung booth by Harvey Norman. Secretly wanted to buy a LED TV for gaming in the study room.

The promoter was shouting, 3 up for grabs ... 2 fellas grabbed it ... I looked at the offer ... Samsung LED Smart TV 40 in, with 3 yrs warranty, wireless dongle, HDMI cable, DVD player, free wall bracket and installation for $849 ... Oh what the heck, I have been thinking for months, just grab it!!!



I am so looking forward to it!

The next day, I went back again to grab a Xbox wireless controller with rechargeable pack at $69.90. The old wasn't working properly. SO looking forward to playing Gears of War 3 with it on the new TV!

On the third day, I went back again ... to get a waterproof camera! Fujifilm XP30 at $169.




Related Tweets:
01 Sep 2012, 8:01pm, DC: Another buy from COMEX today @$169!
31 Aug 2012, 11:51pm, DC: I think COMEX is the best IT show yet ... TVs, laptops, games, dSLRs, laser network AIO printers and Babes too!!!
31 Aug 2012, 9:41pm, DC: I haven't bought enough at COMEX ...
30 Aug 2012, 5:11pm, DC: COMEX buy - 40in LED TV, with wall bracket/ installation, DVD player, wireless dongle, hdmi cable, 3 yr warranty. The Xbox will be revived!


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It's all about Remote Control

Toshiba DVD recorder is not working ... actually it's the remote control. Without it, I cannot select channels, modify recordings and copy to DVDs. A small little rectangular bar, that remote control but it is the commander behind almost all electronics devices nowadays. Called Toshiba but they don't manufacture or keep spares of the remote control unit. Thank you very much, Toshiba. I will most certainly not buy any of your products in future!

With no choice, I settle for a new DVD recorder, LG RH387DW. Well, the price is certainly cheaper at $288, compared with the $600 that I paid previously. There isn't a lot of choice out there, it seems no one records TV shows anymore. Maybe they are all using the Starhub hubstation, which can do recording as well, only not to external DVDs.



Ok, now I can record those TV shows for my parents :)

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Free mini-hifi from The Straits Times

Free with a 24 mth subscription. It will be going into our bedroom. 10% off for the 1st 6 mths if you pay by Mastercard. Sweet!

Philips MCM103/98 Cube Micro Music System




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A $299 mistake

I left the battery in my Nokia E51 non-camera phone. 6 mths later, the phone cannot be charged. A new battery makes no difference ...

To prepare for the upcoming in-camp training ... again ... I had to buy the HTC Touch 2 non-camera phone. Sure, it's touchscreen but don't expect it to be iPhone smooth. It's slow, runs Windows Mobile 6.5, lousy touch sensitivity but there aren't any other non-camera 3G, browser-capable phone out there anymore.



So for leaving the battery in the phone unused, the cost is $299.

On a side note, I noticed there are many non-PDA phones out there now, which cost around $200 or less. I got this Nokia X2 for Dad today as well, since his trusty SE K750i is failing ... ah, the first 2MP camera phone with auto-focus ... the photos still beats the iPhone 3s flat. Not too bad a phone at $229 without mobile contract.




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Colour Canon Arrives

Finally, the long awaited colour laser AIO printer has arrived at our home.





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Colour it up

That's right, we decided we need a colour laser AIO printer. It had to be a Canon too. Here's our buy at COMEX 2010.



After a bad experience with Brother, let's hope Canon will be better with its tried and test user interface. Due to arrive after 13-Sep.

Cost: $859 with delivery. 2 yrs on-site warranty.

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iPod Touch for NS

Yes, it's back to national service once again. This time, I decided to get the iPod Touch 32GB to keep myself occupied. No camera phones are allowed, which rules out my trusty iPhone. With the Joikuspot software on my Nokia E51, the iPod can surf the Internet through the Nokia E51 easily. Let's hope time passes quickly during the in-camp.



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I wanted ... something else

In the end, it's neither the Bose or JBL. It's the Harman Kardon Soundstick II. Sweet!!! Sporting a sort of alien look, it comes with touch-controlled volume as well. Cool!!! Nice bass and treble as well too. What a joy it is to listen to it.



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It's a PEN

Finally, I got one of the Olympus PEN series of cameras, the E-PL1. I had skipped the E-P1 and E-P2 because they didn't had any flash. Although I could have gotten the external flash, it adds bullk to the overall size. My aim with this camera is to keep it light.

I did not get it at the IT Show either. Imagine that their prices are about $60 to $100 more expensive than other retail outlets.

The E-PL1's not as fast as my Nikon D80 but it certainly beats the Sony WS-120 compact. The image quality at ISO1600 looks very good as well. NICE!!!



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Wants

Creative sucks, there's no QC at all. Spoilt twice in less than a year. So I am now scouting for my next set of PC speakers.

Hmmm ... BOSE or JBL? Both sport the 1-touch volume control ... cool. Lovely.





Which reminds me, I should get a center speaker for my living room too ... hmm ...

3rd-Party Failure

Hoping to save some money, a.k.a cheapskate, I ordered a 3rd-party Nikon SC-28 hotshoe cord for off-camera flash. Cost me S$40 inclusive of shipping from Hong Kong. Boy, am I going to regret it.

The new setup:




Happily I took it to my company's dinner n dance. When I came back, I could pull the cord off the camera! It seems the catch to the retaining pin is loose! I couldn't reach the 4 screws underneath. In the end, I cut the cord to get an opening and pry and twisted.



What a disaster. I bought the original Nikon SC-29 the very next day for a cool S$128. Fits perfectly ...

An Easy Threesome

Finally, a fuss free way to extend your LCD real estate. The UV+ 16 USB LCD adapter lets you easily hook up a monitor using a USB port. It runs video well, needless to say, web pages and other applications display like your primary monitor. I did notice an extra of 15% CPU load when running video on it. Well, it's not a dedicated graphics card after all.

Tested it out on my Macbook Pro too. It works perfectly with MacOS version 10.5.8. In fact, the driver integrated with MacOS better than Win XP. In Win XP, I had times when the USB driver wasn't loaded correctly and I had to unplug and plug back the usb connector.

Those of you out there who wanted to connect another 2 extra monitors to your iMac or Macbook, get it from Amazon at US$58.95.





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Speed, Give me what I need!!!

My Intel system has been chugging along fine until came Adobe Lightroom 2.5. Photoshop CS 4 is still bearable but Lightroom is so slow.

As the new Intel i7 processors are out now, it seems that prices of the Core2 Duo have dropped drastically. I got the Core2 Duo 2.93 Ghz at a low price of $175. The upgrade process is simple and easy enough. Within half an hour, my PC is running Lightroom 2 smoothly. Nice ...




Related Tweets:
25 Oct 2009, DC: An easy upgrade from 2.13 Ghz to 2.93 Ghz. Lightroom is more responsive now.


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Home Studio Home

My lights finally arrived late on Sat night, about 10 p.m. together with the backdrop.

I'm still missing my light meter, so the light intensity needs some guesswork. Still considering if I should get another light strobe. I'm using my Nikon SB800 speedlight as the secondary strobe. Sweet thing with Nikon lights are they can work in conjunction with studio strobes as well. Just set it to slave and it will fire when the main strobe fires.

The Jinbei brand of lights, although made in China, produce accurate white balance and consistent colour temperature. My photos can be used right out of the camera. Minimal post-processing needed.





Related Tweets:
5 Oct 2009, 12:16 AM, DC: Home studio up!
1 Oct 2009, 2:45 PM, DC: So excited for the weekend. I need that light!
1 Oct 2009, 1:06 AM, DC: How about a home studio?

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