Some Needed New Year Motivational Speech

Which lead to my first music album purchase of the year... Thanks DavidSo !

The most common new years eve goal always has something to do with weight loss. I think that every single one of us needs a pep talk to get that fire under our fat asses!! so LETS GET IT!! LETS GET FIT!!

JON MCXRO "Give It Up (Feat. Miguel)" JON MCXRO - The Fifth of Never (Gold Cup Edition) Available May 29 Download on iTunes now! http://itunes.apple.com/us/preorder/fifth-never-gold-cup-edition/id527609759 http://www.stereotypesonline.com/ http://www.jonmcxro.com/ http://www.facebook.com/JONMCXRO http://www.twitter.com/jonmcxro

Obligatory New Year resolution

I've had a lot of time to reflect and take a step back and look at where everything is in life.

Below are my resolution for 2013 and beyond.

* blog more. I could benefit on learning how to gather my thoughts coherently and learn how to express myself.

* cook one meal a day.

* learn Japanese.

* be more active, physically and mentally.

* find a new place to live.

illuminated

Update!
It's 12/20 and AT&T just shipped my 920! I'm no longer a customer at AT&T.

The Nokia Lumia 920 went on sale officially through AT T on Friday November 9th 2012. As a long time fan and user of Nokia's products, I eagerly ordered the 920 in yellow on morning of the 9th at 9:23AM. Dear TONY WANG, Thank you for choosing AT T! Your order has been received and is being processed. A summary of your order details is shown below. We value and appreciate your business and look forward to serving you. Sincerely, AT T Everything is peachy until Monday November 12th, 9:15AM. Instead of getting a shipping notification, I got this. Dear TONY WANG, Thank you for choosing AT T . Unfortunately, we were either unable to verify the information you provided or you have exceeded the number of lines of service that we allow customers to purchase online . As a result, your order has been canceled. If you would like to purchase additional lines of service, please visit one of our AT T retail locations and present your identification to our representatives . They will be happy to help you purchase new wireless devices, accessories, and service. Please go to att.com/storelocator to find a store near you. We apologize for the inconvenience and look forward to serving you. Thank you, AT T This is a system-generated message from a send only address. Please do not reply to this email. Okay.. perhaps it was "all my fault" by entering a different shipping address (work address) than the billing address. It can't be anything else since I AM ALREADY AN AT T CUSTOMER. If you would like to purchase additional lines of service, please visit one of our AT T retail locations and present your identification to our representatives . They will be happy to help you purchase new wireless devices, accessories, and service. Sure, I would love to know why my order was cancelled with no warning or reason. Perhaps something is wrong with my account and it has been compromised. I make my way down to the local AT T location. I explained to the representative in the store exactly what had happened. He went ahead and called AT T. An hour later. He couldn't help me because the online ordering department is "closed". He gave me a phone number to call the next day. I called the number immediately after I set foot out of the store. To my surprise, /sarcasm, the department was still open. The only thing the representative can do was tell me that Unfortunately, we were either unable to verify the information you provided or you have exceeded the number of lines of service that we allow customers to purchase online. As a result, your order has been canceled. So why do they even have a department where they pay people to repeat to "customers" what the automated email already said? Being the stubborn person I am, I refuse to give up on Nokia. I place another order the same day on November 12, 8:18PM. Dear TONY WANG,! Your order has been received and is being processed. A summary of your order details is shown below. AT T Thank you for choosing We value and appreciate your business and look forward to serving you. Sincerely, AT T Of course you do, I'm the retard that keeps on giving you money for nothing. For the week of November 12th, I checked the AT T website several times a day until it stopped working on November 16th 11:23PM. https://twitter.com/hotmilkgt/status/269702397914398721 You see the response from "ATTTeamSusan" Don't worry, she never helped me even though I added her back and DM her my phone number. I've been getting random phone calls from ATT Customer service to see if I need "help" with my package. It's funny that you have all my information, my order number, my address, my phone number. And you're asking me if I need help "tracking" my order. It's Saturday December 1, I'm still getting the same error message from attwireless.com when I try to "track my order" So that was all the "facts" on what happened to me while trying to purchase a Nokia Lumia 920. Below is the reason why I will be returning the phone "when I receive it" The first representative that tried to "help" me when I went into the store on November 12th, told me that he wouldn't even be able to sell me the 920 at full price $449 even if I wanted to buy it from him from the retail store. Okay. So I don't even have a choice to buy the phone in black or white, which were the only colors they have in retail store. After waiting for over 2 weeks with no updates and no fixes of their website, I stopped by a different AT T store, trying to cancel my 2nd 920 order. To my delight I found out from the very helpful representative that "there is nothing he can do for me" since I placed my order online. He can't even cancel the order for me. I can't remember this guy's name but he was the only real human being that works at AT T retail stores. So why am I complaining now? I should be numb by the complete bullshit experience of buying a phone from AT T. Guess what I got in the mail today!!! https://twitter.com/hotmilkgt/status/275029853407944704 I got the free wireless charging plate that will "ship at a later date" So AT T not only does not send me my phone, they won't let me cancel the order, they "cant help" me. And they went ahead and sent me something that was suppose to arrive AFTER I receive my phone. I went ahead and ordered a Nexus 4 from Google. Guess what, Google gave me an ETA for the phone I ordered. An company who doesn't sell phone and cellular services, sold me a phone, and told me when I was going to get it. Nokia, I love your designs, (except the 822 which was raped by Verizon), I love your technology, I love all the innovations that you try to push with all the hardwares that you've released in the past decade. But because you have fell behind in the software side of things, you were left behind and now forced to sign soul degrading deals with rapist carriers in order to survive. Looks like the 920 is doing just fine in sales. I will never own one unfortunately. a note for Stephen Elop Mr. Elop, I just wanted to let you know that the current generation of LUMIAs are great and the only cause of it not succeeding would be carriers.

wp_ss_20121220_0001.png

Surface RT tip of the day

Did you know that you don't need to use the power button to wake up your Surface?
If the display falls asleep, simply tap on the Windows icon located on the bottom of your display.
If the Surface RT has been asleep for a long period of time, just double tap the same soft home button and it should wake up in a couple seconds.

RIM's BlackBerry 10 Dead On Arrival

Sooooo I was listening to Tech News Today last week and BlackBerry was mentioned and it got me thinking about the future of RIM's newest "upcoming" OS. 

I'm gonna make it short and quick for RIM on why it's gonna fail... purely based on the calendar. 

September
-Samsung announcements at IFA 2012
-Nokia and Microsoft announcement on new devices
-Apple announcement on new iOS devices

October
-New iOS devices released
-New Windows Phone 8 devices released

We have all 3 major mobile players announcing and releasing devices the last quarter of 2012. 
RIM is saving it's BBX for the beginning of next year.  A couple months doesn't sound that far behind the competition right? Wrong. The majority of these devices are phones and all the customers will be tied up in a 1-2 year contract before they even think about upgrading or buying into another operating and eco system. 
So an iPhone 5 user will be thinking about doing an upgrade sometime in 2013 or 2014.

So if I pass on the new "iPhone 5", and pass on the new Galaxy Note II, AND pass on the new Nokia Windows Phone 8s, I might just be stupid enough to buy a BlackBerry 10 phone. 
So there you have it folks, BlackBerry 10 is stillborn.

app.fail

So with the flood of Kickstarter projects drowning the wallets of tech loving citizens of the interwebs. Everyone is trying to cash in on the idea of putting down a 100% down payment for a product that doesn't exist.

Most of these products and projects I would say were results of the bad economy and high unemployment rate. 
I know if I was unemployed, I would be on kickstarter to start my own company and products. 

So why do I think app.net will fail? Lets take a look at their "mission statement"

App.net is a different kind of social platform.

We're building a real-time social service where users and developers come first, not advertisers.

Our team has spent the last 9 years building social services, developer platforms, mobile applications and more.

We believe that advertising-supported social services are so consistently and inextricably at odds with the interests of users and developers that something must be done.

Help us create the service we all wish existed.

App.net is a different kind of socail platform:  They don't have advertisers, the users who pay for the service will be the ones advertising.

We're building a real-time social service where users and developers come first, not advertisers: They will have people who try to push their products/services to as many places and social platforms as possible.  

Our team has spent the last 9 years building social services, developing platforms, mobile applications and more:  They have assembled a bunch of unemployed people who couldn't hold a job at other social services, plateforms, and applications. 

We believe that advertising-supported social services are so consistently and inextricably at odds with the interest of users and developers that something must be done: Why charge a car company a million dollars for useless advertising when you can charge millions of users to pay to view the same car company's advertising? 

Help us create the service we all wish existed: If we can get as many users as facebook or twitter, we will be able to retire now.

Step one: lets make a website that looks like Kickstarter, but not. That will get people to click on "Back this project" 

Step two: profit.

Now if only I can find socail services where I can get real-time updates from people I choose to follow... /sarcasm 


Who is Ted?

Before you watch this video.

I went to see Ted last night, without ever seeing the trailer of the movie. All I knew about the movie was that Marky Mark was in it, and so was Mila Kunis. Some how Seth MacFarlane is involved.

It was the best episode of The Family Guy ever. Imagin a real-life version of the animated TV series. 
So if you don't like The Family Guy, don't watch this movie. If you're not willing to pay to watch The Family Guy on a big screen, don't watch this movie. If you quote The Family Guy while you're sleep talking, you already saw this movie more than once and already pre-ordered the Bluray on Amazon.  This is the best episode of The Family Guy ever.  

Can't wait to see all the extras they include in the DVD... 

iPad Nano VS Nexus 7

So once again I'm reading more rumors of iPad Nano coming out this fall. 
This time the reason is to compete against Google Asus Nexus 7.
If you believe the above statement, this is the part where I tell you you're stupid since the profit on a Nexus 7 is a measly $15 according to cnet and Jeff Brown of UMB

An iPad Nano can not and will not compete against the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire base on one fact alone, price.
Apple's margin on their devices are way too high and price alone will remove all possibility of any sort of competition.

If you want an iPad Nano, take your $199 to your local Apple store/retailer and buy an iPod Touch.

 

D8VID

David was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and, according to the Gospel of Matthew and theGospel of Luke, an ancestor of JesusDavid is seen as a major Prophet in Islamic traditions.

 

I've been reading up on various blog posts about Prometheus and I felt the urge and need to also voice my opinion about this film. Just like all the other sci-fi and Scott fans, I had been waiting for Prometheus since the morning of the release of the trailer. Needless to say I went into the movie with unreasonabilly high expectations and came out confused and feeling Promeheused.

The movie felt like a roller coaster, except you didn't go through the agonizing long uphill climb in the beginning of the film.  It sort of just starts and it was all down hill from there.  The film is iconically Ridley and nothing was spared into the opening sequence. Then the coaster went down the hill... the crew woke up.

I don't really want to go into details and spoil the movie for the 1% of you out there who haven't seen it.
If you haven't, please stop reading now. 

I understand everyone who saw the film naturally compare it to the Alien filmes that really set the standard for all sci-fi films following it. Everyone compaired Shaw with Ripley and I totally understand the natural inclination to do so. There's no doubt that Shaw was the female lead and ultimately the only person left standing.  David doesn't count since he doesn't have a soul.  Personally I believe that David does have a soul and he's just "pretending it doesn't hurt" when people say he's just a robot and does not have emotions.  

I see the film as the adventure of David.  Where a boy with no soul goes on a journey and learn about the meaning of life (or the lack there of).  Oh and kills his father on the way, because thats what all children wants to do, to kill their parents.  I'd also like to point out that nobody knows what David said to the Engineer right before he got his head ripped off and wacked Weyland over the head resulting in his demise. For all we know, David asked the Engineer to do so.. and the Engineer was just being nice.. I doubt it though.

I can't wait to see the next adventures of David, I hope Shaw doesn't get knocked up by cephalopods again...  

Sword or Laser

I had the pleasure of shooting @veronica and @acedtect this week for their show Sword and Laser podcast. This is my 2nd time photographing coworkers. Last time was for @omgchad and his new hair color beginning of 2012. I'm still learning about how to shoot people. I have no problems with landscape and still life since I don't have to direct them and just take them as they are. It's definitely a learning process and is literally different every time (unless you're shooting the same person..obviously.. )

Lytro

I had the pleasure of interviewing CEO and Founder Ren Ng of Lytro last year. 
Here's the short video we shot.

Rained out

Part of polishing my photography is to take as much photo as I can. 
I refuse to be rained out by foul weather.  This was taken through a wet windshield which contributed to the glowy dreamy haze.

First of the year

Happy New Year for all you Chinese people out there.
It's been too long since I updated this blog. All my time has been taken up with work. Either that or my rekindled passion with photography.
I got some new photo gears and I'm ready to build a stronger portfolio. Now I'm experimenting with MFT (micro four thirds) and I'm really digging using manual lenses. The Voigtlander Nokton 25MM 0.95 is really quite something else. It doesn't look impressive since it's so small but it's built like a tank and the 0.95 is crazy fast. I'll do a separate review on the lens after more use with it.

Still working on In Other News with Iyaz. It's a work in progress but not an official podcast. I'm pretty much almost in all the episodes of Before You Buy. The Nikon J1 was rushed together and took 5 times longer to edit than record. I need to storyboard the next camera review and really get on top of my reviews. I hope I get to review all the cameras that we get for BYB. My next victim just arrived, Nikon AW100 :)

What's my New Year resolutions? Be better at what I do in every aspect of my life. Work on my writing and blogging. I should really leave Twitter alone since it just doesn't promote or encourage any train of thoughts longer than 2 sentences.

Do I need a sign off? I should just end by stop writing...

Here's the full review of the Nikon J1

 

Update on Google Music, Google Listen

After my brief rent of Google Music's lack of intelligence and it's ability to remember playhead location, I got numerous of suggestions to use other podcatchers and Google Listen.
Here's my slightly longer follow up to Google Music.

Thank you Steve

Steve on his BMW


My letter to Steve

I'm writing this post in the wake of Apple's announcement of Steve's passing. It's still sinking in for me at this point. I'm writing this post on my iPad 2.

Dear Mr Jobs,

I would like to express my gratitude on all that you've done for us. From the Macintosh to the iPhone to the iPad, you have evolved personal computing on a historical level that few have achieved before. I'm sure you get letters like this all the time. I just wanted to assure you that even the "Apple haters" out there appreciate what you've done to promote innovation and competition. You've touched our lives at the work place and at home. I have not felt sorrow like this since 9/11(and 3/11) and it still amazes me that a single person's vision could change the entire industry single handedly. We love you and we will forever carry your legacy in our back packs, brief cases, pockets, in our hearts and wear it on our wrist like a watch.

Thank you Steve,

Sincerely,

-Tony Wang