okay, it's about the iPad...

Seriously, what else would I blog about after last week's Apple excitement? As I write this blog, I'm doing it on my MacBook. Sure you can call me an Apple fanboy because I have more than one iPod and I'm mostly OSX. Although I believe in bilingualism when it comes to operating systems, I'm not gonna get into that right now since that's not what the topic of this post is.


Soo with all the excitement building and speculation flying and apples falling from the tree, what did Apple drop from the tree?


Without getting too much into details like other tech blogs, I'll just touch on a few interesting points that I observed after I spent the last week listening to every tech podcasts out there talking about this new magical creation by the big Apple.


To start things off, iPad, possibly the worst name ever for an Apple product or any tech product for that matter... Its like a note pad, it needs to have an "i", oh and it'd be cook to rhyme with iPod. Lets call it iPad! OKAY! *cheers* nobody asked Steve Jobs if he was a tampon or pad user. But by the name he chose, obviously he's pro-pad.  (insert menstrual and pad jokes)


So all the Apple fans are all lined up at the store waiting for this pad.  There's quite a few like me who are disgruntaled because we didn't get what we wanted from Steve. Like a child asking it's parents for the new Nintendo Wii. We whine and whine until we get what we wanted.  I think people forgot that they said the Apple tablet will be like a giant iPod Touch. And that's exactly what we got.  To match the giant screen of this over sized iPod is a custom Apple A4 chip.  Beyond that, nothing else is special about the hardware (LED ISP display..not sure if anyone cares since its not OLED)  


So here's my dissapointment when I opened up the box under the Christmas tree...
The obvious thing for Apple to do was to make a giant iPod Touch. They've done that before and it worked well and it worked for 2 products sharing the same OS.  And now they've made another product with the same OS.  The pad sports the next iPhone OS that's coming out logically this June.  To me, it looks like they were just being lazy and going with the obvious choice of OS. Sure all the existing (and I use "all" loosely as the keynote said "most")  It'll be interesting to see how Apple chooses who gets to upgrade their app and have it run on the new tablet iPod.  I wonder if Amazon will have the Kindle app on the iPad store since it is after all taunted as the "Kindle Killer" And even if Amazon DOES indeed do so, would Apple let the app into the store considering Apple will be running their own iBookstore.


Hmm.. so far it doesn't sound that exciting to me. Then throw in some iWorks and stuff, make the pad more "productive"  So we went this product to be simple and easy to use like our existing product so more people would adopt and get it.  I said I wouldn't sign another data contract and I stand by it since I already pay for "unlimited data" for my iPhone. So Apple release the pad 3G with no contract and $10 less than the iPhone data plan. You get all you can eat for $29.99. So now all we have to do is figure out what kind of plate AT&T gives us.  Will we be limited to 10MB per download like on the iPhone? I can't imagine downloading a 10MB HD video from the iTunes store.. My guess is that those large medias will have to be over wi-fi or synced from your iTunes. 


So its not going to be easy to get media on this content consuming device. I guess everything can be streamed right? Or maybe not since there's no Flash on the browser...
I guess it'll be easy to do so with the great coverage of AT&T? I think not...


From Apple

  • Environmental requirements
  • Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
  • Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
  • Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
  • Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

This is interesting.. according to Apple, the maximum operating altitude is 10,000 feet... The operating altitude for the regular commercial plane is about 30,000 feet. So this tablet that I want to use on my 5 hour flight to the east coast will not work on the plane? 


If you watch the keynote, you'll notice numbers being thrown at you about the large number of content purchased, users registered with creditcards on iTunes, and all these users who are ready for a new product.  

SOOoo.. you have a product with existing user base and a proven store model that will make you a lot of money. Sounds great on paper.. but after I thought about it. It's really not as easy as they made it seem.  First of all, all the late adopters of iPhone 3GS, will all still be under AT&T's contract, and since the tablet is not under contract, it's out of their price range and they're not gonna pay for unlimited data for 2 devices. Even if they wait until their contract is up, port their number to google voice and abandon the iPhone all together, they will have to dodge the 2010 iPhone update, AND the 2011 iPhone update.  AND if they decide not to upgrade twice, then they will consider the pad. So that will put the existing iPhone users a year out before they can upgrade without having 2 of the same device.  Now some would argue that they can get the wi-fi version only but you know that they're so used to accessing the web with 3G that they'll want the 3G model. 


So another camp that says the tablet is a Kindle killer, I think its more of an upgrade FOR Kindle users. But is it a logical upgrade? Maybe, maybe not. I believe that the majority of Kindle users got the reader just for that, to read books. It's not good for reading anything with pictures.. so what? They got it to read books so they dont' have to stare at a computer screen after a day of doing so at work.  I know if I was a reader I'd wanna read on a Kindle.  Now for the people who say that this is a mixed media device for reading things like the New York Times. What you just described was the NewYorkTimes' website.  It's got text, color images, audio and video.  You can read it on your computer.  


Ok.. so who is the target buyer for this pad?
Simple... 
Apple users who have an iTunes account...
who has an iPhone or iPod Touch...
who reads books on the Kindle but wants to upgrade to a color e-book reader...
who doesn't mind having to pay for 2 unlimited data services with AT&T...


am I gonna buy one? the short answer is no. 
will I upgrade in the future? perhaps... I still want a real touch screen computer.

New Year Resolution 2010

Its that time of the year again for the resolution post.
(apparently i started writing this post and never finished it...)

Learn Japanese.. this thing is seriously been on my list forever and its time for me to really get on top of this before all of my hair turns grey...

Ride more: I gotta ride more since i feel like i forgot how to ride with the lack of riding (going on for almost two months now due to out of country and crappy weather..)

Work with Final Cut Studio and Motion more: need to kick it up a notch

And blog more: i feel as if i have lost my ability to aggregate my thoughts and to construct critical thinking.

Baby Aston!!!!!1

omg omg omg an Aston Martin that I might actually be able to afford!
Cygnet is a weird name for a car tho.. sounds like a baby Aston magget larva... O-o
original Autoblog article

While the Aston Martin face is well suited to the extended nose of a DBS or Rapide, we think it looks more than a bit overwrought on the front of the tiny Toyota. On the inside, virtually all of the available surfaces have been covered in red and black premium leather. For the time being, the Cygnet is a concept only, but Aston says it hopes to have it in production in 2010 for European and UK customers. There's no word yet on price...




the Good joojoo

unless you've been living under the tech news rock for the past few days, you've already heard about thejoojoo formerly the "CrunchPad"


JooJoo Hands On Demo from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Well its finally here and most people say they're underwhelmed. But I'm actually looking forward to this device since its priced very reasonabily. At a bit higher than netbooks and e-readers, you get a 12 inch capacitive screen which nobody else has. Most if not all tablet netbooks are resistive touch screens.
Keep in mind that e-Readers are about $400 for a nice Sony one so $499 for this joojoo is not bad at all!
So far there's no clear specs and it sounds like its running an Atom 1.6 like all the other netbooks out there.


I saw this in urban dictionary and thought it was pretty funny.

To follow the whole story, nobody does it better:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/joojoo-tablet-hands-on-video/
and
http://gizmodo.com/5421614/fusion-garage-joojoo-tablet-hands+on

I'm trying to make a list of reasons NOT to pre-order one...

i love being on the bottom of the food chain....

one of those days..

having one of those days that nothing goes right and just feel defeated and don't feel like doing anything at all..

increasing frequency

After leaving xanga and not blogging for a while, I've decided to come back to the bloggersphere and start writing more than 140 characters at once http://twitter.com/hotmilkgt Excited about picking up hachini today. But might not happen so we'll have to wait and see. I'll post pictures when I take delivery.

Help Improve your Driving

BMW CCA SF is having their driving clinic (driving school: to teach you the fundamental of performance driving.

Here's the link

Car Control Clinic

February 21 - Join us at Candlestick Park for the first Car Control Clinic of the 2009 season. You will learn the basics of performance car control by participating in slalom, skid pad, and emergency avoidance exercises with instruction. Registration opens January 14.

The Car Control Clinic is a day-long event that consists of three low-speed exercises - a skid pad, a slalom course, and a braking and accident avoidance simulation. These exercises will better prepare you for situations on the track, as well as in everyday driving.

Event cost is $100, and includes lunch. If you plan to attend, please read our event overview. Note: Snell SA2000 or M2000 (or newer) helmets are required for this event.

Registration opens January 14.

havent done car in a while...

so... we're in a world recession... US car companies are dying.. stopping production. And I just heard that Toyota is also stopping production for almost 2 weeks.. looks like the whole world is hurting... :(

Hope everyone had a good New Year~
Drive Safe, Ride Safe, and whatever other mode of transportation you use, do it safely.. well except flying cuz you can't really control the plane.

-Tony

~~275 degrees of Christmas~~

So I was driving last night around 12am. There was only 1 car on the freeway with me.
I was coming off an onramp merging from 24 to 580/80. Doing about 60 when out of no where, I felt my car faint to the left.. I looked down and didn't see the traction control come on... So I correct my steering accordingly.. and the car kept on sliding.
I ended up doing a 275 in my lane. missing the cement wall and the car in the next lane. There was a point when I thought I was gonna hit the wall, I think it was when I was sliding backwards..
You hear people say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die. I can tell you that that's not true. I would say its whatever you were doing before that comes to mind. And its funny how things and people pop into your head as well..

Moral of the story.
Be nice to your guardian angel.
Don't panic in any sort of emergency situation.
The second you panic, you loose control.
And never give up ( I learned this from my instructor from BMWCCA Car Control Clinic.
He said that when you loose control, keep on looking where you wanna go and your body will do the rest, he was right)

Drive safe everybody.


twittered..

battery light came on
lost power steering
smoking under bonnet
lost power steering
pulled over
leaked all coolant

dropped it off at the dealer...le sigh... T-T