Musings

My good friends at GudeBlog has issued a challenge: I’ve to post a video clip on my blog. But then my iPhone does not take video and I’m just to darn lazy to get out the video camera to take clips. 

The challenge will have to wait until the video feature is added in the iPhone. Maybe in January, Steve Jobs will announce something …..

Has anyone tried Google’s Mobile Apps? 

I did. My verdict: not bad, voice search works 50% of the time. Translation: it seems to work. 

Now the details. It’s a free app and downloading it from App Store is simple like all the other apps. I think it’s available only on those who have a US iTunes account (sorry to those who don’t have one). 

Google’s mobile home page is clean, almost zen-like in keeping with its philosophy of simplicity but high usability. All the features in Google are listed on one side – Gmail, Reader, Calendar, News, Photos, Translator, Search etc. You can toggle among Search, Settings or Apps.

2 important features jump out: voice activated search and translator.

Switch on the voice feature in the settings before you start. Then instead of typing in a keyword search, speak into your iPhone. First try with “Madonna” gave me the answers for the famous singer. Alas Britney Spears gave me “Buffalo”, a university town in New York vicinity. Second try was “Britney vs …”. Not very good. “Today’s temperature” came out as TV converter!

Well, Google did warn users that it was only for a North American audience which means my accent doesn’t qualify. Maybe when Google has the accent business settled, then the accuracy for the rest of the world won’t be so bad. It’s a tough challenge for the search giant. 

The translation appears to be good but like all similar services, it can’t translate the nuances and the metaphors. “This food is out of the world” in English came out in Chinese as “This food can’t be eaten because it is not from this world”! Otherwise, the translation appears good. I mean I trust that Google has done its homework since I don’t speak Latvian, Czech, Swedish, Li (a language used by the dominant ethnic mintority on Hainan Island), Arabic, Vietnamese and some 30 other languages. 

At the moment, this app is only for the iPhone. I guess it’s an experiment. With feedback, Google will improve and release it for other brands of phones. 

The one-button to Google on cellphones is a good idea. It’s only one click to search and a couple of clicks to Gmail (you’ve to sign in). Previously, I would have to go to my browser, then Google. Smart of the search giant to do this.

I’ve insured my 2 chocolate laboradors. Each cost about $200 or so. I’ve just received a note from NTUC Income to say that they’re discontinuing the pet insurance scheme due to its low adoption rate. 

What a pity! Today there’s so much discussion about dogs attacking people and other dogs, insurance would have been a good liability back-up. 

Anyone else know of other pet insurance products?

I’ve discovered that when I leave my Macbook in the car, the machine acts up. Especially when I the boot is hot. So I’ve parked in the shade to prevent this heating up situation.

What happens is that the desktop appears extra large, the icons and fonts appear pixellated. I brought in to the genius bar at Epi and they did a “restore setting” – press option command and v after you hear the start-up.

Well, I think that was what the Epi guy told me. Anyway, it happened to the machine again today and I tried the command. It worked. Any Mac fan out there who knows if the command was right or did I do something else which also restored the desktop look?

The eldest girl in the house, Latte, is going to be nine years old while the boy, Uno, is going to be eight. Latte’s muzzle is getting white. While she still has ants in her pants, she can’t quite sit still, she has slowed down. Nothing visible, she’s still running like a mad one at the dog run. 

But when she’s running with me at a regular place, she can’t quite run as fast as three years ago. Often she’s at least 2 paces behind me. And I can’t quite dare to push her. 

Uno’s muzzle is also getting silverish, and he’s getting kinda thick around the waist. Otherwise, he’s still the lovable, big eyes, big head “boy dog”. 

When my other dogs went to doggie heaven, they broke my heart. Especially Sonja, who I had to put down because she’d cancer. She’s in so much pain, yet she never complained, whined very little and generally tried to be as happy as she could. 

Cheeky, my first dog, went peacefully. Her liver gave way and she didn’t want to fight anymore. That’s what I would wish for Latte and Uno, I wouldn’t be able to put them down. It would be just too, too painful.

I’ve tried the Google app on the iPhone. It allows you to easily use all the Google functions like Gmail, Reader, News, Search etc. The interface is so-Google – clean and simple. I like this. 

What I found fun was the voice activated search. You can use it to search your contacts list or to search for information. Just speak into it and the search results appear. 

However, my accent doesn’t seem to agree with it. Madonna appeared correctly but Britney Spears came out as buffalo. Only after 2 tries, that the right search results appeared. From the one hour I spent trying it out while having breakfast at McDonalds – not too quiet an environment – the accuracy is about 1 in 3. Also I found out from news reports that it’s best suited for American accent. 

Another voice activated software I downloaded was Say Who? Tell it why you want to speak to and it’ll auto-dials for you. If there’re more than 1 Grace, then it’ll list all the Graces and you select which you want to dial. Accuracy isn’t bad. One cool thing is you can also Say Where to find an address on Google Maps instead of typing. Try this, it’s quite fun.

Watched the latest James Bond Quantam of Solace last weekend. It’s different from the other Bond movies. 

There’re still the same thrills and spills but the movie is edgier. The fight scenes are more brutal and raw. Everyone Bond comes in contact with dies. Unlike other 007 movies where there’s always a love concern, Bond has no romantic links. Even at the movie’s end which usually sees Bond in an intimate scene with a woman, there’s none. 

Even Q, the tech expert who equips Bond with a specially outfitted car and gadgets, is absent. But then, there’re plenty of other technology. 

There was the multi-touch computer where the British intelligence agent moved files and images around using his fingers. Tap on it, and the files lead to other files. The same thing can be done on a wall to wall display as well. 

Bond sends images taken on his Sony Ericsson phone to hq where they are checked against a database on the wall display. Results are immediately appear on the phone so that Bond knows who he’s dealing with. A name card given to the bad guys is actually embedded with a chip which allows Bond to track movements via his phone. 

Unlike the movie Minority Report, the technology here is believable in the sense that it’s available and in use. Although Microsoft wasn’t a sponsor in this movie, the multi-touch technology for the computer table and the wall display are proven stuff. 

Go see the movie, it’s quite thriling. 

I found a neat free app for the iPhone. So instead of dialing a number, you speak the name of the person you want to call, and it calls. Works about 80% of the time.

It’s as simple as pressing on the screen while you speak the number into it. Takes about 5 seconds while it searches the contact list. Pops up the relevant name. If it isn’t sure, it’ll pop up a list of names. It either dials the name at the top of the list or if it’s unsure, then it waits for you to select. 

Doesn’t work that well in noisy places like shopping malls with music blaring from the public speakers. A bit cumbersome but fun thing to do. 

The software doesn’t require it to learn your voice which is the good thing cos most voice-activated stuff needs you to do this.

Only drawback: you’ve to be still when you do it. Haven’t tried it in a noisy place yet like a shopping centre with music blaring from the public speakers.  

I’ve been in Frisco for the last three days and I haven’t had a single problem with my iPhone 3G. Back home in Singapore, I seldom get all 4 bars of 3G signals. Not in Frisco, the signals are always full.  So I get text messages and phone calls, no drop calls at all.

The last software upgrade for iPhone 3G ironed out all the bugs of this handset in the US where AT&T is the prime telco providing iPhones. The US online forums are mostly quiet about this topic now. Back in Singapore, Singtel’s service is so-so. Don’t think the iPhone is tuned that well to the service at home.

Hopefully, the next update may tune iPhone to SingTel, Starhub etc.

The night before I left Vegas, I went to MGM Hotel. That’s mighty big hotel with some 2000 rooms. There I found an iPod and iPod accessory dispenser. You can buy iPod Touch and the various iPods and accessories like headphones just by using your credit card.

The vendor was Best Buy. Over at San Francisco airport, I saw the same thing but this time the dispenser sold more stuff – different brands of cellphones and bluetooth headsets.

Back to Vegas, taxis are mighty expensive. It costs about US$15 to travel between a distance like Wheelock Place to Centrepoint. I knew there was an overhead tram service plying from Harrah Circus Circus to Mirage. What I didn’t know was that there was a also a tram going to and fro MGM Hotel and Mandalay Bay. So if you’re sightseeing just hop on these free trams. It’s a way of beating the heat and getting from one place to another cheaply.