Musings

I received the Xmas present which has the potential to turn me into a couch potato. Yet I’m already in love with it. For months, I’ve observed from afar, shall I or shall I not? 

Finally, I plonked the money down for the 160GB version. It was only a pre-paid order as the Epi Apple store didn’t have stock. Less than 24 hours later, I had taken possession of the Apple TV. 

But it would be another 24 hours before I was buying my favourite TV episodes from iTunes and watching it in full HD glory. The salesman forgot to tell me that I needed a HDMI cable ‘cos Apple TV didn’t come with it. Neither did my TV. 

Anyway, setting up was easy, plug one cable to the power and hook up the two gadgets via the HDMI cable and Apple TV automatically comes on. However, navigation is easy but the configuration took a bit of time. First time I had to read an Apple manual, so not very easy for the average TV viewer. 

What I found difficult was how to tune to iTunes and getting connected. The manual misses that one step. Instead it gives instructions on how to sync iTunes on your computer with the the TV. 

As the first step, I just wanted to watch movies and I want to buy/rent the content. It took about 30 minutes of fiddling and finally, I was able to buy it. 

If you’re used to browsing iTunes on your computer, the experience on a TV takes your breath away. iTunes simplicity of presenting content makes it so easy to browse what tickles your fancy – sci-fi, animation, classics, drama, non-fiction – in movies or TV episodes. Once you’ve keyed in your user ID, buying stuff is 3-steps away. Browse listings, select, hit buy, enter password and you’re done. Depending on whether it’s a movie or TV episode, you can start watching within 5 minutes,

That’s the best part. On the computer, the downloads can take a bit longer. You’ve to wait for the entire episode or movie to download before you can start to view it. With Apple TV, you can view the movie as the download continues. It’s a bit jarring as you near the end ‘cos you’ve to wait a few seconds now and then for the content to download completely.

For under $600, it’s certainly worth the money. But because it’s so easy to buy content, I’m afraid that my pocket will empty much faster than when I could buy/rent iTunes content on my computer.

But then, watching movies on widescreen TV is so different from watching it on a laptop.

The fun has been taken out of Macworld. Steve Jobs isn’t going to make an appearance at this event, something he has done for as long as I can remember. 

This is a bummer because I’m headed for Frisco come January to attend Macworld. So it has come as a shock to me that he wasn’t going to show up. 

The BIG question is: is he dying? He certainly looked thin when he launched iPhone 3G in June this year. So thin that his bones were sticking out of his trademark black turtleneck. 

It won’t be the same again Macworld without Jobs. He would take centrestage for at least 90 minutes giving Apple fans an update on what has happened and of course, in his trademark nonchalance way, announce new products from the iPod to the Nano to the Air Book. Of course, his digs at Microsoft were really good too. 

Jobs has been my hero because he was always the underdog. He believed what he’s doing was right and he set out to do it and proved everyone wrong in the meantime. He wasn’t the first to come out with multi-coloured computers. Actually I had seen multi-coloured Nokia PCs at the Cebit exhibition years ago. But it was Jobs who popularised the concept that computers can be colourful, not only in beige. He was so good at marketing computers to consumers that he owned this arena. 

So I’ll miss him as I’m sure I’ll miss Macworld too. It was the only big fair that did justice to the Mac products. 

Stay tuned, there’ll be more on Jobs and Apple in the next couple of days.

I just love iTunes not because the online music store is really huge with different types of genre to suit any musical taste. I love it because I can buy the latest TV episodes of Bones, Closer and CSI. Now I’m even considering getting a high res display so that I can buy the HD versions of serials.

But the hidden value of iTunes for me is the iTunes U. I have learnt about Facebook and what it intends to do listening Mark Zukerberg at a Stanford University talk. Or hear Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman predicting the global crisis of today two years ago? Then there was the interesting talk on credit crunch by well respected economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Thomas Friedman’s books are great reading, he’s a good writer. But the thought of having to plough through Hot, Flat and Crowded, his latest book on climate change, was too daunting. But I learnt about the arguments he presented in the book, through his talk at Oxford University.

Few  Singaporeans would have heard Singapore diplomat Kishore Mahubani speak at Columbia University to promote his new book The Asian Hemisphere. But I heard him, courtesy of iTunes U. There’s even a video clip of his talk on iTunes. Even NUS has put up a couple of podcasts. One featuring the current Indian Commerce Minister (sorry, I can’t remember his name) talk about his book on the growth of India.

I also heard Steve Wozniak, the other Steve who founded Apple, talk about his early days in computing at Oxford University; Prof Henry Jenkins, renown media academic talk about New Media literacy as part of a MIT course on media; Steve Jobs at Wharton University.

My list of podcasts are long. I listen to them when I’m driving. Some are about 60 minutes, others less. But I enjoy all of them. They really supplement my reading on current issues and trends.

That’s a reason why I guard my iTunes account carefully. Hopefully Apple wouldn’t wake up one day and decide to yank my account. I won’ cry over the loss of the online store and even TV episodes – I can buy them in the real world – but the podcasts would be hard to get. It would be really tedious to visit various university websites and hunt these podcasts down.

The podcasts from universities like Stanford, LSE, MIT and others give you opportunities to listen to professors, company founders, economists and others you read about only in magazines but never listen to in real life. People like Marissa Mayer of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Paul Krugman, economics nobel laureate and Thomas Friedman, NYT columnist. 

Yup, these podcasts are sure interesting.

I’m in KL this weekend. Overcast, good to walk around. Not humid too because for Sunday. I last in KL about 3-4 years ago. Usually I stay in the Bukit Bintang area so getting around isn’t difficult. If you stayed where the action is, ie around the Pavilion or Sungei Wang shopping area then it’s 5 minutes to major shopping and eating areas. The major change I observed the number of Middle Eastern restaurants that have sprung up since I was last there. Must be that tourists from Middle East have increased. 

The Pavilion shopping mall is like any other in a major city. All the brand names are here. People are dressy even the young. I thought they were better dressed than shoppers in Singapore. But in another shopping centre Metrojaya and Sungei Wang, the crowds are quite different. More local, not so fashionable. Even the Cold Storage supermarket has mostly local products than imported ones. 

Coffee mania has also hit KL. In every mall, there’s Starbucks and Coffee Bean. Plenty of people hanging around there. Also smoking is still popular here. In the hotel restaurants, smoking is allowed with a section cordoned off for those who want to puff away. Like Singapore, there’re people who’re surfing in the cafes. Quite common, in fact. Even in the Sungei Wang Plaza. 

Shopping isn’t that cheaper than home and the brands are the same. When you’re on holiday, retail therapy is always good. Plus there’s a nationwide sale to attract tourists. So for Singaporeans – and I spied quite a few – it’s a good deal especially when the currency is in our favour. I did buy a couple of t-shirts from Nike. Don’t know if they’re cheaper since I haven’t been to the Singapore malls lately. 

Another thing that’s changed is the taxi service. Previously, I would have to steel myself to deal with the taxi drivers who, I thought, were always out to cheat me like they would take an extra long route to get to where I want to go. This time, the system has changed for the better. You get a taxi coupon first, and then get into the taxi. Takes the aggro out. 

At the Shangrila where I stayed, service was ok but I wouldn’t stay here again. Service isn’t as polished as what I’d expected. But the gym is good, bigger than most hotel gyms with plenty of equipment that I’m familiar with. Next time, I’ll probably stay in the middle of Bukit Bintang, easier to get to the makan places like Jln Imbi. Night time, all the hawker stalls – the cooked food types are out. Bah kut teh breakfast from one of the shops in Jln Imbi is really great. I marvel at how advanced they’ve become. Back home bah kut teh is still a bowl of 3-4 pork ribs. Then there’re the salty vegetables and “taupok” as side orders. In KL, they now offer clay pot bah kut teh which comes with “taupok” thrown in. You can also have clay pot vegetables plus other dishes like steamed fish head and green vegetables. An expanded menu which raises what customers pay per table. And service is good. 

Yes, I would go to KL again for a weekend getaway.

My colleague asked me today how many dogs have I had in my life. I had to count, from the time since I was a kid, I’ve had pets. So I guessed, it was 10 dogs in all. Of course the last 3 and the current 4 were and are the most special. 

My niece and a close friend met on Sunday to discuss what to do with the ashes of my 3 generation 1 dogs. They were with me since I lived and worked here over the last 20 years (eek… it’s been that long).

Cheeky, mix lab who shared my bed since she was 5 weeks old. She had heart problems, was given steroids which caused kidney failure (I was too greenhorn a pet owner to understand how serious this side effect was). She was 20 when she died at home because she understood I didn’t want to put her down. 

Teeny, my silky terrier. The little minx was an empress dowager who put terrorised my Cheeky and my rottweiler, Sonja. She lived a long life until 22 and would have been longer if cancer didn’t grow out of her eyes. In the end, my niece who had taken her under wing, decided to put her down. 

Sonja, the sweetest rottweiler, who was big, had a head like a battering ram (she ran into my bad knee and injured it further). Her owner wanted her put down because her hind legs were not strong. Her vet Dr Tan saved her, took her in and I adopted her at 4 months old. She was seven when cancer took her too. This time it attacked her nerves at the base of her head. It must have been painful because she couldn’t move very much. There’s nothing I could do, no operation to save her. I had to save her again by putting her out of misery. I had her put down, but I couldn’t do it myself. Chicken that I was, I had my close friends take her to the vet. I wanted to remember her as she was and not when she was dying. 

Cheeky, Teeny and Sonja broke my heart. They went about eight years ago, within months of each other. I’ve Cheeky’s ashes, my niece has Teeny’s and my good friend Cindy has Sonja (because Sonja saw her through an emotional period when her mother was ill). 

The discussion was wether we wanted to set them free by distributing their ashes in the sea. I think rationally that was what we wanted to do but emotionally some of us weren’t ready. Meanwhile, I think of them almost every day, they were with me, not complaining, always happy to see me. 

I loved everyone of them to death just as I do Latte (deputy pack leader), Uno, Sandy and Zack.

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.