Musings

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.

In Las Vegas, integrated resorts are just simply, casinos. Visitors who come here know that they’ll spend some time at the tables – playing anything from craps, poker, roulette to blackjack. But they’ll also eat, shop, sight see and generally soak in the atmosphere.

So the IRs in Singapore are the same. Sure, you can gamble if you want – Singapore residents will have to pay a fee to enter the gaming floors – but there’ll be loads of other things you can do, following the experience of Las Vegas.

Every hotel in Vegas here has a theme. The Venetian with its canals,  tenors rowing the gondolas and singing well known arias at the same time.  New York New York with a mock STatute of Liberty at the front of the hotel and a roller coaster running around the hotel property. Treasure Island which has a scheduled pirate attack show in the moat at the hotel frontage.

Luxor, built in the shape of a pyramid, has a beam of light shooting in the night from the apex of its roof. Bellagio and Wynns hotels have high ceilings and are places to people watch. The Mirage has a volcano erupting regularly except that it’s now being renovated for an even bigger eruption. Bellagio has a fantastic fountain show at night.

These hotels are huge like all the hotels here, so many and new ones coming up too. Each hotel is a large property.  It took me 10 minutes to walk from my room to the event centre, a distance similar to walking from Paragon to Tangs. Granted the event centre is usually situated at one corner of the hotel, but it’ll take you around the casino, shops, restaurants etc to get there. That’s the point isn’t it? To tempt you spend money!

Talking about restaurants, every hotel has a Chinese, Japanese and/or Asian fusion restaurant. Mostly Cantonese and Shanghainese food in some very exclusive restaurants which I didn’t bother going in.  There’re also the exclusive restaurants fronted by wine cellars and tuxedoed managers waiting in the front. No reservation, no enter type of places. Forbiddingly expensive, I would guess. This is the latest trend I see since I was last here two years ago.

No food in America is complete without the burger which you can get from McDonalds or Carls’ Jr, or expensive in some of the five-star wagyu type in the restaurants. Of course, mustn’t miss out the Italian and Mediterranean joints of various affordability levels.

I recommend, the Chinese noodle shop at the Bellagio. Run by Hongkongers – their style of Cantonese is distinctly Hongkong – it has the best charsiew I’ve tasted in the US, the choy sum and kailan are really fresh and good. Taste is authentic. Every trip here I must go there at least once. Burp!

Entertainment … ah, this is what you come to Vegas for. Err yes, there’re the adult rated shows in the old strip which I think is about a few miles down from the new strip that has all the  fancy hotels. But there’s the high class bawdy acts – Crazy Horse is at the MGM Hotel.  Then there’s Zumanity by Cirque de Soleil, the only one act in the group that is restricted to above 18. There’re topless women in fishbowls doing unbelievable acrobatic acts in the unique tradition of the Cirque. Yes, I’ve seen it, I wouldn’t recommend children but the acts are really good. Very artistic. 

If you’ve time to see only two Cirque shows, it’s either the O at Bellagio or the Ka at MGM. You experience the Cirque’s mastery of theatre, drama and high flying acts which you’ll never see in any of the travelling show because these two acts were specially created for the two hotels. 

 For shoppers, there’re 2 factory outlets here. Yes, there’s the fashion mall and Macy’s but 20 to 40 minutes away you can get factory outlet prices. Really cheap with some Gap t-shirts going for US$3! Popular brands too like Ralph Lauren, Coach, Nautica, Levis etc. Shoppers can take the public bus to the factory outlet that is 20 minutes away, ask the concierge. I discovered the Primm Valley factory outlet on holiday here two years ago. It has a shuttle running from MGM Hotel. Costs US$15 for return ticket, convenient and on time. For shopoholics, be prepared to drop money and to shop from 10 am to 6pm. Shuttle starts from 9.15 am.

 If you don’t want to do all that, then there’re roller coaster rides at New York New York. Luxor, and MGM, exhibits like the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay and art gallery at Bellagio.

Singapore’s IRs would be like what’s available at Vegas. Ritzy places, plenty of eating, shopping and things to do. Except that the casino would be only a small part of the establishment unlike in Vegas where it’s really in your face everywhere you go.

Las Vegas doesn’t feel as busy as when I was last here about two years ago. Then it was January, and people were still in holiday mood. Although the temperature was below 5 degrees Celsius – it was so cold the fountain outside The Venetian was frozen -  people were out in force, enjoying the sun and the cold brisk air. There was a definite buzz and I could hear cash registers ringing everywhere.

When I arrived on Sunday night, it was so quiet at the airport. Maybe it’s the time of the night. After all it was already 8.30pm. It was like a ghost town. Cashiers of the one-armed bandit in the departure/arrival halls were waiting for customers. There’re no queues for the taxi. Within 20 minutes of arrival, I was at the hotel where I checked in within 5 minutes.

What a difference from the time I was here two years ago. People were everywhere. I had to jostle with the crowd just to get from one place to the next. I queued for everything – for food, drinks, taxi, shows. The casino were full of gamers (they don’t call them gamblers – bad connotation).

Financial crisis seems to have impacted Las Vegas. No queues anywhere. Gamers were few and far in between. I’ve been walking past the room where the high rollers play – stakes up to US$10,000 several times in the last two days. I’ve seen only one gamer there when there’re 4 tables opened for gaming. The croupiers were twiddling thumbs and looked bored.

So what’s busy? The pubs and the restaurants. People have to eat and there aren’t that many restaurants outside of the hotels.

One thing though, I wandered over to a luxury hotel and saw that the casinos there had more people than in the hotel I was staying at. For the wealthy, the financial crisis has no impact.

I’m really happy I’ve iTunes. Not because of the availability of music but also movies downloads. 

Browsing through iTunes a few days ago, I found a Korean movie, Legend of the Shadowless Sword. I knew there was Crouching Tiger but I didn’t know that there were other Asian flicks. So that was a pleasant surprise; Couple others are available Memoirs of a Geisha and The Forbidden Kingdom (dialogue was in half English, half Chinese). Then there was Lust & Caution – the uncensored version and the only one I found with English subtitles. 

So was the Koran movie any good? T Not a bad movie, a bit of a drama, some parts slow moving, but the fight scenes were good. Lust&Caution – good direction, good acting, lots of angst and I don’t like the ending. 

So since Monday evening, I’ve been in Helsinki. Nice city, small and compact. Don’t need a lot of time to walk around the city.

Couple of things we (journalists from Indonesia and Thailand) noticed – plenty of cyclists but no motorcyclists. Well, I saw only 2 in 2 days. City streets are also paved in cobble stones which is a nice touch but what a rough time for the cars.

Talking about cars, one taxi I was in was a 7 series beemer! Well taken care of too. Volvo station wagons, volvo sedans and mercs were also driven by taxi drivers. Which makes for a safe ride, I suppose.

The hotel we’re staying in was Radisson by the seaside. It’s just across the sea. I could see big passenger cum vehicle ferries berthed there. Morning walks by the water front is really nice. Temperature was below 10degree C in the mornings but in the afternoons, it’s up to 20degrees. It’s autumn and the leaves on the trees are nice hues of purple, orange and red.

My fellow Thai and Indonesian reporters wondered why they didn’t see any porters and housekeepers. Quite odd because in Asia, we see them helping guests or going about doing their cleaning. Then I realised that the receptionists also doubled up as porters! It’s all DIY over in Finland.

Why were we in Helsinki? To visit Nokia, of course. Nokia house is in a quiet suburb by the Baltic Sea. Within 100m there’s a marina with boats tied up to it. My Nokia  contact says people boat to work. How about that? No traffic jams and you can feel the sea breeze in your face!

Nokia house is a nice building, all glass – all the better to catch the sunlight to warm up the building. Work-life balance seems to be the big thing here. We see people leaving office from 4pm. But then, I was told they start work early, 6.30am…..

Note: pix of helsinki coming up tomorrow. Can’t download photos at airport terminals.

I listen to podcasts downloaded from iTunes (yup, I’m the few lucky ones who registered on itunes US site before they slammed the door on registrations outside of the US) and I enjoy them.

They are usually podcasts of panel discussions and seminars held at Stanford, MIT or Harvard. Usually about tech of course. So I’ve listened to Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt etc. Very useful.

Why then do people not listen to podcasts? Is it so difficult to do? At iTunes you browse through the lists. At other sites you follow, you download the audio file to the computer and then transfoer to the MP3 player.

Pew Internet’s report on podcasts showed that 19% of all Internet users listened to podcasts, up from 12% reported in August 2006. (Go here if you want to read the report http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/261/report_display.asp). Puzzles me why people don’t listen to podcasts?

It brings to you “live” information that you don’t have a chance to go to. Maybe the process is still too difficult. Also, you can start learning quite of lot of things from 101 in philosophy to genetics.

I guess, people are really lazy or are we not really a digital nation?