High-tech / Low-tech

This thing works like a charm. Allows me to toggle between slides, has a laser pointer, and also allows me to blank the screen at the touch of a button.

Clearly, getting into the swing of things. Some gadgets are just so fun. Speaking of which, I found marbles! Bought them at $1 for 100 marbles. I’m not sure if that’s considered cheap, but I’m just excited I found them.

Finally, the assignment count drops into the single digits. And it also means the holidays are inching closer.

Mashups and Portable Apps

Have been learning loads of computer stuff from my colleague. Here are two really useful ideas.

1. Mashups

What is a mashup?

“A web mashup is a web page or application that combines data from two or more external online sources. The external sources are typically other web sites and their data may be obtained by the mashup developer in various ways including, but not limited to: APIs, XML feeds, and screen-scraping.”

This is something I find really useful. You always want to combine information from multiple sources so you can see at a glance everything you need to know. E.g. carpark rates combined with carpark locations (this makes good sense; you can tell which carparks are cheaper within a radius from your location).

Here’s a selection of mashups i find really useful and cool:
a. Weather
b. Parking Map

2. Portable Apps

What is a Portable App?

“A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.”

A really useful app would be GIMP, a Photoshop alternative, that is open-source. Load it onto your thumb drive and you can run it on any computer.

E-Ten: Glofiish X800

Hmm. My target has shifted. Came across this yet to be released beauty. It has everything you can ask for in a PDA-phone, complete with touch screen, Wi-fi, 2MP camera, WM 6.0, GPS, Bluetooth.

Going ga-ga over it for the time being. Haha… Here’s some links i found on the web that should fuel my obsession.

Engadget
MS Mobiles
Cnet Asia

Would expect this to cost around 1.5k. Sheesh… alarmingly expensive. Yet, prudent expenditure for the rest of the year should amount to some savings (yes, $2 lunches equals $10 expenditure per week). You just spend $2 for lunch and although you want to buy something more, you’ll feel incredibly guilty about it, and walk away. That is working out fine for me. The less you have, the less you spend.

If this doesn’t work out, there’s always Nokia N95, which has seen its prices tumbling from $1268 at the start of April to $968 now. Besides, I’m only going to get a new phone next year.

Maybe I should start working immediately after *, prior to school (there’s a 2 month gap) and get paid 2k plus.

In a tidying/organising mood.

In a tidying/organising mood. Decided to make a list of gadgets i’ve owned/changed over time. Haha… a bit scary when you see how much technology has progressed in less than 10 years.

Lusting over Nokia N95. OMG. Would be perfect if it came with QWERTY. Alas, it doesn’t. We’ll see if something better comes along. If not, the first few proper paychecks will go towards paying for a new phone.

S65 – the phone

S65 – the phone
Originally uploaded by Monty Elm.

Sigh. Gadget craze again. This is such a handsome phone. Will be on my list when i next upgrade my handset next year. By then, prices would have dropped like lead. It comes with a 1.3 megapix camera. And 65k colour. Ooh la la!

Feeling rather perky today.

Feeling rather perky today. Got hold of a new apple ipod yesterday, after much deliberation. So far so good. It works well.

Discovered neat little games on MSN messenger 6.