Nokia 8600 Luna

Nokia 8600 Luna another slide cellular phone by Nokia. At first glance Nokia 8600 Luna impress us with its sleekness and elegant design. It looks as solid as 'rock'. some of its covers are made of glass and steel. So it is much heavier for its look it is even heavier than Nokia 6288.

However the Nokia 8600 Luna may let 3G users down. It.... is.... not.... a 3G cellular phone. But in terms of entertainment it is as good as a mini Jukebox. It is like a multimedia powerplant embedded within the device.

The slider is very pretty although not as practical as Nokia 5300. It serve as the cover for the keypad and the camera behind. It is a brilliant design but there is room for improvements.

Although it is not a 3G cellular phone the quadband operating frequencies have added a little bit of twist. It allows it to operate under various frequencies set by network operators.
It has 2.0 megapixel camera behind it which allows you to take camera like quality photo. As usual the loudspeaker and the memory card slot is located at the side of the cellular phone. The sound quality is good for its class. The internal memory is around 128 MB adequate enough to hold a few songs and photo.

In term of cost it cost around $900 or RM3000 quite expensive for a NON 3G phone

Resources:

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0S020yv_WtHB0YA62KjzbkF/SIG=13760ne60/EXP=1198346031/**http://www.techgadgets.in/mobile-phones/2007/01/the-nokia-860-luna-launched-finally

http://www.nokia.com.my/

Sony makes battery less important

One of Japan's Electronic Giant company Sony has develop the world's first battery less camera. The camera literally uses mechanical power to generate electricity to power the three megapixel camera. The Twil N' Take camera requires user to turn the wheel to generate edequate electricity to for the camera. Rotation for 15 seconds is enough for the camera to take a snap of photo.

The camera reminds us of Old antique car which require spinning in order for the engine to start. Since the design looks like a pizza cutter you will only need to move the wheel as if you are cutting a pizza.

Unlike ordinary digital camera this camera does not have LCD display which user can preview the photo they have taken. But they can download photos from the camera via computer. The camera is one of the Sony product at the Eco Style Fair.

Resource:

AFP

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hnAx0WpDOHPFPcd6aThsCKk98SyA

Melaka Historical City ( I would not call it a trip actually because I am from the local)

Last Saturday I went to Melaka to visit my unt. During my four days trip there we went to some of Melaka's famous historical places. On last Wednesday we have decided to make a visit to A Famosa and the Red House of Dutch. A Famosa fortress which is located at the foot of St.Paul's Hill and opposite to the Dataran Pahlawan. This fortress was built by the Portuguese which dates back to 16th century. It is one of the most visited fortress in Malaysia. It is built after the defeat of the Sultanate of Melaka which marked the end of the Sultanate. Alfonso de Albuquerque whom commanded the Portuguese fleet built the fortress to protect them from other foreign invaders. The fortress changed hand when Dutch successfully drove the Portuguese from Melaka. During the reign of Dutch they built churches and some of the administration building which are now known as the Red Houses. British had destroyed some portion of the fortress until Sir Stamford Raffles spare the small gate of the fortress from destruction.

The picture shown the small gate of the fortress which can be seen today.
This is the car used by our very first Prime Minister

Tunku Abdul Rahman during the announcement of independent. To my suprise the car is recondition and everything in the car is being replace with a new accessories and the paint and chrome are as shiny as new car. I wonder how do they get the accessories, even the radiator looks new. The brand of the car is Chevrolet. I have heard some of my relative saying that that brand is new and unreliable. Apparently they are totally wrong. But some of the accesories are a little bit too much such as cd player and modern speakers. It really affect the asthetic of the antique. Then we move on to the Red House of Dutch

While on our way to the Red House of Dutch we stop by at a excavation site. From what I read they are excavating a remain of the A Famosa Tower. The excavation is still in early process.
Next we move on to the Red House of Dutch. The Buildings there of course are in red. It is funny to see how the world have change. They use erected instead of build. and the material are very solid compared to nowadays' buildings.

Invisibility

When talking about invisibility, the first thing we can think of are Hollow man or something from the James Bond movies. Invisibility is no longer impossible as scientist have figure out a way that would one day make objects invisible. With the use of meta material, light can be bend around the object allowing light to pass through as if the object is not there. Researchers from Duke University have proven that objects can be invisible by using metamaterial as the shield. However it is not the true invisibily as it is a two dimensions cloaking and at microwave frequencies only. Visible light that human and animal perceive are at a much higher frequencies.

Hence Allan Greenleaf and his collegue from the University of Rochester have figure out a way to build a device which is able to make objects travelling through the device invisible. The device would cloak in three dimensions. It is like a electromagnetic wormhole which disconnect the object in the cylinder from the outside world electromagnetically. It would render the frequencies of light and causes it to blend into the surrounding. However the range of frequencies the device can render depends on what metamaterials have been produced. Thus the range of frequencies is limited.

It would still be useful in various application such as to neutralize the magnetic fields produced by MRI machine.

However the development of the device would still be a thing decades from now. But it has form a basis for the invisibilty cloak.

Resource:

photo courtesy of

Matti Lassas, Helsinki University of Technology

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071023-invisible-wormholes.html

Robocon 2008



Robocon or Robot Contest is an anual event for robot competition which representitive from every country will send their own made robot to compete in the contest. Higher education institutions in every country especially will participate the contest The is organised by Asia - Pasific Broadcasting Union. Every year there will be a new theme and objective. The 2008 Robocon will be held in Pune, India. The theme for 2008 Robocon is Govinda. The game play is easy where the team that manage to held all the cheese will be considered the winner by Govinda. The team that manage to score the highest marks will be the winner for the contest.

(one of the example of robot used in Robocon)

It requires collaboration between the manual robot and the automated robots. For example in order for the automated robot to score the center cheese cube it needs the help of the manual robot to held to a certain level so that the automated robot can reach the cheese cube. However that is not the only way for the automated robot to reach the cheese cube.

As usual there will be rules and regulations for each team to comply. Robocon 2008 is set to pose more challenge for the participants


Resource : http://www.roboconindia.com/downloads/ABU%20ROBOCON%202008%20Rule%20book%2015%20th%20OCTOBER%202007%20Update.pdf, University Tun Hussien Onn

Increase Visibility of Your Website

There are many ways to increase the visibility of your website. You can either hire an advertising company to advertise your website or you can do it yourselft by using advertising program such as Google Adwords. However no matter how often you advertise you are not able to receive high traffic to your website. One of the reason is that you are not using your own domain name. Instead you use a share domain name which contain the the company name which your website is based on.

Domain name plays an important role in boosting your traffic hit. First of all the domain name gives a good impression to your visitor making your website seem well established. This will increase the confident of your visitors to your website. When you have your own domain name you can remove the undesired web advertisement which can be quite annoying especially when their present is not intended.

Registration of domain name can be made through your hosting company or through a domain registration company such as http://www.godaddy.com.

3rd Generation Technology

3G is a new mobile standards and technology that will eventually replace 2G communication in the future. It conform the International Telecommunication Union family standard which offer wider range of more advanced services such as video call. In October 1, 2001 NTT DoCoMo was the first company to launch commercial W-CDMA network followed by South Korea.

Transition from 2G network to 3G was not easy in fact most of the countries have not completed the transition of 2G to 3G. The main problem faced by them is the cost to build an entirely new system to support 3G with an exception in US where 3G and 2G can operate within the same frequency hence cost is greatly reduced.

With the high speed data transmission, data and files can be downloaded to a computer via 3G connection in a short period of time. This can be done by connecting a 3G phone or data card to a computer.

The world is expected to reach full migration to 3G network by 2020.

Old gadget Vs New gadget

There are some gadgets nowadays simply can't beat their predecessors. It is not because of the technology of the device is not advanced enough or lack of funding. It is because some fundamental elements have been abandoned when they design the gadget. For example if you compare the quality of the music played through MP3 player and music played through black disk you will notice some differences in their quality. The music stored in the MP3 player has been compressed and some of the details has been abandoned so it would fit into a compact data. While the black disk store everythings in it. Of course the chance of defect to the black disk is indisputable.

Another example of old versus new is the camera. Analog camera apparently has much higher resolution than the digital ones. No matter how high is the megapixels of the digital camera it still can't outdo the analog camera in terms of resolution. Unless they found a way to manufacture sensor which is made of tiny molecue then it would be comparable/replaceable. Which is why now some still prefer to use analog camera.

Conclusion, don't ever look down on old school device !!!

Kimi Räikkönen loosing his cool

He was hailed as the Iceman of McLaren team but things have change ever since he moved to Ferrari. Failing to shine in a few GPs this year could really cause him to loose his cool especially when his car fails him. Fernando Alonso who replace Kimi as the main driver of McLaren begin to keep up with the pace. While Alonso's teammate Lewis Hamilton is pretty outstanding when he manage to get his way to the podium. On the other hand, Felipe Massa did a quite impressive job for Ferrari by winning two of five GPs this year.

For Kimi and Ferrari it is simply mixing Ice and Fire. It will still take a while for Kimi to tame his car.

Pepperspray gadget/weapon/hazard

I have seen people buying pepperspray for their own self protection. How effective is it? A pepperspray is really a great gadget for one to protect themselve from any harm by anyone. But not many know the proper way to use it. Some don't even use it instead they put it in the most confine place in their hand bag or cloth.

Without a proper way to use it, it can be a weapon or hazard to themselve. I have read in the newspaper that someone fell into their own trap because they did not know how to use the pepperspray. It become a very helpful tools to the perpetrator.

Before you are ready to use it there are some tips or instruction that you need to follow.

They are:

1. Spray in the direction of the wind. You don't want the pepper liquid to end up in your eyes/nose do you !!!

2. Keep at a place where is reachable but not at a place where you put all your make up or stationary.

3. Don't panic. This is the usual advice you will hear but it is rational because some pepperspray comes with a stopper/pin that you need to pull or twist before you can use it.

4. Learn some basic moves so that you can have an easy target on your opponent.

5. Have a short blink or turn your head slightly before you spray. But make sure you targeted your opponent. This is to avoid the pepper liquid to reach your eye or nose.

6. Have a real case scenario practice without spraying it. This is to prepare yourself for the worst.

Computer addiction

Computer addiction? Fact or trend? It seems like usual phenomenon happening around the world. The fact is we cannot live comfortably without computer. Since everything is computerised these days there is hardly anything is done by manually literally. Bill payments and shopping are done through computer at home. Everything is easy with computer.

We play and entertain ourselve on the computer. It is said that live is boring without computer. For computer addicts they simply can't see their computer being off. A touch on the keyboard gives them satisfaction. It seems as the mother of all entertainment gadgets.

Despite the disadvantages of computer addiction is not unknown but many just deny it.

Anti-shake on the camera

I have notice some of the cameras available in the market claim they have anti-shake technology. The question is how much we need it. For usual people it seems a great technology to have in the camera. But for an intermediate or sports lover is it helpful?

I was told that the technology is to reduce blurry image due to shaky hand. And it is not design to reduce blurry image due to moving object. The image of moving ball, bird and so on cannot be captured clearly even with when the anti-shake is on.

Which means we still have to rely on lame old method such as shutter, aperture, exposure control and the tripod. Remote shutter release also encouraged. I guess with the remote I won't be needing the anti-shake after all.

DIY Security system experiment

You have seen in the movie that some security system uses laser as the trigger/sensor. You actually can built a simple version of that by using the cheapest material you can get in the market.

Apparatus or material you need
1. Light sensitive light/chime/music box
2. Laser pointer
3. Mirrors

First thing that you need to so is to install the light sensitive light or some call it "cat eyes". Then to protect it from the high intensity laser you can paste a thin film on the sensor. The more opaque the film the brighter place it can be installed to. But not too opaque because it will not function well. Set the light sensitive light/etc to switch on when the laser is pointed at the sensor and off then the laser is not pointed at it.

Secondly is to install the laser pointer. Anywhere you install you need to direct the ray of the laser to the sensor or the light sensitive light/etc. Then you are done.

Try to block the ray of the laser. If the light sensitive light/etc turns on, that means it works. If it is not, it is because the film you use to cover the sensor is too thin which cause daylight to light it.

You must be wondering what is the mirror for. It is for you to reflect the light as desired to form a web of laser ray. You need to ensure that the reflected laser light/ray ends at the sensor.

Pc Fairs in Malaysia

Pc fairs were held seperately at three different places Kuala Lumpur, Johor, and Kuantan. I went to the Kuala Lumpur ones which located at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center to accompany my cousin to buy her digital camera. I went to the fair first before my cousin joined me a couple hours later. When I reached there I had entered the wrong entrance. Then there were security guards asking for the pass card. They explain that the entrance was not meant for us it is for the fair personnels. They shown me the entrance to the fair which actualy was an alternative and longer way to ground floor to the fair entrance.

When I took the way shown by the security guard I was confused by the sign board shown which had lead me to wander around for nothing !!! Finally I found the way to the fair which located exactly at the end of the floor where I met the GUARDS !!! They have shown me the wrong way !!! I continued to look around at the fair. What makes me angry is that the directions are confusing and it is one way !!!

On the other hand unlike the previous year, this year they made it more organised and easier to search the wanted booth. At level three you have the computers, softwares and the sound system. At level one you have computers, printers and cameras. I did not really have a good look at the computers and sound system as I was concentrating to search for the digital cameras which my cousin was looking for. My cousin search for Panasonic Lumix digital camera booth but there was no Panasonic booth. I cannot find any Panasonic booth and I learnt that the Panasonic Lumix digital cameras was shown seperately on different booths.

Then I walked out of the fair and wait for my cousin to arrive. Later we went to search for the booth which sell the Panasonic Lumix cameras. My cousin was not satisfy with the models shown there and decided not to buy at that day. Instead she bought a mouse at RM10.

She and her father fetch me to the bus station at Pekeliling so that I can wait for my father there.

myLot

myLot offers online discussions for users to post their discussions or comments. What is interesting about myLot is that they pay you for your comment. You earn everytime you post a comment, photo, or discussion. The earning record is updated once every 24 hours so if you want to see how much you earn from the website you will have to revisit it the next day to find out.

You can also refer your friends to participate it and you will earn the revenue. It is pretty much the same as yahoo answer but instead of getting points you get money

Try it out!!! click here to find out

Sony HD Handycam camcorder

There are many digital camcorders in the market nowadays. We are often in lost when it comes to choosing the right digital camcorder. Most of us are not satisfy with the performance of the digital camcorder because most does not produce the best resolution of video. Sony HD handycam is the best choice for those who wanted good and professional quality of video without having to spend thousands of dollars to buy it.

The reason behind its brilliant high definition video recording is its ClearVid CMOS Sensor (2.1 mega pixels). The sensor itself works as the video sensor and the still image camera sensor. That is why it is able to produce almost tv like quality. Compared to conventional digital camcorder, this camcorder allows you to view video at a larger size without any defect. On the other hand, like any other Sony camera it uses Carl Zeiss® Vario-Sonnar® T* Lens (Filter Diameter: 30mm）with the optical zoom of 10x and digital zoom of 80x. It also have its famous Super Nightshot which makes night recording easy and better.

The types of disk supported by this camcorder are 8cm DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW discs. This explain why it is called HD as the videos recorded consume a fairly large size.

Being a HD camcorder it also works brilliant as a still image camera. Still image recording with this camcorder you can have max. 4.0 mega pixels of still image. There are also added features such as Digital Effect, Picture Effect, and Electronic SteadyShot.

Try it yourself you will amaze what it offers.

Resources and picture from
http://www.sony.com.my/sonystyle/product/productinfo_handycam.asp?Subcategoryid=26

Lulu publication

If you are a good writer and has something to write just about anything, you can consider to publish your own book and sell it worldwide. Lulu is the best publisher for you. Lulu offers publish on demand which mean they only publish book when there is an order from your customer. You might think publish a book needs tons of money but since Lulu publishes on demand you will only need to pay when there is an order. Publication through Lulu does not require a lot money. It is suitable for people who do not want to spend much money on their book.

What is more interesting about Lulu is they obtain the content from you through online submitting. The format accepted by Lulu include doc., text, html and so on. There is a wizard for you to use which make your book publishing easy and convinient. All your There are also other medias for you to choose to publish such as CD and ebook. Publishing Ebook and CD is free of charge. Gadgetprob.blogspot.com also uses Lulu as the publisher for its Ebook.

Vsit www.lulu.com for more information

KLIA

Located at Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport is one of the best airport in the world. I have visited KLIA recently to accompany my cousins who was about to go back to Germany. According to KLIA it has been awarded as the World's Best Airport category 5-25 million passengers. The design of the building is futuristic despite built in 1998. It has 13 check-in platforms which are seperated into domestic and international. It also claims the tallest air control tower in the world if I am not mistaken.


Unlike other airports the KLIA is rather spacious where it will not be too crowded with passengers. Passsengers actually find it easy to check in and walk around the airport. The management of the airport is also sastifying as safety and cleanliness are always the main concerns. Besides parking at the parking lot is made easy where you no longer need to take the card but chip token from the machine.




What is more interesting is that you can always find your way to KLIA because there are many road links to it. Whether you are from the South, East, West or North you will always see the sign board to KLIA. But the shortest distant to KLIA is through Cyberjaya and Putrajaya. If you cannot drive there there are many transport mode can be choose from. You can choose to travel by bus or taxi. You can also choose the KLIA transit which stretch from KL sentral to KLIA which takes about 30 minutes or less.

Turn hobbies into business using Ebay.com.my and Lelong.com.my

In your spare time you may have spend some times with your hobbies but have you wonder how you can turn your hobby into business. If you have hobby such as collecting objects you might consider to sell your collections. Website such as Ebay is the best platform for you to begin your business. Ebay allows you to sell anything that conform to its rules and regulation. If you have something legal to sell you can sign up for an account at Ebay/Lelong. The charges differ depending on which country you live.


Lets say you have old used cloths which are still in perfect condition and you want to sell them. The first thing to do is of course sign up for an account at Ebay/Lelong.com.my. Secondly you have to list your item to Ebay/Lelong.com.my. You will be redirect to a form containing text boxes and options which you have to complete. The step is crucial because you have to enter the information, description, photo, and category of you item and the period which your listing will last. If you are a beginner, Ebay allows you to list your item for a week. Once you reach a certain feedback points you will be able to list your item at a longer period and buyer can buy your item without placing bid. Lelong.com.my imposes charges on photo and the package that you choose. while Ebay.com.my you can do it for free. Each item that you list will have an equal chance of being on top of the list because it is ranked according to the time left for auction.

Once buyer have won the bid on your item you will receive an Email. Using that email you are able to contact the buyer and discuss how payment and posting will be made. You can hire your own delivery company to do the delivery for you. But if you choose to use the normal mailing service it is ok too but your item is not insured. Some buyers request for a secure delivery and you have to hire a delivery company which offer security for you item.

Before you attempt to sell your item on Ebay or Lelong it is important that you do a market research on your item. This is crucial as that will enable you to choose the right thing to sell on Ebay or lelong.

Paid surveys

You may come accross with some site which offer paid surveys. It works by paying someone to give their opinion on the products or service. However there are many gimmick out there praying for someone to fall into their trap. But there are also companies that conduct paid surveys legally. Most of the paid surveys offer reward such as electronic products and coupons. To avoid from falling into these trap or gimmick it is important that you read its terms and conditions and have a background check of their company.


Most paid surveys are done through email and a few through phone. If you have registered for a paid survey you will receive email from one or multiple companies asking for your opinion. Once you complete the survey your point or credit will be recorded. Until you reach the minimum limit implemented by the company you will be able to draw your money. One of the paid surveys is http://www.planet-planet.com. They will send surveys via emails and your credit will be recorded as pulse. The planet-pulse.com's pulse worth $1 for every 100 pulses. Some surveys earn you 300 pulses up to 1000 pulses. Once you reach 2500 pulses you will be able to draw or receive payments via paypal.

O2 Xda Atom Pure

It's the limited edition version of 02 Xda Atom. All the features in the O2 Xda Atom are still seen in this PDA phone. The different is its colour which is in white. The specifications of this phone is as below.

Specifications

Dimensions:

-Approx. 58(W) x 102(L) x 18.5(T) mm

-Weight with battery: 140g

-Operating System: -Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0

Display:

-2.7" TFT LCD display with touch panel

-240 x 320 dots resolution

-Supports 262K colours (65,536 effective)

Operating time :

-Standby: 150 hours

-Talk time up to 5.5 hours

(Battery life may vary depending on RF conditions and actual usage)

GSM/GPRS Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:

-GSM900

-GSM1800

-GSM1900

Bluetooth/Wireless LAN:

-Bluetooth SIG version 1.2 compliant

-IEEE 802.11b compliant

Memory size:

-Flash ROM: 128MB

-RAM: 64MB

Audio:

-Stereo speaker

-Speaker with receiver

-Omni-directional mono microphone

-Support speaker phone operation

-Ringtone support: 64-chord MIDI, MP3, WMA, WAV

-Playback support: MIDI, MP3, WMA, WAV, AMR

Camera:

-Colour 2-megapixel CMOS camera

-Preview mirror for self portrait -White LED strobe flash

-Support still image and video capture

(specifications taken from http://www.seeo2.com/product/XdaAtom/template/XdaAtomProductInfo.vm)

The most interesting thing that I found in this PDA phone is its screen which is clear, bright, and big. It is made for photo taking and photo viewing. I have tried to download videos into the phone and the quality is superb. This phone comes with a 2-megapixel CMOS camera which is pretty good for a phone. The quality of photo taken using this phone is outstanding because when you take photo on a phone you usually don't get the best quality. But with this phone you can take photo as if using a digital camera. It also comes with two loud speakers which are suitable for listening music and viewing video.

Most of the features in this phone are satisfying. Since It uses Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 you will have the standard version of application such as Powerpoint and Word. Using applications on this phone is rather a little bit tricky and consuming alot of energy. You cannot open many applications at a time as it take too much memory space and your phone will get slower. If you the applications for two hours after recharging it will get depleted and need to recharge again. But when you don't use the phone you can put it into standby. Just like using a computer it has a manager just like task manager in the computer. When you close an application you need to go to its manager to close it or the application will keep on running and consuming the battery.

Talk time for this phone is 5.5 hours which is fairly short for phone. When you want to dial a phone number you need to use the pen to press the numbers desired or you can go to the menu and choose the recorded numbers.

Recharging the phone usually took 3-5 hours the led on the phone will indicate whether it is fully recharge or not. Active user usually get 2 hours of running time after fully recharge. Passive users who always on a standby mode will get about 100 hours. This phone do not turn off it just standby. When you remove the battery it is consider turn off. A reset button is located under the phone beside headphones port.

Conclusion this phone is suitable for advanced user and gadget geek.

Resourses and photo from http://www.seeo2.com/product/XdaAtom/template/XdaAtomProductInfo.vm

http://www.ow.com.au

Sony Ericsson W850i

The Sony Ericsson W850I is one of the slide cellphones introduced by Sony Ericsson. Sony Ericsson W850i is a 3G and walkman cellphone. If you ask anybody on the street which cellphone brand provide better sound quality they will tell you it's Sony Ericsson. The W850i has a slick and ergonomical design. When the keypad is closed you can still access its applications by pressing the buttons on the slide. Playing games and listen to the music are made easy with those buttons. The size of the cellphone is not big but thick. The dimensions of the cellphone is 98 x 47 x 21 mm. The screen is fairly big which has a resolution of 240 x 320 pixel and uses 262144 colours TFT lcd screen. It comes in two colours, the Precious Black and Golden White. Like most Sony Ericsson's cellphones this one has a 2-megapixel camera and a loud speaker behind it.

This cellphone has some added features. One of them is the 2-megapixel camera with 2.5 X digital zoom as mentioned. Taking photo using this cellphone is as if using a digital camera. The resolution and quality of the photo taken are incredible for a cellphone. Taking photo using previous model is not as easy where you need bright surrounding to get the best quality. For this cellphone, taking photo is as easy as using a camera and you do not need a bright surrounding to get the best quality. On the other hand this cellphone allows you to do photo blogging and video recording. Each photo that you took with this cellphone can be log as photo blog. Video recording does not change much from the previous model except for the quality.

When you buy a Sony Ericsson cellphone, the first thing comes in mind is the sound. Since W850i is a walkman cellphone you will get better sound quality and better MP3 application. In terms of loudness and the quality of sound from the loud speaker it is still outdone by the W550i. But when you use the headphones you will realise that the sound quality is just as good. What I like about the Sony Ericsson's walkman cellphone is its megabass feature in its MP3 application. You will no longer need a woofer to get the effect. A Sony Ericsson headphones is provided with this cellphone. If you prefer using your own headphones, you can do so because Sony Ericsson has provided an adapter.

Getting entertainment from this cellphone is easy because there are several applications that are preloaded on this cellphone. This cellphone supports 3D and java games suitable for those mobile gamers. The preloaded applications are Radio, video clip and video streaming. The internet feature has not change much, you still has the internet browser like most cellphone. But what I am interested in is the RSS feed reader. With the RSS reader you are able to read some of the topics from your favourite website. The design folder has the standard applications and the new Macromedia Flash lite. I have not explore all of the features and applications but I can tell you that this cellphone is worth the price.

Most of the buttons and keys are easy to pressed. But I don't like about this cellphone is the plastic surrounding the multimedia buttons on the cellphone. It is easily torn when you use it for about a few months.

Conclusion, this cellphone suitable for music and game lovers. It is the far most practical cellphone I have ever seen.

Resourse and picture from

Sony Ericsson

My trip to Johor

Last Monday my family and I went to Johor to visit my grandmother and all uncles relatives in conjunction of Chinese New Year. Everything was fine that day until an incident happend. That day, we rode in our 6 years old Proton Wira to Salang, Johor where my grandma lives. We started our journey at about 9 a.m and reach there by 1 p.m. I had a chit chat there with all the relatives until 4 p.m I followed my unt and cousins back to Melaka. On our way back we stop at a temple for a pray. Then we continue our journey back to Melaka. My family took off at 6 p.m and took the high way while my unt, cousins and I took the old road. When we reach Tangkak(Melaka), I had receive a call from my mother saying that the car had broke down at Tangkak toll (what a coincidence) and being tow to the nearest repair shop. My unt who was driving the car made a U turn to go to the repair shop.


When we reach to the repair shop, we saw the whole engine was on the floor in pieces. My unt and the mechanic had a quarrel over the engine because she thought it was a scamp. The mechanic gave alot of excuses on why he took the engine off the car. The mechanic also said that the car will only be fixed on monday. Knowing that nothing more that could be done, my family, cousins and my unt decided to go back to Melaka. My unt had called her rich friend to fetch my family back to Melaka. 30 minutes after the call my unt's friend came with a Merc S class and fecthed my family back to Melaka.

My Family went back to karak, Pahang but I stayed at Melaka. Since my father will take the car on Monday I will be joining him back to Karak.

Chinese New Year off

I will be off for a while to celebrate Chinese New Year.

New forum

Hi everyone out there check this out Gadgetprob has just got its forum page. Click at the link below to chat in our forum.

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Blindness(from what I read)

Blind is the disability to see lights, colors, and objects. Blindness can be catogorised into congenital and post-congenital. In the case of congenital blindness, only small number of infants patient can be cured through operation. Adult congenital patient cannot be cured totally through cornia transfer. It is because they have not seen colors since birth and have problems in intrepting visual. Most of them gone blind again after operation. They can see visual through their eyes but they cannot interpret the visual that they receive thus ignored it. They return to the old method by the sense of touch. While the post-congenital blindness can be cured through cornea transfer and has no problem seeing things.


Now post-congenital patients will probably need no cornea transfer as a scientific breakthough has been made. It is the bionic eyes which comprises of a digital camera, computer, and cables/wires. The digital camera works by receiving visual and convert the visual into electrical signals. The signals are then sent to a computer which will then turn the electrical signals into electrical impulses by simulating the impulses from an eye. The electrical impulses are then transfered through cables into the brain. Success experiment shown that patient were able to see images through the digital camera but the resolution was poor and it was in black and white. Improvements will be made onto the model to provide a better resolution and probably color vision.
Another variant has also being introduced. It is from a team of researcher from the California's Standford Unvertsity United State America. The different is it does not require cables/wires to be installed to the brain. It uses chip and photodiod which are implated into the eye. The processed data will be transfered to the chip via infra-red which will then activates the photodiod to create impulses to the brain.

In the future I hope that there will be bionic eyes which is good enough to replace human eyes.

Source from
wikipedia and estidot.

Photo from
igargoyle.com/archives/BionicEye.html

MP3 player

When buying a MP3 player the most important thing to look is the memory. For music lovers of there who want to buy a MP3 player they must first count how many songs that they will download into their MP3 player. By doing the estimation we are going to know the approximate memory space that we need. If you are planning to put mp3 around 200-300 the least memory space is 512MB . Let say that you do not know how much you will put in it, the best memory space for a MP3 player is 2GB and above. Some brands have a hard disk in it rather than a flash memory. MP3 player using hard disk memory offers larger space around 20GB which is vast. You can have the whole jukebox inside the MP3 player. Hard disk MP3 players oftenly cost more than a flash memory MP3 players but it allows you to download high quality music which will take alot of space if you are using a flash memory MP3 player. Due to its large memory space, some brands offer video and photo support which allow you to play video and photo on the player itself. Example of brands that use hard disk are Apple ipod, Creative Zen, and Iriver.

Secondly, if you want to save money I will suggest you buy MP3 with expandable memory via SD/MMC or other cards. Expandable memory allows you to change card to expand the memory of the MP3 player just like changing a CD from a CD player. The highest memory space of card in the market currently is 4GB which is around 900 MP3. The advantage of the expandable memory is that you can take the card out and put it on another devices. While the flash memory MP3 players has no removable memory which you need to decide how much music do you want in your player. You will always need to buy the highest memory for a flash memory MP3 player.

Buy MP3 and MP4 Players at Factory Prices from China at DHgate

Like choosing a digital camera size does matter. The size is preferably small and compact which allows you to put in your pocket. Flash memory MP3 players comes in small size but the hard disk memory MP3 player is slightly larger. Improvement often being made to reduce the size if not thinner. Talking about the weight of the MP3 player, it is mostly depends on where do you want to put. If you want to put it in your pocket it is advised to choose a lighter weighted MP3 player. But if you want to put it in the bag then weight does not matter.

For better music quality it is recommend that you find a MP3 player which has equalizer feature. Equalizer allows you to control the bass and treble of the music so that you can get the best effect. Most MP3 player has a preset equalizer which you can choose only the theme but not the individual frequency. On the other hand the type and the perfomance of the headphone should be concerned. Some headphones come with voice cancelling feature which automatically create a silent surrounding so that noise will not defect the quality of music that you listen. There are also airtight headphones which is tightly placed in your ears. This kind of headphones produces better bass and treble with less noises.

The type of battery the MP3 player uses also important. Most players uses AAA battery which is easier to find. But you need a rechargeable battery to save cost. The best option is to use in-built rechargeable battery. Most hard disk players have in-built battery.

CD players which supports MP3 is not recommended because the performance of MP3 will be affected. Shocks will make MP3 jerky. Although CD player produces better sound quality but you need an anti-shock for it.

Finally you need to ensure the format of music that your MP3 player supports. Some MP3 players cannot play copyright protected MP3. So makes sure you do some research on that .Now there is a type of player called the MP4 player which allows you to download music video as well as MP3 files. If you want to buy one of those make sure that it is the best one that you could find. These player often have problem with the format of music video.

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Creative Prodikeys PC-MIDI

Can you imagine how you can work and play at the same time? Creative Prodikeys PC-MIDI keyboard is your choice. The Creative Prodikeys PC-MIDI is a keyboard that has music keys on it just like those you found on a piano or organ. It is a multimedia keyboard that allows you to have a full control of media and system applications. The Singapore based company has introduce this range of keyboard to compete with other major players such as Apple, Microsoft,and Logitech.

The keyboard works just like any other keyboard just that it has several added features. Besides the standard QWERTY keyboard and the F-keys there are multimedia buttons. The multimedia buttons are the music button, communication buttons such as internet browser, email, and instant messenger which also work as the sustain/octave shift when you are using the music keys, organizer which include calculator, address book, and calender, My Favourite buttons which you can access documents, photos, and folder easily, the system buttons which allow you to lock your computer or put your computer on stand-by, and lastly there are media playback buttons which allow you to control your media player. All these multimedia buttons is arrange with a small distant apart so that you can seperate the different function. A volume control wheel is also included on the keyboard. It is place beside the QWERTY keyboard. Will all the multimedia buttons and wheel you will never have to touch the mouse again to control your media player. The QWERTY keyboard is sleek and silent even a fast typist finds it hard to get sound out from it. But there may have some defect due to its manufacture period which you find some keys are a little bit sticky. The dept of the keys when pressed is quite shallow that you can miss some keys or spoil it when you pressed it hard.

The music keys is place under the QWERTY keyboard. You can play the music keys using the software provided such as Creative FunMix, EasyNotes and MiniKeyboard. The FunMix allows you to play various kind of sound effect and music and you can also record the Mix that you played. While the EasyNotes allows you to learn music by using midi files. The pre-installed midi files allow you to learn to play simple musics and if you want something more you can use your own or downloaded midi files to learn how to play. But not all your midi files or downloaded midi can be used using this software. The EasyNotes does not allow you to play two tracks at the same times. So if you have a midi which have several tracks you have to choose one of it to learn ( I will suggest that you use the melody track to learn) or you can learn all of the tracks and combine it using you mind. But you need time to do that if you do not know music notes at all. The MiniKeyboard software allows you to use the music key like a mini keyboard which you can play music just like playing the piano and you can record your own music. There are many instruments to choose from from piano to gunshot. The music keys somehow is not as sensitive as it seems because you will miss one or two keys when playing music fast. You need to press harder to get the tone. When you are not using the music keys, there is a cover for the music keys which works as the palm rest for your keyboard.

This keyboard is compatible to most of the software available such as Overture. You are able to use other software to record the music you played. But there are some softwares which is not compatible or are not working well with this keyboard. They appear to be lag and the key only appear a few second after you play it. So it will effect the quality and performance of your music. This keyboard is recommended to use Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi for the best result. Bundle with this keyboard is the software CD and the snap-on color faceplate which you can change your self to change the mood of the keyboard. The provided faceplate are in grey and pink. Since the installation of driver of this keyboard in Window Xp will encounter some problems, the Window Xp installation manual is also included depending on the manufacturer.

This keyboard is suitable for those who use cellphone that supports midi. It allows you to play and save music so that you can send it to your phone as a ringtone.

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Limewire,Bearflix, and Morpheus files sharing softwares

Downloading files from the internet could not be any faster by using Peer-to-peer based files sharing softwares. Limewire, bear flix, Morpheus and Winmx are examples of P2P files sharing softwares. P2P is basically enable users to download files from more than one source. It makes downloading files, musics, videos, and photos incredibly fast. Compared to single sourse download it takes as fast as 3 minutes to complete a 3MB download depends on the speed of the connection. Currently Limewire is the most popular download software according to www.download.com and followed by Bearflix and Morpheus. The three of them run on Gnutella network.

Limewire has the most users among the three which makes search result better and more accurate. It is simple to use as the layout is simple. All buttons are easy to reach and understand. It also supports torrent which users will use it to download torrent files. When you are searching for files through Limewire the search result will be display in a list which the file contains the most sources will be rank first in the list. By downloading the files with the most sources the speed of download will be increased. The reason is the rate of data transfer has increased which you download several parts from different sources. Some music, video and photo download need license before you can download it. Most of the music can be download without license enquiry.

Bearflix is suitable for video download. Like Limewire its template is also simple but with different design. Searching video files is easy and they are arrange in rank just like Limewire. You can leave it runs at the background and it will complete the download for you each time you connect to the net. License enquiry is weak and content filter is easily by-passed.

Morpheus on the other hand has a more sophisticated design and the layout is a little bit complicated (you might get lost !!!). Downloading videos and musics is fast but the problem with the Morpheus is the strict license enquiry which you cannot download any video or music that you like without license. Even home made videos or sound are hard to be downloaded. But if you are downloading a zip files the Morpheus is the best.

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What to look when buying digital camera

If you are thinking of abandon old school film camera and want to find a digital camera or your present digital camera is not doing its best. Here are some simple tips for beginners.

The first thing is of course the pixels. Pixels are the number of dots of colours on your photo, the higher it is the higher the resolution. Most of the digital camera this day has pixels in term of mega or one million. If you have use one digital camera before I am sure you have heard someone asking how much is your camera pixels. If you are those who is just want to take a normal photo without enlarging it 2 megapixels and higher is good. If you want to enlarge the photo in the size of A4 you have to buy a digital camera with at least 3 megapixels. If you want a bigger size of photo you have to buy digital camera with at least 5 megapixels. Sometimes you seen a word call interpolation. It written 3 megapixels and 6 megapixels by interpolation. Interpolation is a method of increasing the number of pixel artificially. The quality is not best but enough for you to get a good photo. That technology are one of those used in CSI as seen in the movie. Interpolation has its limit so it depends on how the developers improve it. Different companies have different technology and you have to be an expert to know which one works the best but for most of us we just have to listen to what it claims.

Secondly, is the optical zoom of the digital camera. Most basic digital cameras have no optical zoom but they have a digital zoom. The difference between an optical zoom and digital zoom is the resolution or the quality. Optical zoom does not enlarge the photo but it makes lights from distant object to be concentrated or absorbing more light from the object. This makes the object can be seen in detail. Digital camera enlarge the photo and it seems like it was zoomed but it is not. The object you zoom with digital zoom can be seen large but not as detailed. Typical optical zoom for a digital camera is 3x while digital zoom is 2x and 4x when playback. For beginner optical zoom of 3x is good but if you want to do more then you may consider optical zoom of 8x and higher. No matter how high the digital zoom is, it cannot be compared to optical zoom.

Next is the type of battery that the digital camera uses. The most popular battery used in camera is AA type battery. But for heavy use of digital camera you need to use alkaline batteries. Some digital cameras would not work using carbon-zinc battery or the normal battery that you bought for $1 or RM1-4 such as Everyready Heavy Duty. The most popular brand of alkaline disposable battery are the Energizer and Duracell. If you want to use rechargeable battery, the build in lithium-ion battery is a popular choice or you can use rechargeable AA alkaline battery NiMH/NiCd but I will encourage the use of NiMH because it provides higher mAh. mAh of 1800 is the least and you will need higher mAh to provide longer use of digital camera.

The features of the digital camera are also important. The most crucial feature is the night scene mode. You will need that when shooting photo in dark places. Besides if the digital camera has manual shutter, exposure and aperture option I will encourage you to buy that camera as well. Manual shutter, exposure and aperture replace the roles of all the feature such as sports, slow and night scene. Learn how to use the manual shutter, exposure and aperture enable you to take brilliant photo. Build in flash are also important but you cannot determine how flash would work in different condition. Choose digital camera which has an optional external flash socket on it if you can. If you can't it is ok.

The types of memory storage is quite important. The most convenient type of memory storage is the sd or mmc cards. But sometimes different companies uses different type of memory storage for example most of Canon's digital camera uses CF card. There are companies which uses its own memory storage such as Sony's digital camera which uses memory stick. The memory size of the card must at least 256mb or common use and at least 1gb for heavy use.

Design and size are also important when choosing a digital camera. If you want a digital camera which can be fitted in your pocket you have to choose a compact digital camera. If you do not mind about the bulky lens and size of the camera you can choose the SLR type of digital camera. SLR has no movable part as in the compact digital camera which has a movable lens. The easies way to choose whether a design is good or not is to hold it your self if you are comfortable holding it then the design is ok if you feel heavy and tired while holding the camera then it does not suit you.

Other special features are not important as it depends on each individual needs. For example Nikon's digital cameras come with a wifi connection which is benificial for website or administration relating personels. Feature such as remote controlled shutter is good for night shooting.

Accessories is an option external tools. The most important accessory is the tripod. Tripod is used when you want to shoot night scene, panorama, scenery, and self timer. Secondly, straps and bags are also important because you don't want to loose or drop you camera.

Rechargeable battery

There are many brands and types of rechargeable battery in the market. It is an option for those who want to save their cash on something else rather than buying batteries which last for only a few couple of hours. One of the most common rechargeable battery types is the NiCd rechargeable battery. It is a good choice for general purposes such as the tv remote control and the battery for clocks. If you want to use rechargeable batteries on a camera the NiMH and the Li-ion rechargeable battery is an option. NiCd, NiMH and the Li-ion are all alkaline rechargeable battery which provide higher mAH at lower e.m.f/voltage.

No matter what brand that you buy the most important thing to observe on the battery is its mAH. The higher it is the longer it will last until you recharge it again. As I mention in the earlier post the most suitable mAH of battery used in cameras or any other high energy consumption device must at least has a mAH of 1800 and higher. NiMH and Li-ion rechargeable batteries are the common ones used in digital cameras. NiMH and NiCd oftenly built as rechargeable AAs while the Li-ion is built as a built-in rechargeable battery.

The brands of rechargeable battery that I will recommend are GP, Energizer, Sony and Panasonic. The built in battery is not really built-in but it is custom made so that only the device will use that battery. Built-in battery often costly so make sure that you don't spoil it.

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Web camera

Web camera or pc camera are one of the most popular gadget used in telecomunication or surveillance. Most of the instant messenger this day has the webcam feature which allows you to start a teleconferencing. There are many webcam manufacturers in the martket. So what can we do to choose the right webcam?

Depending on the type of webcam you buy the quality of the captured video and photo differs. Most of the webcam in the market has a video capture resolution up to 640x480 pixels which is adequate for teleconferencing. Webcam usually uses a VGA CMOS sensor. Some manufactures use high quality VGA sensor which provides clearer, brighter and more vivid video or photo. There are some webcam which is able to capture still photo of resolution up to 6 megapixels by or without interpolation. If you want a webcam which able to record smooth and fast video the minimum frames per second of the webcam must at least 30fps. For typical use 15fps is good for teleconferencing while the 30fps is the best but it depend very much on your internet connection speed. If your internet connection is slow you must set the frames per second to the minimum. The frames per second mean how many frames of photo is captured in a second to form a video. The higher the frames per second the faster and smoother the video. The typical format of video used in webcam is avi which is uncompressed type of video format. Some webcam uses mpeg4 format which makes video recording on webcam has a smaller size and higher quality. While photo capture uses jpeg or bmp format. Webcam works pretty similar to digital camera which you can set the quality of video, the sensitivity, the brightness, and so on.

The extra features offered in some webcam are light, microphone, and auto-swing. Lights is not necessary but if the light condition in the room is too dim you might consider to have a webcam with l.e.d light. Webcam with in-built microphone is a good choice as you do not need external microphone which you need to clip it on your ears or place your mouse to the microphone to talk. The auto-swing feature is for those who uses webcam as a surveillance camera at house or office. It is ideal for watching kids and culprits.

Recommended brands

1. Creative

2. Logitech

3. Microsoft

4. Apple

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Referer program

Affiliates is one of the ways of earning money by showing advertisements on your website or blog. But there are another kind of program which allow you earn money through referer. Referer is basically sending a link to your friends or someone else to visit sites . Instead of showing ads to the public they use people like you to promote their site. Every people you refer will be recorded in your account. The more people you refer the more money that you will get.

Agloco is an example of referer company. It provides view bar just like tools bar on your browser but the different is the Agloco view bar contain advertisement. So each time your the users that you refer sign up, download the view bar or click on the advertisement on the view bar you will earn you revenue. Companies advertise on Agloco have to pay Agloco for certain amount of money and some of it will be given to you as a commission.

Agloco is one of the website I found when surfing the net. Other referer are google, yahoo, forex-affiliates and so on.

Motorola SLVR L7

Looks alot similar to L6 the motorola SLVR L7 offers more features and entertaining apeal. The new features added in include brigther screen, better speaker, expandable memory and contol buttons for camera. It is slightly thicker compared to L6 with the volume of 59cc and the weight of 96. Not a big change to be seen clearly. Some of the feature from the L6 can still be seen in the L7 especially the design. Eventhough it is made a little bit thicker than L6 but there are no major make-over just a few buttons that was added on the side of the phone. This phone is available in three color which is black, silver, and pink. Special editions of this phone are offered in some country which come in different colors such as the Malaysian Celcom has offered special editions Motorola SLVR L7 in red. This phone uses TFT screen with 256K colors making photo and video viewing clearer and more fun. TFT LCD screen is widely used in digital camera display, so when this phone uses that type of screen it shows that it is made for photo and video shooting. Compared to the L6 which uses 65K colors CSTN LCD screen, this phone has almost 4 times more colors which produce vivid graphic.

If you like to listen to mp3 through the loud speaker, this phone is a suitable choice for you as it has a clear and loud speaker. When listen to mp3 the bass and treble can be listened clearly without the hissing noise. Look at the size of the speaker it is slightly thinner than most cellphones' speaker. There is a minor improvement from L6.

The major improvement is in its expandable memory. Compared to the L6 it has a slot for transflash/micro-SD card up to 1gb. The expandable memory allows you to store more songs, photos, and videos. Transflash is common among the motorola's cellphones but the problem with this type of card is that it is not as common as SD/mmc which you can buy anywhere. The transflash is convertible to SD. This type of card cost more than typical SD card it is about two times more expensive.

The buttons is similar to those found in L6. All the buttons are easily pressed but the toggle buttons are rather a little bit tricky as you can accidently pressed the centre button. And the toggle buttons are a little bit too small for people with big fat fingers or thumb. New buttons are added on the side of the phone which give you more control of the volume and camera. Taking photo is easier with those button where you can zoom and press the shutter without having to stretch your finger to press the centre button.

Transfering data in the L7 is through mini USB or direct transfer to the mini SD card. You can use those to transfer songs,photos, and videos from or to the computers.

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