BLOG


New Small Toy: Olympus 45mm 1.8

Posted November 11, 2011

As I do every year, I start to consider what things and devices I just don’t use anymore. I go through this a lot with the photography equipment.  Before I sold all my DSLR equipment, I went through the my share of buying and selling camera equipment, particularly with lenses.  I finally settled on my gear and I was very happy.  Now that I have  moved on to the micro four-thirds world, I’ve been trying to be settled on what I need.  I’m definitely one step closer with this new lens.  I’ve been wanting a fast focusing portrait type lens.  This lens is definitely the answer.  I’ve only had it for a few hours, but I already know that I’m going to love this lens.  There will be more tests shots to come.  I’ll do a formal review on it in a few weeks with some tests shots.  I’m pretty sure you’ll see some shots on The Daily Snap.  By the way, I bought this lens off eBay from a Hong Kong seller.  I was little hesitant to pull the trigger, but I couldn’t be happier.  The lens was shipped from Hong Kong and arrived at my doorstep within 3 days.  Seller dzone2.

1 comment

End of a short era

Posted November 8, 2011

After a little over two months of having the HP Touchpad, I decided that the experiment is over.  I recently sold the Touchpad on Ebay.  I did sell it for a profit and I have been contemplating whether I should get the Amazon Kindle Fire.  Unless the reviews for it are mind blowing, it doesn’t look like I’ll head that direction.  Why did I sell the Touchpad?  Was it the fact that it didn’t have an extensive eco system like the iPad?  Did it have anything to do with the pretty cheap hardware?  I would say that these had a contributing factor, but I would say the main reason is pretty much the same reasons I gave when the iPad first was released… I’m more of a content creator than a content consumer.  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely consume a lot of content, but I need something that I can program with while I’m consuming content at the same time.  Now that I’ve sold my Touchpad, HP can officially kill the WebOS division… or at least sell it.

no comments

TouchFire: The Screen-Top Keyboard for iPad

Posted October 28, 2011

I love kick starter.  Here’s a project that I browsed upon.  This product takes care of the complaint of the lack of tactile feedback while typing on an iPad 2.  I just love the use of the iPad’s magnets to align the keyboard.

Check out the project.

 

 

no comments

Back to the Old Office

Posted October 19, 2011

Good to be back at the old office.  Not all Starbucks are the same.  They sell the same drinks, they have all the great service, but the characters that come to perform are definitely different.  I’m definitely not in Philly anymore.  I’m deep in Orange County, California and five minutes into being here and I’ve heard what I thought what I would hear.  First, a lady, while talking to someone reacts and says, “OMG”.   She didn’t says… “Oh my gosh” or Oh my God” but “O.M.G.”  I didn’t know it has come to the point where the line between IM or text talk and regular talk is blurred.  The next thing I heard was a guy waiting in line on his phone talking pretty loudly.  He says on the phone, “I have 8 houses.  I did have to give up one of them.”  Good to be back.

no comments

HP Touchpad – 1 Month

Posted September 20, 2011

About a month ago, I was one of the lucky ones to pick up a $99 HP Touchpad.  I wrote before that I dodged a bullet not buying it earlier.  Why did I go ahead and buy it?  For $99, let me just tell you that it was well worth the price.  If I had to choose between a $99 Touchpad and a $499 iPad 2, I would definitely go with the $99 Touchpad.  Yes, the iPad has more apps and yes the hardware is amazing on the iPad, but as far as overall value, you can’t be the $99 price point.  Your mileage may vary but for my own use, I mainly use it for surfing the web and playing the occasional casual game for killing time.  Even though I love WebOS, I may wait for the Android port to be fully baked.

no comments

Strange Times

Posted August 29, 2011

Osage Ave in West Philly (Photograph by Annie C.)

It was a strange week last week.  First we had an earthquake that was felt up and down the east coast.  Then hurricane Irene came through as well.  It was interesting to see the reaction for both events but I’m glad we made it through both just fine.  I know certain areas were hit pretty hard, especially by the storm.  I don’t want to make light of the situation but there was one particular comment that stood out to me after the earthquake.

I was at the coffee shop working when the earthquake hit.  I said out loud, “I thought I got away from California.”  Then the girl next to me asked me, “You’re from California, what are you suppose to do in an earthquake.”  I told her that it would be probably best to get under the table.  Then she looks at me with a serious face and asked, “What if the ground opens up?”  I had no answer for her.

 

 

no comments

HP will ‘discontinue operations for webOS devices’

Posted August 19, 2011

Let’s just say I dodged a bullet.  Ready this on Engadget but HP is going is going to discontinue operations for their webOS devices.  This means that they are going to give up on the phones and tablet products.  A few weeks ago HP did a price cut on the Touchpad and then there was a deal floating around for an additional $100 off, bringing the price down to a total of $299.  I eventually didn’t get one because I couldn’t find the cheaper 16gb version and the Staples stores that I went to wasn’t going to honor the additional $100 off.  I’m relieved that I wasn’t able to find one but I am still hopeful that webOS will emerge with another manufacturer.  I still think that it’s a legitimate competitor to Apple, especially as it relates to tablets.  To be clear, HP is not getting rid of webOS (at least for now) but they are getting rid of the hardware products.  They are going to license it out.  I’m hoping that someone like Samsung or HTC will pick it up.

 

no comments

Stormy Nights

Posted August 18, 2011

What’s more entertaining than TV?  How about staring our the window as a thunder / lightening storm passes by?  So what if we stared out the window for about 15-20 min.  🙂

no comments

More of the same

Posted August 18, 2011

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Starbucks but it’s more of the same.  I see some of the old characters but there are definitely new ones.  I would say the main character today is this old lady who’s been sitting here for a while staring into space.  She puts some of her stuff in one seat and then proceeded to sit at another seat, not next to that seat, but across the way, and puts the rest of her stuff in another chair.  Let’s just say she’s taking up 3 spots as people continually pass by to see if the seat is available, only to find that it’s not.  Don’t worry, she’s not just staring into space but she’s tapping her feet at a rapid pace as if she’s running in place.  Just another day in Philly.

no comments

Cape May

Posted August 12, 2011

A few weeks my wife and I took a little mini vacation to Atlantic City and Cape May to visit the Jersey shore.  Although I liked the outlets and the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, Cape May is definitely the place to go to see the shore.

Here are a few pics from the trip…

no comments