Category: My Good Life

Categories
For the Geeks

Beyond Saving My Life And Into The World Of ReadyNAS!

My New Netgear ReadyNAS!

A Vision at the IT Show

I had a vision last Sunday.

As I inched my way through a huge crowd inside the air-conditioned subterranean shopping mall connecting the IT Show to where I had parked my car, I could see the grey sky and heavy rain through the large glass windows. We were travelling at point zero zero zero zero one kilometer per hour, breathing in the humidity of sweat and rain.

At one vantage point—on top of an escalator, about four meters above the crowd—I saw faces.

Lots of faces.

So many faces looking in my direction.

At that moment, I had a vision.

I want to be a rock star. And these are my audience, their faces full of anticipation.

My friends and I looked at each other, shook our heads, and said: They have no idea what they are getting themselves into.

But such is the price of attending an IT Show.

I have never seen that many people in our convention and exhibition center. Not even during the Motor Show, when there are usually plenty of hot babes around. I was actually scared coming down the escalators. What if there was—touch wood—a pile-up at the bottom? Sardines heading into cans on a non-stop production line.

Where is that bloody emergency stop button?

None.

When Hard Disks Attack

Sunday morning I woke up relatively early, planning to pay Azeroth a visit.

Bam!

My hard disk crashed.

And of course it crashed on the last day of the IT Show.

Panic.

I called my friends at the last minute to see who could accompany me. Phew. Those Maxtor hot backup devices really did save my life, just as advertised. All my data was safe.

I only wish Bill Gates had the brain size of Steve Jobs and gave PC users a Time Machine like Apple did.

Now it was time to replace my crashed 500GB hard disk and reinstall the operating system.

Fun time.

Not.

The NAS Idea

Maybe this was a sign.

Maybe I should go beyond merely saving my life. Maybe I needed my own home network storage—with industrial-grade reliability—so I could pull out or jam in any hard disk anytime and my data would still be intact.

Fortunately for me, TK and my photography buddy Mat could make it.

Time for shopping.

Except it wasn’t really shopping for them. They knew exactly what they wanted, knew the strike price, and only needed to locate the right booth, buy the item, and leave.

I, on the other hand, had no idea what exactly to buy.

Exactly.

I only had a concept—like most things in my life.

That’s all.

Mat has been using the Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ for years and loves it. TK was planning to get the smaller version. He told me, “Since you have tons of CDs like me, you’ll need a Squeezebox and this.”

OK, sold.

If I got stuck figuring out how to use the device, at least I had a few numbers to call.

Wait…

What the heck is a Squeezebox?!

Digitising 800 CDs

Imagine this: all 800 of my CDs digitized into the free lossless audio codec format (a.k.a. FLAC), ready to be streamed into a Squeezebox that connects directly to my hi-fi.

Any song from my CD collection available with a touch of the remote control.

Hi-fi sound quality.

My new toy (pictured above) can hold up to four hard disks. Right now I have installed three 1TB Western Digital GreenPower drives. With the built-in data redundancy, I have about 1.8TB of space accessible from within my home network.

Gadgets these days are going green.

So is the new D-Link switch I bought that day.

The Price of ReadyNAS

I could have bought two of the latest Nikon 50mm lenses with the money I spent.

Oh well.

There is a price to pay for entering the world of ReadyNAS.

TK and Mat told me I could do a lot more with it.

We shall see.

Categories
Memorable Events Photography

My Sister’s Wedding in Singapore – Thank You For Your Warm Wishes

We wrapped up the night with a group photo

It is amazing how pressure can propel us to do the seemingly impossible.  I woke up this morning barely 8 hours after I shot the last photo of the evening and my parents were already pacing around my living room hinting or rather strongly hinting that they wished to take all the photos I have shot for my sister’s wedding as they are.  As they are?!  It is hard to explain to them why they can do that for point-and-shoot photos and not for the 500 pictures I took with my dSLR camera.  I find it hard to believe that too.  It has got to be my skill, or the lack of it.

And because it breaks my heart to see my parents fly back to Hong Kong disappointed, not only have I done the necessary photo shortlisting and touch up in record time, but also have them published online with a less than 24 hours turnaround time.  I am happy with the results.  Some of the shots I really like.  I suppose Benny and Lora may have passed this blog entry to you for viewing.  Maybe you were there, maybe you couldn’t make it.  As a proud brother of Lora and a good old friend of Benny, I thank you for your warm wishes to the wedding couple.  I am pretty sure in time to come Benny and Lora will share the professionally done up photos of the event with you.  Meanwhile, here are some of the candid shots I have taken to complement the event, arranged chronologically in three albums.

PS. Stay tuned for a little write-up on how the day went.  Thank you for viewing the pictures and as always, feedback is welcome.

Categories
Diary Photography

For My Parents With Love In The Beautiful Landscape of The Singapore Botanic Gardens

My Parents at the Singapore Botanic Gardens

My 74 years old dad said the funniest thing.  He told me that these days when he went fishing, along the harbor of Hong Kong, young photographers often take him as their photo subject.  And in his tone of reminisce he said, “When I was a young photographer I was doing the same.  Now that I am an old man, it’s my turn [to be photographed by the strangers]”.  We all laughed.  But on what?  We don’t know.  I don’t know.  I don’t want my dad to be old.  I want everything to stay the same.

Reality is, we all get older as time goes by.  Decades ago I was my dad’s photography subject.  Who doesn’t like to see little babies, little kids, so full of innocence, so full of joy on pictures, on prints?  Decades later my parents have become my photography subject.  Kids and old folks – the two most common picks for the photographers on human portraits.  It is the innocence and the wisdom; it is the sign of creation and the mark of time; it is a blank story book filled with possibilities and a memoir that inspires.

Why the Singapore Botanic Gardens?  It’s rare that both my parents are in town, thanks to my sister’s wedding.  It is the green and the fresh air, the flowers and the butterflies.  My family loves to visit parks.  Back when I was in Hong Kong.  A tradition that I still carry with me today.  Some of the happiest moments of my life happen in the parks.

That’s why.

For the viewing of a personal photo collection dedicated to my parents, please click here.

P.S. An entry written with my Nokia N96 the sms style hours before my sister’s wedding dinner at a cafe at China Square Central while waiting for Cynthia’s make up session at Raffle City to be done, synchronised with Nokia free OVI service using the free Wireless@SG wi-fi network.

Categories
I See I Write Photography

Part One: Nokia Comes With Music – Too Good to be True? – A Media Event

Nokia Come With Music - Media Event

Imagine this: you buy a phone and it comes with 4 million songs for you to download for free for a year – via your PC or your Nokia phone.  And you get to keep all the tracks even after the service period is over.

It is not a question if what Nokia is attempting to do is revolutionary.  It simply is.  No doubt about it.  The questions are: Is this a step towards revitalizing a dying music industry that the existing business model is unable to cope with the way the mass public consumes music?  And more importantly, what is it in for Nokia and what is it in for you and I?

October last year, I had the privilege to attend the Nokia Remix event when the upcoming Nokia model 5800 XpressMusic was announced.  Last Friday, I have attended the media launch event of “Comes With Music”, had the opportunity to try out the phone one more time and find out more from the Nokia team on this new service.  In part one of this blog entry, you will get to read more on what this service is about.  And in part two that I will publish next, you will get to read my personal take on the impact of this new service in a larger scheme of work.

Comes With Music and the New Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

The new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone is awesome.  I will not repeat what I have experienced last October.  What I did try out last Friday though was the browser capability.  Intuitively, I touched the screen, moved my thumb up and down and the web page was scrolled accordingly.  Neat.  I tried double clicking onto the page and it zoomed right in.  Very cool!  All by intuition.  I could zoom in and out smoothly via a side bar too.  In case if you wonder from the pictures below what kinky video I was watching, it was nothing R rated.  I opened up YouTube and watched one of the videos from my favorite French artist Mylene Farmer.  When I double clicked onto the video, the player went into full screen mode.  I may consider an unlimited mobile data plan if I have one of these hot babies.

OK.  Some pictures to show taken during the event.  The band All American Rejects was in the house, our local DJ team The Muttons was in the house, the event was held at Velvet Underground, and many were queuing outside for the band to perform live!

Below are some key facts about the new service “Comes With Music”.

  • Selected Nokia phone models including the new 5800 XpressMusic literally comes with music.  You can download any of the 4 million tracks from the Nokia Store for free for a year.  And you get to keep all that you have downloaded via your PC or your mobile devices.
  • Nokia is yet to announce what the service fee for subsequent years is going to be.  I am not sure how often people upgrade their wireless phones.  Personally I hope that Nokia will take this into consideration when they create a service model for “Comes With Music”.
  • You can only listen to the music downloaded via your PC or your wireless phone.  I asked: what if I upgrade my PC?  According to Nokia, I can deactivate my old PC and then active my new PC.  Pretty much like the DRM (digital right management) model that the gaming industry has adopted.  DRM doesn’t go too well with the legitimate paying gamers.  “Comes With Music” is an interesting case because of the shear amount of songs you can potentially download over the service period that come with the phone.  But if “Comes With Music” comes with a price after the first year, it all depends how much it would cost to justify the inconvenience.
  • No, you can’t burn the music onto the CD.  Again, you are not paying a lot for that 4 million song list at least for the first year.
  • What if I need to upgrade my PC after my “Comes With Music” service period is over?  I was told that there is quite a long grace period.  You can still transfer your downloaded tracks from one machine to another.
  • Which are the music giants on board “Comes With Music”?  EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music, as well as Asian independent labels.

Closing Note and Coming Next

Now you have read what “Comes With Music” is as well as get to hear more about the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.  I am a passionate music listener and I have had the opportunity to talk with many on the current situation the music industry is facing.  I get to have a better appreciation on what are the different types of listeners out there and their preferred mode of music delivery.  In part two of this blog entry, I will share more on my take on how brilliant Nokia’s move is going up against the successful Apple iTune and its products by defining their own rules and what are the implications.

When Cynthia read the advertisements on the Saturday papers, she got very excited by the new Nokia touchscreen phone that comes with music.  And she asked, “So I can download the entire album of Pussycat Dolls for free?”  I smiled and replied, “Not only that, you have 4 million songs to choose from!”  I looked at the pricing of a new “Comes With Music” Nokia phone and it doesn’t seem excessive.  For what it is worth, you can think of paying a nominal amount that is factored into the price of a phone and that opens up a world of music for you to listen to, a freedom that now you can legally experience.

As you may have noticed by now that I always love to write a small thank you notes on most of the events I have attended.  It is because what I usually enjoy most is the people I come to interact with, time and time again.  So, cheers to the Nokia team especially to the one who was so patiently showcasing the new phone to me last October and again showed me what else 5800 can do last Friday.  And of course to the lovely Text100 team, thanks for the chat and the little walk around at the stage area.  Yes, one day our band would be there and I will get your help!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for part 2.

Categories
Linguistic My Hobbies

Our Spanish Teacher Turns to Music for Inspiration – En La Ciudad by Amparanoia

Amparanoia

This has got to be one of the most hilarious Spanish lessons Cynthia and I have attended.  Not because of the bizarre Spanish reggae music piece that the whole class has to listen to not once, not twice, but … I can’t recall how many times.  Rather because I felt so stupid not able to follow most of what our new Spanish teacher Natalia said.  “¡Conecto!  ¡Conecto!”, she kept saying.  I reckon she was asking me to connect the phrases on the exercise sheet given.  I kept repeating certain words that I could recognize like a toddler, and she kept coming down on me like I was a … toddler.  Yes, I could guess what I needed to do.  No, I had no clue what she was saying.  How come I was the only one in the class who was so fascinated by the strange vocabulary and have that unstoppable urge to repeat till the words get registered into my brain?!  OK.  Laughter is infectious.  Soon, the entire class was laughing.  I was in tears trying to keep quiet while listening to the song “En La Ciudad” the …

… umpteenth time.

Maybe somewhere in the world, right now, someone is learning English by listening to songs written and performed by Bob Dylan.  Political, social, philosophical, and literary lyrics can be an alternative source to learn a language in a fun way.  Like Bob Dylan’s lyrics, “En La Ciudad” is kind of just that.  It is – literal translation here – a song about illegal migrants making a living in a foreign city of noise and waste, mafia and black money, building a city like growing flower of cement, nothing is what it seems.  Pressure in day, passion at night (OK, we did laugh quite hard on that expression too).  There are temples of money and districts made of cardboard, looking at our roots and dream that one day will be better than today.

And it was first time when we learned Spanish idioms.  Like “sin papeles (without paper)” means illegal and without documents.  “Pagar en negro (pay in black)” means to pay in cash without tax.  At home, I did a search on the song by Amparanoia and she is in fact an accomplished Spanish artist whose music is built on reggae and rock and lyrics that offers social critiques.  In fact, I have managed to find the song in YouTube, for now.  Check this out.

And for those who are interested in the Spanish lyrics (I know at least one of you may), I am typing this out for you.

en la ciudad hay mucha tribu, mucho barrio, hay poco saldo, mucho banco, aves de paso que se quedarán.  en la ciudad todo se paga con tarjeta, aquí la gente es muy discreta, y por la calle no te van a mirar.  en la ciudad todo es prisa, atasco, coche ruido, consumo, oferta, derroche, busca el paraíso en tu ciudad.  flores de cemento vi crecer, nada es lo que te parece, día presión, noche pasión.

siempre amanece en la ciudad en la ciudad en la ciudad.

en la ciudad si no te paran te atropellan, sin papeles no vale la pena, nadie trabajo te va a dar.  y en negro te van a pagar.  la mafia se va a aprovechar.  y en negro te van a pagar.  la mafia se va a aprovechar.  ay soledad, no me dejes soledad, no te vayas soledad.  ay soledad, la soledad se apodera de la ciudad.  hay miedo, no hay sistema de seguridad, templos de dinero, y barrios de cartón, busca las raíces y sueña qué será mejor.

en la ciudad …

Categories
Photography Travel Blog

Photos of Bandung North – De’Ranch, Maribaya, and Sapulidi (A Ranch, Waterfalls, and A Restaurant)

Cynthia and her mother underneath a tree at De'Ranch, Bandung North, Indonesia

As you may or may not know, the northern part of Bandung, Indonesia, is beautiful.  Approximately an hour’s drive away from Bandung – the Capital of West Java – it is a place of foliage and waterfalls, ranches for the animals, and restaurants against the backdrop of natural serenity.

I am not going to write too much here and let the photos and the lighthearted captions do the talking.

  • Click here to view the photo album with captions in high resolution

I had a lot of fun playing around with the photo processing and the Nik Software Color Efex Pro 3.0.  This Nikon software is developed with the professional photographers in mind and I love it.  There are quite a few photos that Cynthia and I both like a lot.  We hope you enjoy our album too and you may wish to visit Bandung North the next time you plan your holiday.

So, tell us, which are your favorite ones, if any?

PS. Photos taken on December 14, 2008.

Related Tag: Bandung December 2008 Trip

Categories
I See I Write Photography

Journal of a Blogger Attending “Showcase Nokia 2009” Event

The New Nokia e75

I always enjoy attending Nokia events.  With a brand valued at $36 billion, as a consumer, I am keen to learn what new products and services Nokia have in store for us in the year 2009.  Nokia has always been more than just a phone to me.  It represents a constant advance of the technology frontier and new concepts, opening the door of possibilities to the end users.  Granted, not all new ideas become instant hits at the first launch.  Nokia always finds ways to improve.  That’s why I like the brand.

Arrived at ZIRCA formerly known as Ministry of Sound 15 minutes before the start of the media registration, by the Singapore River I took half an hour break and finished reading the book sent by McGraw-Hill.  As their book review blogger, I try to publish one book summary a month.  Some asked how I find time and energy to do all the things that I do – at least from what you read in here.  I guess if we actively manage our time, there are a lot we can accomplish.

When I entered the venue, I recognized some familiar faces from the local blogosphere as well as one overseas blogger from our friendly neighboring country.  Then I learned that “Showcase Nokia 2009” is a regional event and Nokia flew in the media teams – traditional and new – from around the region.  There was one from Vietnam too!

At around 7pm, Chris Carr, VP Sales of Nokia took the stage (event photos below).  The anticipation was high; cameras were ready; the video camera from the local news station was in position.

The first new phone that took the stage was the e75.  For those who want the best email experience and are into office productivity applications, this e-series baby is no stranger.  It looks slim and stylish and I took a picture of it as featured on top of this post.  I have tried out the QWERTY keyboard and I love the feel of it.  It is not ordinary rubber, yet there is this anti-slip feel to it.  The red color model is very striking.  e75 is planned to hit the store in Q1 this year.

Next was the e55.  Up to 28 days standby time, imagine spending a month in Timbuktu without the need to charge the phone!  e55 comes with a somewhat slightly extended keypad and it is dubbed the smallest Nokia messaging device.  In this small island that the residents are so in love with email and messaging, this could do well.  9.9mm is a pretty slim phone.  Scheduled to release on Q2.

Remember the days of the good old “banana” phone that the film Matrix has made famous?  Nokia 6720 Classic (Q2) and 6710 Navigator (Q3) are interesting additions to the family.  OK, they are not quite like that good old phone that Neo used to step in and out of the Matrix.  They do have the ergonomic design that curve slightly to our faces.  With the Nokia 6710 and 6720 Classic, you can pre-plan your trip at your computer via the OVI Map (I tried that last night and it works), get plugged into your phone and be awed by the high resolution aerial images, 3D landmarks, terrain maps, weather service, traffic warning, and for those who tend to get lost on foot or inside a vehicle like me, a compass is provided (that I haven’t tried).  I really shouldn’t mention that Navigator may even have the knowledge of where the speed cameras are.  Beware!  Agent Smith is around the corner!

The highlight of the evening is perhaps the new Nokia N86 8MP (Q2).  The press related information was embargoed until yesterday.  I previously had a N80.  This N86 is a pure beauty.  For those who are into taking good photos with your phone, check this out.  Wide-angle 8MP Carl Zeiss Tessar optics with variable aperture to cater for low light condition, N86 comes with a premium authentic design: scratch resistant glass front face surrounded by prestige metal details.  It looks good on day one.  It may still look good when you take it to Timbuktu and back.

I met Damien from Helsinki in the event.  He is the man behind the new OVI Mail initiative.  OVI Mail is an interesting new service targeted at those countries that may not have a high Internet penetration.  In Singapore, email is part of our daily lives.  But that may not be the case elsewhere – like the remote towns of Indonesia, India, Vietnam, and etc.  So what Nokia has done is to integrate OVI Mail into the new series of low-cost phones.  I was at the counter and Damien proudly handed me one of the new phone and said, “Try it and see how easy it is to create your mailbox!”  I tried it on the spot and the registration is very straightforward.  No guessing of what my ovi.com email address is.  With email integration and support to a dozen native languages, these devices could be a life changing experience to many.  Imagine the first experience of email ever, on a wireless phone.  I have travelled to remote towns in the region that do not have a decent Internet connection.  It is easy to take whatever we have around us for granted.

I reckon some of you may be interested to see how the new Nokia 2009 lineups look like.  I am a simple guy so what I have done is to dump all the press images into OVI.  Enjoy!  As always, thanks to Nokia and Text100 teams for the invite.  Supriya and Felicia, good to see you in the event.  You both look fabulous!

External Link: OVI by Nokia

Categories
Diary Linguistic

Spanish Reloaded: Elementary One!

4th Spanish Film Festival

This morning I woke up with a clear vision on how my day was going to play out by the hour – like many other days of my life.  I was composing my next blog entry at the back of my mind while showering, while ironing – like any other morning of the week.  Little did I foresee my day being turned upside down, from curiosity to anxiety to desperation to joy.

Ever since Cynthia and I have passed our Spanish test we took last year, we were eagerly waiting for the next class to begin.  Cynthia did all the correspondence with the school Las Lilas while I watched the email messages flying from left to right, and right to nowhere.  One of the reasons why we studied so hard was to join the rest of our classmates, proceed to the next level, and not to be left behind.  Out of nowhere, one email from one of our classmates popped out and caught my attention.  What?!  E1 (Elementary One) starts today?!  I was curious as in why we were not invited.  Then I shot another email to another classmate and she shared with me that half of our class would be joining today’s E1!

Gosh!

So I was baffled, virtually bashing the gate of Las Lilas via my friendly electronic mail raising fists in the air asking why we were left behind (seriously, the feeling was kind of not that pleasant).  The class was full.  Oh no!  3 dropped out and we could join.  Yes!  Then I called up Cynthia and she preferred a Thursday slot.  Uh-oh.  But I highlighted that Tuesday is a good day to study Spanish because the World of Warcraft game server is down on Tuesday.  Ah ah!  Through my mass electronic communication to our classmates, some started to consider forming our own class (just need 5 at minimum).  Oh no!  2 hours before the class was due to start and the group was still swinging between (a) attending a confirmed slot tonight or (b) to wait for a new slot in March – via email.

Oh dear, what have I done?!

So I made an executive decision to commit to a Tuesday slot.  And it was a good decision.  This new class is a consolidation of three B2 (Beginner Two) classes and it is one fun class.  Statistically, that means two-third don’t make it eh?  We have a different Spanish teacher Natalia and she has such a cheerful personality, talking non-stop in Spanish.  I tried so hard to catch what she said.  Stress!  OK, good stress though.

I am so glad that it all works out in the end and hope that the rest from my previous class would be able to join our next lesson.  One thing I learn today is that taking myself out of a waiting list requires a little dose of opportunity, a little dose of reaching out to people, a little dose of a leap of faith, a strong dose of desire, and making a firm decision and stick by it.

Categories
For the Geeks

The New Linksys by Cisco Media Hub – One Is Enough?

Linksys by Cisco Media Hub

As I was shaking the hands of Jaimohan, Head of Product Management (Cisco), thanking him and his team’s time in answering my (rather dumb) questions raised during the blogger event of the new product’s launch, he smiled at me and asked, “So how many are you getting?”.  OK, that’s a private joke.  Throughout the event I kept saying that I need a farm of Media Hub to organize my media files and he kept reassuring me that if one is not enough, I can add more!  Very well.  Right now, as you read this blog entry, I am writing a proposal to Jaimohan to make my dream of Media Hub farm comes true, sponsored by Cisco.  I am not asking a lot.  Perhaps 8 to start with (with hard disk please, thank you!).  That will be a 16 TB of space on top of the 4 TB I am currently having at home split between two computers.  It’s not a lot to ask for, is it?

Who reads paragraphs of words these days?  So here is what you need to know about Linksys by Cisco Media Hub in point form.

What is it?

  • It knows where all the media contents are stored in your home network.
  • It acts as a single point of media access within your home.
  • It enables you to access your home media contents securely via the Internet.
  • It can be used as a storage device and can hold up to 2 hard disks.
  • It is small and beautiful.

Uh-huh.  Tell me more.

  • You connect one of these sexy and tiny Media Hub into your home network and it will locate all the media files in your entire network.  That includes the wireless phones that are connected to your network and more.  Gasp, right?  I swear when the guys in the suite heard this, they all sat with their backs straight wondering if that picture or that video they took earlier on were being scanned by the Media Hub.  Didn’t mama teach you not to connect to stranger’s wi-fi network just because it is free?
  • Home users these day are all lost in our own digital jungles.  I have two computers, 5 internal hard disks, 3 external hard disks, a total of 4TB worth of capacity.  There are a lot, a lot of media files inside – pictures, music tracks, and video clips.  Imagine, no more prowling through the disk drives, expanding the file directories, just to locate that video clip of … Lust, Caution.
  • Think of it as a media directory of your home network.  And you can even access them when you are miles away from home, through secured Internet connectivity provided by Cisco.

What can you do with Media Hub?

  • If your TV is hooked up with your home network, you can watch the HD content stored within your home network (Community message – Say no to privacy).  Stream up to 3 separate HD signal within your home.  You can watch your family photo collection at your TV with the lovely company of your friends and families too.  Just make sure that the photos are rated PG.
  • If your audio system is hooked up with your home network, you can listen to your music collection without the need to change your CD (Note: I have 700+ CD as of 2007 and this will come in handy).
  • If  you are bored at work, your own personal collection of music and movies is just a click away provided that (1) you have Internet access and (2) your Media Hub at home is switched on.
  • If you go for an overseas holiday and wish to back up your personal photos into your home network, you can upload them to your Media Hub at home.  In fact, you can upload and download any type of files using the Media Hub as the storage device.  Think of it as your very own file server (or remote data storage).  And you can expand this storage capacity by simply adding more hard disks onto your home network.  Neat?

Is one enough?  Does it come in different color?  What’s the damage like?

  • Each Media Hub comes with a 500GB Western Digital (WD) hard disk (take my word, WD is one of the more reliable hard disks out there in the market) as well as an extra slot for an additional hard disk.  1 TB hard disk these days is pretty affordable.  And if you need to access more than 1.5 TB of media data, you can attach another storage device onto your home network and keep it switched on.  For lazy dude like me, I may go for multiple Media Hub.
  • According to the (very attractive) ladies from the Cisco sales and marketing team, Media Hub unlike other storage solution (such as NAS) is very quiet.  As an environment lover, I am happy to hear that Media Hub is designed with lower power consumption in mind too.
  • I asked if there are other colors such as orange, white, and pink.  And the friendly Jaimohan told me that after a global design initiative, all their latest products are designed with the same piano black and silver.  OK, I am starting a new business to design new stickers for these cuties.
  • S$499 for each Media Hub.  If you are willing to pay S$599, you will get a LCD as well as slots to plug in your various memory cards.

Where can I find out more?

  • You could drop me a comment here and I can follow up on your behalf.
  • Or if you are in Singapore, please drop by the new showroom at Funan DigitaLife Mall (5th floor) to experience Linksys by Cisco home networking products.  Do mention to the lovely salesperson that you heard this wonderful product from this infamous blogger who has been making all the headlines for the wrong reasons me.  I don’t have a kick-back from Cisco yet.  Maybe if more of you turn up at the showroom, my dream of a Media Hub farm sponsored by Linksys by Cisco may come true.

You know me, one picture is not enough.  I took this inside the Grand Hyatt Suite where the demo was held.

A Suite in Grand Hyatt

More News Release!

  • In Singapore, the products will be made available from 18 February 2009 onwards from the following authorized Linksys by Cisco retailers: Best Denki – Ngee Ann City and Great World City outlets, Challenger Superstore – Funan DigitaLife Mall and VivoCity outlets, Copernicus Interactive – Sim Lim Square.
  • The products will be officially launched at the IT SHOW 2009 and will thereafter be available at all authorized Linksys by Cisco retailers and value added resellers.
Categories
Diary Photography

Auditioning Female Models for Upcoming Brüttal (Lingerie) Fashion Show in Kuala Lumpur

One of the African Models

OK, enough of serious blog entries these days and I need something sexy, something light to spice up my life site.  Believe me, it was a hard choice between:

  1. Staying in Singapore and accepting an invitation for a (free!) photo shooting session at the Singapore Zoo as well as to cover the finale of the River Hongbao event over the weekend
  2. Driving up to Malaysia and help out my friend Adeline to audition the female models down to their underwear with my … camera.

Cynthia and I couldn’t cancel the hotel booking at the last minute so we stuck with the original plan even though the circumstances have changed.  I am actually glad that we went because:

  1. Our friend needed emotional support that evening and we were there for her.  Talked with her till 4 in the morning (and Cynthia insisted on waking up early the next day not to miss the breakfast).
  2. I did have a role to play because Adeline couldn’t have photographed these candidates as she was busy showing them what to do.  It is good to refer to the photographs after the audition.

Below are the pictures taken during the audition.

… Nah!  They are PG rated.  Wait till we go for the actual Fashion Show with the actual Brüttal products.  Super chick n sexy lingerie that Brüttal carries.

So how was the experience?  Broadly summarized as follows.

  • Stressful.  It is hard to frame and capture the moments.  It is even harder if the models are inexperience.
  • Nervous.  I was the only guy in the VIP room.  I was worried that I might be eaten up by the girls.
  • Exciting.  Actually only one moment of excitement.  It was when all the models stripped in front of me down to their underwear, at the same time.

Now, why Africans?  I don’t know why the club “China White” is a popular place for the Africans and why Adeline goes for such a theme.  Maybe Africa is in these days?  Think about the next World Cup hosting country, the current F1 champ, and the new American President …

I have no clue how Adeline is going to train these brand new models for her Brüttal Fashion Show in March.  I am keen to cover the event for Brüttal and perhaps I may need a telephoto lens when that time comes (any one wish to lend me a 50mm f/1.4G?!).