OK so I owned a MacBook Pro (a.k.a. Cik Bedah) and an iPhone (a.k.a. Cik Timah) and maybe; not so distance hopefully, an iPad (a.k.a I have not think of a name for it yet aite!). For my company trip to Macau and Hong Kong tomorrow, I thought of bringing Cik Bedah with me, but I guess she’s much safer at home so I’ll just bring Cik Timah instead; the fact that I’ve installed Macau and Hong Kong map on Cik Timah support this decision.

OK things to bring. Clothes? Duh! Men are a simple being. We can live a week with just a suitcase. 1 jeans is all we need. everything else you can buy. Universal adapter, just in case they have different socket pin. It happened to me last time when I was in Manila, I have to really conserve my battery usage because I just can’t charge my gadget. Voltage rating? It’s the same as what Malaysia are using now, 220-240 volt/50 hertz. Although I think Malaysia should change to 60 hertz because it’s much more EFFICIENT.

What else? Extra memory for my camera. Since I’m not bringing Cik Bedah, you can bet my memory card will going to be full. If only I can find my old camera, because I want to salvage its battery. Oh and I think I’m going to start my very own travel log, inspired by my friend. Nothing beats scribbling & selotaping thing on it, no? Oh and umm, instant noodle, just in case.

So that’s about it. Don’t miss me. I’ll be back after 5 days

The Man had come to me and asked me about my old laptop. I told him the mainboard plastic thingy with lots of electronic stuff, 20 times more that the one his holding; I’m talking about his handphone, was busted and the service centre told me that it would cost roughly about RM700 to fixed it. The Man was thinking to use it to learn using a computer. I told The Man adding a few hundreds we can get a new one, Netbook that is.

OK, before I continue, The Man is the one who’s responsible to get my mom pregnant and nearly get my lip chipped. The Man who is responsible for who I am today, the one who sponsored Cik Bedah and I really thank you for that. The one who had tried with all his might to save my mom, sisters and cousins, who nearly lost his hope and wanted to let go if not because he still have three sons who are worried about him. The Man whom I’m proud to say my hero, my Dad. He is The Man.

The Man is actually computer illiterate, the closest to a computer that he use is my sister’s old Nokia 5300 Music Express. That keep me thinking about what Operating System he would be using. I could just let him use Windows 7 because as reluctant as I want to say it, it is still the best and most used OS. Those who said it’s the easiest OS to use, they have not used Mac yet! Then I was thinking of Linux, more specifically Ubuntu. It is as I have used it, a very user-friendly OS actually, easier than Mandriva. I could get him to use Mac OS. Oh yes, with a simple hack tool, you can actually run Mac OS X on Dell Mini, with all its hardware working but I’m planning to get The Man HP Mini and Ubuntu Linux OS running in it. Originally I was planning to get him Acer One simply because I’ve used Acer all my life. I try stick to one brand whenever possible; with an exception to Cik Bedah of course.

After weighing a few option; I’m a little bias to Linux and Mac, since The Man is starting from scratch, I might as well give him Linux. I know he wont be doing a lot of computing like I do, probably doing a lot of surfing and emailing, and he have me as his personal tech support. There’s one problem I saw when I was scavenging for new Netbook, all of them came pre-installed with Windows 7, some still have Vista and XP, and non of them selling without an OS. So I’ll be paying a little bit extra for an OS that I’m not even going to use? Pfffhh! Since I’m paying for it, I have no choice but to backup the bloody OS before installing Ubuntu in it.

So there you go, a brand new Netbook for The Man. I’m waiting the day when he come to me and ask “boleh tolong bikin Facebook untuk bapa?” Heh!

Yes, thank you Sahana for pointing me to this. I owned an iPod Shuffle, the first generation that is. Back then, I think it was in 2005, my shuffle was one of the gadget that I wouldn’t leave home without. Love the earphones that come with it. Can you believe it that it cost RM100+ just to replaced the earphones. While some might not like the lack of screen to show the songs that are playing, but if it’s your shuffle, you should know what’s playing because you put it there in the first place. Unless you use random insert; which I doubt you people would use it regularly, most of us out there like to pick what we want to hear. After looking at the video above I still love my shuffle.

My iPod Shuffle 1st Generation

This is my shuffle exactly a month ago. Actually you can glue it back together and used it. I just like to make it a little bit dramatic. Did I tell you that I LOVE my shuffle? Oh yes I did. OK, the real problem was the stereo jack had already conked out. Instead of hearing stereo, I’m listening mono, sometimes I can only listen on my right earpiece. I have to wiggle it a bit, detach a bit on the jack to listen to it. I think the constant plugging it into a non Apple jack; yeah I used it to jack into my MP3 radio modulator, had somewhat loosen to jack. Music is my life man, without my shuffle, it felt like a part of my life had gone missing.

My iPod Shuffle 3rd Generation

I went to 1Borneo yesterday to meet a friend and while I was waiting, I went to Technocrats, just browsing through, did not intend to get myself anything. I did surfed to Apple’s website before this to check which iPod I would be getting and it was either iPod Nano (5th generation) or Shuffle (3rd generation). I kinda like Nano but I have too many gadget in my pocket so Shuffle would also be nice. As I was browsing through, looked at the price, a few minutes later, I’m out with my new Shuffle, not any Shuffle, a Shuffle with my favourite colour.

This morning, the first use; after loading songs in which I fell asleep waiting, part of my life that was missing had come to life again. I love the sound that came out from the earpiece, no other earpiece can beat this. The newer generation shuffle can even talk to you. Yes it can talk, telling you what song is currently playing. With 4GB capacity, I can now listen to ALL my song. Oh unfortunately, it doesn’t quite pronounce Malay song correctly.

And no, this is not the correct way to use the new iPod Shuffle.

Speaking about MP3 radio modulator, don’t you just hate it when you are listening to you favourite radio station and all the sudden you are listening to someone else *stup stup stup stup stup stup stup stup stup stup stup stup stup stup umcha umcha umcha umcha umcha umcha umcha umcha umcha umcha* that are playing on their modulator. FARK it man! Quit using 87.7 Mhz and 100.8 Mhz man. Some of us still like to listen to radio, not your junk! Yes, that’s the radio frequency for Hot FM and Hitz FM.

Now lately I’ve been doing a lot of twittering over my phone and find it quite a hassle to constantly check on updates via Mobile Web. Now over my computer, I use TwitterFox and TweetDeck to do my twittering. And I liked TweetDeck more because I can update my Facebook status; and even makes some comments using it. Now I try to look for TweetDeck application for my phone but it seems that you can only find it for iPhone. Drats! So I embarked on finding a twitter software for phones running Symbian 60. I tried a few applications, Fring, Twibble and finally Tweets60.

Image by ravensoft, www.tweets60.com

Yes folks. I’ve been using Tweets60 for a few weeks now and it is great! It checks for updates for you, depending on time interval you have specified, let you see your old post and you preserved you battery life! It also automatically change connection from WiFi to Broadband.

By the way, I’m not getting paid for this. Just like to share to all Nokia Symbian 60 user.

While the general feeling is that objects don’t make for true happiness, the question remains why so many people out there still seek out the latest and greatest gadgets and beam from ear to ear when they get them. The reality is that many gadgets do make us truly happy, but that the effect is often short lived. Like much of technology today, our computers, phones and electronics are new one minute and replaced by something faster, better and smarter the next. Do we continue to be happy with the older gadget? The answer is often no.

But that doesn’t mean that gadgets don’t have something to offer us. For those weeks months and even years that they’re shiny and new, they offer tech-addicts a chance to live a life enhanced by technology. iPods, cell phones and laptops offer us not only the chance to have a fun new toy to play with but to more easily connect with those we care about, enjoy the entertainment we appreciate, and to work with greater ease. In the future many of us imagine, gadgets serve to make life easier, happier and more efficient and while we’re not quite to the world imagined in science fiction novels, these gadgets hint at elements of this bright future.

While gadgets may not offer a lasting sense of happiness, the smiles, pride and love they do inspire still makes them well worth the money for many out there—a fact that’s unlikely to change in a world becoming increasingly inundated with technology.

This post was contributed by Tara Miller, who writes about the best online degrees. She welcomes your feedback at TaraMillerr00 [at] yahoo [dot] com