The White Odyssey

Confessions of a not-quite-reformed gaming addict

2007-11-13T22:07:00.000+08:00

Confessions of a not-quite-reformed gaming addict
With more horror stories about kids who end up broken as cybergaming addicts, OO GIN LEE bares all
By Oo Gin Lee
IT was 1989. One week before the final exams in my first year at NUS Law School. My ambitions were all messed up.
I should have been preparing to ace my grades but the only card up my sleeves was my foolish but foolproof strategy to conquer Japan as shogun Oda Nobunaga.
That year, almost two decades ago, I had discovered the wonders of strategy-based computer games in the computer labs of Raffles Hall and the law library.
While my classmates laboured over 50-page legal cases and my hostel mates worked on assignments, I was irrigating fields in my provinces and whipping my men into fighting fit machines.
I knew I should be studying but somehow I just could not stop playing. One hour more. Half hour more. Oh, it's morning already? Time to sleep.
I would have suffered utter defeat at the exams hall but for my tutorial and hostel mate, who literally ripped out the twin floppy disks from the PC and crushed them with her scrawny hands.
Without Honshu to conquer, I switched on my afterburners for a one-week non-stop study quest for my salvation. I passed by a whisker of Cs and Ds, and learned one big lesson - if I wanted to return to the fight, I had to first balance work with play.
All these years, I never stopped cybergaming, through my studies to my career, to marriage and fatherhood.
But I never faltered when it came to the crunch - should I continue blasting aliens or attend to my crying baby? Should I continue playing after 3am or face the wrath of my wife?
When I was an undergraduate, cybergamers were a novelty. Some called us freaks. Today, you would be hard pressed to find a male youth of sound mind who has never played video games.
I can only sympathise with the kids today with the tough choices they have to make everyday. In my university days, it was text-heavy single player games on tiny monochrome screens. Today, it is massively multiplayer online games (MMOG)with dazzling graphics and movie cut scenes on super sharp LCD screens.
Modern MMOGs like World Of Warcraft - where you join thousands of other gamers to explore virtual lands and thrash monsters - make money from the monthly S$20 subscription that we pay. These game companies keep adding new exciting places to explore and new super-duper weapons to die for to keep their cash registers ringing. They are designed to be addictive from the beginning.
So what draws millions of gamers around the world these addictive MMOGs?
Some, mostly females, play to make new friends for chit-chat and share recipes while throwing virtual fishing lines into ponds.
Some, especially the younger kids, do it out of peer pressure to show that they are with the 'in' crowd.
Many men are out to flex their more powerful armour and swords and display their virtual alpha male instincts to kick the posterior of their weaker fellowmen.
Even corporations are in - setting up sweatshops in third world countries to accumulate rare game items and virtual gold to sell to real players who are just are willing to fork out real dough for virtual goods to get a headstart.
You even get spam in your in-game mail systems with companies offering you the best real money to virtual currency exchange rates.
But for the most of us, we are just there to have a jolly good time exploring new lands and develop our lowly level one peasant into a level 99 superman.
I probably would have scored more As and Bs and drank more booze if I played less games.
But give up on commanding arquebusiers and samurais, cutting up aliens for research, transforming into a black panther and exploring infernal mountains on a flying griffin? No way.

Do PR firms pay for their staff's mobile number?

2007-10-29T12:24:00.000+08:00

One PR exec from Text 100 now adds her mobile number to her media invite, when she previously did not. Good job!

But what is of greater interest is the feedback I received some an experienced in house person this morning that the reason why some pr execs dont put in their mobile number is because the firm does not pay for their mobile phones.

Anyone can share their experiences? At SPH, they pay us $28 subsidy a month but if you are on StarHub, u need a 21 mth contract to get it. Anyway I pay over $100 every month for my mobile from my own pocket :)

Wake Up Call For the PR industry

2007-10-26T17:56:00.000+08:00

I swore never to post another anti-PR blog but in four months since I have rejoined full-time journalism, I have to say I am amazed at how bad the level of PR has dropped in Singapore.

I am sorry but I am breaking my rule from sheer frustration.

Today, I received a press release from a local game company saying it was appointing a well known US game distributor for its upcoming game. So I called the PR exec from the agency listed in the release. I asked him why this particular US distributor was selected when I thought it was supposed to be another. Then I asked him - what about the game cards - who will be distributing them? His response - "Oh for that it's best you call my client directly."

Right, "then why should I even bother calling you?" came my swift response. In my seven years of journalism, I have never heard such a response. The correct answer, is "I will check with my clients and get back to you OR I will check with my clients and ask them to respond"

Just yesterday, another PR from another international firm did an even more amazing thing - he called my home phone. I didn't exactly answer the call because I missed it but my mobile rang immediately and I asked him if he had just called my fixed line. He said yes. I went "Why in the world are you calling my home number? How did you even get it in the first place" His answer - "Oh it's in the database."

This guy has been causing me extreme pain recently. He called about two weeks ago to ask me to see if there was any opportunity to feature his client's products in our upcoming Tech Buyer's Guide. His client, incidentally is one of the top three computer giants in the world. I told him I did not have any documentation so asked him to send me more information. He asked me if I had seen the Christmas catalogue which I did but I told him I could not use it as it was written for consumers and lacked the tech specs. So I asked if he could send me the actual spec sheets and press releases. He did, all 10 documents. So yesterday I asked him if there was a one-page summary which I could read of all the products without opening 10 blinking documents. He suggested, again, that I could read the Christmas catalogue. Back to where we started.

I told him the catalogue wont do and asked him if there was a one page summary. He said no. At this point I lost it. I told him: "Go create one. I'm not trying to be nasty but I know you are new. My advice to you is that you should look at PR as not being mailboxes but as salespersons. You have to sell your stories to the journalists." I could have easily told him I was not interested and that was the end of the matter but because he is new and he has been trying hard, I gave him a earful with the hope he can improve. For the record, I have received his summary today although he still has a lot to learn about selling.

If you think this is bad, there's more. One PR exec I met wore a black party dress and a bola hat to an interview. The same person asked if DL would be keen to do contests with giveaways from her client. I said: " You need to speak to Grace for that." She went: "Who is Grace?"

There are a lot more examples over the last four months but these are just some I can remember from the top of my head. I do not know if the problem is vendors are expecting too much from their agencies or if the standard of the agencies have generally dropped to horrendous proportions. But here are my suggestions for anyone who wants to take me seriously:

(1) Please put your mobile phone in your name card and your press releases - This is PR 101. Why? Because Journalists dont like and sometimes cannot wait. They need instant connections. If my mobile number is on my card I dont see why PR execs cant do the same. I know some reporters dont answer calls and dont leave mobiles. But PR execs are the sellers, from a professional perspective, you have to leave your mobile number.

Just last week I tried calling a PR exec who works for a company who has a nice poshy office with lots of open space. Her client is one of the leading printing and imaging companies. I found her card and called her DID. She was not there. There was no mobile phone number on the card. I called the main line but they refused to give me her mobile number. So I called her client directly. The next thing I knew, the PR exec tried to call me frantically.

(2) Build a relationship with the media
It's not that we love to be sucked up to but if you see PR as a sales job then you will understand that journalists get tons of calls emails and pitches everyday. If we know who you are, it helps you better in your pitch. In any event, when PR agencies pitch for a new account they always boasts about how well they know the journalists. That's one of the reasons they are hired, yet I can count with one hand the number of invites I have received to go for a drink or a meal with a PR agency when the lunch is not with their client.

Barr & Chan is exemplary in building relationships. When I left ST back in 2002, only two PR agencies bought me lunch, the other was Liana Teo who was from MDK. To me, to buy a journalist lunch when you least needed him is the sign of a truly good PR. Years on, I introduced Barr & Chan to McAfee and Liana to HP. Jasmine Ee from Orion PR and Hui Peng from McGallen are PRs who will buy me a drink or lunch for no bloody reason at all. They have become like friends instead of just PR agencies and they always get recommendations whenever a disgrunteld client ask for a recommendation.

Having a relationship with the journalist is not enough you still need to have a good pitch - but at least half your battle is won.

(3) Know the journalist
Every journalist is differnt just as every consumer is different. Dell's Francis Huan is a good example. He recently called me to pitch a review for thie new Dell XPS 420. A typical PR pitch is - Hey Gin Lee my client has launched a new gaming desktop with solid new curves and looks and lah di da. Francis went: "Hey Gin Lee would you be interested in our new XPS 420, which I am giving you as an exclusive review after CNet but since the article is embargoed till end of month you wont lose out. This thing is our hot gaming machine with Blu Ray Nvidia 8800 GTX graphics dual displays Quad Core processors and more." I immediately said yes. He didnt have to explain why dual displays Quad Core and 8800 GTX is cool, becoz he knows I am techie, he knew I would be dying to try this machine out. The same pitch may not work for someone who is less techie. Similarly trying to pitch me a story using a Christmas catalogue written for consumers is a sure recipe for disaster

Every journo also has different preferences, some are haughty some are friendly some like beautiful girls some like intelligent minds - its important to know each journalist well to pitch effectively. Also each journalist has a preferred mode of communication. For me, please call my office line first. if i am not there call my mobile pls do not leave a voice mail if u still cant get me, drop an SMS and an email. Under no circumstance, unless you are in a car accident outside my house and you need an ambulance, should you call or even have my home number.

That's it for now. Will update again when I can find the time.

Test

2006-10-03T13:46:00.001+08:00

Test

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Is that a phone or a scanr?

2006-08-11T19:34:00.000+08:00

Take a pix of a business card with your camera phone. E-mail it to ScanR

It sends you back a vcf file. Super!

Download the vcf file straight into your Outlook or Phone Contacts List. Check out the accuracy! Mind boggling!

Singapore loses fastest SMSer record

2006-07-31T13:47:00.000+08:00

Kimberley Yeo became the fastest SMSer in the world back in June 2004 when she clocked over 43 seconds to thumb this phrase

"The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human" as fast as possible and no built-in aids that automatically finish words were allowed."

That record has since been beaten by a Utah teen called Ben Cook who hit 42.22 seconds to set a new record.

Guess Singapore needs to find its next winner or Kimberley needs to do some mega speed training on those thumbs!

K800i The phone is now the camera

2006-07-30T21:07:00.000+08:00

Hi, this picture was taken with a camera phone. Yup, with the new Sony Ericsson K800i, the phone has truly become the camera. This 3.2 Megapixel camera phone may not yet best a digital camera with the same resolution, but it is definitely the best I have ever seen. Here are some pictures that i took.

OK, I started off with the close up shots. This is as close as I can get the phone to the image and getting within auto focus capability. Amazingly clear. It's no wonder the P990 is going to have a business card scanner software built in!

Ok, I tried to take a real close up shot of the words. Could not get an auto-focus with this.

Same as picture above but now I turned my macro function on. Much better quality. Pretty amazing for a camera phone, if you ask me.

More close up shots, taken at normal auto mode, not even macro mode. Pretty good!

Night shot of my pool. All the pictures so far are taken without flash.

This was taken with flash. Compare this with the next picture, same location without flash. I also tried using flash for day and close up shots - it sucks.

Much better without flash.

Coming out of the AYE via Merchant Road exit, my wife took this picture. Pretty good for 60 km/h

Night shot. No flash. Stationary.

Shot from my window. No flash. Really really good.

Another view.

The inside of my Odyssey.

I forgot to mention that the phone also has an automatic mobile blogging service. After you take the picture, you can choose "Blog" and you are automatically brought to a mobile Blogger page. Just input your caption and title and you're pictures are online! The phone automatically assigns a blog site to you, and reminds you what that address is via an SMS. You can check it out here

Has Google Become A Little Evil?

2006-07-30T10:02:00.000+08:00

One of the linchpin behind Google's philosophy is "Do No Evil." But what happens if rivals threaten with new search engines? According to this article Google is making sure that Google remains as the default engine, come hell or high water. The latest version of Google Toolbar for IE has a strange new feature: it keeps Google as the default search engine, even if another software tries to change the settings.

According to the author of the article, even if you disable "Search with Google" from the toolbar, and kill GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe, everytime you load IE, Google Toolbar launches GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe once again. The only way to get rid of the notifier is to delete the folder C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbarNotifier.

Has Google Become A Little Evil?

M600i vs P990

2006-07-15T10:10:00.000+08:00

Ok, if you are still thinking about the Sony Ericsson M600i vs the P990, here are some things to consider. I will update the list as I find out more

(1) Both phones are built on the same platform, both are running on Symbian UIQ 3.1
(2) M600i has less features, but is more stylish and lighter (112g vs 155g)
(3) M600i does not have FM Radio, Wi-Fi, 2 MP camera - all of which P990 has. P990 also has a business card scanner software.
(4) The M600i uses M2, P990 uses Memory Pro Duo
(5) The internal memory is the same amount (80 MB)
(6) P990 has longer battery life (its battery is 1120 mAh vs 950 mAh)
(7) M600i costs $798 without plan. Talk in the market is that P990 will be about double that price.

Free HBO, ESPN, Cartoon Network And More

2006-07-12T13:50:00.000+08:00

Yup. The Internet never fails to amaze me by the day. Wanna watch like free cable TV channels on your computer? Simple. Go to www.tvunetworks.com and try it. Be Amazed. Be Very Amazed.

Phishing Scams - How To Tell The Real From The Dud

2006-07-12T08:26:00.000+08:00

There's a report in today's Today about OCBC Bank and Citibank customers getting phished. So here's the deal, how do you tell if an e-mail from your "bank" is for real or is a "phish." I'm a Citibank customer and honestly, for the longest time, I thought that their e-mails to me were fakes. Citibank.2926285.67765.0@kc.ap.citibank.com - that's the e-mail address of the "sender." It turns out that it's the real thing but you know, when I see a weird looking e-mail address like that which is obviously MACHINE GENERATED and not belonging to a REAL USER, my first reaction is to delete the e-mail immediately.

So here's the thing - I think the banks need to take a greater responsibility in preventing phishing, and the first thing they should do is to STOP sending all their e-mail marketing stuff to us. Why? Because if they don't send it, then when we do get a phish mail, our suspicions are up immediately. If they send their e-marketing stuff all the time, then the chances are higher that someone will be phished because he would expect e-mails from his bank.

Phishers are targetting almost exclusively bank customers. It's time for the banks here to take a more proactive role in stopping this. And for God's sake, please get a REAL person to send your e-mails, if you must!!

Malaysian Entrepreneurship Alive And Kicking

2006-07-11T09:26:00.000+08:00

Entrepreneurship, of the Malaysian kind, is alive and kicking in Singapore. This morning, I took a drive down to the renovated Malaysian High Comm at Jervois Road to renew my passport. Typical of myself, I forgot to shoot my passport photos in advance. That's because I thought that the High Comm had shifted to High Street and I heard there were phto shops just next to it on Loke Yew Street. Well I was wrong and right. The High Comm was at Hill Street and there was indeed a photo shop nearby, except that there were both closed when I reached there at 8 am. That's because the High Comm has since shifted back to its original Jervois Road home, some 5 months ago.

So I had to drive down to Jervois Road. Apart from the much nicer and really neat renovated High Comm building, Jervois Road remains what it has always been - a quiet private residential area with bungalows, female Caucasian joggers and Filipino maids walking their employers' canine pets. Which means, there was no way in heaven I was going to get my passport picture shot here.

To my surprise, the security guard at the High Comm pointed across the road when I tried my luck and asked him if there was indeed a photo shop nearby. I turned, and saw only a guy holding an orange umbrella, standing on the pavement of the road, and just doing nothing. So I walked up to him and he then pointed me in the direction of the "photo studio." I was pleasantly perplexed. How in the world could there possibly be a shop in this sprawling residential estate?

2 mins and 50 metres later, after a few turns, i found what I was looking for. It was an old rather run down bungalow with a huge backyard. Smack in the middle of the lawn, was a delivery van. The back door of the van was open, there was an upright blue cardboard, and just below it a small cushion. This was the photo studio I was looking for, except it wasn't quite what I had expected. It surely didn't look good, but the proprietor and service was perfect to a T.

The Malaysian boss was obviously experienced with what he was doing. After fussing around with my shirt and turning my head to the right angles, he took up his plain looking digital camera to take a shot. Only one shot. I sat down to fill up my passport application form and before I even finished, the photos were ready. He made use of a small portable printer to print out the photos and then used a paper cutter to punch out the pictures to the right size. The quality of the print and the photography skill was surprisingly much better than most of my experiences with the Mom and Pop studio photos in the areas where I have lived over the years.

In case you are wondering why the cardboard is blue, the Immigration Authority accepts only photos with a blue background. So if you went to the High Comm with your white background photos, you would still have to visit Mr Make-shift Photo Studio too.

The entrepreneur, by now I had struck up a conversation with him, turns out to be Malaysian. As I racked my brains to reignite my fading Bahasa Malaysia, the boss decided to spare me the pain and told me what to write where. He even advised me to write my mobile phone number at the bottom of the page (even though the form didn't ask for it).

For the great service, wonderful chat, and 4 colour passport photos with blue background, it cost only $6. How's that for Malaysian entrepreneurship!!!
How's that for Malaysian entrepreneurship!

HP printers used for DIY fake money

2006-07-07T10:28:00.000+08:00

As the 18-year old shed tears of relief for being spared a jail term for her crime, Hewlett Packard must have secretly been shedding tears of joy.

According to a report in The Straits Times today, the girl, Charlene Lim, had used an HP 3-in-one colour printer do produce $50 counterfeit notes. With those "high-quality" prints, she used them to pay for her taxi fares on TEN (10) separate occassions!

Now this is one case study that HP won't be putting into its marketing brochures or advertisements. But to be sure, this is surely one of the best real-life endorsements for the quality of HP Printers!

The report doesnt give details, but I was just wondering if she also used the same machine to scan the $50 notes before printing them out!

Do PR execs use IM? Of course they do

2006-06-28T10:21:00.000+08:00

Benjamin Koe in his ScoopAsia blog lamented that PRs here don't use IM to stay in touch with him. He said "Then it struck me, if sales people can convince their clients to keep them on their IMs, why don't PR do the same with journalists? Why don't I have any PRs on my IM which is on almost always?"

Dear Benjamin, actually a lot of execs from PR agencies and in-house corp comms folks are on IM, I count about 30-40 on my list, about 10-20 of which are quite active. Which IM are you on? MSN Messenger is the more popular one from my experience, but most PRs use Yahoo and Skype as well.

Xbox Volvo and Korean babes

2006-06-02T15:43:00.000+08:00

What does Volvo, XBox and hot Korean babes have in common? The XBox Rolling Console. 3 XBox 360s plus 3 Samsung LCDS are placed on a "motorised bed" at the back of the car. I have no idea where they get the power from, or how you can stop robbers from breaking into the car or who in the right mind would want these stuff at the back of the car. But hey, check out the babes.

New blog on HDTV

2006-05-31T17:45:00.000+08:00

I've started a new blog dedicated to HDTV in Singapore. Check it out here - http://hdtvsingapore.blogspot.com

If u are thinking of getting a LCD or plasma TV or already have one, the question is - Can your TV support watching high definition (HD) content in its original format and not face degradation in quality? Read my blog above for more.

Cheers

BM responds

2006-05-25T10:37:00.000+08:00

Got a call from BM to clarify the position. They say I am on their tech reporters list and somehow they forgot to send to me this time round. Apologies accepted, but I'm still wondering, how exactly do PR companies send an e-mail invite? Do PR companies have a "group" mail that they send to or they send it individually? Just curious. Maybe other PR agencies can share their practices?

PR company has different mailing list for different teams?

2006-05-25T10:17:00.000+08:00

It's weird. I have been dealing with Burson Masteller for a long time, particularly since they represent HP, which I deal with a lot. So I could not understand why I was left out recently when BM send out a press invite for their client the Media Development Authority. I only found out about the press conference when my colleague Ian cced my the invite.

So I asked BM to clarify. "Am I not on your list of tech reporters? Or do you have different list for different teams within your company?" went my e-mail.

And this was the answer "We do have separate teams in B-M working on different projects. As a rule of thumb, we usually send invitations to only 3 to 4 people from a publication. Reason being we are careful not to flood the news room with the same email. "

Now that's intersting since TNP only has two tech reporters, me and Ian. So I asked BM who else did they send the invite to at TNP? To be continued....

Experiencing HDTV

2006-05-23T17:39:00.000+08:00

One cannot understand the sensation of sweetness unless one has tasted it. Even if you have, it's hard to explain how much sweeter, say Greek cakes are compared to normal cakes, unless you have tasted both before.

So it's the same with HDTV. Everyone says its better picture quality. Some say 4x as good. But how can you understand it if you haven't seen HDTV? It's a bit like VHS and DVD. When we first saw DVD quality movies, did our jaws drop?

HDTV is like that too. Your jaws will drop when you see the difference in quality. One way of explaining it is to use the PC analogy. Today, our normal TV is like 640 x 480 resolution (actually it is worse but you can't find anything less than 640 x 480). HDTV is like 1024 x 768 for the lower 720p quality and like 1920 x 1080 for the 1080i quality. If you've played games running on 640 x 480 and 1024 x 768, u know what I mean.

Another way to experience HDTV is to go down to Best Denki or Harvey Norman - look for the LCD TV whose image is simply crystal clear and is definitely a cut above the rest. It's not that this TV resolution is better, it's probably because this TV is running HD content while the others are handling DVD quality.

Ask the salesman, usually they won't lie to you when you can tell the difference

Singapore gets World Cup in high definition TV

2006-05-23T17:22:00.000+08:00

The World Cup is coming to Singapore via HDTV. But there's a catch.

You only get it if you qualify for it under StarHub's HDTV trials, which starts from 9 June to 31 December 2006. You can try your luck here http://www.vocanic.net/hdtv/crs/edm/ or at www.starhub.com/hdtvtrial which links you to the first website.

According to the site:

Participants selected for this trial has to be an active residential StarHub CableTV services' customers who are:
- subscribing to minimum 3 Basic Groups with the 2006 FIFA World CupTM Pay-Per-View;
- using a digital or DVR set-top box as main outlet and the HD set-top box as a complimentary additional outlet during the trial period;
- own a HD-ready TV set with additional HD inputs; and
- do not have any outstanding balance due to StarHub.

In addition:

- A one-time trial fee of $52.50 (with 5% GST) is applicable and it is non-refundable and non-protable.
- Basic installation charge of $31.50 (with 5% GST) for connection of HD set-top box to TV set (that is not wall or ceiling mounted) applies.

There has been some recent debate on what is a HD-ready TV and the answer is apparently unclear. It's a long story but to put it simply, that $4,000 LCD TV you bought recently may not be able to take advantage of the full resolution benefits of HDTV broadcasts. As to why, that is a story I am working on and will take them to research. You can read this blog which captures many of the complexities of dealing with HDTV

http://miketan.blogspot.com/

My Name is Bond, Hokkien Bond

2006-05-22T07:59:00.000+08:00

Check this out for a real laugh. Ever wondered what Pierce Brosnan would sound like in Hokkien? Complete with English subtitles!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl8t5nJp2AQ

Just launched - Sony Ericsson phones

2006-05-18T22:32:00.000+08:00

Sony Ericsson just launched four new phones earlier - the W850i Walkman phone Pictures above), the W710i Sports Walkman phone and two clamshells - Z710i and Z550i.

The W710i is the first Sports Walkman phone and is designed for the great outdoors. It comes with a pedometer to measure the calories u have burnt plus your distance travel. Its earphones ared designed to fit snugly over the ears so they dont fall off!

The W850i is SE's first slider phone and comes with powerful speakers, 1 GB onboard memory plus the rest of the usual stuff u see in the Walkman phones. It also has an "ah beng" light on the front of the phone that beats and changes colour in sync with the rhythm of your music.

Both the W710i and W850i have a new feature called Track ID which lets you record a radio tune or an Original Artist piece playing at a pub for 10 seconds. Then you can send that recording over the air and get a chance to buy the entire song immediately. Both phones also have A2DP profile, which lets you stream music from phone to Bluetooth A2DP headsets.

The Creative MP3 Patent

2006-05-18T08:34:00.000+08:00

Creeative finally sued Apple to enforce its patent which describes a method of arranging music in a hierarhical order in a portable music player. A lot of buzz has been generated, mostly negative about Creative. iPod fans are crying foul, saying Creative is stifling innovation. Securities analysts here are are skeptical, saying Creative still needs a better product roadmap, and the recent price increases after the announcement of the lawsuit is just a knee-jerk reaction.

I say Creative is doing the right thing. If Creative wins this lawsuit, it will become rich. All MP3 makers and phone makers in the world will have to start paying royalties for every device that is made. This is the kind of stuff that big IT and consumer electrnics companies dream of all the time. So I think a lot of people are missing the woods for the trees. First of all, for those who say Creative is stifling innovation, please note that the entire patent structure is to protect and reward innovation. And for the equities guys, please give credit when it is due. Creative could be getting rich here. Don't mix this patent suit with its product roadmap, they are two separate issues. The crux of the issue is whether Creative's patent is itself inherently strong enough to win the court's approval. If and when it does, you can bet that a new constant revenue stream will now be available to Creative.

Anyway, here's the link to the actual patent claim

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,928,433.PN.&OS=PN/6,928,433&RS=PN/6,928,433

Wireless Broadband has arrived - TNP 12.5.06

2006-05-14T13:55:00.000+08:00

Alternatives to fixed broadband access - A review of M1's $68 unlimited 3G service and QMax's new pre-WiMax wireless broadband service that costs about $22 for unlimited 256 kbps line. http://digital.asiaone.com.sg/features/20060512_002.html

Mac Mini review - The New Paper 12 May 06

2006-05-14T13:52:00.000+08:00

SMALL is beautiful. That's the tagline for the Mac mini from Apple. And I have to agree. http://digital.asiaone.com.sg/reviews/pc/20060512_001.html

Listing of all devices with various Bluetooth profile

2006-05-09T12:55:00.000+08:00

OK, I finally found it. A list of all the products - headset, mobile phone, laptop, MP3 player, adapters with the various Bluetooth profiles like A2DP, AVRCP, etc...

http://qualweb.bluetooth.org/Template2.cfm?LinkQualified=QualifiedProducts

got this from Bluetooth SIG spokesperson. It's buried so deep in the website it's impossible to locate without guidance

Macs virus-free?

2006-05-08T12:40:00.000+08:00

I really loved the new Apple ads about Mac vs PC, especially the one about viruses. http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

But here's the thing, according to the latest McAfee Labs report,

- From 2003 to 2005, the annual rate of vulnerability discovery on Apple's Mac OS platform has increased by 228 percent, compared to Microsoft's products which only saw a 73 percent increase.

- As demonstrated with their recent patches, Apple's Mac OS platform is just as vulnerable to targeted malware attacks as other operating systems.

Here's a quote:

"Many believe that using an Apple operating system is a form of security in itself, believing that they are far less susceptible to malware than Windows users," said Stuart McClure, senior vice president, global threats at McAfee. "While the threats targeting the Mac operating system are low in volume, the use of Apple products does not provide an invisibility cloak from malware, and users need to be more vigilant about security as adoption rates soar and attacks on Apple operating systems increase."

Apple Mac-mini - the new Media Centre PC?

2006-05-08T11:09:00.000+08:00

So when I heard of the new Mac mini, with its svelte design, $1000 bucks or so pricepoint, Front Row software which lets you launch videos, music and photos via a remote control (also provided) I thought of a new story angle - Is Steve Jobs targetting the living room and therefore, can the Mac mini be viable alternative to Microsoft's Media Centre PC and DVD recorders in the market?

So I contacted Apple Singapore's PR agency and asked for a review unit of the Mac Mini plus a DVI to composite converter (necessary because Mac Mini only has a DVI output - basically our computers outputs to our monitors via VGA or DVI while our DVD players outputs to our normal TVs via composite, S-video and component, so linking a PC to a TV is not so easy) I checked Apple's website and found that the accessory - the DVI to composite converter cable exists. I also explained to the PR my angle to the story, which was to test it like a Media Centre PC

The Mac mini took eons to arrive in Singapore, and was something like 4-5 weeks after I made the request. When it finally came, the package came with the Mac mini, a 20 inch beautiful Apple display, a real super cool white keyboard and the yucky new Mighty mouse. I didn't need the latter 3. More importantly, there was no DVI to composite cable. Even better, there was no DVI cable so I figured I had to use my fingers to connect the Mac Mini to the display. Fortunately. I have a DVI HP 19 inch LCD monitor at home so I used my exisiting DVI cable.

But that didn't solve my problem as I still couldnt connect the Mac Mini to the TV! I contacted Apple PR again to see if they could get that Apple DVi to comp coverter plus I asked if Apple could help me get any third party TV tuner that could record TV programmes into the Mac mini. I also figured that the iPod hifi would be great since I needed a good sound system to test the Mac Mini with. Amazingly, Apple doesnt have the DVI to composite converter (remember this is like a few months after Mac Mini was launched worldwide), at least not in Singapore for media to test. Apple did kindly send me the iPod hifi, and they even threw in the iPod nano and a cool leather case (the latter 2 i didn't request or need for my review). As for the third party tuner,

"We have checked with the resellers for you with regards to any third party product which allows the Mac mini to be converted into a recorder. Good news is, yes, there are currently two products - EyeTV and the EvolutionTV – that allows Mac mini to record programs. However, as they are not distributed by Apple, we are unable to get loans from them." this was the response. So I called the two local distributors, the contact was kindly proivided by Apple's PR. The first number I called, I spoke with this guy for like 10 mins, trying to explain to him what I was doing and asking him for a review unit for loan to test, he obviously had zero idea of what i was doing and rejected me. I called the second number and it was a fax machine.

So here I am now. I have the mac Mini and iPod hifi and my old Philips Pixel Plus Tv, but I can't test the Mac Mini for its living room functions since I don't have (1) DVI to composite cable (2) TV tuner and recorder (3) no cable between iPod hifi and the Mac mini. I can buy the latter from Sim Lim but that means taking a trip down. So the article, which was thought of by me and would have probably given a lot of good publicity for the Mac mini's use as a Media Centre alternative is not going to happen. I'll probably just run a review of the Mac mini as a PC, linked to my LCD screen - which is really boring. BTW, I even asked them to help me set up Boot Camp (the software that lets you run Windows XP on the Mac) on the Mac Mini for me to test, but again was turned down and I had to do it mysel. (I didn't bother in the end)

This whole saga is ending like a joke. So why I am writing this blog? Especially since I've gone pass the pissed stage? I don't know whether it's Apple's fault or its PR's fault, but my message is this - PR is about making things easy for the journalist. When a journalist comes to you with a story angle, especially one that is probably positive for the vendor, please go out of the way to make sure he gets everything he needs. I feel that in this case, Apple should have gone out of the way to get me that DVI converter, call the third party distributors to get me the TV tuner. I didn't even bother to ask for the Mac Mini to iPod hifi audio cable.

Why should vendors and PRs care?
Because, at the end of the day, you got to help us to help you. Because there a zillion other products in the market to test, and you can be sure that the journalists will spend more time with the stuff that comes to him without him needing to move mountains. And the next time Apple comes up with a new product, I'll just go for the straight angle and think of anything creative or out of the box. Which is sad, coz I have always thought of Steve Jobs as a super creative guy and Apple a super creative company.

For the record,
Mac Mini - is really cool by itself, everything u need in a PC is packed into this svelte and slim device, it is also amazingly silent,
iPod Hifi - is a superb device, I plugged in the iPod nano into a little dock at the top of the hifi, press play and it sings. beats my wife's 14-year old Pioneer mini hi-fi (which is still around coz they don't make mini fi-fis like they used to anymore)
20 inch Apple display - it's still in the box, I didn't have time to test
iPod nano - wow, no wonder Creative is crashing
iPod nano leather case - wow again, can't explain, it's just wow
Mighty Mouse - sucks real bad compared to my Logitech G5, mouse is one of those things that a good design won't hide the flaws
the white keyboard - fantastic, good tactile feel, big keys, 2 USB ports
Mac Mini as a Media Centre alternative? absolutely have no idea

Why The White Odyssey

2006-05-08T10:36:00.000+08:00

I tried a zillion names and they were all taken up. So I decided to go for my car - a white odyssey. I figured it wasn't so popular since most Odysseys on the road were either champagne or silver. Guess it worked.