Great Tool in the Shed

25th August 2010, Wednesday

Over the past weekend which saw me signing off a bill of $3200 with my credit card, there was a purchase that might well worth every penny.

For a long while, I had been resisting the allure of a smart phone, obstinately clamoring over the fact that a mobile phone is afterall just used for making phone calls, anything else is just periphery.

There has been a iPhone fever sweeping our little red dot since 3GS came into the market many moons back and almost any Tom, Dick & Harry around me had been meddling with their 3.5 inch touch pad whenever they felt bored or simply insecured.

Not one to jump on a bandwagon, I was fiddling with the prospect of changing my 4 year old Motorola Razr which was really lasting despite of umpteen drop from mid air.
The speaker had become rather weak but otherwise everything is a go.

One feature of a smartphone would be nifty would be the ability to surf the web anywhere with a reception for the 3G transmission.
I had occasions when a sudden urge to search of some facts on Wikipedia or perhaps an old song on the youtube.

This feature was really what made my latest acquisition of an iPhone 4 seems so sweet as I just began reading Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol", borrowed from Mr Chan.
There were some intricate description of certain monuments and buildings which would be well complimented if there were some visuals from the internet.

Another fabulous feature was the ability to download podcast off the iTunes which I never bother with the iPod.
Managed to get the latest podcasts off ESPN soccernet which was a treat, perhaps can try Ricky Gervais' famous podcasts soon.

While listening to the dry British humor during my run, I had a need to do some counting down of time for a stretching exercise and instantly use the stopwatch utility on the phone for it.

However I don't forsee myself carrying it for workout as there is a high tendency of dropping the precious gadget.

All in all there are still thousands of apps to really spice up or make life convenient but for now the new phone surely is a real cool tool.

Japanese word of the day: 道具 ~dou-ku~ (Tool) Such a tool would be good for someone like myself who was described as not the brightest tool in the shed

Hang & Crash

12th August 2010, Thursday

I am at wit's ends with regards to the status of a crucial part of my life and soul: the erratic one known as the personal computer.

There had been signs since months ago that something is stealthily infecting the operating system resulting in habitual crashes, unsolicited restarts and the unknown hanging.

CS had been summoned time and again to fix it and mostly became shortlived remedy as the problem persist.
It was still cope-able for the months of June & July as the glitches appeared less frequent and everything is run pretty smoothly.

However over the National Day weekend, the problem aggravated and now the PC is acting up like a petulant infant, kept throwing a wrench in my wheel of everyday activities when the hanging and crashing came without notice and at such frequency.
Yet I bear with it at the current moment while think of a short-term solution and a longer one.

The former would be reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling Vista to see if it could exorcise any remnants that could be bothering the system.
With my style of getting things online, I am highly susceptible to attack regardless I have the anti virus tool running round the clock.

The latter would be an overhaul of the hardware, barely 2 years since the last upgrade.
I could of course dedicate some hard earn cash for it but I want something that could last but obviously it doesn't work for me unless I religiously maintain and preserve the system and veer clear of all the hap-hazardous phishing sites. which is close to impossible considering how dangerous the world is out there now and I have that undying need of some digital materials.

Well taking a step at a time and hope life will go back to normal soon.
Anyway got an overbearing feeling that my room is cursed for electronic products to last longer as they should.
Last evening the wall fan just lost its power to oscillate. Bummer...

Japanese word of the day: 持続 ~ji-zo-ku~ (Lasting) The only thing lasting about my PC is the keyboard.