RIP Steve Jobs. Visionary, World Changer, Magic Maker

(picture taken from Disney-Pixar FB)

R.I.P.

STEVE JOBS

(1955-2011)

Personaly, my favorite Steve Jobs contribution is not Apple, but Pixar. He was the one who gave Ed Catmull and John Lasseter the backing to start the company. Without Steve Jobs, we might not have had movies like Toy Story, WALL-E, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and so on. And the world would have been a less happy place for me.

As for Apple, I used to be so anti-Apple it hurt. Then I got an iPod shuffle, then iPod Touch, then iPhone, then iPad.... Yup, iConverted. Anyway, here's my personal history with Apple, through a rundown of the devices I've owned:

Apple II: I remember countless hours playing Karateka on the Apple II my dad bought for us. Back then, computers were so awesome. Our dad had to limit the time we were on it to an hour a day.

iPod shuffle (Gen 1) I bought this off Erna after she got it from a lucky draw, and I was instantly hooked. An over-glorified thumbdrive it may be, but it changed the way I listened to music. Used to abuse it a lot too.

iPod Nano (Gen 2): Again, bought it off someone who got it free. All of a sudden, I had a SCREEN! I could see what I was listening too! Didn't last long though, because not soon after I got this, I got the...

iPod Touch (Gen 1): This was the breakthrough. This was the one that got me hooked. I was in love. Since then, I've not been able to get used to any other touchscreen. Unfortunately, after almost two years, it drowned in an unfortunatel flooding incident at my apartment. Sigh...

iPod Touch (Gen 2): LL bought this for me for our anniversary after I'd lost my last one. It was slimmer, more canggih than the last one, and best of all, it's got our names and anniversary date engraved on the back. :-)

iPhone 4: After YEARS of using a Nokia E71, it finally died and I wanted to get a touchscreen phone. At first I tried out some Android phones, but somehow, I didn't quite like it. I didn't understand why until I bought LL an iPhone 4, and realized that I'd become so used to the touch screen and the interface of the iPod Touch that I simply could not get used to the Android ones at all. So yeah, and that's the story of how I got an iPhone 4 eventually.

iPad: I got this slightly cheaper than normal from a friend. After lugging my laptop around for so long when I travel, the iPad turned out to be a godsent. It was AWESOME for long haul flights, I could watch videos, read books, comics, and play games, AND the battery didn't run out halfway through the flight.

So yeah, that's how I evolved into an Apple geek. No, I still don't use a Macbook though. I like change, but not THAT much. :-p

Thank you Steve Jobs, for changing the world. Rest in Peace.

The Nokia X6: Comes With Music & Some Aggravation.

This post is long overdue - Nokia actually gave us the Nokia X6 phone in January; and I actually had a few versions of this review already written, but somehow I never got around to finishing it until now.

Anyway, first things first, some context. I'm very much an iPod Touch kinda person when it comes to touch screens. I may not like iPhones much, but I have to admit its touch screen is unbeatable. I'm also pretty used to the Nokia E71; but I don't like the Blackberry. So never mind iPhones or Blackberries; I'm gonna compare the X6 to the phone and music player I like best.

Oh, and another thing - I've never been a fan of music + phone hybrids anyway, because I hate it when I'm in a middle of a song and the phone rings. A phone should stay a phone, a music player should stay a music player, IMHO.

Anyway, the best part about the X6 is the Comes With Music service. They gave us a free one year subscription, and on the first day itself I downloaded hell of a lotta music - Fever Ray, Atlas Sound, Kings of Leon, Eels, The Rifles... there's a hell of a lot of music available, and it's all for free with CWM. I even tried looking for Beyond songs on it, and came up with an excellent live version of Hoi Fut Tin Hong with Wong Ka Kui!

There's a catch though - the songs come with a DRM, so you can only register your CWM account to ONE PHONE and ONE LAPTOP and you can only play the songs on that one phone. Can't even transfer it to mp3 or to your iPod. Hmph.

From old songs to new songs, the Comes With Music service is probably one of the most awesome things about the X6. And because I listen to A LOT of music, the sheer range and diversity of the music available is pretty damn awesome. As long as I had a data connection I could download almost any song I wanted straight into the phone, and listen to it immediately.

And since it's meant to also be a music player, the phone also comes with a pair of foldable headphones, which are quite cool. (Unfortunately, mine doesn't really work very well with other devices like my iPod (heh) or the laptop. I also got annoyed with the headphone jack because it's on top of the phone, unlike the iPod's which is at the bottom right corner. I kept holding the phone upside-down because of that. Problem is, I found the music player a bit of a hassle to use, and not as user-friendly as the iPod's.

Oh, one more thing I really liked about the X6 - the CAMERA! Ok, it's not as awesome compared to a REAL camera of course, but it still beats the crap out of the E71's camera. For instance, all the pictures in the CraftBrews post was from the X6; and all of REta's rock star stalking pictures were by the X6 as well.

So, it's a good music player, it's a cool camera. How is it as a PHONE? Well, it comes with touch screen, which is cool and all; but not as responsive compared to the er.. iPod (iSay iPod because iHate iPhones). And the screen is way too small for somone who's too used to the iPod Touch's BIG screen.

As a phone, the X6 is normal. Nothing special. Can call, can SMS, can go online. It's a bit light for my liking though - I'm used to the hefty weight of the Nokia E71. Also, the touchscreen keypad is a pain to use; I keep pressing the wrong letters. It's not as easy to navigate... and why do I have to manually shut down the apps I open? Shouldn't it shut down automatically when I press the red button? Ish ish.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, here's my personal rundown of the Nokia X6:

EPIC WIN: Comes With Music
FAIL: Comes With DRM.
WIN: Comes With Awesome Camera
FAIL: Comes With Lag Time
WIN: Comes With Touch Screen
FAIL: Comes With Touch Screen Keypad.
WIN: Comes With headphones
FAIL: Comes with pretty hefty price tag: RM2099, to be exact.

Presenting... Apple's Next Post-iPad Products, with EVEN BIGGER TOUCHSCREENS!!!

It all started out with the iPod. Then it got smaller (iPod Nano) and even smaller (iPod Shuffle). Then they started getting bigger, and cooler with the iPod Touch, and then when the iPhone was released, all hell broke loose.

Now EVERYONE wants a touchscreen, and the iPhone has lost it's cool factor because EVERYONE has one. So what does Apple do? Make it BIGGER of course!

Don't get me wrong, despite the stupid name, the iPad looks damn cool, but really, I can't see beyond it being just an over-glorified iPod Touch. Sure, specific people will have great use for it - photographers who want to show-off their portfolio, marketing people who need to do presentations and so on. But me? My current laptop's already damn small, is a tablet, and also has a touch screen. So what's the big deal about the iPad, huh?

Yeah, I'll pass for now. At least until it gets cheaper, or someone gives it to me free. Heh heh.

Besides, at the rate Apple is going by making their touch screen devices BIGGER and BIGGER, I reckon their next products will be the following:

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The iTable



Throw out your clunky desktop and turn your DESK into your personal computer! Instead of using your fingers, use your PALMS to work the iTable!

Special apps:

• iPhone Table: Never use your hands to answer the phone again! Now you can answer all your calls by simply laying your ear down anywhere on the iTable!
  
• iArm: Eliminate the risk of carpal-tunnel syndrome when you use the iTable with this faulous app that massages your arms when you rest them on the iTable!
  
• iCup: An app that detects your cup anywhere you put it on the iTable, and automatically keeps it warm for you! A future upgrade will have a 'freeze' mode that allows you to keep your beers chilled as well!
  
• iMahjung: Never lose a mahung tile again! Using this app, the iTable can be converted into a virtual mahjung table, complete with almost real sound effects!
• iSmoke: Can't stop smoking at work? Well, this app is for you. just flick your ash anywhere on the iTable and the touchscreen immediately absorbs the ash and converts it into renewable energy to power the iTable! Comes with built-in lighter!
• iTypewriter: For long-serving workers who miss the days when "We had none of these hocu-pocus PC or iPiss shit! We had good old typewriters!". Provides authentic typewriter sounds, and the all-familiar DING! when the user finishes a line.
  

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The iBoard



Throw out your old school black/white boards and use the iBoard intead! Even Einstein would approve! Comes with a metal stand to wheel around for easy transport, for teachers and mathematicians on the go!

Special Apps:

• iPhoto: Turns your iBoard into a picture frame; and decorate it by downloading your favorite paintings by famous artists like Picasso, Van Gogh and more! (Screensavers? What are those?)
• iChalk / iMarker: Turns your iBoard into a digital blackboard or whiteboard, depending on your preference. Comes with authentic chalk-on-board sounds. Even includes authentic annoying screeching sound when you run your fingernails over it!
• iMath: automatically loads and displays any famous or obscure mathematical formula (written in chalk) when you need to impress people with your intellectual prowess.
• iTeach: When used for classrooms, this app will ensure you never embarrass yourself in front of your students with typos, grammatical errors or wrong calculations; by automatically correcting the mistakes as you make them. Suitable for English teachers who are not very good at English.