Monday, October 26, 2009

Lives spent lurking too long in the shadows of the virtual

Private Worlds | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters
We are too connected, we are too distracted...

How to approach the difficult topic that is street photography

Ways of Working
With a 3-week trip coming up, I guess this is one of the best time to pick up street photography again. Having tried it in Little India with mixed results some time ago, I'm hesitant about using a DSLR again. Maybe it's just me giving myself another excuse to buy another camera when my current arsenal of 2 cameras are already underutilised... Anyway, the link above is quite a good one on street shooting.

Photos from a Panasonic GF1

The things I ate in Japan « Evernote Blogcast
A strange place to find pics taken by a new camera, but this blog post (or more exactly, the corresponding Evernote shared notebook) showcases real world shots taken by the new micro Four Thirds camera, the Panasonic GF1. Lots of indoor shots, which seem to show that sensor size is still key to low-light shots.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Opera Mini 5 beta

Opera Mini
The new version of Opera Mini is here. I have only tested it for 3 hours, but my initial thoughts are not 100% favourable.

Some problems below which didn't appear in Opera Mini 4.2 (hope to resolve them soon)
  1. Entering passwords. The new version does not show the character briefly before showing an asterisk when you press a key. It just shows asterisks. This is problematic, as you have to "guess" if you've pressed the right key.
  2. The shortcut keys have changed. Normally, pressing '#' then '2' brings up the bookmarks, but here it opens the search field.
  3. The menu is not easily accessible. I need to press at least 3 keys to get to it.
  4. Where is the Page Down? One of the most valuable feature of Opera Mini is the ability to page down using the right D-pad key. This is great in mobile view where everything is on 1 column, and there is no need to scroll left or right. Mobile view on the new version does not allow for this.
New features
  1. Search within page is good. The new find function is great, and is "search as you type".
  2. Tabbed browsing. Works quite well, with screens changing quickly when you toggle tabs.
  3. Copy and paste (and search). Press and hold the main center button for a few seconds and it will show up a dialog, "Select Text". Then move the cursor to your start point and press the left soft key. Move using the D-pad to select the text. Then press the left soft key again. Pop up dialog will have 3 options, Copy, Search, and Search With.
I suspect part of the problem is caused by a GUI slanted more towards touchscreen phones... Now to find the feedback forums...

CASE to organise event with timeshare-related company

Seminars
CASE is organising a talk on timeshare with RCI, a timeshare exchange company. Personally, I don't think it sounds right for CASE to organise an event where one particular company will be recommended (even if indirectly) over others. The CASETRUST scheme already offers whitelisting, but is normally done on an industry level, and consciously involve several companies, and not one particular firm.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Virtual World / The Natural World

Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters
From the blog entry introducing issue 86
Attention all jammers, activists and cultural creatives,

A specter is haunting the mind of the industrialized world – the specter of the virtual. — Metaverse Manifesto

How’s your online life? Are you happily learning, creating, interconnecting … or is your digital existence growing flatter, duller and ever more predictable?

As physical reality crumbles, the bluish glow of the virtual realm beckons and humanity is presented with a Faustian temptation: to abandon our evolutionary home (it’s too damn hot, messy and boring anyway) and become psychic hives of activity in cyberspace. This is the existential choice we explore in Adbusters #86.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Getting Things Done (GTD) using Remember The Milk (RTM)

Remember The Milk - Blog
Currently using Gmail Tasks to manage my to-do list, but RTM could be more apt for implementing GTD comprehensively...