In this social-networking era, not having a social-networking apps installed in your iPhone is a kind of strange... :) so, Facebook is considered mandatory... While it is very convenience to have Facebook in iPhone so you are connected wherever you go and can update your profile or upload photos any time, as it is inherited from iPhone, no adobe-flash support, so forget it to play your favorite Facebook games like FarmVille, CafeWorld, or FishVille in your iPhone... huh!
I am not a fans of Twitter... in term of social networking, I don't see Twitter is quite useful since I am not a famous person, or public figure who the legion of followers (or fans) would love to follow my tweet or curious about any news about me... :))
But, I found another way to use Twitter as a useful apps... as news consolidator for me... By following some favorite news broadcasters, I don't need to open each of their's website, just open Twitterrific and I can get the up-to-date and hot news in a second, amazing! And, since every tweet has link to the complete news, I just touch it and read, because Twitterrific will open in in separate screen without need to leave the apps... so convenience!
The first iPhone application that I looked for after I bought iPhone is the similar application like Remote Desktop in Windows-based smartphone. This is what made me delay buying iPhone and kept loyal to Windows Mobile.
iRDesktop is the answer... it works seamlessly with Windows RDP and the setup options even better than Windows Mobile's Remote Desktop. It allows user to define each Remote Connection its own resolution, username and password, and colors depth. And, can open several connections at one go, but of course, you can activate only one at a time... Furthermore, inherit iPhone features, user can zoom and pan the remote desktop screen as in the Safari browser, as well as rotate the device to switch between portrait and landscape views.
Honestly, I don't listen to Japanese songs that much... There is one song that was a big hit in 1982 which I still remember and love to listen until now, the song titled "Kokoro No Tomo" by Mayumi Itsuwa.
It was 3 Japanese Drama that I watched in the past few years with 3 nice Original Sound Track (OST) that attracted my attention. And, surprisingly, all those three nice songs was written, composed, and sung by one singer: Hikaru Utada. Wow... she is such a talented artist... almost all songs in her album were written, composed, and sung by her. I really admire that talent!!
First song, "First Love", OST of "Majo no Joken" or known as "Forbidden Love" in its English title. Quite interesting drama about 'against-all-odds' love story between teacher and her high school student...
Second song, "Prisoner of Love", OST of "Last Friends". Another interesting drama about complicated, strange, and unusual multi-angle love story between friends... I love the psychological side of each characters in the drama.
Third song, "Eternally", OST of "Innocent Love". A simple drama about power of love... on how someone who dedicated his love to someone who actually doesn't love him, but in the end he finally found that true love from someone else who can appreciate his dedicated and unconditional love... so sweet...
I have been using iPhone for 3 months (mainly for surf internet, facebook-ing, instant messenger-ing, and playing games) and I am not surprised that I am hooked to it... I trust my 'radar' when I walk because my attention is on my iPhone... ha ha ha... hopefully I never bump into something or somebody... touch wood!
Even before I buy iPhone, I knew for sure how does it feel using one of the great product of the decade. But, there were 2 reasons why I was not among the earlier users of iPhone: First, because I need Remote Desktop to connect remotely to my PC and servers. Second, I am a StarHub subscriber and iPhone was only tied up with SingTel. So, for months, I was using Samsung Omnia plus the free-and-unlimited 3G mobile internet SIM Card from my MaxOnline Plus subscription.
Why I like iPhone so much? Well... the answer is quite universal I guess... well-designed product, smooth and responsive touch interface, large and very good quality screen (even still visible under the bright sun), and tons of applications in its AppStore with so many free or lite edition so I can try it first before decide to buy it. It is true that large availability and variety of applications is the fresh blood of the iPhone's life, almost all what you need you can find it there... just a matter whether you are willing to pay for it or not :)
iPhone connection to network is also very smooth... whenever it can find WiFi, it will connect seamlessly... and it will connect to 3G if there is no WiFi available. The connection shifting between WiFi and 3G is done automatically, without annoying interruption...
Same as the new launch iPad, iPhone still lack of 2 features: Java Runtime and Flash Player, two commonly used components in internet world. Not sure why Apple 'hates' these two components... is it because those two components considered processor and memory hungry that can slowdown iPhone? Not sure... but hopefully they will be part of next iPhone OS upgrade... Ah ya, one more... iPhone doesn't support multitasking... (well, you can have it though by 'jailbreaking' your iPhone... at your own risk...)
iPhone limits the Apps storage up to 11 pages only... which is not enough for me because I love to try out those free and lite apps, so I need to keep removing unused apps to free space for new ones. Wish it comes with folder concept or at least two level storage of apps in next OS upgrade... or simply make it unlimited as long as the storage still enough to keep it.
In my next article on iPhone, I will write more on my review and recommendation on its applications, especially the ones those I am using in my iPhone.
There is no day without my iPhone... I love this product so much!! :)
Source: Yahoo!News - At The Zoo Persian Leopards Razan and Marum are pictured at the zoo in Chemnitz, eastern Germany in 2007. Russia on Tuesday asked Iran if it would be prepared to supply rare Persian leopards as part of a Russian project to reintroduce the big cat to its Caucasus region. (AFP/DDP/File/Uwe Meinhold)
Source: National Geographic on Photo of the Day: Best of August 2009 Quote from the original article: "This is a Cuban tree frog on a tree in my backyard in southern Florida. How and why he ate this light is a mystery. It should be noted that at the time I was taking this photo, I thought this frog was dead, having cooked himself from the inside. I'm happy to say I was wrong. After a few shots he adjusted his position. So after I was finished shooting him, I pulled the light out of his mouth and he was fine. Actually, I might be crazy but I don't think he was very happy when I took his light away."
While I was browsing the news in internet, I read a shocking article in thesun.co.uk website about the secret slaughter of the dolphins.
The most shocking moment was when I saw the picture of the sea turns red with the blood of the dolphins massacred by fishermen in the cove at Taiji, in Japan (below). Taiji, the small Japanese coastal town - population 3,000 - is the largest supplier of dolphins to marine parks and programmes around the world.
Once the Dolphins are trapped inshore, dolphin trainers fly in from around the world to select the fittest young, mainly female, animals to put them in captivity. But it is what happens to the hundreds remaining that is so shocking. The locals herd them around the edge of the bay to a secret cove, fenced off with barbed wire and patrolled tightly by security men and police. The dolphins are never seen again.
Nearly 2,000 dolphins are slaughtered in Taiji every year - stabbed with sharp poles as they desperately try to escape.
While we are so happy and amaze watching the Dolphin shows (most of the Dolphins were taken from their free life at the sea into captivity) and praise them for their intelligence, we don't realize what was happened behind it... how they were captured, what happened to thousands of them, how some people didn't realize they ate slaughtered/massacred Dolphins meat (as substitute of whale meat)... I just can't imagine it does happens... :(
Source: TheSun.co.uk, published on 10 Nov 2008. Text quoted from the article:
"IT’S hard work being a panda cub – and these exhausted specimens can bearly keep their eyes open. The cuddly characters curled up for fur-ty winks before feeding time at a busy breeding research centre.
Bosses at the base in Chengdu, South West China, hope to boost numbers of the endangered beast via artificial breeding techniques.
But this dozy lot were more interested in their bamboo-ty sleep.
After all, they wouldn’t want dark rings round their eyes."
So far, I only know that my nephew is big fan of Gundam... everytime he came to Singapore, for sure he will buy one or two, and he has collected quite number of Gundam plastic models. And, so far, I only shake my head everytime he bought it because it is not cheap... at least SGD25 per model.
Since yesterday, there is Gundam exhibition in the mall near my house. They call the event, Gundam Fiesta 2009 (2 - 14 Sep), to celebrate its 30 years. Curiously, I walk through the exhibition and, instantly, I amaze with it... so many kinds of it and not only little children and teenagers love it... even young adults love it too!! I took out my Samsung Omnia and start took picture of those plastic models.
Well... it reminds me of my childhood time, this kind of toy is considered expensive item for me and, that time, I only had one F18 Hornet model (don't know where it is now)... assembled it took quite amount of time but very enjoyable...
Interested and want to know more about Gundam? Visit this Wikipedia page.
Before the boom of netbook, started by Asus Eee PC, it was concept of tablet PC in form of UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) that initially introduced to the market. But, seems market didn't accept it well... probably the lack of physical keyboard made it a bit difficult to use... users still very get used to notebook with physical keyboard. So,UMPC concept cool down... hardly saw it in the market, while netbook is all over the place, and the big players join the trend.
Now it has been almost 2 years since the first Asus Eee PC introduced to the market with very affordable price. And, at the same time, PDAs and smartphones also gain market shares in mobilephone market and people start enjoying faster mobile internet through Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE, 3G, and then 3.5G (HSPA). People start get used to with touch screen devices and internet everywhere... and the popularity of social networking (Facebook, Friendster) and instant messaging (YM, MSN, GTalk, etc) came in a big way, so some manufacturer starts looking back and redevelop the UMPC.
While browsing today... I spotted an interesting gadget, it is very cool indeed... made by a Korean company. It called Viliv X70 EX, see picture below...
What makes this Viliv X70 EX interesting?
First, it is running on Windows XP Home (not Windows Mobile), means it functioning as a normal PC, and there are so many ready-made applications that can be installed to make the device more useful...
Second, it has built in 3G/HSPA modem, so mobile internet is just as simple as slot in your unlimited 3G Data SimCard and there you go... plus Skype, YM/MSN, phone dialer, and Facebook... a complete communication device... have fun!
Third, the battery last quite long enough for continuous usage, it claims 5+ hours... very good enough compare to netbooks.
Lastly, the price is quite reasonable... in Singapore, it will cost S$1,499. Well, compare to the high-end Windows-based PDA which also in the region of S$1,200+, that price looks very attractive...
Here is the full technical specification of Viliv X70 EX: Intel Atom 1.33GHz processor, 7" WSVGA (1,024 x 600) touch screen, Windows XP Home, 1GB DDR2 RAM, SSD 32GB, 1.3M pixel camera, IEEE 802.11 b/g wireless LAN, HSPA/WiMax, 2.0+EDR Bluetooth, SirfStarIII GPS, SDHC, Audio, USB, USB (link), Multi I/O ports. 210(W) x 117(H) x 22.5(T) mm size, and 660g (with battery) weight.
Close up picture of Viliv X70 EX:
Here is a quite long review of Viliv X70 EX Premium 3G:
Source: National Geographic on FATHER'S DAY PICTURES: 'Best' Animal Dads. June 18, 2009--Father's Day, which falls this year on Sunday, June 21, annually honors committed human dads. But seahorse fathers (above, a newborn hitches a ride on dad's tail) might just blow those proud papas out of the water.
Seahorses are a type of fish in which the males actually get "pregnant." The female seahorse deposits her eggs in the male's specialized pouch, and the male carries up to 2,000 babies during its 10- to 25-day pregnancy.
"They're fascinating males have more or less become females, [almost] transgendered," said Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading in the U.K. "They're devoted fathers."
In general throughout the animal kingdom, males leave parenting to the females, because males have more chances to reproduce and so can create many more offspring, Pagel said.
Pagel calls this a "cruel bind [that] often favors men"--as soon as the female gets pregnant, the male just runs off.
U.S. comedian Chris Rock has said that "a man is only as faithful as his options," he noted, and "that's exactly what happens with animals."
But there are exceptions, and "what's wonderful," he said, "is that the range goes all the way from males that simply provide sperm that are never seen or heard from again through to seahorses, where females just provide eggs and are never seen or heard from again." --Christine Dell'Amore —Photograph by Paul Zahl, NGS Image Collection
I used to embed my Imeem playlist in this blog... but as of today I realize that all the songs can only play 30 seconds... After further checking, I found out that Imeem has imposed new restriction so the full song can only be played within Imeem website, no more allowed in embedded form... well, it probably due to copyright issue... so sad... but as long as it can be played fully in Imeem website, no problem...
Hmm... now I only have Grooveshark playlist that still can be embedded in my blog... so, no choice, I need to create similar Heavy Slow Rock playlist and embed it here...
Last night, I just finished one of the latest Korean Drama, Cain and Abel, a 2009 production.
Well, it is not much different to typical Korean Drama, never far from story about love triangle, old time scandal, hate, evil mind, and fight among family for inheritance, control of family business, etc. The interesting part only the beginning part, roughly a quarter of the story, quite full of action with most of the story took place in China. I won't write about the story here because there are already many websites you can go and read about it, e.g. koreandrama.org
I would prefer write about the main actor & actress of this drama. Honestly among them, I think So Ji-Seob is the main attractiveness of this drama, name that can be sold to wider audience since he is one of the popular Korean actor. But, I won't write about him, I will write about the main actress, Han Ji Min, instead.
Since her appearance as supporting actress in Jewel In The Palace (a.k.a Dae Jang Geum), I know Han Ji Min has future and will have good career in Korean Drama industry... she is pretty, cute, and adorable. Since then, she has acted in several dramas, among them, the ones those I have watched are Resurrection and several first episodes of Capital Scandal. But, those didn't impressed me much... it's only in Cain and Abel, she acted quite well and gel into the character. She seriously learned North Korean accent and also Mandarin language for this drama and finally, yes, she looks prettier and cuter... he he he...
Here are some of her pictures that I found after googling her name and then edit them a bit. Very cute...
I didn't write that much in this Blog this year... blame it to Facebook & Y!Messenger... ha ha ha... my daily life full with this addictive social networking activities, thanks to robust and affordable Singapore internet infrastructure.
It was a busy social networking life since last quarter of last year. Since my involvement in Facebook, almost everyday full of surprises met, chatted, shared stories & photos with old friends... my university friends, highschool friends... then even my junior high school and elementary school friends... What a power of social networking!
It is also become my productive period of my poetry writing ever! I'm very happy and delighted with my friends' comments and responses... which in turn make me want to write poetry even more... thanks to those experiences and memories of my 40 years of life...
Since Facebook messenger is not powerful enough, can't even do conference, then Y!Messenger became the needed additional communication tool. In Indonesia, Y!Messenger is more popular than MSN Messenger, so I use it to communicate with my high school friends.
Facebook nowadays has become a must have tool to open the door to old days life. Indonesia has become a major source of growth of Facebook in Asia, it grows so fast... friends to friends... colleagues to colleagues... family members to family members... even BlackBerry become so popular handphone in Indonesia, its sales grows suprisingly 400% last year... which I believe this social networking addiction is one of the affecting factor.
After the busy 6 months of facebooking... it seems that things get cooling... the activities and communications were not as often before... probably some get boring, found it less and less fun, no more story to tell, back to daily life activities, and might also realize how costly their internet cost has become!
I feel that way too... especially since Facebook update its interface and remove the live feed feature which, in my view, one of the most exciting feature of Facebook... it becomes less fun... I really miss monitoring my friends activities where I be able to instantly react and response almost instantly to any interesting development... all now become so static and boring.
Well... here I am... back to my daily life, my pre-facebook activities... yeah... life goes on with or without social networking.
Can't find new, innovative, and interesting gadget @ IT Show, I open my Firefox browser and googled 'tablet netbook'... hmm... I found an interesting new gadget called Touch Book from a company called Always Innovating. More or less this gadget is like something that I dream of, something that I can always bring along (means small and light), can use it while standing in packed MRT, works like normal PC - enough to be used for internet browsing and social networking (Facebook & Messenger), and long lasting battery life.
The interesting about this Touch Book is that it works as both a netbook and a standalone tablet thanks to a detachable keyboard and a 3D touchscreen user interface. The Touch Book uses an innovative ARM processor from Texas Instruments that delivers the power of a traditional desktop computer but uses a fraction of the energy, resulted in 10-15 hours of battery life. Like a cellphone, it is always-on, so there is no need to reboot each time. And without noisy fans and disk drives, it's completely silent, so it won't intrude on your inner space.
Touch Book specifications: * 9.4" x 7" x 1.4" for 2 lbs (with keyboard) * ARM Texas Instruments OMAP3 chip * 1024x600 8.9'' screen * Storage: 8GB micro SD card * Wifi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth * 3-dimensional accelerometer * Speakers, micro and headphone * 6 USB 2.0 (3 internal, 2 external, 1 mini) * 10h to 15 hours of battery life
What Operating System will it used? Well, the company claims that since everything’s Open Source, the following OS can be installed: Google Android, Ubuntu, Angstrom and Windows CE (not recommend)... sorry, no Windows XP/Vista for this device.
This new gadget to be launched in Q3 of 2009. How much will it cost? The tablet version will cost US$299 and the netbook version will cost US$399... quite affordable. Hmm... couldn't wait... will it be featured in next IT Show? Hopefully...
Read in detail about this interesting gadget here or in its website.
What would be an IT Show in the middle of World's so-called 'Financial Crisis'? It was still crowded and people still willing to queue to buy products!! Well... it still looks promising... but need to see the real transaction figure before making judgement on consumer spending.
I went to the IT Show @ Suntec this afternoon... as usual... traffic jam (but don't care because I took bus to go there) and very crowded with spectators and bargain hunters... I thought it will be very packed exhibition hall and very difficult to move... but actually once I was inside, there was still space to move around quite smoothly.
What was new and innovative gadget? Nothing! There was no new gadget that attract my attention... everywhere were netbooks and notebooks... less and less desktop PC... then LCD TV price is getting cheaper and cheaper... imagine, a 47" Palladine LCD TV Full HD went for SGD 1,299!! very attractive price considering I bought my Sony 32" LCD TV for SGD 2,499 3-and-half years ago... wish all well-known brand LCD TV to fall to that level of price within this year... ha ha ha... dream on it!!
I was there, roaming on Level 4 and then Level 6, until 7pm... roughly 2 hours before I decided to go home, quite boring and tired...
Last Sunday, it was another glory for Rafael Nadal and a tearful night for Roger Federer... after another tight 5 sets game between the two nemesis, 7-5 3-6 7-6 3-6 6-2 in Australian Open final. It was a hard fight by Nadal to win 1st & 3rd set while it seems so easy for Federer to claim 2nd & 4th set, but the last set was really went to Nadal way.
Came to this Final after his 5 sets game, in 5 hours and 14 minutes, against his compatriot Fernando Verdasco, many predicted Nadal will face tiredness while 2-days break for Federer gave him a better chance to win his 14th Grandslam Title... but in the end, it was not the case.
Probably because of he felt quite confidence enough to win the title after his much more better performance than his last year, Roger Federer got so upset and emotional that he downed with tears. It seems this is the first time the world saw him cried like that so it became big news the next day rather than Nadal's glory.
But Nadal, as my wife said, probably should be thankful to Verdasco, regardless that 5 sets tiring semifinal, because he defeated Andy Murray (who defeated Nadal in their latest match) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (who defeated Nadal in Australian Open last year), Nadal's potential threat, on his way to semifinal.
With 3 different Grandslam titles in his pocket, Nadal need one more title, US Open, to make his tennis career perfect since not many players be able to bag those 4 different Grandslam tittle, not even Roger Federer who eventhough have 13 Grandslam titles in his pocket - one more short of Pete Sampras record, a great achievement as a tennis player - still not perfect without French Open, where he still failed in Nadal's hand.
Go... go... go Rafael Nadal... chase that US Open title...
I just finished watching this nice J-Drama titled "Innocent Love". Great story... and later I found out, after searched for information of this drama, that it has the same writer as "Last Friends", a J-Drama I have watched before and wrote about it in this blog. In my view, while "Last Friends" emphasizes heavily of each person's psychological state, "Innocent Love" more emphasizes on the greatness of love. At least there is something that I can learn from this drama.
The guy, Nagasaki Junya (performed by Kitagawa Yujin), shows his great love to his bride-to-be, who tried committed suicide but failed and become paralyzed, by keeping at her side for so many years with so much patience (eventhough at his lowest state of emotion, he blame God for what happening...). But, alas... even a great love doesn't guarantee that he can find happiness with her since she was actually in love with his other close friend who actually a gay and in love with him... what a mess and complicated...
The girl, Akiyama Kanon (performed by Horikita Maki), experiences the toughness of life after she lost her parents in an arson and her big brother was convicted of murdering the parents... She has to move from town to town to find job for a living but the dark shadow follows her wherever she go... and worse, she was a victim of sexual abuse by her own father!... what a difficult, traumatic, and psychological-exhausted of life... until she met the guy and learn how great his love is (to his paralyzed bride-to-be) and, in the end, she falls in love with him... But, she shows another kind of greatness of love... be able to let her love one go if that meant for his happiness... A great love sometimes need a sacrifying, not merely possessive.
It has nice and touching ending though... so quite entertaining...
The lead actress, Horikita Maki, has very teenager look.... she has cute smile (at least in my eyes)... but sorry... still much less pretty than Masami Nagasawa, my favorite... ha ha ha.
One of Horikita Maki picture:
The theme song is also very nice, "Eternally" by Utada Hikaru.
It just simply another year passed by with some memories go along with it...
It started as a nice year to step in... where I finally settled a HDB flat that I call home at the right time as property 'boom' has arrived and sense of rush occupied home-seekers... and economy was riding high with skyrocket hope and wide opportunity to do any kind of job or business... but in the end, still in the same year, it's all suddenly gone in the wind... bear has come to chase the bull away!
It's a year of seeing coworkers come and go (I always jokingly call them 'graduate'...), cause they were seeking or even offered better opportunity... and what I can do was just be a good observer! And, gain a 'privilege' of being a 'senior' by natural...
It's a year to witness once again the basic characteristic of human: GREEDY. Obviously shown in property bubbled & crash, stock market bubbled & burst, commodity prices speculated & crash, big & then-prominent names went bankrupt or gone-in-24-hours cause they were acquired or merged just because they were chasing after inflated paper money which suddenly become worthless and turn to junk.
It's a year where I watch CNBC much more than any other channel on my cable tv network.
It's a year where my dream to be able to surf internet unlimited everywhere came true with my free Starhub MaxMobile subscription (bundled with my Starhub MaxOnline Plus package) and it's a year where I start bring two PDAPhone with me, one for making calls and the other one dedicated for surfing internet & read online news. Looks greedy but that's the way it should be, because of separate SIM card... silly huh!
It's a year when I think I stepped into, what people said, 'mid-life crisis' (one of my friend had ever sent me an article about it, especially for IT guys, it will come earlier) - a period of life where we stand on the crossroad, accept what and who we are today, and starts thinking what step to be made understanding no-way-back and no-start-all-over opportunity anymore. Still thinking how to pass this period successfully...
It's a year where Facebook finally hooked me to the sticky web of social networking... Because of it, I start feel missing my high school friends, university friends, and previous companies' coworkers... one-by-one I met them online (it such an exciting & challenging activities to search and locate old friends), sharing old & new pictures, sharing old & nostalgic stories, getting & posting funny comments, call each other with our old nickname with no hard feeling... it's so much fun! Ah... think this is what will happen when one getting older... ha ha ha.
It's a year where I laughed by myself like a crazy guy in Terminal 3 Changi Airport, waiting for my wife's flight, while chatting online with old high school friends sharing nostalgic & funny stories... all because of Facebook... sharks!
It's a year where I am still serving my long term and short term loans... well, this is the way of living in expensive Singapore!
It's a year where I quite actively write my blog like never before.
It's a year where I watched so many Korean and Japanese drama and movie online, much much more than I watched in previous years... thanks to broadband internet and those people who diligently upload and maintain it online.
It's a year which I want to thank for all kind of memories that make my life even more colorful and memorable...
For a 7 years in a row, I celebrated X'mas in Singapore... it's still a Dreamin' of A White X'mas to celebrate it outside this tiny island... hopefully in the years to come if the financial crisis isn't getting worse!
As usual, year by year, X'mas in Singapore is indeed X'mas along the Orchard Road: Giant X'mas trees in Paragon and Takashimaya (Ngee Ann City), still centre of attraction, and full of colorful lightings and X'mas ornaments on the buildings and road's trees. This year seems the celebration still as cheerful as last year eventhough the financial crisis starts showing its claws, probably because it is still early and the impact is not felt that much yet... so as usual, Orchard Road still full with the tourists from neighbor countries.
For 2 days of X'mas (25 & 26 Dec), I just roamed along the Orchard Road area with my wife to take some pictures of us to put them in our 2008 X'mas album and upload some to my Facebook. The rest of the days just stay @ home to rest and recharge to be ready for a more challenging year of 2009.
Refer to my previous posted blog where I mentioned that I went to Lot 1 Choa Chu Kang (CCK) and found out my fave food stall, a japanese cuisine, no more there... well I finally found it again last Sunday but under different name: Koh-San Japanese Cuisine (in CCK it called Sumo Japanese Cuisine).
It's a quite interesting how I found it... backed to couple weeks ago when I was windows shopping @ Compasspoint Mall, someone pat my shoulder and when I saw him I forgot who he was... but later he reminded me that he used to work @ CCK's Sumo Japanese Cuisine... what a coincidence because since I found out Sumo has closed down, I'm still wondering whether it has opened in another place or not. He then told me that one of the chef now working @ Koh-San at Koufu Toa Payoh HDB Hub... so there I went last Sunday to taste back the original sashimi which stimulate my taste bud on raw fish, specifically raw salmon!
Below is fave meal, Sashimi Set Meal (picture), which I order regularly everytime I eat there... the set comes with tuna but I always ask to change it with more salmon. But quite sad now, the slices getting smaller and thinner... sigh! Singapore increasing rental cost eating my salmon! Well, but at least, it still fresher and the taste just nice for me.
This is the complete set meal menu:
And, this is the familiar Sumo ornament...
Well... interested to try (especially if you are boring with long queue or taste of Sakae Sushi)? Just take MRT to Toa Payoh then go to HDB Hub 2nd floor, Koufu Food Court, stall 1.
Source: Thesun.co.uk article From left to right: ... Rafa Benitez (Liverpool's Manager) as Cinderella with Alex Ferguson (Manchester United's Manager) and Phil Scolari (Chelsea's Manager) as the Ugly Sisters.
Quoted from The Sun: "Liverpool are top of the tree going into the panto season. But the Ugly Sisters of Chelsea and Manchester United are right behind you, Rafa. "
Social Networking is the 'in' word nowadays... but it has been existed, up to certain level, since email gains its popularity. Mailing list or group connecting and allowing groups of email addresses interact each other... then comes the Messenger (Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) which allows peoples communicate online in real time using it's chat facility.
The more complete social networking tools gain popularity, in Asia particularly, through Friendster, and then Facebook.
Well, for myself, I started it with mailing groups... be a member of my ex-university and ex-workplace mailing lists... but then its cooling down because less and less member posted message there.
I never been that active using Messenger eventhough I have both Yahoo! and MSN Messenger account, just use it as and when, mostly to communicate with family members or talk free online instead of using expensive overseas phone call.
Then for social networking, despite its popularity, I never join Friendster just because I don't feel 'fit' into it.... well, this is what called 'positioning' and 'target market' term in Marketing. In my own perception, the name Friendster fit into young age target market (yeah... this is a confession that I am 'old' already... ha3x), that's why most of Friendster members are children, teenagers and young adults. Since I don't have Friendster account, I can't write that much about it... but, to share, I didn't like its look and interface that much... well, probably because I am quite particular on this issue.
Then here comes Facebook. It was started as social networking portal for Harvard University students before it is open up to the world. It is the gains popularity in faster pace than Friendster and more and more Friendster member migrating to Facebook. As I feel 'fit' into its target market (well, again... this is just my own perception...), I then started my journey in social networking in Facebook... and found it's really fun, and its complete, neat, and well structured features hooked me... so I decided to start building my friends network there... my old high school friends, my previous workplaces friends, and my current workplace friends.
It's quite challenging finding old friends, especially my high school classmates, because it has been 23 years ago and lost contact with them for quite long. But, I managed to get them one by one... it just a matter of time to have most of them since not all of them use computer and know how to use computer. Sharing old memories, old & new photos, and life journey of the last 23 years really exciting and fun, some even make me laugh-out-loud!
Hopefully Facebook will last long enough so I can still link up and maintain this friends networking till I much older and getting lonelier... I am quite optimistic because internet is the future and the computer getting cheaper, smaller, lighter, and easy-to-use... Don't surprise if one day most of the people on the street actively carrying small gadget to do social networking everywhere... Well, this is my vision! ha3x...
In this social-networking era, not having a social-networking apps installed in your iPhone is a kind of strange... :) so, Facebook is considered mandatory... While it is very convenience to have Facebook in iPhone so you are connected wherever you go and can update your profile or upload photos any time, as it is inherited from iPhone, no adobe-flash support, so forget it to play your favorite Facebook games like FarmVille, CafeWorld, or FishVille in your iPhone... huh!
I am not a fans of Twitter... in term of social networking, I don't see Twitter is quite useful since I am not a famous person, or public figure who the legion of followers (or fans) would love to follow my tweet or curious about any news about me... :)) 
