FYI: Pray For Indonesia

Lately, so many natural disasters happened in my beloved country... Actually, it started several years ago when big tsunami swept the coastal area of Aceh with so many victims... one by one disaster struck year by year, mainly because Indonesia located in what called 'Ring of Fire' in the border of two plateau, which naturally very slowly move and do adjustment to find balance... tectonic earthquakes and mount eruptions here and there... the latest was the Mentawai Tsunami and Mount Merapi eruption.

Spotted this picture in one of my friends profile in BlackBerry Messenger...

Each of the PRAY character represents each of the official religions in Indonesia. Side by side in solidarity and tolerance to each other.

The P represents Moslem (picture of Mosque)
The R represents Christian/Catholic (Church picture)
The A represents Buddhist (Borobudur)
The Y represents Hindu (Balinese Temple)

Let's Pray for Indonesia...

iPhoneApps: Pocket Frogs (free)

I spotted this iPhone game last week and start playing it... and I hooked to it already... such a simple but cool and fun game. Discover, collect, trade, and breed over unique frogs. Place your collection in habitats, each habitat can have 8 frogs, and place it in the pond to feed, grow, and breed... and there are limitless supply of dragonfly for your frogs to eat by just jumps over it :) and yes, some rewards (frogs, background, coins, or scenery) as well if you are lucky.

Not sure how many levels does this game have, but I am already @ level 6 after playing it for less than a week.

You can connect with your friends with Plus+ and trade frogs and habitat items with them. You can also view your friends' habitats and frogs.

Here are some screen capture of my latest Pocket Frogs status:

See more screen captures from my Pocket Frogs album here.

FYI: Gundam Fiesta 2010

Same as it was done last year, Gundam Fiesta 2010 was held at Compasspoint Mall - Sengkang, from 1-13 September. So, this is the second time I was be able to see this nice exhibition.

Eventhough it wasn't much different from last year, there were quite numbers of new Gundam models was shown. One of them was very unique, a Merlion Gundam!!

Here are some more others that I can highlight as some of the new Gundam models or that I haven't see yet in last year exhibition.

Here are the complete photo taken from the Gundam Fiesta 2010.

Life: Me and My BlackBerry

I know about BlackBerry phone for quite long time... it has very strong positioning as corporate's mobile phone with its push email feature. So, in my mind, only executives from all those big corporates is suitable of using this mobile phone since they need to check their email wherever they are. So, different to other mobile phone producers, BlackBerry maintains its own server to handle the data traffic with cooperation with the telecommunication providers, so all traffics will go directly to BlackBerry servers, well... it is quite crucial because they need to make sure the privacy and confidentiality of their clients' emails.

And, for so long, I never interested in using any of this BlackBerry phone... simply because I didn't see any value of using it (yet), I don't need its push email feature, and I am not a corporate executive.

But, last year, I saw a very interesting phenomenon where BlackBerry becomes a very popular among the Indonesians. It is quite amazing how BlackBerry can penetrate Indonesia's consumer market. Well, I believe it is a combination of the virtually 'unlimited' internet connection, and the booming of social networking activities which fits into its BlackBerry Messenger application. So, just using one device, user can fulfill his/her social networking addicts, without headache of high internet charges, wherever and whenever... :)

But, still... I keep my windows mobile smartphone and even got involved in the iPhone-hive... until last week... :) At last, I bought my own BlackBerry Bold 9700... the black one, not white one which is not that classy... anyway it has to be black, right? otherwise it has to change name to WhiteBerry then... he he he...

Why? Simply because I see the value of having it... most of my friends in Indonesia are using BlackBerry, so BlackBerry Messenger is the best tool to communicate with them, instead of Facebook and Yahoo! Messenger.

In term of price, since I have re-contract option and SGD100 voucher from SingTel, I got it @ SGD198 with 2 years contract. Worth it!

Besides, my windows-based LG-KS20 smartphone was underused, has been downgraded to just to make calls and send SMS only... and already considered 'too old' for a phone... :)

I have been using this BlackBerry for one week now... so far so good... BlackBerry Messenger is the application that I used most... eventhough it has Facebook and Twitter application, I still prefer using iPhone for those two apps. The 3.2MPixel camera is adequate, it has flashlight so can take good picture in the dark... The original leather case is nice and realize it has surprising function, when you put the phone inside it, the phone will 'sleep' (the screen will off), the when you take it out, let's say because it flashes due to new message, the screen will display the message right away without need to press any button. I found it quite surprising and distinct.

I found that BlackBerry Messenger is quite cool... it has Groups feature and can share pictures and make comments about it... No wonder, my friends less and less active and seen in Facebook and Yahoo! Messenger, they are all in BlackBerry underground!! Gotcha!!

I still love playing around with my BlackBerry Bold 9700 and explore more what can I do with it... Now, I am experiencing both of best world of smartphone... BlackBerry and iPhone. Cool...

FYI: A Whale of a Sailing Trip

Source: TheSun.co.uk - News

A COUPLE'S cruise was nearly sunk when a 40-ton WHALE landed on their yacht.

The massive Southern Right Whale had flipped into the air and smashed their mast.

Terrified Ralph Mothes, 59, and Paloma Werner, 50, were helpless as it thrashed around on the ten-metre vessel, before slipping back into the sea off Cape Town, South Africa.

The shaken couple used their engine to get back to shore. Paloma said yesterday: "It really was quite incredible - but very scary."

FYI: New Sea Creatures Found on Barrier Reef

Source: BBC News - In Pictures
Researchers from the Queensland Brain Institute used remote-controlled cameras that sat on the sea floor, 1,400m (4,600ft) below the surface.

FYI: Larval Flounder

Source: National Geographic - Translucent Marine Animals
Photograph by David Liittschwager, National Geographic

A translucent body disguises a larval flounder to keep it safe from predators. It will lose this defense mechanism later in life. Flounder undergo several striking physical transformations during their lifetimes. Very young flounder swim upright and have an eye on each side of their face. As they age the fish begin to swim on their sides and one eye slowly migrates until both are on the body’s “top side.”

FYI: Frilled Shark

Source: National Geographic - Deep-Sea Creature
Photograph by Awashima Marine Park, Getty Images

Humans rarely encounter frilled sharks, which prefer to remain in the oceans' depths, up to 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) below the surface. Considered living fossils, frilled sharks bear many physical characteristics of ancestors who swam the seas in the time of the dinosaurs. This 5.3-foot (1.6-meter) specimen was found in shallow water in Japan in 2007 and transferred to a marine park. It died hours after being caught.

iPhoneApps: iOS4 - An Initial Review

iOS4 might be one of the most waited Operating System since Mr Steve Jobs announced it several months ago. It has tons of new features, but for me as end user, there are two main and important features that I have waited so long: Folders and Multitasking. These two features are already exists for for quite long for iPhone if you are willing to 'jailbreak' your iPhone. Since I bought my iPhone 3GS, I have waited patiently for these features released by Apple itself.

Yesterday was the first day of this iOS4 available for download while the pre-requisite iTunes 9.2 has been available days before. I might be among those users rush into the queue to download it. The first try, it failed, but the second time, amazingly it was downloaded very fast, less than 10 minutes... and, tada... in less the 1 hour, my iPhone upgraded to iOS4... :) soooo happy and couldn't wait to try it.

Of course, the first thing that I did was to reorganize my 11 pages Apps into folders and just keep the most used Apps kept out of folder. In the end, it occupies only 5 pages. This Folders feature works seamlessly. Creating folder is very easy, just drag one Apps into another Apps, both will the kept into a new folder. One folder can consists of 12 Apps (4 columns x 3 rows).

Then, time for testing the Multitasking feature... In my expectation, all Apps put into the background will keep running, or at least suspend in its latest status, so when I return back to it, I can continue using it... BUT, yes a big BUT, I am quite disappointed with iOS4 Multitasking because it doesn't match my high expectation... because when I got back to the suspended Apps, the Apps was running from the beginning again... :(
There might be 2 reasons: first, the Apps are not iOS4-compatible yet (I expect quite number of Apps updates in the next few weeks), and/or second, Apple purposely limit this Multitasking for only some kind of applications to preserve the power and performance of the iPhone (I know that Apple very concern about this). So, for me, the current Multitasking is more for the purpose of fast-switching between Apps which has been loaded in memory... well, quite wasted... worse, it even gives user additional things to do... to stop the Apps which all loaded into memory once it is run, when user needs to release some memory... alas! Probably, Apple should consider only when user double-click (or long button press??) on home button the Apps suspended and keeps the one-click to close the Apps.

I then compare this Multitasking with my friend's iPhone that 'jailbreak'ed on the same Apps... hmm, honestly... 'jailbreak' done a much better job on this Multitasking feature... eventhough the Apps itself was suspended, but when you get back to that Apps, you can continue from where you left it. Isn't it the purpose of Multitasking??? Arrrggghhhh...

Well, should I 'jailbreak' my iPhone when its stable version available for iOS4??? Hmm... I think I will wait for several weeks until most of the Apps updated with their iOS4-compatible version.

Last words, as usual, Apple did good job on the interface... still smooth and very responsive as usual, beautiful, and cool... :)

iPhoneApps: Camera Fun (free & pro)

I love taking pictures and, lucky, I live in digital era where digital camera becomes standard and a mature technology. Taking pictures is so easy and convenience, no need too much skill, just take... take... and take, if you don't like it just delete it.

iPhone 3GS 3-megapixel camera is quite OK, especially if you compare it with Blackberry's camera :). The picture quality is acceptable eventhough not fantastic. In iPhone's amazing screen, the pictures looks quite sharp.

There are a lot of Apps in App Store that offer many enhance features and all other nitty-gritty about camera settings and tools that I personally not really understand for what purpose... he he he... probably the professional photographers will love it. Camera Fun (Free / Pro) is one of them, it is more emphasize of picture effect. In its Free edition, it comes with Canvas, Sepia, Sketch effect. It has more effects in its Pro edition (US$0.99). But for me, this Free edition is enough, because I only use for its Sketch effect, which I like so much because the result is fantastic and very nice, especially if it is applied to image of objects... but, it is not that nice for taking human image with this sketch-effect. Well, anyway, better take human picture in normal mode, right? :)

iPhoneApps: Facebook & Twitterrific (free)

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!

iPhoneApps: iRDesktop (free)

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.

And the best of all, it is FREE.

Go to its website for detail information.

Music: Three Drama, Three OST, One Singer - Hikaru Utada

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...

Life: Me and My iPhone

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!! :)