Maybe I’m dumb, maybe I need new spectacles or maybe my mind just switched off itself.
Today, the 19th June 2009, a big day for Apple, because they are releasing a so called “major update” for their new phone, the iPhoneGS. I’ve been reading all about it for days.
The new specs are actually good in general. The CPU spec:

• ARM1176JZF chip with TrustZone (enables trusted computing environment for media, apps, network, OS, etc. — very bad for hackers)
• Can vary in clock speed up to 700MHz or more, depending on implementation
  
• ARM Intelligent Energy Manager (claimed to reduce power consumption 25-50% in portables)
• 16K / 16K cache
• Features vector floating point coprocessor (”for embedded 3D-graphics”)
• ARM Jazelle enabled for embedded Java execution (hmm…)
• SIMD, high perf integer CPU (8-stage pipeline, 675 Dhrystone, 2.1 MIPS)
• 0.45 mW/MHz power draw (with cache)

Sorry, the reason why I’ve talked about its CPU only is because all the other hardware specs are available on its website, while the CPU bit is what Apple doesn’t talk about.

Well, there was indeed a leak from T-Mobile Netherland, where they did accidently published the full hardware spec of the iPhoneGS. Its CPU is rated at 625Mhz with 256 Mb mobile RAM and a GPU which support OpenGL 2.0 for mobile devices. The drawback with OpenGL 2.0 is that it is not compatible with version 1.0 which is on the old iPhones, meaning game developers will have to re-write the whole game from scratch to make it compatible with the iPhoneGS GPU.

Now the funny marketing ploy which I’ve noticed today on the apple store UK website is….

Generally when a product is new, you label it as new to catch people’s attention. But not only have they labeled the new  iPhoneGS as new, but they’ve also labeled the old iPhone as new. Is is a mistake or a marketing ploy?

Apple normally pays loads of attention to details and I doubt it was a deliberate mistake. I’m sure it was there on purpose jsut to temp people in accidently buying the old one.

Don’t worry as if you are among those who have accidently bought the old one, you can still get a refund as per some UK laws for online shopping which gives you a period of 14days to get a full refund. NOTE: DO READ APPLE’S POLICY AS THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS!!!!

As for the prices… That’s a complete different story.

The prices in UK are nearly doubled as to the one in the States. Why?

It is the same hardware, USD is cheaper than GBP, so why it is more expensive in UK that in the states?

Below is a snapshot of Apple Stores US with their prices:

The best “Baby Laugh” video I’ve ever come across.

Babies, cute looking? Yes, always.

Adorable? Of course.

But the thing I can’t understand is their sense of humor. How can a baby laugh at some simple noises? What is so funny in it that when we grow up we stop finding it funny?

Is it a 6th sense which we loose as we grow cause we don’t use it or it is cause as we mature we perceive things in a different angle?

PS: What’s the most funny video you’ve come across? Please share….

Photoshop, a very nice software indeed. Many want to have have the Full package from Adobe, that is  CS4 Extended (at time of writing) and keep wanting more and more and more and the new version as soon as it comes out.

When you stop and think about it, how much space does it consume on your PC/MAC? Do you make full use of the whole package? And how many other services get install in background, do you know about them?

I know many who will actually install the Extended version of Photoshop just to fix a few photos. I don’t understand why the need of using such a fully fledged package for such simple editing. Picasa does the job, but because it is free, many people think it is not worthy. Another rival (the way I see it) for Photoshop is GIMP. GIMP was initially developed for Linux systems, but now the windows version is available. It does most of the job as Photoshop (not extended version) will do and the good thing, it is free. It also support loads of plug-ins and ad-dins.

So, the question is, why so many people feel the need of having/using photoshop, when the only task they’ve got to do is nothing much that a simple photo editing???

I’ve just come across something funny on xkcd which reminded me of the nice time I had in PCWorld once.
I already made up my mind about which model of laptop I wanted after comparing the specs on the internet.
I stepped in, and asked the salesman, can I have this laptop please. He went to check his stock, and came back with a smile. So far so good.
Then, he asked: “Would you like any additional warranty or software with it”. I replied back, “No thanks”.
We when to the till point for the payment. Then he asked me again: “You would like Office with it?”I said: “No”. After a few second he said, “Well you need to buy anti-virus software with it, else your PC will not be protected…” I again said: “No, thanks”.
Now the funny thing happened. He stood up. And told me: “Sir, I’ll have to speak to my supervisor first, because I don’t think I can sell you a laptop if you are not willing to protect it with an anti-virus.” I told him: “Fine, go on.”
After a few minute he came back. He said: “Well, sir, you are lucky. My supervisor has authorised this transaction.” He took a few details and then my credit card. Then he tried it one last time: “Sir, I’ll give you 30% off if you buy antivirus software.” Now I was about to lose it. I told him: “First thing, that I’ll do, I’ll wipe the hard drive and get Linux on the laptop and for office, and I’ll get Open Office which is free of charge.”
He paused. Then said: “Sir, I don’t think you are allowed to remove Windows from the laptop. Also, Linux is a very bad operating system and it got loads of viruses that’s why all laptops we sell are shipped with windows. You’ll definitely have to buy an anti virus, install it on windows and use it to scan your Linux partitions to remove any virus.”
I’ll let you guess that I did after hearing that…..
Please add your guess as a comment below… Thanks!

Toi le temps mone conne toi
To ti rie ar moi
Sa faire mo le cœur content
Toi le temps mo guet moi
To la joue vine rouge
Sa fer mo le cœur content

[REFRAIN]
Toi to fer moi plorer
A chaque fois to aller
Sa fan mo le cœur en deux… toi
To même mo li-zier pou mo trouver
To même qui lève moi quand mo tomber
To mo l’oxygène qui mo pè respirer

Toi to ti pè reste Vacoas
Bien bien loin ar moi
Sa fer mo le cœur faire mal
Moi mo prend bus l’express
Pou mo vine guette toi
Sa fer mo le cœur content

[REFRAIN]

Toi to ti vine zoine moi
Pou nous alle cinéma
Sa fer mo le cœur content
Toi le temps to maye moi
To pas le largue moi
Sa fer mo le cœur content

[REFRAIN]

Toi ek moi ensame toule-tan [x3]

[x2]
Moi pou mo premier fois, mo ti tombe amouré
Ça pas facile pou moi pou mo blier
Moi pou mo premier fois, mo la tête fatiguer
Fo-dé guetter couma mo ti gâter

[Refrain]
Moi pou mo premier fois, Fo-dé guette moi mange cigarette
Moi pou mo premier fois, Fo-dé guette la bière qui marcher
Oui pou mo gagne touper, pou mo kozer yé yé
Oui pou mo gagne touper, pou mo kozer

[x2]
Tou-sala ti passer
Dans ene ti discothèque
La lumière disco ti fatigue mo lizier
Malgré nu ti dans noir, mone fine trouve so regard
So regard pas facile pou résister

[Refrain]

[x2]
Lé temps mo retourner ene ta rêve mo fine faire
Ler mo lever li pas réalité
Et dans la nuit quand mo sommeil casser
Mo écrire so nom lor mo boîte cigarette…

[x2]
[Refrain]

Ever wondered why is it that everytime you sign up for something, you have to create a profile of yourself!!!

In the end how many profile you end up creating? My point is: Who end up reading your profile?

Why don’t they provide a tracker to know who is reading your profile?

The best will be if you can have a single profile and link that to any other new web 2.0 goodies that people keep making and the world keep signing up for.

Have you spent days or hours in-front on the Internet, browsing and browsing but getting no-where.

Don’t worry you are not the only one:

And yeah… nowadays, Internet is becoming like an addictive drug for some. Mainly with all those social websites which try to manage our whole life and even better our friends. I wonder if in the future we will have to go to rehab for Internet overdose???

Hmmm…. All those clicks with the mouse and all those clucks on the keyboard. I wonder how’d that sound if I removed both:

I wonder if some real Internet addict do end up like this:

And mention not.. as if blogging is an easy thing.. well easy for the ones who write.. but have you ever wonder that your blog can look like spaghetti for some reader:

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 300g dhal (Yellow Split Peas)
• 3 shallots
• 1tsp garlic paste
• 5 green/red chillies [add more or less to taste]
• 50g coriander leaves
• 50g spring onions
• 1tsp powdered cumin
• Oil [enough for deep frying]
  
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Soak dhal overnight [at least 5hours].
2. Drain and grind finely.
3. Dice the shallots.
4. Slice the chillies.
5. Cut green coriander and the spring onion finely.
6. Mix everything with the ground dhal including cumin and salt.
7. Make small balls from the mixture.

Cooking

1. Warm some oil on medium heat in a frying pan.
2. Dip the balls, turning them around every now and then to give them a uniform colour.
3. Once they turn golden brown, they are ready. NOTE: If they turn brown too quickly, it means that the oil is too hot. Reduce the heat, else, the inside will remain uncooked.
4. Remove and allow to cool on a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb excess oil.

Serving

• Eat warm on its own.
• Serve with tomato chutney / salsa dips.
• Crush and serve in sandwich with some butter.

Other Possibilities

• During preparation at step 6, you can add chilli powered to add some extra flavour.
• When they are done, you can dip in hot curry sauce for 30min and serve warm with rice.
• Or you can dip them in rougail.
• As ingredient, you can use ginger-garlic paste instead of ginger paste to add some tang to it.
  

SUGGESTIONS: Have you tried this recipe? Did you like it? Do you have any suggestions to make it better? Do you know any extra ingredient(s) which will enhance its flavour? If so… please do add a comment and tell us about it. Thanks a lot.