I got a shocked when I got home from school today. I got a package from Adobe Singapore and in the package contains Adobe Creative Suite 3: Master Collection. IT IS THE FULL VERSION with license. I was shocked and happy beyond words. I did a check with Adobe Online Shop and it cost a whopping USD$3.2K but here I have it right in front of me and right in my hands. I will install it when I get my new quad core computer sometime this year.

Adobe CS3 Master Collection - Front View

Adobe CS3 Master Collection - Side View

I would like to thank Sue Lynn from Text 100 for the surprise that she told me I would get 2 weeks ago and thank you Fiona and Audrey from Adobe Singapore for the Adobe CS3 Master Collection. I really appreciate it.

THANK YOU SO MUCH GIRLS!

L: Change The World
Caught L: Change The World last Friday at Cineleisure. The movie is just a spin-off featuring L from Death Note movie. After L wrote his name of the Death Note, he got another 23 days left to live and this movie starts off when he got 23 days left to live all the way till he has only 1 day left. The movie itself has nothing to do with Death Note and there are only 1 scene which show both the Death Note and Ryuk (Shinigami) if I remember correctly. There is some humor throughout the whole movie which I think is not that bad, but this movie is missing the excitement of L and Kira trying to outwit each other and hence the storyline is quite plain. Remember to stay after the credits.

Towards the end of the movie, there is a scene which may cause another spin off =)

Juno
Been quite some time since I watched a good comedy. Somehow I feel the dialogue used in this movie is quite sarcastic. But nevertheless, Ellen Page is a fantastic actress!

So some familiar actor/actresses face acting along side with Ellen Page, but I just could not figure their name out.

- Michael Cera acted as Paulie Bleeker and he also acted in Superbad
- Jennifer Garner acted as Vanessa Loring and she also acted in Daredevil, Elektra and The Kingdom just to name a few.
- Jason Bateman acted as Mark Loring (Husband of Vanessa Loring) and he also acted in Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, The Kingdom and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story just to name a few.

New Ikea Table
My old Sitoca table has lasted me for more than 5 years and it is still in excellent condition. I am going to pass it to Li Xiang as her house computer table is showing signs of collapsing inwards.

Went to Ikea and bought a new computer table consisting of a table top, Vika Grevsta (White), for SGD$125 and 4 table legs, Vika Curry (White) for SGD$20 (SGD$5 each). The total bill is SGD$145.10 because I paid extra $0.10 for a plastic bag as there are only 2 of us and we have problem carrying all the parts without the bag.

I going to get a Desk Pad from Ikea another day to protect my white table top!

New Ikea Computer Table - Top View

New Ikea Computer Table - Front View

My Room - Before View

Apple iPod Touch 16GB
After some contemplation, I finally decided to get an Apple iPod Touch instead of Asus EEE. Since I got a laptop already, I might as well go for the iPod Touch as Asus EEE is just another laptop but smaller. I wanted to wait for the upcoming IT Show 2008 which will be from 6th March 2008 to 9th March 2008 to see if there are any free gifts as well as the rumored USD$100 price drop of iPod Touch and iPhone. But iPod Touch Fans somehow think that the rumor might be smashed.

I wanted to get the 8GB iPod Touch for SGD$498 but when I was surfing around Hardware Zone Forums, I saw this thread and it was offering SGD$560 for a 16GB iPod Touch and it comes with warranty, receipt of purchase and the best part is that the box is still sealed.

I wanted to bargained till about SGD$500 because after I did a quick search and found out that most users selling their 16GB are bidded for at SGD$500, but apparently at SGD$500 the owner did not want to release it.

So in the end I bargained with him till SGD$550 and I bought it. The original price of the 16GB iPod Touch according to Apple Singapore Store is SGD$698, and hence I saved SGD$148.

The firmware that the iPod Touch come with is 1.1.1 which is perfect for jail breaking as I do not need to downgrade.

I have so many problems with jail breaking that I jail broke my iPod Touch at least 10 times yesterday due to conflict applications, SSH issues and my iPod can’t recover from recovery mode even with the help of iBrickr. But anyway, in the end I manage to jail break it to 1.1.3 just fine.

Here are the best tutorials that I found:
iPod Touch Fans
1.1.1 -> 1.1.2 -> 1.1.3 - http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34376

iClarified
1.1.1 -> 1.1.2 - http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=593
1.1.2 -> 1.1.3 - http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=611

.asia domain names are available for sale by DotAsia. According to DotAsia’s Auctions Page, a domain name will range from USD$4,000 to USD$21,000.

The so-called landrush for the latest domain name suffix - .asia - has begun.

DotAsia, the organisation overseeing the registration, is expecting huge demand for the first domain name extension for the Asia Pacific region.

But some in the industry are concerned about the proliferation of domain name suffixes in recent years.

While others think that the business of buying domain names has become more about protecting brands than promoting them.

Cybersquatting

Work to create the .asia domain began in 2000 with the DotAsia Organisation winning official approval to set up the domain in 2006.

A so-called sunrise period, where companies can reserve domains to match their trademarks, has been ongoing since October.

Now the process has been opened up for anyone to register and the first .asia domains will go live on the internet in March.

Thomas Herbert, a product manager from UK hosting firm and registrar Hostway, believes the nature of buying domain names has changed, largely due to the lucrative businesses of cybersquatting.

Website: DotAsia Organisation
Source: BBC: Domain name for Asia up for grabs

The format war is finally over and Blu-ray has won. Personally I am quite happy that Blu-ray has won as I preferred it over HD-DVD. I believed that consumer will greatly benefit from it, if there is only 1 standard format in the market, just like DVD and CD.

Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. “While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

Source: Engadget

Apple iPod Touch (8GB) for SGD$498 or Asus Eee (4G) for SGD$598?

Apple iPod Touch (8GB) - SGD$498

Asus Eee (4G) - SGD$598

Suggestions or comments anyone?

Nseries WOM World has selected me to help Nokia beta test N-Gage and they even sent me a Nokia N81 8GB all the way from UK to Singapore by DHL.

According to the user agreement, the phone will be on loan to me for 2 weeks, but hopefully they can extend it for me as I am still waiting for my Nokia N82 from Nokia Singapore (it has been 3 months, sigh).

The N81 come with 4 fully unlocked games. Space Impact is a plane shooting game, Block Breaker is like Pong, System Rush Evolution is a futuristic racing game (similar to Wipeout). Among all these 4 games, my personal favorite is the Block Breaker. It is quite additive and I am stuck at the 1st boss stage!

Feel free to add me as a friend on N-Gage. My N-Gage profile is 1stGamerz.

I would like to thank Donna from WOM World for selecting me =)

DHL Parcel

DHL Parcel Opened (Bubble Wrap Protecting The Phone)

Nokia N81 8GB

I was not at home when the delivery man came at 11am as I was in school and when I got back home about 9pm, I called the DHL hotline and I am so surprise that a real human answered my call immediately. I always have the impression that those large corporations always use machine voice asking you to press this and press that before you can speak to a real human. While I was on hold with the customer service staff, I heard my door bell ring and when I opened, it was the DHL delivery man! He was making his 2nd attempt delivery for my parcel. Thumbs up to DHL for the excellent service.

Redwood City, Calif., February 14, 2008 - After a seven-year hiatus, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced the return of Red Alert, one of the most beloved and best-selling real time strategy (RTS) series of all time. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, for the PC, Xbox 360TM video game and entertainment system and the PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system, takes players on an epic adventure to a breathtaking alternate future spawned by time travel run amok . Developed by EA Los Angeles, Red Alert 3 breaks new ground in the RTS genre, featuring a fully co-operative campaign while bringing back the series light-hearted style and classic, action-oriented gameplay.

…

In Red Alert 3, the desperate leadership of a doomed Soviet Union travels back in time to change history and restore the glory of Mother Russia. The time travel mission goes awry, creating an alternate timeline where technology has followed an entirely different evolution, a new superpower has been thrust on to the world stage, and World War III is raging. The Empire of the Rising Sun has risen in the East, making World War III a three-way struggle between the Soviets, the Allies, and the Empire with armies fielding wacky and wonderful weapons and technologies like Tesla coils, heavily armed War Blimps, teleportation, armored bears, intelligent dolphins, floating island fortresses, and transforming tanks.

Red Alert 3 asks the question ‘What If?’ What if every bizarre research project and technology experiment for the last 70 years had actually borne fruit? What if the Philadelphia Experiment, time travel theory, teleportation, invisibility, Tesla technology, and a hundred other intriguing research projects had all paid off and gone mainstream? What if the Soviet Union survived and thrived; what would it look like 10 years in the future? What if the Japanese Empire had never fallen and instead became the ultimate high-tech military superpower? The end result is an imaginative and playful vision of an alternate future filled with possibility.

Source: Press Release
Official Site: Red Alert
Gamespot: Red Alert 3 (With Screenshots)

Went down to Singapore’s Adobe office located at Suntec City Tower Three, #06-02 for an hour worth of Photoshop CS 3 tips. The title of the workshop is called “Exploit Photoshop CS3″ and it is conducted by Shirley Tan who is a Adobe Evangelist at ACE Training Pte Ltd.

There are a total of 6 tips in the workshop which took my breath away.

1. Making your images “Shout” by changing blending mode to “Soft Light”
2. Bright out Details by using Hight Pass Filter (Filter > Other > High Pass Filter)
3. Remove Colour Cast by using “Average Blur Filter” (Filter > Blur > Average), followed by inverting the layer and changing the blending mode to “Color”
4. Perspective Crop by checking the “Perspective” checkbox located below the top menu after cropping
5. Using Blend If (Layer Style > Blending Options > Blend If
6. Image Stacks (Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object) followed by (Layer > Smart Objects > Static Mode > Median)

Last but not least, I learned a new shortcut, by pressing Ctrl J, it will allow you to duplicate (the technical term is called float) a layer.

They wanted to keep this workshop very small and hence there are only 5 people that is invited. Adrianna, Li Xiang, Me and 2 other guys.

After the workshop, we had dinner at Imperial Treasure which is just located at the basement of Suntec City.

I love the goodies bag that Adobe gives:

Adobe Paper Bag Front And Back View

2008 Calendar, License Brochure, Small Figurine

Cheers to Audrey Too, Bruce Persaud and Fiona Ng from Adobe, Steven Chua and Shirley Tan from ACE Training.

Thanks to Sue Lynn from TEXT100 for the invite =D

Caught “What Is Man?” yesterday at the Esplanade. It will only be on for 2 days (yesterday and today) at the Esplanade Theatre). The performance starts at 8pm and lasted till about 11.30pm, including 20 minutes intermission break. There is a total of 28 scenes of which 15 are be played before and the remaining 13 scenes are played after the intermission break. There is also a post show dialog session which lasted for about an hour with the director (Edward Lam) and the actors and actresses.

Nine men coincidentally named after nine outlaws from the Chinese classic The Water Margin audition for roles in a gangster movie. Through nine monologues, the would-be heroes struggle to assert their manhood in their RPG (role-playing game) underworld, revealing the frailties and foibles of the unique creature called man.

Directed by Hong Kong’s eminent director Edward Lam and starring a cast of talented actors from Taiwan, this production is produced by the National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center & Edward Lam Dance Theatre.

Advisory: This production contains coarse language and adult themes. Recommended for audiences aged 16 years and above.

Ticketing (SGD): $38, $48, $68, $88

(Performed in Mandarin, with English subtitles)

The tickets cost $26 (student price) and on top of that we need to pay $2 SISTIC fees. And no matter which channel of booking you made (online, phone, counter), YOU WILL still need to pay the SISTIC fees. SISTIC must be earning huge loads of money just by selling tickets.

Overall I would say the show is quite value for money (I will not pay $88 to see this - most expensive ticket) and funny at some parts, but after the whole show, I realize that I don’t know what is going on.

Perhaps if the whole show is performed in Hokkien, I would find it better. But that would never happen as this show is for the Singapore Chinese Festival of Arts 2008.

Happened to both of us that we are thirsty during the intermission break and we decided to get a drink. We got a shocked of our life when we discovered that a can of Coke/Sprite cost SGD$4.00, a bottle of small Evan mineral water also cost SGD$4.00 and 1 glass of orange juice cost SGD$7.00. We bought the can of coke eventually and it is definitely no doubt the most expensive can of coke we have ever drink in my 23 years of life.

You can get a similar can of coke for only like $0.60 in supermarkets or provision shop. The profit margin is at least 600%.

By the way Esplanade Co Ltd, the company who run Esplanade is a non-profit organization and registered as a charity under the Charities Act. How ironic.