Bailong Elevator
This controversial 326-metre elevator carries you up the side of one of the enormous cliffs in Zhangjiajie, China, the lower third through rock and the rest outside to the summit. It's the world's highest and heaviest outdoor lift.
Archive
Microsoft’s New Zunes
Microsoft's new Zunes come in an 80GB hard-drive version and 4GB and 8GB flash versions. I wonder whether they'll reach Singapore, since the previous Zune never did. The Zune 80 packs 80GB and uses the new Zune Pad control.
My WordPress Plugins October 2007 Update
As promised, I've released updates to 12 of my plugins and added two new ones, all compatible with WordPress 2.3, though not always with 2.1 or 2.2. The two newcomers are WP-DownloadManager and WP-PluginsUsed.
Foreign Population In Singapore Crosses 1 Million Mark
Foreigners are arriving in unprecedented numbers, driving Singapore's largest population swell in over two decades. The foreign population, including professionals, workers, students and their families, reached an estimated 1,005,500 in June, crossing the one-million mark for the first time.
What Guys Want Girls To Know
This came through my email. We always hear the rules from the female side, so here are the rules from the male side. Rule one: learn to work the toilet seat. If it's up, put it down.
Java Sucks
Doing hardcore EJB 3.0 for my CS3214, I've never been more frustrated with Java. I particularly hate how, when Java throws an exception, printStackTrace gives me error lines for files that aren't even in my project, making debugging needlessly painful.
Microsoft Magic
A bit of Microsoft trivia. Apparently nobody can create a folder named CON anywhere on a Windows computer; the whole Microsoft team supposedly couldn't explain why. Try it, and it really won't create a folder called CON.
4 Upcoming Intel Yorkfield Processors
I'm not interested in the Extreme version, since I don't overclock, so there's no point paying more for an unlocked multiplier I won't use. I'm hoping Intel offers 3,000MHz or higher in the normal edition.
Nokia E51
Nokia announced the E51 yesterday; I'd expected an Eseries phone after Go Play, given the rumours on the Mobile Review forum. The E51 reminds me of a candybar version of the slider E65. My only gripe is its 2MP camera.
Prison Break Season 3
The US started airing Prison Break Season 3 last night, which I've waited months for! Grab it from your nearest friendly site, but be careful not to download an ODEX-ed copy, given the recent crackdown here in Singapore.
Parkour
Parkour is an activity of French origin whose aim is to move as efficiently and quickly as possible, using mainly the human body. I just finished District 13, a French action film featuring parkour and starring David Belle.
New Power Supply
My Pentium 4 3.2GHz desktop turns four in two months, and two days ago its power supply gave up, cutting power automatically so the computer is prone to shutting off anytime. Now I need a replacement PSU.
Ratatouille
It's been a month since I caught a movie, but I finally found time last Friday for a midnight showing of Ratatouille at GV VivoCity. It was decent, if a bit draggy, but Pixar's animation impresses as always.
Is Apple the New Microsoft?
An interesting Neowin article. Ten years ago Microsoft was the company everyone loved to hate, slammed as a greedy industry bully using its monopolistic, clunky, copycat operating system. The piece asks whether Apple is now the new Microsoft.
iPod New Lineup
Apple has announced a new iPod branch, the iPod Touch, refreshed the Shuffle and Nano, and renamed the fifth-generation iPod the iPod Classic. Imagine an iPhone without calling, just 8mm thick, and you have the iPod Touch.
Microsoft Delivers Silverlight 1.0
Microsoft has released Silverlight 1.0 to the web, a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering richer experiences online. Notably, Microsoft will also work with Novell to extend support to Linux, broadening the reach of the new rich-media technology considerably.
Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS
I got the black Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS at Comex 2007 for $669; the silver version arrives in September. Freebies included two 2GB SD cards, a digital kit bag, a case and a Samsonite waist bag.
Nokia N95 8GB, N81, 5310 And 5610 Specifications
I've scanned the data-sheet specifications for the Nokia N95 8GB, N81, 5310 XpressMusic and 5610 XpressMusic. Reading through, I realised the N81 comes in two flavours: one with microSD and the other with 8GB non-expandable internal memory.
Nokia: Go Play Official Videos
I got three videos from Dinesh that were played at the press conference and, with his permission, uploaded them to YouTube. They came encoded in MPEG2, so I compressed them with DivX to meet YouTube's 100MB limit.
Nokia: Go Play Day 2
The second and final day of Nokia: Go Play was held in Ballroom 1 of The Oriental Singapore. There was an introductory speech, followed by two panel discussions, one on the Nokia N-Gage platform with senior Nokia multimedia representatives.
Nokia: Go Play Day 1
I nearly missed the opening speech, expecting it to run late around 5.30pm, but it began punctually at 5.15pm as scheduled. The night split into three parts: the speech, a live demo of phones, and dinner.
5 New Nokia Phones
Gearfuse has press photos of upcoming Nokia phones. I'll be attending the Asia Pacific press conference here in Singapore at 5.30pm, with London hosting the global one. The five new phones are the N95, N81, 5700, 5610 and 5310.