Lord of the Rings Risk

I had a go at the LOTR Risk last night with two of my colleagues. Many of my colleagues have bought this game and I was curious on why it is so attractive. Hasbro boast that one can play the game like the original Risk or play the LOTR story. We played the LOTR plot, however, we did not play the entire rules. The game setup is exactly the same as Risk, but the game have additional cards, which are the Mission / Adventure cards. These cards add twist into the game, making it more interesting and less predictable. It can enable you to quickly finish and win or prolong the game. There are many ways to win the game, eliminate all your opponents, have the highest score at the end of the game (when the ring is destroyed at Mt. Doom) or the one of Sauron’s Minion finds the Ring. With the plot similar to the epic, it is easy to lost one’s self into the game. The game only supports 4 players at a time, 2 good and 2 evil, this is 2 less than the regular risk game. I wonder why?? Nevertheless, this is one of the LOTR game that has a plot very similar to the LOTR epic and I highly recommend this game for LOTR fans. Me inclusive.. will probably get on if it is on sale…

Nirvana - With the Lights Out (Box Set)

The new Nirvana box set was released late last week and I was curious to find out what was in the box set. The set comes with 3 CD of 61 Nirvana songs that have not been released before and one DVD. I am not much of a Nirvana fan, but was intrigue by some of their songs. I felt compel to check out the latest installment from them since Kurt eliminated himself. This release is full of live or demo (at least it sounds like it) recordings that are raw and unedited or enhanced. This is how Nirvana is like, loud, crude and at times, senseless. I believe a fan would love all the 61 songs, but for me, I will stick to the selected few. I would not spend my money on this box set. I would rather buy individual tracks from itunes or elsewhere. “You Know you are Right” was one of the last songs that Kurt wrote and sang and was tainted with some legal issues prior. Critics says that this was Kurt’s best. To me, I love the acoustic guitar moves and the way he sings the song which haunts. The recording was not that clear, and was rather soft. If this song were to be dressed up, it would be much easier to digest.

Energizer was my choice

I finally decided on Energizer and bought the 15minutes charger that comes with 4 2200mAh batteries for $27 at Target.  There was this guy at the Canon Talk forum at dpreview.com that advice against Energizer because the charger, according to him charge the batteries in burst mode, and is bad for the batteries and also cannot charge other types of batteries other than Energizer.  I decided to get it to test it out, to find out if what he was saying is really true.  To me, I don’t really care if the batteries last forever or just last 500 cycles.  Nothing is forever anyway, the more we recognize this fact, the more we can deal with changes.

 

Anyway, I got the batteries and whola, the batteries were ready in 15 minutes.  In addition, there was also a cooling fan built into the charger to cool off the batteries.  This is the first time I sees any cooling fan in a battery charger.  The fan is making a loud noise, like all fans do, and think this is more good than bad.  First it cools down the batteries, which is good for them, and secondly, I can now locate where I charge the batteries.  In the past, I have to go looking into corners to find where I charge the batteries.  The noise was not too loud and it is softer than the computer fan sound.  

 

By the way, Energizer.com boast that they replies all enquiries within 24 hours, and today is almost a week since I send them my question regarding the charger, and I have yet seen any reply.  

DVD Burner & Media

The question I have been asking myself is, do I need to upgrade to the DVD burner? Do I need the extra space that DVD provides? Today I backup all my photos onto the CD media, and we know that CD media have a data life of approx 5 years, which means, to be safe, I will have to transfer my photos to new CD every 3 years (to be safe). CDs are relatively cheap today however limited to 700mb of space. DVD on the other hand, offers triple the amount in space, but still the same of data life 5 years. Apart from the additional space which would translate to less media, there are nothing much to it. I think I will still stick to my CD-R’s for a while, till my next computer upgrade, maybe 8 years from now.. by then we may have better media..

One Touch Food Order

I notice these buttons on the hotel phone recently. Will have to try them out before I leave….

Amazing Race 6

Well, the race has begun again and I have not blog of it yet. The new rule in this round of the race is that each member of the participants can only participate in 6 of the road blocks. This will seriously hold some teams back. Also I have notice from the past two episode, the racer gets to overnight at midpoint before elimination the next day, this gives level the playing field and any gain accumulated earlier previous day is gone. Not sure if the entire race this will continue.

More on Rechargeable Batteries

As I was prowling through the web, I found this site from Matt Blaze who have done some extensive testing and talked about reliability of batteries.  The heat produced during charging destroy the batteries in time and if the charging temp is too high, our batteries will have a short life.  

 

I was thinking, in the long run, does it really matter? Does it matter if the battery were suppose to charge 1000 cycle, and we are only able to charge 900 cycle? By the time, the battery reach say 700 cycle, the market would already have new and much higher capacity batteries, and the batteries price would be cheaper.  In addition, by 700 cycle, the capacity of the battery would have drop significantly and where previously one could get say 100 shots off, now can only get say 60 shots.. by then we would be looking for a new battery. 

 

Nothing last forever anyway…

Not a Defect

I was reading through the camera manual, and was amaze by the heap of disclaimer, warnings or clarification built into it. Above is an example.. I bet Jessica Simpson must have used a canon camera before and call in.

Help Desk: Canon Help, How can we help you?
Jessica: I have this camera, it was fine when I was using it indoors, but when I bring it out, on a sunny day, the screen goes dark… its like a vampire camera…
Help Desk: Miss, this is normal, it is today’s technology limitation man, the camera is not a vampire..
Jessica: Oh great.. I was worried for a moment, the camera might just bite my hand when I wasn’t looking or something…

The search for Rechargeable Batteries

With the new camera, I need to get new rechargeable batteries. I did some digging and found the highest mAh is 2500mAh and the fastest charger is 15 minutes. I have not decided which to buy yet.

Energizer

Energizer have a few kind of chargers, the 15min charger, the 30min charger, the car charger and the regular chargers. The energizer web site is rather rich in information, especially on how rechargeable batteries work. There are also information on other batteries types and also how to care for your batteries and a whole heap of batteries information. Best battery site I have seen, with nice cartoonist illustration and animation. The Technical Information is available, but it was not detailed enough for my liking, and this is the only drawback that the site has.

Charging Time	Cost
15Min	$3x
30Min	$27
Car Charger (2 hrs)	$26
Regular charger (4-8hrs)	$10

The 15min charger spec has the following statement, and I did not know what it really means, and so I sent a mail to Energizer tech support.

“Charges one to four AA or AAA NiMH size batteries This charger must NOT be used for Alkaline

in 15 minutes. (up to 2200/850 mAh)”

The site says I will get a response within 24hours… will see what they say. I am particularly concern if the charger can charge beyond 2200mAh batteries. Today we already have 2500mAh, and I am sure, pretty soon, we will have 2700 and subsequently 3000mAh batteries. If the charger cannot support those future batteries, then I may not want to get this charger. Also though the cover says this charger charge at 15min, but the spec says 0.25hour.. hymmm.. doggie…

Duracell

Duracell web site was rather disappointing. I wanted to find some technical detail on the charger and the site offer little to extremely limited informations. It only have the type of products that they are selling and some nice animation, but that’s it. Duracell also have the 30min charger and they boast this is the best in the industry, maybe the print may be a little outdated, yet again, I see all other companies like Rayovac and also Energizer claiming the same thing with their 15min charger. I guess in our own mind, we are the best, and so it goes the same to companies… anyway, after a disappointing pursuit, I abandon the Duracell brand and move on.

Rayovac

Rayovac was also as disappointing as Duracell. Their site is similar to Duracell, with little information and worst still, poor in design and without animation. I guess they put little effort in selling their products through the web. After a few look at their 15min chargers, and could not find any technical informations, I abandon this product. There were very little informations on their batteries.

GP

GP on the other side has the best technical informations on their products. They post the full product spec / usage guide online. There are a heap of details that comes with it. Their fastest charger is 30 minutes Powerbank U-Smart and boast a heap of features including capable to take 110V & 240V, car charging function and batteries up to 2500mAh(this is something I don’t understand, is 2500mAh a limiter?), making travel easy. However, this product cost a fortune. It was selling at Singaporean Dollar S$89 a unit and 4 batteries. It is the most expensive I have seen. Not sure how much it is in M’sia, this model is not available in where I am in US.

No Decision Yet

I have currently set my hearts on the Energizer 15min charger. I am waiting for the Tech Support to reply my question regarding 2500mAh batteries and will make my way to the shops during or after Thanksgiving. Maybe I can be convinced to get other brands.

In addition, Imaging Resource has done some Battery Test last year and they have a good battery line up. However the information is more than a year old, and I believe the new 2200mAh and 2500mAh batteries in the market now should have a better performance. By the way, I didn’t know Sanyo got make batteries.. hahaha..

Health Through FingerNails

I have heard that the health of a certain person can be accessed through the finger nails, if the nails are not growing smoothly, having bumps here and there, and the surface is not shinny and looked healthy, the person is sick internally.  Well, if it is true, I am really sick now as my finger nails are currently looking horrific.. plenty of bumps and lines and totally dull in color… maybe I should go see a doctor…

 

Doctor: “Mana sakit?”

Me: Emmmm, Badan Sakit Doctor, you cakap la, you kan doctor

Doctor: {listern to chest and measure pressure and temperature}

Me: Jadi Macam Mana?

Doctor: Oh… jangan risau… sakit sikit saja… nah, ambil ini ubat, ada apa apa balik jumpa saya…

Penang Bloggers

I have recently changed the look and feel of Penang Bloggers site, to have a grand title and a side column / bar to house all the Penang Blogger Sites.  Wonder if we should have a Blogger meet-up in Penang.. Lucia ??? Peter??? Want to do it again?

10mph Across America

Some of you may have remembered, about 2 years ago, there was a new transport introduced called SegWay, a two wheel transporter that looked like some futuristic transport tool but with wheels. It was highly publicized as the new alternative short distance transport module but, it did not really caught on as the price was humongous, and it is still expensive with one unit going for $4K or more. Well, in about 100 days ago, Josh Caldwell left his city Seattle and embark on a trans-American adventure on his Segway going at 10mph max. Together with his support team, he crossed state by state and finally today arrives at Boston on the east coast. The entire journey are logged on the web and can be found at www.10mph.com/.

Bush Bumpper Sticker

I was at a trrific light two days ago and suddenly ths bumpper sticker caught my attention. I manage to take a quick photo before the lights turn green...

Penang - KL AirAsia flight time changes

It started with 2 flights a day, then it has 3 flights a day, then at one time, there were 4 flights a day, and then back to 2 flights a day when AirAsia expended to Johor and other neighbouring region. The worst thing of the 2 flights a day schedule was that the flights are at odd hours, the second flight is at like 11pm, always inconvienent to travel at this time. Well, that is gone again and the KL-Penang route now have 3 services a day. The same compertative prices still avaliable. I will just fly again, since the flight times are now very convinient...

AK 312 KUL PEN 07 : 05 07 : 55 2004-12-01 2004-12-31 AK 316 KUL PEN 20 : 30 21 : 20 2004-12-01 2004-12-31 AK 314 KUL PEN 13 : 50 14 : 40 2004-12-01 2004-12-31

AK 313 PEN KUL 08 : 20 09 : 10 2004-12-01 2004-12-31 AK 317 PEN KUL 21 : 45 22 : 35 2004-12-01 2004-12-31 AK 315 PEN KUL 15 : 05 15 : 55 2004-12-01 2004-12-31

New Moutain Dew

Mountain Dew – Code Red (Cherry Flavor)

Mountain Dew is my favourite softdrink of them all, and when I was in US a few years ago, the volume that I have drank is only second to water. And so, when I saw this Diet Mountain Dew Code Red in the vending machine, it is just natural I would buy and try it. This drink comes in a 20oz bottle, which is 1.25pt and 591ml. The color of the drink is light red in colors and even the bubbles are red in color. The first taste was awful, I don’t know what to explain of it, as I can’t comprehend it at all.. it taste like medicine, maybe because medicine has been made with cherry taste, it did not taste like cherry to me and it just taste awful. That’s all I can say about the taste, it is not that sweet as this has a Diet tag. The drink has some level of sourness in the aftertaste. I don’t think I would buy this drink again, I can’t even finish this bottle. It does not appeal to me, the only interesting thing of this drink is the color red. And red is not a reason to buy a drink….I give this drink a bad 1 out of 5.

Picture from Misc etc

Mountain Dew – Pitch black(Black Grape)

Sitting next to Code Red was Pitch Black. This version of Mountain Dew is much better than it’s neighbor Code Red. The Black Grape taste was strong, so much like Rebina with Regular Mountain Dew mixed together. The regular Mountain Dew after taste was strong with this. After a few gulp, the aftertaste screams at the drinker for more. Its nice, and I would buy this again. I give this drink a good 4 out of 5.

Mountain Dew – Live Wire (Orange Flovor)

The next Mountain dew with artificially tainted flavor is Live Wire, bright orange in color and looked like a burning liquid metal. Starting with the taste, the artificial orange taste nothing like the real orange. Yes, it does have a very strong tangerine taste to it, and it is much better than Code Red, the cherry flavor Mountain Dew. It is an enjoyable drink and it does need a couple of cans to get used of the taste, like our Tang's Orange Drink. It is not as appealing as the Pitch Black, but it is something in between Code Red's awfulness and Pitch Black greatness.

Photo from CNN

USD$2.5K up for grabs

Card Game Enthusiast – Cash Prize to be won, $2500 USD as first prize, and all this happening in Sunway Pyramid on Dec 19^th. There will be a card game based on the Marvel comics called Marvel VS System hosted @ Sunway and registration is open for anyone to join, RM50 is the registration fee. If you have not played the game before, get on it, you still have time to practice… USD$2.5K is up for grabs. The game is easy to pick up , just need a little investment, not more than a couple of hundered , and you will be on your way to win the stash. In previous Magic the Gathering tournaments, people who just happens to be there and have never played the game before could win wonderful prizes.. . So, get your ass moving and start playing the game.

Sunday Morning

8.57am Sunday morning, a typical slow and cold morning. Wanted to try something new today, I landed myself at the Starbuck @ Barns & Noble at Tanasbourne. As a nation that lives on Coffee, the Starbucks cafe has been popping up at every corner of the street, it has come to a point that Starbuck and other Coffee Café resembles the pubs in UK and Kopi Tiams in Malaysia. Many of the patrons that "sits in" indulge in wifi, writing personal journal, drawing sketches of other patrons, reading, dating and chatting. Its like Live is Good, no matter how bad things are outside, the problems seam to stay outside. People are busy chatting, laughing, living in a world of their own, deep into what they are doing. All this over a cup of coffee. As my Mocha Grande becomes lighter and lighter, I am continuously reminded that time to leave is near. Life is good at Starbucks, but outside it, it’s a dog eat dog world.

Closing Time

As a closure for today, I manage to get the Encore CD from another Target on the way back from Woodburn. Gavin Degraw at Woodburn was a dollar more expensive than Target, and so I did not get it. Timberland 15% also did not yield anything. The day ended with a nice cold beer from the local brewery called Fat Tire and some hot and spicy wings @ Hooters.

Today's Plan - Audio Blog

Eminem Encore

I got to know of Eminem latest album Encore a few days ago while searching for a gift for my friend. The album was set to be release on Nov 12 (yesterday) but on Nov 11, it was already out at Target. There were two version to this cd, a limited edition and a deluxe edition. The limited edition is a box set with photos lyrics and ringtones selling at $28 and the deluxe edition just the songs (with 2 CD) was selling at $14.99.

I wanted to get the CD from Bestbuy as the deluxe edition was selling at $9.98 online, and there is an option from Bestbuy to pickup from any of their local shop after ordering online, without having to pay for shipping. Thinking that the retail price would be the same, I head down to the nearest Bestbuy at Beaverton. I was totally wrong and the CD there was selling at $14.99. Disappointed, I left the shop and decided to go home and purchase online and pick up from the shop later on. On the way back, I stop by Target and found that Target was selling at $9.98 and the limited edition was going for $17.99. (still expensive for me, so sorry mate, will just get you the deluxe edition, also, I don’t think the pictures and lyrics worth doubling the price)

Immediately, I start searching for a copy and found that it was totally sold out. It was only yesterday there was a heap of them, and within a day, without any advertisement, the CD was totally sold out. The nearest Target shop was like 15 miles away and I told myself forget it, the price is good for the week, and maybe they will fill up the rack in a few days time.

Going through the album on Real Rhapsody, a song strike me out of the ordinary, “Like Toy Soldiers”, a mix from the original “Toy Soldiers” by Martika, yea.. remember the 80’s?? (Man, I am starting to talk like his rapping) Anyway, the song starts up with the haunting kids singing the chorus, and then Eminem mouth off with grace giving the 80’s hit a new Rap/HipHop breath.

RHAPSODY Link

The latest installment to Eminem’s successful run at the Billboards was set out to be another hit. Packed with his usual catchy tunes and rhythm, the album will either bring him another award or just make his pocket fat due to his past success. I am not much of a fan of rap nor Eminem, but I do dig Rap music. This CD is a recommend buy for existing fans, but if you are new to Eminem, you will enjoy his previous albums more. Not saying that this album fall shot, it is just that I have not listen enough to have the tunes running on my head.

I have just realized that if you pronouce Eminem backwards, it becomes Menime, Mee-ni-mee, like Austin Powers MiniMe, hehe, could he be the MiniMe of Dr.Dre? Haha..

Jeeves, this is for you… (deluxe edition only ar!)

The Real Rhapsody

In my latest passion for music, I have been prowling CD shops and CD sections of malls for the best price CD and the latest gig. I came across this cache of online music subscription cards at a corner of Target and one that really caught my attention was Real Rhapsody. For $14.99, the subscriber gets one month of free flow listening to their 800 000 collection of songs and on top of that, the subscriber gets 15 songs to burn directly to the CD. Tempted by this offer, I bought one off the shelf and started the easy process to signup. Initially I thought RealRhapsody will work off Real Player, but after signup, I was prompted to download and install a separate RealRhapsody player. It is actually a simple player, which I believe is web based, and have direct connection to the web. RealRhapsody needs to be connected to the web to operate. There is an option to save the songs to the local drive, so that you do not have to stream the songs all the time, however, again, if the web connection is disconnected, the tool would shutdown. I guess this is their way of controlling subscriptions. The monthly subscription cost is $9.95 and if you want to burn any of the songs to a CD, it cost extra 79c. If you work out the math, with 15 songs, $14.99 was a bargain.

The sound quality is not bad. I have a light weight sony headphones(below, cost $14.99) and this is second to the cheapest headphones from sony ($9.99). Real Audio technology has improved much since it’s beginning, however, the sound is not as near as a good MP3 compression. Again, it could be my headphones. I have not burn any CD’s yet, will check out the burn quality later, currently just cold not get my hands of scrolling the 800 000 songs, it is like I have the entire collection in my computer, just a single click and the song will start streaming immediately.

To my surprise, there are no options to download MP3 format songs. There is only the stream or burn option. Which means, if you want to own any of the songs, you will have to pay the 79c and burn it directly to a CD. I kind of suspected this when I browse the card at Target as the card says, “Choose your 15 Songs to own” and only mention of burning on CD and none of MP3. I have read some review (after I have bought this) that ripping from the CD later will have drop in the sound quality. I will have to try this out.

Other than purchasing music through RealRhapsody, the Real Music Store also offer music at 99c and for this, we can download the song, but again, it did not mention any MP3, that leads me to conclude that the songs downloaded are in Real Audio format. Similar to the ones that we rip from CD though the Real Player. At Real Music Store, there are the weekly Rolling Stones favorites, which the songs cost only 49c to download.

I have also found Walmart offering music download at 88c a song, and the song is in MP3 format.

My laptop is now my iPod, with wifi, I could practically listen to music at any hotspots. My huge lapPod will not be as heap as the funky iPod, but it can view photos, and do some major processing, including viewing movies and even can surf and chat with friends. I wonder if RealRhapsody have handheld versions..??

Consumer Legal Right

The Malaysian consumer has the legal right to ask for a refund of a goods sold that are defective, etc.  However, the process of getting this refund is not easy.  Shall the shop keeper refuse to pay the money back or exchange for the defective item, one can go to the Magistrate court, however, the process is tedious.  Here are more information…

 

http://www.gov.my/MyGov/Home/CitizenSpace/BySubject/LegalMatters/Acts/Consumer/

 

Digital Camera Canon A95 Price?

Does anyone know what is the publish price of Canon A95 in Malaysia and what are the accessories that comes with it?

 

Does anyone know the street price for this camera in Malaysia?

How Much is A95?

Does anyone know, what is the market price for Canon A95 in Malaysia? Or what is the advertised price?

Amazing Race 6

Yes, the Amazing race is back with Season 6, November 16th, the race around the world begins. The usual mix of characters fill majority of the cast with the usual Grandparents, Parents, Long distance, Models, Father-Daughter, Sisters, Bestfriends, and a new odd couple and this season it is the Wrestling family. Here are the winners for the past 5 Amazing Race, who will take the Million this time? Well, looking at the past race winnings below, it has bee 3 friends and 2 married couple, if I were to make a non-intelligent guess, it would be a Married couple winning this time.

Amazing Race 5 - Chip & Kim (Married Parents)
Amazing Race 4 - Reichen & Chip (Married Couple)
Amazing Race 3 - Flo & Zach (Friends)
Amazing Race 2 - Chris & Alex (Friends)
Amazing Race 1 - Rob & Brennan (Best Friends)

The biggest winner so far has been Phil Keoghan, who has been busy with his new show, NOW (No Opportunity Wasted) on the discovery channel. As usual, Phil will be at the scene and walk the audience through the task of the participants. But it just does not feel right as we all know Phil in Amazing Race and this new show just don’t feel right. Well, that’s just my perspective. The new show is a win win for participants, community and even the audience gets a kick from watching them. The participants would usually have a dream, and it would usually(sometimes not) involve community work, such as building a boxing club for the local kids to stay out of the streets or making a picture to create awareness for the US veteran soldiers who’s country has abandon them. And Phil has a new book that goes by the show title too.....