HTC Touch HD2 - Mmm, mmm!

Definitely getting this one...

WM6 (in all its iterations) still CMI, but hoping HTC Sense will at least make it liveable.

The screen looks ginormous, and this may just make my iPhone sweat a little bit.

:)

My next gadget - Nokia N900

Nokia might finally be getting it's software in order with Maemo 5.

Check out the videos of the N900 in action on YouTube or on Nokia's Maemo website - you will be blown away.

Hardware-wise, the device is top-notch as well. Just hope it comes to Singapore soon.

:)ac

MacBook Pro - Hard Disk Upgrade

Been holding off on this for a while, but finally got down to upgrading my MBP (non-unibody, ~2008 model) hard drive. 200GB is simply not enough when my iPhoto Library is > 20GB and iTunes alone takes up more than 90GB.

Checked out iFixit.com and followed their wonderful step-by-step guide there. Make sure you have a Torx T6 screwdriver. The MBP screws are quite small and fragile, so better to have fitting screwdrivers if not, the screws might get damaged.

Before I started, backed up my hard drive with Time Machine. Swapped out the hard disk for new one, and then re-installed Leopard with the recovery CDs. After that, restored from Time Machine backup, and all programs and data were nicely put back in.

The hardware swap was quite simple actually, the only issue for me was a data cable was quite firmly stuck with adhesive to the hard drive, so I had to slowly and carefully dislodge the cable using the blunt end of a knife. iFixit recommends a "spudger" which I couldn't be bothered to find. YMMV and make sure you don't damage the cable.

Prior to upgrade, was hovering around 20GB free space (which made me nervous like hell). After upgrade, and re-filling up my iTunes with some movies I'd moved off to a external HDD, sitting pretty with about 272GB free. :-)

Issues to look out for -

1. Have to update all Apple software a couple of rounds - my recovery CDs were Leopard 10.5.4 only, and iTunes was at 8.0 i think. Had to do Apple Software Update twice.

2. If you are re-installing Leopard for first time, the CD verification will take about an hour, before installation of Leopard, which itself took another hour.

3. Restoring from Time Machine took about 2 hours for roughly 150GB data and programs.

4. Mail.app will reindex your mail, but that took only a short while. MobileMe will re-sync everything - make sure you set MobileMe to overwrite your MBP rather than the other way around.

5. My StarHub Mobile Broadband USB stick had to be re-installed with manual settings which I guessed myself.

Other than the above issues, the whole upgrade went pretty well. Highly recommend the iFixit website for their detailed instructions.

I believed I may have avoided the above issues if I had cloned my hard drive using a program called "SuperDuper", which, from what I read, is recommended over restoring from Time Machine.

If you're thinking of upgrading your MBP hard drive, give it a go and let me know how it goes.

:)ac

A PR in Singapore

I am Malaysian and a Singapore permanent resident.

I’ve been reading recently quite a few disquieting comments in some weblogs from various people (presumably Singaporeans) about the “status” of PRs in Singapore, and how their rights should be further curtailed, citizens don’t get the same benefits (in some cases citizens are worse off), and generally stamping PRs with the “freeloaders” or “disloyal” tags.

I just read an article on The Online Citizen (apologies for the lack of links, but you guys can Google this), about Ms Sweta Agarwal, the Indian lady who wrote a letter to ST Forum complaining about her kids not getting into the best schools, and got whacked several times as an ungrateful PR. She said this in the article – “About living here for six years and not taking citizenship, I think this is a very personal choice.”

I may not agree with her stand on her kids, but I do agree with her that the issue of citizenship (the whole idea of your country-hood, if there’s such a word) is a very personal choice. Perhaps I can explain why.

I arrived in Singapore just over 20 years ago, in May 1989, to attend JC and subsequently took my degree course in NUS. I’ve since then got married (to a Singaporean) and we now have 3 beautiful kids. I have spent more than half my life living, studying and working in Singapore. I have my own legal practice in Singapore and it does not appear that I will be going back to Malaysia to work or live anytime in the near future. My kids were born here, are Singapore citizens, and it doesn’t even look remotely possible that they will consider Malaysia as part of their identity, much less going back or taking up Malaysian citizenship.

All my closest friends are here in Singapore, my business is in Singapore, and me and my family’s immediate and foreseeable future are inextricably tied to Singapore’s fate and future prospects. In fact, I don’t even see leaving Singapore (whether for Malaysia or any other country) at any time as an option at all. For all intents and purposes, Singapore is my home and I’m committed to Singapore.

I also don’t have many friends left in Malaysia – mostly from my primary school days (amazing that we’ve kept in touch, isn’t it?) and a few from my secondary school. I also have no idea of what happens on the ground in Malaysia other than what I read on the news or hear from my conversations with friends and my parents. Heck, I haven’t even gone back in 3 years, I think.

However, despite all the above, I have not applied for citizenship. Simply because I feel Malaysian.

I was born there and I will die a Malaysian. It’s difficult to put into words, but I recall this one thing very clearly, which happened back when I was eight or nine years old, in primary school. My primary class teacher was trying to explain the words of our national anthem to us line-by-line, and this was the first line from the Malaysian national anthem –

“Negaruku, tanah tumpahnya darahku”

This in Malay (roughly translated to English) means, “My country, the land upon which my newborn blood was shed”, which also means you are forever tied to the land in which you were born.

That struck a tremendous chord in my eight(or nine)-year old brain and it’s been stuck in my mind ever since, to the extent I can point to this as the reason why I feel the way I do about being Malaysian.

I always look first for the results for Malaysian athletes in international competitions (not that there are many to be proud of, except in badminton and recently, track cycling, archery), I will cheer any Malaysian football team against Singapore (although I supported Singapore in their match against Liverpool recently, but that’s another story), and I will always cringe whenever I hear my daughters mangling the words to “Majulah Singapura” during National Day celebrations. In fact, I just told them this year that Daddy is the only one in the house who actually understands the meaning of the whole national anthem (having studied in Malay back in my secondary school days in KL).

This does not mean I am disloyal to Singapore, or that I will abandon Singapore if this country goes down the drain (my family’s Singaporean after all). I also find it funny that some people claim that PRs in Singapore enjoy the “best of both worlds”. I mean, if you see how hard I work here, and the prospects I have in Malaysia (I am Chinese after all), I’m certainly not enjoying the “best” of anything at all.

Perhaps my personal journey above can go some way to explain to some Singaporeans why (at least in my case) I will never take up Singapore citizenship. But that doesn't mean that I'm "disloyal" or that I'm a "freeloader" PR in Singapore.

:)ac

Manchester United in Bukit Jalil Stadium

Travelled up on a day trip with Eric and a few others for the Man U Asia Tour 2009 - first game in KL, at the Bukit Jalil Stadium. Left SG from the Cage at about 8:30am, with the game kicking off at about 5:40pm. Arrived in time for the game, but long walk to the stadium from coach parking area, and it was already fully packed by then.

We got to see Michael Owen's debut for Man U and he scored the winner too! Perhaps I was wrong about him, but we'll see... he still hasn't lost his instincts, that's for sure.

Full house at Bukit Jalil...


Man U players saluting the team after the game, which ended 3-2 in Man U's favour. Rooney scored in the 9th min, and Nani made it two nil after about 20, but on the stroke of half-time, VDS made an error clearing the ball and Mohd Amri Yahyah belted a wonderful volley over VDS from 30yds out.

Nani scoring his goal, but he had a bad game...


Ben Foster started the 2nd half, but almost immediately forgot to look at the ball when it was thrown/passed to him, and Mohd Amri picked up the loose ball and scored again, which made it 2-2 until Owen scored with 5 mins to go. Giggsy Legend got clean thru but was fouled by the keeper, Owen pounced on the loose ball, side stepped the keeper, and scored low into the left hand post.

After the game, took us another hour to get back to the bus (memories of HK Ocean Park again) with 100,000 people trying to get home, and finally arrived back in SG at about 4:30am. Tiring but all in all, great fun finally watching Man U live again.

:)

Roger Federer - There is no finish line

Amazing match. Andy Roddick deserves better, but he said something which many people forget, or underestimate about Federer - he's tough, and a major fighter-cock. He's never beaten until the last point.

Yummy

It always makes me happy when we literally clean up everything off the
plates. Yummy! :)

Man United - quiet summer so far

Been wondering what the f*k SAF's been up to the whole summer.

Firstly, he knew Cristiano R was leaving as long ago as Dec 08. True, he may have harboured some hope of convincing CR to stay, but the signs should have been clear to him way before the season's end.



Now taking that into consideration, his failure to tie up Tevez as early as the January transfer window, or even during the run-in (when Tevez kept dropping hints that he wanted to stay) is inexplicable. Even the counter-argument that Tevez was not worth the 25m pounds fails, since that exactly what United offered Kia Joorabchian, AFTER CR had left, and it was clear Tevez no longer wanted to stay.

I'm personally not sure Tevez is worth the 25m, he's a fighter-cock, never gives up and scores the occasional match-winner, but he's not shown he's in Rooney or even Berbatov's class.

That said, he's clearly a first team player, and with all sorts of clubs chasing his signature, and with the knowledge that CR is leaving (and with United pocketing 80m in return), United should have signed up Tevez wayyyyy before he said f*k off.

In light of Real Madrid's major-league spending, and with Zidane making phone calls in the background, it's clear now that all of United's major transfer targets are now gone - Ribery, Benzema, and even Valencia was under threat for a while.

As it is, we are left with only Valencia, and the hope that the youngsters, e.g. Macheda, Tosic, et al are up to making the next step up.



I read somewhere that we should go for Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), but whilst he did very well for Brazil at the recent Confederations Cup, he's unproven and may not be physical enough to last the long EPL season. The other target mentioned is Kun Aguero (Atletico Madrid), but his club are asking 45m and that's just wayyyy beyond stupid money for, again, someone unproven at the top level, even if he is Maradona's son-in-law.



At the time of writing this, there are also strong rumours that United are about to sign Michael Owen. Whilst it's not quite a gamble at 50k a week, and if it's only a 1-2 year contract, the fact that we are left chasing Owen (of all people) is telling, and very disappointing. I want to believe that he will score 10-15 goals and prove his critics wrong, but deep down, I suspect SAF is bending over for sentiment's sake, and Owen will prove quite to be the 'over-the-hill' ex-prodigy that he is.

Edit: - It seems we have completed the signing of Michael Owen - surprisingly, his medical wasn't an issue at all. Hopefully, hopefully ....

Michael Jackson - RIP

Wow. The news caught me completely by surprise.

Michael Jackson is dead at 50.



He was the consummate performer, brilliant dancer, and his music (up to Bad) was great. Even his later works (Dangerous, etc) were tolerable, and contained some gems (Gone Too Soon, Remember The Time).



But most of all, I will remember feeling overwhelming sympathy, even pity, for him, for the life he led. Endless media-attention and name-calling (not to mention criminal prosecutions), can get to even the most resolute, much less someone who (to me) was simply too naive to think that the life he led would somehow be acceptable to the rest of the world.

At some level, he was savvy enough to try and manipulate the media to suit him (the Lisa Presley marriage, the Bashir interview) but the attempts were at best cringe-worthy.

His musical legacy though is not in question, and at the end of the day, I hope the memories of his music will outlast everything else. RIP.

:-|

John Hodgman video

this has got to be the funniest video i've seen for a while.

for those of you non-geeks and non-nerds, john hodgman is the "PC guy" in the (in)famous Apple vs PC adverts.

:)ac

Malaysia - my country

The more I think about it, read about it and reminisce about it, my country of birth is becoming less and less of the country I remember growing up in.

Read this article from a PKR MP - it's in Malay, for those of you who don't understand, he's basically saying that the maid got hurt by his employers, who are non-Muslim Chinese, and he then goes on a frolic of unbelievable proportions, extrapolating this unfortunate incident into a suggestion that the Gahmen investigate and propose a plan to stop allowing Indonesian Muslim maids from being employed by non-Muslim/Chinese families.

My initial reaction after reading this was - What the f**k??!!

After ruminating on this for a few more minutes, and reading this guy's biodata on his blog, I am deeply saddened.

Here is (presumably) a well-educated Malay gentleman, one of the intelligentsia, studied overseas, a lawyer by training, handled various high-profile cases, a leader of his community, an opposition (!) MP, and his achievements are what young Malays and indeed, young Malaysians should be aspiring towards.

Yet, his values, his moral judgments, his perceptions of race and racial traits border on the xenophobic and dare I say it, racist.

I am not an idealistic neophyte trying to rail against pro-Malay policies, or be like Lee Kuan Yew, who tried to propagate a Malaysian Malaysia. After all, there is a reason why the country was known as Tanah Melayu, Malaya and Malaysia.

I have always cherished my memories of a less extremist society, in which I shared tables and meals with my school mates regardless of race, and where people were less judgmental of each other.

But, if this is how modern, mainstream Malays feel in their heart of hearts, then no matter what the Gahmen or the PM says, 1Malaysia or not, I fear the worst.

The only silver lining in this dark cloud - the article was brought to my attention by a Malay lady (whom I don't know, but who linked the article on Tony P's FB page).

..ac

Cristiano has left the building

80 million pounds. Damn. That’s almost enough to buy some “big” football clubs.

It’s very difficult for me to say “good riddance” to Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s among the top 2-3 players in the world, and his face will sell buckets, nevermind t-shirts. Footballing-wise, he’s improved leaps and bounds from when he first joined in 2003, and he can honestly say he’s worked very hard as well.

But when it comes to the battle of hearts and minds, it is and always will be, very difficult to keep a Portuguese (and for that matter, most South Americans and non-Brit Europeans) from joining Real Madrid (more so for it’s history, but also for the $$$).

Cristiano (I always think of him as Cristiano, cos Ronaldo to me is the fat Brazillian ex-fenomeno) already left his heart in Real last year, and actually, it’s to his credit that he’s stayed (more or less) professional and played well this year, despite him knowing he’s joined Real. Although some might say, he only started playing well after he sorted out his Real deal in Dec.

Man U (and the “big” English clubs) have an edge in this “hearts and minds” battle in Asia (only because of the EPL coverage), but I cannot imagine the day will come when any major non-Brit player will willingly prefer to join Man U if Barca/Real come calling.

And that’s why, it’s imperative for English clubs to develop their own.

..ac