Apple New Gadget

Finally, Steve Jobs announced the latest gadget - iPad (not iSlate), a much anticipated and discussed for months prior to it. The device has a 9.56" screen size, half inch thickness and weighs about 700g. Touchscreen and wifi enabled with a virtual keyboard.


Owners can use it to surf internet, to email, to watch video, to listen to music/songs, to note, to map, buy applications from apps store, as a photo frame, to game, calendaring and as an ebook reader ie to read books, magazines digitally.

One of the key functions, ie the ebook reader, supports video and allow authors/publishers to add new content as part of the ebook in full colour. Most of the current ebook reader devices are in black and white including those from Amazon and Sony. At the same time, Apple will be providing a iBook store to sell ebooks for it.

The challenge to me is the battery's life. The product is rich in features but could be pretty taxing on the power. However, it promises 10 hours of battery life per full charge. iPad comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB configuration and would be available in March/April 2010. Pricing ? US$499 for the 16GB model ie about S$700. Wow, not cheap.

Likely to be my first ebook reading device if the collection is rich and supports muilt-languages and formats. Meanwhile, will wait and see first. iPad or iPet :-)

Richest person in Japan 2009

Do you know who is the richest person in Japan 2009 ?
AV actress ? Nope :-)

The person is Mr Tadashi Yanai, 60 years old. The founder and owner of Uniqlo. Presently, there are three outlets in Singapore and many outlets in Japan including small outlets within major train stations such as Tokyo Station as well as in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. His net worth is $6.1 billion (properly in US Dollars) and married with 2 children

.

I first came across Uniqlo when I was in Tokyo 9 years ago. I din expect and plan to buy much things in Tokyo as it is pretty expensive including clothing. We just happen to do the usual window shopping at the store when we were in the Times Square in Shinjuku (the shop had shifted out). Was surprised that i could buy a nice shirt for S$15 with nice cutting and decent material. I am still wearing it till now. Since then, i have enjoyed shopping in Uniqlo for my clothing whenever i travel, if the outlet is available.



However, the pricing in Singapore seems to be higher. I make a simple comparison based on my recent trips and found that for a same piece of clothing, it would cost S$20 in Tokyo, S$35 in Hong Kong and about S$50 in Singapore. Of course, not all items are more expensive here. The sock costs about the same as those in Japan and Hong Kong. The fact that the company has shifted its production from China to Cambodia to reduce its costs, it should not be costing so much locally. Maybe, the rental has contributed partly to it. One observation made in Tokyo was that not all the outlets carry the same range of products and that have make me to visit one whenever i came across. I bought a few more at the Narita Airport before flying home.

I think their presence could have caused some challenges to other retailers such as Bossini, Giordano, G2000 etc. It is, indeed, a competitive industry. I have patronized less of others and just bought 4 pants from Unilqo from 313@Somerset over the last weekend.

I hope Mr Tadashi Yanai would consider the publishing industry and then I can buy cheaper and interesting books locally and whenever I travel. But, please provide both English and Chinese books, not just Japanese books. Making it appealing and conveniently to the international buyers are very important.

Emm... just realise that he seems to have more hair than me. Ha...ha...ha..

Trolley and a gracious society

Going to a supermarket is definitely a very common activity for almost all individuals and families. As we shop and sourcing for items, we could be using either a basket or trolley. While all these are free for customers to use it, a S$1 coin is needed to check out a trolley (refundable).



However, we still come across trolleys around neighbourhood though the usage is only within the supermarket. A handful of customers just dun bother enough to push it home, reason - too heavy to carry home. Worst still, they will "discard" the trolleys nearby and expecting the supermarket staff to scout around and push it back for them. What is S$1 coin to them ? Nothing. They may even claim that "I am creating some employment, u know". Of course, the main issue here is to what extent do we care for other users. This would be translated into efforts in building a caring and gracious society.

I was shopping at Liang Court recently and there is a supermarket too. While I was trying to find a dollar coin for the trolley, i was a bit surprised that I could use it without one. The supermarket is called MEIDI-YA Supermarket. It provides more options for customers who are sourcing for Japanese products and ingredients and of course serving more Japanese either living or working locally.

Though it is just a trolley, the contrast experience says a lot about our people and society. I doubt we are getting any closer to living in a more gracious community. We are more likely to move if cane method is applied in correcting some of our inappropriate behaviour ie a fine society. Parents are still setting bad examples subconsciously and not educating our next generation explicitly how to behave socially.

I dun think we will ever reach a gracious society. We are just trying to make it look good but not real good.

Noodle Place Restaurant

It has been awhile since I last shared about food. Actually, I have been going around to taste different cuisine as usual. Properly just lazy to blog it down.

I went to a few recommended places to eat when I was in Hong Kong recently. Most of it were pretty nice. Hence, when i read about a Hong Kong Chef heading in a local restaurant, I decided to give it a try to see if it is comparable.

The restaurant name is Noodle Place Restaurant. located along the Orchard Road, The Centrepoint, level 1. It was pretty crowded when i reached. The place is not too big but neat and clean. Not advisable if dining in a big group, 6 or fewer should be just nice. I am sure the waiting time could be longer during the usual lunch and dinner time.



There are about 100 dishes on the menu, we ordered three dishes + a drink ie Shrimp Wanton Noodle Soup, Noodle Place Special Congee, Twin Mixed Roast Meat + K-last Sng Boey drink.



The noodle soup tasted nice. However, the yellow ingredient used to make the noodle is a bit too strong and affected the tasted of the soup though the noodle is quite q. A simple and light dish. Can try it. The congee is much better. Not too salty and pretty smooth. The pig's liver is done well ie not too hard. A small surprise to me is a nice fresh prawn in it + a thin slice of abalone. They would have served it with dough fritter (油条) but has to be ordered separately at $2 per plate. The twin mixed for us is the roasted duck and pork. The presentation not so good and the roasted pork is cut into too small pieces. Taste wise is normal. I prefer having roasted pork prepared in a bigger pieces. More shiok and chewy.

Overall, the dishes are fine. Service is quite good. I would still prefer the same dishes in Hong Kong. Something seems to be missing here - culture, smell etc, i do not how to describe it. Maybe my mood ba. Ha...ha...ha...

Noodle Place Restaurant Tel: 67333171 (no reservation)
Business hours from 10am to 10pm (daily except First Day of Chinese New Year).

Planning a trip to Cambodia as a team

The idea of going to Cambodia came along while we were lunching a few days ago.

Going to Cambodia for team building and having some relaxing moment away from work using own expenses. Very quickly, we zoomed into the possible dates and budget that we are comfortable with. Date is identified and planning kick off. Perfect :-)

It is a short trip with a simple itinerary - to travel on a budget airplane to Siam Reap to visit the Angkor Wat, to explore nearby areas and the city. Any official agenda/expectations ? Nope. It will fail if we have one. Hope all can make it though it is optional.

I believe it is a great attempt, in fact one that should be encouraged, to unwind and having more time to enjoy and knowing a bit more of each other freely/leisurely. The shared experience is likely to keep a functional working relationship and something for all .... yup yup, u know, I had a short overseas trip with my team once .... and the story unfolds.

I believe we are going to enjoy it and less than 2 months to go :-)
Ha...ha...ha...

Cailan - movie

Bought an interesting chinese book when i was in Hong Kong last week (early Jan 10). The author is Mr Cailan (蔡澜先生) and the topic is on movie. Published in Dec 2009 and is one of his new titles.



Armed with 40 years of experience in the movie industry (worked in two major entertainment organizations ie Shaw Brothers Ltd - 邵氏 as Manager and Golden Harvest - 嘉禾 as Vice President), Mr Cailan shared a great variety of stories in terms of actors/actresses, directors, scripts writers, kungfu director, happenings behind some of the scenes, his friendship with different individuals, general view of the industry and its development, movies he likes and don't etc.

Though being an Asian and written in Chinese, the book covers both the oriental and western movies and individuals. As a producer, he does has the knowledge to give engaging comments on it. One of my favourite reads is shocked to realize how serious Jackie Chan was injured in the making of his movie. It is interesting to realize that his home was within a cinema building（ 大华戏院 ) in Singapore since young with his family. The building has just been taken over by Singapore Pools recently. He has also included an article written by his own brother about him (ie Mr Cailan).

I do not know or cannot relate many of the individuals he mentioned in the book. However, this book is refreshing to me as it is the first time Mr Cailan has published a book purely on movie. He has written many titles on topics such as traveling, food, ghost stories, relationships, short stories etc. It is also the first time that I am reading a book about movie and the industry :-)

I hope he will publish another book on the same subject soon as it is not easy to come across a good engaging read about it especially with someone like him who has many interesting encounters to share in his 40 years of journey in the movie industry.

Well done, Mr Cailan.

iPhone (2)

It's time to update my iPhone's experience.
So far, I have bought the following applications:

- Awesome Note;
- Fish Ville;
- Lonely Planet Tokyo City Guide;
- SG Mahjong and
- Spot the difference;

2 for my daughter and 3 for myself.

The most expensive purchase is the Lonely Planet Tokyo City Guide. The content and layout is pretty similar to a print copy but with fewer wordings ie like a summary. Hence, easier reading it. I din use it when i was in Tokyo recently. Properly good content but the information is not so useful. How to be more useful ? more links to the information shared and mentioned as well as allowing me to call or email them. However, Japan telco's system is different from Singapore, hence no signal :-( Good to consider providing a feature to allow users to upload comment, update or extra information as a reference. This is what a book cannot support it.

Learning to use the Awesome Note now and have been playing the SG Mahjong actively, Ha...ha...ha... I dun in real life and i wun. Why ? Dun like to win my friends' money and can be pretty tiring. While i was playing, I discover that my daughter is learning and able to pronounce new words on her own. Was surprised and of course happy to know about it. :-)

Spot the difference can be quite tricky as some of the differences are quite difficult to spot it due to small screen size and i cannot enlarge it to better compare both photos.

i read on Monday that a company has approached Cailan (蔡澜) to publish and selling his books on iPhone. The loyalty fee is pretty good. :-) I am sure more books could be made available on iPhone. In fact, ebook is definitely set to grow. Amazon already reported that its ebooks sales outpace the printed copies last year. In addition, Microsoft and HP have just introduced a new "Slate" PC. It is a thin, light device with a larger screen size, longer battery life and touchscreen based. It combines the goods from a smartphone and netbook. Apple is also rolling a similar device in early 2010 and it was reported naming as "iSlate".

i死 了 :-)

Tokyo 2009 - Noodle

We wanted to have porridge for breakfast but the shop was not ready until 11am. While wondering what else to try, we spotted the noodle shop just opposite the porridge shop. It looked decent and traditional enough. What caught our eyes us was the vending machine at the entrance. Instead of ordering dishes with staff from a menu, customers will order the dishes by buying relevant tickets from the machine and then passed it to the counter. We had a great experience years back in Tokyo and decide to give it a try. It was, indeed, another great attempt :-)



The dishes were priced more affordable about 600 to 1,000 yen per item ie S$9 to S$16 per item. Again, we were quite confused over the wordings displayed on the machine and to our surprise, one of the lady staff came to help out and spoken to us in Mandarin. She is from China and has been working a few years in Japan. While waiting for the staff to cook, she served us three glasses of cold water. We were puzzle as it was pretty cold outside and they served cold drink (icy cold water) instead of warm water. On our second visit, I asked another lady, who is also from China, why and she shared that it was Japanese's practise.



The staff cooked all dishes in front of customers as we wait. The kitchen is very functional and high tech. Properly expensive to employ too many staff, they have a noodle cooking machine that can cook a few bowls of noodles at the same time each with a timer. Cool :-)

How does the noodles taste ?
Well, very tasty and nice. I liked and enjoyed the vegetable noodle soup very much (as shown in the picture below). Mind u, it was, indeed, a big serving. Very filling and satisfied. If you are a super super eater, request to upsize it by paying another 100 yen (ie S$1.6) and you could be drowned in it. Ha...ha...ha... I should say that my whole family enjoyed it very much. My daughter told FP that she liked the noodle. We all miss it a lot :-(



The shop is located in the Keio Shopping Mall in the southern part of the shopping area within the main Shinjuku train station. Not likely to be mentioned in most of the travel guides but must try it. :-)

Tokyo 2009 - Bus services in Shinjuku area

On our last day in Tokyo, we found that there was a city bus service that move around linking the east and west part of Shinjuku. Though the service is not free, it provided much convenience for us as there was a bus stop right in front of the hotel that we were staying. Else, we would have to walk 10 to 15 minutes from the Shinjuku Station back to the hotel again. It's very tiring to walk back with a heavy bag filled with purchase and my daughter's basic items.



If you are visiting Tokyo and happen to stay in the Shinjuku area, you may want to consider using the service. It charges 100 yen per person (ie S$1.5 to S$1.6). The bus was very comfortable and nice. It was also pretty warm inside :-) However, the bus driver on that trip was not so friendly. There are 10 stops in the whole journey and it gives visitors a good orientation / introduction of the Shinjuku area. Each bus stop stand also printed the estimated arrival time of the bus and the whole journey. Pretty informative.

If you are going to the main avaShinjuku train station, alight at bus stop 1;
If you are going to the red light district, alight at bus stop 2;
If you are going to the Times Square, alight at bus stop 4;
If you are staying in Shinjuku Washington hotel, alight at bus stop 6;
etc



For more information, you can access its website , available in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages. It is strange that the hotel din share the services with us, ie for their customers ?

35 years old grandmother

I read a news article today that a lady became properly one of the youngest grandmother in Singapore at the age of 35 years old on my iPhone. Wow, that is definitely very young especially when we have so many 35 years old individuals who are still single.

She is a businesswoman. Married at 16 years old and became a mother at 17. Got another kid at age 23. Her daughter followed and being a mum at 18 years old. Is it due to gene or culture or encouragement or .... ? I only know that it was definitely not easy to bring up two kids at such a young age and she did it well.

I am happy for the youngest grandmother and the mother. Wish both all the best and a happy new year :-)

Watching movie

It has been pretty awhile since I last visited a cinema. Not so often after marriage and nearly zero after the birth of my daughter.

Finally went for a movie again and together with my daughter last night - Alvin & Chipmunks 2. :-) My first movie with her. However, it was not her a first visit to cinema. Her mum had brought her to watch her first movie a few months ago. I forgotten the title. Ha...ha...ha...

Besides feeling that the sound was a bit too loud, my daughter had enjoyed the show much and well behaved during the movie. For GV, I would need to buy a ticket for her since she is at least 90cm tall now. Was not so keen to buy her a ticket initially because the seat could be too low for her and she is likely to sit either on my or FP's lap. To my surprise, GV provided boaster for kids at the entrance. Hence, all of us had a proper seat and my daughter could also watch it comfortably. :-)

Would like to bring her to watch a few more movies. Of course, no horror movie but cartoons and those that she is likely to understand and recognize.

Btw, just realized that it is pretty expensive to catch a movie nowadays, S$10 per person and the cinema is still as dark as before with the usual type of seat. :-(

Maybe due to inflation ba. Ha...ha...ha...

iPhone

It can be pretty addictive to use iPhone. I use iPhone for:
- sms
- making calls at times
- play games
- take photos
- take videos
- search and install iPhone applications
- maps
- Catch news on omy.sg, ChannelnewsAsia, iToday, ST and Wall Street Journal
- Dictionary
- Manage emails

Also, just bought three movies through iPhone using the iGV application to watch Alvin & Chipmunk 2.

Only 30% of my usage is on sms and making calls. It does not seem to be a phone to me. I can easily get online with the iPhone. Affordable data plan helps but 10 or 12GB plan seems to be a bit too much a month especially when the iPhone's battery will drain off pretty fast if constantly in use.

Nowadays, my daughter will ask me for iPhone whenever she is in the car and the first thing she wakes up in the morning. iPhone has replaced her favourite milk in the morning. Amazing. It is her possession and accompany. "This is my phone, ok" She will say. Sometimes, I have to appear angrily in order to get it back from her. If the iPhone is water-proof, i am sure she will bath together with iPhone as well :-)

Maybe it is time to consider an iPodtouch for her as I realize that iPhone is a good learning device for her. My next desktop replacement for the home will also be a touchscreen model so that she can easily navigate on her own and be empowered to decide what she wants to do with it and how to do it.

Btw, 60% of my team in office is using iPhone and going to 70% soon :-)

Year 2010

It's a new beginning year - 2010
A good number, indeed, for a 4D :-)

Still on leave and flying off to Hong Kong for a short holiday. Has been there for quite a number of times and hence, not very keen and wun be visiting the usual attractions. This trip will focus on enjoying the nice food recommended and doing a bit of shopping for the Chinese New Year and as usual, books and magazines. Will move around to some new places to explore leisurely. It will be a no rush and causal week. Hong Kong seems to becoming my usual destination to relax, to eat, to shop and wandering around.

New Year Resolution ? What is that ? for kids ?
Try to have a resolution. Emm..... to enjoy and explore life ba. :-)

Happy New Year to all.