Music studio fixes I intended to spend my 4-day break fixing my home music studio, which has been experiencing various malfunctions. In August, my faithful G5 PowerMac suddenly couldn’t start up. I tried everything suggested in the help forums (Apple and unofficial) and mailing lists, to no avail. Pulling out the power plug and leaving it for days and trying to start it again, didn’t work. Opening up the casing and removing the RAM and putting them back in, also didn’t work. I was going to send it to an Apple service centre during this break. My PowerMac was lying dejectedly in my music studio for several weeks. I decided to give it one more try before I lugged it down the stairs. I plugged in the power and suddenly, there was a familiar startup whirr! I hurriedly re-connected the monitor and the screen eventually lit up with the Apple login! I was so happy! After I reset the time and reconnected various cables, I realised however that my 2nd audio card (doubling up as a MIDI card) was no longer detected. And the Airport still wasn’t working as of last year when I upgraded to Leopard (separate issue). After reboots the audio card was detected and audio output worked fine. Techtool Deluxe detected an error in my file structure that couldn’t be fixed, possibly as my original hard drive is nearly full. I installed a second internal hard drive a few months ago to handle the extra data load. Plus, I ran Time Machine. Lastly, I rebooted in Safe mode which is supposed to fix that darned Airport problem after upgrading to Leopard, but it didn’t work. All it did was make my fans churn so violently that I thought my PowerMac would explode. Anyway … the important features were working. It was time to make music again! I switched on my KORG Trition Extreme which was just serviced several weeks ago… And the darned keyboard wouldn’t turn on. I switched power cables and the other keyboard still worked, but the Triton wouldn’t start. I heard a spzzzt! sound everytime I tried to turn it on. Sounded like the internal power unit died as well. So I sent it to City Music yesterday for repairs, reminding them that I had recently sent it to them for servicing. The two salesmen on duty commented that the Triton rarely has problems as it’s quite sturdy. So is there a bug travelling around my music studio, or what? I’ve had both PowerMac and Triton for over 4 years, and never before have they failed to turn on, until this year. Both times it happened after I hadn’t touched the equipment for a while. Maybe they’re feeling neglected. Or feeling old and obsolete. So basically I haven’t totally achieved my objective of making music during this break, although the trusty old piano is still around so I’ve been revising my jazz pieces instead. Now that’s the type of music equipment that won’t have startup problems. Exam fever Yesterday I woke up with chills. I thought it was just the air-conditioning, but the chills remained for a while, even after a hot shower. During microecons class, my section learnt that we came in first, beating other sections from Wharton and Fontainebleau. Within my section, my group came in third! The top three groups received chilled champagne from our professor and we drank it on the spot. Then we gave him a huge sending-off and drank a lot of Tiger beer. Thus by the evening I thought my queasy stomach was due to the alcohol consumed earlier in the day. I went home for dinner then went back to school to study. I was even queasier and felt like puking as I drove home. When I came back I learnt that other family members had it too - and even worse than me. I tried hard not to purge myself, took antibiotics and went to sleep. In the middle of the night I woke up and finally puked out my entire dinner. Then I had surge after surge of diarrhoea. Altogether this kept me up till 4+am. By the time I fell asleep, my alarm rang. I decided to skip the 8.30am microecons tutorial and the 10.30am stats tutorial because I was still not feeling good. However I absolutely cannot miss the 1.30pm finance class because this is the only chance we have to learn how to answer a past year paper. I will probably try to sit away from the others so they don’t catch my bug. But what a terrible time to fall ill!!! My exams start on Monday and it’s not like I’m a quantitative genius who already knows how to answer every question - I’m still trying to understand things, especially topics that we only just learnt the last week or two! I think I need to bomb the loo one more time… Altogether, it is really a terrible feeling. Exam fever Yesterday I woke up with chills. I thought it was just the air-conditioning, but the chills remained for a while, even after a hot shower. During microecons class, my section learnt that we came in first, beating other sections from Wharton and Fontainebleau. Within my section, my group came in third! The top three groups received chilled champagne from our professor and we drank it on the spot. Then we gave him a huge sending-off and drank a lot of Tiger beer. Thus by the evening I thought my queasy stomach was due to the alcohol consumed earlier in the day. I went home for dinner then went back to school to study. I was even queasier and felt like puking as I drove home. When I came back I learnt that other family members had it too - and even worse than me. I tried hard not to purge myself, took antibiotics and went to sleep. In the middle of the night I woke up and finally puked out my entire dinner. Then I had surge after surge of diarrhoea. Altogether this kept me up till 4+am. By the time I fell asleep, my alarm rang. I decided to skip the 8.30am microecons tutorial and the 10.30am stats tutorial because I was still not feeling good. However I absolutely cannot miss the 1.30pm finance class because this is the only chance we have to learn how to answer a past year paper. I will probably try to sit away from the others so they don’t catch my bug. But what a terrible time to fall ill!!! My exams start on Monday and it’s not like I’m a quantitative genius who already knows how to answer every question - I’m still trying to understand things, especially topics that we only just learnt the last week or two! I think I need to bomb the loo one more time… Altogether, it is really a terrible feeling. Thoughts on the economy and elections More action is happening on my INSEAD blog, and even more action is happening in the library (boo!) but I thought I should pen down some quick thoughts about current situations: On the current economic crisis Tempting as it is to watch with an odd combination of amusement and dismay as our stock prices fall lower and lower, there is really no point in checking them every minute. Being MBA students there is a very strong temptation to sit in front of the Bloomberg terminal watching stock prices from your country of origin trickle further down every few seconds. I have been using my Bloomberg iPhone app more often than usual, taking a masochistic delight in seeing prices fall and telling myself I was smart to sell a lot of my shares before the real shit hit the fan. But, as with really bad diarrhoea, you never know when it ends. If you live only for money, then you may feel your life is coming to an end. If your foundation is in deeper, more meaningful things, then you will not be as badly shaken. However, it is tragic while lots of people in America have lost their homes and an old lady has even shot herself after defaulting on mortgage payments. On the US elections I am getting all excited again for Obama as he’s become more specific with issues, and sounds more decisive. The second debate helped him stand out. All these years I was actually fine with McCain and thought he’d have made a better president than Bush, but the GOP had other ideas, and now it may be difficult for the Republicans on all fronts. A couple days ago, our Organisational Behaviour professor let us watch Martin Luther King’s speech, I Have A Dream. I’ve read excerpts, but watching the original video really moved me. If Obama gets elected, King’s speech will have extra significance - even though Obama isn’t the son of slaves. Embedded for your viewing pleasure: I’m adding my INSEAD blog on my sidebar so it won’t be so quiet over here… take care, dear readers, and have a great weekend while I slog away! Thoughts on the economy and elections More action is happening on my INSEAD blog, and even more action is happening in the library (boo!) but I thought I should pen down some quick thoughts about current situations: On the current economic crisis Tempting as it is to watch with an odd combination of amusement and dismay as our stock prices fall lower and lower, there is really no point in checking them every minute. Being MBA students there is a very strong temptation to sit in front of the Bloomberg terminal watching stock prices from your country of origin trickle further down every few seconds. I have been using my Bloomberg iPhone app more often than usual, taking a masochistic delight in seeing prices fall and telling myself I was smart to sell a lot of my shares before the real shit hit the fan. But, as with really bad diarrhoea, you never know when it ends. If you live only for money, then you may feel your life is coming to an end. If your foundation is in deeper, more meaningful things, then you will not be as badly shaken. However, it is tragic while lots of people in America have lost their homes and an old lady has even shot herself after defaulting on mortgage payments. On the US elections I am getting all excited again for Obama as he’s become more specific with issues, and sounds more decisive. The second debate helped him stand out. All these years I was actually fine with McCain and thought he’d have made a better president than Bush, but the GOP had other ideas, and now it may be difficult for the Republicans on all fronts. A couple days ago, our Organisational Behaviour professor let us watch Martin Luther King’s speech, I Have A Dream. I’ve read excerpts, but watching the original video really moved me. If Obama gets elected, King’s speech will have extra significance - even though Obama isn’t the son of slaves. Embedded for your viewing pleasure: I’m adding my INSEAD blog on my sidebar so it won’t be so quiet over here… take care, dear readers, and have a great weekend while I slog away! All hands on deck! I am postponing all social engagements until after my exams*. I won’t be responding to emails, comments, showing up at dinners or anything that will take up too much time. Likewise I won’t be giving my input on links you want me to check out, or long articles to read. The only other things I’m doing now is bible study (finally resumed it after being spiritually empty for the last 1-2 years) and French class as I need to pass it to graduate with my MBA. My major club involvement at INSEAD will be the High-Tech club and our Second Life conferences, but again I hope to be more involved after the exams. Math and finance whizzes may find this period a breeze, but I and some others are taking this quite seriously. I know things will get better next period onwards, but for now I’m trying to keep my chin up so that my nose can stick to the grindstone. Declaration: Just in case you see me in town on Monday and think I’m being naughty - I’m popping by after school to see some overseas friends for dinner then going straight home to work. Assignnment deadline is the morning after!! All hands on deck! I am postponing all social engagements until after my exams*. I won’t be responding to emails, comments, showing up at dinners or anything that will take up too much time. Likewise I won’t be giving my input on links you want me to check out, or long articles to read. The only other things I’m doing now is bible study (finally resumed it after being spiritually empty for the last 1-2 years) and French class as I need to pass it to graduate with my MBA. My major club involvement at INSEAD will be the High-Tech club and our Second Life conferences, but again I hope to be more involved after the exams. Math and finance whizzes may find this period a breeze, but I and some others are taking this quite seriously. I know things will get better next period onwards, but for now I’m trying to keep my chin up so that my nose can stick to the grindstone. Declaration: Just in case you see me in town on Monday and think I’m being naughty - I’m popping by after school to see some overseas friends for dinner then going straight home to work. Assignnment deadline is the morning after!! Weekly wrap-up This is a weekly sum-up, because I have no time and not much of a life anymore. This week, I : Was advised by various classmates to be more assertive and drop the Asian humility because everyone else isn’t like that. Celebrated my dear friend Monolog’s birthday. Continue to be on medication for a blood clot accumulated from internal bleeding. Did lots of schoolwork. Still behind but am able to work out most stuff on my own with some help from groupmates. Am preparing for 2 graded assignments and a graded quiz this week. Nearly went to Formula One but couldn’t be in two places at the same time, and I don’t like being rushed. Had a sleep paralysis moment 2 nights ago with a disturbing blackish object appearing beside me, muttering chants into my ear. It was not a pleasant experience being unable to move and defend myself, but singing hymns in my head drove it away. Asserted myself at home and got into a shouting match because of it, but I got my point across. Long-missing boundaries need to be enforced in my life. Taking charge!!! Weekly wrap-up This is a weekly sum-up, because I have no time and not much of a life anymore. This week, I : Was advised by various classmates to be more assertive and drop the Asian humility because everyone else isn’t like that. Celebrated my dear friend Monolog’s birthday. Continue to be on medication for a blood clot accumulated from internal bleeding. Did lots of schoolwork. Still behind but am able to work out most stuff on my own with some help from groupmates. Am preparing for 2 graded assignments and a graded quiz this week. Nearly went to Formula One but couldn’t be in two places at the same time, and I don’t like being rushed. Had a sleep paralysis moment 2 nights ago with a disturbing blackish object appearing beside me, muttering chants into my ear. It was not a pleasant experience being unable to move and defend myself, but singing hymns in my head drove it away. Asserted myself at home and got into a shouting match because of it, but I got my point across. Long-missing boundaries need to be enforced in my life. Taking charge!!! Ladies StepOut at Geek Terminal! Had a great gathering at Geek Terminal this evening for Bluestocking’s StepOut event for women entrepreneurs. I told my INSEAD classmates about this and 5 of them managed to make it. So the mix was a little more international than usual. Geek Terminal is looking very good after its renovation. Things started well from the beginning. Firstly, there were COCKTAILS! We could each try 5 different blue cocktails and the most popular flavour would become the Bluestocking cocktail. Three lady entrepreneurs shared their experiences about starting their own businesses: Ms Goh Yiping (President, World Indigo Inc); Ms Virginia Cha (CEO, WOVE Holdings Ltd) and Mrs Kim Faulkner (CEO, Activiste Pte Ltd). Yiping was the youngest but had a great location-based idea which intrigued my fellow techy classmate Reene, who gave her a contact who might help publicise her idea. I like my classmates precisely because they are helpful and share information willingly. Virginia speaking Virginia spoke of her experience doing business in China, and added that her story became an INSEAD case! There were other interesting details to her story that we didn’t get to hear. However her advice was sensible: Don’t go to China thinking you can do everything your way, because it’s very different from the rest of the world. Instead, feel the pulse there and go with the flow. Kim speaking Kim shared her interesting life story and how her business was bought up by a famous global company. She mentioned her experience as a consultant, and turns out she was from the same consultancy as one of my classmates, Eline! So it was a small world indeed. My take-home point from her was that wherever we work, our personal brand or reputation stays with us. It’s something important that we must maintain. After the speeches were over, it was time for some audience participation. True to the theme, our activity involved standing behind a line and stepping out when we disagreed or agreed with a statement involving women doing business or generally cutting our own paths in this world. I and a few of my classmates got to air our views. I discovered talent among my friends. One of my classmates, Anna, turned out to have a very astute cocktail sense, detecting a missing ingredient. Also I was suitably impressed with Coleman’s coffee making and decorating skills. Woot! ;-) Thanks to Raine and friends for a most wonderful evening, and to Danny and the team at Geek Terminal for making us feel at home! Ladies StepOut at Geek Terminal! Had a great gathering at Geek Terminal this evening for Bluestocking’s StepOut event for women entrepreneurs. I told my INSEAD classmates about this and 5 of them managed to make it. So the mix was a little more international than usual. Geek Terminal is looking very good after its renovation. Things started well from the beginning. Firstly, there were COCKTAILS! We could each try 5 different blue cocktails and the most popular flavour would become the Bluestocking cocktail. Three lady entrepreneurs shared their experiences about starting their own businesses: Ms Goh Yiping (President, World Indigo Inc); Ms Virginia Cha (CEO, WOVE Holdings Ltd) and Mrs Kim Faulkner (CEO, Activiste Pte Ltd). Yiping was the youngest but had a great location-based idea which intrigued my fellow techy classmate Reene, who gave her a contact who might help publicise her idea. I like my classmates precisely because they are helpful and share information willingly. Virginia speaking Virginia spoke of her experience doing business in China, and added that her story became an INSEAD case! There were other interesting details to her story that we didn’t get to hear. However her advice was sensible: Don’t go to China thinking you can do everything your way, because it’s very different from the rest of the world. Instead, feel the pulse there and go with the flow. Kim speaking Kim shared her interesting life story and how her business was bought up by a famous global company. She mentioned her experience as a consultant, and turns out she was from the same consultancy as one of my classmates, Eline! So it was a small world indeed. My take-home point from her was that wherever we work, our personal brand or reputation stays with us. It’s something important that we must maintain. After the speeches were over, it was time for some audience participation. True to the theme, our activity involved standing behind a line and stepping out when we disagreed or agreed with a statement involving women doing business or generally cutting our own paths in this world. I and a few of my classmates got to air our views. I discovered talent among my friends. One of my classmates, Anna, turned out to have a very astute cocktail sense, detecting a missing ingredient. Also I was suitably impressed with Coleman’s coffee making and decorating skills. Woot! ;-) Thanks to Raine and friends for a most wonderful evening, and to Danny and the team at Geek Terminal for making us feel at home! Updates All the activity is happening at my INSEAD blog for now, so head over there if you don’t mind reading ‘back to school’ insights. I am contemplating going to a church retreat in JB but alas it’s in the first week of my second term and I am not sure if I can skip Friday classes to make it on time. We’ll see how that goes. I doubt there are many people my age who’ll be going… Other good news: Perhaps due to being back in school and feeling stressed like a student again, I’ve had tunes popping in my head and have been scrambling to record them down. At this rate I may have a new album by the time I graduate. Pity my G5 PowerMac’s broken down and I haven’t had time to send it for repairs yet. So I have to switch to my MacBook Pro to make music already. It runs Logic Pro just fine, but I haven’t got an audio connector yet. Anyway, this post is getting geeky so I should stop blogging and go to sleep. It will be a looong Monday. Updates All the activity is happening at my INSEAD blog for now, so head over there if you don’t mind reading ‘back to school’ insights. I am contemplating going to a church retreat in JB but alas it’s in the first week of my second term and I am not sure if I can skip Friday classes to make it on time. We’ll see how that goes. I doubt there are many people my age who’ll be going… Other good news: Perhaps due to being back in school and feeling stressed like a student again, I’ve had tunes popping in my head and have been scrambling to record them down. At this rate I may have a new album by the time I graduate. Pity my G5 PowerMac’s broken down and I haven’t had time to send it for repairs yet. So I have to switch to my MacBook Pro to make music already. It runs Logic Pro just fine, but I haven’t got an audio connector yet. Anyway, this post is getting geeky so I should stop blogging and go to sleep. It will be a looong Monday. Linklove from Cowboy Caleb Just checked my Mint stats and discovered lots of linklove from Cowboy Caleb. Seems that my recent post on Feedback to PR teams may have generated some interest among other local bloggers. As I mentioned then, I don’t mean to stir up trouble but clarify how things can be better so that we don’t waste each other’s time. Here’s a sample of incoming clicks… Linklove from Cowboy Caleb Just checked my Mint stats and discovered lots of linklove from Cowboy Caleb. Seems that my recent post on Feedback to PR teams may have generated some interest among other local bloggers. As I mentioned then, I don’t mean to stir up trouble but clarify how things can be better so that we don’t waste each other’s time. Here’s a sample of incoming clicks… Feedback to PR teams, from a blogger's perspective Over the past 2 weeks I’ve received 3 invitations to technology and arts-related events. I appreciate the attention, but would like to pass on some feedback to public relations teams: Send invitations in advance, not at the last minute Two of the invitations were for an event that would occur the day after. Given the busy recruitment fair going on every evening at INSEAD, and the heavy homework load, it is unlikely that I will change all my plans, skip studying and spend a night out. Also, as I’ve been given advance notice of other events I’ve attended before, I felt like I was an afterthought. One rep did mention he was shorthanded thus invitations were sent out late, and I appreciate the sincerity. A personal message is worth it Two of the messages indicated interest in my blog and myself, even mentioning how they were aware that I was currently doing my Masters and might be busy. This made me feel that they didn’t see me as just another faceless blogger on a long invitation list. In both cases, the representatives noted one thing in common that I had with them - a school or religious affiliation. Hopefully this isn’t a formulaic approach. I will deduce that if several more invitations arrive written in the same format! For now, this makes the communication tone more open and friendly, and so I am more inclined to attend the next event they invite me to. Let me know if my friends are going, too If I’m undecided about going to an event, one way to sway me in favour would be to tell me who else is going. The last thing I want is to turn up and nobody knows me or bothers to show me around, and I have to introduce myself to everyone, as though I invited myself. This hasn’t exactly happened yet but at other events there have been gaps in the welcoming process. If I don’t feel comfortable the first time, that might prompt me to decline the next invitation. Make it worth my while! This last point may apply more to myself. My lessons start at 8.30am and sometimes end at 7pm. This month our evenings are filled with career talks and networking events. Therefore, my opportunity cost to attend a blogger event is the price of NOT meeting potential employers from top consulting, industry, finance etc positions and learning more about their companies so I can be better prepared if I get called for interviews. No hard feelings if I cannot make it - we’re all looking for a better future, in difficult times ;-) The other thing is, we technology bloggers have become a dime a dozen at events. The same people (i.e. us) show up at every event. Then you then see the same product information perpetuated over the local Blogosphere, which makes me feel redundant. I know there are studies that indicate that the more a prospective shopper reads good reviews from various sources, the more likely he will purchase the product. However, the last thing I wish to become is a postbox or Xerox machine. So I want to take a different perspective on things. To make your job easier, I am more likely to attend events and blog about them, if: There are opportunities to meet not just the PR agency reps designated to handle bloggers, but the management, the evangelists and designers behind the product that’s being launched. As a student in a leading business school, I would like to meet the people who make this company tick, and learn where the company is headed. In fact I would be very interested to invite key execs as speakers to our business events. You can reach out to future business leaders from various industries from all over the world, while we can learn from an experienced industry leader. This is clearly a win-win situation for both sides. It’s isn’t just a sales pitch where we have to listen to awkward speeches about how excellent your products are. Instead, show us how you stand out and where you draw your inspiration from! As a former designer and technologist, I appreciate innovation and design and want to write something more meaningful than a copy-and-paste specs sheet, or an egocentric post with snapshots of myself with gadgets and random blogger-friends. I already have some affinity to your product. Maybe I’ve used it before - liked it, then hated it, then grew to understand it (e.g. Dell). Or maybe I already worship it (i.e. Apple). Other brands whose products I’ve used and respect: Nokia (phones), Canon (cameras), HP (printers, handhelds), Panasonic (cameras), Sony (TV, 20-yr-old hifi that’s still working, Walkman, Discman)… Your product doesn’t capture my interest. I can’t blog about something I don’t appreciate, because it isn’t sincere. And I’m not just interested in gadgets, though I suspect the PR agencies have classified me as such. I don’t attend the hardcore gaming / processor events because I don’t play such games. However, invite me to a business book launch or a Web 2.0/entrepreneurship event and I’ll do my best to make it. Society will benefit from better publicity. I still have ties to my last workplace and will support social and health causes such as HIV/AIDS. Note also that I will give a balanced review and not just say good things about it, because I don’t want to compromise my integrity, and besides, readers are smart and can see through these things. I have no intention to sound bossy. This is to save everyone’s time and also to clarify my position as a blogger. If you’re fine with all of these, then by all means contact me. [Update: Thanks to Cowboy Caleb for the linklove! Update #2: Thanks also to Daryl and Claudia for expanding on this post! Update #3: Additional insight from Ben and Tym as well. Wow!] Feedback to PR teams, from a blogger's perspective Over the past 2 weeks I’ve received 3 invitations to technology and arts-related events. I appreciate the attention, but would like to pass on some feedback to public relations teams: Send invitations in advance, not at the last minute Two of the invitations were for an event that would occur the day after. Given the busy recruitment fair going on every evening at INSEAD, and the heavy homework load, it is unlikely that I will change all my plans, skip studying and spend a night out. Also, as I’ve been given advance notice of other events I’ve attended before, I felt like I was an afterthought. One rep did mention he was shorthanded thus invitations were sent out late, and I appreciate the sincerity. A personal message is worth it Two of the messages indicated interest in my blog and myself, even mentioning how they were aware that I was currently doing my Masters and might be busy. This made me feel that they didn’t see me as just another faceless blogger on a long invitation list. In both cases, the representatives noted one thing in common that I had with them - a school or religious affiliation. Hopefully this isn’t a formulaic approach. I will deduce that if several more invitations arrive written in the same format! For now, this makes the communication tone more open and friendly, and so I am more inclined to attend the next event they invite me to. Let me know if my friends are going, too If I’m undecided about going to an event, one way to sway me in favour would be to tell me who else is going. The last thing I want is to turn up and nobody knows me or bothers to show me around, and I have to introduce myself to everyone, as though I invited myself. This hasn’t exactly happened yet but at other events there have been gaps in the welcoming process. If I don’t feel comfortable the first time, that might prompt me to decline the next invitation. Make it worth my while! This last point may apply more to myself. My lessons start at 8.30am and sometimes end at 7pm. This month our evenings are filled with career talks and networking events. Therefore, my opportunity cost to attend a blogger event is the price of NOT meeting potential employers from top consulting, industry, finance etc positions and learning more about their companies so I can be better prepared if I get called for interviews. No hard feelings if I cannot make it - we’re all looking for a better future, in difficult times ;-) The other thing is, we technology bloggers have become a dime a dozen at events. The same people (i.e. us) show up at every event. Then you then see the same product information perpetuated over the local Blogosphere, which makes me feel redundant. I know there are studies that indicate that the more a prospective shopper reads good reviews from various sources, the more likely he will purchase the product. However, the last thing I wish to become is a postbox or Xerox machine. So I want to take a different perspective on things. To make your job easier, I am more likely to attend events and blog about them, if: There are opportunities to meet not just the PR agency reps designated to handle bloggers, but the management, the evangelists and designers behind the product that’s being launched. As a student in a leading business school, I would like to meet the people who make this company tick, and learn where the company is headed. In fact I would be very interested to invite key execs as speakers to our business events. You can reach out to future business leaders from various industries from all over the world, while we can learn from an experienced industry leader. This is clearly a win-win situation for both sides. It’s isn’t just a sales pitch where we have to listen to awkward speeches about how excellent your products are. Instead, show us how you stand out and where you draw your inspiration from! As a former designer and technologist, I appreciate innovation and design and want to write something more meaningful than a copy-and-paste specs sheet, or an egocentric post with snapshots of myself with gadgets and random blogger-friends. I already have some affinity to your product. Maybe I’ve used it before - liked it, then hated it, then grew to understand it (e.g. Dell). Or maybe I already worship it (i.e. Apple). Other brands whose products I’ve used and respect: Nokia (phones), Canon (cameras), HP (printers, handhelds), Panasonic (cameras), Sony (TV, 20-yr-old hifi that’s still working, Walkman, Discman)… Your product doesn’t capture my interest. I can’t blog about something I don’t appreciate, because it isn’t sincere. And I’m not just interested in gadgets, though I suspect the PR agencies have classified me as such. I don’t attend the hardcore gaming / processor events because I don’t play such games. However, invite me to a business book launch or a Web 2.0/entrepreneurship event and I’ll do my best to make it. Society will benefit from better publicity. I still have ties to my last workplace and will support social and health causes such as HIV/AIDS. Note also that I will give a balanced review and not just say good things about it, because I don’t want to compromise my integrity, and besides, readers are smart and can see through these things. I have no intention to sound bossy. This is to save everyone’s time and also to clarify my position as a blogger. If you’re fine with all of these, then by all means contact me. [Update: Thanks to Cowboy Caleb for the linklove! Update #2: Thanks also to Daryl and Claudia for expanding on this post! Update #3: Additional insight from Ben and Tym as well. Wow!] My iPhone 3G! Yes, I finally did it. I am now the proud owner of a 3G iPhone, 16GB. I chose black, even though the 8GB model only comes in black, because while white looks unusual, I might get tired of it. Black is strong and suits me fine. My SingTel salesperson let me take photos as he activated the new iPhone. He also told me that SingTel has sold 15,000 iPhones so far, which is good by Singapore standards. Any chance of M1 and Starhub coming out with it soon? Not in the near future, I was told … and it did make sense since other Telco companies in partnership with Apple haven’t lost their exclusive hold on iPhones in other countries, either. As you can see, my old iPhone and new iPhone were getting acquainted. I heard the iPhone 3G was less ‘anal retentive’ in being able to accept third-party earphone jacks. What I liked the most was that backed up data from the old iPhone was transferred seamlessly to the new iPhone. Not only were all my extra Apps installed, they were arranged in the same order. On top of that, when I opened my French dictionary app, it displayed the last verb and tense that was conjugated! So it recalled my last move on the app on the previous phone, and transferred that detail to the new phone. Amazing. Bugs noticed: Apps quit suddenly. This is with firmware 2.0 and I am upgrading to 2.0.2 to see if it improves things. Too early to notice anything wrong with the 3G connection, because there’s wireless in school and at home. Will update this post if I have time and if something’s serious enough. My iPhone 3G! Yes, I finally did it. I am now the proud owner of a 3G iPhone, 16GB. I chose black, even though the 8GB model only comes in black, because while white looks unusual, I might get tired of it. Black is strong and suits me fine. My SingTel salesperson let me take photos as he activated the new iPhone. He also told me that SingTel has sold 15,000 iPhones so far, which is good by Singapore standards. Any chance of M1 and Starhub coming out with it soon? Not in the near future, I was told … and it did make sense since other Telco companies in partnership with Apple haven’t lost their exclusive hold on iPhones in other countries, either. As you can see, my old iPhone and new iPhone were getting acquainted. I heard the iPhone 3G was less ‘anal retentive’ in being able to accept third-party earphone jacks. What I liked the most was that backed up data from the old iPhone was transferred seamlessly to the new iPhone. Not only were all my extra Apps installed, they were arranged in the same order. On top of that, when I opened my French dictionary app, it displayed the last verb and tense that was conjugated! So it recalled my last move on the app on the previous phone, and transferred that detail to the new phone. Amazing. Bugs noticed: Apps quit suddenly. This is with firmware 2.0 and I am upgrading to 2.0.2 to see if it improves things. Too early to notice anything wrong with the 3G connection, because there’s wireless in school and at home. Will update this post if I have time and if something’s serious enough. Busy weekend plans A quick update as most happening things are, well, happening on my INSEAD blog. Survived the orientation week but it will continue into next week where I will hopefully join some interesting clubs. My team is working fine and we are all contributing in class discussions. Social life apart from INSEAD is down to a minimum. I can only spend time with my nearest and dearest - family and friends. Body is aching from Outward Bound. Thinking of getting a massage but I am collecting my iPhone at 3pm at Comm Centre this Sunday … anyone feeling bored can join me while I wait in the queue. I think 24 months is too long a contract because by then there’ll be an iPhone 4G with two cameras or iPhone 3D or whatever Steve Jobs can churn up that will blow our minds once again. Sunday I have a Bristol BBQ party, but at the same time there is an INSEAD BBQ. So I imagine that I will get the iPhone, dash home to charge it if necessary. I may have to skip the INSEAD BBQ because I haven’t seen my uni friends in a while. We’ll see if I can squeeze it all in! And Sunday’s supposed to be my day of rest? :P Busy weekend plans A quick update as most happening things are, well, happening on my INSEAD blog. Survived the orientation week but it will continue into next week where I will hopefully join some interesting clubs. My team is working fine and we are all contributing in class discussions. Social life apart from INSEAD is down to a minimum. I can only spend time with my nearest and dearest - family and friends. Body is aching from Outward Bound. Thinking of getting a massage but I am collecting my iPhone at 3pm at Comm Centre this Sunday … anyone feeling bored can join me while I wait in the queue. I think 24 months is too long a contract because by then there’ll be an iPhone 4G with two cameras or iPhone 3D or whatever Steve Jobs can churn up that will blow our minds once again. Sunday I have a Bristol BBQ party, but at the same time there is an INSEAD BBQ. So I imagine that I will get the iPhone, dash home to charge it if necessary. I may have to skip the INSEAD BBQ because I haven’t seen my uni friends in a while. We’ll see if I can squeeze it all in! And Sunday’s supposed to be my day of rest? :P American politics through a French lens To wrap up my French revision for the night, I went to Lemonde.fr to read a spot of news in the beautiful language. Not surprisingly, the home page had a photo of Barack Obama and his newly-announced running mate Joe Biden. What was more interesting was that the headline said, “Biden, choix par d??faut pour les blogueurs d??mocrates”. That made me look a second time. Was this French newspaper reporting about what Democratic bloggers were saying? From what I could understand, Biden was the ‘least bad’ of all the choices, which was plausible since hardcore Democrats would probably know the candidates well enough. The article itself has a modified headline, saying Biden was the default choice. Along the way the article referred to other American websites which were quite interesting and have now been added to my feedreader: The American Prospect and Talking Points Memo. I have also seen the video of Joe Biden tearing the President apart for screwing up the Iraq invasion and not supporting the troops enough. Amusing phrases taken from another website, Simply Left Behind, and translated into French, lend a second layer that sounds delightful. Biden, it is said, “tra??ne beaucoup de casseroles” (drags along many pots and pans) and “parler sans r??fl??chir” (speaks without thinking). Taken too literally, it would be amusing to imagine the white-haired senator barking at many pans of baked food to exercise. US elections excite me. American politics in general, too. Long-time readers will know that I too, like Obama, opposed the Iraq war from the start and even designed an anti-war protest wallpaper. (Hmm the high-res versions are missing; I’ll see if I can locate them.) Other archived material which may be of slight interest to newer readers: Deep Throat, my first mention of a charismatic young Barack Obama at NDC 2004, my mostly correct predictions that Bush would go to war and screw up (alas, he got re-elected). And I am still annoyed that Western media and politicans don’t know how refer to Osama properly. How can you try to anticipate his moves and hunt him down, when you don’t even understand something as basic as his name? American politics through a French lens To wrap up my French revision for the night, I went to Lemonde.fr to read a spot of news in the beautiful language. Not surprisingly, the home page had a photo of Barack Obama and his newly-announced running mate Joe Biden. What was more interesting was that the headline said, “Biden, choix par défaut pour les blogueurs démocrates”. That made me look a second time. Was this French newspaper reporting about what Democratic bloggers were saying? From what I could understand, Biden was the ‘least bad’ of all the choices, which was plausible since hardcore Democrats would probably know the candidates well enough. The article itself has a modified headline, saying Biden was the default choice. Along the way the article referred to other American websites which were quite interesting and have now been added to my feedreader: The American Prospect and Talking Points Memo. I have also seen the video of Joe Biden tearing the President apart for screwing up the Iraq invasion and not supporting the troops enough. Amusing phrases taken from another website, Simply Left Behind, and translated into French, lend a second layer that sounds delightful. Biden, it is said, “traîne beaucoup de casseroles” (drags along many pots and pans) and “parler sans réfléchir” (speaks without thinking). Taken too literally, it would be amusing to imagine the white-haired senator barking at many pans of baked food to exercise. US elections excite me. American politics in general, too. Long-time readers will know that I too, like Obama, opposed the Iraq war from the start and even designed an anti-war protest wallpaper. (Hmm the high-res versions are missing; I’ll see if I can locate them.) Other archived material which may be of slight interest to newer readers: Deep Throat, my first mention of a charismatic young Barack Obama at NDC 2004, my mostly correct predictions that Bush would go to war and screw up (alas, he got re-elected). And I am still annoyed that Western media and politicans don’t know how refer to Osama properly. How can you try to anticipate his moves and hunt him down, when you don’t even understand something as basic as his name? ????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? 写中文 大家好。我刚发现我的＂苹果＂手提电话可以用来写中文！太好了。 我知道我的华文不太好。但是，我还可以用汉语拼音！哈哈。。。 这是我第一次在博客上写中文。 请别嘲笑我！：） Last week of respite This is my last week before officially starting school. Apart from 2 meetups with friends that were made several weeks ago, all my time has been spent going for French classes every day, doing French homework, catching up with my pre-readings and in the last couple of days, meeting up with classmates. I think I’m going to take it easy socially and see how it goes in the next two weeks. I hope life can be close to normal, but I’m really not too sure about that. Next week, I will also take my French test to see if it meets INSEAD’s third language requirements. Wish me luck! Last week of respite This is my last week before officially starting school. Apart from 2 meetups with friends that were made several weeks ago, all my time has been spent going for French classes every day, doing French homework, catching up with my pre-readings and in the last couple of days, meeting up with classmates. I think I’m going to take it easy socially and see how it goes in the next two weeks. I hope life can be close to normal, but I’m really not too sure about that. Next week, I will also take my French test to see if it meets INSEAD’s third language requirements. Wish me luck! Hacked again I learnt that over the past week, my church website was hacked with the image of a flaming monkey on the home page. That image was quickly removed. This morning I was informed that our Joomla templates were messed with, and as a precaution we’ve taken the site down temporarily. I’m not particularly upset that MY work was gone, because I believe it is just giving back to God what He has given to me. What I am sad about is that someone would decide to attack our site, and more than once. We’re probably seen as target practice. We’re not a big, high-profile church. We’re not even the headquarters of our denomination. So the hacker obviously isn’t out to get major attention. I’m not even sure if it is the same hacker - maybe we’re just sitting ducks. The hackings may happen more times but I pray that it won’t. This is a totally unnecessary act. I don’t know much about counter-hacking as I’m more a designer than developer, but I hope we can put up some safeguards to prevent this from happening again. Hacked again I learnt that over the past week, my church website was hacked with the image of a flaming monkey on the home page. That image was quickly removed. This morning I was informed that our Joomla templates were messed with, and as a precaution we’ve taken the site down temporarily. I’m not particularly upset that MY work was gone, because I believe it is just giving back to God what He has given to me. What I am sad about is that someone would decide to attack our site, and more than once. We’re probably seen as target practice. We’re not a big, high-profile church. We’re not even the headquarters of our denomination. So the hacker obviously isn’t out to get major attention. I’m not even sure if it is the same hacker - maybe we’re just sitting ducks. The hackings may happen more times but I pray that it won’t. This is a totally unnecessary act. I don’t know much about counter-hacking as I’m more a designer than developer, but I hope we can put up some safeguards to prevent this from happening again. Spot the errors - FT Whenever I had the time to read the entire Straits Times from cover to cover I would occasionally chance upon a typo somewhere. However, I had much higher expectations of international and British newspapers. I was thus surprised to find TWO typos in yesterday’s Financial Times. Can you spot them? First, a political piece: And one about the Olympics: Click on them to view the answers (on the Flickr page, hover over the image and you will see the wrong word marked out)