Over the past couple of months I started on a new project which brought me to a location where access to certain social media sites are blocked as well as the need for me to have more of my data with me when I go for meetings. In my previous project I managed that by using my iPad 1 and logging on to the wifi network. Now I have no wifi network to connect to so I've gotten a data plan for my iPad. Maxis came into my mind first because there was a Maxis store located so nearby. After a couple of minutes of signup and inserting in the new sim card, I was good to go. It did take Maxis around 30minutes before the service is activated.

Now a lot of people asked me why not I just tether the data from my iPhone and I did try that out for a month and realized that it was extremely unreliable as well as it drained my battery way too fast hence I decided against that method. It is a heck of a lot more convenient and a lot faster to search for data on the fly instead of quickly turning on my personal hotspot, trying to detect the phone with the iPad, restarting the wifi and then cursing why personal hotspot is so unreliable.

A good feature which I also enjoyed on my new iPad is the ability to take pictures with it. Definitely so much easier to take photos with it and then straight upload it to Facebook. It's really handy being mobile and with the iPad I find that I don't need to bring my laptop around so often. Just two weeks ago when I was at training, I loaded up movies into my iPad and the hotel provided a facility where I could just plug in my iPad via a HDMI cable and I could stream movies from my iPad on the hotel room's 42-inch LCD TV. Another good feature is to be able to present presentation slides using my iPad. Now I just can't wait for Microsoft to launch their MS Office for the iPad later this year.

Since I have been using the iPad quite a fair bit now on a daily basis, I feel that I need a keyboard to complement it and to enhance my note taking skills. Saw a couple of them I liked online but it's not available here yet.

The one above is a sleek keyboard which also acts like a cover. It connects the same way the Apple smart covers do via the magnets.

The other case is a little bulkier but it doesn't use any batteries but it is solar powered. Both these keyboard cases are made by Logitech and are quite new in the market. Hence I guess the lack of it's availability in our local stores.

I really can't seem to make up my mind.

As clueless I was, I didn't know that iOS 5 came out with this new feature, which was the ability to update your iPhone's/iPad's iOS version via Wifi without the need to plug-in to iTunes. It's very easy to do it, just follow the following steps.

1. Go to your iPhone's "Settings" option


2. Select "General"


3.  Then select "Software Update"


4. The phone will search the servers for the latest patch

Select "download and install"

Make sure that your phone is also plugged into a power source

Wait for the download to complete and voila, your iOS device is now updated.

I've got quite a number of blog posts which have been sitting in draft mode for the longest time! And to include that in, I've got a number of photo folders filled with RAW images which have been crying for my attention but most of the time, that has sort of eluded me. I guess its the end of the year where I've got a lot of things to clear up.

It is also the peak season whereby everyone is getting married so most of my weekends are used up for wedding shoots. The lack of a permanent internet connection at home is also another factor. Yes, I have been bugging TM non-stop of when Unifi will be installed in my apartment.

In September I asked them, they replied October

In October I asked them, they replied November

In November I asked them, they replied December

In November I tried asking them twice and even lied that I said a contractor came and installed it for my neighbour, their only response was that I was lying and it is not in their system. In my defence, the contractor did say that Unifi was available (but he was installing a phone line for another unit and not Unifi) and even TM Marketing called me to inform me that Unifi was available.

In December I called them, they replied at the end of the month.

I might as well give up soon, still have to rely on my Maxis Broadband connection instead.

The iPad was launched in Malaysia last week, loads of people got it and I saw a huge crowd around it at Epicenter at Pavilion last night. Still, I wonder, what can it really be used for? I started a thread at a local forum and judging from the responses I get, most people tend to agree with me that in terms of business wise, unless your company has applications which supports it, most of the time, its mainly used for leisure. Mine has kept me entertained especially on long flights, bus rides and while waiting.

iOS 4.2 was also released for the iPad and I am really glad that I can reduce the number of pages that I have and organize everything in folders. Downside is that I really did see a drop in terms of my battery performance as I have applications running in the background which I forget to kill.

So if you have an iPad, what do you use your iPad for?

Gizmodo just launched a great overview of the 4 competing tablet devices. Check them out below.

Do note that some of these devices has not yet been officially launched and some of the specs are based on what the media has revealed.


Image source: Gizmodo

Check out the full comparison over here. Personally, I am still loving my iPad's larger screen size as I love to watch movies on it especially ever since VLC created an app for that.

Some more information here on the new Blackberry Playbook.

It's Wednesday, that means there can either be two things, one, you only have 2 more days before completing your work. Two, the weekend is almost at hand. When it is a Wednesday, this means it is time for a Wednesday Clicks!

• I always suspected that a car wash business is actually good. Check out this one, he can charge up to $11,000 for a car wash!


• You just got to love the chinese for doing what they can really do, copying off Apple's product. Check out their website here and see it for yourself!


• So after so many years in operations, Proton has decided to go back to the old drawing board and used Mitsubishi car designs for their next Waja replacement models. Are they not the least bit innovative or have they wasted so much money on useless R&D that sky rockets their costs up?


• How do you use the iPad as a photographer's helper? Check it out here.


• I have always been trying to get my colleagues to head over to Lot 10 all the way from Cyberjaya to try their food. Although the journey is long, but I feel that it is worth it. Check out some of the delicious food here.


• Don't forget to vote for me and Mun Tzin here at the PJ Hilton competition! http://bit.ly/vote4mark

Have a great week ahead folks!

I really can't believe the weekend just flew by and I won a wooden spoon! Will talk about the wooden spoon another time but it is time for a Wednesday Clicks!

• Still feeling the World Cup Blues? Or is your body clock waking you up at 1.45am in the morning? If that still happens to you, perhaps this gallery of the best photos from the Fifa 2010 world cup can help you sleep.


• If you are a Mac laptop user, check out this nifty free tool called Airport Location. Airport Location is a small menubar app for Snow Leopard laptops and desktops. When you ask it to it records dozens of settings by taking a Snapshot of your computer just the way it is setup at that time. You can have as many Snapshots as you want – one for Travel, one for Office, one for Home, one for watching Movies etc.


• Singapore will be receiving their iPad's this Friday. I wonder when Malaysia will get ours.


• iTunes 9.2.1 is now available, go download it now from Apple


• Where do you stand with this sort of photo manipulation? What is your take on that?


• The Inspire+ Seminar in Kuala Lumpur will be happening this Saturday! Sign up now here. If you do, look out for me as I will be attending it as well :)

Have a great week ahead everyone!

The iPad was announced by Apple a week ago and with every new product that Apple announces and produces, there will be a plethora of blog posts and newspaper columns which creates a lot of buzz in the industry. First one I read was when Scott Kelby wrote about the iPad being launched and where he would like to get one for himself and for his wife. This sparked quite a fair bit of debate in his comments section (yes that guy gets loads of comments in his blog! I wonder why no one writes any comments here on my blog :P). Take a slow read at the comments and you would find that there will always be 3 camps. One which is pro-apple, one that is anti-apple and one that is the neutral camp.

Of course, after the heated comment debate, Scott wrote a post to reply all of the questions that have been posted up in his comments section which was rather lengthy and also yet entertaining to read. Then this morning I was greeted with a post by another guy saying that why the iPad is not for him as well.

So being ever so curious, I went about asking questions to some of my colleagues and clients as well as some of my friends about what they thought about the iPad. Of course I got the usual cracks about it being named after a sanitary pad but after the jokes and laughs, most of them decided that they are not going to get it now or when it launches. A lot more of them would prefer to get it when the 2nd generation model is out. I guess this was one of the responses from previous experience when the iPhone was launched (the 1st model wasn't available in Malaysia and only the 3G version was launched much later).

Anyway, I do see myself getting one but of course there are a lot of functionality that most Malaysians can't get with iTunes such as the ability to purchase music, videos and movies online via the iTunes store and with the iBook store going to be limited to the US only, that would just mean that this product is gonna be a large iPod touch.

But I do see myself buying it in the sometime future depending on some of my assumptions below.

1) As a photographer

I can definitely see the usefulness of the iPad as a photographer. This means that when meeting potential clients, we can display our portfolio on a much larger screen as well as show them previously made slideshows which are definitely very useful. The iPad also means that we don't have to carry a large laptop (I am getting tired of the weight of my 15" MacbookPro) out for quick catch-ups and meetings.

2) As a consultant

I love the fact that iWorks is going to be available on the iPad as well as it's ability to read MS Office documents and PDF files. Great to bring into meetings (aside from lugging around a laptop or if you work in an organization that requires you to work on a desktop) without the need to print out documents for reference. This equates to you saving the environment, well sort of, because you are not printing any unwanted documents.

I can also see it being used as I present presentations, that is if there is a way for the iPad to transmit via Wi-Fi to the project, that would be an even bigger advantage.

3) When I am travelling

No doubt that I constantly watch movies on my iPod video and when the battery does run out, I switch over to my iPhone (has not enough memory space!), whenever I travel. The life span of my iPod is about to reach it's end as it has now been relegated to staying in my car, so the iPad would prove to be a good traveling companion. I can easily transfer all of the movies I already converted for my iPod video for the iPad via iTunes.

All in all, these decisions are just some of the factors for me deciding to get one but I guess the biggest factor of all would be the price of the iPad. Hopefully the conversion rate doesn't kill us over here and perhaps be within the range where I can claim the iPad via tax.

Only time can tell.