Yes that's right! According to my colleagues and some of my friends, I have been deemed an Apple fanboy in their eyes. Little do they know that I just favour convenience over style (of course style matters a lot). Anyway, who says I am an Apple fan boy? I use an iPhone 4 on a daily basis, I have my iPad 3 with me which I absolutely adore because I watch movies on it when I travel, I connect to my PLEX server at home and I read all my Manga on it. I also have a 2008 Macbook Pro which is sort of dying and soon to become a permanent home server for me and a couple of iPods which I won last time. Who says I am an Apple fan boy?

So when I managed to convince my friend (he was currently using the Note 1) to get the new Samsung Note 2 after catching Tiger Woods at the CIMB Classics last weekend (Maxis had a booth offering the Note 2 for RM999 for Maxis One Club members), I only managed to get my hands dirty with it a couple of days ago (sorry mate, my hands wasn't exactly dirty and I know you put your phone next to your face). And boy, was I completely blown away. Mostly with the beautiful size of the screen, as much as a retina display supporter I am, the larger screen of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 was just awesome.

Of course there were certain drawbacks. The phone was huge! Could barely fit into my tight work pants but definitely in my casual shorts. The phone was surprisingly light! But the OS interface seems a little messy and I feel that there are just way too many features which I think clutters up the whole screen. But that is just an initial feel, I felt the same way when I moved over to iOS.

I was quite convinced, the few apps which I use quite often are available there (mostly mainstream ones such as Facebook, WhatsApp, LINE, etc,etc,etc). Other than the cheaper price, I know the iPhone 5 would cost a lot more when it launches as well as not having a larger screen (compared to the Note 2), the pull of the dark side was really really strong! But seriously guys, why do you call yourselves the dark side anyway? Apple seems like the empire to me right now and since Disney bought over the Star Wars franchise, I can just imagine Storm troopers breaking out in song just before firing upon the rebels.

Anyway, back to my current itch. It was the 31st of October, the very last day of the offer by Maxis, I was still contemplating whether or not should I go for the Note 2. I am currently not bound on any Maxis contract and the last phone I purchased from Maxis was the iPhone 3Gs. Whilst sitting at my desk in my office located at KLCC, the Maxis store beneath Menara Maxis was but a 5 minute walk and I was comparing the current plans that I had versus the new 2 year plan I would need to sign up.

About 80% convinced, I shared this with some of my colleagues who kept on pushing me to go for it (especially those who are currently using the Android platform). Of course those who were true to Apple would still tell me to wait for the iPhone 5 which hasn't had had any indication on when it will be released in Malaysia.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it is currently my project's cutover period. Cutover is a word used to articulate how busy an IT person might be and is constantly one of the key and most stressful times of an IT project. Hopefully that gives an idea of how hectic it has been here at work where I was running from multiple meetings and discussions until I noticed my watch and it was already 9.00pm and I have missed out on the offer.

Oh well, I think my iPhone 4 (which I am officially borrowing from my mum) still rocks. Somewhat.

I feel like I am opening up a large can of worms here.

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.

There are Wednesdays and there are some Wednesdays. Monday was a zombie day for me as I was up all night watching the world cup. I think everyone in the office did the same as well. Anyway, it is Wednesday today which means that there is time for a Wednesday Clicks.

• Ever tired of the Mac vs PC war going on out there amongst your friends? Well here are some bit of news to add more salt to those war wounds. Three Mac features I want on my next PC and Three PC features I want on my next Mac


• Tokina announced the 16-28mm f/2.8 lens for both Nikon and Canon


• If you think sending smses to oneself was dumb, try sending threatening smses to oneself and get sent to jail.


• Spain won the world cup, boohoo! I hate divers


• A new Star Wars Tower Defense is coming for the iPhone, woohoo!


• Gordon Ramsay, the tough guy from Hell's Kitchen actually cries. Check out this photographer who captured that image!


• Photo Mechanic 4.6.5 is now available. Check out what is new with this version here. Download the file over here.


• Fashion shoot using an iPhone 3Gs? Yup, someone has gone ahead and done just that.

Its so going to be a very very long week ahead!

I have been trying to get as much rest as I can most weekends but after yesterday's shoot, I was completely worned out. Grace suggested I try using a more comfortable pair of shoes to shoot a wedding, preferably something which has a thick sole. If it were up to me, I would shoot with my pair of crocs all the time because I love how thick it is.

Anyway, after church this morning, I decided to eat lunch together with munz at Sanbanto. I got this idea after Jon went there for dinner yesterday and checked-in there via Foursquare. So being the usual curious person and when there is the word "pork" in the title of the name, I headed over there to have a go at their fare. First impressions was that the restaurant really did look more of a deli than a restaurant. About slightly more than half of the place is filled up with the kitchen, sales counter and the large freezer.

Sanbanto Premium Pork is located on the same row as KTZ in SS2, facing "Wai Sek Kai".

Sadly there wasn't any place available but the owner (I think she is the owner), helped us by opening up a new table closer to the door. Feeling extremely hungry we decided to take it and after a while when another group left the restaurant, we moved over to a proper table. Both of us decided to try out the Sanbanto Bacon n Cheese burger and ordered ourselves iced cappuccino.



While waiting for our food, munz was playing her new golden half camera with a flash. Actually I think I took more photos with it and I can't wait to develop the film to see the results.By the time I finished convincing her and after 4 frames from the camera, our food arrived.



The burger was rather good, not great but definitely good. Maybe its because I always had this feeling that a good cheese burger should always be beef and not pork but the bacon was good. How it can be even better is that if they made it with crispy bacon instead of the softer pan fried type. The crunchiness would definitely be a good option mixed with a large helping of mushrooms.



The burger came with a nice side salad which was well seasoned and not the usual junk that other places serves. I completely gobbled that down.



The ice cappuccino was "so-so" and I was annoyed that it didn't come served with a spoon to stir it especially when there is a large layer of sugar at the bottom. Anyway the price of the burger and drinks were not too bad and I would definitely return back to the restaurant to try out their other pork food such as the pork belly salad, yumz!

By the way, I took these photos using my iPhone, totally love the effect.

Have a great remaining weekend and do spend time with your mums today!

Its Wednesday's again and time for the this week's Wednesday Clicks. With all that has been going on politcally here in Malaysia, especially that state up north of Selangor, there have been loads of interesting news flying about.

• Chase Jarvis has posted on his blog a post entitled, "Shake Your Tree", which is an interesting read especially for you photographers out there. He talks about how to start shaking our own tree and start doing something instead of laying about idle. Personally, my plan is to start taking more photos with my iPhone and look out for interesting subjects and frames about.


• Apparently news are going about that Rocky will be the CEO of Malay Mail. According to Rocky himself, it is completely wrong.


• This link is dedicated to the Pulau Ketam Save the Dog's Campaign. For more information check out the link, here are some thoughts from some bloggers about, here and here.


• ShootFest 001 has reached 65 registrants so far and the max number of registrants who can attend is only 80. That means there is only 15 more spots available. I do encourage everyone to participate and find a session to present, it can be either 15mins or 30mins and the rest could be time for networking. Let's all get out of our own comfort zone and share with one another ok?


• Apparently some dude in China is saying that he knows of what are the new specs for the upcoming iPhone. He claims that it will have a capacity of 32Gb, a 3.2MP cam with autofocus ability and a 600MHz processor. I do think that the additional capacity and memory bump speed and the autofocus ability of the cam is a nice welcome.

That's all for this week folks.

I recently learned how to actually take screenshots of my iPhone screen and thanks to that, I can actually post up a post which has been lingering in my mind lately but I just was too darn lazy to actually capture screenies on my phone using my camera!

Anyway before I proceed with the actual post, here is a short tutotial on how to take a screenshot of your iPhone screen. Just click on the two buttons simultaneously as shown on the screenshot below and if your phone is not set to vibrate only, you will hear a shutter click sound (fake shutter of course) and your screen temporarily turning white and fading off.



So thanks to this new trick which I learned (by the way, the image above is definitely not a screenshot!), I happily took some screenshots of my phone.

First one up is the main screen of my phone.



Pretty much everything is standard here except for one application on the bottom right of the screen. To be honest it is not an application but it's actually a link to Google's To-Do list which is integrated in Gmail. What it is, is that its an online to-do list. I have always been trying to have a fully integrated to-do list and this seems to be a useful tool which I am currently experimenting.

Next on my iPhone screen would be my list of applications.



The two most commonly used application I use would be Facebook as well as Twitterfon. Totally ignore that myMaxis link there as it is totally USELESS, why? Because it just brings you to their site where you can "subscribe" to more of their "services" only to pay them more money. It is a total WASTE of time.

I like Facebook because I can actually keep up to date with it on the go.



As well as allow me to take photos with my phone and then upload it directly! Here is a picture of a blurry keyboard I tried taking with my phone.



It totally got blurry when I tried to take a snapshop of me taking a shot.

The other application is Twitterfon. I have become a Twitter addict lately hence the obsessive need to read tweets as well as tweet wherever I am.



If you do have a Twitter account, do add me in here.

Now on to the 3rd page on my phone. As you can see below, its mainly my games page with the except of Skype which is a newly added application.



Previously before this, I never had a Skype account so the only person I have on my Skype list is Ian. Do let me know what your Skype accounts are and I will gladly add you in :)

p.s. I am way too embarrassed to show my Skype list hahahaha

My favourite games would be Simcity and Bejeweled 2 followed by Hells Kitchen. I am already quite bored with the rest as well but I am still in love with Simcity, my city is still halfway built though but its generating enough cash on its own.

Last but not least, it's my blog on Safari. I installed an iPhone plugin which automatically transform this blog into an iPhone friendly site. Check it out below.



And here is a shot of an individual post with an image in it.



Anyway, before signing off, I would like to ask the readers a simple question. What is on your iPhone as well? I would definitely love to find out what are some of the cool (and free!) applications about.

I really think that time is really an essence that we cannot waste. Then again there are a lot of things that we do waste that might affect us in a subtle but yet realistic way.

• This is what you should do if you have about 22-25 million pound sterling sitting in your bank account, buy a village!


• If you are a new iPhone user or you are considering getting an iPhone sometime in the near future, do note that iPhone's can't be tethered at the moment, but this may be of some good news. What is tethering? Well tethering is basically hooking up your phone with your laptop/PC and using the phone's 3G connection, surf the web.


• Another bit of Apple related news, as crazy as it seems, I thought stupid things like this only happen in Malaysia.


• Ok, your friend in the US gives you a DVD for your birthday and you realised you can't play it on your DVD player because of the DVD region. I bet you must be cursing your lucky stars. Well apparently Gordon Brown must have done something similar when Obama gave him a set of DVDs as a gift.


• Here is a great post on 20 tips for better conference speaking.


• Check out this site about 5 minutes before lunch, it will definitely help you build an appetite!

Last but not least, there has been so much hype about Earth Hour and all the Earth Hour parties this coming Saturday. Yes I do support the notion of everyone turning off the lights for an hour but I feel that the only way this will make an impact is that if people could take one thing away from this event is that they learn to conserve energy. A simple gesture like turning off lights when there is no one in the room or talking a short walk to your grocery store instead of driving 2 minutes down the road, every little small thing adds up.

Now the funny part about Earth Hour is a question I would definitely like to post up, how much extra energy has already been consumed/used to promote Earth Hour? I see a huge ass billboard with LIGHTS on it running along the highways. So you turn off your lights for an hour, versus the 1 month of electricity usage to power those billboards? The irony of it all right?

My take is, yes, celebrate Earth Hour and turn off your lights. Then go to what ever party that you may be attending consuming your normal amount of electricity powering those huge ass amplifiers and disco lights. But take home a small fact about energy consumption. Remember, turning off the lights for a room overnight is also equivalent to heating up 10,000 cups of tea.

Over the past week I had a huge scare when I tried updating this blog and I also gotten a new 1TB hard disk thanks to munZ. I installed it into my PC at home and only realised that I removed the wrong SATA cable and now one of my older hard disks is disconnected. Once the new hard disks are formatted, I will attempt to reconnect back the other SATA cable as well as try to tidy up the mess that is inside my PC.

• New Pocket Wizards are out in the form of the MiniTT1 and the FlexTT5. At the moment, Canon users get it first as these new Pocket Wizards offer TTL technology to users (what Radio Poppers did for Nikon's TTL). Check out a copy of the press statement here.


• If you are unaware, WPPI is currently on at the moment in Las Vegas. Wished that I was there!


• Radio poppers have released new poppers which can fire away flashes and strobes at 1/8000 of a second. Talk about pure awesomeness!


• Check out the full teaser trailer of the upcoming Transformers 2 movie.


• The ChargeUp! 2009 conference is less than 2 weeks away!


• Turn off your lights for an hour for EarthHour. Everyone is going to combat global warming. What will you do?


• Here are sample images taken with Nikon's new 35mm f/1.8 DX lens.


• Wired.com reader's top 10 iPhone games list here.

Been looking at options to update my blog layout as well as a full redesign. Can't seem to find the time to sit down and look through all of the codings. Might need to setup another test blog before moving over.

Alright, maybe this wouldn't be so scary to some people but it was extremely scary to me. It caused me like 5 minutes of blurness and it definitely made my heart beat a little faster. Well to elaborate a little more on this scare was that I usually upgrade this blog (which runs on the Wordpress engine) via a plugin which was called "Automatic Upgrade". This time when I tried, it didn't work and I installed the new patch or the newer version via the manual way where I had to ftp to my site and then upgrade it.

Things went well on the ftp side of things.

On the blog front, it didn't go well at all. I started getting loads of *.php errors all over the admin panel and I decided to delete a few plugins until when I tried to log in to my site, it was just blank.

The admin panel didn't work.

The blog had a blank and white page.

Of course I panicked for a short period until I decided to calm down, delete some plugins and found out that my "wp-super-cache" plugin was the one causing the php errors. Anyway this site is back up again and thanks me being extremely paranoid, I deleted a whole lot of plugins. Ok to be perfectly honest, I deleted all my plugins. So I just spent the last 30 minutes downloading new plugins.

One of the cooler plugins I downloaded was the new "WPtouch iPhone Theme" which transform this blog into something that is iPhone friendly. If you have an iPhone and you happen to browse to this site, you would notice a nicer interface to read through the various posts here.

There are just so many cool WP Plugins around!

I am completely late for this week's Wednesday Clicks so do forgive me. It has been a hectic couple of days of fun and laughter and catching up with friends. I have two sets of wedding photos to blog about and that should come pretty soon. In the mean time, here are this week's Wednesday Clicks.

• What will our leaders do over the death of Kugan while in police custody?


• I never knew that in order to call someone an "idiot", that person has to be a stupid person with the mental age of below 3 years while a "moron" would be a stupid person with a mental age below seven to twelve years.


• Check out Bobbi and Mike's top 50 reception and posed photos.


• Joe McNally has been blogging about his lighting workshops. I like this photo quite a fair bit.


• So Samsung has 4Gb memory chips making a single stick of RAM being able to deliver 32Gb of awesomeness. Now if only my version of Vista would start utilizing all of my 4Gb of memory first.


• Rumours of the next generation of the Apple iPhone floats about again.

This is it for this week's weekly links. Next up, an actual post with more photos!