Digital Fugue - Random Thots

PSP in my hands

Digital Fugue does the Ox.

Perhaps this is the reason for the long hiatus of the Fugue? Not really. Nevertheless, I was lucky enough to test out the Play Station Portable (PSP) this morning. Not quite a rigourous test but just a quick fix.

A friend of mine manage to get a package with one game just under RM1k. It was a Japanese model and the user manual is in Japanese. It would take quite a while to figure out the advance functionalities of the gadget.

The PSP rocks. It fits just nicely in your hands. The graphics are clear and crisp and the sound excellent. A definite 5/5 for product design! It is the sort of thing that would make you look forward to that long LRT ride back or that long drive back in a traffic jam.

I only had the chance to fiddle with it for about half an hour (which felt more like half a minute). I'd write a proper review if i had the chance to sleep with it over the weekend, but i don't think my friend would be too happy to part with his new baby. But the bottom line; it was preety impressive.

It could be useful if they include simple PIM functionalities like address book or calendar to it. It would definitely be a bomb if they include a cellphone module and perhaps a 1 mega pix camera in it... but that would be too much to ask right?

The only bummer is the limited games on the shelves and they're all original (with each game costing about RM 150 - RM 200). I would think twice before burning my hard earn cash.

I'd give it 3/5 for value for money. Well, if and when they have more (pirated) games on board, I might change the rating and get the PSP for myself. :p

Uncanny Resemblance

The new Xbox2 design leak (via The Gadget Blog), shows the upcoming successor to the Xbox sporting the same design as the Nokia 7600 cellphone.

What's with the curved square thinggy? Is it a 2004 trend or something? Who else is going to jump into the curved square bandwagon?

Handheld technologies

Three up coming technologies that would change the future of handheld devices;

1. Nano Batteries - Batteries that would last one month. Is that great or is that great. Not in the near future, but in five years time, maybe...
2. Thin air displays - Remember in Star Wars - A New Hope, R2D2 displayed a holographic distress call from Princess Leia? Yes, my friends... Star Wars technology in a few years time!! Im sure light sabers would be developed in no time!
3. Fluid Lenses - Lens with out mechanical parts. Interesting... but im still banking on the light saber!

Read more.

Where can I get this?

Now, I dont mind going to the LOTR marathon (or any movie for that matter). If only i can get my hands on this Handphone jammer!
Bliss... pure blisss...

Anyone wanna share the cost with me? Say about 10 of us chip in...?

What to buy?

Every once in a while, I have this sudden urge to just part with my hard earned cash and just spend my money blindly. In early 2001, a friend of mine called and asked me if i want to go to Melbourne. I just said yeah, why not. Packed my bags and a week later I was in Melbourne. No question asked, no doubts. Just a sheer act of randomness...

A couple of months back, I bought a mid range digital camera. I'm still paying the damage monthly through my credit card.
Now the urge is there again... and these posts add fuel to the fire:

1. Jikon got himself an iPod and contemplating on buying an IBM or a Dell laptop.
2. Ash got himself an Xbox
3. Alphaque got himself a Tungsten C
4. Aizuddin got himself a humidor and a couple of cigars.

but what shall it be this time...? I need something for me to play with... something to keep me occupied until that urge come again... so forget about DVD, books, CDs and even cigars.
Perhaps, like Ash, an Xbox? Or a PS2... ? Maybe the Toshiba Pocket PC? the Nokia 6220? A european excursion? An iPod? A gray electric guitar?

A check with the local retailer irevealed that the Toshiba e750 pocket PC is already available in Malaysia (finally!) and it retails at RM 2,288. It's predecessor, the e740, now retails at RM 1,888.
Tomorrow, Dell is going to introduce the succesor to their popular Axim X5 PPC. They are also making a debut on the MP3 player market. Preety interesting I must say... watchout iPod.

Big pixels, small camera

This is gonna blow you away. A canadian company, Creo (tell you frankly, this is the first time I heard of this company) will be releasing a digital camera back featuring a whooping 22 megapixel CCD. The Leaf Valeo 22 will start shipping in September 2003.

Sony on the other hand have released the worlds smallest digital camera. The QUALIA 016 retails at 380,000 YEN and available currently only in Japan.

This, I want!

This, I want!

In a bid to counter Nikon's Coolpix 5400, Canon has, without much fanfare, released the successor to the highly acclaimed G3. The Canon Powershot G5 have the same features as its predecessor but comes with a 5 megapixel sensor. It is also able to accept a plethora of accessories.
However, i'd like to see more improvement perhaps 5x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom?
At the retail price of USD 899, it is a bit steep. The Coolpix 5400 retails at USD 799. Yes, it is going to be a tough competition.

The next big thing emerging from gadgetdom is portable video players (PVP). Checkout Cnet executive editor's witty letterto Steve Jobs. Video iPod? I want that!

Next, we sidetrack a bit on politics. A lot of sites have critisized the Bush administration for attacking Iraq. After all they still couldn't find the alleged weapons of mass destruction harboured by Saddam Hussein. Even UN's weapons inspector Hans Blix questioned the reliability of US intelligence in dealing with Iraq. Im sure that'll put a lot of pressure on the CIA, FBI, Secret Service and the Pentagon.
An anonymous system analyst in Columbus, Ohio have put up a blog on Bush's Lies of Mass Destruction. Checkit out at bush lies.

PDA Galore

Im thinking of getting a PDA for my upcoming birthday.... or should I get a new handphone..? an iPod would be cool too....

Anyway, here are a few good PDA sites:
Bargain PDA
PDA Buyer's Guide
PPC Zone
PDA Street
PocketPC City
PPC Mag

That should be able to confuse me for a while...

Oh yeah, lemme just plug this brilliant Gadgets Blog: Gizmondo

Recap....

Recap....

I should've blog this last week but didnt have the time.
Anyway... i finally sold my soul to the digicam devil... heheheh...
Checked out this shop in Sg Wang Plaza and the lady was kind enough to let me play with the all new 5 megapixel Minolta F300! Brilliant cam! However, the battery issue still bogs me down.
So, I bought the Canon S45 instead! Great cam! I got a steal deal at RM 2040 with a 128Mb CF card thrown in. I would love to get the G3, as suggested by an anonymous commentator in my earlier blog. But like i said, I already have an SLR camera and i love it. the G3 wont really replace it totaly. I need something to complement my SLR. if i wanna get a replacement, i would have gone for the Canon EOS-1Ds!!! drool! drool!
And yes... of course I am planning to get a LOMO soon!

The S45 have lots of nice features for the average user. indeed it's a high end 4 megapixel cam. The dial mimics the function on an SLR, it got the Auto mode, Program, Shutter, Appeture and Manual. The also include presets like potrait, action, slow shot and stitch mode where you can take multile pictures and stitch them back to produce a nice panoramic shot. I have yet to test the camera all out. Maybe i'll go on an outing this weekend.
I also managed to update the firmware to version 1.02.0!

Two great sites on digital cameras review:
DPreview
The Imaging Resource

Other than that, last weekend's F1 race was marvellous! The whole race was exciting unlike the 2002 season. Brilliant performance by Raikonen and and impressive above expectation performance by the Reanult team. Congratulations to Alonso! Well done.
Montoya as usual have been plagued by bad luck... same performance out of Barichello and Ralf Schumacher. Michael Schumacher...? Let's not get there ok? ;)

Cut... cut... cut... Everybody seemed

Everybody seemed to be cutting prices lately. First we got Palm trimming the prices of its 3 handheld products.
At the same time, Apple took the scissors and cut prices on its high end goodies. Now Intel is joining the bandwagon. Talking about Intel, rumor has it, they will ship the XScale PXA255 processor for the Pocket PC in Q2 this year. The processor will consume 30% to 50% less battery life compared to its current predecessor the PXA250.
I guess, i'll wait a little more for my pocketpc.
Back to the PC scene, months passed without a significant introduction of new products. AMD have been extremely quiet while Intel is enjoying regained popularity among the consumers. Perhaps something is brewing at AMD. We are still anxiously waiting for the introduction of the Athlon XP 3000+.
Couple that with the ATI 9700 Pro video card and 512Mb of DDR 400 RAM... and we got a mean machine ready to rock Doom III!