I’m disappointed that Apple has quietly removed the backlit keyboard on this baby. And that custom configuration topped out at only 2.13GHz C2D, 4GB RAM and 256GB SSD. But DAMN, I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t hooked after just one look. With all its improvements over previous two generations, I reckon the MacBook Air is finally ready for primetime. Fluid performance, great battery life, amazingly cool and quiet. This 13-incher has become my primary workhorse now!
This is the 10th Anniversary Edition of the original Helmut Newton’s SUMO — in a much pocket and travel-friendly package. Really dope stuff. Coincidentally, the guy was born on this very day some 90 years ago. Happy Halloween everyone!
Just went to an exhibition of one of history’s greatest impressionist Edgar Degas at the Yokohama Museum of Art. The man’s works mostly revolve around horses and dancers, both of which demand great techniques to convey a sense of movement. He also enjoys portraiture and seems to be obsessed with showing people how French women in the 19th century bathed and dried themselves. Quite fascinating actually. I got me a couple of the ballerinas pieces which I think are his absolute best works.
Jawbone Bluetooth headset is known for its design aesthetic and superior noise cancellation technology (dubbed NoiseAssasin). They refreshed their line earlier this year with Jawbone ICON, which is smaller than its predecessor and running the latest noise-cancelling algorithms. What I love best about this earpiece, aside from excellent audio quality and comfort, is how it connects to both my iPhone and BlackBerry simultaneously and handles calls from both sources seamlessly. It also supports A2DP so you can use it to listen to music wirelessly. A must-have if you drive and carry two phones with you.
Just picked up a Dahon Speed P8 folding bike. It folds in less than 20 seconds and fits snugly into my luggage. Plan to take it with me on my travels and do some bike touring whenever possible. Any foldies ‘round here?
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight by noon (aka Kasumi Kawamura).
Jazz reinterpretation of one of James Taylor’s best by one of my favourite Japanese jazz vocalist. She has managed to maintain an incredibly high standard on all her albums since her debut back in 2003. Yes, like most Japanese/Korean singers, her English pronunciation can be way off sometimes. But that just adds more flavour to the song, don’t you think?
Scope Node wireless precision mouse from Elecom. It doesn’t work on glass like this baby does, and lacks certain functional buttons you’ve come to expect. But there’s little argument over its sheer industrial beauty, ergonomic comfort, and pinpoint accuracy.
Before you jump to conclusion and decide you prefer good ol’ paper and ink, you owe it to yourself to seek out the new Kindle 3 and see for yourself. Amazon has pioneered and almost perfected the e-book reader over the years, the device is now as light as a normal paperback, with a screen that reads very much like ink on paper. Plus, you can now buy and download books anywhere in the world without the hassle of finding a hotspot — it’s got free 3G wireless built-in. And it works GLOBALLY. Increeeedible.
I’ve been using Mac for a decade now but never had a chance to try out any of their server releases. This new optical-drive-less Mac mini that’s running Snow Leopard Server seems to be a good place to start exploring. It doesn’t take up too much space, runs cool and quiet, and seems to do pretty much everything a server should do. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go watch some video tutorials and see how to go about configuring this baby.
Loving this solid easel from Twelve South. Great way to prop your iPad up and turn it into a canvas! Be sure to grab a copy of SketchBook Pro while you’re at it and start stroking!
Update: You might want to check out the Pogo Sketch from Ten One Design as well. Works like a charm!
Okay you’ve heard about the iPhone 4. You’ve probably heard about the bar incident and the lost-and-found prototype. And you’ve surely heard about all the hullabaloo surrounding the antenna issue. But here’s the thing: You still want to get the damn phone — because you know it’s the most beautifully crafted smartphone made with the highest grade materials. You know the Apple A4 processor will eat anything you throw at it for lunch. And you know the iOS 4 just shines on the Retina display and make all the other displays look pixelated.
For the record, I haven’t experienced any antenna issue or dropped calls no matter how I hold the phone. Maybe it’s really just a formula mistake?
Stumbled upon the Geographer Cafe in the heart of Malacca. Good live jazz performance in a setting with plenty of old-world charm. Pretty enchanting.
I came across some great tertiary-level courses on DVDs a while ago and couldn’t stop learning since. Highly recommend all you knowledge cravers out there to check out The Teaching Company. They pick only the top 1% of professors in the States and craft these courses from ground up for you to study at your own pace. I’ve just completed some fine arts classes and believe me, the professors and course materials are absolutely top-notch.
Alternatively, if you have a fast internet connection, go check out MIT OpenCourseWare and Academic Earth. Lots of great lectures from all the top-tier universities. There are no exams and you don’t get any course credits for burning the midnight oil. But it’ll definitely make you smarter. I can see a revolution in higher education is now well underway.
Romantic Affairs by Herlin.
I have no idea who she is or where she came from — Shanghai perhaps? But she’s got one of the most smokey and sultry voices I’ve ever heard in Chinese jazz. This is her interpretation of a song I love from the early 90s. As close to perfection as it gets!
Just ditched my iPad for the Wi-Fi + 3G model. Everything is pretty much the same, except now there’s a black bar on top for better antenna reception. Plus a real GPS chip inside!
Vintage Apple fans, check out the retro rainbow logo!
