The Napkin Notebook

This notebook is made up of twenty pieces of napkins for you to jot down.  I saw it here for $9.00.   You can also find it at the online MOMA store.

So with twenty pieces of expensive napkins, think twice before you put down your idea.  Would make a great gift though.  

You could always try to make your own too =)

To learn more, visit their home page here.

Impressions: iLife '09 - iWeb

iPhoto, GarageBand, and iMovie kind of stole the spotlight of iLife '09, but I'm looking forward  to iWeb as well.  Let's see what I can come up with.  

New Themes - a few too little, no?

There are only two new themes - Leaf Print and Fine Line.  Two?! Only?

As a blog tool - not so good

I hoped that they would improve the blogging functionality, but not much changes here.  The problem with using iWeb as a blog tool compared with Blogger is that iWeb creates each separate entry as a page.  Although you can change the layouts of the entries using a tepmplate feature, there seems to be no way to edit the individual components.  

So for each entry, I have to re-enter the title of my blog unless I want it to always show the default text like "My Blog."  

Luckily, they included an RSS widget, which means you can stream your blog to your iWeb site using RSS.  

YouTube Widgets

These are pretty easy to use.  Drag the widget to your page, and enter an YouTube URL.  Nice!  But I think they were here since last version.

Where are the iTunes widgets?

So it seems the My iTunes Widgets aren't in iWeb.  You have to get them through iTunes. 

FaceBook updates

This is a nifty feature.  It'll update my FaceBook profile when I publish or update the site.  I'm looking forward to integration like this for other services like Twitter.

The results and the verdict

So after playing around with an hour, here is what I have.  

It seems like iWeb has only gotten a minor update.  The RSS feed widget is a nice edition and the FaceBook update are what I like about it.  It still cannot really be used as a blogging software though it sure does have the potential to become one.  

Impressions: iLife '09 - GarageBand Lessons

For this post, I'm going to blog my experience of trying out the Lesson Store in GarageBand.

Upon launching GarageBand, there are six main options:

1. New Project
   
2. Learn to Play
   
3. Lesson Store
   
4. Magic GarageBand
   
5. iPhone Ringtone
   
6. Recent Projects
   

The exciting new feature I wanted to check out is the Lesson Store.  There are Basic Lessons and Artist Lessons.  Under nder Artist Lessons, there were 8 artists available right now.  The lessons are each $4.99.  And the preview clips look nice.  One might buy it just to see the artist perform.  

Purchasing a lesson

Since I play the piano, I'm going to try lesson for Apologize (OneRepublic).  The lesson is noted as Advanced.  I added it to my cart, and I checked out.  It then opened the browser and loaded the Apple Store.  I logged in, but I had to enter a payment method and billing info.  Looks like it's not pulling the information from my iTunes account.  It comes up to $5.40 with the tax... bummer.  After it processes my order, a pop up comes up, and I could download it.  The file is 769 MB.  

The lesson with Ryan, lead singer of OneRepublic

So the lesson is broken into three segments Verse, Chorus, Bridge.  There's a keyboard that shows what he's playing on the piano in the video.  And there is also the music notation with a play bar that shows where he's playing.

In the Verse section, he begins with explaining the key of the song and then the chords for the verse.  

In the Chorus section, he dives into explaining how the original song is played in an arpeggiated manner.   That's too complicated for now, so he goes on showing a simpler version.  

And then he explains how to play the bridge.  And he then explains about how he arranged the songs and some arrangement theory.  Very interesting and informative!

And that's the end of the lesson.  Now it gives you some more options:

• Learn how to play an advance version of the song
  
• See Ryan sing and play the full song using the simple version of piano chords in the lesson
  
• See Ryan sing and play the full song using the advanced version of piano chords in the lesson
  
• a story option
  

When you play the song, you can configure the volume of Ryan's voice, piano, the band, and the sound of your own keyboard (if it's hooked up ).  

So was it worth it?  

I'd say yes for the price of 5 bucks.  By the end of the video,  I learned how to play something in E minor scale.  Moreover, I got a performance of the song, a short bonus clip on how the song came about, and lesson videos.  

Can't wait to check out other lessons.

impressions: iLife '09 - iPhoto

So I got iLife '09 all installed.  It's time to take a look!

Faces

I'm quite excited about the face detection and recognition as well as the places feature, so I'm going to start here.  It prompted me to upgrade my library, and after that, iPhoto loaded.  Under Faces, it's scanning photos for faces, and it says it's going to take 70 minutes or so!  

Places

Places is working, so let's look there.  The only phone I have that has geotagging would be my iPhone, but let's see.  You are presented with a map and there are red pins, which indicate where photos are taken.  Double clicking lets you zoom in.  Ctrl + double clicking zooms you out.  

I went to Disney Sea in Tokyo last year, and the photos I took with my iPhone is mapped out.  I thought they would be lumped together, but they are mapped down to a more granular level that I imagine it'd be.  I could actually see where in the park did I took all the pictures.  That is neat!  

Disney Sea Resort in Tokyo

Now this makes me want to take more photos with my iPhone.  Or maybe, get another camera that has geo-tagging... urgh!!!

Ok, Faces still requires 44 more minutes.  Let's check out the other stuff.

Slideshows

Come to think of it, I never really used the slideshow feature, but now I could export it, it seems to become more useful.

Once you selected the photos you want to use as a slideshow, you just press the Slideshow button.  And then you can configure the slideshow.  There are six themes:

1. classic
   
2. kens burn
   
3. scrapbook
   
4. shatter
   
5. sliding panels
   
6. snapshots
   

Each theme also has a different background music.  There doesn't seem to be a way to save the slideshow by using the Slideshow button.  

To create a save-able slide show, it appears I have to create one using the "+" button on the lower left.  That let's me create and save a slideshow that I could come back later.   After I create one, it appears on the left column under SLIDESHOWS.  All I have to is to drop the photos I want inside.  

Exporting Slideshows to iPhones, iPods, and more

After you finish configuring the slideshow, the Export button will let you export to iPod, iPhone, AppleTV, computer, and MobileMe.  Very slick, but since it's technically a movie, having the ability to go straight to YouTube like iMovie could be nice too.  

Once it finishes processing, the slideshows show up under movies.  And you can plug in your iPhone and sync the slideshows.  

After fiddling around, there doesn't seem to be a way to export a slideshow directly to MobileMe.  In order to share on MobileMe, you'd have to upload or drop it in a MobileMe website.  

In short, the slideshows look great and it's easy to get them on iPhones and iPods, but other than that, it's not so easy.  

Ok, back to Faces

Since there is no one registered,  Faces instructs me to find a photo with people and name someone.  Found a photo with myself, and named myself.  And under Faces, I see myself.  It gives me a couple of photos that I'm in.  I have to confirm them, and after that, it brings up more photos to confirm.  There are a few pictures that weren't correct.  Is iPhoto suggesting this people look like me?  Anyways, after the confirming exercise, iPhoto will bring up a bunch of photos that have me inside.  The final results are pretty accurate.

I'll save MobileMe, Facebook, and Flickr integration for later.  But this version of iPhoto is impressive.  Having the ability to sort through photos by people, time (events), and places makes a lot of sense, and definitely sets a new standard to what photo manage should be today.

iLife '09 is here!

Yay!  iLife '09 is here!  Stay tuned for impressions!

How to use Nike + without Nike shoes

In Apple's Lucky Bag I got a few weeks ago, it came with an iPod touch 2G, which has Nike +, and a Nike + sensor.  The problem is I don't have any Nike+ shoes, and I already have a pair of rather new running shoes.  

So I looked for a solution so I didn't have to buy a new pair of shoes.  I'm glad I found one - Marware Sportsuit Sensor case. On Amazon, it's nine bucks.  

Haven't tried it in action, but here are some pics.

Measure 2.0: GA Electronic Measure

Although it's not shiny and white, but it's a cool gadget.  Just press the "measure" button, and it'll tell you instantly the distance between you and where you pointed at.  

Saw this on Amazon Japan.

Now they just need to put some design on this thing.

An un-rippable manilla envelope for MacBook Air

Japanese paper maker ONAO has produced a type of paper they claim "that cannot be ripped." The paper is made from "wood pulp and polyolefin" using a special manufacturing method.  They are using this paper in a variety of products including bags, book covers, and a manilla envelope that could be good for holding the MacBook Air.

You're still gonna need some cushioning though... And oh yeah, it's not water proof either.  But it sure is neat.

Source:

• SIWA pamphlet
  
• SIWA / ONAO website
  

Review and Photos: Air Jacket White for iPhone 3G

After reading about the Air Jacket (white) for iPhone 3G from Power Support on a Japanese blog, I decided to get one for myself too.  

You can find more information about it here at its US website.  Unfortunately, it seems that in US there is only the clear and black mode.  

Here are my impressions:

How does it fit?

It fits nicely and protects the back.  It also comes with two protective film layers - a anti-glare one and a non-anti-glare one.  The film is your protection on the front.

How well does it protect the iPhone?

It protects the backside of your iPhone and exposes the bottom, the volume controls area, and the top part.  The front is protected by film.  So this is definitely not an all protective case if that's what you're looking for.  

How does it look?

As you can see in the photo, you will notice that it resembles the previous version of Apple's wireless mouse.   For the white version, you could still slightly see the Apple logo and the other text on the back.  In the end, not sure if it's intentional, but you get a slight subtle gray Apple logo.  It looks kind of cool.  

Impressions

All the cases I've tried for iPhone and iPod touches so far have the entire case enclosing everything except the screen.   This is the first time I'm using a case that exposes the front side of the iPhone.  And I found that I actually prefer that because I realized the case that surrounds the screen usually gets in the way when typing.  

Though not as protective, I think with the front surface exposed, it increases the usability.  Typing and moving icons around are a lot easier to do.  

My only gripe would be that the volume controls are hard to push as they are surrounded by the casing.  See the picture below.  

But overall, it  looks nice, and it makes my iPhone shiny and white, and it does not add a lot of thickness, so I'm quite satisfied so far. More images below, and thanks for reading!

The top of the iPhone

The front.  Pardon the dust =)

And finally, the bottom.

Impressions: Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 Speakers

I finally had a chance to open up the Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 I got from Apple's Lucky Bag.  Apparently, it's available in shiny white as well.  I'm guessing that since the iPod touch, which has a black finish, was the reason for the choice of the black color.  

Haven't really tried it long enough to give it a full review, but there are two things I really like so far.

Rechargeable Battery

This could work great for one day trips at hotels to enjoy your music on your iPod.  More practically, I could take this with me for presentations.  I just need to connect it to my computer and I got my speakers all set up.  No need for plugging an AC adapter.  And unlike USB speakers, I don't need to worry about double check to make sure my sound output device is configured correctly.  

Carrying Case

The carrying case was a very nice inclusion.  It contains separated area just for the remote.  See pic below.

The AC adapter is designed in a shape so that is can be placed where in the iPod docking area.  As a result, everything will fit nicely into the carrying case.  Very nice.  

That's it for now, and thanks for reading!

Shiny white clocks

Some shiny white clocks I saw the other day shopping =)

iPhone Tip: An application of using Mobile and Bookmarks sync

MobileMe automatically syncs your bookmarks across multiple computers and iPhones.  And here's a real world example of how you can use this feature make your life a little bit convenient.  

Let's say you're going out, and looking at some restaurants.  You find a few restaurants you might like, and you bookmark them on your computer.  So when you're out, and the time comes to eat, you pull out your iPhone.  Since bookmarks are synced,  you have access to the sites of the restaurants you looked up at home.  And if you want to see if it's crowded or ask directions, remember, you can dial straight from the browser on your iPhone with a tap.  

Of course, if you put the bookmarks in a separate folder, it'll help you pin point the bookmarks faster on the go.  For example, I have a folder called "Outside",  and I just put bookmarks of sites that may be helpful outside there.

Thanks for reading!

Mac vs PC Ad: Transformer style

Most of you will probably have seen this ad, but just in case =)

Transforming a Mac Mini G4 to a Media Center: Part 3

Let there be TV
I bought a TV tuner for my Mac a few years ago, and it’s still working. The TV tuner is the GV-1394TV from I-O Data. 
Yeah.... it’s not very stylish. That will have to do for now.



Oh, and let’s get an nice Mini icon for the user picture
Found one here on Flickr.


A summary
So what do I have so far:
Additional Software:

• Activate Front Row
  
• Perian
  

Additional Hardware:

• Keyspan’s Front Row Control
  
• iPod touch and iPhone with Remote app
  
• Elecom USB 4 Port Hub
  
• Yamaha NX-U02
  
• TV tuner from I-O Data
  

Other:

• Enabled Mini for Apple Remote Desktop so I can screen share with Leopard
  
• Use an nice Mini icon for the user picture
  

Ok, so what's left.  I still need a backup solution, and may be I could connect a video camera to it for video calls...  We'll have to see.

iPhone Tip: Easily access your important emails

If you use MobileMe, Gmail, or any other IMAP mail services, you will have access to all your emails at all times.  Except, the iPhone doesn't have anyway to sort, search, or filter your emails.  

For me, there are times when I'm out to a meeting, and on the train I liked to quickly pull up the related emails.  This could be quite difficult to do with the iPhone.  

As a solution or workaround, I simply have a separate folder on my IMAP mail account.  When I go out, I simply drop the related mails into this folder.   On the train, I can just access this folder and see the mails I need.  

A quick and simple tip, hope you find that useful!

iPhone + MobileMe tip: Using Maps with Address Book sync

If you're using MobileMe, you will know that your Address Book and Contacts are always in sync (at least, suppose to be).  From the Contacts app in iPhone, you can launch Maps by tapping the address.  

So let's say I'm meeting a friend in the city at a restaurant I've never been to before.  I'll make a contact of that restaurant in Address Book on my computer.  Once I get off the train, I'll just find that restaurant in Contacts on my iPhone, tap on the address, and Maps will be loaded.  Sometimes Google can't find it, so you'll have to do some fiddling with the address.  

I also make a group called Places, and I just put meeting points and restaurants into this group so I can easily find it.  

Now they really just need to bring out the copy and paste feature so we can paste address from web pages to Maps.

Transforming a Mac Mini G4 to a Media Center: Part 2

Screen sharing Mac Mini (Tiger) from a iMac (Leopard)
One of the reasons I previously installed Leopard on my Mini was I wanted the screen sharing feature. I was happy to find out that I can screen share from Leopard by simply tweaking some settings on Tiger.

I simply went to Sharing in the System Preferences of my Mini, and enable Apple Remote Desktop. I then saw Mac Mini show up on my Shared list in Finder on my iMac (Leopard). And that allowed me to screen share between Leopard and Tiger.

USB Ports:
The Mac Mini G4 only has 2 USB ports. So I’m going to use a shiny white 4 port hub (model no. U2H-G4S2WH) from Elecom I bought awhile ago.



So what are going to be used for the four ports:

• to charge my Plantronics 640 Bluetooth headset
  
• my iPhone TV&Battery dongle
  
• the Keyspan Front Row Control
  
• open
  

Let there be sound
And the other USB port on my Mini will be used for my USB powered speaker - Yamaha NX-U02. (My review is here.)


A summary
So what do I have so far:

Additional Software:

• Activate Front Row
  
• Perian
  

Additional Hardware:

• Keyspan’s Front Row Control
  
• iPod touch and iPhone with Remote app
  
• Elecom USB 4 Port Hub
  
• Yamaha NX-U02
  

Other:

• Enabled Mini for Apple Remote Desktop so I can screen share with Leopard
  

Transforming a Mac Mini G4 to a Media Center: Part 1

So with a bigger hard drive, I plan to use the Mac Mini G4 as a media center. And here's the stuff I'm doing to make it one.

The Remotes:
Since this Mac Mini has no IR port and thus no support for Apple Remote, I have to resort to a third party solution. In this case, I’ll be using Keyspan’s Front Row Control.




And thanks to the new version of iTunes, I can also use the iPhone or iPod touch as a remote with the Remote app.

Software:
Unfortunately, since the Mac Mini has no IR port, Front Row isn’t available for it either. After searching around a bit, I found this nifty app called “Activate Front Row" from Mac OS X Hints. It does what it says, install and activate Front Row. Nice!!!

Enabling the Mini to watch all sorts of video files
QuickTime doesn’t support playback of quite a lot of video files, so I’ll need software to let me do this. And for this, I turn to Perian, dubbed as the swiss-army knife for QuickTime.

Getting my DRM-free music into iTunes
Since I’m might be doing a lot of experimenting with this server, I’m not going to use the Mini with any sensitive information including my Apple ID just in case. As a result, I’m just going to use it to play DRM-free music and media.

So I gathered up all my DRM-free music and dropped it into the iTunes library on my Mini. It turns out I have 6 GB of DRM-free music.


A summary
Ok, so what do I have so far:

Additional Software:

• Activate Front Row
  
• Perian
  

Additional Hardware:

• Keyspan’s Front Row Control
  
• iPod touch and iPhone with Remote app
  

Stayed tune for part 2!

Upgrading the hard drive of my Mac Mini G4

A lot of hard drives had broken on me. And the latest, my old non-Intel Mac Mini’s 80 GB hard drive has ceased to function a few days ago.

Since my Mac Mini is no longer under warranty, I decided to open it up and swap its hard drive. The ride was bumpy though.

I got a Western Digital 250 GB hard drive.

I referred to the following two sites to opening up the Mini and swapping the hard drives.

• MacWorld - Deconstructing Mini
  
• ifixit - Installing Mac Mini (PowerPC) Hard Drive
  

Lesson #1: Remember to initialize your newly bought hard drive
So I successfully took the Mini apart and installed the new hard drive. Had some trouble putting the casing back on, but eventually did.

I used to run Leopard on it, but this time, I decided to go with Tiger since I think it’ll run smoother. So I booted up the Install DVD only to find that there was no hard drive for me to install on! Uh oh.

I took apart the Mini, took out the hard drive again. I wanted to test if the hard drive was the problem, so I hooked the hard drive up to an enclosure, and plugged it into my iMac. It then asked me if I wanted to initialize the drive. So I did.

I put the initialized hard drive back into the Mini. This time, I didn’t put all the screws back in nor the case on just in case the drive wasn’t working again. Booted up again, and lo and behold, it shows that I have a drive I could install!

Hey, my Mac Mini is naked!

Lesson #2: Remember put all your screws back in before you put the casing on
Very happy the install of Tiger went fine. After the installation finished, I turned the machine off and put the casing back on. And I looked around, and I realized there were some screws lying around! I forgot to put those screws back in. And I had to take the Mini’s case off again, and get those screws back to where they belong.

Whew... well, finally, I got my Mini working. Now it’s the fun stuff, installing the software and configuring it to my liking.

Stayed tune for another post where I document the things I’m going to do with this Mini.

A mug that turns white when it’s on

Introducing the On Off Mug. At its empty state, it’s black with the white letters saying “OFF.” When you pour hot beverage in, the mug changes to white with black letters saying “ON.”

Here’s a video with the mug in action:

You can find this cool mug on CharlesandMarie.com for $25.00.

Sony Type P transit ads and display photos

On my way to buying a new hard drive for my Mac Mini, I saw some transit ads and a little booth demoing and promoting the Sony Type P.   Positioned as a "Pocket Style PC,"  it's supposed to fit in your pocket.  I still have to say, you need some big pockets.  

I did fiddle with it.  It's small compact and light.  The keyboard seems like a reasonable size to type on.  I think the screen size is still to small to do computing personally.  I say, drop the keyboard and make the screen multi-touch.  Kinda like a super-sized iPod touch.  Cough... Apple.  

Photos below:

Woo, the white one!

It's supposed to fit in your pocket.  If it does, you sure don't want to sit on it.

The ads.

They had a TV there playing some ads and stuff.

Simpsons' take on the Apple Store

There's an hilarious episode of Simpsons that has a parody on Apple.  Below is a segment from YouTube.

You can view it on Hulu, and buy the episode on iTunes here.

A portable speaker with a strap

Saw these while shopping the other day. It’s called the I-Dear Stone Speaker. It’s a portable rectangular shaped speaker with a strap so you can attach it to your cell phone or use it as a key chain.

Features:

• It comes in white and black
  
• It’ll take a 3.5 mm audio cable as input
  
• It’s rechargeable and comes with a USB adapter to recharge the speaker
  
• one charge lasts about 5 hours

You can find it at NVshop, a Japanese online gadget shop for 5,750 yen (around $60).

Some iPhone apps I’m using: Air Sharing and Things

These following are paid apps that I’m testing currently. Since they are paid and I haven’t really used them extensively, I am not yet recommending them.

Air Sharing
I use this app to transfer files to my iPhone. It’s really a temporary solution until Apple gives me a way to access my MobileMe iDisk from my iPhone. I still can’t believe I can’t access my iDisk files with my iPhone...

Air Sharing – link to iTunes


Things
This is a relatively pricey app. It costs $9.99. I use the Mac version and iPhone version. Though it works quite nice, I still need more time with it to see if I can recommend it. For me, it does get a very important thing done for me, which is keeping all my tasks and todos synced and in one place.

To sync, you simply launch Things on the Mac and iPhone, and it’ll sync via wi-fi. But having gotten spoiled by MobileMe where everything is synced automatically in the background, I’d wish I didn’t have to sync Things manually... Hopefully it’ll have MobileMe support in the future.

Learn more at Things’ website. The Mac version is free to use until January 2009.

There is another set of task management applications that does have MobileMe support. The app is called Omnifocus, and it is at a higher price point. The iPhone app is $19.99 and the Mac version is $79.95.   Find more info on their website here.

Recommended Japanese iPhone Apps: Sankei News, Sora-Annai, TV Listings, Currency

For those living in Japan and can read Japanese, here are some apps I recommend. Please note links open up to the Japanese iTunes store.

I recommend the following:

• Sankei News (Sankei Shinbun) - If you read Japanese, this is a very cool app to get. You basically can read the newspaper of the day for free, and the interface is well executed. You can pinch in and out smoothly. To see the app on iTunes, click here.
  
  
• Sora-Annai – Weather info for Japan.  Link to iTunes here.
  
  
• TV Listings – Know what’s on TV in Japan.  Link to iTunes here.
  
  
• Currency – For me, this is how I can find out how bad the dollar is against the yen everyday. Link to iTunes here.
  

Make your desk smell nice with Aroma USB DX

There are a lot of odd USB devices these days such as fans and cup warmers.  Here's one that caught my attention - an USB powered aroma diffuser.  

It's called the Ultra Sonic Aroma USB DX, and it's made by a Japanese company called Elaice.  Fill in your preferred aroma oil and plug it in your computer.  

The portable aroma diffuser is available in pink, black, and white. Elaice is selling it for 2,200 yen ($24)  on their website (Japanese).

Recommended iPhone App: Shazam

I think this app gives you a glimpse of the future. Basically, when you’re outside you hear a tune that you’re interested, you can use the app to record and upload a snippet of the song to Shazam, and it will return you with the info and details of the song. If it’s available on iTunes, you can also purchase the song.

I tried it a few times outside in restaurants, it worked most of the time. Unfortunately, it only works for English songs. But I think this is the future – instantly buy a song when you hear it outside or on the radio. Neat app, and it’s free =)

You can learn more at Shazam’s website.

Impressions of SF Macworld Keynote Announcements - iLife and iWork '09, iTunes, and etc.

So I woke up here in the land of the rising sun on Wednesday.  With the time difference, the Macworld Keynote was already over.  So, excited, I opened TUAW's liveblog, and skimmed quickly through the announcements.  To sum up the major announcements:

1. iLife '09
   
2. iWork '09
   
3. a 17 inch MacBook Pro
   
4. multi-tier pricing and DRM-free songs on iTunes
   
5. purchase songs on iTunes via iPhone through 3G network
   

I wasn't impressed or excited too much initially.  And since the video  is available (which you can download here on iTunes), I took a look.  The video definitely generates more excitement as it contains some stuff where the coolness can't really be captured by words.  It's not a mind-blowing keynote, but overall, I thought it was nice, and there are some exciting features.  So here's my quick review of the keynote.

iLife '09

• Faces and places features of iPhoto looks cool.  The only geo-tagging camera I have would be my iPhone, but I'm still interested to try it out.  
  
  The feature that you can buy lessons via Garageband was a cool feature too.  And the ability to buy lessons from professional artists to teach you how to play their music is clever.  It's just a great way to get people involved and start learning music.  
  
  Like many, I'm not a big fan of the revamped iMovie.  The new changes are welcomed, but I still prefer the simplicity of the old iMovie.  It was just more intuitive.
  
  
• The bad:  Why isn't it shipping today?
  

iWork '09

I already downloaded the trial version and testing it out.  Here are some impressions:

Pages:  

• The outline feature is nice, but compared to other outline software, it doesn't seem as powerful.  You can't collapse and expand.  
• The full screen mode is cool.  Let's you focus on writing.  And I don't know why really, but I find the concept very cool.  The simplicity, something Apple-esque about it.

Numbers

• Haven't given it a shot yet.  I do some basic stuff in Numbers, but most of the time I resort to Excel since it's much easier to do for formula, complex tables.  And it's easier to share.  We'll have to see.  
  

Keynote

• I'm a heavy Keynote user,  the new transitions and animations are awesome.  
  
  They also released a Keynote Remote for the iPhone and iPod touch.  It allows you to control your Keynote slide presentations by swiping with your iPhone or iPod touch.  You also get to see the slides as well as notes on your iPhone.  Very very neat!  But it would be nice if we can use the remote with a Bluetooth connection in addition to Wi-Fi.
  
  I also tried out iWork.com.  And this is a great feature for me.  Sending big presentation files to share was troublesome.  Add to the fact, that sometimes I have to convert them to PPT format.  Other users can view and add comments via their browser.  Very nice!  If they charge this feature in the future, I hope they bundle it with MobileMe.  I sure don't want to pay for another online service.

17 inch MacBook Pro

To be blunt, I don't think I can afford or justify a purchase for a 17 inch MacBook Pro, but I sure would like to have one.  

The good:  Option for anti-glare screens.  Because I just can't work with glossy screens.  I hope they make this available for all models of MacBooks.  The new batteries seem good.

The bad:  Batteries are integrated and cannot be swapped out...

iTunes

• songs are going to become DRM free - definitely good.  But it seems like to convert all old songs I bought, I have to pay a conversion free.  Bummer.  Then again, since I play everything on my iPods and iTunes, there really isn't a need for me to convert my old songs.
  
• different pricing ($1.29, $0.99, $0.69) possible for songs on iTunes - I'm not too fond of this one.  I think the fact that $0.99 for all songs is user-friendly.  Users don't have to think about how much to pay for a price because it was always $0.99 or free.  Not users have to check out and make sure how much each song is.  In my opinion, a very un-Apple-like move.  But it's probably the music labels...
  
• ability to buy songs on 3G network with iPhone - This is great, and this would work so great with Shazam  app on iPhone.  When you hear a song on radio, you can identify it with Shazam, and then buy it instantly via iTunes all on the iPhone.  That is neat!

Those are my impressions.  Too bad there won't be any more of these keynotes... What did you think of the Keynote?

Turn your bathroom into a planetarium with "Bath Planetarium"

Turn off the lights in your bathroom, and let the "Bath Planetarium" illuminate your bathroom with stars. This gadget comes in white and black and is available for 3,990 yen (about 43 dollars) in Japan.  It's powered by 4 AA batteries, which are sold separately.  

It's available at Amazon in Japan.  Link (Japanese) is here.

Recommended iPhone App: Evernote

I just recently started to use Evernote on my Mac and iPhone. And so far it’s been nice.

In short, Evernote is a note taking application. It syncs everything wirelessly through the web, which means I have access to my notes when I’m outside via my iPhone.  And if I make a note of something on my iPhone, I will find it on my desktop version of Evernote when I get home.  

Evernote has some nifty features. It’s free so be sure to check it out. To learn more, visit Evernote’s website here.

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

You probably know that Steve Jobs won’t be delivering the keynote later this week at Macworld. For those that just really need to listen to him, below is an inspirational speech by him at the Stanford Commencement ceremony a few years ago.

Inside, you will find:

• The origins of Steve’s famous quote – “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
  
• How Mac came to have “beautiful typography.”
  
• A little bit about connecting the dots

Here's the text of the speech.

Recommended iPhone App: Remote

Did you get a new iPod touch or iPhone for Christmas?

I will be putting up a series of posts about recommended apps I’ve been recently using. Let’s start off with Remote.

Remote
I haven’t used it with AppleTV, but I have used it extensively to control my iTunes library, and it works beautifully. You get the basic remote functions like control volume, play, pause, and stuff, but you also can look through you playlists and search your library from your iPhone. As an added bonus, it also displays your album art. If you use iTunes to manage and listen to your music, this is a must have.

To see Remote on iTunes, click here.

Inside Apple's Lucky Bag @ Shibuya Apple Store, Japan

Lucky bags of all sorts go on sale on Japan on the day after New Year Day's.  The traditional lucky bags are concealed with the items inside undisclosed.  These lucky bags gives you a chance to test your luck for the year.  Wikipedia has a informative entry on lucky bags if you want to learn more.  

In keeping the Japanese tradition, Apple also offers limited quantities of Lucky Bags in Japan every year online as well at its retail stores.  Most stores open at 10 am and the bags are usually sold out by 8 am.  

This year the lucky bags of Apple cost 35,000 yen (about $384).  I decided to test out my luck and set out to buy one of these lucky bags.  Here we go!

Getting Ready

I decided to go to the store around 5 am.  The stores would open at 10 am, so there would be a 5 hour wait.  I rented two movies (X-Files and Hancock) from iTunes and loaded it to my iPod touch.  That should keep me company.

Getting to the store

I arrived at the store about 5:20 am where there was already a short line of 30 some people.  Here's a picture:

Waiting...

I started watching X-Files: I Want to Believe.  And Hancock subsequently.  After finishing the two movies, my iPod touch ran out of batteries.  

Starbucks - courtesy of Apple

At around 8 am, Apple employees passed out coffee from Starbucks to the customers in the line.  

Finally 10:00 am!

Did some web surfing on my iPhone, and it's finally 10!  The store opened, and the line started to move.  I paid with my credit card, and got my lucky bag.  It is said that a few lucky ones have a special card in the bags that will let them exchange a MacBook!

I quickly went to a corner, opened my bag, and checked out what's inside.  Unfortunately, I did not get a MacBook.  

So what's inside

Pics first, and the list of items below.

Woo hoo!  The Lucky Bag!

The contents

The original Apple calendar

List of  items inside the lucky bag

• iPod touch 2G (8GB) 
  
• USB Power Adapter
  
• Nike + iPod Sensor
  
• Nike Skylon (Adjustable sport headphones)
  
• Belkin FastFit Armband with Cable Capsule
  
• avenue--d Leather Sleeve for iPod touch 2G (Lucky bag special 2009 edition)
  
• Pure-Fi Anywhere 2
  
• Power Support anti-glare film set for iPod touch 2G
• Apple original calendar
  
• Apple original t-shirt
  
• The lucky bag itself - an original Apple carrying bag

Comments:

The Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 costs $100 and iPod touch 2G (8GB) costs $250 on Amazon respectively, those two items already cover the bulk of the $380 price tag of the lucky bag.  Though I have an iPhone and iPod touch 1G, overall, I still think it's a nice deal.  It's like an iPod touch that comes with speakers, cases, and protective films.  Although I'm not a big fan of using the touch as a sports device, they surely included all the stuff (armband, Nike earphones, Nike + iPod sensor) I need to use the touch as a gadget to run and jog with.  Oh yeah, except a pair of Nike shoes.  

Considering the iPhone was released last year in Japan, I was expecting some iPhone stuff, but this is good as well!