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iPod Touch

I'm definitely not one of those people who just jump at supposedly "hot new stuff" they try to sell. When I spot something interesting, I start monitoring news and reviews on the net to see what's up with it, if anyone seems to be complaining about some faults/ bugs/ glitches/ whatever.


So I've been watching a whole lot of people start using iPhone and going blah blah blah about how great it is. It seemed okay enough (although SoftBank, which is the service provider for iPhone in Japan, tends to feck up every now and then and their network goes down- but that's not  Apple's fault, I guess), and I have been curious about the whole new phenomenon, but wasn't ready to (still not) jump from DoCoMo.

Which is kind of why I got an iPod Touch, which is pretty much iPhone without phone capability. You can download and use the apps for iPhone and do pretty much the same thing. Downside is that, the thing is designed to be used in the environment always connected to the Internet- which you can't get out on the street unless you sign up with some data-steaming services (not particularly cheap; I would rather just get me an iPhone along with my DoCoMo keitai. Some people do this though).
I've set up the network so it can get in on my home wireless network, and it's pretty interesting. It feels, you know, future:-)
Must be bad for my eye though. I should probably invest in contact lens manufacturers. This and all the mobile device will produce a generation of people with cool gadgets and bad eyes in no time. (^ ^;)

Post a comment Tags: iphone, techie stuff

Quote of the week

"My love for Albertine had been but a transitory form of my devotion to youth."

Marcel Proust

2 comments Tags: france, quote, literature

November has come

It's that time of the year.


It won't be of much concern for the unfortunate souls who are not gamers, but most of the game publishers from the West, particularly America, have this strange fixation that every big-name title HAS to come out in so-called Holiday season (which in their part of the world starts with Thanksgiving, I understand). So there is this deluge of games coming out from November to January, mostly in November (and December).

This is clearly very stupid. One hot game coming out in August will completely dominate the fecking market, but I guess the suits are still under the impression that average gamers are 12 year olds who need their gift from grandma to buy games they want.

And this year's holiday season will just be crazy. There are so many titles that any sane gamer just can't miss. This will have seriously negative impact on my intellectual readings (I'm immensely enjoying reading "Descent into chaos" by Ahmed Rashid; if you have any passing interest in current Afghan conflict or the whole Islamic extremist movement, this is a must-read).


3 comments Tags: game, suit, november

Grandma sick

This weekend is not that great as my grandmother apparently spit blood and there were some family-related activities. She's stable now. And the last two weeks I took care of some household appliance replacement frenzy (long and tedious story, don't ask). Good thing is, I'm actually good at this; you know, measuring stuff and space so they would fit, think how and where the power cable should go, etc. My meticulous, database-keeper side works pretty well in my office as well, though it disturbs me slightly- it's obviously a gift I inherited from my father, and I grew up hating my father.

But you know, coming to terms with your blood is one of those things you need to go through to "grow up".

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Quick update

* On the train I'm reading: "The Appeal" by John Grisham

* At home I'm reading: "Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia" by Ahmed Rashid
* I'm watching: Cold Case season 3, NCIS season 4, Boston Legal season 4
* I'm listening to : "21st Century Breakdown" by Green Day
* I'm playing: Halo 3 ODST, Biohazard / Resident Evil 5
* Good film I saw recently: "Frost x Nixon"





Post a comment Tags: me, update

Quote of the week

"Guerrilla warfare is Afghan's national sports."


Some expert dude on CNN program GPS, hosted by Fareed Zakaria

Post a comment Tags: quote, politics

Laughing Man Business Card Case

Should you encounter someone who otherwise seems to be normal produce this business card case,

Laughing Man Card Case
Laughing Man Card Case

You should

(a): Call Tokyo Metropolitan PD, saying you've got a tip for Major Motoko Kusanagi at Section-9.

(b): Check every electronic device on your person to make sure they haven't been hacked.

(c): Pretend you are too cool to know anything about Japanimation.


4 comments Tags: anime, japan, ghost in the shell, akihabara, japanimation, kusanagi

Quote of the week

"Charm is a way of getting the answer yes without asking a specific question."


Albert Camus

Post a comment Tags: quote

Searching for a new keitai

I need to change my keitai / cell-phone. I am not happy with my current one. Actually, I have been unhappy with it for quite a while, since I found out it's got the most ridiculous system to type English text mails, but I have put up with it, thinking it may just take more getting used to.


But no, it's not the question of getting used to, it's all about wrong software design.

See, when I want to write an English text and change from Japanese to English mode, by default I can ONLY WRITE IN UPPER CASE LETTERS. I need to either go to another menu to change to lower case letters, or hit a key for each letter I type. This crap is clearly designed by people who never actually write in English. (It's Docomo N902i, if anyone cares to know)
Moreover, this key I'm supposed to hit to make letters into lower case, is just below the "send" button. I have accidentally sent half-written texts because of this layout. Meh.

Actually, this is the only real complaint I have of my current keitai- I don't care about watching tv on it (why would I hurt my eyes over such a tiny screen??), and I can't use iPhone anyway as long as I stick with Docomo- though current models are way thinner and lighter, which may be good.

Problem is, very few people actually care how the English input mode is like before they make their purchase, so I doubt if those shop attendants could actually tell how it works. I have begun preliminary search, let's see what I can find.. 

Post a comment Tags: japan, keitai

Oil exporters considering to stop using USD

If you happen to frequent business-oriented news sites like Reuters or The Wall Street Journal, you may have come across this article; some middle eastern countries (I suspect they wanted to say OPEC) are considering to stop using American dollars for their oil export transactions. They want to introduce some sort of currency basket and, according to the article, they are already in secret negotiations with central banks from EU, Japan, China and Russia.

Some American "experts" immediately fired off comments saying there are all kinds of technical difficulties for them to implement such move; but you know, technical difficulties are not the essential problem, those are the stuff they can hire experts to figure out if they have really made the decision to ditch USD.

I'm no currency expert (therefore you shouldn't rely on this post to make any kind of investment decisions), but even the fact that the news like this comes up is another sign of the slow decline of the American dollars as the world's de facto standard currency. It's not like it will go down the drain overnight, but a decade from now, it's probably not enjoying the position it is enjoying today. (You may want to read Fareed Zakaria's fascinating book called "Post-American World". He basically says that, while the U.S. succeeded in globalizing the world, it has failed to globalize itself.)

According to this certain study, in 2050 the world's biggest economy will be China, with the U.S. as No.2.  And where Japan would be? No. 8. Surpassed by Brazil, Russia, and India. You know, there was this article on News Week that really struck me, comparing Japan in Asia to Austria in Europe; it said, like Austria, Japan will most like follow the path of slow decay and decline, once powerful and important, now living on memory and nostalgia, so to speak. You could say this view is now the basis of how I see Japan as the country and where the Japanese society is going in general.

2 comments Tags: japan, oil, news, economy, dollar