I had the opportunity over the weekend to have close look on Galaxy Tab and Desire HD. I will be blogging about these two wonderful gadgets separately, but I did a quick video playback comparison, together with my trusty over-clocked Galaxy S. Here’s the video. Enjoyed!
PS: Please let me know if there is anything else you want to see as comparison between the phones. I will try to incorporate your request where possible.
Year end holiday season is here finally, and I am already imagining a Christmas tree in my house with all the interesting gadgets nicely packed as presents surrounding it. More on that in subsequent blog posts. In the spirit of sharing joy of holiday season, I would begin by sharing my peep on Creative ZiiO 7″ — Creative first attempt in the Android tablet space.
ZiiO 7" Tablet
Earlier this week, I was privileged to have my hands on Creative ZiiO 7″ tablet, even though it was just a development unit. Given that (that it was just a development unit), the exterior finishing was not expected to be polished. The tablet was however loaded with the latest firmware that would supposedly shipped for production, so the hands on experience will still be close to that of a retail unit.
For a tablet, what draws to one’s attention is usually its form factor and its screen display. Admittedly, the first impression was a mixed feeling. The size of the tablet, defined by a 7″ wide screen, coupled with its all-white outfit, would definitely catch an enthusiast’s attention. This is especially so for somone like me who had already experienced a 6″ Kindle and a 10″ iPad, the two extreme end of a tablet-type devices. Of course, Kindle belongs to a different league altogether, given that it is a dedicated e-reading device. However, the size and weight of these devices should give a tablet-shopping buyer a good reference of what he needs to look out for, for there is no one perfect tablet in the market that fits all the needs.
Holding ZiiO 7" with one hand is convenient
Once ZiiO 7″ catches your attention, the screen display might possibly drops yours. I was definitely disappointed by the screen display, especially after having used to colour vibrancy that Super AMOLED display offers, in my Galaxy S and recently Galaxy Tab. The colour is a little flat, and further impacted by the viewing angle. If there is anyway to describe the visual impact, it feels like a 3M privacy screen filter fitted on it, albeit a little exaggerated. Ziio sports a resistive screen. While it is probably one of the most sensitive resistive screen in the market today, Creative’s decision to stick with it sets me scratching my head given that capacitive screen has becoming a norm these days. But I was quickly reminded that Ziio 7″ is Creative’s entry model for their Android tablet product line, and costs just 1/3 of Samsung Galaxy Tab’s price tag. Fair enough, but unless you are a budget-conscious shopper, or one who is about to buy the China-made i-Pad lookalikes, wow will be the last thing you would say when you power on the Creative’s ZiiO.
Usability wise, Creative ZiiO is very capable, despite having to navigate over the resistive screen. The screen was responsive, so were the applications. I was told that ZiiO uses its own processor, ZiiLABS ZMS-08 HD Media-Rich Applications Processor. While I have not benchmarked its processor in the 7″, I tried on ZiiO 10″ which uses the same processor, and the result was astonishingly good, scoring a 3000 over points in CPU. To give some context, my over-clocked Galaxy S could only manage half of what ZiiO has achieved. ZiiO has a stereo speaker, but I could not make out its quality given that I was in a cafeteria at the point of testing ; Just not a conducive environment to test sound quality.
Creative Zii applications
ZiiO is still running the older Android Eclair (2.1) as we speak, even for the retail units. However, I was told that Froyo (2.2) should be released for upgrade very soon. As I unlocked ZiiO 7″ tablet, I was greeted by Creative’s own simplified lock screen and home launcher. Neat, I told myself. At least the company is going to the right direction in developing its own DNA. On the application front, Creative have a few customised applications, ZiiMusic, ZiiVideo and ZiiPhoto. Given Creative’s specialty, I have no complaints with their multimedia playback software, although ZiiMusic did hang on me once before I had to reboot the tablet to solve it.
ZiiO's Kindle
Having used Kindle for a while, I naturally tend to compare ZiiO with the former, as an e-reader. ZiiO, with its weight almost twice that of the Kindle 3 (400g vs 241g), definitely feels heavy if one were to read over a prolong period of time. For a quick read, I would think it is definitely capable. What I was impressed is ZiiO’s night mode feature, which not only dim the backlit display, but also also toggle the display foreground and background color, so that the screen would not be too glaring. Although it can’t beat e-ink technology, the night mode feature is the most welcome feature, if you always like to read at night.
In a nut shell, for $359 SGD, I think it gives the China-made A-Pad a run for their money (go support Singapore products!). Looking from another perspective, if you are planning to spend $200-300 for a digital photo frame, grab this Creative ZiiO for its value for money, since it could do what a digital photo frame does, and more. But when pitted side by side with the bigger brothers, I could sense that Creative ZiiO 7″ is shouting out for his super-brother (not ZiiO 10″! fwiw) for reinforcement. I heard it will be coming …
Snap shot video of the hands-on (in a noisy cafeteria)
I had wanted to blog about how my latest new toy has re-kindled my reading habit, but in retrospect, I have never really been a serious bookworm. I do read, especially the Chinese novels, but I would hardly read a book non stop for hours. Now that I am in the working society, the chances of me touching a book is as slim as me striking a lottery. The only time I would read, is probably when I am very bored and need a sleeping pill.
So I know it is time for me to rekindle my reading hobby (if there was one in the first place ;)), and Amazon Kindle did that very well for me. As I glance through the range of ebook reader options in the market today, it boils down to whether I would get a dedicated ebook reader, or a computing device with an ebook reader software. The latter has to be a tablet, as I could not imagine anybody reading a book on a laptop or even a netbook, for more than 15 minutes, let alone for an hour.
At the time when I was scouting for a ebook reader, Apple iPad was the only noticeable tablet in the market that got into my eReader shortlist. Unfortunately, it’s a tad too big (10″ screen), consequently too heavy, to be really relaxing for long reading. The much hype “retina” backlit display, no matter how alluring it is, is just not conducive to my pair of old flowery eyes for reading. Samsung Galaxy Tab, an Android-based tablet, was not available at the point of consideration. Pity as it could make a good eReader option given its light weight and 7″ screen (am going to blog about that soon anyway, so more on that later) Plus, I thought having an iPad or Galaxy Tab, would probably end up me getting distracted into games and net surfing. I don’t need such distraction.
On the other hand, what draws me to dedicated ebook reader, is the adoption of e-ink technology (watch this video for the feature of e-ink). It is probably the best invention on earth, next to paper and ink. It enables display to look more like printed, physical ink and paper, and easily readable even in direct sunlight. Apart from the missing act of physically flipping a page, reading through a e-ink based digital reader provides the exact same, if not better, experience than reading a hard copy book. The experience is further enhanced by the convenience to shop and read a book anytime, anywhere instantaneously and the ability to annotate, bookmark or share your reading insight through the social networking sites.
With some advice from friends, I eventually bought Amazon Kindle. The first impression I had when I unboxed the Kindle, was how could the screen change as I switched it on. It turned out that I had mistaken the screen display as a sticker label, those overlaying screen cover you would normally see on brand new electronic displays. Very deceiving indeed!
After using it for a few days, I can only say the Kindle lives up to its reputation very well! As a matter of fact, I finish 8 chapters of book leisurely while I was in the plane earlier this week. Kindle is so light and with the e-ink display , you don’t feel tired physically (for holding the book) or visually (for staring at the digital screen). I love the bookmark and note feature, as I could highlight section of text, add my comments, and share it via Twitter or Facebook! Very useful feature for me, because sometimes when you read a book or a news article, you want to share your thoughts with your friends and family members quickly without losing your thoughts. Kindle makes it so simple since everything is in digital form. I also love the ease of looking up the dictionary for meaning of a word, as I read. It is like carrying and holding two books at one go; one big Oxford dictionary and one reading book.
Yesterday, I dropped by Staple, to have a closer look at other ebook readers. I laid my hands on the new Nook (by Barnes & Noble) and Sony eReader. All I can say I am glad I have made the right choice with Kindle. Nook has a very nice touch colored display at the bottom of the e-ink screen, for navigation control. I find that distracting to be honest and the e-ink display looks wash out when compared side by side with Kindle. On Sony eReader, it has a touch e-ink screen which is nice but the overall navigation experience feels short of something. In both digital readers, I found the bookmark/notes and dictionary look up features less integrated than the Kindle. Otherwise, it is hard for me to comment any further since my usage on Kindle is preliminary in the first place. I also tried the Kindle DX briefly, a bigger version of Kindle with 9.7″ e-ink screen. The screen proves to be too big for me, although reading a book or magazine with very complicated chart or diagram would be less taxing on the eyes.
In a nutshell, for $139, Kindle is one of the best, if not the best value for money toy I got. And to wrap it all, the buying and customer support experience with Amazon is just simply amazing. More on that later as well. For now, it’s back to reading time 😉
The recent youth-involving violences had waken up the nation.
It is easy to brush off such violences by placing the blame squarely on the gangsters. They are after all, society menaces, in the eyes of the public. But the recent cases revealed more than that. The attackers involved were mostly in their late teens age, with even one of them reportedly to be just 8 years old.
On paper, they may be part of the gang, or even a secret society. In reality, they could be just teens who have misplaced loyalty for criminal but yet stupidity, rash acts. Do these teens really get involved in those illegal activities such as drug trafficking, loan sharking, etc? I don’t think they do, or if they do, they might be doing just to show off to their peers how ‘strong’ and ‘influential’ they are.
Confucius once said,
少未定，壮而刚，老而衰 的是血气；戒于色，戒于斗，戒于得的是志气。君子养其志气，故 不为血气所动
In a nutshell, one needs to manage his own aspiration from young, restrain from all the negative influences, so that the excessive energy, especially when you are young, will not be channeled into some foolish consequences.
Apart from the incidental choice of word “Cooking” to describe Windows Mobile ROM development process, I found out that recently there is really a great similarity between software programming and cooking.
With cooking, you master the science of key culinary skills, and then with some creativity, you venture into dishing out different cuisine. I am not a food connoisseur, so you don’t expect me to go into details on this, but you should get the point.
Now, turning over to software programming (oh my, I suddenly feel so at ease), there is alot of similarities. You need to master the fundamental programming techniques, and you exposed into different type of programming; UI programming, Web programming, Data integration programming, Kernel programming .
And yes, recently I had ventured into kernel programming, something I have never imagined in the past. The reality though is that I was just meddling around with the Linux kernel source, thanks to Opensource.
So I looked at the various kernel source codes published by various xda-developers, each of which addresses different aspect of kernel improvements. I decided to make a kernel that takes the best of all. The end product is one kernel that incorporates sztupy‘s Universal Lagfix, supercurio‘s Voodoo display tweak (Gamma and Sharpness enhancement), raspdeep‘s overclock and undervolt, and hardcore/ykk_five 341MB memory hack.
Universal Lagfix addresses the poor performance inherent in Samsung’s original RFS-based storage. The fix is about reformatting specific data partitions into Linux ext4 format, and by doing that, you can expect 200-300% of improvement. The applications no longer run with intermittent freezes (caused by the lag in the file system access), and responses are therefore almost instantaneously.
So one would think, with a 200-300% improvement in performance, what is there to optimise further?
Now Samsung Galaxy S comes with 512MB of RAM, as you would expect from a top tier smart phones in the market. The problem with Galaxy S, is that the amount of RAM available for end user, is only 304MB. There are more than 200MB of RAM reserved for the system, such as video, android OS, etc. It didn’t help when Android has a bad habit of loading installed applications and widgets on start up, which means by the time your phone boots up successfully, you would be lucky to have 80MB RAM free for use. Now in Froyo, the memory management is far more robust than Eclair, but still, with a limited amount of free memory, you end up having frequent memory clean up performed by the OS, resulting in unnecessary instability in the system. Both ykk_five and hardcore researched and figured out the kernel configuration for reserved memory. With some trial and error (as eliminating memory reservation causes problem with certain applications such as video recording or 3G video call), the folks in xda-developers established the optimal memory configuration. The result is 341MB of available memory (as compared to 304MB). That ensures some stability much needed in the Samsung Galaxy S.
And you would think by now; Samsung must have done something wrong if any more tweaks can be uncovered. You bet! The question now is how much have we optimised the Cortex A8 processor, i.e. the brain of Galaxy S. When looking at the kernel source code, folks have figured out that there are compiler flags we could use to compile the kernel to take advantage of the A8 Cortex CPU architecture. Not only that, the team has figured that the CPU can be over-clocked, just like how the PC geeks would have done to their desktop processors. Additionally, the CPU is currently running at a voltage level that can be further tweaked, i.e. reducing the voltage consumption value for each CPU frequency step. The end result, is a turbo-charged but super “air-cooled” (and efficient) Galaxy-S. Unfortunately, there is no real tool out there to measure CPU voltage consumption scientifically, so one can only rely on feel (e.g. lower temperature) and experience (battery consumption level). That said, the under-volt tweak is still being refined as we speak, just to determine the optimal level of voltage that is low enough but not at the expense of CPU running reliably at the desired frequency.
The final installment of the tweak is display. supercurio had definitely done far more research than anybody in xda-developers, and probably even in Samsung development team, to improve on the display gamma and sharpness. More explanation can be found in his web-site, so I wouldn’t regurgitate what has already been documented.
And of course, there are some minor tweaks I did along the way, as I touched the source code for the above tweaks. However, these are experimental at this point, it’s probably not smart for me to disclose until I can conclusively determine the value of such tweaks.
Did I mention the code name of the kernel I have customised? Yet Another Optimised Kernel (YA OK!) … So go flash this kernel if you happen to own a Galaxy S (sorry only for Europe and Asia Galaxy S owners) and want to turbo charge your phone. You will be surprise how buttery smooth your phone is, and it is definitely much faster than the Voodoo’ed Galaxy S I had awhile back.
Here’s a quick video capture of my Galaxy S running on YA OK Kernel. Enjoy.
When Microsoft first launched their Application Marketplace, the number of applications are so limited that you feel like entering a boutique shop selling or showcasing limited edition products.
After 3 years (or is it 4?), Apple (and their loyal fans) always like to boast about the high volume of applications available in their Appstore. The last I read they claimed to have 200,000 applications available for download. But in reality, how many of them are really useful, and how many of them would really catch your attention for a download? Apple Appstore therefore is like a big superstore or hypermarket, not just because there’s a wide variety of products you can choose from, but more importantly you are either clueless what exactly you need, or you are just bored that you want to shop around.
Now Google had recently claimed that they have reached the milestone of 75000 apps in their Android market. With just 1/3 of what Apple Appstore has, Android market is just like a farmer’s market (or in local context, a wet market), provides all the essential and necessity goods without the bells and whistles. Android Market is just that for the current moment. But like a typical wet market, it’ll transform overtime, and I will not be surprised that Android Market becomes a “superstore” in near future.
So the point being? Application store in terms of application counts is no longer relevant anymore. What matters more will be the quality of the applications available, and that is not just about the user interface, but also the functionalities the application provides. Strip away the useless apps in Apple Appstore for example, you probably only have 1/3 (I am being conservative here) of them that’s worthy for download and use. So keep an open mind (myself included), ask yourself what applications you need, and shop around to see which platform offers the best application that best meets your need, not how many you can download.
my unusually shy nephew wrote this, in response to the latest verdict by the court on the recent legal dispute by two clowns on the sale of Liverpool club to New England Sports Venture.
Built by Billy Shanks,
Destroyed by Silly Yanks.
They’re gone, a new era is born.
Oh dear, here’s our saviour!
John Henry,
it’s not the fricking money lenny (G&H)
Get the Hell out,
Cos’ the fans of Liverpool shout,
YOU WILL ALWAYS WALK ALONE.
YNWA.
It has been a very bizarre and tiring week, to say the least.
It has been 3.5 years since I took my current job position. And it has been that long since I work under odd hours, having to engage my colleagues in all 3 regions across the globe. At times, I works round the clock, 4 hours in the morning at the office, rest for 2 hours before 3 hours of conference call with the Europeans in the afternoon. The day unfortunately doesn’t end there. A couple of hours break in the evening before a series of long night calls till 2-3am. I do find that it has been more physically very demanding these days for me to attend the night calls. Few days ago, I attended 2 nights of meetings (from 11pm to 8am, for what’s worth), and I took two days to recuperate. I wonder how long can such insane routine last.
Over the weekend, my car refused to start. Initially suspected of a flat battery, it turned out that the likely cause is a fuel pump failure. It was a Sunday morning, so I had to have it towed to the workshop and by Monday, we shall know what and how much will be the damage.
The week ended with my favorite club, Liverpool, lost to a minor club, Blackpool at home. Seriously, this is really f**ked up, and I hope Roy gets the booting soon. There’s a good reason why he spent his 30 over years of managerial positions with lesser clubs and winning nothing. Resume does not lie, there is so much you can sweet coat it.
End of…
Recent conversations had rekindled my interest in Confucius study. I come across this article, which I thought is a good summary of the core values of Confucius teaching.
儒家文化的细解
儒家文化具体包括“仁、义、礼、智、信、忠、孝、悌、节、恕、勇、让”十二个字，这12个字就是儒家的核心，能真正做到这些就足够了。儒家文化不但不应该被抛弃的，而且应该与时俱进，发展光大。
仁
仁：爱人。孔子思想体系的理论核心。它是孔子社会政治、伦理道德的最高理想和标准，也反映他的哲学观点，对后世影响亦甚深远。仁体现在教育思想和实践上是”有教无类”，春秋时代学在官府，孔子首开私学，弟子不问出身贵贱敏钝，均可来受教。仁体现在政治上是强调”德冶”，德冶的基本精神实质是泛爱众和博施济众，孔子把仁引入礼中，变传统” 礼治”为”德治”，他并没有否定”礼治”，他的”德治”无疑是对”礼治”的继承和改造。爱人既为仁的实质和基本内容，而此种爱人又是推己及人，由亲亲而扩大到泛众。义
义：原指”宜”，即行为适合于”礼”。孔子以”义”作为评判人们的思想、行为的道德原则。礼
礼：孔子及儒家的政治与伦理范畴。在长期的历史发展中，”礼”作为中国封建社会的道德规范和生活准则，对中华民族精神素质的培养起了重要作用，但随着社会的变革和发展，特别是封建社会后期，它越来越成为束缚人们思想、行为的绳索，影响了社会的进步和发展。智
智：同”知”，孔子的认识论和伦理学的基本范畴。指知道、了解、见解、知识、聪明、智慧等。内涵主要涉及知的性质、知的来源、知的内容、知的效果等几方面。关于知的性质，孔子认为，知是一个道德范畴，是一种人的行为规范知识。信
信：指待人处事的诚实不欺，言行一致的态度。为儒家的”五常”之一。孔子将”信”作为”仁”的重要体现，是贤者必备的品德，凡在言论和行为上做到真实无妄，便能取得他人的信任，当权者讲信用，百姓也会以真情相待而不欺上。恕
恕：己所不欲，勿施于人，包含有宽恕、容人之意。忠忠：己欲立而立人，己欲达而达人。孔子认为忠乃表现于与人交往中的忠诚老实。
孝
孝：孔子认为孝悌是仁的基础，孝不仅限于对父母的赡养，而应着重对父母和长辈的尊重，认为如缺乏孝敬之心，赡养父母也就视同于饲养犬，乃大逆不孝。孔子还认为父母可能有过失，儿女应该婉言规劝，力求其改正，并非对父母绝对服从。这些思想正是中国古代道德文明的体现。然而孔子论孝，还讲”父母在，不远游”， “三年无改于父之道，可谓孝矣”，表现了其时代的局限性。孝被后世之儒定为繁琐仪式，《礼记》中规定父母死后”水浆不入口，三日不举火”，”哭泣无数”以至”身病体羸”变成精神和肉体的自我摧残。宋明时代把孝道作为道德论中最重要的范畴之一，理学家朱熹提倡父权绝对化。孝观念，在不同历史时期的演变中，剔除宣扬封建主义糟粕外，也有一些合理因素，提倡子女对父母的”尊”、”敬”、”养老”，将孝亲与忠于民族大义相结合，主张死后薄葬节用等。悌
悌：指对兄长的敬爱之情。孔子非常重视悌的品德，其弟子有若根据他的思想，把悌与孝并称，视之”为仁之本”。节
气节和节操。1、社会指一个人在政治上、道德上的坚定性。对内，气节表示对一定的政治制度、政治理想和道德理想的坚定信仰。对外，气节则指在国家和民族遭到外敌侵犯时，能挺身而出，以国家民族利益为重，坚持斗争。乃至献出个人生命。《荀子.君子》：“节者，死生此者也。”2、又称“贞节”。为封建时代约束妇女的道德规范。即要求妇女谨守闺门，不与男子接触，婚后要“从一而终”，夫死不得再嫁，要为丈夫终身守节，甚至殉夫。《二程遗书》卷二二下：“然饿死事极小，失节事极大。”鲁迅《坟.我之节烈观》：“我依据以上的事实和理由，要断定节烈这事是：极难，极苦，不愿身受。然而不利自他，无益社会国家，于人生将来又毫无意义的行为，现在已经失了存在的生命和价值。”恕
中国古代的伦理道德观念。“恕”要求推己及人，自己不想做的事，不强加给别人。在孔子的有关伦理学说中，“忠”与“恕”是并列的。因“恕”而得 “忠”，为“忠”以行“恕”。“忠恕”是实行“仁”的方法，是“仁”的内容。同时又是孔子思想的一贯之道。《论语.里仁》：“子曰：‘参乎！吾道一以贯之。’曾子曰：‘唯！’子出，门人问曰：‘何谓也？’曾子曰：‘夫子之道，忠恕而已矣。’”朱熹集注：“尽己之谓忠，推己之谓恕。而已矣者，竭尽而无余之辞也。”又《卫灵公》：“子贡问曰：‘有”一言而可以终身行之者乎？’子曰：‘其恕乎。己所不欲，勿施于人。’”勇
儒家的伦理范畴。指果断、勇敢。孔子把“勇”作为施“仁”的条件之一。“勇”必须符合“仁、义、礼、智”，而且不能“疾贫”，才能成其为勇。《论语.宪问》：“仁者必有勇。”又《阳货》：“君子有勇而无义为乱。”又《子罕》：“知者不惑，仁者不忧，勇者不惧。”让
指谦让、礼让。对人的谦让是中华民族的一种传统美德。《孟子.公孙丑上》：“无恻隐之心，非人也；无羞恶之心，非人也；无辞让之心，非人也；无是非之心，非人也。恻隐之心，仁之端也；羞恶之心，义之端也；辞让之心，礼之端也；是非之心，智之端也。
The article exerpt is taken from this site
zen online journal 
