HTC Touch Pro - I want one!

One of the guys at work I know has one and it looks very nice.

He had the HTC TYTN II, but then he lost it.

It was good timing in a sense, as the HTC Touch Pro had just been released in the UK. So he ordered it online and got it shipped over. Did I say it looked nice?

Awesome phone, better than his old one. It looks to be slightly smaller, but perhaps a bit thicker/chunkier. The black finish is nice, although I am not sure if I am a fan of the keyboard, as I currently use the O2 Atom Exec, and I'm used to not having a physical keyboard (after all, if I need one, it can display one on the screen for me :)

Apparently it was supposed to be released on Friday, but the store I went to said there was a delay/problem, so probably not until next week. I wonder how cheap they can make it - what kind of deal can they do for me. I don't think I need one, but I would definitely like to buy one. The question is how much, and can I justify it to the minister of finance...

Last camera purchase - Canon Powershot G9

So it transpired that my relatively new Canon Powershot G7 (which I purchased on an overseas trip in 2007) decided to give me grief and die...

Well, at least it was under Japanese domestic warranty, so I had to ask a good friend of mine (who happened to be visiting Australia) to take it back to Japan with him for a warranty repair.

But what would I do for a camera in the mean-time???

So I decided to give Canon another go. So this time I bought the Canon Powershot G9 (since the G7 has been superceded). Is it much better than the last one? I guess so, I can't really tell that there is much difference - I still like the sharp images that my 5 year old Sony DSC-V1 puts out.

I am happy that I got the G7 back from my friend, and I am happy that it works without dramas.

Let's see how long this keeps up.

'tards driving big 4wd's in the city

So I'm driving through the north side of Sydney this morning, and its rainy and all....
Some freakin r*tard in a White Mitsubishi Pajero runs straight into the freakin roundabout and nearly causes an accident! You b*astard - you know who you are. You should not be driving a damn 4wd in the city, and with your obvious lack of regard of the road rules, you should not be holding a drivers license at all.
I really hate how so many 4wd drivers drive as if they own the road. For those of you who never take the vehicle off road (especially you soccer mums) you should be ashamed of yourselves. I hope you squirm every time you fill up your (massive) fuel tank, or have to replace your expensive (semi off-road) tyres. I wouldn't have such a problem if most of the people who drove them actually used them in the bush most of the time (driving the thing on the beach once in 10 years does not count).
Thank you for adding extra greenhouse gasses, guzzling up the fuel, and being so selfish.
It's days like this that you have to be thankful that you can see the light, and that there is hope - there is so much room for these guys to improve!

Australia Day

January 26th is Australia Day.
Brilliant.
Have a great Australia Day - And enjoy.

Samsung S1050B

I thought I'd comment on this digital camera.

I saw it on sale at Dick Smith Electronics (DSE), for the very cheap price of AUD $248
After reading up on the specifications, and also having a quick chat at DP Review, I thought I would try it out (The brilliant thing about buying from Dick Smith is the 14day money back guarantee).

Anyway, this camera is very impressive on paper. The specifications state 10Megapixels, and it records MPEG at 800 x 600 at 20fps. This is better than most other compact digicams.

Actually, I should mention the reason I was looking at this camera in the first place. I purchased a Canon Powershot G7 back in June 2007, when I was on a business trip in Tokyo. The price was good - in fact, much better than any price I could get back in Sydney, Australia. Unfortunately, ours is now broken (the lens will not retract - Google says E18 error!). I am quite sure that is most probably due to Exceptionally POOR design, manufacturing process, and/or quality control on Canon's behalf. They must know it, since my camera is only covered by a domestic Japanese warranty. A quick call to Canon Australia's service centre, and they reckon it would be AUD $450 to replace the lens (the comment from a service guy says "the error involves the lens, therefore we must replace it!").

Anyway, I am ranting and raving.... Getting back to the Samsung S1050B - just don't think its going to be anywhere near as good as the Canon, because it is not. I took it back to DSE, where they happily refunded me. I think I'll either look at getting a Canon Powershot G9 (the replacement model for the G7 - funny that it didn't stay on the market for very long before being replaced!!!!!), or look at something else.

Pressed for time

Don't you often feel pressed for time...
Too many things that need to be done...
Too little time to give each task the attention it deserves...

Well, I haven't got any solution to this. Just blogging about not having enough time to do everything that ought to be done. Maybe I'll figure out a better strategy than using beepy diaries :)

RIP Heath Ledger!

So Heath Ledger passed away - thats another Aussie Legend passing away at a young age.
-i meant to post this a few days ago, but got caught up with a few things.

Bye Bye laptop...

After all that trouble (and getting a new screen installed)...

I ended up selling the beast - so I can think (dream) about getting a new one next year.

This one is when I am not looking straight on - angle titled back 

This one with some more light in the room 

This is a photo with the new LCD panel installed - taken in morning, not at night so not total darkness 

This is a shot of the Powermiser... 

Funny it says 73kHz Horizontal frequency instead of 75... 

Lights off#3 

Lights ON#2 

Lights ON#1 

Lights off #2 

All lights off #1 

LCD Leakage...

Well, here are the photos of the LCD leakage.
Dell doesn't recognise my Service Tag yet, so I cannot verify the exact LCD screen type. The packing slip says K9975... Powerstrip says the manufacturer is Seiko-Epson, model is SEC5557...