2 posts tagged “firmware”
I've been terribly busy and sick these past few weeks, so do forgive me for this oversized post... LOL... I did notice that, somehow, two words kept cropping up in every segment... and they are "Sony" and "touch" ... Is this really all there is to my life!? (O__o) LOL
Anyhow, this post is really as pointless as it is long, so if you do decide to scroll down... don't say I didn't warn you... LOL (^__^")
Birthday and Christmas Rolled into One Giant Gift
After six years of loyal service, the time has come to decommission my Casio Exilim digital camera to make way for my new Sony DSC-T200. This camera came as a gift from my sister and mother, both of whom got it for me as a combined birthday-Christmas present.
My jaw dropped when I first got it... I never expected to get something like this as a gift and it seemed almost sinful to accept it! But being the sinner I am, I took it nonetheless... LOL. Seriously though, "THANK YOU" to the two of you... never in my dreams would I have thought that I would get something like this as a gift! m(_ _)m
The functionality found in this camera really made me feel out-of-date... My previous understanding of point-and-shoot cameras are simply that they have standard buttons to operate the camera with. After receiving the T200 though, I realised that times have changed and touch is really the next big thing in input interfaces.
Yup. As if it was a recent discovery to me, the T200 uses touch screen technology to up the ante on its competition. It may sound like a novelty at first but after playing around with it, it's clear that the touch panel provides more functionality than previously possible.
Functions such as pointing out a subject to focus on even if it is not at the centre of the viewfinder and editing specific areas of a picture with the touch screen, instead of editing an entire picture.
Beyond the advantages of touch however, the T200 is also equipped with several nifty features like the "Smile Shutter".
In "Smile Shutter" mode, the camera only snaps the picture when it detects that everyone in the picture is smiling. The way it's set up actually makes for some really reliable results and frankly, I've gotten more pictures of big smiles under this mode than I've ever had with my old camera.
I have to say again that I never dared to wish for a gift as cool as this. So once more, a million thanks to my mom and sis for this super awesome gift. You can expect pictures from this little baby to be posted here in the near future! \(^ o ^)/
Continuing on with all my Sony praising (it's hard to say I'm not a Sony fanboy... but I really try not to be... LOL), we return to the Playstation family in the next segment...
The Chronicles of Firmware: The Blessed Son(y) and The Poisoned Apple
It wasn't very long ago that I was singing praises about firmware updates and how they expanded functionality on the devices they were on. Certainly, it's hard to fault Sony for continuing to push the limits of what the Playstation family could do with updated firmware.
In the latest Playstation 3 firmware update, Sony expanded the types of files it was capable of playing to include DivX - the format in which most of my drama is encoded. The best part obviously comes when combined with Remote Play, which allows you to stream all your media from wherever you are!
On the right, for example, the hugely successful 2007 comedy 有閑倶楽部 (Yukan Club) is being streamed over to the PSP via wireless network.
Also buried in that firmware bundle is an awesome music visualiser called Gaia. It's a deviation from the normal trance-like music visualisations in that it's a visualiser that simply features our blue planet floating in space. The picture below is of one among several aspects where the sun rises from the Earth. The fact that Aya Kamiki (上木彩矢) was singing A constellation in the picture is, in fact, coincidental... (^___^")
At this point, I doubt I could be any clearer about my allegiance to Sony, LOL, but they are treating me so well - why hate? In fact, it's probably because Sony is treating me so well that I'm so very unimpressed with Apple...
"Unimpressed" actually seems like an understatement considering how annoyed I am over the whole affair. I can understand that Apple is a poor company and needs to milk customers for maximum profit, but deciding to charge so high a price for a minor iPod touch firmware upgrade borders on the ludicrous.
If it's only the price though, I'd be fine with that since I simply won't pay, but the darned upgrade installs itself into the iPod touch and just sits there - dormant. Sure, I was annoyed but not as annoyed as when I found out that my album art was getting messed up all of a sudden! (>__<) (A quick Google search made me realise that I am not alone)
Seriously, everything was fine until I installed the blasted pay-me-to-work update... Both my iTunes and iPod nano have no problems with the album art and neither did my iPod touch before this... Really, there is something very disturbing about listening to Ai-chin's 恋愛写真 while staring at Sum 41's Does this Look Infected? album art... *sigh*
Anyhow, I should stop ranting now - being upset isn't good for the health, so instead, let me turn my attention to Ai-chin for a dose of instant relief! (^___^)v
Ai-chin and avex's First High-Definition Excursion
On January 1st, 2008, avex trax released their first concert on high-definition disc mediums, that is, on HD-DVD and Blu-ray and it would be Ai-chin that would lead the charge with [LOVE IS BORN] ~4th Anniversary 2007~ at Hibiya-Yagai Ongaku-Do on 9th September 2007. (You can see that the Japanese don't really mind their titles going on and on and on... LOL)
To date, she has had two [LOVE IS BORN] concerts - one in 2006 and the last, well, in 2007. These concerts are special because they fall on her birthday and provide her with a vehicle to celebrate the occasion with her biggest fans. The concerts also celebrate her time as a musician because it was one day after her birthday in 2003 that she debuted in the Japanese music scene. This entire concept took shape in 2006 because that was the year she celebrated her 24th birthday, which is significant only in that that is the age in which an individual reaches the second cycle of their Chinese zodiac sign. (Like me, Ai-chin also has a dog for her zodiac, LOL (^___^"))
In general, the mood of these concerts are actually very different from that of her other concerts because she is a lot more relaxed here and the audience is always super in-tune with Ai-chin. Seriously, she only has to lift a finger and everyone in the audience knows what to do! Heck, even in the beginning when she still had yet to show up, everybody knew what to do! How is that for artist-fan synergy? (^___^)v
Also in these events, she will treat fans with an early live performance of her then-upcoming single as well as deliver touching renditions of her other works - such as an acoustic version of プラネタリウム (planetarium) and a solo piano version of 夏空 (natsuzora). She would also go ahead and do things that she probably won't do in her more "official" concerts... things such as playing team skip rope in the middle of a song and things like this...
Seriously, she's been practising that for three months... LOL... and it was in front of this crowd that she finally showed off her prowess in the field of strings. It wasn't quite Vanessa Mae, but then again, ample warning was given to anyone who dared listen before she put bow to string. (^___^")
In the end, it's nice to see that the Japanese music industry is slowly but surely moving on into the high-definition age. Sony Records, unsurprisingly, led the charge with Mika Nakashima's (中島美嘉) LET'S MUSIC TOUR 2005 but like avex trax, other record companies are slowly picking up the technology to deliver the high-definition experience to consumers... and seriously, I will take Ai-chin no other way... well, that is until NHK comes through with their UHV* technology
*In Japan, high-definition is called Hi-Vision, so UHV is UHD which is ultra high-definition... preliminary tests have shown that because the image quality is so clear and so real, viewers get nauseous watching it... not a good sign at all, but Ai-chin in UHV? I'll live through it, LOL. (^__^")
What a long pointless post... (-___-")
Right, it really is about time for me to bring this post to a close. I've been going on for what seems like an eternity on relatively pointless stuff - but stuff I really wanted to share nonetheless, LOL.
Anyway, be sure to tune your frequencies to UH21.2 "the HEART STATION" because a translation post will be coming shortly on the heels of this post. (By the way, ayaka's coming single is also the pinnacle of awesomeness!!!!!!!!!!! ARRGGHHH~~ so many pinnacles of awesomeness, what am I to do!? LOL)
Rain, heavy as bullets, beat down on men in battered fatigues. Bursts of gunfire sketch lighted outlines jousting, as if in rotoscope, through the streets of a war-torn Middle Eastern city. Flanked from all positions - options now a luxury - we moved on reflexes, scrambling from wet alley to wet alley while trading bullets with militiamen.
Suddenly, the cacophony of crumbling brick turned into the sickening sound of tearing flesh and crunching bone.
Thud.
Alvarez. It was Alvarez!
The barrage of gunfire kept pouring in beat with the droplets of rain - must keep moving.
Cover. Have to get to cover. Cover...
...Right... This is why a Writers' Guild is needed - to ensure pieces like this are banned from ever reaching the public sphere! Anyhow, that's my attempt at Call of Duty 4 fanfic... (-___-")
Well, It's been quite a busy month in terms of work as well as leisure time as the past month or so has seen a massive amount of excellent gaming titles released... The amount of games I have bought has led to a very big disagreement between me and my wallet, LOL. (^___^") In short, my wallet is very displeased with me...
And although I so desperately want an XBOX360, it's good that I do not have one... otherwise, I would be more broke than broke can be (well, I am still waiting for an indication that Microsoft has fixed their hardware deficiencies... unlike in North America, XBOX360 customer support isn't stellar here...)!
Overall, 2007 has been a great year for games and gamers of all platforms. But there is bad news ahead - the year is still not over and there is still a handful of highly anticipated titles to be released... Sorry wallet... please, please, please bear with me... m(_ _)m
Games aside, I also wanted to talk about firmware updates. For the uninitiated, firmware is basically the software that makes most electronic devices function the way the are supposed to. It's called "firmware" because it is proprietary software that is tailor-made for the device in question.
In seeing a more connected world, corporations have taken to updating their firmware from time to time in order to add functionality as well as bolster security on their devices. It is with that then that I come to talk about the recent firmware updates to the Playstation 3 (PS3) and Playstation Portable (PSP).
I will admit that when I first heard the features that will be added to the update, I was actually very disappointed. Of all things, Sony still has yet to add in-game messaging to the PS3 - having to exit my game in order to read and send messages to friends is not my idea of fun...
Nonetheless, when I finally did get the update, my heart warmed and I began to realise just how cool Remote Start is, LOL. Remote Start allows the user to turn the PS3 on and off with the PSP from anywhere in the world. Understandably, turning the PS3 on and off isn't all that cool - but being able to access my media and applications on the PS3 from wherever I am is downright awesome!
To exemplify, the picture of Ai-chin pouring her heart into 恋愛写真 on the PSP above was taken after turning on the PS3 via the internet and then using it as I would at home. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it's just been announced that the PS3 will soon be able to play DivX video files... which means that I could soon utilise this to watch drama from wherever I am! ~~\(^ o ^)/~~ So yea, thank you Sony!!!
Keeping with this firmware talk, another company that needs to be blessed for a firmware update is Apple and the iPod touch's upgrade to version 1.1.2 of firmware. The major function added in this update is the ability to edit and add calendar events directly on the iPod touch.
I have to admit that I wasn't half excited for the iPod touch when Steve Jobs announced it a short while back... At the time, I was actually looking for a PDA to keep myself more organised with since I was suffering from a terrible bout of appointment-forgetfulness syndrome...
As things would have it though, Hong Kong isn't a place for English PDAs... No, every PDA sold in Hong Kong only functions in Chinese (I could speak and listen alright but according to my girlfriend, my reading and writing are handicapped at best - heck, most recognition of Chinese characters come from an understanding of Japanese kanji... (-___-")).
It was in that way that I was left with a choice between a Chinese PDA or a smart phone like the Blackberry... But I wasn't ready to end my love affair with my current phone (true, it's not very smart but I'm not all that smart myself, LOL). In that way, I decided to snoop around the internet to see if I could find anything on this - it wasn't long before I stumbled across people talking about using the iPod touch as a PDA and the rest is - well - history.
Anyhow, thank you Apple for the update - I now forgive that whole bait-and-switch fiasco! LOL. Also, a HUMONGOUSLY OUTRAGEOUSLY GIANT thanks to Mammy for making that pretty pouch for me to carry it around in!! YAY! m(_ _)m
Finally, in case anyone is remotely interested, the picture of the iPod touch shows it playing an artist I have yet to introduce to this blog - Misachi Kyushima (久嶋美さち). She's got quite a distinct style of music that seems to be a mixture of rock and Japanese folk songs at times. She is but one giant list of artists that I hope to eventually introduce to this blog through samples and translations, so stay tuned! (^___^)v
Anyhow, on to spotlighting something that I did more recently... LOL
Dinner at a Central Dai Pai Dong
Rising in the background is the HSBC building and in the fore stands the LegCo building in Central. The HSBC building is said to be built so that it could be easily dismantled and relocated in the event of a dispute that may occur during the handover of Hong Kong (HSBC is, of course, a British bank despite its name). The LegCo building is the place where politicians go and slug it out on legislation and what-not... the seat of government as it were.
Not long after taking that picture, my girlfriend and her friend arrived and it was time to head off towards that dai pai dong experience. A dai pai dong is basically a hawker store that is characterised by cheap food and an environment that is incapable of passing basic hygiene standards, LOL. But even with that understanding, I didn't quite expect to find how "old-school" this dai pai dong was...
Meandering the streets of Central, we came upon a darkened alley with a concrete river of open drain water coursing by. Dimmed lights revealed a haphazard cluster of plastic chairs and tables surrounding an outdoor kitchen that seemed too small to accommodate the size of their own menu. As we took our seats and our orders were taken, it was difficult not to notice two cockroaches engaged in what seemed a game of cops-and-robbers along one side of another closed stall, LOL.
The food was fair in general - not outstanding, but fair enough. The only thing that stood out to my palate was the spicy salt pork cubes... mmm mmm... Spicy salt dishes are so very bad for you but they are always so very good too. (^___^")
Nonetheless, it was encouraging to see the alley become increasingly populated by the area's inhabitants as the night went by - inhabitants like this feline fellow on the left. The whole experience proved to be quite nostalgic as I recall my childhood being marked with visits to such establishments in Penang.
Alas though, one can only run from the law for so long and I have heard that the authorities have asked these fine restaurateurs to relocate into a small vacant shop down the road or face closure. Perhaps I would have sympathised with that feeling of nostalgia and wished more that the authorities leave them be, but having felt something crawl past my feet before my meal was done, I became adamantly supportive of the relocation, LOL. Nonetheless, it was a very nice all-in-all. (^___^")
Game Over
...Behind these fragile walls, the crackling of gunfire seemed a distant memoir. I reached into my pocket to find strength in the amulet Alvarez had given me just days ago. I propped up the rifle against the sill and looked down its cold sterile scope.
The flashing outlines now shape themselves in human mould through the vision of night as I placed the cross-hairs on one of these monstrosities of man. I listened to the slow consistent rhythm of my heart and calmed my breath.
May God rest your soul, Alvarez, as surely as He will rest this man's.
In the last moments of that man's life, I took a long deep breath... and became myself a consequence of war.
(Guess what my next post will be on? LOL)
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