I don't often come across sites that blow my mind. This is going to be the next best thing if not it IS already the BEST thing.

If you've been looking for the one place to listen to free streaming music, FineTune is the place. You can create your own playlist from the gazillions of albums available (they've got the most current of everything!) or you can simply search for an artists ie. Gwen Stefani, and next thing you know, you'll be listening to Gwen's station! You'll hear every Gwen Stefani song plus all other artists that are similar to Gwen.

The one thing I REALLY like about FineTune is that it learns and figures out the kind of music you like listening to. They've got this thing called FingerPrint which kinda checks the kind of music you've listened to in the past and automatically recommends you similar artists or related artists giving you a FRESH list of songs that is sure to get you 'head-banging' all the time! :)

Say for example you're listening to a My Chemical Romance playlist. From time to time, they'll slot in songs that are similar to My Chemical Romance's genre. It surprises me everytime - and because it kinda learns your personality, every song they play suits your taste!

In short, FineTune is by far the most advanced & intelligent audio streaming site I've used, it's fast and BEST of all, it's FREE!

If it's FREE, I don't see any harm trying it :) So check it out...!

It was a Friday when Ne Ne, the Show's Producer asked me to fetch her home. Was pretty alright as :

1. I've never been to Ne Ne's place
2. It'd be the best opportunity to know where she lives so that crashing whatever party she plans to have in the future would be an easy task

So we left KLIA and headed towards an inner part of Sepang (very close the LCCT airport). Did a couple of turns and there I was at Ne Ne's place. Dropped her off and left for home.

That was when it all began...

I switched on my trustee lil' GPS navigator - Garmin, pointed to home and ahead I went...

After a good 15 minutes of 'out-of-bearing' driving not knowing exactly where my Garmin was taking me to, I arrived at a strange looking town...



Out of no where came this town which had mountains surrounding it and shop lots that were extremely old yet very well maintained. It felt like I was in a forgotten part of the city... some place that was very near Cameron Highlands or some town that's just hundreds of KM away from KL... (yet it was just 15 minutes away from KLIA!). The longer I stayed in the area, the stranger it became, phone numbers in the area started with "06"!

Since it was Friday, I told myself, I'm going to enjoy this. I've always enjoyed road trips; especially ones that lead me through small kampungs (villages) or towns. I slowed the car down and absorbed it all... I felt like I was on a holiday...



Since I haven't had lunch, I decided to just pop by one of the shops along the way...



Parked the car right in front of this really really really old chinese shop. Got in and the first thing that caught my attention was the smell - the old woody shop smell that you'd only get in old shop houses / lots in places like Melaka. Sat down, asked for the house specialty and ate...



It was not exactly the most tasty meal BUT just watching the day go by, old grandpas occupying some of the tables and watching the scenery certainly said something to me...

In Malaysia, WE CAN have a holiday anywhere. The price? A bit of petrol and a 5 ringgit meal. Ahh... I love this country :)

Wassup! Okay, it's been a turbulent ride for the past week or so - which pretty much explains why I haven't been posting. It's all down to one thing... I had an itchy butt - decided to checkout the .mac service which was recently 'renewed' and is now packed with with tonnes of new features such as the Gallery which allows you to view photos in a never before seen way on the web plus a couple of other stuff. The one thing that really caught my eye was the upgraded 10 GB space compared to the 1 GB capacity Apple's .mac had before.

.mac, not exactly my thing
Let's just say, I got myself an account and decided it didn't exactly suit my needs. Capacity was great but when it came to blogging and stuff, I just couldn't use .mac - I missed blogger.com - so here I am... back :)

I've also been experimenting with Video Blogging - something fresh to play with. So here you go, one of my very first video blogs :

A 'Fishy' Meal Experience

Sometimes, you'll come across technology that simply works. I was going through some of the apps in my Mac today and found this application called iSync - which btw comes with the Mac and is absolutely truly FREE!

What it basically does is it connects to a compatible mobile device and backs up your important contacts and calendar entries onto applications such as Contacts and iCal. Why do you need to do that? Imagine losing your phone and losing EVERYTHING!

On PCs... the task can be a little bit more daunting where you've got to install with massive application provided by Nokia and then get the cable hooked up or if you are more adventurous then go into the daunting task of getting your mobile phone connected via Bluetooth - which will end up with tonnes of additional configuration.

So how simple is it really to do it on a mac?

1. Go to this website -> Nokia's Apple Site. Here is where you pick your mobile phone from a list and download a small software which you'll install
   
   
2. Once downloaded, get it installed
   
   
3. Switch on the Bluetooth on your mobile phone (make sure it's in discoverable mode), click on the Bluetooth logo at the top right corner of your mac and click "Set-up bluetooth device"
   
   
4. Once step 3 is done, start iSync, click Sync Devices followed by "Add a Device" and the rest is self explanatory... a guide is given on screen.
   
   
5. Hit Sync and voila! - depending on your phone book, mine had over 300 individual contact names with multiple numbers and took under 30 seconds!
   

These 5 steps are only required the first time. Once your phone is recognized by your Mac, the next time you want to do a Sync (Backup), just start iSync and hit Sync!

Here's how mine looked like once it was set-up :)



Trust me, it might seem like a lot of work but it's really quite simple.

Do it once a month and you'll have that nice tingling feeling telling you that if anything happens to your phone, there's always plan B :)

I've always wanted a personal notebook... actually, to be more precise, I've always wanted a Mac notebook. Only problem? Too darn expensive! The only notebook I have is for work and doesn't even belong to me.

You know, the whole 'wanting it all' syndrome - is difficult to defeat. If you don't own it, you don't have it - PERIOD.

So there, I've explained myself :) Sometimes I need a tad bit of convincing to get me to get myself something. Anyway, like I said, I've always wanted a personal mac notebook and so the time came when I dropped by this Apple Store called SMACKED at Bangsar Village II.

To me, customer service comes above all else and trust me, this is one place that holds true to that. The moment I got in, without even thinking if I would buy anything, a dude name "Benny" came and started a nice, calm, water threading approach - no hard sell whatsoever, he just came, asked what I was looking at and offered some suggestions.

After looking at the Macbook and my budget, I thanked him and left (Macbook-less). Everytime I returned to SMACKED, I'll take another look at the same Macbook met by "Benny" whom I believe would have gotten the idea that I wouldn't be buying one anytime soon.

It lasted for a good 3 months - savings, thinking, thought. Then FINALLY...

Just a couple of days back, I decided - if I don't get it now, I'll never get it. I wanted it badly... really really really badly... So my mind was SET - BUT what colour? The MacBook comes in both white and black! Another dilemma unfolds...

So I started scouring the web for answers, some said white for a classic look, some said black for a more sleek look... I was confused. The final solution? Since I had a Yahoo! Answers account, I logged right in - posted my question and within minutes I had 8 answers! - The answer - WHITE

Gave a call to Benny and told him to prepare a white macbook... so the moment I arrived, there it was, waiting for me to caress it... to feel it... to unfold it...

I'll let the rest of the pictures speak for itself...








<- and here's a picture taken using the built-in iSight & Apple's Photo Booth software...

Oh by the way, this entry was written using the white-e and no... I'm not being racist... :)

Sometimes, a dog needs airing...
Not exactly the kind of thing you'd like to see while you're dining... looked to my right and there he was... Puffy... the father of the 6 pups airing himself in the 'nether region'...

Can't blame him... it was a REALLY REALLY warm day... and it certainly doesn't help with that much hair / fur... :)

It's literally destroying, expunging, obliterating, eliminating (you get the idea) EVERY trace of its owner's presence.

It removes all phone book entries, all calendar entries, all call logs - literally making the phone seem brand spanking new... Traces of the phone being used will be gone (with the exception of the memory card - which you'll have to format manually)

And why would I want to do that?
It's like reformatting your PC / MAC. Sometimes you feel like it needs a bit of spring cleaning but you're just too darn lazy to clean it - so why not WIPE it completely clean? Here's how you do that on a Nokia N95.

Not sure if it works for other Nokia N-Series mobile phones but it's worth a try :)

Behold - the self-destruct code - *#7370# (don't panic the phone will still
work fine after this - it's just that user data will be wiped-off)

Enjoy! :)

The iPhone!!! It's NUTS! It's true... it wasn't a dream... and no, it's not mine coz it'll be kinda silly since the phone doesn't exactly work in Malaysia (unless you've got a sim-less mobile line based in the US and roam in Malaysia - which can cost something 5 ringgit per minute for local calls :))... the problem is that the iPhone doesn't support sim cards...

Anyway, back to the phone. Fabes and I were heading home after work so we boarded the aerotrain (yes the station is located all the way in the International Departure Hall - Satellite building) and there we met a couple of guys who just came back from Los Angeles. One of them was a Malaysian who works in the US. First thing that came out of my mouth was... "So, did anyone get an iPhone?"...

True enough, one dude said "I didn't but HE did..." I GLARED at him. He took out the phone from his backpack and behold... the iPhone just centimeters away from me. I grabbed it, apologized for being such a sakai and started caressing, poking and meddling.

First few impressions, it was SOLID. Very very solid but slim. All these while, I've been seeing this phone on the computer screen. All the pictures, all the reviews, the hype and finally... I had it - in metal and diodes... right before me.


I got it switched on and started playing with a couple of things, starting apps such as the built-in supposedly best mobile browser in the world "safari"... it loaded up as soon as I touched the screen then I tried the 2-point touch feature where you "pinch" the screen to zoom out and "expand with your fingers" to zoom in. Everything was extremely responsive. There was no delay whatsoever. I've been using mobile phones for a while now (in fact, I've tried over 50 phones) and this is the fastest, most responsive phone I've ever touched.

The interface was simple - just simple. There were no cluttered confusing buttons. Just simple... navigation. With the "safari" browser opened, I took a closer look at the product's case - admiring it's shining beauty when suddenly, the screen turned and switched to landscape mode when I turned the product to a particular angle - it was magical.

The screen was simply gorgeous... it was BIG... the "home" button had a very nice tactile feel... I didn't get to play with the on-screen predictive keyboard though... :( wanted to try more features such as the camera, go through the contact list, checkout the widescreen iPod but I only had a 3-minute ride on the aerotrain and that's all the time I had...

BUT... from the brief moment I had with the phone - I must say, Apple's done it again - another revolutionary product. I'm amazed... shocked to the highest level - so when is it arriving in Malaysia?