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Adapted with official permission from Creative Stable. I took mostly it all from them and added loads more at the bottom of this article (Had asked some of my friends around for it)

J. - © Jeremy Goh | JeremyGohBlog.com]]> http://jeremygohblog.com/2011/09/15/special-symbols-and-characters-for-facebook-twitter-social-networks-and-instant-messaging/feed/ 0 http://jeremygohblog.com/2011/06/04/canabalt-for-androidapk-unofficially-available-for-download/ http://jeremygohblog.com/2011/06/04/canabalt-for-androidapk-unofficially-available-for-download/#comments Sat, 04 Jun 2011 08:40:40 +0000 Jeremy Goh http://jeremygohblog.com/2011/06/04/canabalt-for-androidapk-unofficially-available-for-download/

Mirror (If it’s down): http://www.get.jeremy-goh.com/CanabaltRajkosto.apk

The hit single wonder Canabalt (Currently available to play on the website and for the iPhone and iPad on the Apple App Store) have been said to be available for Android after releasing it for the iOS platform for over a year. Now that it have almost been half a year since they’ve announced it for Android.

The creator of Canabalt have decided to release the source on GitHub (Which any user can self compile and get the game on the phone). One of the online netizens by the YouTube name of ‘rajkosto’ have uploaded a test video of him running Canabalt for his Android phone and provided a link of his compiled version of Canabalt.

If you need help installing an APK to your Android phone, please see here.

There’s some flaws in this compiled app, so if anyone is able to compile a more recent verison; please contact me and I will update this post, credit to you and provide hosting.

Once again, you can compile it using the sources on GitHub, which probably I will do it someday when I have time. Really!

Get it now, leave a comment below and report back to see if anything needs to be improved, and try to get it to compile, devs!

Cheers!

Less is more.

So what got me thinking is how do some people managed to accomplish so much more for less? (Being less time and less stress, to get things done) Compared to someone working for non stop and achieving half of that results. So looking across the horizon, it seems like that many of those people who wish to accomplish more of less have probably the same mindset. They have a clear goal to meet. (Not aiming wonderlessly around)
They like what they are doing and commonly motivated, so they wouldn’t mind to spend the extra mile in self discovery and exploration.
But before accomplishing less is more, my thoughts flowed back to something which you and I could relate to. It all matters about the attitude of your work, as it plays a really big part of self perception. Being able to accomplish more is clearly just on the surface of water. I think something which matters to you or feel that there is a belonging of what you do is already the first step of success. Being able to love what you do, even though sometimes there are details which is not very obvious to you is the first step to success. You would never take the second step, if you don’t take your first step to success.
I remembered watching a video a long time ago which I would love to share with you. It is a presentation about Zig Zaglar, a really famous American motivation speaker. View the entire video and continue reading once you are done.

I really learned somethings along the way.
- Do you always notice that people who are the problem ever recognize that they are?
- Have you ever notice that when you are going to lose something, than you will take ownership for it?
- You are not going to change anything else, unless you change you.

If you are going to lose something important or precious today, or even dying today, are you really prepared? I had a few friends which pushed their way to success by thinking this few points everyday. Have they ever been prepared and what do they really want to do during their last bit of life?

Step out of the comfort zone and I will see you on the flipside.
Because less isn’t really more; it’s more in you.
Keep it simple and start discovering what you love to do in your daily life and tasks and see the difference instantly.
The eyes are the wonders of the soul.

J.

The device retails at a decently high price, but given the Solid State drive, the price point is understandable. The device should probably work on the Android UI and keep Windows 7 as it’s main operating system. The battery life is not remarkable and could be improved, about 3 hours plus of usage, slightly lesser than a netbook. Given the device’s price point, it should need a closer review especially with upcoming tablets in the market such as the Viewsonic ViewPad.
Overall, the device provides an average user’s day to day needs with an entire Windows OS without lugging the weight.

Windows Updates is still a must though

J.

The students had learnt many self management skills which some I could not disclose due to copyright reasons and I hope to see them to be successful endeavors someday!
Your final results at the end of the day is not due to fate, but rather boundaries which you could control!

Thanks to Mirabel, Keith and other facilitators who had worked with me for this event.

J.

Many people have questions about the newer iPad release, some might even doubt their purchase as many expected more from this release, some people realized that the new product fall short of their expectations. So let me clarify my take of this whole new iPad vs iPad 2 (1.5) saga.
So don’t start thinking that the iPad 2 is just another iPad 1S [Remember iPhone 3G to 3GS?]

Let me take all this new features and ergonomics inspiration as a first generation iPad user to justify for the product purchase.

1) It’s an add on.
True enough, the iPad do not have the capacity to do all things crazy and digital. No matter how Apple tries to add as much capacity on the iPad (like adding Garageband and iMovie), such as the range of apps and products, it still could not take over the entire Macbook / iMac – Mac OS X line of products. And of course, it couldn’t run Flash, which many competitors use that as a selling advantage.

2) It’s a convenient-product
This is a tablet computer (sort of), and many people expected a lot from something which is so portable and thin (Are you serious?). Bulk Vs Computing Power. Like what the old saying goes, one will rise above the other. Do you know that the new iPad 2 is thinner than the iPhone 4?
As compared to the original iPad, do you know that the iPad 2 is now lighter and thinner?

3) What are you expecting?
It’s just a tablet, In my point of view, Apple would never come out with brand new technologies in an instant, if the competition could not live up to the hype. Have you heard of any compiling tablets after the iPad? Okay probably, the Galaxy Tab which is totally reskinned by Samsung and not a native Android UI? The Motorola Xoom? Something which is still not being released to the public yet, with its traumatising pricing? (The specifications of the product makes up for it though, but who needs something that can process so much on an Android?) but in my view, there isn’t a real competitor! Although tons of tablets were released, not one managed to hit it’s sales target as strong as the iPad. And not to mention that some tablets from other manufacturers is actually slow and buggy as hell.

4) Do I totally need this features?

Camera?

Yes, iPad 2 comes with a camera. And yes, don’t most laptops do as well? ( Although I am pretty happy that Apple included Photobooth, which is a type of Neoprint and on the fly image effects and editing application). However, the camera they used is the same as the iPod Touch (4th Gen), which is totally not cutting it. The camera in the rear supports 720P HD video recording is a strong standpoint for the camera, however the image capture is terrible and some of the photos which came out of it is really pixelated and do not capture the essence of the image with washed out colours. At the same note, the camera in the front of the device is only VGA quality, if you remember, it is the same quality as my old Motorola Razr V3 phone. On the other hand, the front camera is only needed for FaceTime, unless you want your friends to see every detail (Including your pimples), you don’t really need a good camera for that. (FaceTime is a video chatting technology by Apple, and since all your video conversations will pass through Apple’s servers, they will not provide HD video calls as it will slow down their servers and increase load)
The camera is not visible, and taking videos on the iPad might need some time for people to get used to.
Final Say: The FaceTime idea is not too compiling as there’s no iOS messenger or a system to find friends who are using an iOS device which contains a camera. On the other hand, the FaceTime idea is not very compelling as it only runs only through Wifi. (Lets not talk about Cydia hacks)

Do I need the faster performance on the iPad?
Probably, I notice that Apple tried to shrimp on the RAM (Which is a component which temporary memory is stored) by providing only 256MB which caused many applications to crash and run out of memory really fast. Especially when they are intensive games or applications that involve heavy processing power. So their answer to that is an Apple A5 chip, which is better than the previous A4 chip as it’s duo core and have double the processing power. However, Apple did not announce and release the specifications for the iPad’s 2 RAM.
From what I understand from other sources, Apple’s point of lowering the RAM is for developers to write better and ‘cleaner’ code for the Operating System to run. The processing power on the iPad is significantly bumped up, but the RAM is still crucial on the device which Apple is keeping quiet about.
Final Say: Unconcluded, despite the better processing power of the device, the RAM is not justified, yet. (Until we see those iFixIt photos!)

Battery Life.
I believe it’s a signature for Apple products, increase all the features and keep the batteries strong and steady is something which Apple took pride in since day one. I currently own an iPad and their claimed 10 hours of battery life not only hits its target and even went further, I have been getting close to 2 to 3 days worth of usage, which is really constant and amazing. Other phones, especially those running on the Android platform, do have quite an issue with the battery usage due to many factors such as multitask and options like that.
Final Say: Leave Apple running in it’s hamster wheel on the power management! It’s doing a good job!

iPad Smart Cover.

In short, its an accessory, but it gets so much attention because it’s made by Apple and the design is in it’s essence. So the quick idea is there’s this cloth you put on the iPad and the device will sleep, you take the cloth out, the device will turn itself back on again.
Final Say: This is actually another sub product of a product for users to purchase, consider all options before you intend to get one.

HDMI output (High Definition Video output to Televisions or Display outlets).

Yes, its important, and once you know that it’s important. Apple would charge you for an optional accessory to go with it, because not everyone use this feature. So it will cost you about another $50 to get the cable to route the video out. However, one feature you get is Video Mirroring, which is finally resolved as its a really big issue on the first generation of the iPad as many people thought that they are able to broadcast any content they see on the iPad to the big screen. However, seldom knew that it will only work for certain supported applications, such as the video app and Apple’s iWork suite, Keynote (Powerpoint), Pages and Numbers.
Some Android tablets have a HDMI port out of the box, but to keep the product slim and the profit higher, a HDMI cable is being sold, but not everyone would need it anyway. Definitely my grandma won’t!
Final Say: You don’t need to be concerned if you are a regular user. If you are a business user, the HDMI cable come with a charging port while you are doing presentations, so it’s quite a trade off even for the price you are paying.

Gyroscope and features like that.

I understand that the strong factor for the iPad is about applications. If you do not have apps, you can probably forget about getting the iPad. Which is why Apple emphasizes a lot on Application development and API usage, which is to utilize all aspects of the hardware that the device have, while maintaining the game in it’s field. Gyroscope is a technology which could be really hard to implement as it is have to do with gravity, and adding so many features into a game could delay development and increase pricing due to the R&D involved. So many games developers actually do not use the gyroscope technology yet, which is quite disappointing as it is such a huge potential. However, the compass is a genius when you are walking around the town area with Google Maps and the accelerometer is a no brainer, almost all the functions rely on it, including changing the device orientations and stuff like that.
Final Say: As compared to the first iPad, a new gyroscope is added, might not be useful, yet.

5) Why I am still a little disappointed.

(I am on the road and this happens, Now do you see the whole big issue)
Many people say the Wifi version of the iPad is a poor man’s device. Although that’s quite true, but they should have added more features to the product. As compared to the 3G iPad, the Wifi iPad do not include GPS and 3G. I mean 3G is definitely justifiable as its a mobile technology which would definitely cost more. But GPS? I mean, it will be awesome if I am able to use the iPad as a GPS unit while driving instead of my phone, with its miniature screen size and a small squeaky speaker. And there’s so many GPS applications on the app store such as Sygic Aura, Tomtom, among many other GPS Navigations applications. Most of the maps is downloaded and use offline anyway. On top of that, many hoped that there will be newer display technologies, such as the Retina Display for the iPad, but given the jump in cost price if that happens, they might hold it off for another product release. Some were hoping that there will an SD card slot for importing music and images, high capacity (apart from their 16GB, 32GB and 64GB), a smaller version of the iPad (Probably something of the size like Galaxy Tab) or many people simply label it as a iPad Mini or Nano and finally the crappy mono speakers, which they really need a bump to stereo speakers this time round. But again, is that really needed? (A bump would be good, nevertheless)
Final Say: If you want to get an iPad, look for one with 3G, even though the price point is slightly steeper and since most telco’s provide a free data card (Mobile broadband) all you need is a MicroSIM cutter or a new MicroSIM from your Telco. If you are not willing to spend, just go with iPad (first generation), most users do not need the new features, we have our mobile phones for them, or more specifically the iPhones and the Androids.

6) Why I am pleased.
Pricing point, no change in pricing at all, in fact Apple has lowered the price point for the first generation of iPad by $200 and for the refurbished about $300 SGD. So if you want one, it’s good to get it first and help Apple to clear their inventory.
The battery life is rated at 10 hours, despite all the new astonishing features being added to the iPad 2, the battery life is still the same as the first generation iPad.

The lovely iOS 4.3 is an update to their slightly dated iOS 4.2
Which I appreciate Apple for not charging for the update for the entire line of Apple iPad, there is some tactful new features such as AirPlay, which is an over the air streaming protocol between Apple products. Probably one of the most worthy update is to the Safari web browser on the iPad with the new Nitro Javascript engine which claims to load pages twice as fast as it’s previous Safari browser on iOS 4.2. Other annoying features fixed is the preference for the iPad Side Switch, iTunes Home Sharing extended to the iOS device and a slightly improved mail client.
Final Say: iOS 4.3 is just a fix for some of the annoying bugs that iOS 4.2 face, luckily they added the better javascript engine which many would really benefit from it. The price drop for the older generation iPad is what I call as a lady killer. Yeah, go for it!

7) Upgrade?
Many sources have mentioned that existing iPad owners should not upgrade to the iPad 2 as its improvements is not exactly really huge. Trading in your iPad at the current moment is not a variable option as the resale value has already dropped. Do you need the newer features, is it really necessary? If not, stick with it, if yes, consider your budget and all your options that the new iPad got to really offer.
Final Say: Think twice if you want to upgrade your existing iPad to the newer iPad 2.

Price Point?
New users on a budget constrain should probably look into the refurbished section of the Apple site for the first generation iPad (It changes from time to time, so stocks and quantity is limited) or wait for the upcoming weeks to get your newer iPad. As always, if you order your iPad through Apple’s online store, you will get a free engraving and shipping! (But your iPad casing would probably cover off the engraving like what my colleague have said and it would decrease trade in value, unless you use Apple’s new smart cover case)
Final Say: The first generation iPad fits within most budgets (You could get one for as little as $450 SGD, if you get the time right), if not just settle for the second one. (If you find a budget surplus that is)

–
All comments and opinions expressed are solely of Jeremy Goh.
Questions, Opinions and Thinktanks?
Leave your comment below or tweet me @jeremy89632

All Image credits: Apple Inc

Starting right now, do check out my site and I hoped you enjoy it as much as I do while creating the site.

Cheers!
Jeremy Goh.

GET SINGAPORE PRODUCT REVIEWS:

1. Apple Speakers – Little Big Sound
2. Breadou – Slice of Love
3. Breadou – Spring Roll Bread
4. Final Breadou – Torto and Le Petit Macaron Review

Thank you for joining us again for another week of GET SINGAPORE merchandise, we have a really special item which is the fourth installment of the entire GET SINGAPORE series, which is a non-profit collective that showcases Singapore’s own retail brands and merchandise. One of the most interesting bread products (For like Clubbers and Geeks), which is by a company named Breadou. Which is retailing at Action City in Singapore (and some branches worldwide). And no, you can’t BUY THAT TO EAT! It’s a gift product / decorative.
To start off, we will be taking a first look on the Breadou Torto.


This is a tortoise shaped bread which is supposed to be a decorative (Or an item to give your friend who is aways late ). It’s cute and a simple gift idea, but my recommendation is, if you are giving this item plain alone, its not enough. You might have to include a letter or a note about the purpose of the gift, be it the person is concise about what they do or aim for perfection, you have to pen that down.

No, you’re not that slow. Come on

–

The next review which is the Pe Petit Macaron, which is a simple and small donut shaped keychain, meant for decorative purposes again.

What I did not see is that this keychain actually do have a long history.
” Dating back to the 18th century, the Macaron is a traditional French pastry, made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar. This delicate pastry is created as colourful round meringue-like domes with a flat base “”
Frankly speaking, I personally have not tried nor heard of this. But erm, looking at this keychain would give a pretty good impression.

This is one of the close ups.

Alright, we had lots of time playing around with Breadou based products, and if we put it all together, this is how it will look like.

Have fun with all the bread!
Jeremy.

PS: Don’t get too bumped out with all my photos!

In a wrap, for citizens in the United States, this is a well polished device which delivers kick-ass features as compared to other competitors, such as the Amazon’s Kindle.
For international users, the device offers very close integration to the Barnes and Noble store, however with all the shipping issues sorted out, and with no Google applications support even though Barnes and Noble announced that they will create their Online store, the potential of the device as a universal all in one isn’t all that great, unless you head over to one of the Aftermarket Custom ROMs sites, such as XDA-Developers (I posted the link and mentioned earlier), and flash / root your device to it’s potential. If not its just going to break your heart as the integration is really tight until the device do not do much. You are better off getting another Android device and installing eBook readers from the Android market instead. The device do not offer much international support as well and do not seem to be compiling for the average international Joe, unless you are a geek and you want a low priced tablet (And be willing to root and flash all sorts of ROMs to the device).

FINAL SAY: To get the full potential of the device, root and flash it. If not, be prepared to be stuck in the Barnes and Noble Eco system.

J.
@jeremy89632

I don’t usually share much of my opinions on the web, in fact, I try not to stir up many of my readers emotions and thoughts. However, this is something that I wish to write about and to be frank with.

After one of the events held in Orchard Central by Golin Harris – one of the major PR (Public Relations) firms. (Don’t worry, I will put up photos and coverage of the event soon), I headed home with one of the contacts which was being invited there as well.
I know this is exceptionally off topic, so allow me to get you into the mood of such a story anyway. As I was on his car, we were chatting about all things random, from photography to music and all of a sudden, we face a long queue of cars.

That was where I was a little scared, it was almost 11 plus, if there’s a roadblock, by the time I reach home, it will be almost midnight. (And yes, I have work the next morning!) Frankly speaking, the queue of cars turning into the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) was about 20 over cars, which was quite a long queue for something so late at night.

I looked around and see the frustrated faces of the cars surrounding us. My contact suddenly burst out in a humour-rage (Which was a blend of humour with an angry sounding tone in it), he said ” I couldn’t believe it, this jam shouldn’t be here in the first place! Do you know why? ”

” No? I mean, there’s an accident in front! “, I pointed to the police vehicle in front.

” No! If you have looked on it a little closer, it doesn’t affect us at all! The accident is on the junction of the main road, which is beside our 2 lane road turning into the expressway! I think those people in front just slowed down to look what is going on and the ironic thing is, they do not take photos nor videos or report is happening to the authorities, but just slow down to see what is happening and I think they are just having like you know, foam party and fun inside the vehicle, or like turning up the radio and just dancing to the beat and groove to it. It is really tasteless, if you get what I’m trying to say, there isn’t something nice of an accident. Yet, as we, the passerby’s just stared at it and talk about it in the vehicle without providing much aid to anyone, not even the injured or the traffic.” I quote from my contact.

At the moment, I was a tad bit skeptical, it could be a jam on the PIE expressway as well. On the contrary, it was right, Singaporeans are just too curious to learn more and to find out about other’s, thats something we could never stop, which we first begin existance. We are constantly reminded and told to find out and look out for stuff to learn, and that’s who we are now.

As we edge closer to the turn into the expressway, it seemed like a car crashed into another vehicle, and as the situation is clear, the accident on the road beside our turning doesn’t affect our turn into the PIE expressway at all, on top of that, there was an ambulance and police to curb the problem, yet all the cars seemed to slow down and crawl through the entrance to the expressway.

After turning from the accident, the queue was instantly dissolved and we joined with the fast moving cars on the expressway.

And no, there wasn’t any jam at the expressway.

Has this habit of us finding out gone a bit too far?

Probably.

J.