Is the palmOne Life Drive real?

Various Palm fan sites are reporting the rumoured Life Drive. It's suppose to have 32 MB of RAM, 4 GB(!!!) of storage in a miniature hard drive, support USB 2.0, have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 1.1. It'll also be powered by Palm OS Garnet on a 416 MHz XScale processor. The downside? It's larger and thicker than the Tungsten T5. So is this real? Hard to tell, but it seems like there are more clues pointing to the fact that his may be real. This include almost real photos on Palmaddict (found in the link below) and also that palmOne had obtained a trademark for "LIFEDRIVE" on August 27, 2004. Let's wait and see how this rumor pans out. If true, it's gonna be quite exciting.

Palm Bluetooth Internet Setup

Want to set up your stuff such that your Palm can talk to your PC using bluetooth? The instructions are here. Maybe it's time now for me to get a Class 1 Bluetooth USB adapter.

Hacking Multi-Player into Grand Theft Auto

This is certainly a helluva-hack. The article in the link should speaks for itself. And it's using open source! It'll so amazing to do car-jacking with other players!

Multi Theft Auto adds networked multi-player to the Windows versions of Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. This ingenious "giant hack" illustrates just how far a commercial game can be extended beyond a typical "mod," even if one does not have access to the original source code. The developers sum up what it took to create their unofficial mod: open source software (RakNet and Crazy Eddie's GUI System), along with lots of time, persistence and junk food.

View from a revolving restaurant

The first time one has a meal in a revolving restaurant is always an interesting experience. So, I had lunch at this place called Prima Tower and it gives a view of Keppel harbour and also Sentosa island. Too bad the weather was wet and the view wasn't as great as it would be. Still, if your eyes are sharp, you'll see that the rear view of the Merlion needs a scrub.

Board game sites

Board games are fun, but they're just not as popular as video/computer games. Still, there're still loads of folks engaging in this fun activity, and there are countless great board games out there. Here are some great board game resources to check out:
Bruno Faidutti
A site in French and English. Good, short intro to games that are out there.
Board Game Geek
Probably the best resource of board games online. Almost encyclopedic collection of games, rules, reviews, etc.
Two Player Games
Recommendation for couples. Games that are great for just two players.

Cool LED clock

I've been looking for a nice wall clock for my living room and have
not found the ideal one. This cool LED clock comes close, but I'll
have to buy it online (from ThinkGeek) and from the specs, it may not
be big enough... then again, it might not need to be big.

Ebooks on your PSP

Yeah, your PSP can play games, watch movies, listen to music. But what about using it to read ebooks? This activity may not be top on the list of the new generation but you gotta learn how to to read! Anyway, the Game Fries blog has found a way to load up ebooks on to your PSP. Is it the best way to read books though? I doubt so. Even though I can load text onto my GBA SP, it's not such a great ebook reader. I'll stick to my Treo.

20GB Creative Zen-iPod killer?

Although I admire the design of the iPod and Apple's ingenius marketing effort for the device, I am never a huge fan. I think it looks cool, but it's quite lacking in some features. On the other hand, I think Creative's Zen Micro is quite nice and has extra features, but they don't have one which has the capacity that matches the regular iPod's. Now, the wait is over. Sim and his gang has released the 20GB Creative Zen and the design is based on the Zen Micro. Not to mention that it has the extra features too, like voice recording and FM radio. Pretty neat. Only drawback seems to be the mentioned 11 hours battery life. Will probably get one of these when it hits the stores if not for the fact that I'm happy with listening to music on my Treo 650.

Pixar office tour

Even wonder what the Pixar office is like? These are the folks who gave us Finding Nemo and of course, the incredible The Incredibles. Ain't It Cool News has an entry where the writer toured the Pixar office, and it has tons of The Incredibles-related items there. Nice working environment, huh?

LEGO charger cradle for Nintendo DS

This guy has fixed up a charger cradle using LEGO bricks. He has even
included a Battle Droid minifig on it. It also has space to put the
stylus and game cards. Once again, I've to say... is there anything
that you can't make out of LEGO?

Flight Attendant raps in Shanghainese

There's this rap tune titled "Passengers aren't Gods" done by a Chinese flight attendant. Whether the singer is actually a flight attendant is up for debate. The rap is in Shanghainese and the link contains the lyrics to the tune. Anyway, it sounds quite interesting and uses Eminem as the bassline. Check it out.

Super Shuffle's a publicity stunt

I mentioned the Super Shuffle a while back. Seems like it's just a publicity stunt for the company LuxPro to get attention so that brands can contract them to produce other MP3 players. Smart move. The only sad thing is that we won't be getting a better Shuffle anytime soon. Check the link to Engadget for more details.

Programs on your USB thumb drive

Your USB thumb drive can actually act as a swiss knife of sorts. Tech writer Jeremy Wagstaff has provided a list of proggies you can consider putting on your thumb drive. Items in the list include Trillian Anywhere for instant messaging and Portable FireFox for browsing. With these, you can simply plug your thumb drive in any PC and start do your work. No fuss.

Writers on Board for Ender's Game

IGN's FilmForce is reporting that Orson Scott Card has endorsed the selection of the screenplay writers for the movie adaptation of Ender's Game.

Fresco Pictures has announced that David Benioff and his writing colleague Dan Weiss will be penning a script for the science fiction movie. The screenplay will be based on both the novels Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by renowned sci-fi-fantasy author Orson Scott Card. Benioff's last project was the adaptation of Troy for the big screen.
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Orson Scott Card endorsed the selection of Benioff to develop the screenplay, citing Troy as an example of the writer's talents. "Mr. Benioff proved with Troy that he could adapt a long work to fit the brevity of film, while preserving what is most powerful and effective in the original.

This is great news. Finally, we'll get to see the movie of this amazing sci-fi story on the silver screen. Can't wait. Hope it'll as good as LOTR.

Flickr aquired by Yahoo!

Well, it's confirmed. Yahoo! has bought Flickr. This entry on the Flickr Blog gives details and more info on what this means to existing Flickr user, which I am one. Hope that nothing changes too drastically that I need to reconfigure my settings for posting of pictures to my blog.

Maps for your video games

Getting lost in the sprawling landscape of the virtual world in your video games? Fear not. This website is for all you gaming tourists out there. Say you're taking Link on a trip in the Legend of Zelda or taking your warrior on a quest in Morrowind, you can head to this site to look at maps of the world you are exploring. Pretty handy for those who are not so good at getting their bearings in a virtual world.

Blokus-the board game

Board games are fun. If more people play board games, life on earth would be so much more fun, and peaceful. Just kidding. Anyway, I love playing board games, it's just that sometimes it's hard to get a large number of folks together to have a game so I tend to favour games for 2 persons. There's this game called Blokus that I saw on the Internet. It is a mixture of Go and Tertris. There's a 2-4 players version and also a 2 players version. It looks fun and maybe it'll be on my to-find list when I travel next time.

Relaxing @ Angsana, Bintan

This is my first time in Bintan and I'm staying at Angsana Resort. This is the view from my room. Did everything one would do here, like swimming, wading in the beach, dinner at the beach front, and even went for a spa treatment. All nice!

Digital Map Projection for D&D session

D&D computer games aside, never though that tabletop roleplaying games will become so high tech. These folks use a laptop and a projector to beam the map onto their gaming table so that the projected map can be seen on the table. When such expensive equipment needed for this set up, it's truly a techie meets old school gamers heaven.

Doom 3 Case Mod

You've not seen an impressive case mod till you've seen this case mod based on Doom 3. The maker of this case based his design on the look and feel of the setting you see in Doom 3. It's detailed and looks downright cool, just like it's part of the set of Doom 3. Head over to this site to see this amazing creation and if you're ambitious enough, you can follow the step-by-step guide to make your own.

Holy LEGO Batman!

LEGO has offical sets for Marval's Spiderman. For fans of other
superheroes, they'll have to custom-make their own. Anyway, fans of the
cape crusader has done that and is actually making a film using
computer-generated LEGO blocks. They also have an impressive-looking
trailer on their website.

A better Shuffle?

Has Apple finally realised that the Shuffle is pretty plain and has now added a FM tuner to add functionality to it? Of course not! But some manufacturer in Taiwan has certainly realise that and has added a FM tuner and a voice recorded into their MP3 player which looks exactly like an iPod Shuffle. They've even called it a 'Super Shuffle'. There's also a 1GB version! Only problem is that it still does not have a screen. MP3newswire has a story that shows the actual Shuffle and the enhanced version side-by-side. Only problem is that we can expect Apple to shut this down. So those interested may just want to try get their hands on it before Steve Jobs goes after these guys.

Star Wars Episode 3: A Lost Hope

Sick of how disappointing Episodes I and II are? You're not the only one. This group of fans took their disappointment in the Star Wars prequel to the extreme to produce a spoof of the Ep III trailer, calling it... A Lost Hope. Let's just hope that the actual Sith-titled movie will not be disappointing.

Isreal's Army frowns on D&D

You may be a powerful knight when playing Dungeons & Dragons, but if you're going into the Isreali Army and want to rise in the ranks, you'd better keep your dragonslaying fantasy to yourself.

Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance.
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Why does IDF believe game is dangerous? "These people have a tendency to be influenced by external factors which could cloud their judgment, a military official says. "They may be detached from reality or have a weak personality - elements which lower a person's security clearance, allowing them to serve in the army, but not in sensitive positions."

Only 15% of gamers are Net addicts

Slashdot has reported that a doctorate student from the Universoty of Iowa has done a research on MMORPG addiction. The results showed that only 15% of gamers meet the criteria for Net addiction. For more details, go to the links. So who says gamers are addicted? It's such a downright unfair stereotype.

Mozilla on a cellphone

If you're a Mozilla supporter, you'll be glad to hear that some folks are working on getting it to work on Windows Mobile powered cells. Called MiniMo, this is an open source project that is trying to get the Mozilla browser on cellphones, and from the photos there, it seems to be coming along. Now, how about doing it for the PalmOS?

Details on the next Xbox

The folks at Microsoft have posted some screenshots of what the software on the next-gen Xbox will look like. It doesn't reveal a whole lot but it's enough to get those who're into the Xbox excited. The site also has the audio files of the keynote delivered MS Corporate VP J Allard.

Blair liar

Outside the Houses are banners protesting against the War in Iraq. What the banner says on this one is pretty self-explanatory.

Churchill in oak

After the walk, went to see the House of Lords in session. Can't take any picts in the House but at the exit. There is an artwork dedicated to Winston Churchill made of oak and it also has pages of a speech he gave embedded in the wood.

House in golden light

This was taken at the end of the walk and has the tower of the House bath in golden lights.

Westminster by gaslight

I'm in London right now for the Financial Times conference for New Media and Broadcasting. Since I'm here, I took the chance to go on a few of the famous London Walks at night, since I can't do any shopping after 7pm anyway. Last night, went on the Haunted London walk which brought me to a number of locations in the old city area with sightings of the supernatural. Tonight, went on a walk of Westminster. This pict was taken along the bank of the Thames across the Houses of Parliment. The Victorian gaslights are not there anymore but in the cold winter rain, the sight is still beautiful.

Superheroes comics can be funny

When things are taken out of context, it can become really funny. Just take these comic panels for example. This site contains a collection of single panels taken from comic books. Taken out of context, they can be hilarious. Of course, you need to use a bit of your imagination to catch the joke.

More Beatles mash ups

Here're more mash-ups of The Beatles tunes. This mash-up album is called Revolved and include tracks like "Close to No One" (mix of The Beatles' "For No One" and The Cure's "Close To Me") and "Eleanor Ciccone" (mix of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" and Madonna's "Ray of Light"). Who would have guessed that mash-ups are so much fun? Especially if they contain Beatles tunes!

The Walkman meets Sony Ericsson phone

After plain old Ericsson became Sony Ericsson, the mobile phone maker's design and features have been quite impressive. Until I got my Treo 650, I've been using the old SE T68 phone and have always dreamt that my next phone will be one of the SE models available. Anyway, SE is furthering improving their phones and has even brought the Walkman brand to the new model which shows their effort in bring music to mobile devices. Having missed the MP3 boat to Apple's iPod, this is perhaps one strategy to win back the music space Sony has always been associated with since their Walkman and Discman days. This phone is quite a beauty and the only negetive is probably its use of the Memory Stick. Well, if not for my Treo, this one would have been on my shopping list.