Friday, February 29, 2008

Infrared Remote for Sony PlayStation 3, PS3

ER: Good Remote for the PS3,
this will allow the use of the Logitech Harmony to Control the PS3
let me go out MongKok and check if its available tomorrow


price: US$14.99
Nyko BluWave Infrared Remote for Sony PlayStation 3




http://shop.remoteshoppe.com/product.sc?categoryId=14&productId=5

Easily control the next generation of home entertainment with the Blue-Wave Remote from Nyko.
The Blu Wave allows you to easily control the playback of Blu-Ray movies, DVDs and CDs on the PlayStation 3 console.
Utilizing infrared technology,
the Blue Wave can navigate system and movie menus,
skip chapters or tracks,
pause and play a movie or music and replicate other PlayStation 3 controller functionality from up to 25 feet away.

The compact USB IR receiver plugs into any open USB port for easy set up requiring no complicate software, pairing or programming.

The Blue Wave is powered by 2 AA batteries (included). Blu-Wave Infrared Remote Features:

  • IR Technology Allows full movie and music playback from up to 25ft away
  • Full Control The Blu Wave replicates all the SIXAXIS buttons allowing for full control of the console
  • Dedicated Buttons Dedicated buttons for play back including Play, Pause and skip
  • Battery Powered Powered by 2 AAA batteries (included)
  • * Control playback of Blu-Ray movies, DVDs and CDs
  • * IR technology allows for control up to 25 feet away
  • * Easily navigate movie and system menus
  • * Compact USB dongle, no set up or pairing needed
  • * Powered by 2 AAA batteries (included)


"PlayStation 3 Blu Wave Remote" (Nyko)

buying from Amazon



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http://pspbundle.net/index.php?c=1&n=493964&i=B000R5H7KE&x=PlayStation_3_Blu_Wave_Remote


4 out of 5 stars Finally! A way to control the PS-3 via programmable remote! February 29, 2008

okay, it doesn't turn the PS-3 "ON" - but that's something that will only happen with an upgrade from Sony and not really a big hassle as it automatically turns itself on when you insert a disc - now we can control our entire home theater system with the Logitech Harmony One remote and the missus is one happy camper again. Bought this just for the USB "dongle" but it was worth every penny.



5 out of 5 stars Perfect Solution for PS3 and Harmony Remote February 28, 2008

After upgrading our outdated home entertainment system everything was great except for the fact my Logitech Harmony remote could not control my PlayStation 3. With the BluWave remote you just plug the USB dongle into the front of the PS3 and then add the BluWave remote to the list of devices through the Harmony software. I did have to adjust the sensitivity of the remote in the Harmony options to get rid of a double click issue and now it runs like a champ.


The actual remote is sitting in the drawer with the rest of the unused remotes now.



4 out of 5 stars Good for universal remotes February 27, 2008

Works great with harmony 1000 - i only use the infra red receiver and it works with no issues with my harmony remote. A good price and quick delivery too.



4 out of 5 stars I bought it for the Logitech Harmony functionality February 25, 2008

I have a Harmony 880 and wanted IR functionality for the PS3.


This thing works fairly well... Its actually listed in Logitech's database so it comes up and autoprograms relatively well.


I still had to go in and manually program some function but it wasnt hard.


I does the basic job of allowing you to control DVD/BR playback on the PS3 (or navigate the XMB on the PS3) with your harmony remote.


The reason that I give it only 4 stars is that you cannot power the PS3 on/off with it, and that there is more lag between button presses and response than I would like. Its not horrible but could be better.



5 out of 5 stars Great value! February 23, 2008

I bought this remote simply for the USB adapter so that I could use my Harmony 880 with my PS3, and I'm happy to say it works perfectly in that regard. I never even touched the remote, so my rating doesn't deal with the actual remote. If you are buying this remote to actually use it, save your money, spend a little more, and get the official Sony remote (bluetooth) so that you can turn the system on/off.




ER: likely i will get it online.. this is a low cost shop, not sure if it ships to HK



http://pspbundle.net/index.php?c=1&n=493964&i=B000R5H7KE&x=PlayStation_3_Blu_Wave_Remote

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Low end Multi User game for the eee Market?

Official Battlefield Heroes Screenshots
ER: this is a interesting aspect to look at the eeePC market software will be developed to make good use of these "lower" ended device from Ubergizmo

Here is a photo gallery of Battlefield Heroes that we obtained directly from EA. I you have missed this last week, the upcoming ad-supported game won’t be available until this summer but the idea is that BFH is more of a casual game that will work on low-end machines with entry-level graphics processors (GPUs), which increases the potential number of players by a lot.

It will be interesting to see what kind of money EA will make from this title, compared to higher profile games like Crysis that sold (only) less than 100k units (because only a few of us have a system that can run the game decently?). Hardware vendors usually support graphics heavy titles – because they sell hardware and they are great demos of things to come. I wonder what would happen if Battlefield Heroes was bringing loads of money all the sudden – would studios turn their focus on this genre?

Related article: Why Are PC Manufacturers so Afraid of the Asus Eee?

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

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More on the Mobile Friend UI app thing

this is another interesting GUI for the friend app study Technorati Tags: , , , ,

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Ubuntu Mobile

while using eee PC and debating its usefulness

the more i think about it, the more that its apparant there is a true market for this middle market. a free , light weight OS and suite of app is important to make this possible this is a interesting development.. actually, come to think of it, a Light weight version of XP would work..

http://www.ubuntu.com/products/mobile

Just the right stuff

 Ubuntu Mobile just works, and it works just right.

Just the right applications provide an uncompromised Web 2.0 experience: Web browsing, email, media, camera, VoIP, instant messaging, GPS, blogging, digital TV, games, contacts, dates/calendar, simple software updates... and lots more.

All unnecessary complexity in the user experience is eliminated.

Finger friendly, touch driven

Ubuntu Mobile is finger friendly, with no stylus needed. You drive Ubuntu Mobile with touch. Simply tap the screen or drag a finger to make gestures for intuitive navigation and control.

  • Tap an application with your finger to launch it, and tap menus and buttons to use them.
  • Swipe a web page to pan up, down or sideways.
  • Swipe a video, photo, song or thumbnail page to move to the next or the previous one.

Leveraging the MID

MIDs typically have the following features and attributes:

  • Small size/form factor
  • 4 to 7 inch touch screen
  • Physical and/or virtual keyboard
  • Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, GPS, WiMAX
  • 2GB to 8GB Flash or disk storage, 256MB+ memory/512MB+ recommended
  • OpenGL 3D
  • USB, camera, head phone jack, speakers, microphone

Customizable

Clutter User Interface

Clutter UI

Flash User Interface

Flash UI

Ubuntu Mobile is highly flexible and customizable. It is an ideal platform for the kind of product differentiation that reaches target users and penetrates key markets.

  • User interface in HTML, Flash, Clutter, Python with GTK, C/C++ with GTK and Java
  • Different application sets for different products or configurations
  • Integration with popular Web 2.0 sites
  • Internationalization and translation support to meet market requirements
  • Custom sets of licensed media codecs and third-party proprietary software for commercial partners
  • Custom engineering

OEMs, ODMs, operators and developers can customize Ubuntu Mobile to their desired look and feel and offer just the right capabilities to meet their specific requirements. Canonical can assist through its Custom Engineering program. For information about Canonical custom engineering services, email mobile@canonical.com.

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eee PC and Slingbox (instruction for installing SlingPlayer on eee PC)

has been searching for a way to Run SlingPlayer on the eeePC for sometime since Sling does not have Linux client (never announced one) and i still want to keep my eeePC Linux.. havent got much luck before now. thks to people at SlingCommunity there is a solution. I figure i will change it a bit to focus on the eee installation for less techie ppl
Running Wine over Linux I have to confess I had not been having much luck running Wine (Windows emulator on Linux) on the eee but this installer script works out fine:

http://www.slingcommunity.com/download/27234/Slingplayer-LINUX-US-1.03b/

with the newest version Wine these are the steps: go here: http://www.winehq.org/site/download-deb with Firefox on the eee Open terminal or console run this (copy and paste it in) sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/etch.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list then this sudo apt-get update then this
sudo apt-get install wine it will take 3-5 min to download and install the newest version of Wine Install the SlingPlayer 1. Download this zip file if not already done so

http://www.slingcommunity.com/download/27234/Slingplayer-LINUX-US-1.03b/

2. extract the *.sh file from the archive

3. ensure the file has executable permission (right click go to properties, select permissions and tick the can execute checkbox)

4. open a terminal ... (shortcut is normally ctrl+t - but you should be able to find it in your applications shortcut menu)

5. drag the extracted *.sh file into the terminal

6.) hit enter and follow the onscreen instructions to install. (it will take 3-5 min to download)

run the SlingPlayer application

works well over wireless and also full screen, i'd set the Slingplayer Optimization setting to Low CPU works fine, Sync voice and lip well now, the final step is to create a icon to launch the SlingPlayer easily Voila!!
Lifestyle App Bringing Sling to the eeePC will greatly enhance the eeePC usage on the road the 7" screen is obviously much better than my Nokia N95 and the CPU/RAM of the eeePC handles it well. its a perfect fit!   hope u find this useful, the credit of the install script goes to Member AvatarandyBBB at slingcommunity, way to go! Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

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Sony vs eeePC

from Engadget

So at Sony's Open House we were having lunch with Mike Abary, Sony's US SVP of Information Technology Products Division, who oversees Vaio computers (among numerous other things). Of course, the inevitable question came up about the Eee PC's success thus far, and what that means to computer companies on the higher end of the spectrum, like Sony. Mike's response was a little surprising, but certainly sensible enough: if consumer expectations begins to weigh too heavily toward the $300 end of PCs, he believes that kind of consumer adoption would have a profoundly negative impact on the industry, referring to its effect as "a race to the bottom." We know there are a lot of Eee fans in the house, but the man makes sense. Sony isn't trashing ultra-cheap machines so much as recognizing that it's hard to push things forward when your primary objective becomes making the very cheapest possible machine you can (and not very best). Innovation is hard enough to subsidize, but when your already thin margins flatten even further in trying to sell ultra-cheap machines, it's easy to see the economics working against tech companies. (Asus has less to worry about here because its primary business is making PCs for other companies.) Of course, the reality is that ultra-cheap machines probably won't soon envelop the lion's share of computer sales and threaten what most think of as "real" PCs, so we probably don't have to worry about the industry bottoming out because of the Eee. False advertising and abusive trialware, however, are different stories entirely.

 

Permalink | from Engadget

ER: my take is that while its understandable for Sony to say such things about eeePC,

its the change of Consumer PC market

  1. Its our 2nd PC: we all have at least one Primary PC already, likely 2, one in Office and one at home
  2. We all had Too much power.  Let's face it, we all had more CPU power than we need.  I don't see any reasoning for anyone to invest in Quad-CPU for ordinary Word type app
  3. Wireless world: the need for something between office and home, or short travels.
    • Most people are getting a Smartphone or Blackberry for when you are not in the office
    • I use a iPhone and the IMAP mail works fine for me
    • however, there are times when i need to sit down to do a bit more than a iphone can handle
  4. Some Simple task like below that fits a eeePC use well:
    1. to change a PPT before a presentation,
    2. do some simple if-then on a Spreadsheet model,
    3. Review a contract
    4. watch a movie on a plane,
    5. Sling at Starbucks, (yes, Sling on eeePC Linux is ready, more on it in another blog)
    6. Write a Blog Flocking around
    7. do a decent Search on Solving a Problem
Now, my eeePC is in the Car all the time. in between meetings, i can do some of the above easily at a Shopping Center. Wifi at McDonald or using USB Smartone-Vofafone's HSDPA at Home, i had a Vaio or Macbook with enough power to handle my HD editing.. which i had no intention to do at Starbucks.. I don't think any Sony Vaio that's on the market fits this category well.
  • the UX screen is not a lot larger than my iPhone
  • the thin TZ is not small itself, and cost 4 times the eeePC
The advantage of eeePC:
  • Cost + Size, the price feels cheap and Size is small = i feel comfortable throwing it around
  • All-in-one, Linux+OpenOffice+some simple free software
  • Power works ok for a few hours work
  • Powerful enough for all the task i need on the road
  • Small enough to carry but large enough for PPT, Excel editing

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

PS3 DVR

ps3dvr.jpgFor the first time in a long time, we want to grab Sony and kiss them square on the lips. Because PlayTV, the PlayStation 3's DVR/PVR (that's not coming to the States yet), will record television to MPEG2 files that can be easily copied off the system to any storage medium you'd like. That's right, no DRM.

ER: This is a good product that will change the PS3 forever and really making it a media center in the living room. I hope it come to HK quick!

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Monday, February 25, 2008

Yahoo One Connect, Flock and Mobile Friend App

See your friends in a whole new light.twitterrific_icon Yahoo OneConnect is truly a very interesting app with interesting GUI the concept is to track all your friends' going on's anytime, anywhere it is at least 6-9 months away, and with Yahoo's current status, it is future is questionable here are some of my thoughts basing on the dump screen of the product and some researches on the "Friend's list" this can be the basis for a great mobile app NOT just IM even though the GUI of the interface looks like a Instant messenger, its is way beyond a IM. the iPhone/iChat type GUI is very nice for communication but its essentially a friend's list communication can be through different apps:

  • IM
  • post of facebook etc
  • email
  • sms
Stay in touch with anyone, any way you want. Active Addressbook the friends-list is the core of the app the addresbook app has always been the most used app on a phone now with the API to most phones fully open, these can be captured and used in the Friend App. also facebook, gmail and other online web 2.0 apps allow access to the contact book to capture info. info can be "aggregated" into a super addressbook that is active with user activities The single best place to connect with your world. Twitter model expanded the Twitter model works here, where friend's going on is tracked and presented, she can be:
  • doing anything: through the label of her MSN messenger, or Facebook
  • or just did a Post on her Blog,
  • or is travelling in other parts of the world (through Facebook "where am i" app or Google Calendar)
    • what's the weather of his current city?
  • talking through IM
  • roaming with SMS contact
  • posted picts on flickr
  • posted video on Youtube
  • listening to "madonna" on her itune
Twitteriffic is a nice Mac based tool for Twitter, but it only integrate Twitter.. (i only have one friend in Twitter..          :-/ Browsing Media A lot of updates online are media specific:
  • Travel Blog
  • Car interest group
  • Gadget news..
Browsing image/snaps are easy to use to track info Flock's Friend GUI Flock is branded as a Social Community Brower. i have been trying Flock for the last month (beyond IE (dropped 9 months ago), Safari (never really used), and the trustworthy and xplatform Firefox (on Linux, Mac and Win) the only reason that i hadn't completely changed over to flock is that it does not support Foxmark which is SUPER important for me on multiple devices.. but this effiecient UI is really engaging more and more of my time: good work! The RSS aggregation is also good. Aggregation not Synchronization of Friend's going-on by putting all the going-on's in a sidebar, the app is very easy to use and track friends. it aggregate all my friends from:
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
if it can add friends that comment on my blog, blogger writer i am interested to track my IM friends, my SMS-able friends then it will be simply indispensible.. there is a lot of opportunity here!! worth consider investing more resource on to make it work

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Don't do this at home!! crash test

obviously, the SSD drive, compact and light design etc would make it more durable.. but try not to do it at home.. talking about crash.. my 3 year old Synology 101G+ NAS crashed on me yesterday night.. and along with 400GB of data.. will likely get my hands full trying to save it... ;-/ Technorati Tags: , , , ,

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Saturday, February 23, 2008

PowerBook 100


PowerBook 100
Originally uploaded by gerardvschip
talking about old gadgets and retro, my first notebook..

Retro NDS vsN Very cool NDSLite

ER: i have been thinking about getting a NDSL for sometime, i have been using the a original version of NDS from day 1 of launch.. (quite retro from today's point of view..)   my retro NDS at its sleeping at its dock the blue thing is the very old Supercard, has a 1GB HD in it Panzer Tactic Game, almost like the old Panzer General.. many scenarios from Blitzieg in Poland to Stalingrad for the Germans. you build your core team over the campaigns special rules like Commando, Paratroops, Leaders combine arms= Panzers+Artillery+Bombers are best technique Control of Air Superiority is also very important.. nice and fun game, the puzzles are not simple to solve.. ER: i was playing with this "old" thing (first batch when NDS is available) at the Business class lounge in Heathrow last month and there were 3 girls (4-6yr) that sneek over my back and checked out what i am playing with.. then, proudly, they took our a Pink, a Pastel Blue and a Pearl White version of NDSLite to showoff.. :-/ this particular new NDSLite below looks quite cool.. but so far, i haven't found any reason to get a new device which has no new features at all..

From Engadget:

It's not like there's any shortage of highly desirable DS / DS Lites out there, but we've all ideas this particular iteration will be one desired by many and acquired by (very) few. Japanese clothing company A Bathing Ape (Bape) has apparently signed on to put its spin on Nintendo's darling of a handheld, littering both a gold and white DS Lite with Milo characters. As for pricing, we'll just assume that those that need to ask should simply push this far from the forefront of their minds. [Via DSFanboy]


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Thursday, February 21, 2008

$630?

From Engadget:

Filed under: ,

A report by the Commercial Times says that HP will launch their 8.9-inch UMPC in April for "more than" NT$20,000 or about $630 bucks. Sure sounds like the UMPC 2133 we showed you yesterday, eh? That's about right when you compare it to the $300, entry-level 7-inch Eee PC. The paper claims it'll run a "high-end" Penryn processor as well which is fine by us if true.

 

ER: this Price is interesting.. the eeePC is actually @~US$399, if counting in a Xp license, add another $100  @$499, its not that far away from this new rumoured device. esp if it comes with a 60-80GB HD my feeling is that at this product category, the price point actually has some flexibility (or elasticity?) as long as its below a certain point, the difference does not make a difference..

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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The HP Compaq 2133 UMPC, eee competitor?

Depends on Pricing.. well, this guy is quite cool the design is sexy, the screen resolution is quite high 8.9" 1366x766 compared to eeePC's 7" 800x400   i might actively consider it when it comes out.  but likely not very cheap (~maybe US1200 level?) what really set eee PC apart is the pricing and size this baby need to be competitive on both frontz!!

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

PSP 3.8 Firmware

thks to patrick (my bro), i'd gotten Firmware 3.8 for PSP onto my platform w all the cracks to run app from Memory Stick

i was thinking of buying a new PSP just to play the game Gihren's Greed or 基連的野望 PSP version

since following with the firmware/crack cycle is almost impossible.

on the other hand, the uncracked version of is just too limited,

not even able to run any local software from the Memory Stick..


P1130199.JPG

Monday, February 18, 2008

My favourite Game: Gihren's Greed or 基連的野望 PSP version

My favourite game just gotten upgrade last week..
Gihren's Greed or 基連的野望 PSP version


is the Wargame for Gundam history covering from the 1st episode of the 1 year war to the end of the Universial Century..
covers topic include:

  • Politics
  • Production
  • Resources mgt


  • Research on MS (Mobile Suit) and Machines
  • Strategy Map: Solar System + Earth covering major districts
  • Tactical Map: Hex based covering major areas of earth and space
  • Unit covering from 1 Unit e.g. Gundam to a Squad for 3 Zaku
  • Every Ace Pilot in History (all episodes) and plus
  • Every MS in History and possible variations through research

Tried a few turns yesterday,
these are the first impression:

  • top graphics, everything is redesigned and with higher resolution graphics
  • Buying and development seems cheaper and faster overall
  • there is a Chaos vs Stable Political situation depending on the way you handle your occupations
    • a new way to collect $ and resource is by forcing special tax on your people.. thus creating chaos level
    • i think the diplomatic politcal sysem is gone.. i dont like much of it anyway
  • Change in Tactical system,
    • one of the important trick is gone. you are not allowed to enter new Strategic segment during battle (thus stealing other segments the cheap way, i.e. no more tricks)
    • Assignment system, now its very easy to assign per unit AutoRun functions, thus making gaming much fasters..
      • however, i'd still like to see a system where you can assign objectives, like attack here, defend there..
  • Change in Manufacturing
    • everything seems faster now, creating a Zaku IIF now takes 1 turn only
    • also one can upgrade MS in the battlefield
      • allowing upgrades of older version with newer technology
      • can change from Space mode to Ground or underwater mode
      • can change from normal version to Ace Pilot version (when the Ace is the pilot)
    • this change make it very easy to migrate old technology into new ones and not needing to create and wait
    • very good for the game and actually realistic.. (but i dont really understand why u need 3 MS to create one Ace.. oh well, so much for realistic..

likely, i'd spent more than a few hundred hours on different version of it in the last 10 years
from PS1, PS2, PSP x2


「機動戦士ガンダム ギレンの野望 アクシズの脅威」

special edition PSP