E V E R Y D A Y . B E A U T I F U L . P U R P O S E F U L
January 31, 2011 Leave a comment
Supposed to name this road after its original estate owner “Alexander” – the clerk followed the traditional Chinese Right-to-Left writing sequence and misspelled the street name backward. Who knows, maybe the clerk did it in purpose. He must be upset that the westerners referred his family name as the “last name”. Gosh…imagine the same clerk went to work for the Registrar of Births! Poor 鬼佬 of the last century!
January 15, 2011 2 Comments
The new McDonald’s Mini Combos – get them at HKD10/each with every big combo meal. Don’t get too hung up by these evil yummy minis!
December 26, 2010 Leave a comment
The famous BBC “Walking with Dinosaurs” show is in town (1 day after Elkan and Felicia left for Singapore). We visited our colleague, Dorothy at the game booth (where she leads a team of dynamic helpers working days and nights through the Christmas holidays). Designed and produced by my creative team and sponsored by Prudential Insurance, the “Dig Site” is an impressive setup with a volcano, tress and rocks. It is certainly the landmark of the show and it attracts lots of people. Too bad (or luckily) Elkan isn’t here with us, if not he will be so hyper at the booth, taking a plunge into the dig-pool. (It is free to participate in the game! Up to 30,000 prizes to be won! Visit the booth at the AsiaWorldExpo – it will be open from now to 2nd Jan 2011. This booth will only open during the “Walking with Dinosaurs” Show Dates.)
December 16, 2010 Leave a comment
He is the world’s youngest billionaire. He started to create his own home network for his family at a tender age of 12. In his teens, while other kids were playing PC games, he wrote his own games. He moved on to become the first who successfully created the world’s largest social network – a notable feat indeed. He is the man boy behind’s the world’s largest virtual Nation – and still growing strongly at 700,000 new members/day. At this rate, the total number of Facebook members will surpassed the world’s most populated country, China. Mark Zuckerberg is the icon of this digital decade and this year’s Time Person of the Year 2010. A humble, hardworking and persistent young man, Mark is well-loved by the people around him. Read more of the article here: TIME MAGAZINE.
(Goto: http://www.facebook.com/time to create your own Time Cover.)
November 29, 2010 Leave a comment
(Photo Taken: Giant Chupa Chups Christmas Display, i-Square, Tsim Sha Tsui – Now, suck these!)
November 28, 2010 Leave a comment
Another great work produced by Singapore’s very own Bettermen, Randy Ang. Since he started his first short film back in 2005, Randy and friends have directed and produced many remarkable works. Shot in 2 days (excellent castings and editing), his latest work (shot using Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EOS 7D and Panasonic AG3D-A1) is a test shoot shot ahead of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) feature film “Spirit of Fight” in tribute to the 70th Birth Anniversary of one of the greatest martial artist known the world over – Bruce Lee.
“Spirit of Fight” will only be in production in 2011. Footage here will not be seen in the actual feature film. The story follows JIN – starring Danny Chan 陳國坤(陈国坤) – a martial artist who yearns to fight in a MMA arena. Learning from both victory and defeat; he learns to exceed himself and truly understand the meaning of the Spirit of Fight.
Bruce Lee and its related entities are the copyright of Bruce Lee Enterprises. SPIRIT OF FIGHT is the copyright of Red Horse Entertainment Ltd and Bettermen Asia Pte Ltd.
November 24, 2010 1 Comment
Thanks to my very creative bunch of lovely colleagues! All I did was to contribute a little token for our afternoon tea break and the crowd “erected” me an awesome statue! I love the copy and my new chiseled body. And yes, LEAF me alone.
November 23, 2010 Leave a comment
After “experimenting” the new Kinect for more than 48 hours, I have a strong hunch that this wireless motion device is definitely more than just a gaming gadget. In fact, for all I could foretell, this could be the next spark for the next wave of home innovations. It is going to be the next big revolution that changes the way we interact with all our home devices.
Kinect is highly “intelligent”, user-friendly and most importantly – affordable! This device not only able to detect movement, it is also has the ability to profile every single users (by body shape, voices and “faces”). Already, Kinect Technology is finding its way into future television. It will be very soon when your new TV screen comes with built-in Kinect sensors. Soon, remote controls will be obsolete. Gesture activations will be the next in thing. Want to switch channel, just wave your hand in a particular direction, the sensors will be able to switch to the next channel or even skip chapters on your blue-ray disc. Volume control will make you look like the conductor of a symphony. It is all about gesture-activation. With these cameras on board, you can now connect your television to the internet. Through WIFI or direct LAN connection, “Facetime-like” communication will be a breeze. Imagine chatting with your friend and watching a soccer match together. And think outside the current TV screen – this can be integrated with projectors and your music player!
If proved popular, this simple device will extend itself outside the TV and gaming console. Just let the mind goes wild for a moment. Imagine installing a 360-degree Kinect sensors in your living room. Your presence will be recognize the very second you walk into the space. Your very own digital home “butler” will be able to greet you and serve your with every gesture of your finger. Point in the direction at the lamp, it will turn on. Gesture at a specific spot of the wall and it reveals the time. Wave your hand and your curtain will be drawn.
In fact, it may be so powerful that Kinect (if connected to the worldwide frame) is able to record and analyze how you spend your day. Imagine it is able to break down the hours you spend at home watching TV, eating, sleeping or on the computer. It is also a handy device that records important moments of your life at home (birthdays, first kiss, dinners). With a powerful sensor, the future Kinect can also be programmed to recognize your everyday items and be able to “locate” their whereabouts in your own messy house. So, you will have no worry where you misplaced your wallet or keys. Scan your space and it will tell you that it is time to water your plants. Or an alert to inform you that a stray rat has just enter your premise.
It will also be a “Green Device”. With its ability to detect motion and heat signatures, it will be able to detect your surrounding and manage your lighting settings & space temperature in your house. Imagine the auto-brightness sensor on your iPhone, the future Kinect will be able to sense the environment/activity and tune the ambiance to suit your needs. It will be far smarter than the current “motion on/off lights”.
So, don’t just write off Kinect as a toy. These imaginations are becoming real sooner than we expected. The revolution has already begun. This may even replace the big touch screens you see today!
November 20, 2010 Leave a comment
I cannot resist the temptation of the new Xbox 360 KINECT. In less than 4 weeks after the launch of PlayStation 3 “MOVE”, Xbox Kinect is on its way to dominate the gaming industry with the world’s first “controller-free gesture gaming” experience! When I first watched the Kinect commercial (aka “Project Natal”) on Youtube last year, I was skeptical about its promises. It looked “too-good-to-be-true”. Gesture gaming without any controller – that just sound so far fetched and unreal.
Being the infamous gadget freak of the group, I decided to take a leap of faith and bought Kinect last night. (I was really unsure about this purchase but I must really try it and live to “tell the experience”!) The verdict? Kinect delivers its promises! THIS IS THE BEST MOTION GAMING EXPERIENCE EVER! This is Minority Report Gaming!
Setting up the camera (to the existing console) is a breeze. (I have the 1st generation Xbox 360 and the connection works perfectly!) The Kinect Camera is certainly more high-tech than the PS3 Move Camera. Throughout the game-play, the camera automatically adjust its height and angle to detect the player’s presence. Unlike the PS3 Move which detects only the “light-bulb”, the Kinect Camera detects more points on the player’s body (head, hand, elbow, knee, feet, waist). This allows more actions and fun in the game-play. For example, we have to lift our knees high at rapid speed in order to run fast in a race. It is indeed a different gaming experience compared to Wii and Move. To enjoy the perfect game experience, make sure you have at least 3m space in front of the TV.
One of the best benefits of having a controller-free device is I no longer need to worry about “accidental-flying objects” in the house. (Elkan flew my Move controller across the hall last week!). This also saves me a lot of money. I do not need to buy extra controllers for my friends to play. (And no broken TV screen to replace)
The introductory games are superbly entertaining, exciting and ADDICTIVE! The controller-free gesture game-play is responsively smooth and intuitive. In no time, The entire family (Harshad, Tracy, Felicia and Elkan) was breaking world records in track and field. Elkan was dancing to his favourite Lady Gaga dance track – and it was so contagious that it got Harshad and Tracy partying with him! This is another great reason to buy Kinect. You see your old friends doing all the dramatic poses, shaking all their limbs/butts to win the game. Just watching the players is hilarious and highly entertaining! Not to mention that this is a great way to burn calories! (Just make sure no one is video-taping you when you are playing Kinect! Anyway, Kinect does its own video recording/playback of you in action! So..guess there is no way to escape.)
2010 is indeed the breakthrough year for personal entertainment devices! From Apple iPAD/iPhone 4 to PS3 Move and now to Xbox Kinect! Clearly, Kinect is the big winner in this category. Move and Wii have lots to catch up. If you are thinking about buying one of these wireless gesture gaming devices this Christmas, you can’t be wrong choosing Kinect.
November 16, 2010 Leave a comment
(Photo Taken: Christmas @ Times Square, Causeway Bay – This year’s Christmas Deco Theme “Crazy X’mas” was created by a very famous Hong Kong’s graphic designer, Michael Lau. See more of his works here: http://www.michaellau-art.com/intro.html )
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