EDDIEWONG

AU Design Project finally showed off their INFOBAR2 concepts after weeks of teasing and I’m totally digging the design!

I liked the design of the original INFOBAR when it came out about 2 years ago but even at that time, the spec was rather low which kinda put me off. Also, being the aesthetics guy that I am (and a pretty anal one at that), I was begging for answers as to why that big fat antenna had to be there sticking out of the body! But anyway, what really stopped me from getting the original INFOBAR was because it wasn’t running on AU’s high-speed WIN service, which was new and all-the-rave back then.

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Last night, I met up for dinner with 2 friends whom are visiting from Hong Kong. One of them had this BlackBerry device (supposedly very popular with business people in US?) which has to be the least ugly model I have seen. It’s a little wide but its not so thick nor long and the screen is nice. But don’t ask me which model this is, I wouldn’t know to save my life (this is the first one I’ve ever touched).

Despite all models being… well… ugly, they do seem rather convenient having the whole keyboard layed out. But I’d very much prefer not having the keyboard just thrown onto the body like that – more thought should have went into the design. This brings me to the Japanese equivilents, namely Wilcom’s W-ZERO3 and Softbank’s X01HT. Much better thought out and sexier in appearance, don’t you think? This is design…

Apparently so, according to this poster on the train. The drama version came out on DVD on October 27. I’d love to watch one…

Update: 2006 November 3
Yes, a real-life drama does exist and I can’t believe I missed it! Here is the official website. And here are the opening and closing themes. Isn’t she kawaii?

… at train stations across Tokyo.

Picture taken at Shinjuku JR station (I also spotted in Ikebukuro)

“Hrmpf reports on a particularly revealing patent application from Apple that was published on October 26, 2006.The name of the patent application is “Electronic Device Having Display and Surrounding Touch Sensitive Bezel for User Interface and Control”. The patent describes and depicts a full-screen touch sensitive iPod very similar to the various Video iPod Mockups that have been floating around the web. The application was filed in June of 2006.

The focus of the patent is the incorporation of a touch-sensitive bezel (edge of screen) that can adapt to the screen contents to provide an input method for the user. Hrmpf suggests that the use of this non-screen are would eliminate many of the “smudge” and “scratch” concerns for a full-screen touch iPod.”

This makes total sense and has to be it! But I’m a little concerned if we will still be able to operate the unit via just one hand. Also, my old “touch sensitive” 3G iPod refuses to respond to my presses on a lot of occassions (-_-). Anyway… bring on the full-screen iPod!!

… on TV last Friday and I totally forgot about it! Luckily I set my Mac to auto-record. The first two episodes were shown back-to-back and boy… did it bring back great memories or what?! Can’t wait till Friday for the next two episodes!

… a new TV drama which aired from October 11 (though, I’ve never watched it).

I love this billboard poster design! How it depicts an overall image of a foetus with the 14yr old girl enclosed in the center depicting her suffocation, isolation, sadness, helpless-ness, worries, etc., all in this one shot! Absolutely great stuff!

Picture taken at Shibuya JR station

Finally, the new MacBook Pros get the Core 2 Duo treatment! And Apple claims that it is up to 39% faster than its predecessor! Anyway, I wonder what took Apple so long to release these Core 2 Duo laptops.

Now that the new 15-inch is once again equipped with FireWire 800 and DVD-Dual Layer burning (these should never have been missing in the first place), I think there is no more reason for me to lust over a 17-inch model anymore. If I do get one of these laptops, it will be the 15-inch model along with either a 23″ or 30″ Cinema Display. This combo gives me the screen estate I need, and the portability when I need it (my previous 17″ PowerBook was great but the extra weight and inches in width really made a difference when I had to lug it around). But wait… there’s still no Intel-native Adobe Creative Suit! Damn, by the time Adobe releases it, the next MacBook Pro will probably be out! Sigh….

I only just found out about this new LaLaport shopping mall in Toyosu a week or so ago via a TV program. The TV program mainly focused on the Kidzania part of the shopping mall which happens to be a huge in-house theme park. Because I was busy cleaning Ulala’s cage at the time, I didn’t pay a great deal of attention to the program but I do clearly remember seeing kids with their families riding on small coasters, seeing facilities for kids to learn how to put out fires, construction cranes which kids can control, etc., etc. I think it’s more than your average kinda themepark clearly with educational purposes in mind too.

The program didn’t say too much about the shopping aspects, which is understandable since all shopping malls are cloned with the same shops, anyway.

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