So, my girlfriend's iP5 came in today. Everything about the phone is beautiful. It's fast as hell, the new features are great, and everything is just peaches and cream....
Except for the screen.
Don't get me wrong, the size increase is a welcome improvement. It's just that the colo(u)rs are so...saturated. I guess it may take some getting used to coming from my own iP4, but damn.
Logic was discovered by philosophers, and in the West it was advanced by Aristotle and served as the basic foundation of reasoning and science for hundreds of years until symbolic logic was devised. Prior to that, Greek philosophers helped to advance mathematics (Pythagoras was, in fact, a philosopher). Really, the view that philosophy is somehow apposed to proven facts and logic is a wholly modern notion, and for a good portion of history the two were practically indistinguishable from one another.
Even in contemporary times, there are branches---philosophy of science, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics---that concern themselves principally with logic and proven facts. If you're curious, I'd point you in the direction of the so-called analytic school of 20th century philosophy and thinkers like Russell, Wittgenstein, Carnap, G. E. Moore, and their predecessor Frege. These guys helped to advance symbolic logic and set theory. Folks like Chomsky are also important in fields like contemporary linguistics, which is relevant to computer programming and so forth.
Yeah logic especially is a big part of computer programming, or data stored on computers (you don't have to be a programmer to know the benefits of boolean values). These boolean values are in fact the way a computer stores and works with data, so without these small bits of logic, there can be no computers. On one hand I think about everybody in this thread are enough technically knowledgable about bits for me not to write a post about it, but on the other hand, I don't know if many are so knowledgable about the bridge between logic and computers. Every little piece of the computer, where data flows, are designed to handle bits, and even the processor is basically based on logic - with the ANDs and XORs and whatnot.
It's an interesting subject to study. Logic that is.
Putting logic aside (quite literally) I've been smittened by the ugliest of ugly gaming notebooks. It's so ugly that I quite like it. It's the opposite of I really want from a notebook - it's like a flying saucer with all the flashing lights and alien heads.
Yep.
Alienware m17x R4.
Look, isn't it hideous?
But look how well it handles gaming:
The fact that I travel a few times a year to the country, as well as to the couch from my desktop, is reason enough to, at least for now, look at portable gaming rigs. I think I've made up my mind on that one. At first, it was between Clevo, Alienware, Asus G75 and MSI GT70 (0NE, the one with GTX680M). What really got to me about the Asus was the rather good looking design. It looks sober, and actually quite nice. But it can only be had with a GTX670M at best, which is a little disappointing. The MSI and Clevo were also very tempting, but what made the Alienware stand out was the HDMI input, meaning that I could hook my xbox up to it. I can't even know why or when to use it, but ability sounds too cool to ignore. Also, I'm not at all sure I'd like the keyboard on the Clevo. Clevos seem nice in general, but from my understanding, the keyboard is it's worst part and truth be told - I want a good keyboard.
Also, I'll probably go with a smaller, cheaper ultrabook (or macbook) for a surf laptop that I can use in a café or when I'm not using that alienware monstrosity. Tablets seem nice, and with Win 8 coming I can think of many reasons to actually have one with a "real" OS on it (I know, I know, don't bring up the subject about "real" OS:es to me - you and me both know you know what I mean). Ultimately though, I think I'd be writing or coding on it so much that it I'd have a keyboard hooked it 24/7, and defeat the whole purpose of a tablet. So a smaller notebook of any kind would actually probably suit me much better. Besides, I always think it looks a little awkward and unnatural seeing people surf and use those tablets in public (especially when they write stuff) - the smaller form factor is nice, but I'm not sure it's more ergonomic than having a real laptop on your lap or the table etc.
Putting logic aside (quite literally) I've been smittened by the ugliest of ugly gaming notebooks. It's so ugly that I quite like it. It's the opposite of I really want from a notebook - it's like a flying saucer with all the flashing lights and alien heads.
Strangely, neither of those videos work for me. But I can imagine an alienware machine being hideous very easily.
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I've suddenly realised the joy of being able to take photos on a phone, editing them, and then throwing them up on something like Tumblr on the spot. I've always been a stickler for quality and derisive of the whole instagram filter thing, and yet the end result of my thinking is that I forget about the photos and then never upload them. It's not as if anything has changed with the technology, just that I took a look at the whole 'photo-stream' thing and it clicked for me.
Strangely, neither of those videos work for me. But I can imagine an alienware machine being hideous very easily.
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I've suddenly realised the joy of being able to take photos on a phone, editing them, and then throwing them up on something like Tumblr on the spot. I've always been a stickler for quality and derisive of the whole instagram filter thing, and yet the end result of my thinking is that I forget about the photos and then never upload them. It's not as if anything has changed with the technology, just that I took a look at the whole 'photo-stream' thing and it clicked for me.
The top fins are vents that open and close to cool the unit. It's water cooled. The front panel slides up and down showing the card reader and 3 DVD drives. The more expensive model has the panel go up by itself. IMO not worth it and more stuff to break anyways. Both sides of the case open up. The left side has the mobo and water cooling. The right side has 6 hard drive slots. You just slide them in and press down and they lock in place.
Strangely, neither of those videos work for me. But I can imagine an alienware machine being hideous very easily.
----
I've suddenly realised the joy of being able to take photos on a phone, editing them, and then throwing them up on something like Tumblr on the spot. I've always been a stickler for quality and derisive of the whole instagram filter thing, and yet the end result of my thinking is that I forget about the photos and then never upload them. It's not as if anything has changed with the technology, just that I took a look at the whole 'photo-stream' thing and it clicked for me.
I was Jaben today trying out the F111, the Compact Monitor's Stage 3 demo, a JH13 demo and the Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro for the heck of it (It was pretty good for a portable, over-ear closed can that looks cool - it isn't bassy but actually only slightly v-shaped with a slight treble emphasis but otherwise very fine throughout)
The F111 was amazing and remains to be the best universal I've ever heard (I haven't tried the TG334, Jaben told me they will bring those in next month).
The JH13 was a "meh" for me. I have no idea why. Maybe it was because it was a demo set so the seal wasn't optimal, etc.
The Stage 3 however blew me away. It was neutral and smooth all the way to the top. What shocked me was how it presented each of the frequencies. Bass was just right, not overbearing and quick/fast with light music yet can be sufficient in quantity on bass heavy tracks. Quality was top notch, i can hear all the details. The midrange was great too, though I didn't use vocal heavy tracks to truly see what it can do. It did very well for metal though, recreating the amazing crunch of guitars while maintaining space for the aggressive vocals. Treble was just right - not too hot at all. By contrast, my ears started to hurt from the F111s due to the treble. The Stage 3's however were a joy to listen to and there was no pain. Just smooth treble all the way.
Disclosure: when trying out the demos I tried my very best to get the best I can from them.
Well, Jaben Singapore is the "mothership" where Uncle Wilson started it all. Although I've heard Jaben HK also has lots of offerings.
as for the Custom One's, I'm afraid I can't give very detailed impressions about them because I focused more on the IEMs. I can describe the sound to be slightly v-shaped with more emphasis on treble than on the bass. Bass was surprisingly not boomy at all. I couldn't really tell much about different positions of the switches because I didn't spend a lot of time with them. They were left closed for the most part. It has large soundstage, probably because I've been using the dt1350s and the IEMs. I can't really label the sound because it has no signature trait that one often associates with cans. If I would assign an adjective though it would be clean. Bass was just enough, sometimes lacking on some tracks while the treble was slightly emphasized on some. As a whole though it's pretty good by itself. It loses to the DT1350 in terms of detailing and imaging but I would imagine it's because the Custom One Pros were designed to be consumer-level cans.
And after spending so much time reading and waiting for headphones reviews (quality ones should take from 5 weeks to 2 months of use before any full review, IMO), I found that any smartphone reviews that are churned out in less than 24 hours to be seriously invalid. I mean, sure iOS 6 (my gripe currently) is familiar and is just another incremental upgrade UI-wise from what I see. But still, 24 hours is hardly an enough of a time frame to test what matters more: battery life. I would deem a good review of smartphones is something like 1 week of use. This should simulate real world enough, super duper high use of everything on the phone, and very low power usage to see how long it can stand before needing a charge.
Various writers for the major press got samples of the iPhone after the announcement last week, so they've had more than a couple hours to use them. Anybody who got theirs on day 0 of sales, and blogging up their reviews, though, yeah. Although I have no objection to people reporting their first impressions as such.
Apple's been pretty reliable in reporting battery life for their previous phones, so assuming they're equally honest this time, the reported numbers should be decent: About a week between charges if I use it as much as I used my past non-smart phones, and a couple days between charges if I use it as much as my smartphones.
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