Chatter Of The Squirrel

Worldsaurus.com

Oh noes…

I’ve been invited to the Worldsaurus.com beta. This website is paying for travel-related articles to the tune of US$0.50-$3 per approved article.

Just gave it a go and wrote a random introduction for KL, and I got paid $1. I feel like I’m writing for Lonely Planet. Being paid to write, no matter how little, is just a cool feeling.

It’s very new, so Malaysia is still a clean slate. I’m gonna try to get to $20 as quick as I can and see that they pay out.

This is going to cause further delays to my Beijing blog….

Photography: Canon G10

Boss bought a new camera out of gadget envy. He’s too busy to RTFM, so I’m called in to teach him how to use his new Canon PowerShot G10 (click link to buy).

Well, it gave me the chance to play with a new camera, and share some of my random thoughts on this gear.

The camera looks neat. Significantly larger than the compact point-and-shoots. It’s weighty and feels rather solid.

Observe the flash hot-shoe where you can plug in a Canon external flash, which will typically cost half what this camera is worth.

The typical functions of this camera is just… typical. I had many of the same features on my old A430 Powershot.

Other nice stuff is the face recognition AF, aperture control from f2.8-f16, manual focus (?!), continuous AF, bracketing, multi-shot (at a terrible 1fps).

From the top you can see the really cool stuff: the EV adjustment dial on the left to increase/decrease exposure in 1/3 stops. A very useful feature to quickly fix exposure issues whenever the camera’s metering is confused by the scene you’re trying to capture.

There’s also a knob to quickly set the ISO sensitivity.

Only had a few hours to play with this camera. Took mostly macro pics, and it’s very good. Macro was something the A430 was utterly useless in.

What’s fantastic is the LCD display. It’s very wide and bright. Pictures just look BEAUTIFUL on the display, giving you an immense sense of accomplishment after taking the shot.

This is a nice camera, but not RM1800 nice. For that money, you can already get an entry level DSLR with kitlens from Pentax or Sony.

The target market for this camera? I think it’s for old guys who’ve become too jaded with the SLR, and want to convince themselves that they can take equally good pictures with something a lot less cumbersome, but still has some creative control like f2.8 aperture and ISO 1600.

Holbien Airbrush

I think I trawl Lowyat.net a little too much.

I’ve been trying to get a cheap, crappy airbrush which I can use to spray on lacquer / sealer on my miniatures. Cos I didn’t want to risk ruining my good airbrush in case the formulation of the lacquer causes problems.

I managed to find a 2nd hand airbrush for MYR50.

But it seems that this one is BETTER than the airbrush I already have. Hmm…

It looks like a 0.2mm Holbien. The guy claims he paid MYR450 for it years ago. It looks mighty fine and can spray a very fine line.

Unfortunately, I fear that the small nozzel just means that it’ll clog more easily and more frequently.

Still, a very fine instrument. But a scapel really isn’t what I should be using to debone a chicken.

Blog: Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

This blog is quite the BEST thing I’ve seen in a long while!

While that YouTube is buffering…

Doogie Howser is Dr Horrible (PhD in Horribleness), a nerdy Lex Luthor/Dexter-ish evil genius. He is crushing a girl at the laundromat. And he has a video blog.

Captain Hammer is the jock/jerk Superman-ish nemesis. He is also the gay neighbour in Desperate Housewives.  And also the captain of the starship Serenity in Joss Whedon’s Firefly.

The mere THOUGHT of these two unlikely and talented actors together tickle me silly.

And to see them in a Joss Whedon production too?

And…

…wait for it…

It’s also…

a MUSICAL!

By golly, Neil Patrick Harris’s love-sick crooning moved me deeper than Michael Crawford’s croaking in Phantom.

I’ve already watched it 6 times or more…

ASUS EeePC 4G 701

It’s been slightly over a year since the ASUS EeePC took geek-dom by storm. An ultra-portable little notebook, weighing under a kilogram, and petite enough to fit into a lady’s bag, or a man’s lunchbox. All for MYR1500 when it launched last year.

It’s brilliant. But even at such an attractive price, I don’t see myself getting MYR1500 worth of value out of something that I’ll treat as a toy. I don’t chug a lot of Starbucks. Nor am I so pretentious that I need the whole world to see me when I type, like some Hollywood wannabe. So, whilst I appreciate the EeePC’s beauty, it was not something that I’ll get. Not at that price.

Then last week, on an IT hunting expedition, I dropped by the store where a friend was working. I was looking to upgrade my LCD monitor, but my friend told me that the 22″ LG that was going at such a freaking bargain is already sold out. Tough. But while chitchatting, he also revealed that the store was doing a grand opening on the Saturday, and there’ll be limited units of EeePC going at MYR599.

Holy frack! At this price, even I can’t resist picking up the EeePC finally.

My friend assured me that with his inside pull, he can hold a unit for me. So Friday morning came, and I didn’t worry. Was thinking of making a trip during lunch and grabbing mine. But at 11:15am, it was all gone. The manager caught my friend reserving the unit and stopped him.

Tough luck. But there’s another 50units available on Saturday morning, and this time, my friend spoke to a colleague in the notebook department to hold a unit. So, there shouldn’t be a problem this time.

Saturday morning came, and I went to the store at 10am and found an orderly queue. And a long one at that. And a grand opening ceremony so the store will only open at 12pm.

Didn’t seem likely that I would get the EeePC again. But luckily that an HP friend of mine, has a sister who went to queue with her boyfriend, and she was able to get an extra EeePC for me!

Kindnesses from strangers I’ve never even met

Hurrah for making friends with random cat-lovers