Merry X' Mas: HoHoHo...{;-)}}}

Merry Christmas for all Christians and Catholics around the world.

Hope the best for this eventful day.

P.S: I'm going to Taiwan this day, so wish me luck there...;-)

Buying Guide for: Netbooks

I'm gonna tell you some guides for buying netbooks. But before I tell you, I've to introduce about "what's netbook?"

Netbook is a personal portable computer with smaller dimension and weight compared to laptop. Its main function was to browse the internet and word/excel processing. Sometime, it could even used for entertainments, like watching movies and play games. But, due to its design only to surf the internet and word processing, it lacks of optical drive, has smaller screen, which sometime makes it hard to see small words in it and lack some mainstream graphic processing unit, which makes it better when watching HD movies or while using graphic intensive programs/games. Keyboard design also shrank smaller then laptops, resulting in harder typing but higher portability. Due to its size and portability, peoples are more and more taking it into the outside world, rather than like some laptops which sits at home as it's too large to be taken anywhere.

Today netbooks are designed better then their predecessors. Some changes include larger screen, more efficient battery perhaps, or even better graphic processing unit. But, if you look at their specs, they're remarkably same from every manufacturers, especially their processors. This makes people hard and sometime confused of choosing better netbooks. So, that's why I'm making this guide for you to read and understand to buy which netbook according to your purpose. 

• If your purpose was only to surf the web, any netbook suit your need and just see their prices to suit your budget. 
• If the purpose was portable multimedia player or gaming (gaming not recommended), then choose some netbook which has larger screen size and resolution and avoid any 'Intel Graphics Media Accelerator' word on their spec and find another one which includes the word 'ATI(' or 'NVIDIA', but definitely not 'VIA'.
• If your purpose was portability, then choose the one with the smallest dimension and weight, if you didn't think about screen and keyboard size. 
• It's better to have longer battery live (6-cell was better), because you don't want to be interrupted in the middle of blogging, right?

So, it's better to choose depend on your purpose. If netbooks doesn't suit your needs, it's recommended to choose laptop, as netbooks seems to have problem installing from CDs.

Blog writer,

Jeffry J. (admin) 

GameSpot: Best Game of 2009

Bored of always playing the same game (Warcraft, CounterStrike, Mario Bros, Solitaire?)? because there's a popular, well-known website called 'GameSpot' which will gave awards for some of the best games in the year 2009. But now, they're still waiting for editors to choose from lots of nominated games, plus polling for the best games, acquired from the readers. So, if you're already seen it, vote for your favorite games!

LINK!!!

Update: Editors has chosen some of them, click the link to see the chosen one.

Nokia + 18 carat Gold = WOW!!!

Wanna something different than the others? Or something pricy and quite valuable even in the future?Or perhaps, you just wanna gold-plated gadget?  Well, there's something called 'Nokia 6700 Classic Gold Edition' which might caught your interest. Check this out!

Engadget

Dell Vostro V13: Now Shipped Worldwide!

Do you know about Dell Vostro V13? Or you're one of the user of Dell Vostro series?Or perhaps you're searching a cheap but fashionable and high productivity laptop? Well, there's goos news that this version of Vostro has finally shipped worldwide.

If you don't know about Dell Vostro V13, then you might consider to visit Engadget for a short review.

How To: Play MP4/FLV Video on Mobile Phone

Hello! Today I'm gonna tell you about How To Play FLV/MP4 Video on Your Mobile Phone. But, before that you've to download and install YouTube Downloader and know your handphone specification. For example, my Nokia 5310 XpressMusic only able to play 176 pixel x 144 pixel sized video with +/- 20 fps. If you couldn't search or undertsand about the specifications, you could comment below and I'll try to help you.

After you installed the YouTube Downloader, you could also download YouTube videos with it. But, the reason to download this was to convert the FLV/MP4 format into MP4/3GP mobile phone format.

First, open the YouTube Downloader, choose 'Convert video (previously downloaded) from file' and then select the video you wanted to convert. Then, change the 'Convert to' option into 'Manual conversion'. 

Click Ok and there will be a window to set the parameters for conversion. If you want to edit:

• The size of the video's screen, edit the number after '-s' as pictured above.
• The fps of the video, edit the number after '-r' as pictured above.
• The bit rate of the video, edit the number after '-b' (not pictured, removed)
• The sample rate of the audio, edit the number after '-ar'  (not pictured, removed)
• The bit rate of the audio, edit the number after '-ab' (not pictured, removed)
• The amount of channels of the audio, edit the number after '-ac' as pictured above.
• The type of the video's file extension, edit the words after '%1.' as pictured above.

Notes: 

• Remove some of the parameters if you don't want to change the original format during conversion.
• Add the parameter '-qscale' with number 1-31 to improve video quality at the position pictured above.

Then, click Ok and the conversion started with a Command Prompt box shown below.

Wait till the window above disappears and the result of the video will be found in the directory of the source video. Then, copy the video onto your mobile phone and see if your phone could play the converted video. If it fails, then the video screen size may be not supported by the video decoder or the video player. Trying to change the screen size according to the specification solves this problem.

Blog writer,

Jeffry J. (Admin)

Sony PlayStation went 15th Anniversarry

Remember the Sony PlayStation? or the moments you got your 1st PS1? Well, time went so fast that its already 15 years old (I still play PS1 '99 till now). To see some little celebration made by Sony Computer Entertainment, see the website below!

Link

Source: Engadget

Nokia E71 vs. Blackberry Curve 8900: Nokia wins?

Hello, folks! Today, I'm gonna tell facts about battle between the Nokia E71 and Blackberry Curve 8900. Sounds fun? No, it's the history of the 'real' battle! 

If you're in Indonesia, then you might know, Blackberry is almost everywhere. In cellular stores, if you asked for Blackberry, they will always say 'We have it!'. If you go to a mall, you'll see at least one people using Blackberry. How the Blackberry come into Indonesian market? Till now its still unclear, whether peoples bring Blackberry phones from outside world and introduced it to their friends, or retailers imported them and sell some few quantities of 'em, and later became popular, this still remain a mystery.

But clearly, this is a thread for the longtime successful cellular phone maker 'Nokia', as their sales of phones dropped drastically after the unknown introduces of Blackberry to Indonesian market. So, they introduced Nokia E71, the direct competitor of Blackberry 8900. This product did sold to peoples who's searching the cheaper alternative of Blackberry. But, it's too late, Blackberry phones are already raging in Indonesia. Peoples are forced to change their Nokia into Blackberry, as their friends are using Blackberries too. Nokia E71 ended up as a failure product, with minimal sales and low market share percentage. This makes Blackberry the ultimate, reasonless winner in Indonesia.

But, it's the other side in worldwide. Reviewers praised Nokia E71, while Blackberry 8900, remained silent as a competitor. What made reviewers praised Nokia was the exceptionally smaller size compared with the larger corporate Blackberry 8900 with almost same features. Nokia E71 also used less power and lasts longer than Blackberry, though by sacrificing by using a slower hardware and smaller screen than Blackberry. Reviewers also said that Nokia E71 was the best QWERTY phone made by Nokia combined with the best Symbian S60 OS. Nokia also has 3G feature which Blackberry doesn't have. Because of many positive reviews, it became 'Mobile Choice's Best Smartphone of The Year 2008'. This made Nokia E71 the ultimate winner in worldwide.

This battle seem to be ended. Well, it's ended because Nokia E71 was introduced in year 2008, and the battle of them both started in 2009. As time changed, people in worldwide remained silent with their choices, whether they picked E71 or 8900, we only know that Blackberry reigns reasonless in Indonesia.

Blog writer,

Jeffry J.(admin)

PC or MAC: "PC For Me"

Here's advertisings created by Apple, clearly intended to disappoint Windows users.

For me, I'll still choose PC. Well, to keep PC budget low and for future easy upgradeability (OEMs were hard to be upgraded)

Update: Also, games for Windows often releases faster than Mac version.

Imagine: Handphone + Windows XP= ???

Well, actually this thing is real and there's one seen on Tom's Hardware.

Click for details of it.

Windows 7: Are They Ready To Serve You "Well"?

Some said Windows Vista successor was Windows 7, some said Windows 7 is the real-successor of the Windows XP. Then which was Windows 7's predecessor? For some people both of them were the predecessors of Windows 7. But How?

Windows 7 was said to be a new operating system which would repair Microsoft good image to the worldwide, which was once destroyed by the slow, RAM-eating monsters, Windows Vista. The reason of this nasty characteristics was 'maybe' its new Windows Aero Interface, which satisfies some high-end consumers (but not the mid, low-end consumers!) with new glassy, transparent feature of it, by using high amount of memories form both RAM and VRAM(I'll discuss it later on).

Then, what's the connection with Windows XP? Well, before the 'Behold of The Worst, Vista!', there's a successful OS which maintain the image of Microsoft, called 'Windows XP'. It required much less and more less requirement than the 'Behold of The Worst, Vista!'. It's also more reliable then Vista, although there's some security flaws (example: AUTORUN), which till now was hard to be repaired. It's also an old OS, even the SP1 edition was discontinued last year. So, consumers need newer OS for this new style era. But, Microsoft just made it worst, becoming the 'Behold of The Worst, Vista!'.

Then, did you mean Windows 7 was the mixes of the 'Behold of The Worst, Vista!' and the 'My Majesty, Windows XP'? Yes, it is. It resulted an OS featured Vista's Aero Interface,  with XP's reliability of consuming less system resource. Then, Windows 7 is the best OS in these days, right? The answer will be proved after months or even years, as new systems (according to me) have to be proved its uses and features for sometime, including Windows 7 which released no more than a month and there's even some flaw discovered.

One of its flaw was called 'The Black Screen of Death'. According to Engadget, the 'Screen of Death' comes when users are logging in. After that, the screen goes black and done, the 'Screen of Death' appears and the system locked up. The 'Screen of Death' also makes the system into halt. This was caused by security updates made by Microsoft itself. There were also reports of Windows 7 corrupting SD cards, but this was already fixed by patch.

Update: The flaw 'The Black Screen of Death' was created by some malicious software....

Does this means that Windows 7 superseded the flaws of its predecessors? Well, just wait for sometime to know the answer.

Blog Writer,

Jeffry J.(Admin)

Hello, folks! We're Back Online!!!

Good news for all peoples who were waiting for this blog to be reopened, after suspended for sometime. The time used while suspending the blog was useful, especially for the making of the new, revamped blog theme by editing the 'XHTML 1.0 Strict' source code of this blog. Now, enjoy the new UI and also, there would be useful news about electronic gadgets' lifestyle. Stay tuned...

Blog Suspended for Weeks

Hello, today I've to tell bad news. The bad news is that I've to suspend a while from blogging. This is because I'll having some tests (performance test: benchmarking?) for the rest of the time. I also hope that I'll revive this blog in the month of December. Goodbye...

The Sims 3

Are you Sims lover? or never played The Sims? or perhaps didn't know about The Sims 3?

If you're really new to The Sims, then this third version is suitable for newcomers. The tutorial is fantastic and the gaming quality and reality is excellent!

Check Out The Sims 3 Webpage for more information!

Note: I'm not responsible for the loss of money from buying Sims 3 or a new PC!

Uses of PC: Differentiated From Its Value

Hello! Today, I'm gonna tell you about the uses of PC, seeing form the angle of its value. Some of you might have PC priced above $500, but you just using it for playing Facebook, Friendster, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, YouTube, Yahoo! Mail, Ms. Word & Ms. Excel, Minesweeper, Solitaire, and the most ridiculous was 'Calculator'. This apps only required PC priced below $300 nowadays. So, what $500 PC used for? Warning: You're entering PC enthusiast/Gamer Zone.

PC priced at $500 usually used for gaming, 3D Design, Video editing, photoshop-ing, benchmarking, overclocking, and some for 'bragging'. The one who have this type of PC usually proud for themselves, as having a 'more' powerful PC than low-ended PC. But, is there a really need of this PC?

For gamers, indeed, they need it. It's important for gamers, especially if they're also PC enthusiast, to have PC at this level. Some games don't need such high requirements, but some did required it, some even required more than this. Their reason to have this type of PC is to play certain games without any 'lagging', or just wanted a realistic image quality from older games. For gamers, it's great to play certain games with incredible image quality, especially when mixed with 5.1 Audio Channel Surround Sound! We will felt we're on the game!

How about 3D Design, Video Editing, Photoshop-ing? They both only required fast response when they're working on it. Usually, this type of PC was called 'workstation' and some of their specially designed hardware were more expensive than the common one. For example, workstation's graphic card, which specially designed for 3D workings or video editing. They're different from the common one, because they're designed for 'fast' responses and complex 3D physics, rather than high 3D framerate.

And then, what's about benchmarking, overclocking & bragging? They used this type of PC to 'win' competitions or just-for-fun. Benchmarking was the process of measuring the performance of the current PC and give international score. Benchmarkers(the one who benchmarks their PC) usually race with the others to reach higher score. They could spend $1000 on a PC, just for benchmarking. Gamers and PC Enthusiasts also measure their PC performance by benchmarking. 

Some also done 'overclocking' on their PC. What's overclocking? See Overclocking for knowledge. If you've read the given link, then you might know that overclocking was not a good idea. But, some (including me) addicted to overclocking. Overclocking saves money on certain hardwares and some even designed to be overclocked or even already oeverclocked. The negative thing was it might reduce the lifespan of hardwares affected.

Like my once overclcoked GPU (ASUS EAH4830 512MB) which once (now already repaired) suffers from 'chromatic' noisy fan. It's the GPU which was overclocked, then why it was the fan which fails? Well, Wikipedia already said, other hardware also might be affected. So, the heat produced by the GPU was more than the fan was designed for to remove 'em. The result was the fan itself heats up and started to create noises.

I didn't want to discuss about bragging. Ask the one who has the $500 PC (It's Me! It's Me!), he knows about it. If he didn't understand, then he might (once) having a higher lever of PC. I usually divided 'em into these levels:

• Rp500.000,00: These PC used to be a good reliable computer till 3-4 years ago....
• $300: Do you know about OEM PC? That's what I'm talkin' about....
• $400: Rare! It's so weird to have a PC at this level. I recommend to step to $500 level!
• $500: Ahhh.... Enthusiasts always says, "PC at this level is 'mainstream'!".
• $700: Average enthusiasts' PC level, Cool.....
• $1000: Super-enthusiasts' PC level, I better spend it on renovating my house....
• $1500-$2000: These PCs are useless!!! Especially OEMs!!! It's too early to use them!!!
• $3000: ....Hamena Hamena Hamena....

That's all folks!

Windows Media Player 11 Functions

Hello. This my first article about digital lifestyle. The easiest knowledge of it was Windows Media Player functions in your PC. If you have Windows Media Player 10 or below, then some features might not be available or not the same. Today I'm gonna explain about some of the most useful functions.

If you liked hearing MP3 from your PC, then this is suitable for you. The first function was the 'SRS WOW Effects'. It could create more bass or more surround to your music playback. If you want more bass and better audio quality, set the TruBass slider to the max. If you want some 'virtual surround', then just set the WOW Effect slider a little higher. If you set it to the maximum, the playback quality will be worse. I recommend to set the WOW Effect slider from 12 to 37.

The second feature or function of the Windows Media Player was the 'Rip' function. It 'rips' Audio/Music CDs. Just go to the 'Rip' panel of the WMP and you'll find it already selected and ready to be ripped or copied. If you're ready, then click 'start rip' and ripping will be started. Those musics from the CD would be copied to the Library and My Music/'artist name'/'album name (date)' folder.

The third feature was 'Burn' function. This function required CD Writer or DVD Writer. Go to the burn panel and you'll see the burn list sidebar. Just copy anything from the library panel included in it and if you're ready, click Start Burn. The burning process will be started and just wait till it finished.

The fourth feature was 'Sync' function. This function helps you to synchronize your mobile devices that's capable of playing music and has PC connectivity. For example, I wanted to synchronize my Nokia 5310 Xpressmusic music folder with my My Music folder in my PC. So, I connected the handphone to the PC with USB cable provided before and the sync sidebar will be shown in the sync panel. Just drag any music to the sync list on the sidebar and click 'Start Sync' if you're ready. Once started, it'll copy the files directly to the drive without any folder.

I guessed I've to end this session. If you have anything to say or criticized about this, just feel free to comment.

Introduction: Vision & Mission

Thank god, this blog is finally made on my mum's Compaq Presario M2013AP notebook, after attempting it for a few times on my Nokia 5310 Xpressmusic. Now, I and my blog was in ready status to blog and give you information about daily things that might entertain you 'digitally'. What's meant by 'digitally' entertained? It's about using digital entertainment and (maybe) you're enjoying it. Also, you might just known that your electronic devices has many useful functions by reading this blog. It's also about knowing your electronic devices maximum function. It's like my Nokia, which I bought because for its 'music player' function, but my mother sets the GPRS setting for my handphone & its working. I also just found out that it could also be used as USB Modem. But, there's 1 major drawback, it's SLOOOWWW!!! It's even slower than pricy, inefficient, (noisy?), dial-up. One factor that's affecting this was its internet provider. Some factors were also caused by the handphone itself. Well, I guess I've to end this session  

....Goodbye....