Shiira the new browser for Mac

Here's another reason why I should convert to Mac: the new Shiira browser. It's made by the Japanese and its aim is to be a better and more user friendly browser than Safari. Damn, it's good and besides, I love the name. Anything that sounds close to She-Ra (more of your favourite 80s cartoons here)- I like!

(Thanks Xavey)

How to be a Pirate

Author Steve H. Graham is publishing chapters from his unpublished book "How To Be A Pirate" on his blog. From Steve H. Graham:

Last year, a publisher and my agent told me pirates were HOT and that I needed to write a funny book about them. They couldn’t WAIT to get a contract signed and publish it. So I wrote a bunch of stuff, and they loved it. And then the publisher decided not to publish it, and my agent said I should hold onto it because another publisher might want it, and well, it’s April of 2007, and it’s pretty obvious that the project is dead. Which is too bad, because I wrote a pile of stuff, and I also wasted the time of talented cartoonist Chris Muir, who did some illustrations on spec.

I’m busy this week, so I haven’t written my usual Thursday column, and I don’t want my readers to feel neglected. So I have decided to put the pirate stuff on my site. Today I’m publishing the first two chapters: the introduction and a survey of pirate fashion. I’ll put the rest up in the weeks to come.

Well Steve, pirates are still hot you know, or least I think they will be hot again when Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 is out in the cinemas. Steve's book sounds interesting but for those of you who really want look like a pirate like the sexy Captain Jack Sparrow, here's an easy way.

Undergarment Video Game Controller

For her thesis, JennyLC built game controllers into undergarments so that games are played through players physically touching one another. How sexciting! There are two controllers. The woman's controller is a bra with 6 sensors while the man's controller is a pair of shorts with 6 sensors. Man stands behind woman and each has access to others sensors. I can see this becoming a favourite game for couples.

Happy Mother's Day Mum

Happy Mother's day Mum, wherever you are now:

..I thought about the years after I buried my mum. It seems like only yesterday. It was like looking over a fence. I remembered my mum told me when I was a little boy, of another kind of life out there, even as I knew I would never be a part of it.

"It is so unfair mum. You shouldn't have gone," I said quietly.

"I know," she said.

The LG Shine Review

It's hard not to think of the new LG Shine KU970 as just another fashion phone. It does look extremely pretty and like most fashion phones, it isn't made for users who are hungry for features that you can find in most smart phones and PDA phones. But there is something about the LG Shine that makes you go "woah" the first time you use it, even for a feature hungry user.



I got mine from the nice people at LG roughly a week ago. The moment I laid my eyes on it, I immediately knew why they called it the Shine phone. The phone literally shines thanks to its brilliant front mirror cum display - great for those who need to look at themselves every now and then.



The LG Shine has a sliding top lid. Sliding it up reveals the cool RAZR-like keypads and brings the phone's beautiful 2 inch LCD colour screen to life.

The LG Shine is housed in a full metal silver coloured casing. It's heavy (118g) - I like! Somehow you know that you are using a solidly built mobile phone when you carry it in your hands.



Below the LCD display, you'll find the phone's scroll bar in between two soft keys. Scrolling it up and down allows you to select the menu and functions more easily. This isn't a feature packed phone like I said earlier. It has no Wi-Fi which is a shame really, no slots for a memory card but it comes with an internal 512mb memory - sufficient enough for me.

I called the LG Shine a fashion phone. But what many people do not realise is that it is a 3G video mobile phone which allows you to make reasonably good video calls to any 3G phone in a 3G covered service area.

The phone has a 2 megapixel camera that is certified by Schneider-Kreuznach. Now, 2 megapixel may not be a lot but I've taken a number of shots with it and I have to say that the images surprised me. This has to be one of the best 2 megapixel camera phones out in the market today.

The LG Shine is indeed a beautifully made phone. Its shiny good looks will attract anyone. I do wish that it comes with Wi-Fi and a software that allows me to read my Windows documents. I love the camera which I think is the phone's best feature! Oh, but I'm not pleased with having to wipe the phone now and then because it attracts fingerprints easily.

Previously:
More LG Shine Pics!
LG Shine Pics!
Come Shine with me!

Singapore gets its F1 Grand Prix!

Good news for F1 fans in Singapore. Singapore will host the world's first F1 Grand Prix night race next year around the Marina Bay district. From BBC:

"Singapore is going to be the leader with the street race at night - we're excited about the idea," said F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

But Singapore's government says safety concerns will have to be resolved.

"Safety is of paramount concern to all of us," said Singapore's Trade and Industry minister S. Iswaran.

"Therefore, we will proceed with a night race only if the safety and operational requirements of all parties are fully met - if not, we will revert to a day race.

"(But) a night race will be unique and allow the Singapore event to reach out to television audiences in Asia, Europe and the US."

Singapore will stage the race for five years, with Ecclestone keeping the option to extend the deal for a further five years until 2017.

I have always preferred watching F1 on TV because it's far more comfortable and you can get a better view of the entire race but I think watching the race at night in Singapore will be a unique experience for all fans. It's held at night - it won't be as hot as it is in the day. Besides, I'm sure all the hotels around the Marina Bay area are pretty happy with this announcement. Overall, a good news for all of Singapore. Now, if only we have a F1 driver.

How to break up in 64 easy steps

YouTube Link

Two nights ago, I had a great conversation with Chels, a friend of mine about things like life, work and relationships. The relationship part was interesting. We talked about the problems of having a boyfriend/girlfriend, the responsibilities, trust, expectations and breaking up. Today, I was looking through YouTube and came across this very nice video about how to break up in 64 easy steps. I thought it may be useful for those of you who are planning the next move. Good luck.

The Monobloc Plastic Chair Blog

Dude is working on an extensive illustrated monograph, a museum exhibition and a documentary feature about probably the most successful and most hated furniture of all human creation- the monobloc plastic chair! He collects them too. Functionalfate.org is his blog. Go contribute some chairs to him.

How the world carries its chickens

You can carry them in large sacks with holes poked in the top or carry them on a stick or even strap them on a donkey. There are so many different ways how people around the world carry their chickens, as you can see here.

(Thanks Paul)

Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails

You can listen to all the tracks from Nine Inch Nail's latest album on their MySpace page. Cool aye! According to the album page on Amazon.com, "Nine Inch Nails' sixth studio release, Year Zero takes the concept album further than it may have ever gone before. In advance of its release, URLs were hidden in tour t-shirts, music- and image-filled USB drives were 'found' at concerts, and dozens of websites have been packed with conspiracy stories that all involve the year 2022 or 'Year Zero.' Each clue is part of a cohesive whole, requiring a listener to follow an exhaustive web trail to grasp the entire tale." If you're into industrial rock, I think you will love Year Zero.

Osim oders YouTube to take down its iGallop Ad

On Wednesday, I received a DMCA notice from YouTube saying that one of the videos that I uploaded has been removed because of copyright infringement:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by OSIM International Ltd claiming that this material is infringing:

iGallop TV Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svYtD983qts

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

I originally uploaded the ad to accompany this post I did on iGallop. Actually, this is the second time I've received a DMCA notice from YouTube. The first was for a short clip of ESPN Sportscenter. Remember kids, do not upload copyright content ok.

Now back to some serious thoughts. I can't recall how many people have viewed the iGallop ad that I uploaded to YouTube but I think it has to be more than 40,000 people. It is definitely the most popular of all the videos that I uploaded.

I'm a firm believer of copyright laws. For example, I believe that when a TV show or a movie is being made available online illegally, the owners of the copyright should do all they can to make sure that the videos are taken down from the hosting site and they should also take legal action if necessary.

But I do think that companies should relax a bit when it comes to protecting their copyright. If I'm a marketeer for Osim, I would have been a fool to take down the ad on YouTube just because it violates my copyright. The ad is a hit. Why force someone to take it down since it has generated free advertising and thousands of eyeballs for your product? An ad is effective only when there are more people viewing it. More people viewing the ad means the more products you are likely to sell. What Osim did just doesn't make sense. It's stupid. Ah, but what do I know? I'm just a blogger.

Update: According to this picture taken from this post by Ben, the Osim ad that I uploaded was viewed more than 141,000 times, not 40,000 as originally stated above.

Update: Osim may have forced YouTube to take down this ad but you can still view the ad uploaded by others on YouTube and other popular video sharing sites.