The Singaporean Gamer

For reasons beyond my control (and laziness), I only managed to update my iPhone to OS 3.0 last weekend. However, I found out that I was still unable to MMS, so I turned to Singtel’s haphazard website to dig around. Although the default setting seems to be correct, I could not send or receive pictures.

I managed to find a PDF guide to configure the iPhone manually when I went to Singtel’s page, clicked on IDEAS, then Configure your phone. The catch here is that the settings are meant for internet access, not MMS, but somehow it seems to work.

The username/password of the default setting was incorrectly set, it seems, to 65ideas for some reason. I removed them, or essentially setting them to blank. The other details should be auto-filled. Now I can finally send/receive pictures!

However, I still feel that Apple do not fully grasp the meaning of MMS, or Multimedia Messaging Service. Not Picture or Image, but Multimedia. Why can’t I send someone video or sound? Maybe the 3GS can send/receive video, but I doubt that. Hopefully, Apple will extend the application.

This PHD comic is a good gauge on what really happened to a scientific find before it goes mainstream (H1N1 flu variant, the LHC, etc).

It’s one of the reasons why I tend to be a bit skeptical on any news article on the H1N1 flu variant. While I sympathize anyone who had and has contracted the H1N1 flu variant, I find it deplorable to hype and sensationalize the disease as it seems to me to give a lack respect for others who had been or are currently struck with deadlier variants or other deadlier diseases.

The past 2 weeks have been busy, fun, tumulous and relaxing (probably in that order). Nope, this site of mine still has hope; it’s just on hiatus for now. Think of the last post as the season finale.

Onwards to Season 2 of The Singaporean Gamer. Probably should now be called The Married Singaporean Gamer.

“I do take Nuraishah Bte Abdullah as my lawfully wedded wife with the dowry as stated.”

In one breath saying those words, I was bonded, by God and state, with my girlfriend of nine years in holy matrimony.

Phew! That wasn’t so bad, now was it?

I have at last fulfilled one of my life’s goals. It’s been a long nine years of courtship. We’ve been ready to tie the knot for a long time now, probably since I was still in university. Somehow I think the letter to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett asking for sponsorship for our wedding must have got lost in the mail somehow, forcing us to fend for ourselves. Nevertheless, we (somehow) persevered and with a lot (and I do mean freaking a lot) of fiscal help from our respective parents, managed to pull off the greatest stunt of our young lives. So what’s next? A family, of course! And no, I’m not going to pull that off my playing Sims 3 together.

We’ve already decided on two kids; of course, a boy and a girl would be extremely nice. The probability is 1/2 that I will have two children of a different gender. Puzzle: if I already have 2 children, and one of them is a boy, what the probability of the other being a girl? Bonus points for anyone who can supply me with the correct answer! Their names will be considered once I knock my wife up. I would love a nice simple names with a good meaning behind it, which is one of the main responsibilities that I will have to bear as a father.

Like I’ve said, I’m absolutely positively looking forward to married life. I couldn’t think of anyone better to spend my life with. Some things will change. Some things won’t. As an example of things that won’t change, she got me a PS3 as a wedding gift! That has got to be the single coolest gift any girl could give her man at their wedding. I’m looking forward to doing write-ups of PS3 games here!

Ah, the perfect girl for the imperfect guy.

“Honey, I’m very happy to have you as my wife. I cannot promise you that I will be the best husband, but I can promise you that I will never stop trying to be. I love you with very much with all my heart and wish nothing more than for us to be together until we step through Heaven’s door.”

If you’re a gamer who haven’t heard the name Johnny Lee, you have to come out from under that rock you’re in.

Johnny Lee become famous for his youtube video on turning Nintendo Wii remote controller into a head-tracking device. Apparently, that one video sealed his reputation for making incredible innovative devices out of everyday objects, which you can see via his project blog.

Apparently, the original idea of head tracking is attracting some very big attention from very big game companies (or rather, big companies with gaming divisions).

Johnny Lee today introduced Project Natal on his project blog. It seems to me like a 3D camera with tracking capabilities. There is a public video demo of this, but of course, since it is a demo video, I doubt that the final product will be this seamless.

One thing that bothered me though.

The human tracking algorithms that the teams have developed are well ahead of the state of the art in computer vision research. The sophistication and performance of the algorithms rival or exceed anything that I’ve seen in academic research, never mind a consumer product.

Like what a commenter had said, I hope that Microsoft will allow the researchers to publish a paper for the scientific community. If the algorithms is really that good, then there will be definitely be more uses for in other areas as well, not just for entertainment.

However, all doubts aside, that is one unbelievably cool product if it ever goes to market. And if that really does happen, can we finally have a good Star Wars game where I can wield a lightsaber properly for once?

Enjoy!

I don’t care if this is not indicative of the gameplay or tramples on any existing Star Wars lore, it is pure awesomeness to see that many Sith lords.

Update: the video might not show up in feed readers. You’ll have to click through to see.

[From one of @mrbrown's status]

Boy, oh boy!

I was scouting around for an LCD TV for my love nest bedroom and after a few days of scouting, I immediately fell in love with this: a Panasonic Viera TX-32LX800M.

The price was a nice S$799. A tad high for a 32-incher with a 1,366 x 768 resolution; even the salesman at Best Denki was asking me why i chose this particular model as there are cheaper ones around. I replied that I like the marketed feature set.

• 100Hz Motion Picture Pro
• IPS Alpha Panel
• 10,000:1 High Contrast with Intelligent Scene Controller

(useless to crow about)

• 24p Playback
• VIERA Link and SD Card Slot

The main draws were the 100Hz and the IPS Alpha panel. Most 100Hz LCD TVs are definitely in a higher price range than this. Sony’s were above S$1k, which was too much for me to spend on. And those were not even 1080p-capable. A 100Hz panel would “smoothen” out fast motion, by drawing an extra frame in between. This is handled by the TV itself, through some magic of algorithms. Since I’m mainly using this for my Wii and PS3, it would definitely help. The IPS Alpha panel (link is very market-speak by the way) is enticing as I’ve always heard of S-PVA or IPS panels being superior in quality as standard TN panels, which you find in your everyday cheap LCD monitors.

The other specs are just bonuses. A high contrast ratio means nothing to me, everything is super high now. The 24p playback is useful since I will definitely be playing movies off my PS3. The VIERA link is bsaically a HDMI remote, controlling devices via the HDMI cable. Not sure what else I can hook up via HDMI, except my PS3 and PC, so it won’t be particularly useful, unless there is some awesomely outrageous must-have gadget in the near future. The SD card slot is simply a cute feature.

All in all, money well spent!

This is a really old joke but I turned into a giggling goose when I saw this:

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Thus, showing, and possibly proving, once again, how unreliable our memories are.

I’m not sure why, I just couldn’t stop laughing.

Yup, definitely MUCH better than the movie.

[Wolverine in 30 Seconds]

Yo’ mama’s so fat, she can be seen from the moon.

Yo’ mama’s so dumb, she hid her computer mouse from the cat.

Yo’ mama’s so dumb, she thought an iMac is a new burger at MacDonald’s.

Yo’ mama’s so dumb, she makes Homer Simpson look like a Nobel Prize winner.

Yo’ mama’s so dumb, she invented a wind-powered fan.

Yo’ mama’s so dumb, she bought a solar-powered torchlight.

Yo’ mama’s so fat, she has a satellite orbiting her.

Yo’ mama’s so dumb, she sold her car to buy petrol.

Yo’ mama’s so fat, her bathroom scale needs to add additional digits.

Yo’ mama’s so fat, she make Jabba the Hutt look anorexic.

Yo’ mama’s so fat, her butt has its own postal code.

Yo’ mama’s so dumb, she rearranged the letters on the keyboard.

Yo’ mama’s so dumb, she thought LOLcats is written in perfect English.

What’s the difference between yo’ mama and a pail of turd? The pail!

What is yo’ mama known as when she’s resting under the tree? Fertilizer!

Feel free to add more below!

[Credits to myself, and to Google]