Materialistic: My Fave Watches

A watch is a watch right? They all serve the same purpose, obviously. To tell time. But alas, times are changing...and more people are using their mobiles for this purpose. But I can bet that the wristwatch's popularity will prevail well into the next century.

So what seperates a run-of-the-mill Swatch or Casio G-Shock from a top of the line Patek Phillippe? (or Rolex, Breitling, Vacheron Constantin or Omega for that matter)

You'd be surprised, but the cheapo G-Shock is no doubt a lot more accurate than any of its pricey cousins. A quartz movement trumps a mechanical movement anytime. But a mechanical movement is a hell lot more complex and difficult to produce, making it more desirable to enthusiasts and collectors. And a high-quality mechanical movement is truly a wonder to behold and gratifying to own.

But in the end, it all boils down to a matter of personal preference. Aesthetic values vary from one person to another. Just choose whatever suits your personality (and budget, duh!)

In my eyes, some watches seem to blow others out of the water when it comes to design or pure classiness. I personally like chronographs because they look functional yet sophisticated. I'm a sucker for minimalistic designs too. I'm not so much a watch enthusiast, but here are some of my picks. As the prices are OBVIOUSLY out of my league, I won't even consider purchasing one of these (until I start working). But what's wrong with just admiring? :)





1. TAG Heuer Carrera Automatic Chronograph. Price: Around RM 10k








2. TAG Heuer Carrera Automatic Chronograph Tachymetre. Price: RM 8-9k








3. Panerai Luminor GMT. Price: RM 20k






4. Omega Speedmaster Professional. Worn by astronaut Neil Armstrong when he first walked on the moon. Price: Around RM 10k







5. Bell & Ross BR01-92 Limited Edition. Price: Astronomical..You don't want to know!







AND









6. Swatch Irony Chronograph "Dark Phoenix". My current everyday watch. Price: RM 4xx

Geek post: My Ex-es

2006 was a crazy year of sorts. The number of laptops I bought and sold off within that year would astound even the most seasoned computer geek. If having laptops can be compared to having wives, I would be an amorous Mormon in Utah. Sans the inbreeding of course.



Here's a short catalogue of my past and present systems:






1. NEC E6000, Pentium M 1.6 GHz. My first laptop. Sold off to a guy who looks like Che Guevara.







2. HP Compaq, Pentium M 1.8 Ghz. A gaming beast. Sold off.







3. Apple Powerbook G4 Titanium, 550 Mhz. Spray painted it gold. Nickname, "Goldy". Serves as my second system.







4. Apple iBook G4, 1.33 Ghz. Reliable, but its tiny screen put me off. Sold off.







5. Apple iBook G3 Special Edition 366 Mhz. The 'toilet seat'. A snail, but in a nice shell. Sold off with a good profit margin.







6. Apple Powerbook G4 Aluminium, 1.0 Ghz. Nicest looking laptop. Very good speakers. Sold off because I wanted the macbook.







7. Apple Macbook Core Duo 2.0 Ghz. My current main system. Very reliable and serves me well in photo editing, video producing and sound mixing.





And the most interesting sight. Four Apple laptops in a row! ....

Download Youtube Videos

Have you ever seen a video on Youtube that you really liked? Pretty sure you did.






The fact is every movie on youtube can be downloaded onto your hard disk for future use. Here's how:

1. Copy the html address of the youtube

2. Go to keepvid

3. Paste the address and select "youtube" from the drop down menu

4. Download the linked file.

The main problem here is that the downloaded video will be in .flv format. You can convert them into other formats (avi, mpeg, wmv) with the right software.

Here's one such.


Alternatively, you can download a flv player to play the .flv files.

TV Phone

Sometimes, I wish I was Japanese. This is Japan's latest incarnation of the TV phone, the Softbank 911SH by Sharp.


With a screen that can be tilted for widescreen viewing:


Ridge Racer arcade game preinstalled:


Widescreen TV mode:



Man, this makes my Nokia N70 and even my jap Docomo D902is phone look like this:




I'm not worthy!

Men, prepare to sheild your groins

Microsoft Board of Directors preparing for free kick to the groin



Windows Vista was recently released, but does the "Wow" justify the expression on their faces? Where's the enthusiasm, the "wow" factor? Looks more like an EPL match to me. Maybe they were worried about their competitor, the OS they copied Mac OS X? I wonder...

watch this too:

iPhone, iWant!

I guess it could be the effect of Steve Job's reality distortion field (RDF), but ever since I got my Macbook, I've been raving about Apple's products. I guess if Apple sold a tin can, I would praise Steve for being a "minimalist genius". Unfortunately, this lust inducing object will only be out in Asia by 2008....so i guess I'll have to rely on trusty 'ol Ebay to get my greasy fingers on this early.