Empty Vessel

A decade ago, I started ripping my CDs to MP3s, because it was the logical thing to do. iPods and other MP3 players hadn’t appeared on the market yet, but the music playing software WinAmp was taking the geek world by storm – imagine a world without CDs, and only digital files.

No more stupid CD jewel cases that cracked and collected dust, no more CDs that got scratched and became unplayable!

Of course, the rest of the world didn’t understand what MP3s were about. Ripping CDs was purely for techies (and this guy in my NTU hostel who let everyone access his ridiculously huge collection of ripped Mandarin CDs through the hostel LAN network) and audiophiles thought we were nuts for listening to compressed music.

Naturally, music publishers didn’t understand the whole digital music revolution either. File-sharing providers Napster and Audiogalaxy took off in the late 90s because the killer application was music files. Videos were then too clunky and ungainly to be shared, but everyone understood the power of a 3MB MP3 file.

So for most of the past decade, the foolish executives in music companies went after file-sharing sites, downloaders and even their own consumers.

One of the first albums to be slapped with digital rights management (DRM) in Singapore was Natalie Imbruglia’s White Lilies Island. Obviously, it didn’t do well, and this was largely due to the negative sentiment around the inability to rip the CD. Today, I still have one Pet Shop Boys anthology that I realised too late to my horror was un-rippable.

Anyway, it took the music industry an entire decade to wake up.

Today, Apple announced the iTunes Store and its 10 million songs will go fully DRM-free this year. The first thing I did today at 4am was to switch on iTunes, and upgrade 70 of my purchases to higher-quality, unprotected versions for US$0.30 a pop. The rest will be upgraded later this quarter. Now I can finally use “My Humps” as my ringtone!

So what happened in the past decade when music companies ran around like headless chickens? As a music lover, I watched the entire tragedy in despair.

1. The entire CD industry melted down. With the absence of DRM-free purchases, young people chose illegal downloads over overpriced CDs. I always thought it was ridiculous to pay $25 for a CD which essentially costs less than $1 to manufacture. And most of the fat margins probably went to music marketing and publishers, rather than artistes themselves.

2. The music artistes themselves suffered from market fragmentation and reduced influence. No longer do we have megastars like Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston who could move millions of singles and albums at a go. With marketing fragmentation and severely reduced profits, no one artist could hope to become a diva or pop icon as those in prior decades. Which publisher could afford to place a major bet on one star when a majority of his singles would be illegally downloaded?

Personally, I also believe that’s why modern music is so difficult for me to listen to – artistes don’t know how to market themselves or write music for a wide global audience, only niches.

3. Great music stores like Tower Records died. ‘Nuff said.

4. MTV went downhill too. Actually, I’m not really sure what happened here, but the minute MTV started focusing on reality TV and other non-music content, many people stopped seeing MTV as a source of new music appreciation. I remember being glued to MTV as a teenager, eager to watch new music videos and those hot VJs.

But with illegal downloads and the Internet, who needed MTV for music sampling? The reduction in marketing funds for artistes also meant a cut in the video production process. YouTube took over MTV’s original function, but now Viacom has cut off a lot of bootleg and official music videos from YouTube – yet another move that will further dampen the music business that MTV depends on for its survival.

C’mon, why lock out old videos like Take On Me? You can watch that on MTV.com BUT only in the US of A. And do publishers actually think selling music videos is a viable business? Sheesh.

5. Kids started to assume music should be free, because it is so easily downloaded. That’s why music stores are dying too.

6. Audiophiles suffered too. They were dragged kicking and screaming into the CD age, and now, publishers didn’t want to invest further in Super Audio CDs or HDCDs anymore because the CD cash-cow was dying. These days, I’m always amused to see "What Hi-Fi” magazine feature MP3 players when the audiophiles used to snub the technology to death. Then again, not many audiophiles realise that the whole Golden Ears paradigm (“you can hear a great difference with this $1000 audio cable!”) is mostly marketing BS. How many of us live in sound-proof houses?

Now lest you think the worst of me, I have my own audiophile grade equipment at home, but I’m more than happy to hook up my iPods to them and enjoy the music without worrying if I can hear invisible nuances. My CDs are all collecting dust in boxes, and my NAD CD player is acting funny from disuse.

7. Apple became the unlikely savior of the music industry. Strange that a tech company should come in to fix the whole problem, but perhaps it’s good that Steve Jobs is a music lover himself. He hit out at DRM (read his seminal commentary here) even though iTunes was doing great selling billions of protected songs at 99 cents each.

The logic was simple and obvious to digital music lovers – DRM had to go, because the situation was not sustainable to either consumers who were locked in to the iPod, or to music companies who had to decide which portable player platform to support. And 90% of sales were still in CDs, which was DRM-free anyway, but is effectively obsolete with digital distribution. So, once you take away DRM, the music industry should theoretically correct itself.

When I was still a tech journo, it was already clear several years ago that iPods would dominate the music player industry. While competitors have produced great competing hardware, iPod’s other killer app was the iTunes Store which had too strong a headstart.

Note: In Singapore, locals have mostly never tasted the iTunes Store (“huh, simi lai?”) and that’s why there’s still a general immaturity around digital purchases. Only a minority like me use a US account and pre-paid cards to purchase off iTunes, and truly understand what the deal with digital purchases is.

You probably think that iTunes going DRM-free is no big deal, since Amazon.com has been doing that for some time. But Amazon doesn’t have its own iPod, and for millions of iPod owners, today is a staggering milestone in music history.

Our music has become free to enjoy on our different devices, and people will remember why they should pay for good music. For everyone else who insists on illegal downloads of songs, they probably didn’t love music in the first place. 

I’m starting a new category in my blog called Home Improvement – basically sharing tips which I’ve learnt through trial and error over 20+ years of doing housework and building a home for my family and my gadgets. In other words, here’s some stuff you might like to know to make your house function a bit better.

Today’s installment – HomePlugs!

I’ve been using WiFi since the days when a G-router cost over $300 (circa 2003) and I think it’s a great thing for everyone.

However, WiFi is not ideal when you need consistent and high bandwidth to move data around the house – ie. when you need to stream videos and music from one room to another, or when you shift your computer to another room only to find that the WiFi signal is very weak.

I’ve faced both situations and the easiest solution is not to wire up your whole house like an office network, but to use HomePlugs.

HomePlugs basically convert your home’s powerlines into a local area network. They plug into wall power sockets and turn each socket into an Ethernet port as long as there’s another HomePlug receiving an Internet data stream.

Sounds very technical?

Well, here’s a simpler explanation.

Diagram from Aztech’s Home Plug website. I’m currently using three HL109Es at home.

1. Plug a Homeplug into a wall power socket and connect it to your modem or router.

2. Plug the other HomePlug into another wall power socket and connect it to your laptop/Xbox 360/desktop computer/whatever with an Ethernet port.

3. Voila! – you have a strong and steady Internet connection with little risk of interference or other people tapping on your signal. Your Internet data is effectively travelling through your home power cables instead of over the air. Your circuit breaker prevents the Internet signal from leaking out of the house.

According to my informal tests, a HomePlug connection provides download speeds identical to when you’re directly plugged into the modem. With HomePlugs reaching 200Mpbs speeds, your broadband connection is unlikely to overwhelm the HomePlugs within the next 5-10 years.

Of course, I still use a wireless router because I often take out my laptop to work at home and I don’t want to be tethered. My HomePlugs are used to provide an Internet connection to my desktop which is now in my balcony, and my Xbox 360, where I play online duels and stream videos.

My only issue with HomePlugs for now is the price. I use three 200mbps units, each which cost S$99, and the more you add to the network, the higher the sunk cost. Price always comes down though, and when IPTV takes off in the near future, you’ll probably get a pair of HomePlugs too.

Perhaps if more people (apart from geeks) knew about HomePlugs, the price would be driven down so much faster. Prices haven’t really changed since the products came onto the local market about 2 years ago.

The Singapore Flyer, photo from its official website.

Last Friday evening, Weizheng, ABC, Ronnie and I went to O’Leary pub at the Singapore Flyer to hang out. What really surprised me was the extremely low human traffic at the tourist destination.

Despite it being holiday period, and a Friday evening to boot, the pub was nearly empty save this bunch of executives making fools of themselves. I told the guys this would be a great place to get away from the crowds!

The S$240 million Flyer enjoyed great buzz during its first five months from this Feb, but it’s gone very quiet lately.

Yesterday, the worst PR disaster possible hit the Flyer:

The Straits Times, 24th Dec 2008.

Over 170 people got stuck in their Flyer capsules after a fire in the control room caused the wheel to stop spinning. It wasn’t fixed until nearly 6 hours later at 11.10pm. The Flyer has been grounded while police investigations continue.

According to the papers, 10 chaps had to be evacuated using ropes ala rapelling. For army folks, this is no big deal, but we’re talking civilians here who have never done any form of rock climbing. The experience must have been terrifying to most of them.

This effectively means from today, a lot of people are going to think twice before riding on the Flyer.

It was the culmination of a year of news (both good and bad) for the Flyer and if you think about it, the Flyer faces huge challenges ahead as a viable business and tourist attraction. I was hoping to read an editorial in today’s newspapers about this looming problem, but the journos probably didn’t have time to do it, so here’s my two cents

World’s largest observation wheel…so?

Singaporeans are obsessed with topping everything that can be on a list. So naturally, you’d find the official description of the Flyer as follows:

Singapore Flyer is the world’s largest observation wheel. Standing at a stunning 165m from the ground, the Flyer offers you breathtaking, panoramic views of the Marina Bay, our island city and beyond.

In an old 2005 press release, the Flyer is described by its MD as

…an astonishing landmark. The Singapore Flyer will undoubtedly be one of Asia’s most distinctive visitor attractions and will be Singapore’s own recognisable icon in the minds of tourists, much like how the Eiffel Tower and London Eye have come to symbolise France and England

But what is there to see from the capsules?

The PR was well written:

Once aboard, passengers will be enthralled by sweeping, epic views – from the historic Singapore River and modern skyline, to the grand vista of ships on the horizon, and on a clear day, right out to Malaysia and Indonesia. From each of the 28 air-conditioned, UV-protected capsules, visitors can enjoy the fascinating sensation of flight, while afloat in the sky during the 37-minute ride.

Unfortunately, most Singaporeans won’t buy that and haven’t bought it yet. You’ll see roughly the same views when you drive over Ben Sheares Bridge or get a room in Ritz Carlton. There’s nothing much to see of Indonesia from here anyway.

Now one thing people don’t seem to realize or observe about setting up a tourist attraction in Singapore – if your locals don’t go gaga over it, it’s likely that tourists won’t either. That’s why the Zoo and Orchard Road do much better than other sites like Sungei Buloh, Sentosa and Underwater World.

For one thing, I ain’t paying $29.50 to take a 30min ride on the Flyer. Singapore’s tourist attractions are notorious for being expensive – I only paid S$3 to go to the lovely Taipei Zoo. The Taipei Zoo is a bit run down and old, but for the price, the experience is more than worth what you pay for.

Ok, granted, the Flyer is a beautiful construction, especially at night, but how will it keep the coffers flowing to maintain itself?

Bad Fengshui?

Interestingly, in July this year, the Flyer folks actually admitted to not doing their homework – checking with Fengshui guys before spinning the wheel.

Says a July press release

The Giant Observation Wheel’s initial modus operandus – showcasing to visitors, first, Singapore’s financial centre before descending with panoramic views of eastern Singapore – drew observations from feng shui geomancers that the Flyer was taking fortune and ‘qi’ (energy) away from the country and turning its back from ready fortune – the financial centre.

Now being Christian, I don’t really believe in fengshui save its original and practical aspects. But man, you’re in Singapore where even the Merlion has to be fengshui-ed for optimal placement.

Modern as we are, most locals have not let go of their traditional beliefs. It’s common sense with most major local projects that you should always check with the geomancers first.

Still, never a bad thing to admit such things and “remedy” it. But the price tag!!! According to the Flyer’s MD, it apparently cost a “six figure sum” to change the spin!

Of course, a lot of people have forgotten that this fengshui thing happened.

Actually, since the reversal was done, everyone’s fortunes have coincidentally gone downhill – we’re in an economic crisis, and Flyer’s traffic hasn’t shot up and it has gotten stuck several times.

Okay, perhaps Singapore’s economy is more sheltered from the storm than most other economies but it’s safe to surmise from the above that our economy has little to do with the fengshui of the Flyer.

Future of the Flyer?

I have no idea what the balance books of the Flyer look like today, and hope everything is good. But common sense throws up a few wet blankets.

1. Recession means people spend less on luxury items and services. The Flyer is a non-essential visit for many people right now and costs three times more than a movie for a 30min experience. 2009 will be a really tough year to attract visitors.
2. Tourism keeps dipping in Singapore. The tourism folks would have us believe that a major reason is the global downturn, but let’s face it, Singapore has limited options for travellers and is really too expensive for budget travellers. And we can’t possibly air-condition the whole island.
3. The Flyer site is too dislocated from other parts of town. Sure, it’s a few minutes walk to the Ritz, but most people don’t go beyond Suntec and Marina Square unless they drive. And there aren’t enough road signs pointing to the Flyer.
4. The Flyer is better seen than to see from. Locals need to be given a great reason to patronise it, and so far there isn’t.

You know, as a guy who works in the private sector and is affected by PnLs, I really hope the Flyer business works out for its staff. After the millions spent, and all the blood and tears that went into this massive project, Singapore indeed has a beautiful addition to its skyline.

But if no drastic measures are taken to do massive damage control over yesterday’s incident and restore people’s confidence in stepping into the capsules, the Flyer risks becoming Singapore’s biggest white elephant. If it does, it’ll be a really sad thing to drive past along ECP.

Question: Would it have been more successful if the Flyer was a real amusement park type of Ferris Wheel?

Dear reader, as you’ve noticed, I haven’t been updating this blog much in the past few weeks.

For positive reasons, thankfully!

Ever since I started work in 2001, I haven’t really had a chance to enjoy a Christmas holiday like I’m doing this year. For too long, journalism and press photography took away the notion of what it means to relax, and it took me a year out of the beat to regain that wonderful feeling.

I’ve also been spending time actually playing and completing a few Xbox 360 games – contrary to popular belief, I do not play games or review them for a living. Marketing and doing PR for games sometimes means you don’t have much time to actually enjoy them. I’ve completed Gears Of War 2, Fable 2, Dead Space and am now sampling the goodness of Fallout 3 (which really isn’t my cup of tea though).

More importantly, I’ve been spending my time on other familiar matters – making a fool of myself with the two brats, and re-acquainting myself with Whispering Jack. Whispering who? That’s my violin, my dear friends.

Returning to the strings

Whispering Jack used to be known as Sombre Jack, but I decided to change that name because the former is what I keep remembering thanks to John Farnham. Also, Sombre Jack hasn’t been played properly ever since I bought it in 2001 until my violin teacher corrected my right hand technique last week. All this while, the bow hasn’t been gripping the strings with enough “grittiness” and I’ve always wondered why my tone sounded weak. Now, Jack releases a tone so loud and so full, you can hear the D and A strings reverb long after you’ve moved on to other notes.

Not bad for a violin that hasn’t come out of its case for the past three years as I was distracted with Isabel and the crazy newsroom workload.

Moral: You don’t know how lousy your first music teacher is until you’ve met your second.

I did pass my Grade 2 a few years back, and was actually gunning for Grade 4. But to get things right once and for all, I asked my teacher to teach me the basics once again. Also because I forgot what all the majors were, but they sure come back quickly.

And it was both amusing and joyful, to have Isabel dance to Bach’s Minuet 3, and for me to play along to Isaac’s finger exercises on the piano. This is why I learnt music – not to pass exams, but to be able to produce and enjoy the tunes with the family. I just hope I can get nearly as good as a pro before I die.

On comics

I hardly read books these days – it’s so much easier and more relaxing to read comics. I just finished reading a bunch of awesome titles, coincidentally all from DC Comics. Here’s why you should read them.

Joker, an uber-violent tale starring the Clown Prince of Crime by Brian Azzarello. It looks, but probably isn’t, inspired by Heath Ledger’s take on The Joker (check out the slit sides of his mouth), except this version is a lot more psychotic than you thought possible. It doesn’t really match up to Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke (1988) in terms of sheer storytelling prowess or iconic Joker-graphy, but man, it’s a good read and the artwork is chilling. Bats makes an appearance towards the end to do his usual stuff, but the story isn’t about him. It’s about Joker and his relationships with the rest of the rogue gallery, and I liked the way the story fleshed out why he’s still the meanest of them all.

DC’s The New Frontier, a massive graphic novel project set in the 1950s by Darwyn Cooke. Drawn in a mixture of Golden Age and Silver Age comic book style, this is a remarkable retelling of the birth of the Justice League Of America, as well as some of its key members The Flash and Green Lantern. The artwork is stunning – simple yet powerful. Many comic artists today have forgotten that principle, spending all their time creating ultra-realistic panels, and forgetting that viewers don’t spend more than a few seconds on each panel. A comic’s purpose is to drive story through simple visuals, and occasionally, sock it to the senses with a powerful visual essay. The New Frontier accomplishes that with ease, and is far superior in many aspects to the animated version that came out this year on DVD.

Dark Victory, a Batman “Year 4” kinda novel by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Explores the early years of Two-Face’s madness, the developing relationship between Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon, and the umpteenth (and most tired) retelling of how Robin joined Bats. It’s a compelling murder mystery tale, and given that it kept me flipping all the way to the end, it’s definitely one of the better Batman stories to date. Unfortunately, the Batman mythos is pretty much squeezed to death like Star Wars (have you watched the boring Clone Wars TV series yet?) – I don’t really know how long more DC can churn out dark and moody tales of the Dark Knight. This has been going on since the 1970s and Neal Adams’ seminal work then, and really, there’s not much mystique left to Batman.

And the pretty mediocre Batgirl: Year One graphic novel below. Not worth much to go bats about and really, it doesn’t deserve a “Year One” moniker. Ever since Barbara Gordon was crippled by The Joker in The Killing Joke, the whole Batgirl franchise has gone south. This story makes it all worse.

As usual, reading these titles cause me to reflect on how today’s kids have so little comic-book material they can enjoy and be inspired by. My kids watch the 1970s Superfriends on cable TV, and they enjoy it because it’s simple and straightforward. Alas, today’s cartoons like Ben 10, Naruto and so on have such complex plots written more for adults than kids. Now Gatchaman had a complex and adult plot too, but each episode wrapped itself up very neatly – good beats evil, so there. Now, we have animes and comics that boast about being in the gray, but what kind of ambiguous superheroes should our kids be exposed to? Isn’t it great to know that heroes aren’t flawed like mere humans?

On Old vs New Media

I once wrote a commentary in TNP two years ago that got a few online readers quite inflamed. The bit that cheesed them off was the hypothesis that blogging was a fad and could just die off like all other Internet crazes. The punchline that really got their goat went something like this: “Who’s going to pay you to write your opinions for others to read? Oh wait, journalists are already being paid for that.”

Blogging is still alive and well, and there’s been great churn – the people who wanted to try blogging and give up because of the hassle have mostly already done so. But what happens to the remainder of the blogosphere who believe there’s a career/future/nirvana in all this?

Frankly, I don’t know, and I’ve been too busy with offline work to actually join the community to tell them my thoughts. But as a guy who was schooled in Old Media, who has a New Media blog, and has to interface with both in his New Tech job, I have to keep up with the fast evolution of both the Old and New.

What’s clear is this:

1. Old Media is trying to understand and evolve into New Media, but doesn’t really get it most of the time because they’re too busy to actually blog consistently and with none of the Old Media shackles on their minds. Those who do get it, lack the influence to effect change, especially in the local context.

2. New Media wants the sheer power and influence of the Old Media, but many don’t know the inner workings or tools of Old Media (ie. great visual design, sharp copywriting, several layers of editing). And New Media often underestimates the number of people who are not reading, and hence, not influenced by them.

3. Non-media companies are all trying to extract maximum value from both Old and New Media, either as consumers or clients. But most of them are probably doing it because their bosses say “online is important for our business” without actually understanding why or how.

What is even clearer to me is this – the traditional way of consuming media will disappear in the next five years or less.

I also say this all the time, and most people don’t believe me – we will all stop reading newspapers in our hands within less than a decade. All media will transition to an electronic form and you will no longer experience the annoying stain of carbon on your fingertips. Perpetually falling prices of display panels, the ridiculously low cost of digital storage, increasing broadband capacity, and the finite number of trees demand that people learn to stop using paper to eyeball text and pictures at some point of time.

I don’t think great layouts that we see today in print will die though. PDF allows for great integrity of layouts. Size of each page isn’t an issue too. We used to think 1MB was too big for a picture file. Today’s it’s nothing.

People my age grew up at the dawn of the personal PC and have watched it evolve at an alarmingly faster rate with each decade. In 15 years, we went from 4-color CGA screens to 16-color EGA to billion-color HDTVs. In the last decade, we watched the iPod change the music industry and the world. In the next five years, really cool stuff should appear in the pipeline and enable even more fantastic ways of moulding our lifestyles.

What doesn’t change is the demand for great storytelling, great thinking and great empathy for the fellow men. To me, both Old and New Media often forget these few simple things, and take several steps back in the process. I could list some examples here, but hey, I gotta keep my day job :D.

On The Christmas Message

This Christmas, you’ll hear a lot of Nativity Stories and a lot of feel-good messages about why Jesus came to Earth to save you. I find most of this falls on deaf ears because many people here have heard it so many times.

But you should still listen, and here’s the way I’d like to tell it without involving mangers or 3 wise men.

Jesus knew you before you were born, and knew the choices you would make in life. Jesus saw the foolishness of man before man was made, but decided to forgive us for it all anyway.

Many of us say every day - “There is no God” or “I believe in my own abilities”, but the truth is, you can’t even stop yourself from tripping over a rock or catching a cold. You ask then “How can a God be so cruel to let so many evil things happen?”, without realizing that we are the source of much evil we see today.

We don’t like to ask tough questions to ourselves like “Why am I alive and breathing?”. Instead we ask “Why aren’t we rich and powerful like my neighbor?” What if someone told you that if you came to know Jesus, you’d learn to be content about yesterday, today and for all eternity?

What if you knew that Jesus came to save you from eternal suffering, of which you’re already sampling a bit of on planet Earth? Christmas means many things to many people. But it’s just a holiday. It doesn’t really matter which day Jesus was born.

It does matter which day you die though. Because when that day comes, what will you say to yourself? “What comes after this?”

I heard over last week that “so many Christians are hypocrites”. I can’t agree more with that, but then again, all humans have a tendency to be hypocritical. But just because Christians aren’t perfect in their behavior doesn’t mean that the message isn’t true.

I wish all of us Christians were perfect role models, but our humanity condemns us all the time. Many see becoming a Christian as a sure ticket to Heaven, but God will still judge all of us.

If anything, this Christmas, I hope you ask yourself some questions you’ve been avoiding thinking about. And whether you believe in Jesus or not, there’s no harm asking for a little wisdom to seek out the answers you need.

Cheers,

Ian

For Facebook readers, please note this posting originally appeared on www.iantan.org

Is passion something people are born with or something that they pick up or lose over time?

This is the question that has bugged me for the longest time (not that it really matters in the daily scheme of things) and is something everyone should think about if they have the time.

Some thoughts on passion…

I look at my two kids and they’re bursting with passion. Everything they do, they do it to the extreme. Be it playing, fighting or just arguing with each other. Other kids aren’t as crazy as Isaac and Isabel, but it doesn’t mean that they are robots, or perhaps I just don’t see them in their home element.

So if kids are passionate beings, it’s only logical to assume that people lose their passion for things as they grow up right? What makes them become colorless creatures?

I look at myself – everyone knows I’m a pretty passionate guy with my work and my hobbies. But how did I become like this? I can’t place a point in time when I decided that I would put my heart to things and do it till I get it really right.

For example, when I was young and learning how to draw, I would go on for hours and not stop because I just wanted to make my drawings better. A lot of A4 paper went into the basket.

It’s within my personality to be a perfectionist, but does perfectionism equate to passion? I’m sure that many passionate people are able to let go and not get too caught up with the details.

So common sense says that not all perfectionists are passionate people…perhaps some are just anal. Perhaps I am guilty of that to.

And why is it that when I take the MRT in the morning, I see so many people who are standing their, holding the railing and so disinterested in anything? These people obviously don’t love the job that they are doing.

But I also know many people who don’t hate their jobs either – they’re just doing it because they want to keep earning a living and they don’t wish to rock the boat. When they do their jobs, it’s merely to get things done with minimum effort.

The one thing they look forward to every day is the 6pm check point where they can quickly pack their bags and rush to the trains. (Personally I don’t look forward to 6pm because I usually haven’t finished the work I had to do by then.)

How did these people lose their passion and zeal for their lives, their work and their daily actions? Was it a matter of choice?

Or is it just the nature of things that the majority of people must end up being blase about their jobs? See, another thing I believe is that the Bell Curve is a realistic breakdown of any demographic.

A small minority will be leaders/innovators, the small minority on the other end of the scale will be the losers and the vast majority remain as average as they could hope for and be the followers to make up the masses.

Here’s an interesting question – what if everyone was as passionate as I hoped they could be? Would the Bell Curve still exist? Everyone would try to outdo each other – not competitively, but being the best they could be within their capabilities – and the Bell Curve would flatten out (but not totally because everyone is born with different scales of abilities).

I have no answers…just more questions.

This is possibly the best wanton noodle in Singapore. And this caption doesn’t really have anything to do with my story below. 

I was queuing up at Hwa Kee this evening, you know, the really good wanton noodle stall at East Coast Parkway hawker centre with the loveliest char siew bits in town.

I reached the stall just in time, right before a long queue formed behind me.

Then this short, stocky guy comes up to me from the left side and he asked:

“Can you let me stand in front of you? This was my place just now.”

I processed this question in my head for like one second and said: “Please go behind the queue.”

“But I was standing here just now!”

“And how would I know that?”

He glared at me angrily and said: “OK! Carry on!” and he stomped to the back of the long queue.

Till now, I can’t believe that conversation happened.

I try to believe everyone is worth a measure of respect but that guy is a real idiot.

The headline sounds like something I used to write back in TNP Tech eh? Old habits die hard!

But anyway, just wanted to highlight some stupid things not to do when buying tech gear this holidays or during trade shows like Sitex.

1. Don’t buy overpriced digital cables, especially HDMI (see above pix)

HDMI is a great invention – high definition audio and video all through one simple cable. One of the reasons why I upgraded my 32” Samsung TV to a 40” Samsung Series 6 was because the latter now has 4 HDMI ports. Just right for two game consoles, one HD set top box and one DVD player. I can now throw out those component cables which require you to attach up to 5 cables for each audio and video setup.

But man, the HDMI cables are terribly overpriced. I usually just get the cheapest one I can get off the shelves, or about S$40 for a basic Daiyo brand and 1.5m in length. Don’t bother to get those branded ones which cost up to $300 (Monster Cables come to mind). It’s insane – how much better can digital signals be transmitted, especially over short distances? Same for optical TOSLink cables, used for surround sound connections.

2. Don’t listen to what others are saying. Get a HD camcorder. Without a hard disk/DVD/tape media.

If you are wondering why you need a camcorder, it’s because you don’t have kids. All parents will buy one sooner or later to record their children’s shenigans. I find most of the models out there not worth buying. Why?

DVD camcorders – worst camcorder choice ever. Sure, you can share the discs easily with friends, but how many will you actually share?  And those pesky discs hold very limited periods of recording, and get lost easily. What I really loathe is the bulky shape of these camcorders.

HDD camcorders – so what if you can record 15 hours of video? Most people find it difficult to fill an hour of recordings at one session or even on vacation. And drop the camcorder – say goodbye HDD!

MiniDV camcorders – aiyo, so passe and troublesome. You have to transfer video from camcorder to PC in real time. And the tapes are so troublesome to store if you have a lot.

SD (standard definition) camcorders – They are very cheap, under $1000, but c’mon, the whole world is moving to high definition. The leap from SD to HD is very large, and you will regret an SD purchase 5 years from now. Yes, HD video requires a good PC to process quickly, but a dual-core PC should do.

So buy which one?

A flash-media, high definition camcorder! Like the Sony HDR-CX12 model below!

It’s highly compact as there’s no DVD drive, HDD or tape drive to take up space on the right side. Flash media (Memory Sticks or SD media) are shock-proof and come in huge capacities (8GB is standard now, under S$100, can record 2 hrs of good HD quality video), and transfer of content is quick and painless. Yes, it costs over S$2000, but trust me dude, I’ve been using one for the past year (CX7) and the image quality is fantastic. Most people stop using their camcorders after a while because they are some cumbersome, but my Sony is a real pleasure to use. Canon and Panasonic also have competitive models in the same price range.

3. Buying desktop PC? Go DIY and you don’t even have to DIY.

Laptops should be your first PC purchase these days, but if you are playing games or doing a lot of Adobe PS or Illustrator work, you’ll still need a good desktop. Just go get a pricelist from www.hardwarezone.com or a Sim Lim shop (I usually frequent Cybermind and Fuwell), tick off the parts you want, and get them to put it together for you at a nominal fee (or free). Why do the nerdy work of DIY when others can help you?

A high-end Intel quad core gaming PC rig can be put together for under $2500 today, and when I visited a branded PC website to compare prices, their PC was $6000! And their video card was of lesser grade!

Ouch.

My old mate Edwin did that recently, and even added his own high-definition TV tuner card, and he’s happy as a lark. “It’s my first hardcore PC in my whole life!” he sez. And it’s affordable lor.

And Vista SP1 is pretty stable these days – my PC can go on for days without any problems. Get 4GB of RAM – that really helps.

Of course, nothing against branded desktops – but nothing beats the satisfaction of selecting your own parts.

Ok, finally got these thoughts off my head Back to the usual rants.