Bouncing Red Ball

Sometimes when the scenery is flat, it’s much more interesting to take pictures of people. Even of people taking pictures. Of yourself. (Also, it’s even much easier to post pictures here than to blog.)

More like 2, actually. Yesterday, I was in Akihabara in Tokyo and took pictures of this huge promo billboard for the upcoming release of Windows Vista. The sign says “新世代プレミアム” (”New Generation Premium”) and “世界が変わる瞬間まであと3日” (”Three days until the world changes”). Considering the underwhelming reviews of Windows Vista, these are bold claims to make. I think I’ll stick with the very stable and time-tested Windows XP for a while. Like many people, I don’t see any compelling reason to switch to the new OS just yet.

Yodobashi, one of the biggest tech stores in Akihabara, thinks otherwise and anticipates a lot of demand for Vista. So much so, in fact, that it will start selling Vista to those people lucky enough (or insane enough, depending on your persuasion) to fall in line in front of its store on the midnight of January 30. (The sign on the right has the details.)

Most people who will be the first to use Vista will be buyers of new PCs but for others willing to do a test drive, don’t even consider upgrading if you have a wimpy pasokon (meaning a PC with a 1GHz MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, DirectX 9.0-Capable Graphics Processors, 60GB HD). You would want to have at least a 3GHz Pentium-processor, 2GB of RAM and *lots* of hard drive space. And Vista probably won’t change your world.

One day several months ago, during my brief stay in Manila, I fell into a conversation with the driver of the taxi I was in (I usually talk to taxi drivers when I’m in the Philippines; taxi drivers, they say, know the general situation of a country.) He noticed the camera around my neck and later on he asked me if I would be interested in getting another one. He handed me a point-and-shoot camera (an almost new Casio Exilim EX S-500) and told me I could have it really cheap, he just wanted to get rid of it.

The camera was dead and wouldn’t turn on. He said he doesn’t have the charger but he assured me that the camera was indeed working before the batteries gave out. The reason for the lack of charger I soon found out was that technically the camera didn’t belong to him, he had found it at the back seat of his taxi. (Here I might add that in fairness to the driver, he probably couldn’t return the camera to its owners even if he wanted to.) I bargained down the price (after all I didn’t know whether it was working or not), handed the driver the amount in addition to the fare, and flew back to Japan the next day with it.

In Japan I bought a second-hand charger (or “cradle” as the Casio website puts it), charged the camera and found pictures inside (probably the original owner’s). Unfortunately, the pictures were deleted when I accidentally reformatted the camera. And although I originally intended to partner this pocket-sized 5-megapixel camera with my bulky Nikon D70, I didn’t feel like taking pictures with a camera that belongs to someone else.

So if you lost a Casio Exilim EX-S500 digital camera in Manila last year, the one I have here (which is well taken cared of) is probably yours. You can have it back if you can give me the following details: 1. Approximate date when it was lost; 2. Place where you boarded the taxi and where you got off (probably the most important info to prove your claim); and 3. Kind of pictures that were inside the camera when you lost it (pictures of what). If the details match, I will send you the camera (with the cradle if needed) from Japan, free of charge.

The main reason I read British news sites is because I follow the latest news on the Premiership League. The big four English clubs are of course Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea. But I’m an Arsenal fan and it’s always a special occasion when Arsenal and Manchester United clash. Yesterday Manchester United got unlucky and was sunk was a great header by the Arsenal striker Henry. Video below, (watch out for the sound!).

It looks like the division of INQ7.NET into Inquirer.net and GMAnews.tv have gone according to plan and both new websites look better than the original. So what’s this annoying message that displays when right-clicking the graphic on Inquirer.net? Reminds me of javascript trickery employed by websites of the last century. It’s not like people are going to download the picture, right?

Just when I thought it couldn’t possibly get colder than this I just got word that it will probably snow tomorrow morning. I can’t make up my mind if that’s good or bad news. Still, the thought of spring brings happy memories of flowers, hanami, and runny noses. The picture above was taken last year and shows two Japanese taking pictures among the tulips near the windmill at Kasumigaura Park.

It looks like Pinoy bloggers are going to have loads of fun before the month ends. According to the official website:

“The Blog Parteeh! 2007 is the largest blogger meet-up ever organized by bloggers for bloggers. The Steering Committee has worked so hard to organize this event and find sponsors. So, to make the process of joining the event more interesting and spicy with a bit of a buzz, scroll down and read how you can be part of this parteeh!”

We would have joined, except we would have to catch a plane to go. Plus, our blog is only two weeks old. Zannen. (The characters above mean Blog Parteeh 07 in Japanese, for those who don’t read Nihongo.)

This event is sponsored by: Sheero Media Solutions, MyJournal Philippines, FeedText, Inc., Migs Paraz, A Bugged Life, The Blog Herald, b5media blog network, About My Recovery, Pinoy.Tech.Blog, Enthropia, Inc., Krispy Kreme Philippines, GMA New Media, Awesome Philippines, Codamon.com, Boracay.com.ph, Recipes.com.ph, WebMaster.com.ph, Bouncing Red Ball, Bo Sanchez, Microwarehouse Inc.

BlogParteeh07 Donors: Marc Javellana, Bubba Gump, e-YellowPages, Adobe User Group - Philippines, Weddings @ Work, Google Philippines, Hinge Inquirer Publications.

Technorati tag: blogparteeh07

The Mighty Mouse that came with the iMac sucks so it was promptly replaced by the black and gray standard Dell mouse which worked flawlessly. I’ll have to try the Mighty Mouse someday when I’m not too busy at work on the computer. The Dock is a joy to use (or just watch) and the tray icons well-designed. On the Desktop, pressing F10 tiles the windows, letting you choose which one you’d like to display in front. Press F11 and they are all tucked away, revealing only the Desktop. Finally, pressing F12 (on clicking on the wheel of the mouse) brings on the Dashboard with its many widgets (mini-apps for a specific task). You can choose from a number of default widgets to display. On my Desktop, I have the Dictionary, Translation, Weather, Clock, Date, Stickies and Calculator. These are very convenient programs. To access the calculator on my Windows PC, for example, I have to navigate through the succession of folders on the Start menu. On the Mac, a press of a key will do this instantly.