Bouncing Red Ball

I have moved — or backed-up — most of my files (the bulk of these are video clips, mp3s, photos and the gzipped copies of the Timog Forum database). This wouldn’t have taken too much time but I waited until the last minute to get an external hard disk for the iMac.

These 1- and 2-terabyte hard disks at the computer store were tempting, but one look at their price made me slink back to another corner where the more reasonably-priced megabyte-sized hard disks were located. I chose the cheapest one: a 250MB Buffalo drive for about 12,000 yen. The drive taken home and files finally moved from the Dimension to the iMac; a mop-up operation over the weekend will clean up the old computer for selling (I already have an enthusiastic buyer actually). Almost 10 years of using a Windows machine at home will come to an end, although I will still use PCs at work (a Japanese Mac Ad, watch out for the sound).

(Rough translation of the Japanese Mac Ad:
PC: Hello, I’m a PC.
Mac: Hello, I’m a Mac.
PC: Hey, aren’t you a PC, too?
Mac: Yeah, but people usually call me “Mac”.
PC: So, you’re kinda special right? Like a friend.
Mac: People usually use me in the privacy of their homes, so maybe I’m easy to get along with.
PC: Right. Well, people usually use me at work… I want a special name, too, like you.
Mac: Well… If you’re mainly used on the job… How about “Waaku” (The Japanese word for “Work”.)
PC: (Pointing to Mac) “Makku” and (pointing to himself) “Waaku”! Cool!

I know this doesn’t sound funny (translations rarely are) but the whole thing is a play on the words “Makku” (meaning “Mac”) and “Waaku” (meaning “work”) and how the PC guy thinks it’s a cool name. At the risk of getting too far off-topic, I like the PC guy better (like I like the PC guy in the English ads better than the Mac guy) and these two comedians (their younger versions) were also in another subtly funny video clip — this one about eating sushi.)

If I sound like it’s my first time using a Mac, well, the fact is my first 4 computers were Macs. I have had in succession the Color Classic II, the Performa 630, the LC 588, and the Power Macintosh 6100 Dos Compatible (similar to the one on the left). The this Power Mac was a dual-personality PC, powered by 66MHz PowerPC and 486DX2 chips through which I ran both Kanji Talk 7.5 (the Japanese MacOS 7.5) and Windows 95 in a dual-booting system. It was the only computer I know at that time (or any time since except the current Intel Macs) that could run both MacOS and Windows.

After I sold the Power Mac in the late nineties and while lusting after the PowerWave 150 (a Mac clone), a friend of mine gave me a Pentium 133 chip, I decided to assemble a PC around it and got stuck with Windows for almost 10 years. So in a way, this iMac is a way back to my old computing roots. I hope it will be a good trip.

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