JB Bound

I could only escape from work after 5, racing home to be able to leave by 6. Everyone was already set to leave, the luggage already in the trunk of the MPV. All I had to do was change, get all my personal things into the car, and JB here we come!

Traffic was light all the way and we stopped at Ayer Keroh for Maghrib and a quick bite. We finally checked in into our hotel room, Thistle at 10.30. And the room was great. It was actually an apartment unit, and excited the boy actually helped us unpack while waiting for room service.

The journey was smoother than we expected although we had the usual commotion in the car. That was predictable with the two boys. Excited with the spanking shiny hotel when we arrived, they became hyper again. And this continued until well past midnight.

As usual, Daddy had to sleep at the living room. Luckily, the sofa was generously big and we didn't have to ask for an extra bed. The sofa, plus an extra blanket did me nicely. And the boys were still jumping around when I dozed off. Boundless energy these kids!

Wii U

Over the years, the only game console we had in our household was the Nintendo Wii. We had PSP and iPads of course, but we were talking consoles here. We never bothered with PlayStation, but we loved our Wii. When I was in the US, the Wii U was released, but I want sure if the games and consoles were compatible in Malaysia. So, I gave it a pass.

But when I found a unit being sold during our trip to Plaza Damas, I just couldn't say no. We went straight to buy it.

It wasn't a local unit, so, it needed a step down voltage unit. I was pretty sure it was a North America set from the voltage setting, but it worked fine. The Wii U was definitely an upgrade from the Wii. The graphic was better, the games were more sophisticated. It can still play the original Wii games and some of the peripherals were still compatible.

The console also came with a small handheld display unit called the Gamepad. It connects seamlessly with the console via Bluetooth, and it required a separate charger. So, I had to get a couple of step down transformers to play the game.

I bought the black 32GB unit, which came with a game called Nintendoland, which showcases what the Wii U can offer in terms of gameplay. I also bought a couple of extra games for the boys.

After playing for a couple of times, the unit appeared more responsive, but I just wished that we had a bigger TV. The one we used for games was an old CRT TV. It was good enough, but not HD! The sound was also pretty basic from our setup. I was sure we were yet to explore then full potential of the Wii U. At this time, the games were still limited.

But from what I explored so far, it certainly retained the same charm as the original Wii. If you loved the Wii as a casual gamer like us, I was sure you would love the Wii U. Adventure time!!!!!

Return to Pasir Penampang

What were you doing in the New Year's Day? Me? After the morning rounds, we went for a drive. We had lunch in Kuala Selangor, a nice seafood lunch. It had been a while since I've been there and the food was still great and fresh.

What was left in the end .....I was delayed during my rounds and only returned home just before noon. We were lucky that the weather was nice and the traffic was light. With the LATAR Highway opened, the journey wee cut short from an hour and a half to about 45 minutes. We pulled over into Pasir Penambang just after 1 pm, and the place was packed at the time. Since then menu items were limited and straight forward, it wasn't long before our food was served. And it was crabs. Sweet crabs.

Not a healthy choice but I thought I deserved it once in a while. Especially the fresh ones. Well worth the trip ....

Let There Be Lightt

Over the years, I had been invited to try out plenty of new services and software, mainly by start-up company off Silicon Valley. Mainly I stumbled across beta program and sign myself up. Some were offered by friends. Some were good. Some not so. Google Wave was a disaster on its own, but had now been iterated into a more polished product, Google Plus.

I did some trial for Squarespace among others, and recently, I had been one of the early adopter of Lightt.

Lightt is currently an iOS only app, which takes a burst of ten frames a second apart, and compiled it into a stock-frame take - sort of quick succession of stills or highlight. It was just stills, with no audio. The beauty was not on the actual video creation, but the option to share. The short clips or highlight would then be uploaded almost instantaneously onto the cloud and shared, either with other user of the app or via Facebook and Twitter.

Then app itself appears light, and comments could be up onto the highlights via the app, and as per other social network services, you can then follow others and interact with them.

The app was still maturing, and integration at the moment was still limited to Facebook and Twitter. I was sure there would be API created along with HTML codes to embed the published highlight onto blogs and other links. Another point which I wished that Lightt would take on would be to allow for seamless integration of Facebook comment system. Once you comment on the Lightt highlight on Facebook, it would appear on the Lightt as well.

Please check out the app on the iOS. I personal feel that there is a potential on the service and as a start-up, it would get snapped-up soon.

Happy 2013

Happy New Year all. I had been busy in the last couple of days and was not able to do much blogging. Hopefully I would have some time to rest tomorrow - the New Year's Day.

Anita had some plans for tomorrow lunchtime. We would probably go out for lunch with my in-laws for lunch, possibly in Kuala Selangor. Some seafood, and hoping that the shop there would be opened. So, time to reflect and put 2012 to bed. And together, let's welcome 2013. Happy new Year!